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