|
Cruise Log
| Date |
Entry |
| 08/06/2007 |
Good morning! We are having a lot
of fun, and we both slept till like 9 AM today so no jetlag
troubles.
We flew thru security at RDU (only 8 people in line as we
approached). So we had tons of time to waste. We went into the
Admiral's Lounge for 1st class and business class people. It was
okay but not as fine as the one in Gatwick. We got 2 free drinks
from the bar, apples, and iced water. Lou had 2 Gin and Tonics.
We sat in comfy leather chairs by the huge flat screen
TV and
watched golf. A bunch of golfing men came in and sat there and
talked and drank. Karen read almost the entire book except for
like 4 pages. {It was a small book.) We also left our luggage
there and did some laps in the
airport.
Our flight was good, mostly empty. Karen had some trouble with
losing the expensive Bose headphones and getting the seat belt
caught up in a knot... but it was great.
Yesterday we walked to St James Park (with Betty telling us the
way). We saw pelicans and geese and coots and ducks. Coots are
black with funky white beaks that extend like a shield up over
the forehead -- plus webby strange feet.
We walked to Trafalgar Square and watched the workmen (and
workgirls) set up mats on the ground for the India Now fair to
start there soon. We ate lunch in Frankie's American Italian
food. $50! Yikes! Sandwich, salad, one beer, and 2 cappuccinos!
So for dinner we ate the fruit in our room and the free snacks
in the breakfast room!
After lunch we headed to Hyde park, go t a bit lost in Green
Park, and finally found Hyde park but we were parched and hot
and annoyed and so went right into the Hilton to go to the bar
(Trader Vic's) and Lou had a couple drinks and Karen had Cokes.
Plus lots of water. Lou wants me to record the drink choices:
Mai Tai and Barbados Punch
We really wanted to see a musical -- so right near our hotel
there is WICKED, the back-story of the witches of OZ. It got
rave reviews -- so last night on the way back to the hotel (we
were dragging our feet) we stopped and bought what the girl said
were "excellent" seats for tonight.
In the snacks room, a woman started talking to us and we ended
up staying in there 30 minutes longer (we had been about to
leave) and heading all about the wedding in Poland they went to
and all their plans for sightseeing in London.
We went to bad at 8 PM.
This is our cruise report for the web if case you could not
tell!
Do not worry about us. I feel great.
Love you,
K and L |
| 08/07/2007 |
On Tuesday we woke up at almost 9 again! Had
another great breakfast in the executive lounge and came here to
check email 30 min for one pound. Then we went upstairs for a
cap and a latte. We tried to sit outside but nasty smokers drove
Karen crazy. We decided to meander thru London 2.5 miles to the
Winston Churchill museum called Britain at War. It was a great
walk -- took about 3 hours because we stopped a lot. We found
the pier for the Thames boat ride today. Karen brought her hat
and wore it whenever the sun came out.
We stopped at the Crown and
Cushion pub on the way for lunch;
that was one of Lou's must-dos. I had a lot of trouble trying to
take his photo. Lou says the beer was good and the fish and
chips were okay.
As we got very close to the museum, and we were so darned tired,
we saw a huge line on the sidewalk. I was aghast at the idea of
having to stand in that line. So we asked the last people in the
line a family of four what the line was for, and when they said
the DUNGEON I said oh thank God. The London dungeon is a
"Tower
of Terror"-like drop and maybe something else. So we passed the
huge line, smiling all the way, and there was the Britain at
War.
It started with a movie about what it was like for the ordinary
people in London during the blitz. They had actors and actresses
reading from actual letters that people wrote at the time. One
was really sad -- it was a young man very seasick on a boat
headed to war begging mom to write a letter to the home
secretary to get him off the boat -- and then they read the
telegram that informed his mother that he was missing.
Something like 874,000 children were evacuated to the
countryside during the war. Some kids wrote happy letters home,
but other kids wrote about being beaten and locked up! Awful.
The room with the movie smelled very musty and dank. it was made
up to be an underground bomb shelter.
The museum walls had a lot of
newspaper clippings and cigarette card adverts and old photos.
It was cool.
Lots of motivational signs from the
government: Is this trip really
necessary? If you drive alone
you drive with Hitler. Ladies,
go thru your closet and mend -- do not buy new.
So we had planned to do the river tour but ran out of time so we
took the tube back to the hotel. It went really well. We had to
ask at the info window where to go. We got a free bottle of
water! No trouble except Lou got stuck in the out gate and the
worker guy was no help. We figured it is exactly what happened
last time -- if you follow too closely the gate locks you out
because it seems like you are trying to sneak thru.
At the hotel we sat in the lobby bar and Karen drank tea and Lou
drank drinks (GTs). We ate peanuts and snacky cheesy crackers and
olives. The waitress gave us a cappuccino to go but we had to
promise to bring back the cup (which we did this AM).
Then we went to the play, WICKED, and
it was great. We had great seats with a aisle in
front of us so we could really stretch
out our legs. You can eat and drink in the theatre here. We got
water and chocolate.
After the play we wanted dinner 10 PM ish,. We walked into one
restaurant that had fancy white tablecloths but a woman was
having a fight with the manager and
the waiter just told us to wait so we split and
went across the street to the Nando's
chicken Portuguese restaurant which
turned out to be fantastic. Lou got his chicken EXTRA HOT and I
got mine medium. There were Portuguese rolls!
Then to bed. |
| 08/08/2007 |
After breakfast we headed over to Victoria
Station and went to Boots to buy Lou Afrin. It is not
called Afrin but it worked. We stood in line for info on how to
find the RAF museum. But it was
so lovely out, we decided to do the river tour instead. We took
the tube to Westminster and got
tickets for 12:30 boat but walked onto the 12:00 boat. It was
restful on the river tour. The
tour dropped us off at Greenwich right at about 12:45.
There is
a red orange ball that gets
dropped to mark 1:00 and we saw it. We walked up a big hill to
the Royal Observatory. We stood
in line for awhile to take our own pictures of ourselves
straddling the Prime Meridian. We also
saw an awesome 24 hour clock. There was a Chinese guy in line
taking pictures for all the Chinese
girls. he kept calling Next ! and it got to be funny then
annoying because it took so long to
have every girl taken with multiple cameras -- and each shot had
to be looked at to make sure it
was ok.
We got the guard to tell us what was in the museum ands he
convinced us to go in. We went on a
free guided tour. He explained that 1735
there was a huge problem in that no one could figure out longitude
when on sea voyages. There was a prize offered of 20,000 pounds
(like 3 million pounds today,
which is about 8 million dollars) for the first person to solve
the issue. An uneducated mechanic
guy named Harrison came forward and got a clockmaker to loan him
250 pounds so he could quit his
day job. It took 6 years and he came up with a clock (called H1)
without a pendulum (because a
rocking boat messes up the pendulum) and presented it to the
committee and got sent on a sea voyage
(he was sooooo seasick) and passed and they wanted to give him
the money but he said no I have a
better clock in mind just give me more cash to build it... So
they did. H2 took from 1737 to
1740. Again refused the money and went for another one (H3) H3
took from 1740 to 1759. But
halfway thru he realized it would be better to make it a watch
so simultaneously 1755 to 1750 he
made H4 which was a giant pocket watch (maybe 5 inches across).
In the end his son took H4 on sea
trip and it was 3 X better than it needed to be! There was
trouble because they did not like the
watch idea (watches were notoriously unreliable and they also
thought it would be impossible to
reproduce) and also astronomers told them hang on we have almost
solved the problem, don't give
the money to that mechanic... but after a second sea trial they
had to, but only offered 1/2
money. They made him make another copy and he was so old he
wrote to the king and eventually got
the money.
K2 was a copy on H4 that went out on the bounty, mutiny, lost at
sea for 20 years, presented to a
ship that found him, and then stolen in Chile before he could
get it home! 20 years later it was
found and brought back to England. We saw it in the case.
Then we went to the museum cafe and
had tea, sandwiches,
beer, and a yucky brownie (should have
ordered the scone, when in Rome). Then we walked back to
the boat and then rode the tube home and sat in
hotel lobby bar for awhile.
We did not want to waste tons of money for dinner, so we went to
the Internet cafe down the street and ate excellent chicken soup
and an overcooked "jacket" (baked)
potato.
Bed -- want
to go to bed! Got to get up
early tomorrow to get to the ship.
Love,Karen |
| 08/09/2007 |
Hi Patsy and Omer! Hope you are feeling okay in
the heat wave and that you are having some fun.
Travel day, not all that exciting, not all that fun. It was sort
of hard to figure out where in the airport we were supposed to
go to meet Princess. We dragged our bags back and forth along
the crowded terminal -- and eventually an airport worker wearing
a t-shirt that said How Can I Help?
helped us by turning us over to a lady whose company USED TO
meet princess passengers at he airport -- and she got us to the
right place. Then we had to sit for a long time waiting for the
bus but we chatted with Laura and Louie, an elderly couple from
Houston, and the time flew. (We never saw
them again once we got on the ship!)Finally we were told to go to the
bus -- and we followed a lady thru the throngs of people across
the airport and won three flights (ramps, not stairs) and
eventually go on the bus. Karen was talking to a lady from
Barbados. Karen could no longer see the tour lady, so she just
followed the lady right in front of her.
The bus ride was 2.5
hours long, and when we got there, a guy came on board and said
we should stay on the bus till the terminal cleared out a bit
because there were already too many people in line. Well, it
was hot and no leg room and we wanted off. Lou tried to get
Karen to get off but she is too compliant and wimpy. Then a guy
from the back of the bus got fed up and walked off, and we got
right behind him. A woman near the front got
huffy and snapped "Well, what ever happened to waiting till the
terminal cleared out?!" and Karen said that it was just too
unbearable to stay another minute on the bus. So then Karen told
the guy who said to stay on the buss that it was unbearable and
that he ought to tell people it was okay to get off because they
were all very unhappy.
Wrap it up! Got to get in line to talk to the future cruise lady
about Alaska
|
| 08/10/2007 |
Friday
Le Havre
woke up at 6AM to go to sit down breakfast
Restaurant does not open till 7AM
So buffet
Catherine tour guide
she borrowed my pen
not so good at keeping the tour all together and moving
she did not tell us what was going on
Bus ride to Rouen
Lou lost an earplug cover
Big laugh when Karen said, "Leave the late ones behind
-- if they are
this much trouble now, what are they going to be like all day?"
Looking for a cash machine
Tour info people said go to Post Office
Catherine said there are plenty on the street
Cathedral
chairs not pews
tombs with lying down statues
broken statues attacked during French Revolution
Still no cash machine, asked Catherine again
fro help -- she pointed
right across the street! Success! Euros!
Old clock
Used my rudimentary French to purchase croissants with chocolate and espresso in a paper cup
for the two of us during our very limited free time on the tour.
lunch on the ship, followed by laundry,
hot tub, and writing postcards at coffee bar.
talked to Future Cruise Lady, Jenny, and made Alaska reservation
Tom Drake, old comedian,
very funny jokes about being on a
cruise and old men on elevators passing gas
|
| 08/11/2007 |
Belgium
Saturday
We should have typed this in yesterday because now I have
forgotten everything...
At breakfast we met Maureen and Truett from Alabama. She was a
school teacher, and he was an anesthesiologist who retired after
a heart attack.
Jacques was the tour guide. We drove to Brussels on a bus.
We drive thru the area where all the European Union offices are.
Brussels is the capital of Europe. Can't remember anything else!
We ate turkey for lunch in the large
upstairs room of a restaurant. There were long long tables, and
Karen was on the bench against the wall, sort of trapped till
everyone got up. Maureen and Truett came and sat next to us,
which was great. We talked a lot.
There were two couples next to Karen. One guy did not like
the food but he would not say so. He said "Have I ever lied to
you?" to Karen. Very funny.
After lunch, we got in line for the
ladies bathroom and everyone else
left! After Lou came out of the men's room, Karen sent him back
in to see if it was empty. It was, so she and Maureen ended up in
the men's room.
When we got outside, everyone was gone except the tour escort
who pointed us down the street. We caught up with the tour at
the statue of a little girl peeing into a fountain.
We walked to the square with a large church and guild houses and
shops. Bummer -- we had to choose either to chop OR to go with
the guide on the walking tour. What a rip off because we were
supposed to have both. We chose shopping. Well Karen shopped and
Lou took a lot of pics of the square. then we walked around the
streets a bit. Then when it was time to go, Karen ran into the
chocolate shop to pick up her bags and Lou took the opportunity
to buy a box of chocolates filled with various liquors.
On the way back to the bus, Lou was stung on the neck. The bite
swelled up a bit but eventually went down.
We wanted to sleep but the guy kept talking on the way back.
We liked him and tipped him which was good because when we were
standing in line he came down with Lou's hat from Grand Canyon
calling out, "Did someone leave this hat on the bus?"
It took 20 minutes to get onto the ship. There were two gangways
but when we were close, they closed ours and made us MERGE with
the other line. the other people were not happy.
Funny magician last night who picked a guy's pockets on stage.
Newlywed game was dumb because the contestants were bozos. Lou
suggested that we, Frankie and Glen, and
Patsy and Omer could be the entire newlywed game for
the Alaska cruise. |
| 08/12/2007 |
Day at sea. |
| 08/13/2007 |
Had breakfast in dining room with 2 couples
that were a bit whiney.
Went on Two Kingdoms bus tour. We spent most of the time on the
bus and very little time actually walking and really seeing the
sights. Lou was unhappy that we did not stop to see the 6 mile
bridge between Demark and Sweden. Nor did we have a clear view
of the cool condo building called Turning Turso.
Driving across the bridge was cool, but it seem to take forever
between downtown Copenhagen and Lund. We went to Lund, Sweden to
visit a church and drive around. The church was nothing to write
home about. There were some interesting columns including one
that looked like a man hugging a column. A giant lost a bet with
Bishop and he was going to tear down the church and God turned
him into stone.
We then got back in the bus and drove all the way back to
Copenhagen. We drove around to look at many of the royalty
buildings, palace, and statues. Not impressed. Copenhagen just
doesn't have the beauty of other European capitals. Not
wonderful gardens, breath-taking architecture, fountains, etc.
It was just ok, nothing special.
We finally got off the bus so people could visit the restroom.
We walked over to a square where the royal family lived. Nothing
special. Karen bought some postcards, sodas, and that was it.
Got back on the bus and drove back to the ship after about
another 30 minutes of just driving around Copenhagen without
getting off.
Once back on the ship, we ate pizza. Karen met up with Maureen
and went shopping on the pier. Lou got a drink and went hot
tubbing. Later Lou met up with Karen for coffee and cookies. No
purchases for Karen, but Maureen did buy something for one of
her 9 grandchildren.
Now it is time to go back to the cabin for R&R.
|
| 08/14/2007 |
Here is the short version of events:
Tuesday
Norway
We docked at 8 AM
We were positioned so that our balcony looked out at the
Akershus Castle, a very old fortress
We ate breakfast in the room
We rushed off on a tour at 8:45
Vigeland Sculpture Garden, August Vigeland sculptor, made a deal
with the city of Oslo: he gave them 260 statues and they gave
him a park to put them in. He had won many awards and honors as
a sculptor.
Awesome park! Great lawns and flows, amazing naked statues.
A large crowd was celebrating Pakistan Day at the gates when we
arrived. 30,000 Muslims in Norway; guide said they were well
settled and integrated.
82% of the population belongs to the state church which is
Protestant (used to be Catholic till 1600s).
Nazi's invaded and put up barracks in the park but allowed
Gustav to keep working on his park because 1) he was not
political and 2) they mistakenly thought he had their mindset re
gesund-heit-freunden. Dragon statues were secretly anti-Nazi
Did I mention that we were nervous about the tour because there
was a HUGE annoying group of Russians on it? But it turned out
that they were quiet and polite and got back to the bus on time
every time!
We headed to the site of the ski jump for the 1952 Olympics.
Tried to buy a hat and gloves but there was no price on the
gloves and the inexperienced kid at the register would not
guess.
We went to the open air folk museum like a Plymouth plantation.
We were a bit tired of the tour guide so we trailed off on our
own after Karen got Lou a double espresso. We walked down quite
gravel paths and saw transplanted tiny authentic old houses,
grass (turf) roofs
Karen bought gloves, a hat, a magnet, and 8 postcards for $173
American by accident (the gloves were $104) and it makes her
sick to think about the wasted money, but it is also sort of
funny, and the gloves are lovely red knit with embroidery...
Town Hall has two towers one with a clock 50 cm larger than big
Ben
Back to ship, ate pizza and hotdogs, then back out to see
Akershus Castle because the paths etc looked so cool.
It was fun to roam the castle. It started to rain!
There was a tour guide over the loudspeaker as we cruised away
from Norway. Interesting but cold
Very nice dinner with Maureen and Truett
Went to hear some woman singer with "the voice of an angel" but
it was opera-ish and loud and yuck -- so
we came to the internet cafe
instead!
Did I mention Lou bought me a great watch for our anniv
tomorrow? |
| 08/15/2007 |
Day at sea. Our 15th
wedding anniversary. What a better way to celebrate than
on a cruise ship. |
| 08/16/2007 |
We stayed on the ship all morning, slept late
and had breakfast and sat in the hot tub. There was a cold wind
blowing, which made it very hard to get out of the hot tub.
We had a small lunch just because there was no food in our day
planned till after midnight.
We went ashore on the tender and got onto our coach for the tour
to Bannockburn and Stirling Castle. Our guide was Tom. He wore a
kilt.
At the Bannockburn Visitor Center,
we saw a film
about Robert The Bruce. There was a guided tour out onto the
grounds to see and hear about the battle, but the guide took
people EARLIER than the time he told us.
Only 12 minutes left on my login!
Okay, so we stood around waiting for the guy at the door,
and then
decided to walk out to the status. There were 4 of us waiting
for the guy. We found him at the statue with a bunch of people.
He was telling them all about the battle but we missed it. Karen
was ticked. One the way back, she told him that 4 people had
been waiting for him at the door and he seemed unconcerned. So
as she got on the bus she said, "Is this going to happen again?
Where you tell us one time but do it earlier?" Lou laughed and
laughed.
So Tom the Guide got on the mike and thoroughly apologized.
At Brannockburn, Lou put on a replica helmet. Karen bought two
paperbacks for 50 pence each and then left
them in the cupboard in the ship's library where passengers can
exchange paperbacks.
On to Stirling:
Great castle, being restored.
People walking
around with headsets but we had guided tour.
Overlooks the Stirling bridge, very strategic because that was
the only way to get troops to north Scotland. Robert the Bruce
demolished it because he did not want it to fall into English
hands. The castle we toured was the NEW castle built about 1380s.
New!
We visited the great hall of James 4th,
whiskey store (Lou was in heaven), and
the tea shop for tea and scones.
Karen dumped SALT into her tea cup by accident, and the guy gave
her a whole new pot. Nice.
There was this baby in a stroller, screaming
its head off while
the parents stood there unconcerned.
Across the plaza, Lou joked with other people about it
and got a photo.
Lou got a pic of statue on corner of building which the king
disguised as he snuck out amongst the people.
Ramparts, had great views of the surrounding countryside
Lots of fireplaces
Remodeling, restoring -- we saw iron beams (orange) in the
ceilings. In 10 years they will have made it back into a palace
Robert the Bruce
William Wallace
Braveheart was not accurate in
the following ways: no kilt for Robert because he was
from the lowlands and only highland Scots wore kilts, no face
painting, and they forgot to put the bridge in the decisive
battle scene
We were dropped off at the bus at 5:30 and
hung out in South Queensferry till time to get on bus.
We wandered a bit into town and found some very nice public
bathrooms where we bundled up into our extra clothes (layering
is key) to stay warm. We got on coach early and chatted with driver Morris and tour
guide Kaitie who was married to Tom. We hid the bag with
the whiskey in the
overhead compartment and just hoped
that no one would steal it.
Drive to castle was wicked nerve-wracking lots of traffic and we thought
event started at 8 but really not till 9!! Long walk up hill one
side of castle, and then all the way back down to get to the
back of the line. Big crowd, sort of hard to get to our seats North Stand, F V7
and V8
Seats were TINY and crushed! very uncomfortable leg cramps knees
jammed into seat in from of you. Karen
used the scarf she bought in Norway NOT around her neck, but as
a cushion for her knees. We were jammed so tight that it
wasn't till nearly the end that we started to feel cold.
GREAT SHOW
Taiwanese senior girl high school band, color guard, flags,
rifle team
Middlesex Country Massachusetts fife and drum band
band on horseback
Russians dancing
troubled disadvantaged London kids on motorbikes, criss cross
SCARY
Trinidad and Tobago steel drums
lots of plaid -- lots of bagpipes
30 minutes to get back to bus, easy walk on Writers
Close.
Walked right on to a tender, no wait.
Midnight dinner bed at 1AM
Then this morning, Lou brought Karen a latte at 9 AM in bed! PERFECTO!
Bravo! |
| 08/17/2007 |
Day at sea. |
| 08/18/2007 |
Greenock.
We were in our cabin, getting ready for
the day, when the faint strains of bagpipe music came to our
ears. Karen said, "Where is THAT coming from?" and opened
the balcony sliding glass door. The lovely sound got
louder. It was raining, so we had to put on shoes and
coats, but we rushed out onto the balcony. There at the
door to the cruise terminal stood a lone piper, welcoming us to
the port. Fantastic! We looked up and saw other
people leaning over balcony rails and the deck 15 rail as well.
When the song ended, we clapped. He played for quite
awhile. We felt very much welcomed. (Some ports are
not that welcoming, and you sort of feel like an unwelcome
invader.)
It was raining. Not just misty
drizzle, but real rain. Luckily, we both have excellent
rain coats with hoods, so we were good to go. It made
Karen very homesick for Seattle!
We went to the village of Luss, on Lock
Lomond. We walked through the streets with tiny cottages
and front gardens bursting with flowers. The beach was
tiny and we walked onto the pier. We said hello to some
brave kayakers. We took pictures of the foggy mountains.
Then we headed to the tea ship. Our guide was there (Ken).
He was drinking a cappuccino. We ordered tea and coffee
and scones. Yum! Karen browsed in the gift shop but
it was very pricey. She saw a teddy bear in a kilt that
would be perfect for Valerie, but it was 24 pounds sterling
(like $50) -- sorry Val at least I was thinking of you!
It was very steamy when we all got back on
the bus. All that rain water!
The guide asked if we wanted to skip the
lookout, where on a clear day you can see for miles. A few
people raised their hands to stop, and we got off. Any
chance to stretch our legs! We walked to the lookout and
got some rainy photos -- but Lou's camera get really wet (it was
pouring) and then the camera would not work any more till it
eventually dried off. That's why we have no pics of the
castle or Invarary or ferry ride.
We went to a castle, not a fortified type
of castle, but more like a stately manor house type castle.
It turns out, we like fortified castles a lot more.
Stately homes are not as exciting. It was a nice place.
The armory was filled with weapons hung on the walls in a
decorative manner. We went into a turret where they
displayed the good china.
We went to a hotel in Invarary for lunch.
We sat with awesome people and had a great lunch, but Karen was
antsy to get outside and do some shopping. We wandered
into a store and bought Scottish baseball caps and a Ross
hunting tartan scarf for Karen.
On the way home, we took a ferry ride
across Loch Eck. We had the choice to sit on the bus or
get out. We got out. We stood in a sheltered area
and watched the waves and surrounding mountains. We went
upstairs to the tiny lounge area, which was just a room with
tables and chairs. Really, it was so much like Seattle! We
loved it. We want to come back to Scotland for sure.
We are Rosses after all!
There were some tables set up in the
terminal building selling stuff, but we were shopped out.
When we left port, the bagpiper was back! He played again
to say goodbye. Now that was a great touch. |
| 08/19/2007 |
Dublin.
We got up extra early 6:30 AM so that we
could have a sit down breakfast (starts at 7:00AM) and then
Karen could go to a meeting at 8:00AM and then we could get off
the ship for our tour at 9:15. As the waiter led us
through the dining room to a shared table near the windows, we
were thrilled to see Maureen and Truett with empty seats next to
them! We were brought right to their table. Another
couple joined us from Florida (originally Brookline,
Massachusetts). She talked a lot and he said nothing.
Anyway at 7:30 the captain announced that were anchored 2 miles
off the coast of Ireland. The winds were gale force, and
he had decided not to try to dock because it was too dangerous.
This meant that we would have to wait till high tide came around
again, at about 1:30PM, because the channel was not deep enough
for us except at high tide. We all took it well except for
the Florida woman who complained bitterly.
Ron, the saxophone guy, later told us that
during his 3.5 months on the ship, this was the fourth port they
had not been able to dock at on schedule because of weather.
This was the first time we had experienced this. The
captain came on again later in the morning to reiterate his
message for people who had been asleep at 7:30 -- and to make it
clear that there was no guarantee that we would ever dock,
because the winds had not abated. All tours were cancelled
(except for the evening "Dinner and Irish Cabaret" tour that we
had tickets for).
The cruise director published a new
"Patter" with a lot of additional events on board, to keep
people occupied.
We can't really remember what we did that
day. At one point we went back to the cabin. Karen
curled up in bed and Lou packed the souvenirs. Karen was
asleep and Lou was out on our balcony when the ship actually
docked. At about 3:45PM, people could finally get off the
ship. There were loads of buses lined up. The
tickets were $5 one way for the 30-minute ride into Dublin. So
many people lined up to get on the busses that they all filled
up, leaving loads of people behind. The cruise staff asked
people to go back on board and sit comfortably because it would
be an hour before all the busses got back.
We hung over the side of the ship watching
the long line of people boarding the busses. We were
tempted to try to go to town. But our evening tour left
from the Princess Theater at 6:30. If we went into town,
the round trip bus ride would be one hour. That left us
something like 45 minutes in Dublin. What could we
accomplish? A bit of shopping? It did not seem
worth it. We stopped by the Tour Desk to see if we could
go into town and then make our way to the dinner on our own --
but the guy said that the hotel was out of town and we would pay
an additional 30 Euro for the taxi ride.
So we hung out on the ship till it was
time for our tour. We talked to a pianist named Anatoly
who had ten minutes to smoke before he had to report to the
Atrium to play piano even though there was really no one aboard.
We also chatted with a nice guy whose wife had gone into town to
shop. He lives in Arizona and owns a boat and a 5th wheel
trailer.
We boarded the bus for our dinner tour.
The streets were empty because it was Sunday evening, and our
tour guide told us a little about what we were seeing. We
crossed the River Liffey. We went to the big hotel and
entered a huge room with long rows of tables. We got
pretty good seats; it was not too tight. There was some
elbow room and room for the waiters to move about. Heck,
after the Edinburgh Tattoo, nothing will ever seem tight again!
We sat near Carol and Sharon, with whom we
had had dinner one night. The food was good. Karen
got a huge slab of salmon. Lou got the beef (overcooked).
Both the dessert and the Irish coffee had alcohol, so Karen
pushed them toward Lou and ordered what turned out to be a
lovely pot of tea.
Then the show started. The
performers consisted of four singers, one pianist, one
accordion, one fiddler, seven dancers (one male), and one
fantastic comedian. This show plays seven nights a week,
May to October, and has been around for 30 years. It was
great!
When we walked out afterward, there was
some confusion about finding our bus, but we all found it and
had a nice ride back to the ship. |
| 08/20/2007 |
Day at sea. |
| 08/21/2007 |
Ugh! Time to go home. |
|
