Triple X's

Greetings from our last port of call Amsterdam.  When we awoke around 7 I looked out the window and saw smokestacks I thought we had docked but no, that was the locks that we had to pass through and actually almost 3 hours later we reached the passenger terminal in Amsterdam.

As we were moving up the Amstel River it began raining so it appeared that our steak of good weather luck had run out.  However by the time we reached the tour buses which we reached all under cover it had ceased raining, and by the end of our three hour walking and canal tour I was in shirt sleeves and enjoying the hottest sun of the trip.

Amsterdam was founded in 1275 as a fishing village with a population of 30,000 by 1600 but this century was the Golden Age for the Dutch as they established trading companies out of Holland that traded the world like the Hudson Bay company in New York and Canada, and the Dutch East India company that established trades routes to the East the primary spot Java is now Jakarta. So by 1700 there were 200,000 people in Amsterdam.  Today there are 800,000 but more bicycles because only 30% of people own cars.

Politically Amsterdam was under Spanish rule but several districts were given autonomy and a couple of them were Holland.  Today the word Holland is not used as the country is called the Netherlands but an orange clad nation roots for Holland at soccer games.  After the reformation the Catholics were not allowed to worship publicly (1578) until Napoleon came by in 1795 but after Waterloo the Netherlands formed a constitutional monarchy.  On April 13^th (Speer’s 40^th birthday) the Queen abdicated and King William Alexander became King the first King in 124 years.  His queen is from Argentina and her name is Maxima.

Our walking tour took us from the city center around the area and included the red light district which is really a mixed area.  The XXX in the city crest does not stand for SEX DRUGS and ROCK and ROLL but for St Nicholas’s protection against the three threats of water (rising) fire, and plague.  In fact the government has a program buying up properties which are used for sex and drugs.  However there will be coffee houses (which is an establishment where besides drinking coffee, cannabis is legal) and red light houses….just not so many. We did not actually go into a church but walked through a museum and a former convent that is used as a protestant church and has a 1644 wooden house, they now have to be brick for fire hazard.  The last few yards we walked was through the world famous floating flower market which was concentrating on selling tulip bulbs (tulips are actually from Turkey)

The last hour of our organized tour was a canal boat ride.  The boat was in much better shape than those in St Petersburg.  The canals were all hand dug and this year the city is celebrating the 400 year anniversary.  The canals run in 3 half circles radiating from the harbor.  The canals were used to control water, drainage, and for traveling.  The merchants built warehouses along the canals and unloaded ships directly in front of their business.  Today those old warehouses have been converted to upscale residences.  Along the trip we passed the Ann Frank house which is the most visited place in Amsterdam over 1,000,000 a year.  Lyle and Marlene went through there.  It was a sad experience.  The family and friends a total of 8 people hid in small area behind a business owned by the father Otto Frank.  Ann died in August of 1945 in Auschwitz of typhoid not gassed.

We got back to ship about 2 and ate a bite.  I will send this blog using up the last of my internet.  Tomorrow we will disembark between 5 and 8:30 making our way to Paris.  We do not have anything certain booked until we reach our hotel in Paris……so be sure to check how we make out.

 

 

 

 

 

Ship Shapes

I am writing this on the second sea day after Tallinn.  We have been entertaining ourselves on the Carnival Legend along with about 2300 other passengers attended to by a crew of 900.  This is Day 10 of our Baltic Cruise and the end is fast approaching.  We have one more port of call…Amsterdam, and then overnight back to Dover.

We have met a number of other passengers this morning at breakfast a couple of Canadian couples and a couple rebuilding their home on Long Island damaged by hurricane Sandy.  Yesterday we talked with a couple from Croatia who live in Los Angeles but spent 4 months in Stone, Croatia.  The other couple was from Nottingham England.  All seem to enjoy cruising and Carnival for its value for the cost.  I certainly agree.

I took some pictures of the ship and will down load a few with today’s blog.  On Sunday after we dock the ship will turn around and leave for a cruise around Norway.  After that, Legend will cruise around the British Isles and then a transatlantic cruise to Greenland, Newfoundland, Canada ending in New York.  Then the next one is to Tampa where the ship will go into dry dock for a couple of months for refurbishing.  We have met some cruisers who are going all the way to Tampa and many that will be staying on Sunday.  The ship was built in 2002 in Helsinki and still in very good shape.  It certainly has more bars nestled away than the Holland America Line.  I think the shows produced by Carnival are better with more dancers and equally as good vocalists.  The children for people that bring them are accommodated by a nice program, and there are a couple of pools and a water slide.  However, there is a secluded Serenity Pool area for adults only.  And, the late night comedy club caters to adults only with an earlier edition for families.  In the pictures you will see the décor of the ship with three “Hyatt” type outside elevators with plenty of other elevators.  In speaking with Tony from Croatia who had a tour of the engine room there are twelve engines with no drive shafts but the engines drive a generator which produces electricity which is then directed to the propellers and bow thrusters allowing the huge ship to maneuver into some very tight places to dock.

These last two sea days Charlotte and I got up and made the dining rooms for breakfast.  Yesterday Charlotte did some laundry for the second time and I watched a move, “Taken 2” from 12 to 2.  I then played the poker tourney but lost on a bad decision disregarding a higher straight.  We then have a cocktail hour before dining at 6.  Last night was elegant evening 2 and the show after dinner was a Marti Gras theme, “Big Easy” we again got front row seats and it was a great production.  The night before Kathy Satterfield, a British vocalist gave an energetic show singing and impersonating recent star female vocalist.  Last night we caught the comedy club for a while, the comedian was Ronnie Bullard from North Carolina.

Yesterday I did some research on how we are going to get to Paris for a couple of days post cruise.  The plan is to get off the ship with our own luggage before 6 AM then hopefully get a taxi to the P &O ferry just about ½ mile down the docks catching a 90 minute ferry across the English Channel.  Then in Calais we will catch a train to Paris.  There is some uncertainty regarding how the schedules will work together and will the need for three taxis but hopefully we will get to Paris early Sunday afternoon.

I still have about 60 minutes of internet time so I promise to send one and possibly two more cruise reports before we disembark.

But everything is ship shape except of course our waistlines.  Fortunately I am typing instead of eating sometimes.  I would say the fun in Carnival is food and drink oriented, but it is a great way to relax and for me to see parts of the world that I have only read about and seen pictures.  However after watching the movie today about the capture of Osama bin Laden, “Dark Thirty” I am considering skipping Pakistan and Afghanistan.

But tomorrow the port of Amsterdam will be a repeat country for me, but this time I will be downtown instead of at the airport should be great. Lyle and Marlene are going to the Anne Frank house.  The Macartney are walking and doing canal tour. 

 

 

 

 

Tale of Tallinn

Another beautiful day this time in Estonia.  By gaining an hour we were well rested by the time our ship arrived into the port of Tallinn at 7 AM.  Since Charlotte and I did not sign up for a shore excursion we decided to have breakfast in Truffles the white table cloth restaurant where we normally eat early dinner.  As we were eating, enjoying the company of a couple from Ottawa, we watched Lyle and Marlene ambling up the pier.

We left about 9 AM and found a hop on hop off bus for a tour.  The bus ride took about 50 minutes and we ended up at Old Town along with all the other tours.

Tallinn is now a modern city with a medieval past.  One of the main values of Tallinn is that a large share of the old buildings is preserved and there are now some modern skyscrapers as well.  The present Tallinn area was inhabited at the end of the 10^th century. The Estonian tribes built a stronghold on the Toompea hill in the immediate vicinity of the port. Thanks to its advantageous location near the seas it became an important stop on the East-West trading route. Denmark conquered the stronghold in1219 and built their own fortress there and this began the 700 year period during the time it was ruled by other countries, with many battles fought between the countries for control of Estonia occurring on Estonian land.  Tallinn joined the Hanseatic League of German trading towns in the 13^th century and has keep the form of government established then Peter the Great acquired Tallinn when he defeated the Swedes and built a palace where he stayed when he visited.

There are 1.4 million people in Estonia with about 400,000 in Tallinn.  In 1940 the blue black and white Estonia flag was banned with Estonia under Soviet rule until the bloodless singing revolution started on the “song grounds” where the stage fits 40,000 singers on August 20, 1991. 

Our bus went by the Song Grounds, the central business district, and old fire house and the new Methodist church not to mention the skyscrapers and hotels, but the focal part of the town is still Tallinn old town still behind some limestone walls, but the moat has been removed and the towers have red roofs instead of open for defensive purposes.

Did some souvenir shopping in the bring sunlight and got back to the ship about 1 PM.  I decide to write the blog from the Lido deck around the pool and when I got back to my spot with my beer and cheeseburger, Lyle and Marlene were sitting there they had run into Charlotte and she told them where we were.  We compared notes and purchases and they have retired for a nap so I will finish writing, and then add just a few pictures.  I have more pictures but it takes forever to down load them and internet is very pricey so sorry about that.

We now have two sea days before Amsterdam.  In Amsterdam I will try to find free WI fi for the next blog and also to make our travel arrangements to get to Paris since plan A fell through with a taxi to drive us.

So we will play at Sea for two days and get back to you in Holland. 

 

 

 

 

For the Love of Pete

For the Love of Pete

Yellowbluvus is how you say I love you in Russian.  It has been a wonderful two days in St Petersburg Russia, and we are about to set sail back to the West.  Speaking of West that is what St Petersburg is all about the West.  Peter the Great was enamored with the West.  He had some German friends and he traveled long before he took the throne.  Anyway he believed that Russia should open itself to sea and become more westernized so he moved the capital of Russia here in 1712 when it was mostly swamp.

In fact the new cruise terminal is built on reclaimed bay of Finland land that was swamp just a few years ago.  When we arrived we became the 5^th cruise ship in the port.  So the first morning before 7AM just after docking there were at least 50 buses in a line on the way to the cruise ships.  You may not go ashore unless you have a cruise shore excursion or pay handsomely for a Russian Visa.

St Petersburg was the Imperial capital of Russia from 1713 to 1918 and has been known as Petrograd starting in 1914 and in 1924 to Leningrad but in 1991 in a referendum the name of the city St Petersburg was re born.

Our first day Monday started cloudy but developed into a very pleasant sunny day.  Our guide Irina says there are only 36 sunny days a year so we were very lucky.  Our first order of business was a canal ride starting on the Mika river and then over to Neva River.  The city is known as the Venice of the North with 500 bridges and 1000 palaces along the water.  Ten percent of Russia is actually water. The Neva is a primary water route from the White Sea to the Black Sea.  Our canal cruise lasted an hour and gave us a good grounding of the central city.  Peter started by building the Peter and Paul Fortress and the first seaport.  The ornate red lighthouses show below were part or the seaport surrounded by custom houses etc.  The fortress and the first cathedral were built on an island which also was a prison.  Peter the Great first lived in a log house (really brick) but soon built the Winter Palace and much more.

On day one we actually toured three cathedrals, all of which are state museums.  The First Cathedral has the tombs of all the czars, and the guide told us all about all of them.  The second one was St Isaac’s Cathedral and the final one was the Church of the Resurrection of Spilled Blood.  All were massive and beautiful, but none had pews or seats and none are officially used for worship although people do gather on Easter and Christmas and on some Sundays.  At the middle of day one we had lunch at a cute restaurant where we served vodka and champagne and a very nice lunch.

That evening Lyle and Marlene took a Neve River cruise and Charlotte and I stayed on board and retired early.  This morning the alarm rang again at 5:30 AM for Day Two.  We got started a little earlier and drove about an hour away to Catherine’s summer palace in Pushkin.  We got there just as gates opened.  This Palace was destroyed by the siege of Leningrad but the Nazi’s never did get to Leningrad.  In 1944 efforts started to restore Catherine’s summer palace from old photographs and documents.  It was breathtaking with the highlight being the Amber room which was “wallpapered” with amber mosaic weighing over 6,000 pounds.  Not all rooms have restored but those that are were truly gorgeous. Returning to the city we had another wonderful lunch in one of the palaces where we enjoyed vodka, champagne and another chicken main course.  We used the time to get to know some others on the cruise including a couple from Charlotte and another from Fayetteville, North Carolina.

After lunch it was off to the Hermitage which may rank with the Louvre in Paris as the best art gallery in the world but I will have to wait until Paris to let you know.  There are over 1000 rooms and the calculation is that if you spent 20 seconds looking at each piece it would take you 8 years to see it all.  We spent just 1 and ½ hours returning to the boat by 5 PM.

The time in St Petersburg was certainly the high point of the cruise and just to let you know I am cutting short the commentary I have over 26 pages of notes for the blog.

Today is the anniversary or Lyle and Marlene and Lyle’s birthday as well so we bought them a drink before dinner and with the ship’s staff sang Happy Birthday and Happy Anniversary.  After dinner there was a Faberge eggstravaganza in the Fun shops and you will have to ask Charlotte and Marlene about it as they each just returned clutching a souvenir egg.

Well it is time for the show.. a juggler.  I am going to send the blog and then meet them later.  Finally tomorrow is Tallinn Estonia.  The Snows have another excursion we are going to wait a while and go ashore plus we gain back one of the hours we lost tonight.

So in closing it was a Bolshoi (meaning grand) visit to St. Petersburg we loved it even in a blue bus with just a touch of yellow.

 

 

Helsinki Highlights

Saturday was a Sea Day as we made way from Germany to Finland.  But since we last blogged we have met some other guests.  Friday evening we ate with Rada who has lived in Michigan since her husband came from Serbia as an engineer for Yugo.  He has since died and she is traveling as a single.  It is fun to meet and talk with other guests and we learned a bit about the Serbia and Rada’s family there.  On Saturday we had lunch with Anita and Dick Little from Houston who told us much about cruising Carnival which they have done more, in fact they are staying on board for the next cruise which will be around Norway, and at breakfast today some folks are doing that one and even the nexy, which is trip around Ireland and Scotland back to Dover.  Something to look forward to....  The verdict is that Carnival does a better job delivering cruise value for the dollar.  The amenities are high the décor is excellent and the crew and staff are first class.

The Carnival excursions are a bit expensive but the report for the train trip to Berlin by Lyle and Marlene was excellent, although they did not get back to the ship until after 10 PM having left at 6:30 AM.

As I said yesterday was a sea day, we kept busy moving about the ship and after dinner the evening entertainment was very good. The Legend Dancers and Justin Illusion did a show featuring  nonstop dancing and illusions it was fascinating; although we kind of wished we were closer to the stage,  because we could not figure how the illusions were performed….I am sure even then we would have been confused.

So it was Sunday in Helsinki, and there were several buses that did the tour with the name Helsinki Highlights. Lyle, Marlene, Charlotte, and I left  just after breakfast at 9 AM in the standard tourist bus with a local guide.  With deserted Sunday morning streets it was easy to get around. 

Finland was part of Sweden for 600 years, the Swedes came here in 12^th Century and Sweden and Russia fought with each other. Much of the time the fighting was in Finland; in 1809 Sweden lost Finland to Russia. Our first stop was a at Senate Square.  Behind a statute of the good czar “Alexander ll” was a beautiful Orthodox church and on the other sides of the square were  government buildings and university buildings.  It also was not far from the open air market so the pictures will show you what we saw. Helsinki was settled in 1550 as an alternative trading port to Tallinn and is well laid out with the architectural style of Art Novae and National Romantic.

After an hour at the Square we drove around more on the tour bus.  The population is 600,000 in the city with a million in the metropolitan area.  But, as we know, many Finns have immigrated to US and Canada, in fact it was quoted that 600,000 Fins went to the United States and 130,000 to Canada.  Lapland is the northern 1/3 of the country of Finland and is the home to Santa Claus and many more reindeer than people.  I found a reindeer wandering the streets and gave him his favorite food…..euros.  We also stopped at the 1952 venue for the Olympic summer games and I raced Paavo Nuemi, a famous long distance runner, but even though he was bronze he won.

The average Finn makes 3,000 euros a month. The tax rate is 30% progressive and there is Value Added tax of 24%.  So far the best prices have been in Germany.  The magnets here are 5 euros and postcards .75 euros.  Money goes for health care, and education.  A unique benefit is the “baby box” for all new mothers containing nappies and supplies for a new baby.  For your second child the mother can accept 150 euros instead but most choose the gift as it has more value.  As a note, Prince George was sent one as a state gift but they are not generally available for non-citizens.  Our final tour bus stop was a sculpture as a monument to Jon Sibellius, a composer from 1865-1957.

After that we elected to be dropped off to see the Rock Church, both a religious highlight but also an architectural highlight having been shown in over 200 magazines.  The church is built into rock below ground similar to how early Christian churches were built in caves. It was not available until Noon as it is Sunday and there was active worship there, but afterwards we did walk through.  From there we walked to the Center.  Lyle went back on the tour bus, but the girls and I made a stop at Stockman’s.  Stockman’s is the largest department store in Finland…”if you can’t find it in Stockman’s it does not exist”.  On the 8^th floor we teamed up with others from our ship and exchanged dollars for euros, and then we toured the housewares department.

We then took a shuttle bus back to the ship and are now eating a late snack at the Unicorn café…I am writing and Charlotte just brought me a bowl of soft strawberry ice cream.  I will now go add some photos to the prose and try to send it before the ship leaves the dock at 5 PM

Next stop Russia…..

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Little Mermaid

Weather is improving and we were told it would be 68 F with no rain for our visit to Copenhagen.  And it was.  We are back at 2PM and I am writing up my notes from our nice City of Copenhagen and Canal Tour.  Before we left I had used by phone app Trip Advisors to bone up on attractions and knew the Mermaid was .5 miles away and with 47 other people on a bus the mermaid was our first stop.

I do not know the story of the Little Mermaid and even though our guide spoke English I do not know that I have it right so you will need to research it.  The statute which you will see below will be 100 years old tomorrow and 100 female swimmers are going to jump in and formed a 100 year symbol….alas just a day early.  The artist used his wife as the model for the statute.  And I think I can get by saying that the Danish people are attractive all tall and many blond. 

After the statute we did a quick stop for the Queen’s winter palace she is off with Prince Henry at the Wine castle in France.  The Danish government pays for two castles but the family has two more the Wine Castle came with Henry.  The Queen is 72 but her son and grandchildren live in a large castle right close it has 4 chimneys while the Queen’s house has 5.  The Queen since 1972 is reported to be a chain smoker and beloved by the people, 600,000 of which live here.  The average Dane makes $41,000 a year but pays about 48% tax with 1 % going to the church which is Lutheran.
 

Our next activity was to load on to wide flat passenger boats for a can tour.  This delightful tour on this delightful day took an hour and we had a typical Danish female tour guide who spoke very excellent English.  Our bus tour guide was a former opera singer and was not quite as easy to understand. I will cover just a few things.  The history of Copenhagen is based on trade and sailing so the canals were built as a way for merchants to market what the sailors brought home.  For a while Denmark controlled what are now Sweden and Norway and also the Virgin Islands.  Today Greenland is Denmark which I frankly did not know. Maersk is a major name in international shipping the founder just died a couple of years ago at 94.  One of the nice developments in the harbor area is the new opera house which he built for the city and the Maersk headquarters “the blue eye” building is one of the newer ones but the metro or subway is being significantly upgraded with a number of new stations which is needed.  Cars require a 25% VAT and are expensive so significant numbers of people ride bicycles and the metro. 

The old part of the city dates from 1167 and much of it was destroyed by Wellington in 1807 because the Danes were trading with the French.  Our first cathedral on this cruise tour was Lutheran and was built in 1821 and is used by the royal family.  Another unique church has a three meter statute of Jesus standing on a gold ball (the world) and is called Church of our Savior.  Equally famous however, is the Carlsberg beer facility which has a tour of its own.

Lyle and Marlene went on a tour to Tivoli Gardens which we went by which contains a huge amusement park with a roller coaster “tower to hell” but is well known also for beautiful gardens.  Charlotte and I had an hour to shop but postcards were $3 and our favorite little cheap magnets were $8.  It was fun converting Krones to Euros to Dollars but nothing could get prices low enough to entice us to buy anything except a little mermaid magnet at the souvenir shop across the boat.  It will be the most expensive one on our refrigerator.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Sun and See in Warnemunde

First, last night we bought some portraits from the best pose the from the dress up dinner,  Dinner was good again Most had prime rib I had pork chop.  After dinner I decided to enter the $25 blackjack tournament but we went to the comedy club for a while first and it was too early for the Follies show,

The blackjack tournament is that the top 7 qualifier advance to finals scheduled for 10:30.  You get 2000 chips to bet for a total of 7 hands.  I won about 5 out of the 7 but for the last hand I bet everything and hit A-J for blackjack paying 3-2 and ended up with $6900 taking over top spot by 900 so I was in good shape for the finals. 

In the meantime we went to the ship entertainment who was Phil Brown a black entertainer from London who in an open audition won a part in the Lion King at Lyceum Theater in London and gave up his employment as a double deck bus driver. His range and voice was superb and he was an excellent entertainer.  The ship flys in entertainers and then uses the resident cast for three shows.  After the show we still had almost an hour before the finals of Blackjack, but it was right near the poker table so that worked out….not the poker but the time passing.  Anyway there were 7 players I got third and received a polo Shirt and a t shirt for the Carnival Players Club…..just what I need another poker shirt. The two ahead of me qualified for the Season Finals on another cruise ship out of Fort Lauderdale November 9^th and the winner also received $500.

Charlotte and I felt the boat docking at 6 but did no get up until 9.  Ate at the Lido deck and decided to explore the seaside side town and beach.  Most everyone including Marlene and Lyle left at 6:30 for a 12-14 hour day riding a train to Berlin (126 miles) to see the sights there.  It might have been an option but the cost of the train ride was $200 per person plus tour guides etc.

 

So for about 20 Euros of trinket shopping Charlotte and I walked the town of Warnemunde.  I have included some pictures.  It has a beach, lots of shoppes, restaurants, and several hotels.  The city has a very thriving economy for Germans to enjoy the shore, ( a great model for Sneads Ferry/North Topsail Beach).  The center of town has a 365 foot lighthouse built in 1898 several hotels, and a very wonderful beach (sand grain size over 32mm, for my sand experts).  Supposedly there is nude bathing but we did not get that close.    

 

 

 

1. Back to home base......

 

White Cliffs of Dover

It is 4 PM and we are onboard the Carnival Legend Cruise Ship at dock.  Outside our Cabin the bright sunlight reflects off the white cliffs of Dover it is a beautiful setting.  I have unpacked two suitcases and Charlotte is doing hers now.  So far there is more than enough room in the cabin for our stuff.

This morning we left the Double Tree after breakfast.  Lyle and Marlene brought their luggage to our hotel just after 10 we were due to be picked up by a driver at 11.  At 11:08 no driver so I called and discovered that he was waiting outside.  He had come in an asked for Snow and off course they were not registered at the hotel so his company told him to wait.

It was a 3 year old Ford   driven by Mohammed a 38 year old British citizen born in Bangladesh.  His story is interesting and shows how the Brits have melded a diverse population that we have been noticing over the last 4 years.  His father who died a couple of years ago at age 84 went to work as a teenager as a coal shoveler on a British Cargo ship.  After 12 years employment he was granted British citizenship and then he returned to Bangladesh married and started a family.  Since he was British his children were British and he brought the family to London when Mohammed was 12.  He was the only Asian in a sea of white which he had never seen before.  Even though he qualified for university he flitted away the opportunity and now drives a car for a firm with 120 drivers.  He is working hard so his children 3 boys and a girl will have a chance for education which he realizes is the key to wealth creation.  Mohammed or “Mo” as everyone calls him is very proud of his father, his family and of Great Britain for having the better life he has over most in Bangladesh.  We may meet Mo again as I suggested he drive us to Paris at the end of our trip.  He has never been there but I said I would give him 80% of the costs for the four of us to pay ferry and train costs.  I think it may be a good deal for both of us.

The boarding process went very smoothly and at 1:30 just when were ready we were allowed to board and proceed to our cabin.  While we ate a light lunch the luggage arrived and I have now purchased the internet package so we should be all set.  At lunch Charlotte made arrangements for her gluten free menu finding out they have bread and ice cream gluten free.

Well it is now time for the safety drill….maybe more later.

It is now Wednesday.  The safety drill was fine a warm day and we faced the cliffs as the crew covered the drill.  Afterwards Charlotte and I opened a bottle of wine we bought in Atlanta duty free and enjoyed a wonderful bon voyage moment.

 

Our first dinner in Truffles Main Dining Room was slightly crowded; we ate with the Snows and had a nice dinner with excellent service.  Played a little poker on the automatic machines in the casino (15% rake is brutal) and then at 10:30 went to the Follies for a show hosted by a very capable and humorous cruise director in fact at this moment he is briefing on all the ports we are visiting.  Charlotte is talking that in while I catch you up.

Today is a day at Sea and tomorrow at 8 we arrive at Copenhagen until 3:30 PM

With slow internet and paying by the minute I will post the pictures to the blog at a better time you can be sure there is one of the White Cliffs…………….

 

 

It is 4 PM and we are onboard the Carnival Legend Cruise Ship at dock.  Outside our Cabin the bright sunlight reflects off the white cliffs of Dover it is a beautiful setting.  I have unpacked two suitcases and Charlotte is doing hers now.  So far there is more than enough room in the cabin for our stuff.

This morning we left the Double Tree after breakfast.  Lyle and Marlene brought their luggage to our hotel just after 10 we were due to be picked up by a driver at 11.  At 11:08 no driver so I called and discovered that he was waiting outside.  He had come in an asked for Snow and off course they were not registered at the hotel so his company told him to wait.

It was a 3 year old Ford   driven by Mohammed a 38 year old British citizen born in Bangladesh.  His story is interesting and shows how the Brits have melded a diverse population that we have been noticing over the last 4 years.  His father who died a couple of years ago at age 84 went to work as a teenager as a coal shoveler on a British Cargo ship.  After 12 years employment he was granted British citizenship and then he returned to Bangladesh married and started a family.  Since he was British his children were British and he brought the family to London when Mohammed was 12.  He was the only Asian in a sea of white which he had never seen before.  Even though he qualified for university he flitted away the opportunity and now drives a car for a firm with 120 drivers.  He is working hard so his children 3 boys and a girl will have a chance for education which he realizes is the key to wealth creation.  Mohammed or “Mo” as everyone calls him is very proud of his father, his family and of Great Britain for having the better life he has over most in Bangladesh.  We may meet Mo again as I suggested he drive us to Paris at the end of our trip.  He has never been there but I said I would give him 80% of the costs for the four of us to pay ferry and train costs.  I think it may be a good deal for both of us.

The boarding process went very smoothly and at 1:30 just when were ready we were allowed to board and proceed to our cabin.  While we ate a light lunch the luggage arrived and I have now purchased the internet package so we should be all set.  At lunch Charlotte made arrangements for her gluten free menu finding out they have bread and ice cream gluten free.

Well it is now time for the safety drill….maybe more later.

It is now Wednesday.  The safety drill was fine a warm day and we faced the cliffs as the crew covered the drill.  Afterwards Charlotte and I opened a bottle of wine we bought in Atlanta duty free and enjoyed a wonderful bon voyage moment.

Our first dinner in Truffles Main Dining Room was slightly crowded; we ate with the Snows and had a nice dinner with excellent service.  Played a little poker on the automatic machines in the casino (15% rake is brutal) and then at 10:30 went to the Follies for a show hosted by a very capable and humorous cruise director in fact at this moment he is briefing on all the ports we are visiting.  Charlotte is talking that in while I catch you up.

Today is a day at Sea and tomorrow at 8 we arrive at Copenhagen until 3:30 PM

With slow internet and paying by the minute I will post the pictures to the blog at a better time you can be sure there is one of the White Cliffs…………….

 

Next from Copenhagen

Stonehenge and Bath

As I told you we decided to branch out and extend our tourist activity to Stonehenge and to Bath for Monday August 19^th.

 

A Evan Evans tour bus picked us up a little after 8 and took us to Victoria Station where we transferred coaches and left town going by a number of sights we missed yesterday including more museums and the world famous Harrods and for our son in law the world headquarter of the Boy Scouts..  The trip to Stonehenge was about 1 hour 45 minutes.

 

Every year about 1,000,000 folks visit a field on the Salisbury Plains trying to figure out how some big stones got there.  Here is the low down.  Stonehenge was built in three stages.  The first stage 3300 BC was digging a big circular ditch it was dated by deer antlers broken off which were used to dig it out.  2600 BC is the date of the second stage where two circles of rocks were place the stones coming from southwest wales probably rafted down the Avon River but it would have been difficult to move them from river.  In 2300 BC 30 big rocks from nearer by were stood upright and then cross rocks or lentils put across the top.  The site has been pillaged as have all of the 450 burial mounds spread around it over the years.  The most credible theory is that it was part of the worship pattern where the sun was charted and the seasons kept track off a giant calendar with an altar stone in the middle which was the focus for ceremonies.  Our visit lasted about an hour.  They are upgrading the facilities building a new visitors site and removing a lot of the roads close to the site so you future visitors will need to update us.

Leaving Stonehenge on our full tour bus we traveled small roads and observed the rural form of life on some of the more sparsely settled area of England in fact much of the area is used for military artillery training much as is the area near where live in NC by the Marines.  It was over one hour to Bath where we arrived shortly after 1 PM.

The history of Bath is fascinating.  I will start with the story of the young prince who was exiled because he had leprosy.  He began herding hogs and noticed that they loved to wallow in the swamp.  He discovered the warm water and joined them which cured his leprosy and he returned to his household.  In reality about 400 to 500 BC the area was controlled by the Celts with little history BUT when the Roman came to Britannia in 43 AD they discovered the only warm springs in England.  But when the Romans were chased away by the Anglo Saxons they ignored the Roman areas and we lost track of much because of the dark ages.

In the 1700’s Queen Anne came for two years to take baths and this ushered in the Golden era for the City much of the architecture is from this time.  The routine for the beautiful people was to soak as long as possible in the morning and when the strength finally recovered to socialize well into the evening.  The jet set did eventually discover the Seaside and Brighton took over the spotlight.  But in the 1800s a man digging in his cellar discovered some Roman relics from the Roman Baths.  From then on the extensive history of these bathes has been unearthed and developed into a very clever museum.  The baths have been recreated with some of the Roman engineering and parts still working.  Among the ruins an exhibit featuring many scenes and displays discussed in a well done self-directed audio track with many video clips.  The approach brings to life the times of the Bath and with it the history of this Roman period.

Charlotte and I took well over and hour and Lyle and Marlene even more time there.  We then had time for a bite of lunch (after 3 so it was the last meal of the day) and a quick walk around the beautiful village (about 120-130,000 people) with wonderful shopping and beautiful Church called the Abbey.  It was a sunny day and there were several street entertainers that gathered crowds.

Our three hours was up at 4:30 and re-boarded the coach for the trip back to Victoria Station arriving after 6.  We decided to walk to our hotel about .7 miles away and enjoyed the walk.  A break for cocktails and then the Snows continued across the bridge to their hotel.

They plan to come back in the morning and then we will take the transfer to the Docks of Dover and board our Baltic Cruise ship.  We hope you will join us.