Autumn Colours Garden Cruise to USA and Canada with Deryn Thorpe

DAY 1 Friday October 11, 2024 Montreal, Canada
We depart Australia today on our flight to Montreal. We arrive the same day as we depart because we cross the International Date Line. Those travelling from Perth need to depart on Thursday and stay overnight in Sydney at their expense. The tour manager will meet you at the airport on arrival in Montreal and our private coach will transfer the group to our hotel.

DAY 2 Saturday October 12, 2024 Quebec City, Canada
Montreal is a fascinating blend of old and new and the French-English mix adds dynamism! During our guided tour of the old city today we will see bustling Place Jacques Cartier and the Basilique Notre Dame situated in Place D’Armes, and the Old Seminary built by Sulpician missionaries in 1685, which is the oldest building in Montreal. The downtown area of Montreal has a North American look with wide thoroughfares winding through a forest of skyscrapers. This afternoon we drive through the interesting Canadian countryside to Quebec to board MS Zuiderdam for our wonderful seven day cruise late afternoon.

DAY 3 Sunday October 13, 2024 Quebec City/Departure
We will enjoy a sightseeing tour of the main sights of the attractive city of Quebec this morning. The lower town has streets lined with shops and art galleries, which reflect the streets 18th century heritage. We see the Royal Battery, which has been reconstructed and replicas of 18th-century canons which are on display. We travel to Place Royal square in the upper town, which was the hub of the city’s economic activity until the mid-19th century. We see the Citadel and Quebec’s fortifications. There will be free time before the ship sails mid-afternoon. We will enjoy welcome drinks this evening, to meet other tour members and where Deryn Thorpe will welcome the group.

DAY 4 Monday October 14, 2024 Gulf of St Lawrence, Canada
Today MS Zuiderdam will cruise through the world’s largest estuary. Fed from the Great Lakes, which extend for 1,200km, it was formed during the last Ice Age. It is so large that half of Canada’s ten provinces have coastal connections to it. In the afternoon Deryn will give a talk about her life in the media. We continue with Deryn leading a Gardening Trivia competition. We will divide the group into teams with prizes for the winning team.

DAY 5 Tuesday October 15, 2024 Charlottetown, PEI
We dock in Charlottetown today; the gracious capital of Prince Edward Island, with street’s lined with colourful planters. The Island is renowned for its food producers. We will visit La Serena farm, which displays wonderful seasonal vegetables. Prince Edward Island is the location for the novels “Anne of Green Gables” and the home of the author. We visit Anne of Green Gables Museum at Silverbush. This is the spacious house where the author Lucy Maud Montgomery visited relatives and where she was married in 1911.

DAY 6 Wednesday October 16, 2024 Sydney, Nova Scotia
We will enjoy a relaxing walking tour of the Colonial Town of Old Sydney this morning, founded by Loyalists fleeing the American Revolution. We will see six buildings that were constructed in the late 18th century and another two which were built at the turn of the 19th century. The tour will also take us to St. Patrick’s, the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Cape Breton; Cossit House, built in 1787; and Jost House, offering interesting exhibits from this same period. The rest of the day will be free for individual activity.

DAY 7 Thursday October 17, 2024 Halifax, Nova Scotia
This morning we arrive in Halifax, the capital of Nova Scotia and the largest urban area in Atlantic Canada. We will enjoy a guided tour of the town and see some of the historic sites and landmarks such as the Spring Garden Road area, the Province House, Old Town Clock, St Paul’s Church, City Hall, Grand Parade, Government House and Point Pleasant Park. We visit the 19th-century Halifax Citadel National Historic Park, where we will have a spectacular view of the downtown area. Our next stop is the Halifax cemetery where some of those who perished on the Titanic are buried. In the afternoon we will visit the Halifax Public Gardens, which have been open since 1875. They are set out in a Victorian-style with three ponds and fountains and two stone bridges. The beautiful trees will be in glorious autumn colours.

DAY 8 Friday October 18, 2024 Portland, Maine
Late morning we dock in Portland, which is set on a peninsula. The Old Port is a working fishing port, warehouses lining the dock converted into interesting restaurants and shops. In the afternoon we travel to Kennebunk to visit Snug Harbour Farm. The Farm and Garden have been set out to display unusual plants for the challenging topography and tough climate of the area. Their shop displays potted plants and locally made craft items.

DAY 9 Saturday October 19, 2024 Boston, Massachusetts
We wave farewell to MS Zuiderdam when we dock in Boston, for a two-night stay. Boston was the cradle of American Independence and is now New England’s centre for finance and technology and the home of Harvard University. Our city tour with a local guide will include Paul Revere’s House and Kings Chapel, home to the largest and sweetest-sounding bell. We will also see Faneuil Hall, and the Old Statehouse, which was the seat of Colonial Government from 1713. This afternoon we visit the Isabella Stewart Gardner House Museum. Isabella’s main interest was the art and architecture of Italy and she designed her home in the style of a Venetian palazzo. In the courtyard stonework Byzantine, Romanesque, Gothic and Renaissance elements and stone columns create a harmonious whole embellished with ferns, colourful flowers and clipped greenery.

DAY 10 Sunday October 20, 2024 Boston
This morning we visit Long Hill, a Federal-style home that was the summer retreat of Mabel Sedgwick, who was an accomplished gardener and garden writer. The classic design has integrated gardens, combining structured and naturalist planting. In the afternoon we visit Glen Magna Farms, a three hundred acre retreat for the Peabody-Endicott-Crowningshield families for 144 years. The award-winning landscape has formal gardens with colourful perennials, annuals and a shrubbery, heritage roses, a circular pond and a large marble columned pergola.

DAY 11 Monday October 21, 2024 Newport, Rhode Island
We travel south to visit Blithewold Gardens, a summer estate with an exceptional collection of unusual plants and specimen trees in fall colour. The estate has grand views of Narragensett Bay, flower gardens, a greenhouse and whimsical stonework. Newport is known as a New England summer resort and is famous for its historic mansions and rich sailing history. The yacht filled harbour hosted the America’s Cup between 1930 and 1983 until Australia won the cup. This will be our home for two nights.

DAY 12 Tuesday October 22, 2024 Newport
Today we visit two of the most famous Gilded Age Mansions. The Breakers is the grandest of Newport’s summer “cottages”. It was the summer home of Cornelius Vanderbilt 1, which replaced a wooden house, burnt down in 1885. The 70 room palazzo was inspired by the Renaissance palaces of Genoa and Turin. The gardens contain many rare trees particularly copper and weeping beeches and the grand driveway will be clothed in the autumn colour of pin oaks and red maples. We continue with a visit to The Elms, built for Mr and Mrs Edward Berwind in 1901 in the French Chateau style. The terraces ease the transition between the ballroom and the open air and provide a platform from which visitors can view the gorgeous garden, which include a lavish lower garden with marble pavilions and fountains.

DAY 13 Wednesday October 23, 2024 New York, New York
This morning we travel to New York. On the journey we will visit Lyndhurst, the Gothic Revival country house of railway tycoon Jay Gould. It is set on its own magnificent 67 acre park beside the Hudson River. We will have a tour of the house and grounds displaying beautiful linden trees, in glorious fall colour, which give their name to the house. The onion-domed iron framed conservatory was one of the biggest privately owned greenhouses in the US when contructed.

DAY 14 Thursday October 24, 2024 New York
Today we’ll explore New York City on a morning sightseeing tour. We’ll see the famous Statue of Liberty, Times Square, the Empire State Building, the Ground Zero Memorial and the United Nations Building. We will have a short walk around Central Park, the ‘Lungs of the City’, including a walk through the Conservatory Garden, Central Park’s formal garden and one of the most significant public gardens in New York City. This afternoon we visit the Highline Park, a 1.45 mile section of the former elevated rail spur called the West Side Line. Redesigned by landscape architect James Corner Field Operations is was planted by legendary Dutch landscaper Piet Ouldolf. It starts with a thicket of shrubs and small trees leading to an open lawn and an elevated walkway through sumac and magnolia trees.

DAY 15 Friday October 25, 2024 New York
This morning we travel to Brooklyn Botanic Gardens. Comprising fifty two acres of speciality gardens founded in 1910. It has three climate themed plant pavilions, a Bonsai Museum, a Japanese Hill and Pond Garden and rose garden. We’ll revel in the autumn colours of the red maples, Kentucky yellowwoods, sumacs, black tupelos and enjoy massed chrysanthemums. We have free time this afternoon to explore New York. Theatre lovers should consider spending the evening at a Broadway show.

DAY 16 Saturday October 26, 2024 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
Today we travel to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania’s largest city and notable for its rich history. We’ll arrive at the Reading Terminal Market in time for an early lunch. The market was established in 1892 and is the nation’s oldest continuously operating farmers’ market. Amish merchants from Lancaster County bring their farm-fresh products and distinctive dishes to the market. After lunch we enjoy a sightseeing tour of Philadelphia. We see the Liberty Bell, which was rung when the Declaration of Independence was adopted, Independence Hall, the place where the Declaration was signed and the Philadelphia Museum of Art, with its famous “Rocky” steps. We walk along Elfreths Alley, the city’s oldest residential street lined with 18th-century houses, many used as shops.

DAY 17 Sunday October 27, 2024 Philadelphia
We spend most of today in the Brandywine Valley enjoying Longwood Gardens, a kaleidoscopic floral paradise covering more than 1,000 acres, which is considered to be the finest garden in the US. We’ll be there for the Chrysanthemum Festival with stunning displays in the historic main conservatory. We also enjoy a bird’s-eye view of fall foliage from one of the three award-winning treehouses, experiencing autumn’s evolving shifts in colour and texture. Other attractions include an indoor children’s garden, Italian water garden, topiary, orangery, water lily pond, waterfalls, fountains, sprawling greenhouse, museum and open meadows, and winding paths to breath-taking vistas.

DAY 18 Monday October 28, 2024 Philadelphia
Today we visit Bartram’s Garden, considered the earliest botanical garden in the nation that’s still thriving. Named after John Bartram, a devout Quaker who purchased the land in 1728, the 46-acre garden along the Schuylkill River features an expansive collection of native North American flowers and plants, ancient trees, a river trail, water garden and meadow with a stunning view of the Philly skyline. We return to the hotel for a free afternoon and enjoy a farewell dinner in the evening to say goodbye to group members.

DAY 19 Tuesday October 29, 2024 Departure
We will travel to the airport this morning for our return flight to Australia.

DAY 20 Wednesday October 30, 2024 In Flight

DAY 21 Thursday October 31, 2024 Australia
The tour group arrives in Australia and the tour concludes.