Category: Travel

What did I see off the veranda? The white cliffs of Dover and a tugboat. It was a very windy day and it took a while to get the ship attached to the pier. Some of us were getting off today, while others were sailing to Rotterdam and others were staying on for the next voyage, a trip to the fjords. I envied them. I wasn’t ready for this journey to end. I was having too much fun.

We were an hour late to disembark. We had good weather and we found our luggage easily, then rolled them to the nearby waiting bus. We found our small tour group, our bus driver and guide, and were off for our final excursion. I had been to Windsor once before, in the 80s, on a train trip from London, and found it to be a charming village. I wanted to see Queen Mary’s doll house and St George’s chapel.

The weather turned grey and it rained a bit but it cleared by the time we got to Windsor.I noticed that it was much more commercialized than I remembered.

The guide walked us to the visitor’s entrance, we got our red armband tickets, and were set to go.

It was possible to see the fire damage that the former Queen Elizabeth II described as her “annus horribibilis.” It took place on November 20, 1992 and it burned for 15 hours, destroying 115 rooms.

There was a long line to get into Queen Mary’s Dolls’ house but we persevered. Here’s a bit of history: it was built in the early 1920s, completed in 1924 as a gift for Queen Mary. It was designed by the architect Sir Edwin Lutyens with contributions from many artists and craftsmen and includes a library of miniature books containing original stories written by authors including Sir Arthur Conan Doyle and A.A. Milne. It showcased the finest and most modern goods of the era and was put on exhibition at the British Empire Exhibition 1924-1925 and the Ideal Home Exhibition in 1925. It was then placed at Windsor Castle in its own special room designed by the architect, where it stays today. It was made to a scale of 1:12 ( one inch to one foot) is over three fert tall and contains models of products of well- known companies of the time. It is really a sight to behold and well worth the effort to see it! Unfortunately we were unable to take pictures there and I tried downloading photos from the internet but they did not come through. You can google “Queen Mary’s Dolls’ House “ to find photos.

We managed to zip through the massive Royal Apartments, but again we were not allowed to take photos inside. We scampered down the hill to see St George’s Chapel, where many royals have been married, including Prince Harry and Megan Markel. If you saw the wedding on TV, as many of us did, you would have been impressed by the size of the chapel and its immense stained glass windows. The chapel has been the scene of weddings and burials. From Jane Seymore to Princess Margaret, Queen Elizabeth’s parents, George VI and his wife the Queen Mother, Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon, Prince Phillip and Queen Elizabeth II. We visited their tombs. It was a not-to-be-missed experience for us and we made time to see it.

We met up with our group two hours after our tour began. Plan to spend a day. We were dropped off at terminal 2 for our stay at the Hilton Garden Inn and we followed two other set of travelers who were staying there. We got to the reservation desk. We had no reservations. I showed them my confirmation information.

There are two Hilton Garden Inn Hotels at Heathrow Airport. We were standing inside the one that is actually INSIDE terminal 2. The other one is on a street outside the terminal. We begged for a room and got one, a family room with a king bed and a fold out double bed. After a bit of hassle, we were able to cancel the other resrr. We were lucky that we got to the hotel before the rush so there were rooms left.

I also had trouble getting our boarding passes so we walked over to the terminal for help. The clerk was not helpful so I tried downloading the photos again and it still didn’t work so we took a second trip, found a sympathetic agent, and got our boarding passes. It is incredibly easy to get to the terminal. Walk three minutes, take the elevator to the 5 th floor, and you are in United departures.

I took this picture as we retraced our steps back to the hotel.

We had a nice dinner and were offered a free continental breakfast the next morning. We opted to split an appetizer and a main course for dinner, which worked out well.

The feta and watermelon combination was delicious and the meat pie was also very tasty-+ just the right portions.

After breakfast the next day we went to the airport and once again opted for the wheelchair service, which got us to the gate right on time. It was our first time in business class and it was so nice to have the extra room. I couldn’t get my seat to recline all the way down, but I was able to get some sleep. The food was delicious except for an odd salad just before we landed. One of the flight attendants said we should have pre-ordered our meals because they ran out of some items. When we landed at SFO we also had wheelchair access and we ran into something unusual: a virtually empty airport, with no waiting at all at customs and immigration. Our bags were tagged with “preferred “ handling so they came out immediately and the wheelchair people waited with us for our ride. I have never had such a fast exit from the airport.

so now we are home. Beatrice is still with me because we will be going to Southet California to spend time in Los Angeles and San Diego and go on another cruise — more on that later!

When people ask what did I enjoy about the trip, it’s difficult to answer. I loved getting to know the city of Edinburgh during the craziness of the fringe fest. People were so much fun and welcoming. It was fun to see Ann and enjoy the Holyrood House intimate tour of the Royal Apartments and the Brittania tour. What a great experience! The ship was lovely and relaxing, with good food and great entertainment and we were able to catch snapshots of various parts of the UK. We proved that we could go for three weeks in spite of the surgeries and artificial limbs and not just survive but thrive!

As you may recall, we boarded the ship after our Edinburgh fringe adventure and took several excursions, visiting the cities and areas where we landed.

Somehow I neglected to mention our trip to Glasgow, but will do so now!

We visited the city on August 29, after our visit to Belfast. Portree is on the map but the ship was unable to dock there because of a construction issue on the dock, so passengers were unable to visit the Isle of Skye.

Here is some information about Glasgow:

Glasgow is the populous city in Scotland, located on the river Clyde. It is the third most populous city in the United Kingdom. It is a leading city for university education and research, finance, industry, commerce, shopping, culture and fashion and was celebrated in 1990 as European Capital of Culture. Most of Scotland’s national arts organizations are based here, including the opera, ballet, theatre and orchestra. The city even has its own Poet Laureate!

On our afternoon bus tour, we passed by some notable architecture and visited one of its finest cultural institutions, the Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

These modern buildings are concert halls. One is called the Armadillo and the other two photos show the OVO Hydro, built by Norman Foster. Visiting artists from around the world perform here.

The swiss cheese looking parking garage is also architecturally interesting.

Our local guide is offering an explanation as we get ready for our guided tour of the fabulous Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum.

Across the street you see the tower of the University of Glasgow

we had some time to explore the many offerings here and you can see that it was quite an eclectic collection, from the traditional to the modern, with even an explanation by Dalì himself about his construction of the upside down crucifixion. The Dali had its own special exhibition space, and the light was dimmed to protect the painting.

Back on the bus!

St George’s-Tron church

Glasgow City Chambers

Street art

Our guide is explaining that we will not be able to get into Glasgow Cathedral on a Saturday but offers an interesting history of it. It is the oldest building in Glasgow and the only medieval cathedral on the Scottish mainland to survive the Protestant Reformation of 1560 virtually intact because the townspeople took up arms to protect it . It was the cathedral church of the Archbishop of Glasgow from the 12th century. The church honors the city’s patron saint, St Mungo, whose tomb rests in the lower crypt.

Our tour ended here and we were taken back to the ship we had dinner in the main dining room and went to the main dining room for dinner. We enjoyed the music trivia with the adorable assistant cruise director Brandon and the first set of the dueling piano duo, but didn’t find much late evening entertainment to our liking, so we went to our room to watch “ Flavia” on TV. I dozed off during the movie.

August 30 was a Sunday and a sea day since we couldn’t get to Portree. We had brunch in the main dining room and enjoyed being on the ship. I even went to the gym and did some pedaling.

Line dancing on the Lido deck

Sorry for the diversion but Glasgow was an important port. Traveling by ship allows us only a brief glimpse into a city and it would be a great one to spend time exploring.

Back to our schedule. I still have more stories to tell. We disembarked from Dover on September 5 and we spent the morning at Windsor Castle, then checked into our hotel for the night before flying home the next morning. Or did we? Yes, we fkew home but there was a hotel mixup! What a mess! I only have myself to blame because I made the reservations.

We are back, still recovering from jet lag but there is still more to tell.

We travelled in the night and awoke to Cobh, the port of Cork next to us. It was nice that our tour was not too early in the morning.

We had a leisurely morning and joined our tour in the afternoon. We were lucky enough to snag a seat in the front of the bus this time.

As we were anticipating the tour from the tasting room, we had no idea that the tour would be so extensive, reminiscent of our winery tours here in California. It was somehow appropriate that a Frenchman from Normandy was our guide. The men seemed more interested in the tour than the ladies. I got lost in the science. We explored many areas of this beautiful property and were given four drinks! Oh my!

After our drinks, it was time to return to the bus and do a brief tour of Cork. I didn’t realize that the tour would be 90% distillery and 10% tour of Cork, but I managed to get some nice photos from the front of the bus. I am crazy about the beautiful multicolored houses.

Our driver entertained us by singing some Irish songs on our way back to the ship. We were the last tour to return so we had to hurry to get on board. Tomorrow is a sea day, then we land in Dover. 😢. I am not ready for this cruise to end.

We finished off the evening with our friends Ellie and Samuel at the piano bar. They are always so full of life. We enjoy ending our days here.

We joined one of the tender boats to get to the port of Dun Laoghaire, where we took a tour which visited two spots in the Irish countryside. We had visited the beautiful city of Dublin before and had a hankering to get out into the countryside. Our first stop was Ballyknocken House and Gardens, home of the cookery school, and Glendalough, the site of a 6 th century monastery.

We enjoyed our tea and scones and loved wandering the grounds of both house and gardens.

We headed out to our next stop through more beautiful countryside.

It was explained to us that there is a yearly competition for the best “ tidy town” and many villages take this competition very seriously. . The community works very hard to maintain the areas.

Our second visit was to the site of the first Irish saint, Saint Kevin, in the Wicklow mountains’ village of Glendalough. He went there for solitude and lived as a hermit in a cave in the natural beauty and wilderness and formed a monastic order there in the 6th century. . This settlement eventually became one of the great spiritual centers of Christianity in Ireland, flourishing for a thousand years after St Kevin’s death. His story is often referred to as a journey from solitude to community. The feast day of St Kevin is June 3, and he is one of the patron saints of the Archdiocese of Dublin. The monastic center includes the Round Tower, the remains of St Peter and Paul’s Cathedral, the Priests’ house and a huge graveyard, where the devoted have been laid to rest.

i

Our guide Andrea gave us much historical information along the tour, as she is here explaining the evolution of the various celtic crosses.

Glendalough is the third most visited site in Ireland, and it was quite crowded on this beautiful day.

We head back to the ship to get ready for our 5:30 reservation at the Tamarind, the ship’s Pan Asian restaurant.

a

We started with shared appetizers, then I had my delicious lamb chops with bok choy. My dessert was the lighter, tapioca type, while my sister went full out for a chocolate and strawberry concoction. Early dinner was perfect for us, because the Orange Party started at 9:30.

What is an Orange Party? The Holland America Lines celebrates its Dutch heritage by asking its passengers to wear something orange and join in the merriment of themed drinks and crazy entertainment. It started with a competition between the crew and passengers to guess the song not only by naming the title and artist, but dancing to it. The cruise director Brandon started off the fun. It just kept going from there. We had an overhead view of the craziness from the second floor.

The ship picked up passengers in Dover at the beginning of the cruise, then picked up Dutch passengers in Rotterdam. About 1/3 of the passengers were Dutch. Most spoke English but some of the older passengers did not. The Dutch absolutely loved the Orange party, and so did we. My sister even danced the Chicken Dance, party animal that she is, and I have a video to prove it!

Tomorrow’s visit to Cork is in the afternoon, so we have some time to sleep in!

When most people think of Liverpool, they think of the Beatles, and there are certainly lots of shops that sell Beatles memorabilia; however, Liverpool is also a very prosperous port city with amazing traditional as well as modern architecture throughout. There is a branch of the Tate museum next to the cruise port as well.

Liverpool had the first wet dock, built in 1715, which revolutionized global shipping by letting ships stay afloat regardless of the tide. By the late 19th century roughly 40% of the world’s trade passed through the city. It has Europe’s oldest Chinese community, the UK’s oldest Black African community and a massive Irish population. The two cathedrals are the massive Anglican cathedral and the very modern Catholic Metropolitan Cathedral of Christ the King, which we visited on our afternoon tour.

We spent some time in residential areas, eventually ending up in the neighborhood seeing the street called “Penny Lane” , where some of us had our pictures taken.

Another example of art in the city involves the Christmas truce during World War I. Two fiberglass figures, one German and one English are shaking hands as they stopped fighting and played football on Christmas Day.

As you can imagine, there were lots of Beatles related events on the ship, such as Beatles music trivia and tributes paid by our dueling pianists.

It’s time to say goodbye for tonight. More coming tomorrow.

When we signed up for excursions, we did not know how well we would be able to manage them , since I was still recovering from total knee replacement surgery and Beatrice had gone through two serious surgeries last year. We opted for the easy bus tours. We did a tour of Northern Ireland and the Republic of Ireland several years ago and had already seen many of the tourist attractions, so we were content to sit on the bus, take pictures (some blurry—sorry!) Since I used a cane on the tours, we sometimes sat in the front of the bus. I don’t use a cane at home but found it helpful with uneven sidewalks and cobblestone roads. We were amazed by thenumber of disabled passengers , who managed to go on the tours in spite of their various handicaps.

On our last visit to Belfast, we saw the various walls of remembrance to both sides that were prevalent during “the troubles,” and there are still progressive as well as royalist murals throughout the various neighborhoods of the city. Our guide mentioned that Belfast is now a multicultural city and the murals for peace hold more importance than struggles from Belfast’s troubled past. The young people of Belfast have moved beyond that era.

We could have spent all day here. The floor covering the history of the troubles was extensive and addictive. There was literally something for everyone here.

I believe that I mentioned that we spent the evening dining at the Pinnacle Grill restaurant but neglected to show a picture of my sister’s dessert. Pure indulgence!

This photo was taken at the end of one of the first days on board by my sister and it serves as a fitting goodbye for now. Tomorrow we will have sun in Liverpool!

We landed in Cohb this morning and you can see passengers scurrying to get to the buses for their morning tours to Cork. I am a few days behind because of technical difficulties with synching photos to the site. We have an afternoon tour here. Yesterday we were in the Dublin area and we opted to take a tour to see a working farm—think an Irish Martha Stewart set up—with a scones making demonstration. The wait was worth it. The scones were delicious. Later we visited Glendalough National Monument.

Monday was Liverpool. More on that later

Sunday was a sea day. Tomorrow —Thursday September 3– will be a sea day. Then we land in Dover and we go to Windsor Castle on a tour . We stay overnight at Heathrow and fly home Friday September 5.

this is just an overview.

l

Details to come. This has been a wonderful adventure and we continue to have a great time! Sorry it has to come to an end.

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.

1

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!