Month: August 2026

Belfast is Mother’s birthplace and the place where she lived until she came to the United States as a young adult.

Belfast is the name of a film starring Kenneth Branaugh, who came from this city.

Belfast is synonymous with The Troubles, the fight between religions. The protestants and the Catholics. Violence and killings. Families torn apart.

We have been here before and have seen many of the tourist sights in the area, like the Giant’s Causeway and the Titanic museum. The murals in the city show the troubles, the heros on one side and terrorists to the other side.

Today’s Belfast is a very lively multicultural city thanks to the mix of immigrants who have come here from around the world. Current murals encourage peace, not division. It’s a very good sign.

We spent time in the Ulster museum, with four floors of art, history and nature . Fans of “ The Derry Girls” may appreciate the following photos:

Back on the ship, we prepared ourselves for a special dinner at the Pinnacle Grill, a steakhouse. We both had filet mignon with baked potato and vegetables; Beatrice had the wedge salad. She had Baked Alaska for dessert and I had Key Lime pie.

We had an early evening reservation and we spent the evening strolling the decks to digest our food. The show was a good one: Irish entertainer Rebecca Harkness and her Australian husband and accompanist Kurt Russell. It was ane ening of Irish music! Our piano playing duo had the night off but we enjoyed the soft strings of old country songs played by a talented guitarist.

Now it’s Saturday so it must be Glasgow. We have an afternoon tour planned

We are not traditionally morning people, and it takes a bit of time to get us moving, so we try to book afternoon excursions to see some sites.

We had a nice breakfast and wandered around the ship, then ventured outside to visit a local shop where we found some very nice gifts to take home.

We got ready and exited the ship, lined up outside and were directed to line up again for our tour. We were given a badge to wear with our bus number on it. Soon we were driving through the gorgeous countryside. The weather was perfect. Most of the pictures were taken inside the bus, so unfortunately they’re not so clear. I wish I had been able to capture the mounds of thistle that dotted the countryside. They were beautiful, but our guide told us they were a nuisance in her garden because they take over and are difficult to get rid of.

Our tour was called Royal Dornock & cathedral. The village reminded me of the quintessential English village found on TV shows like “Father Brown,” or it could be Miss Marple’s St Mary’s Mead. Charming? Yes. We visited the cathedral and museum and had some time to explore the High Street and indulge in retail therapy or a drink. The hot chocolate shop was highly recommended.

The cathedral is unusual in many ways. It’s made of the local sandstone, and it’s been configured as a Presbyterian cathedral over the years. It’s had a bloody history but today has been “ discovered “ by celebries: Elon Musk had one of his weddings here and Madonna’s son Rocco was baptized here. In the wall are memory plaques, commemorating an event. I especially liked the plaque with the initials KM with hearts. Perhaps a KM was also married here? Our tour guide gave us a full tour.

The museum showed us the history of the town. We saw the Royal Charter signed by Charles I in 1628, declaring Dormoch a Royal Burgh. Examples of clothing and activities were shown.

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This village was well documented and the locals were very proud of the hard work they put into it. We had a little extra time before browsing the shops, having a “ world famous” hot chocolate and heading back to the ship.

After dinner, Beatrice managed to get this fantastic shot before heading off to bed.

Yesterday, Thursday August 27th was a sea day.

We sleptin. We dressed in casual attaire. I pedaled on one of the stationary bikes at the fitness center, we visited people, we read and went to our piano shows.

We explored decks we hadn’t seen before, got lost and found this lady knitting. I have seen a few other knitters since then.

We had our picture taken with this Scottish guard.

We had delicious Split pea soup at the Royal Dutch Cafe.

The assistant cruise director runs the music trivia contest and he gyrates and lip synchs along. He’s sooo cute. Girls of all ages hoot and holler. It’s so much fun!

At the end of the evening I was mentioning that there must have been cutbacks because there were no towel anim or chocolates so far. Then I opened the door.

Today we were in Belfast. Our afternoon tour was changed to a morning tour. We had been there before so we had a general tour and a visit to the Ulster Museum. Tonight we dine at the Pinnacle Grill. Tomorrow we visit Glasgow. Time is going much too quickly

We had two days anchored at South Queensferry and while others are still investigating Edinburgh—been there, done that—we decided to take the tender into town to see what was there. Since it was a beautiful day, we enjoyed the opportunity to take pictures. I slept late and we missed the buffet breakfast so we decided to go to the Grand Dutch Cafe for a bite.

With the Firth of Forth in the background, Beatrice poses for the camera, ready for a new adventure!

We are still getting the lay of the land — or in this case the lay of the ship—but we found ourselves easily at the cafe, which is across from guest services.

Mini pancakes, the specialty of the house

In South Queensferry.

Retail therapy

After a good walk, we returned to the tender to make our way back to the ship, and we prepared ourselves for dinner in the main dining room. We decided to watch the main act on the World Stage, a husband and wife singer/ accompanist after dinner , then spent a bit of time with our piano playing pals before heading off to bed.

We were surprised to find steak and lobster on the menu, and feared that our eyes were bigger than our stomachs, but the portions were small so we were able to digest our food easily. No waste here. Our dinner companions were delightful: a couple from Virginia ( wife was originally from NOLA), and two sisters from Toronto. The conversation flowed effortlessly and we were the last to leave the dining room! It was great fun.

We caught the end of the classical music concert earlier in the evening. We shall return for more.

it’s 8:28 AM and we are docked at Invergordon, in the heart of the highlands. Weather is cool but there’s no sign of rain.

We will be doing a tour in the afternoon. Time for breakfast now!
Reporting live from the Nieuw Statendam, Wednesday August 26!

We will be back. Stay tuned in for more fun and adventures from the sailing sisters!

We didn’t have to be anywhere until 6:00 pm Saturday when we attended the play “1 King, 2 Princes, and Shakespeare’s Lie” so we decided to explore our neighborhood. Our hotel is called Leonardo Hotel Haymarket, and we had always turned right at the corner to get to the center of the city. Now we went straight and turned left, and we found a neoghborhood, filled with pubs, restaurants and other services! No one mentioned it was here. We could have easily mossed it, but we needed to go to the pharmacy!

After a bit of shopping and fortifying ourselves with light refreshments, we wandered on, finding some cute buildings, St John’s Scottish Episcopal Church and the Weat End Crafts fair.

The church had a lovely neighborhood feel about it and the ceilings intrigued me. Aren’t they beautiful? Very unique. Reminded me of the work of MacIntosh which we saw in the museum earlier in the week.

We had to return to the hotel to prepare ourselves for our last performance, which was called “1 King, 2 Princes, and Shakespeare’s Lies.” It was a one man show which was an attempt to exonerate Richard III from being the bad guy that Shakespeare proclaimed him to be. It was very moving. After the show some of returned to the Haymarket neighborhood for dinner. It was a busy Saturday night and many places were filled but we found an exceptional Thai restaurant with amazing food.

Sunday morning involved packing and getting organized for the second part of our journey. We had to meet the others for The Whisky Tasting experience and our farewell dinner and we also managed to get tickets for “ Endometriosis the musical “ which was on from 4:00 to 5:00. It was a short walk from the musical to the whisky.

The venue itself was very cute and sparkly, as was the event itself. How can anyone make a funny musical about a disease? This company managed to do it. It’s an American production which skewers our medical system as well as the victim’s unfortunate experiences with family and friends not understanding the severity of the illness. One in seven women have this condition. The musical was written by those who have suffered with it. It is hilariously funny as well as poignant. It was first performed by the fringe in Minnesota several years ago and has received rave reviews ever since. It has also performed at the Edinburgh fringe before, where it won the “best audience “ award. We were lucky to get tickets for it. It was the best thing we saw. Others saw “ Bliss” and also loved it. Wish we had seen more musicals. I can see now why the fringe festival is so addictive. The more you see, the more you want to see. We ended up in the wrong line for a jazz concert next door which also sounded great. So many shows, so little time!

We had about a half hour before meeting the group for the whisky event. Turned out it was a multi media program highlighting the making of scotch whisky. It was very informative and the scenes of the Scottish countryside were breathtaking, but we only got a thimbleful of scotch and the glass to take home with us. As we left, we noticed a group who were sitting down for a real tasting. We got the cheapie tour. It was sort of a disappointment.

We dined afterwards at Dine, a beautiful restaurant nearby. It was our last meeting. We are all going our separate ways. Bruce and Silvia are doing a small group tour of the Highlands, and Cindy and Judy are both going to visit family, Judy in York and Cindy in Manchester. Ann and Eliza left early so they missed the dinner. Cecile returns to Paris. She will be leading a group to Scandinavia in the fall. This was her first experience as a group leader. We are all beginning the next phase of our travels.

There was a group photo of all of us but none turned out so I decided to show you these candid shots instead.

I neglected to tell you our next chapter. Monday morning we were driven to South Queensferry, to Hawes pier, where we joined the Nieuw Statendam, a Holland American ship, which is doing a two week cruise called Wild Britain.

We are tendered until tomorrow at the Firth of Forth. I was concerned but the transfer went very smoothly and we didn’t have to lift our bags once! We have a lovely balcony room.

The weather has been perfect the last few days. We unpacked and Beatrice went for a swim and I spent time in the hot tub, bubbling away. We had a dive in hot dog on the Lido deck and I went to the salon for much needed hair wash and blow dry. We finished up the evening at the dueling piano bar venue with two talented pianists.

I thought of my friend Jane as I ordered a mojito—it’s her favorite drink— and it was delicious. I will be now reporting live from the Nieuw Statendam. There is still much to explore and discover, both off and on the ship.

Cheers!

As it was Ann’s last day, we wanted to do something special, and Ann had arranged tour tickets for us to see the decommissioned royal yacht Britannia, where Queen Elizabeth, her family and friends spent many happy years sailing the seas.

it was a long bus ride but we saw some local color en route.

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Once inside the terminal, we were given an introduction with many photographs before boarding the ship.

As we entered the ship we were welcomed by one of the many corgis who make this ship their home. They were everywhere throughout the ship.

The Queen’s bedroom

Prince Phillip’s bedroom

This is the guest room, AKA “The Honeymoon Suite “ after the wedding of Charles and Diana. He had to request that a double bed be placed here.

We took a break for coffee, which ended up being a delicious cream tea, with a bit of the bubbly to boot! The tea room is gorgeous and the whole experience was suchan indulgence. We loved it!

Back on the tour, we went through the dining room, the ante room and other common spaces that were enjoyed by passengers on the yacht. We also saw the Queen’s study and Prince Phillip’s working spaces. They had a telephone line to connect them to each other while they were working.

Below decks we saw the crew area and entertainment spaces. There were lounges and bars for the officers and similar spaces for the crew. Everyone seemed well cared for. There was also a sick bay, with an operating room and infirmary. The laundry room was huge and, it was told, hot. All the washing and ironing was done there.

Our tour was over and it was time to get Ann back to the hotel to pick up her bag and get to the train station to continue her journey to London. We were very lucky. A taxi pulled up shortly after we got to the street. Even with heavy traffic during the festival season, we managed to get to the hotel, and the same driver waited for her to get her bag and he took her to the station.

The weather has been warming up and our visit to the yacht was perfect. It was a very long day so we crashed for some time afterwards.

We are winding down as the tour ends Monday morning. Stay tuned tuned for more. We will be seeing two more shows, and we will be having the Whiskey Experience and farewell dinner Sunday evening.

The three of us began our day with a 45 minute walk to the National Museum of Scotland. It is in the same neighborhood as our favorite dog Bobby in the Greyfriers Kirkyard Cemetery . Ann was not here when we had our city tour so we dropped by on the way to the museum, which was across the street and around the corner. National museums in the UK are free, which is a great thing. We met a few others from our group at the cafe at 11:15 AM. Ann is a great navigator; Beatrice and I followed along. We spent a few hours with the highlights

We started at the top floor terrace to get a slightly soggy view of the city.

Can’t forget Edinburgh Castle!

We left the museum and strolled down King George IV bridge ( which is actually a street!). On our left we saw Victoria Street which was the inspiration behind the shopping street where Harry Potter got his school supplies. It’s very busy there.

Our destination was St Giles Cathedral, an unusually warm and friendly edifice. Unlike most cathedrals, it seemed ancient and modern at the same time, with local artists showing their creativity and giving the viewer a strong sense of community.

The altar was in the center, but in the round, which helped emphasize the importance of the equality of the parishioners. It softened the hard angles.

Queen Elizabeth II stayed here en route to her final resting place. She passed away in Balmoral, her favorite residence. She had a great fondness for the Scots and enjoyed waking up to bagpipes in the morning.

Time for a late lunch/ early dinner before our fringe show. We had walked by Deacon Brodie’s Tavern and it looked appealing. The downstairs was very busy but the upstairs dining room was quiet and we were able to snag a table after a few minutes’ wait. The ladies had the specialty of the house , the traditional British steak and Nicholsom’s pale ale pies, which won the Gold Award at the British Pie Awards and I had basil, pesto, cheese and spinach gnocci with bread crumbs. Everything was delicious and filling. Even with all that, did we have dessert? You betcha!

Beatrice had a special dessert: Cranachan, whipped cream, sweet honey, a dash of whiskey, raspberries and golden toadted oats! Wow!

Ann had the lemon tart with Lady Grey tea and i had the crumble with peppermint tea.

We made our way to the venue to see a comedian named Jason Byrne. He has been around a while and has been in several films, and was extremely popular with the audience, which was young. Many of his jokes hit a sour note with me. Beatrice enjoyed him but Ann and I were turned off by the language. Can’t win them all! The program ended early and some of us shared a taxi. I forget to take pictures of the venue. I will try to do better.

Today was Ann’s last day and it was also a free day. Before the trip, she had the idea of going to see the Royal Yacht Brittania and gotour tickets. . It took most of the day. What a way to endher visit! More tomorrow.

Time is winding down. We get on our own ship on Monday.

The Odyssey Traveller Edinburgh fringe tour has quite a bit of flexibility, with free time to explore our own interests, so we decided to spend some time at the Scottish National Portrait Gallery after breakfast. This museum holds the national collection of portraits all of which are but necessarily by Scots. It also holds the Scottish National Photography Collection. Since 1889 it has been housed in its red sandstone Gothic Revival building, which was donated by the owner of the Scotsman newspaper. It is the first building in the world to be built especially as a portrait gallery. We were very impressed with the architecture as well as the holdings.

Catching up in the Great Hall. There are also great views from the balcony, which you will see later. We started at the top floor, with historical figures, before going to the second floor for more modern faces.

This man, formerly known as Prince Charles, is the current head of the country, King Charles III.

A delightfully quirky portrait of actress Tilda Swinton

Second story Splendor

After a nice lunch in the gallery’s cafe—with the world’s best freshly made shortbread—we made our way back to the hotel for a little rest before getting ready for the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo.

The Gathering of the Clan is a joyous celebration of music and dance, designed to show off the cultural aspects of various nations who answer the call. The countries involved this year were the US, UK, Germany, Qtar and New Zealand. Each country provided entertainment to show the best their country had to offer. It is presented at the top of the extinct volcano which became Edinburgh Castle, on the Esplanade. We were extremely lucky to have a ( relatively) warm, rain free evening.

The word “ tattoo” originated in the 17 th century from the Dutch phrase “doe den tap toe”, meaning “turn off the tap” of the ale taps, so soldiers could return to their barracks and go to bed. Ii evolved to mean the last duty call of the day, as well as a ceremonial form of evening entertainment planned by military musicians.

We opted to go to the Cannonball restaurant before the show to experience The Drummer’s Experience, where we were served a light meal, like an afternoon tea, with crafted cocktails. The advantage of this plan was that we were escorted to our seats by staff. There were five of us and three were using canes, so when I booked, I was able to get accessible seats in the row above the wheelchairs, with just a few steps.

We were the last to arrive because we walked up the hill to the castle and didn’t realize the number of people crowding the street and we had to walk slowly because of the uneven pavement and cobblestones. We did make it and were greeted warmly by the proprietor of the restaurant.

The menu: a savory platter with homemade sausage roll with apricot purée, venison bonbonswith mushrooms catsup, haggis bonbons with whiskey gel, cheddar scone with whipped Crowdie with onion jam and a cheddar crisp on top,trout pate with Sicilian lemon purée on toast, five kinds of cheeses. There was also s selection of DELICIOUS petits fours. Coctails: Mandarin spritz, Cloudy Sky ( pictured) and nonalcoholic hot mulled apple and spice, served throughout the meal.

There was also entertainment at the end of the meal, and Ann and I ran into the drummer at the ladies’ restroom.

Had to show you these fantastic desserts—a plate for two.

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It was almost one of those “ You’ve got to be there” type of events, but if you google “ Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo “ + videos, there are many videos online. The performance started promptly at 9:30, ended at 11, and was narrated by Roger Rankin, of “ Outlander “ fame in his thick Scottish accent.

We found the facilities before tromping down the hill, slowly, slowly, and were helped by the young eager volunteers who managed to get a taxi for us. It was a long day but well worth it.

Today we saw a one man show in the theater catagory, doing a dramatic interpretation about the first man who swam the English Channel. It was held in the dissection room, which reminded some of us of the dissection room we saw in Bologna! Quite a master class in acting. After that, we went to Holyroodhouse Palace, the royal residence of the Royal family. We were lucky enough to be able to tour the private family quarters, which are open for only a short time. It was a very intimate tour, even visiting the late Queen’s dressing room. No photographs were allowed. We also did a self- guided tour of the palace, which had the opulence onewould expect. What we didn’t expect was the tragic history of the murder of Mary, Queen of Scots, as we were even allowed in the room where it happened. We had a sumptuous repast there before the tours, and got rained out just as we headed to the gardens. We had dessert instead of dinner, since we had a hearty lunch, and are playing catch up tonight.

Beatrice reminded me that the royal family’s private rooms have never been opened until now. They are only open for 100 days to celebrate what would have been the 100th birthday of the late Queen. Perfect timing for us!

As the clouds roll in, and the rain falls, I will leave you with the original ruins of the palace, the abbey. More coming. Stay tuned.

We are getting used to our new hotel, the Leonardo hotel Haymarket. It’s a busy place, filled with tour groups and families. Breakfast is included and is plentiful.

We were scheduled to leave for our walking tour this morning, and walk we did! Our guide, a delightful local, had lots of stories to share and kept us entertained throughout our trek. There are two of us using canes and the pace was brisk, so Cindy and I opted to get a cab for the first part of the journey because the terrain, we were told, wasn’t as interesting. We began our tour at the Grassmarket, where we had just stayed for three days!

We focused our tour on the people who have made the city memorable over the years and a good place to begin was the cemetery at Greyfriers, where the most important resident is Bobby the dog, commemorated in everything from statues to tote bags!

Bobby was the terrier who was the faithful companion of John Gray, an Edinburgh City Police nightwatchman. Around this time Bobby would follow John Gray when he was at work. According to records, policemen were obliged to have watchdogs with them. Gray reportedly died of TB in February of 1858 and was buried in Greyfriars Kirkyard. For 14 years the dog stayed at his master’s graveyard before he too died. The dog was not allowed to be buried in the churchyard because dogs were not allowed in consecrated ground, so Bobby was buried just inside the entrance, at the gate, a very short distance from his master’s plot. His grave is a popular tourist destination.

The graveyard is the eternal home of many and is also the site of many ghoulish stories of grave robbers, which were recounted by our guide in excruciating detail.

It’s a good place also to enjoy the beauty of untamed nature and sit while listening to the many stories about the residents of this monument to former residents in the heart of the city.

We continued our trek by visiting the Royal Mile, now a pedestrian thoroughfare where lots of street entertaining was taking place. We had one last look at Bobby. Visitors like to rub his nose. For good luck?

St Giles Cathedral has been here for 900 years, from its early beginnings in 1124, founded by King David, to its current standing as a modern Presbyterian church and High Kirk of Scotland. This area is also home to many municipal areas, including the Old Tollbooth, which held early meetings of Parliament and also served as a jail. Public executions were held here. The Edinburgh city chamers are also here.

We ended our tour here and four of us had lunch across the street at Luckenbill’s before heading back to the hotel for a rest.

This bowl contained lots of good grains and veggies. Very tasty. Others had Scottish salmon on brioch bread, sort of a panini.

Many people enjoy being a part of the action outside, but we preferred the quiet of the restaurant, which is part of the hotel. Cindy and I opted to take a taxi back. When we returned to the hotel, we discovered that Ann had arrived and we caught up a bit. We had about an hour’s rest before attending a comedy show, which was another 25 minute walk, this time in the rain. We have been incredibly lucky to have clear skies so far. The comedy show was another hour. Five of us joined our guide Cecile for dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. Home and bed by 10! I managed to walk 4 miles which was less than my favorite sister and traveling companion, because she didn’t take taxis. The knee is holding up and actually feels stronger. Fingers crossed!

Tomorrow is free as far as the tour is concerned, but Beatrice, Ann and I have tentative plans to visit the National Portrait Gallery. Five of us will be attending the Drummer Experience at the Royal Edinburgh Military Tattoo this evening. Fortunately clear skies are forecast. If you haven’t heard of ghis event, google it!

Can you believe it? We discovered that there are many kick ass cafes and hostels erected in Edinburgh , part of the Salvation Army. Who knew? Obviously we were destined to visit this wonderful, sprawling city.

This particular location is in Grassmarket square area, where we have stayed for three nights. We move today to join the fringe group. It’s been very restful to spend three nights in this bustling area, in a charming hotel with triple paned windows, allowing us to see ( but not hear) the action. It’s filled with centuries old pubs with a remarkable history. It’s very busy, day and night, filled with tourists and wannabe stars of the future, showing us their talents on the streets of this two block oval area, located in the shadows of Edinburgh Castle. It’s the oldest part of the city, and, to my mind, the most quaint.

Here’s what I have managed to capture on our time spent here.

We spent the last two days on the BigBus hop on & off bus. We didn’t hop off the first day. We just rode around the city on the redline, taking in the views from the top of the bus. The second day we had a destination: the Royal Botanical Gardens, on the blue line, where we hopped off for lunch. Here are a few snaps to show you. The weather has been perfect: temperatures in the 60s with light breezes. Fingers crossed it stays like this.

Back at the Grassmarket, we zipped over to a charming Italian cafe to use the facilities and indulge in a delicious decaf cappuccino!

Yesterday we went to the Royal Botanical Gardens and indulged in a cheese board for two.

..and two desserts! I couldn’t resist the shortbread!

This scavenger was hoping that our eyes were bigger than our stomach. They were, but we got a doggie bag.

Back on the bus, back to Grassmarket for a rest and get ready for dinner! Since it was our last night we wanted to go to a French country cafe where the French onion soup was authentic and the dessert was divine! There was no decaf coffee so we had peppermint tea.

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Time to get up and start a new day. The Fringe festival tour begins!