Category: Travel

We said goodbye to the Queen Mary 2 by going up in the glass outside elevators for a spectacular view of Southampton. The size of the ship is mind boggling. It was a warm and sunny day and we were ready for part two of our program, visiting London for four days and seeing four carefully selected plays. .

We had a very easy disembarkation and we arrived in London ahead of schedule. The small hotel was not ready to check us in, so our bags were stored and we had a buffet lunch at the hotel. We’re in a very central location, on Tottenham Court Road, next to the Warren Street tube stop.

At 2:00 we were driven to the theatre for our first play , which is located in the Lambeth area, home to the London Eye. .

The name of the play is “ Witness for the Prosecution,” written by Agatha Christie and made into a classic film starring Charles Laughton, Elsa Lancaster and Marlene Dietrich ( which you should see if you haven’t). The “ theatre” is actually London County Hall, which, for many years had been the seat of local government. Since 2017, the old council chamber has been been the home to this site- specific production. Imagine a courtroom drama being held in an actual courtroom?! It was incredible.

The play was sensational and an appropriate way to start our playgoing.

Our driver took us around the iconic buildings of central London as we made our way back to the hotel.

We just had a short time to check out our rooms before it was time to go to dinner. We went to Hugs and Bites, a very small, very delicious Mediterranean restaurant owned by two Turkish guys. The food was fabulous! It was a short walk from our hotel.

We were sharing the dishes but when the halva dessert came, I thought it was all mine, but the two other ladies protested. It was sooo good. The other offering was baklava.

We checked out the neighborhood as we walked back to the hotel.

I would like to check out this pub. It looks like fun.

Street art at Warren Street underground station

We spent the rest of the evening unpacking and organizing ourselves for the next four days. We have three more plays and will be seeing our friend Ann Tuesday and Wednesday for two museum visits. It will be busy but fun.

Time for bed! We don’t need to be anywhere until 10:30 tomorrow, when we will learn about the political scene with a short lecture. There will also be a short workshop in the afternoon. It will be a low key day. We see “People, Places & Things” tomorrow night.

We started out today with our usual routine but we did explore a new venue: the casino. It was empty but we were told that it gets busy at night. No, we did not play but we enjoyed seeing the decor. It was more elegant English than vulgar Vegas.

Today’s highlight was the Masquerade Gala Evening and people were dressed to the hilt.

We had surf n turf for dinner, saw the tenors sing show tunes, watched the dancers trip the light fantastic in the Queen’s room at the Masquerade Ball, then finished off the evening at the Commodore’s Club, where we chatted to a charming couple. They are both professors at the University of Oklahoma and he surprised her with this trip to celebrate their 20th anniversary!

Here are some photos from this extraordinary event:

The ladies brought Roaring 20s attire but that worked too.

A masque as a headband worked for me, and it gave me the added advantage of being able to see the party- goers.

I started this post after we returned to our stateroom at close to midnight and gave up on it at 2:00 AM, since it took time for the photos to download. It is now after 7:00 am and I will be up at 8:45 to get ready for our last full day at sea. It’s Saturday and we will leave the ship early Sunday morning. Today will be packing day.

We will be in London Sunday afternoon, to begin our four days of seeing plays. We will also be having lectures. We will have some from free time; we will see our friend Ann Tuesday for lunch at the rooftop museum of the National Portrait Gallery and will visit the Victoria & Albert Museum with her Wednesday morning. . .

the masquerade bsll ended last night, but the adventure continues.

At the last post I mentioned that we were invited to a cocktail party hosted by our two instructors Giles Ramsay and Spencer Jones from the Churchill group . It was quite an affair. It was fun to mix and mingle and get some insights into each group.

I wore the same dress that I wore to the red and gold gala night and had an Apero Spritz, which matched my dress. I hope that I don’t look like a refugee from a ethnic folk dance group. The gold elephant purse was a gift from my nephew, who brought it back from a trip to Thailand. I still look sleep deprived. More on that later.

Kevin, our tour coordinator is a hoot. He keeps the group organized and laughing.

Our instructor Giles is to my right and behind us is Campbell Simpson, the nightly pianist at the Commodore Club

After dinner, we spent our time watching the dancing couples in the Queen’s Room and finished off the evening listening to Campbell at the Commodore Club. He is a very talented artist and seems to play effortlessly without music.

Wednesday we had class as usual and we had a light meal at the Carinthia Lounge while listening to piano music. It was also a nice place to read.
After lunch, we played music trivia, but, unfortunately, we didn’t know most of the music! We did identify “ Venus,” by Frankie Avalon and “ Rocket Man” by Elton John.

We checked out the indoor pool but it was crowded with too many people, so we sat a while and read but didn’t go in. We returned to our stateroom to get ready for dinner.

We really enjoyed the main show, Dana Monique. She was one of the semi finalists on the TV show The Voice and had a dynamic show. The house was packed and the audience went wild. Two of her songs I especially enjoyed were “At Last” and “ Proud Mary.”

Today we ate at the main dining room but didn’t allow ourselves enough time. We did make it to class on time but it was a rushed meal. . I had my hair done at the beauty salon right after class and we went to the traditional tea at 3:30 with the waiters making a grand entrance with their teapots. Unfortunately, I wasn’t quick enough to get a picture. We had a lovely conversation with a young couple from San Jose. They managed to snag a deal, getting a stateroom that made their trip cheaper than buying an airline ticket! They quit their jobs and will be traveling for one month with a backpack each!

We listened to a lecture after tea about L.S. Lowry, an artist whose work was being displayed at the gallery. After dinner the nightly show had the dancers doing the “ Rhythms of the Night,” with tango, salsa, cha cha and other latin dance moves. Fun!

We have lost an hour almost every night of our journey, which means we are in a constant struggle with jet lag. Sleeping doesn’t come easy at night but we try to stay up during the day so we can sleep at night. This plan doesn’t always work; we both fell asleep in the middle of the art lecture today

It’s almost 2:00 AM.
TIME FOR BED!!

More news tomorrow. It’s our Masquerade Ball night! Will someone come as the Phantom of the Opera?

Tune in to find out.

We were up at our usual time, had breakfast and enjoyed our daily lesson in the history of British theatre. Shakespeare was discussed and though I knew most of the facts about his life and works, Giles explained that Shakespeare was, above all, a businessman and not revered, as some would like to have us believe. Giles likened him to Andrew Lloyd Weber, a popular performer . He played to the crowd rather than the elite .

Young Will learned about the Greeks and Romans at grammar school, but was a country boy, the son of a merchant, and didn’t continue his studies at university. He knocked up an older women, had three children and fled to London to earn a living. He started as an actor, then wrote plays under the tutelage of others and became a shareholder in his resident theatre company..He was paid as an actor, a playwright, and a producer of plays. He also got his cut as a shareholder with a percentage of the gross. He earned enough money to buy the second largest house in Stratford for his wife and three children, as well as neighboring farmland. He was very successful. He retired to Stratford after the Globe Theatre burned down.

Another interesting fact: his plays reflected the tenor of the times. When he began his writing, Elizabeth was on the throne, his plays were light (“ Romeo & Juliet,”) but when James came to the throne, they became quite dark (“Othello.”).

We have been running on empty and have been sleep deprived, so we decided to slow down and rest. Beatrice headed off for a nap and I retook some pictures with my iPad since I can’t synch between phone and iPad with the ship’s internet plan.

Our stateroom is on deck 4 staircase D — the back of the ship — and I want to go to the library, which is on deck 8, off staircase A. I walked the length of the ship and took the elevator to deck 8. Just walking inside the ship has given us exercise. We are averaging 2.5 miles per day.

I literally burst into song when I walked into this 10,000 volume edifice of knowledge the first time, late the first evening , singing “ Heaven, I’m in heaven..” I did not dance around the stacks, as Fred might have done with Ginger as they were dancing cheek to cheek. The library was empty except for another book lover who understood and laughed. Her name was also Karen, she was from England and she and her husband just spent three weeks driving around the United States. We had a lovely chat.

i have been looking for the inside pool since we arrived but hadn’t found it. I did today! It’s tucked away on deck 12, far from crowds. There were two people there. My sister will enjoy this.

Such exploration can be tiring, so I stopped at the buffet for a small salad and dessert, taking pictures of the decorations, which add so much to the ambiance of the ship.

i ran into a trivia game on the way back to the room. It was called MUGSHOTS and we had to identify the celebrity criminals. Some were obvious, like Al Capone, but one young girl was a mystery to most people. It was Cher. At 15, she was arrested for taking a friend’s car and going for a joy ride. Frank Sinatra was arrested for seduction. Who knew?

it was time to return to the room to change. We were to meet Giles and the group for a pre-dinner libation at the Champagne bar. Loved the pictures there. Very cool. Very art deco.

and then there was dinner, Beef Wellington with Yorkshire pudding. I started with leek soup andended with chocolate fondant with peppermint tea.

We watched the 8:15 PM show, a singer and pianist who sang Elvisand Elton John, among others, and played the piano on his back and upside down. Not easy to do. I felt myself nodding off..we returned to our stateroom at 9:00 and I am still at work. I hope to be asleep by midnight..maybe.

think we’ll have a dip in the pool tomorrow? We have a cocktail party at 6:00, courtesy of the Road Scholar community. We will see the people who are learning about Churchill and will no doubt exchange notes. People who love learning also love to share. Guess that’s why there are lots of teachers on this program.

This is day 3 of our trip and we’ve managed to explore the ship and take advantage of options offered to us:

When we signed up for the tour the only staterooms remaining were the inside rooms with no window. We’re okay with it. Our room is very well laid out with lots of storage space. We’re near the end of the ship, by the stairs and elevators on deck 4. The ride has been very smooth so far.

BREAKFASTS:: We used room service breakfast our second day on board ship because we knew we needed the extra time to get up and going in the morning. We were both sleep deprived from HI and CA and were afraid we would get caught in traffic. We had to be in class by 10:00. We were more organized the second day and ate in the buffet, deck 7.

CLASS: Our classroom is on deck 2. We’ve been enthralled by the lectures of Giles Ramsey. He’s the consummate teacher, storyteller and actor. Our first lecture started at the beginning of time, showing us stories from cave paintings. We whisked through the Greeks and their playwrites, then on to the Romans and the Medieval period. He does a masterful job linking history with the drama produced during these periods . Dull? Not at all. He makes us laugh and we cling on to his every word. He draws us into the story of drama. Today we learned about Christopher Marlow, one of the great Elizabethan playwrights. Look him up and read how he died a rather remarkable death at age 29. Tomorrow it’s Shakespeare. Can’t wait!!

Kevin, our group leader, keeps on us track. Here he’s reminding us to go to immigration with our passports and room keys. He gives us recommendations of things to do and see and watches out for us. Yesterday one of the ladies was concerned about the lateness of her husband at dinner, so he accompanied her to their stateroom to make sure he was okay. He was! We have dinner together in the main dining room each night.

if you read the information behind Kevin on the screen, you can read about Giles and see his website. It’s worth a peek. No, this is not a commercial.

We’re free at noon and we choose from the myriad of afternoon activities available. Yesterday we went to a lecture about TV during the 60s from a man who produced many of the shows, then attended “ Cunard Street,” which gave a history of the liner with old photos, narration and music. Today we enjoyed “Watson,” a one man show depicting the life of Dr Watson, the sidekick/ roommate of Sherlock Holmes. We also attended a lecture on the life and influence of Salvadore Dali. Some of his artwork is for sale in the art gallery.

We usually eat a light lunch late afternoon, when tea and cakes are being served, because the lectures have been more interesting than the food. The food is very good, though. We need to go to the traditional 3:30 tea service served in the Queen’s Room, an opulent lounge. We tried yesterday but it was filled. Hopefully we will get there before the ship docks.

EVENING: The main show is on at 8:15 and 10:15. Yesterday’s show was called “Apassionata,” and had all kinds of dancing, from ballroom to ballet to swing and jitterburg to Celtic Irish clog dancing. It was so great that we went to both shows! We stopped by to hear a jazz combo in between the two performances and finished the evening watching ballroom dancers at the Queen’s Room

Tonight we listened to two tenors sing a variety of songs, some in Italian and some in English.

We stopped by the posh Commodore’s club to hear lovely piano music.

Our internet here is quite strong and I am able to write in bed. My strength is waning, however, so I must turn off the light and get some sleep so I can enjoy yet another day at sea.

Hello, armchair travelers!

If you googled Road Scholar 11996 from my last post, you know that my sister and I are sailing on the Queen Mary 2 to Southampton, and taking a course in the history of British Theatre. Our first stop was New York City. We flew there Friday and boarded the QM2 on Saturday. Sunday just ended for us and I am finally more or less conversant with the working of the ship’s internet and hopefully will be bloging from here. I am not sure how I will get pictures synched to my iPad yet; I may have to take photos with the iPad instead of the phone.

We were worried about flying Delta, because of the recent snafu affecting computer systems around the world. Companies were able to recover quickly from the problem but Delta was struggling up until Thursday. Our flight was Friday and everything went smoothly. We got to our hotel in midtown Manhattan quickly and efficiently.

View from our room

We met our group leader Kevin and our instructor Gilles Ramsey and had a buffet supper, with a plentiful assortment of food and drink. We met our 24 fellow travelers, who all appear perky and excited about the adventure. There is also a group who are on board studying the life of Churchill and his effect on history.

We strolled the street after dinner. Turns out we were on a charming street with lovely brownstones and a variety of restaurants and entertainment venues, including a psychic! We passed on the psychic, but wandered into Swing 46, a wonderful restaurant/ bar with live music. We enjoyed watching the dancers and listening to the music.

Fatigue set in. We headed home, eager to get some rest before heading off to the Brooklyn port to get on the ship and start our learning adventure.

More to come!

It has been a while since I have posted, because life sometimes gets in the way.

After my last big trip with my sister, the partially successful Viking river cruise in October of 2023, it was evident that I would need to have surgery on my hip if I wanted to continue to lead an active lifestyle, so on February 13, 2024 I had successful total hip replacement surgery.

With visits from my sister and my friend Marilyn, as well as help from my neighbors and friends, my progress was rapid. I suffered no pain and went from walker to cane to nothing to aid me. After five months, I am almost back to normal with a lovely new hip. However, an X-ray indicated that I now have a bone-on-bone right knee. I blame my bad luck to my arthritic Swedish ancestors. Many of my cousins have had hip and knee replacements, and my father and uncle suffered with the disease. I had a cortisone shot in my right knee last week and it seems to be working! Surgery will be my future. In the meantime, I will still travel but a little slower and more carefully as in the past.

I was able to go on outings about three months after surgery, with a trip into San Francisco with my pal Bessie in May. We went to SFMOMA, meeting on BART. I used my cane for stability.

A month later we were off to San Francisco again via BART + muni for a visit to the de Young Museum in Golden Gate Park We were excited to see the blockbuster exhibit of Herb Ritts’ iconic photography, a fashion display that highlighted elegant clothing from the Gold Rush on, and, as a special treat for one week only, a floral design display in the galleries. It was very crowded but fun. Ladies dressed up with fancy hats. Fascinators ( ladies’ hats) were on sale in the gift shop. It was quite a wonderful event. I took my cane for stability again though I only needed it on stairs.

.

I enjoyed lunch out with “the girls,” long time friends with whom I endured and enjoyed the trials and tribulations of teaching.

My next challenge was a quick trip to Los Angeles to visit my pal Marilyn and test my endurance. She is the world’s best tour guide and enjoys showing her her home city with enthusiasm. Here are a few highlights:

She picked me up at Burbank airport, we saw an exhibition at LACMA and ended the day at a rooftop restaurant in Venice, nibbling on vittles as we watched the sun set.

A friend mentioned that Levain bakery had the world’s BEST chocolate chip cookies, which she’d experienced in New York City. I checked their website and it turned out there was one in the Larchmont area of L.A., so we spent the afternoon in our quest for the perfect chocolate chip cookie..and found it! We spent the time strolling the streets and sniffing in the shops. The French have a term for it: <<faire du lèche- vitrine>> means to go window shopping. We did more than that. We tried on shoes ( of course!) and indulged in a few beauty products at a specialty shop along the way.

She also took me to the perfect cafe in which to indulge our gluttony, with the perfect cappuccino to add to the cookie

.

That evening we had a glorious Italian dinner in her neighborhood, where we secured one of the two outside tables . The food and ambiance were outstanding! She also feted me with a humongous belated tiramisu birthday cake! What a treat!!

.

Before I left the next morning, it was time for another indulgence: breakfast at Figaro Bistro in her old neighborhood. It’s been one of our go-to restaurants for years and has become our breakfast tradition. The gorgeous furnishings were brought over from France, the zinc bar is authentic and massive and even the ladies’ room is oh so French! It’s a great way to say not goodbye but <<A bientôt>>, see you soon.

Now that we’re caught up, it’s time for you to learn about the next adventure that my sister and I will be having.

Google the following:

Road Scholar 11996 .

Read and imagine!

I will be in touch soon. Stay tuned!

We were able to sleep in but there was a morning disembarcation briefing before we arrived at the Kinderdijk area in the afternoon. One of us was required to attend.

I was happy to learn that we would be in the red tagged group. Suitcases had to be outside our door by 8:00 AM, we had to leave the room at 8:30, but we could get continental breakfast in the Aquavit lounge until 10:00. Our van would take us to the airport at 10:15, along with four other passengers.

We sailed to the open air nature reserve of Kinderdijk, as the rain and wind increased. People were putting on their sweaters and coats and scarves and hats .Viking prepared for docking and walking. I watched from the comfort of the library area.

I carefully climbed to the top deck and took a couple of photos.

Was I up for the challenge? No way.

We watched as others left the ship, bundled up with their red Viking umbrellas. There was to be a lecture about the working of the windmills, but from my perch I noticed many people returning after walking along the side of the road to get the pictures that I had already captured from the so called sun deck.

For me, it was Mission Accomplished, with minimal discomfort. We spent the afternoon getting organized and I tried a nice dessert with lunch.

After our time at the windmills, we set sail once again. The day passed quickly and we had our last meal and said good bye to friends we’d met on board.
Beatrice had her last dessert.

We watched from our veranda as we sailed past Rotterdam.

We enjoyed the first part of the trip, except for the confusion about getting on the ship in its new location. I mentioned that to Sue, our program director; she was appalled by the advice given to us by the employee on the Gymir and insisted that I write to customer services. I did, got an apology, the crew member was retrained, and we got a $250 each discount on the next cruise. Will we cruise again with Viking? I think not.

We made it to the airport with time to spare and have been home a week. The poor weather, ship change, the illness on board the ship and resulting lack of energy definitely colored our views. We don’t regret taking the cruise but the conditions could’ve been better. This was the result of circumstances, and not the fault of the company. I do think the crew on the second ship needed more training; the food wasn’t as good, the dining crew was understaffed and the wait between ordering and eating was once one hour. There were some outstanding servers, though,which made up for it.

We enjoyed our short stay in Budapest and enjoyed our time spent in Vienna. These were our two bucket list items and we were able to check them off the list!

The sun is shining and my cold is almost gone! Time to start a new day.

Will we travel again? Definitely. I already have an idea in mind for 2024…

Thanks for joining us for the good, the bad and the ugly.

We were fortunate enough to be able to dock fairly near the historical center of Cologne, this bustling city which mixes the old with the new. We were also fortunate that we didn’t have any rain, though my three layered outfit indicated that it was COLD.

We spent the morning with a leisurely guided walk around the area of Cologne cathedral, the 14 th century Gothic marvel and UNESCO World Heritage Site.

A short ride took us through a lovely residential area on our way to the city center.

We strolled the area around the cathedral to see the shops. The bakery / café was very appealing even through the gingerbread men looked like aliens!

Our guide was very interesting and informative. He also was very solicitous of our various walking impairments and managed to guide us away from the tricky cobblestones. He mentioned that the cathedral managed to remain unscathed during the Allied bombings, because the structure was more useful to the pilots as a navigational device. It is gradually being cleaned without the use of components that might ruin its intricite details. We were given time to view the interior and the area, and given directions to return to the bus park.

After visiting the cathedral, we went through a few souvenir shops and slowly wended our way back to the parking area.

We found the bus parking area, we saw our friends from the ship and we found the bus which drove us back to the ship.

It was a long, cold morning and we were quite tired and more than ready to return to the warmth of the ship. As the temperatures plummeted, our cold symptoms became more elevated, and we coughed, sneezed and blew our noses the rest of the day. We were not alone; by now, most of our fellow passengers were victims. We looked at the lunch menu for the choice of hot soups.

There were shuttle buses to return us to the city center, but we just weren’t up for it. Some of the passengers enjoyed an evening excursion out to explore the Beer Culture & Dinner. We enjoyed the fabulous chateaubriand! We took dinner in our room, as did many other sickies who remained on the ship and didn’t want to embarrass themselves in the main dining room.

Tomorrow is packing day and in the afternoon we arrive at Kinderdijk, the outdoor museum of windmills. Will we be up for the challenge?

After that, it’s Amsterdam and home.

It was nice to sleep in! No wake up call! We had a leisurely morning in the fog, which cleared as the day went on. The picturesque villages and castles of the Middle Rhine loomed up to the right and to the left of us as we did our scenic river cruise.

It was pure indulgence to curl up in our duvets in our cozy beds as the scenes came to us!

We arrived in Koblenz in the mid afternoon. There was no organized walking tour and the optional tours seemed a bit too strenuous for ladies of our vintage, so we opted for a bus ride through the beautifully terraced vineyards of the Moselle Valley, followed by a wine tasting at a local family-run winery.

The pictures of the tour are flashed weekly on our TV screen during “Masterpiece Theater” and look so inviting. The reality was not as charming, though: dressed in layers, armed with umbrellas, we saw a fogged in view of the valley and got out of the bus for our scenic overlook.

Bundled up in my puffy jacket, the sister is more enthusiastic about the experience.

We arrived at a charming garage-made-into-a-tasting room with the young vintner offering us a choice of three rieslings, with miniscule servings. There was one small piece of bread and a carafe of water for our table of eight. We were joined on this tour by another Viking group, who was sailing from Basel to Amsterdam.

Happy wine tasters!

We had a nice evening enjoying the company of a delightful young Australian couple, then nipped up to the lounge to hear a singer and musician entertain us with some light classical music and standards.

Our remaining ports of call are Cologne and today we had a scenic sail through the old windmills at Kinderdijk. It was cold and windy so we stayed in to catch up, rest and nurse our colds. They are getting much better but travel is tiring.

We are now in Rotterdam, and will be in Amsterdam in the morning, when we fly back to SFO. I will include highlights of Cologne when I return to California. The sister will have one day of rest before she returns to home and hearth of Hawaii. It’s been a great trip, but there’s no place like home.