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May 5, 2019 – Dublin, Ireland

Another port with a slow sail in. Ian on the mic and muffins for the taking. We finally arrived at port and were allowed to leave the ship at 10 am. This was a working container port and we would be taken into the city center by shuttle bus.

We have been to Dublin twice before and decided this would the city to get some boxes to ship home and of course get the VAT refund. We went up to the Lido and made a few sandwiches to take with us. I went to the front desk to ask a question about a notice we received about shipping things home. The young lady who helped me was the same one who told me Ireland is not a part of the EU. She said she had information for me about the VAT refund. She handed me a piece of paper that had two locations on it. One was at the airport, the other in town. No mention of the EU.

We rode the shuttle in and we were dropped off near Merrion Square. I did some research before we left and found a place that handles GlobalBlue. This is one of the many third parties that handle VAT refunds. We decided to go to this place first. While walking we realized that Dublin and Belfast were very similar. More so than I guessed they would be.

We arrived at the exchange/refund/tourist information center. When I asked about VAT and GlobalBlue I was told they do handle that. Hurrah! However, not on Sunday and not tomorrow. Holiday. You will have to go to the airport, he said. Since we aren’t flying I asked if customs was before security. Yes it is, was his response. He said the store across the river might have more information.

I did a quick Uber check. £40 one way. About 100 usd. We took the bridge back over the River Liffey and went to the souvenir shop that may have more information. We went in the basement and spoke to a young lady. They don’t handle GlobalBlue. She also said customs is after security in the airport and it said so on one of the forms. I asked if she had a customs stamp. This is all we need. The rest could be done by mail. She does not.

We decided to go to the place the young lady on the ship gave me.

The walk was not too far but they couldn’t help us. “Around the corner”, was the response. We went around the corner. No. We went back and the fine gentlemen that told us to go around the corner let me use the phone to call GlobalBlue. The gentlemen I spoke to on the phone said I can do it all online. “Without a customs stamp”, I asked. “Yes”, was his response. I thanked him and we left.

We decided to have lunch and sat out on a bench in front of the Irish Whiskey Museum. We decided we would take a tour afterward. There was another ship in port and Dublin was starting to get busy.

We went in, booked a tour, and waited for the tour to start with a couple of Irish Coffees. Coffee, Powers Irish Whiskey, cream and chocolate powder on top. This is the original recipe.

We began the tour. Fiond gave the tour. Since this place wasn’t a distillery and represented no single company, he could talk about all Irish whiskey.

He gave a great tour and talked about how Ireland made 60% of the Whiskey in the world in the 1800s. I knew that Scotland had that title today but I didn’t remember why. It had to do with a distillation process that was many times faster that the Irish thought cheapened the whisky. Scotland capitalized on this process and was able to produce as much whiskey in a week that Ireland could produce in 9 months. This was the end of most distilleries in Ireland. Several thousand down to 5 today.

After the tour we sampled 5 different types.

Fiond reinforced what I had already know about distilled spirits. Most, if not all of the flavor comes after the distillation process. Irish whiskey is also aged in Bourbon barrels purchased from the US. 3 years and one day is the minimum. Why one day? It is one more day than the Scottish minimum of three days. The age of the whiskey is a better indicator of price than quality or flavor. Single malt has little to do with taste or quality. It just means it came from the same malting process.

We did our sampling. I prefer Bourbon but I did enjoy sampling these.

After out tour we decided to find some boxes and tape for shipping. This was a bit difficult on a Sunday but we did find a place and decided to buy two large plastic bins. HAL will cover shipping of 4 boxes/suitcases with no weight limit. American Air has a 50Ib limit. I think we have this part figured out.

We boarded the shuttle and went back to the ship. We had dinner aboard and returned to our rooms rather exhausted. I read this in the “When and Where” booklet for tomorrow.

Alice captured my reaction.

…

May 4, 2019 – Belfast, Northern Ireland, The United Kingdom

We began with our cruise in to Belfast at 8 am. Ian was in the Crow’s Nest on his microphone.

We arrived in Belfast at 10 am. A working port, we needed to take a shuttle bus to the center of town. We were on our own and did a walking tour of some of the sites.

City Hall was our first stop and was right across the Belfast visitor center where the shuttle dropped us off.

Ulster Concert Hall. Built in 1859

The Europa Hotel has the reputation of the most bombed hotel in the world. 28 bomb attacks during “The Troubles”.

The Grand Opera House – 1895

Belfast Metropolitan College

St. Mary’s Church – 1784

Belfast Central Library 1838

St. Anne’s Cathedral

Royal Ulster Rifles Museum

Albert Memorial Clock – 1869

The Big Fish – 1999

Beacon of Hope – 2007

We finished out tour and had some lunch in here.

We then walked to St. Georges Market

We then decided to do a 10 stop pub crawl. On a slow day that would be tough complete. It was Saturday and would be tough. Our first stop was Laverys.

We sat at the bar and chatted it up with a few guys preparing for the Belfast Marathon on Sunday morning. Each had a Guinness in their hand. We were surprised at the Irish prepare for a marathon. The pub was close to full with folks watching the soccer match.

The Five Points was next. This place was nice but empty.

The Crown Bar was next. Absolutely packed. We barely made it from one end to the other. No place to sit or even stand.

We walked around the corner and found and entrance to the second floor where the dining room was.

Interesting drink.

Bob and Brenda came up for dinner just as we were finishing. We chatted for a while and then we were off to the next stop. Robinson’s.

We entered Fibber Magee’s and half way through it connected to Robinsons. The place was packed with people.

We made it through the crowd and went on our way to Kelly’s Cellar.

After I took a photo of this chap he asked where we were from.

He handed me one of his pint’s and then went into the bar to buy Terri a drink.

We thanked him but he really wasn’t interested in chatting. He did say this was the best pub in Belfast.

Next stop. Maddens.

This place had a buzzer that you had to ring before you could get in. Reminded me of the Kociuszko Democratic Club in Hamtramck where I was a member back in the 70s. Terri said it was similar to the Ukrainian Club in Rossford, OH where she grew up. This place was quite cozy but we decided we had enough. Good effort at hitting all 10 but it was getting late. We headed back to the shuttle and then to the ship.

Evening entertainment was Kaitlyn Carr. Kaitlyn is from Scotland and did a performance of local Celtic music. She played the Irish tin whistle and the Celtic flute. Great performance.…

May 3, 2019 – Isle of Skye, Scotland

Today is a tender port. There is a chance that the ocean will be tough rough to allow tendering operations or that it will begin and then cancelled as was done at Easter Island.

UK customs demand a “face to face” with passport in hand for all guests on board. We were assigned to group 10 and this was to begin at 7 am.

Tendering tickets are scheduled to be handed out at 7 am also. I am always up early so we decided that I would check things out at 5:30 am. I did and 5 people were already in line. The pool area in the Lido was quite cold so I went and put on some warm clothes and sat and read the paper in line. Terri came up after breakfast opened and brought me breakfast. We sat together until 7 am and the line then began to move. The line was very long by this time. The 5 people in front of me were given tender tickets with the number 15. I received tender 16. This is an attempt to provide a sense of legitimacy. The tenders hold 150 people. Anyone who booked a HAL trip will be going on the first few tenders and need no tender ticket and they will call tender 15 first. We went back to the room and had to wait for group 10 to be called for the immigration process. When we were finally called the process went quickly. One officer checked the picture on the passport with the holder. We waited back in the room for the tender call. We finally got aboard about 8:45 am and took the 20 minute ride to the port.

Today we had no tour. We wanted to see the Talisker distillery and two castles. We hired a taxi and were off to the distillery. Don was our driver and he was born and raised on the island. We arrived at the distillery shorty after they opened at 9:30. Next tour was at 11:30 so we purchased tickets and got back in the taxi. Off to Dunvegan Castle.

Dunvegan Castle is the oldest continuously inhabited castle in Scotland. The ancestral home of the Chiefs of Clan MacLeod for 800 years.

We have been through castles before but never did one have furnishings in it from more modern times. We spent some time visiting here and then went back to the distillery.

Our guide took us through the process of making scotch. Not much of a mystery. Barley, water, yeast. 72 hours of fermentation and then distillation. The barley is soaked in water and allowed to germinate. This is the malting process. This opens up the barley. It is dried by using heat from burning peat. This may impart some flavor onto the barley. The barley is crushed, strained to give a 60% grain, 20% husk, and 10% flour mixture. Using straight barley would produce dough. The mixture has yeast and water added to it and then is put in vats for the 72 fermentation process.

After distillation the mixture would be high in alcohol and absent of flavor. The aging and flavoring process takes care of this. The small barrels are actually previously used bourbon barrels from the USA. Federal law states only one use per barrel in the US. No such law in Scotland. The larger barrels were previous used for port wine in Spain. These barrels give the Scotch a darker color. There is Scotch that is aged, and Scotch that is flavored. This where the different distilleries give the unique flavor of their product.

We did a sampling after the tour. I prefer bourbon from Kentucky and the tasting did little for me. Terri enjoyed it. Nothing we can’t get at home. We went back to our taxi and Don took us to Eilean Donan Castle. Along the way we took some photos.

This castle made an appearance in many films. James Bond drove his Aston Martin in the film the World is Not Enough and it was also featured in Skyfall.

We enjoyed our visit to this castle and had Don take us back to town. We did manage to get something to eat and drink in Portree but most of the pubs were not open yet. We got on the tender about 4:30 and went back to the ship.

We spent the evening watching the movie The Bucket List. Two terminally ill men decide to create at list of things to see and do and complete it before they “kick the bucket”. Many of the things they saw have already been checked off on our list!…

May 2, 2019 – at Sea

Today the sea was very rough, it was raining and it was cold. The gym had the usual number of people in it. Terri predicts that it will be packed after our last stop as people try to lose all of the weight they have gained from the non-stop eating. We have 8 sea days across the Atlantic. What do you think? Will it be packed?

We did spend some money in the European Union and would like to get our VAT back. I asked Ian a week back when I was leaving the ship and he said check upstairs with the EXC (excursions) desk. I checked with them today and they had no idea what I was talking about. Niran made a call and kept saying UK instead of EU. He didn’t know what the EU was or what a VAT was. We left.

Later on, when I was less frustrated, I went to the front desk and asked about the VAT refund. The desk attendant said she had no information on that yet.

There are times where a customs officials will come on board, check your items, and give a refund provided you have the receipts and paperwork. Other times it happens at the port station.

I pressed her for more and she went in the back to check (with whom, I don’t know). She came back out and said Ireland is not in the EU so there is no way to get the VAT refund. Huh? We are making two stops in the UK. I know that Brexit hasn’t happened yet. We have three stops in Ireland. Was there an Irexit that I don’t know about? If we were flying out of the EU, it would happen right at the airport. The VAT forms we have will be sent by mail but we must have a stamp from a customs official verifying that the merchandise has left the country. This is supposed to happen at our last stop in the EU. More to follow….

We are starting to think about packing and shipping. The ship stewards will pick up anything we want and take it to a luggage storage facility off of the ship. When we leave the ship we go get all of our luggage and boxes and go through customs. After customs, we take the boxes and luggage we want shipped home to fedex and the rest we take with us to the airport.

Just 4 of us at team trivia today. Atomic number of Tin? 1024 GB = ? The young boy’s name in the Jungle Book?

We had lunch with Brian and Sandy. They have already put a deposit on another cruise. We are going back to what we did prior to this cruise. We will alternate years planning a vacation. I am up next year.

We had dinner in the main dining room and sat next to a couple that wanted to share how many cruises they have been on (about 40) and how nothing is like it used to be. Everything was better back when they started cruising in the early 90s. They just boarded in Amsterdam and will ride back to Ft. Lauderdale.

The entertainment was a trio of dancers called the Tap Chaps. They are from Dublin and put on a good show. The stage floor really wasn’t the best surface for tapping but they made it work. They sang a few numbers but their strength was really the dance. They called on three people from the audience and tried to teach them a routine. If the people could remember their own names I would have been impressed. No chance they could remember any moves they were taught. Hilarious.

…

May 1, 2019 – Flåm, Norway

Ian took the mic at 6:30 am as we started our cruise through the Fiords. It was strange seeing snow after all these months.

We had a tour scheduled at 11:00 am and went out to the tour place to see how we should dress. The population of Flåm is 350.

Out tour was a 16 passenger boat to take us out to the Nærøwfjord. The tour company would supply a one piece suit that doubled as a floatation device, hat, goggles, inflatable life vest, and gloves. It was about 50 and sunny. We visited the little town, and then went back to the ship to get ready.

This is the gear we put on.

I took a lot of GoPro video of the trip and was able to capture these photos.

The Nærøwfjord is a UNESCO world heritage site because it is “untouched” and looks like it did centuries ago.

Our guide stopped every so often to give a story about what we were seeing.

We did a zig zag pattern all along the fjord to get closeup with all of the waterfalls. We saw hundreds. Along the way we saw homes and some abandoned farms. Its hard to imagine farming along the fjord but that is what people did. Fishing is tough to do as the water is very brackish for a good part of the year and does not contain many fish.

This farm raised sheep to make unique brown cheese.

We were out on the water for about 2.5 hours. The wind did kick up on the way back and we were glad we had the protective suits on.

We decided to do a hike up to a waterfall after the ride.

Our ship in the lower left corner.

Another great day. All aboard 5:30 and the Captain Mercer launched the ship soon after to beat a coming storm. Ian did more commentary on the way out.

Last sea day tomorrow before we do the 8 day journey across the Atlantic. Isle of Skye in Scotland, Belfast in Northern Ireland, Dublin, Cork, and Bantry, Ireland will consume Friday through Tuesday.…

April 30, 2019 – at Sea

Breakfast and the gym. Our bodies are really tired from all of the walking and we appreciate the day of rest.

Very foggy and cold. Hard to see 50 feet over the ocean. The ships fog horn has been signaling every few minutes.

We went to Ian’s presentation on Flam. He will do “sail in” commentary as we approach tomorrow morning. Yes, more muffins. We have a tour of the Naeroyfjord on Wednesday. The views should be spectacular.

Group trivia was tough again. A group of pigeons is called? How about the name of the Looney Tunes song? (hope you thought merry go-round broke down).

We are starting to think about our journey home and how we are going to get everything back to Grosse Ile. Next time we will spend $100 and buy all of our clothes at a thrift store and leave them behind. …

April 29, 2019 – Oslo, Norway

Ian gave “sail in” commentary through the fiords into Oslo. If you guessed that there were muffins, you would be correct.

We pulled in later than usual today. I’m guessing it is to please the muffin eating passengers. We arrived at the dock at 10 am and we got off the ship about 10:30 am.

I suggested we visit the Kon-Tiki museum. Thor Heyerdahl wanted to prove that people could have sailed from South America to Polynesia. To do that, he built a raft out of balsa wood and set out with 5 others from Peru.

He wrote about the experience and his book was published in 1948. I remember reading this when I was a kid and thought it would be interesting.

We could see where the museum was from the ship but there was a lot of water to walk around. 4.5 miles this morning. The sun was warm and it was already in the 60s.

These shipping containers were used to provide information to visitors.

Along the way we walked through some nice neighborhoods.

Lots of walking paths.

Thor’s team knew nothing about sailing and the craft looked like it would last a week. I guess it was their ignorance of the seas that really gave them the courage to try this.

The museum was interesting and small. Thor also built a reed boat similar to what the Egyptians used and also did some work on Easter Island.

There were many artifacts from easter Island in this museum. We spent about an hour there and decided to head back and grab lunch. The restaurant we passed on the way in was closed on Monday. We decided to stop at a market and grab some food we could eat on the way.

Our next stop was the Beer Palace. Very nice place and very large. No one was there and we sat down for a drink. We learned why no one was there. A 25% VAT or “Value Added Tax”. $13 USD per drink. We each had one and then left. Lots of visitors exploring town but little action in the stores. Visitors to Norway can get the VAT refunded but the hassle may not be worth it. There is nothing here we couldn’t get anywhere else. Nothing like a tax to kill something. There is a very large corporate tax here also. 70%

One benefit is that there is no waiting to get a table anywhere, even with huge crowds of tourists.

Nice place. No waiting.

The Oslo Opera house.

Art?

I guess if you find yourself without a t shirt you can pick one up at this handy rack.

Probably 12 miles of walking today. We look forward to a sea day tomorrow to rest.…

April 28, 2019 – Copenhagen, Denmark

Ian started the morning at 6:30 as we cruised into Copenhagen. Of course muffins were to be had. We had breakfast as usual and listened and watched from the Lido.

We docked at 8 am and we got off shortly after that. Another walking tour.

St. Alban’s 1887

Nyhavn is a popular entertainment district lined with townhouses, cafes, and restaurants from the 17th and 18th centuries.

Magasin du Nord department store

Royal Copenhagen porcelain shop

Trinitatus Church 1651

Alexander Nevsky Church 1883

Frederik’s Church, also known as the Marble Church opened in 1894.

The Rundetarn or round tower was constructed to serve as an astronomical observatory in 1637.

A brick, winding walk takes one to the top.

Views from the top. The spire from Nikolaj Church can be seen.

The Royal Library founded in 1648.

Christiansborg Palace is the seat of the Danish parliament.

Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek is an art museum built around the personal collection of Carl Jacobsen, the son of the founder of Carlsberg Breweries.

Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park that opened in 1843.

The old stock exchange.

We had lunch about noon at a little place called Det lille Apotek.

We visited the “Food Stalls”

We started back toward the ship and decided to stop in Vinvaerten. A little restaurant that had a quartet playing some jazz. The drummer, Tom McEwan, is wearing a metal “fish” that he used banjo picks on. Turns out he was an actor that had a children’s television show decades ago. The owner of the restaurant sang a few tunes with the band.

We enjoyed a few drinks and listening to the group. We left about 3:30 to head back to the ship to make the 4:30 all aboard call.…

April 27, 2019 – at Sea

We slept in today. 6:30 am. I felt like half of the day had already passed by the time we had breakfast.

It was nice to get back to the gym. We do not have many gym days left until we head across the Atlantic. A lot of the machines are down for repair and getting one is more difficult.

Team trivia seemed harder than usual. I knew that magnetic north was in Canada but the Canadians were lukewarm on the idea and so was Fred. Norway was our answer. Who created Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer? I said Johnny Mercer. He wrote the song. Incorrect. What does M & M stand for?

The carpets on the elevator were replaced last week. These remind passengers what day of the week it is. They are selling the old ones for $50 a piece or $300 for a set of seven. I say purchase “FRIDAY” and use it as your entry mat.

Ian did his presentation this morning about the next two stops. Copenhagen and Oslo. We have no tours planned for these two stops. Lot’s of walking ahead. I suspect there will be crowds to deal with at both of these stops.

It was the Orange Gala night in honor of King’s Day in the Netherlands. We had dinner at Bob and Brenda’s table. I think they are anxious to get back to Yuma, Arizona. Lot’s of immigration trouble to deal with.

…

April 26, 2019 – Amsterdam, Netherlands

We arrived at 8 am. It was in the 50s and rain was unlikely. We decided to wait until after 9 am as I was already in the online queue by 8:30 am to get tickets to the Anne Frank house.

450 people were ahead of me in the queue. The message I received under that said “if the number is over 200, there is no use waiting. If it is under 200, there is no guarantee tickets can be purchased”. How fun is this? The site refreshed every minute with a new number. I had the site open on my phone as a backup. The number waiting kept going down with every refresh. 400, 350, 300… finally I was connected to a calendar where I was to choose a date. It still was not 9 am and I knew no tickets would be available for today. To keep the page active I kept selecting today’s date and let the page refresh and tell me there were no tickets available. When 9 am arrived I used my phone to select a time. I got the spinning wheel of death. I tried on the computer and I was in. I was able to purchase tickets for 1:30 this afternoon. I would later learn how lucky we were. There were thousands of people on the streets and only 20 or so were let into the Anne Frank house every 30 minutes.

If you notice the buildings leaning you have a good eye. Homes were built on wooden piles in the old days and as the wood would rot, the houses began to lean. Some of the homes lean forward. We learned that this was done intentionally to allow items to be pull up by using a hook and rope from the gable and the items would not scrape against the front of the building.

Notice the forward lean?

We walked through part of the red light district. I was surprised that it was very tastefully done.

One of the most popular attractions was Madame Tussauds Wax Museum.

We finished our tour about 12:30 and found a place to have lunch. We spent about 45 minutes having lunch in this place and then walked over to the Anne Frank house. Crowds now were overwhelming.

The front of the building where Anne Frank went into hiding.

The bookcase that hid the entrance to the annex behind the building.

Terri going into the annex.

I really wasn’t supposed to be taking pictures but I did grab a few. Very dim lighting and the quality is not very good. Most of the rooms had a picture of what the room looked like back in the 1940s.

A dot map of Amsterdam showing the location of jews. 1 dot = 10 jews.

The tour of the house just reinforced the waste of humanity. The diaries that Anne kept were all located here and could be viewed in the glass cases they were in. Who knows what she would have accomplished if she was allowed to live?

We visited the Mauthausen Death Camp when we visited Austria some years back and this left us with the same feeling.

The visit took about an hour.

We went to visit a cheese store that was nearby and bought some great cheese.

Afterward we went to Tommy Paige clothing store. Tommy had some custom designed clothing based on images he had from men in the 1930s.

I bought a jacket, pants, and a tie. Next stop was Terra’s Shoes. Custom made shoes from Spain.

Saddle shoes completed the look. Terri bought some saddle shoe loafers. Next stop was a hat store.

I like it!

Our day ended at a quaint restaurant where we had a drink outside. We walked back to the ship at 6:30 and decided against going to the party at the Rembrandt Museum. We had a quick dinner in the Lido, watched a movie and went to bed. Probably another 10 mile day.

…

April 25, 2019 – Zeebrugge, Belgium

We arrived in port today at 7 am. This is a working port and because of that, guests must use a shuttle bus to get out of the port. Our plan is to go to the the city of Brugge, about 11 km away. There is a shuttle to the train station and it leaves at 8:30 am.

At 8:15 am we head out to the shuttle. We have rain gear on again today. I do have a different jacket and light waterproof ski paints also. It is cool enough where these feel great. The train out of Zeebrugge leaves at 8:54 am. Trains run every hour. We are on the very first shuttle. The driver waits longer than he should have and leaves 3 minutes late. We get to the train station and many others are running with us toward the ticket window. I take the short line. Big mistake. No one seems to be in a hurry but us. I finally grab our tickets and we run out the door. We watch as the train goes down the track. We missed it.

There wasn’t much to see in Zeebrugge. We did take a short walk and then decided to get on the next train and wait. The train was nice, quiet, and fast. Today we would do a walking tour of the sites, have lunch, and then catch the 2:54 pm train to Zeebrugge and catch the bus back to the ship. All aboard 4:30. Last bus 4:00.

There was another huge cruise ship in port with us today. We expected many tourists and there were bus loads.

We completed one walking tour and stopped in a store that carried antique prints. If you think we walked out empty handed, you would be wrong. We did buy a few etchings done of the city of Brugge. 21% VAT tax. We will get this refunded when we leave the EU.

Lunch was next and the menu was french! Croque monsieur is always my go to for lunch. Terri had something different for lunch. A salad!

After lunch we went to a patisserie and grabbed a baguette to take back to the ship. We started to do the tour of the different bars in Brugge but then decided to stop in Jerry’s cigar bar. I had a Cohiba and Terri had a scotch. We sat outside and enjoyed the atmosphere and it finally started to rain a bit. We packed up and started for the train station. We didn’t want to miss this train as the next one would arrive after the last bus left. We were on the platform with 5 minutes to spare.

No ticket was collected on either train ride. Not sure why.

Early to bed. Long day Friday in Amsterdam.…

April 24, 2019 – Cherbourg, France

We arrived today at 7:00 am. We waited until after 8:00 am to grab the shuttle bus out of the port.

Cold and steady rain. Why not go for a walk? We decided to walk to the Chalet de Ravalet. A short 3.5 mile walk through some nice neighborhoods. The rain did not let up the entire walk. My water proof socks worked well. Toes toasty warm. My jacket leaked the way a canvas tent does when you touch it. I bought it because it was breathable, not leakable. We both had umbrellas and Terri was dressed well from head to toe. We laughed along the way on how no one else but us would be doing this.

Miss Liberty had trouble leading the way as her torch was gone.

This Chateau was built in the 16C.

We knew before we left that it would not be open and rarely is.

We enjoyed taking photos and started to head back to town. Cherbourg is larger than I remember.

I can’t go to France without getting a chocolate croissant and a baguette. We stopped into a patisserie and sat down and had a snack. Why is it we can’t get these outside of France? Many look like these but never taste like these.

We came back to the ship for lunch and stayed aboard for the rest of afternoon. I dread to think that this storm is going to follow us to Belgium.

The evening entertainment was a performance by Jo Little. She sings and tells jokes. She reminded me very much of a violist I know. Same red hair and great sense of humor!

…

April 23, 2019 – at Sea

We slept in until 6 am today. Clocks were set an hour forward for our next stop.

Breakfast, gym and then main stage to hear Ian talk about the next three stops. France, Belgium, and Holland. We have been to the beaches of Normandy and have decided to take it easy in Cherbourg. I originally planned a walk to Chalet de Ravalet but I have read that it is closed to visitors.

The grounds can still be visited but I think the weather will not support this. A baguette, a few croissants, some cheese should do it. Terri wants chocolates in Belgium and I would like to see Anne Franks house in Amsterdam. Tickets must be purchased online and they are gone. They do release another batch each morning at 9 am for that day. I will try for that on Friday. Friday night is the complimentary museum party hosted by HAL.

Cold and rainy today. Long shirt and jeans. I think the t shirt and sitting outside on the deck are gone.

Evening entertainment was a performance by the Flyrights. A trio of singers from the West End of London. They did some Motown and some classic rock and roll. A solo cover of “Bojangles” by one of the trio was quite good and very original. The house band backed them up and overall they get an 8.…

April 22, 2019 – Porto, Portugal

Today was another day on our own. A few days back I looked into touring a Port Wine Cellar since Porto is the home of Port Wine. We decided to visit the Sandeman Cellars.

Uber was our initial thought on getting to the cellar. We were outside the port at 8:20 am and decided a 6.5 mile walk was a great way to start the day so we headed out on foot. Sandeman didn’t open until 10 am anyway. The port was in Leixoes and Sandeman was in Porto.

Nice waterfront and a bit cleaner than Lisbon.

This piece of art would go well with some of the music we have heard on the ship.

We walked through some very quiet neighborhoods off of the main roads.

Some obvious well off neighborhoods and others not so well off. Some of the condos we saw looked like they belonged in the former USSR or the former East Germany. The kind of beauty only communism can produce.

As we got closer to Porto the buildings became a lot more colorful and interesting.

We arrived at Sandeman at 10:20 am.

We took a tour with this nice young lady as our guide.

We learned a lot about Port Wine. Most of the world recognizes Portugal as the source of Port. The USA does not. Anything can be called Port.

Port is a wine where the fermentation process is interrupted midway through by the addition of brandy. Brandy with high alcohol content and little if any flavor. Complete fermentation is when the yeast dies in its own waste – alcohol (about 1 week). Adding Brandy raises the alcohol level prematurely and kills off the yeast before all of the sugar is converted to alcohol. This leaves a sweeter tasting wine with almost double the alcohol level of regular wine. This wine goes well with sweets or as a dessert itself. If you are wondering about Sherry, it has gone through a complete fermentation process and is fortified with brandy after.

All of the Ports, save the vintage, are blends and the 10, 20, and 30 year marks on the bottle indicate the average age of the blended ports. Each year the grape crop is analyzed and if the quality is high enough, a vintage port is made. The cellar here contained vintage ports from as early as 1904.

The sampling was next.

Here is a white, ruby, and tawny. The difference between ruby and tawny has to do with how it is aged and where it is aged. The ruby spends time aging in the huge barrels shown above. Exposure to air through the wood is minimal. The tawny is aged in the smaller barrels and the exposure to air through the wood is greater and it spends more time aging than the ruby.

It was fun to sample but we made no purchases. Terri liked the tawny and I liked the ruby.

It was time for lunch and Terri picked a place about 3/4 a mile away. We walked back across the river, through some winding alleys and up to a little restaurant.

No much english was spoken in this restaurant and it was a challenge ordering. The food was very good. I did see Super Bock all over town and decided to try one. Not sure what happened with the spelling on the bottom label. Too much sampling?

It was after 1 pm and all aboard was 3:30 pm. We decided we would walk back and enjoy the scenery by the river. After a mile or so I realized that we were short on time and were cutting it too close. We could do the 6.5 miles in two hours but any delay and we could miss the ship. We decided to call an Uber.

Evening entertainment was “Pianist with the Hair”. It was billed as “Carnegie Hall meets Saturday Night Live” with Julian G. Steinway artist and International Piano sensation.

His playing was adequate but not outstanding. A little trouble keeping his hands playing together. His humor was well done and probably necessary. I was entertained. Terri gave him a 2.…

April 21, 2019 – Lisbon, Portugal

Today we arrive at 9 am so we decided to hit the gym at our usual 6:30 am time. Obviously we don’t get enough exercise.

Today we are doing another walking tour of the city. It is Easter Sunday and 80% of Portugal is Catholic so we don’t expect much to be open.

We cruised up the Targus river and Ian gave us the play by play starting at 8 am.

We pulled in at 9 am and were next to two other very large cruise ships. It was going to be busy so we decided to get an early start.

Some very narrow streets and alleys.

We walked up and down to see the sights all morning long. Lots of places began to open to our surprise. We decided it was time for lunch. This little restaurant advertised traditional Portuguese food. Terri had a salad (what a surprise) and I had a burger (another surprise). My burger had a fried egg on it and two kinds of gooey cheese. No fries but small boiled potatoes. Delicious.

Did anyone know sardines where this popular? Stores all over town that carried only sardines.

After lunch we did more walking and decided to head back to the ship and drop some of the clothes we had on. It was getting very warm and was nice and sunny.

We headed back out to do some shopping. Terri realized she needed shoes. I acted surprised. She did find a few pair.

Exhausted after shopping we decided to head to the World of Beer Museum. What could be better?

We enjoyed a drink and fast wifi. I was able to finally update my iphone. 32 updates.

Back on the ship we ordered room service, watched the shipped sail back down the Targus and watched a movie.

Porto, Portugal tomorrow.…

April 20, 2019 – Cadiz, Spain

We arrived at 7am. Still dark out so we waited until the sun came up at about 8 am.

Today was on our own. No tours booked. A map and camera was all we needed. It was in the 50s and rain was predicted. We dressed appropriately and left for some walking.

Another very clean and nice looking city. We remained in the old section. Here is a glimpse of the well maintained water front area.

Giant Ficus tree

More ruins the Roman Empire

One totally lost visitor

The Flamenco Dance school

We stopped for lunch at this place. Cafe Le Royal

No idea what these guys were all about.

Lots of miles again today and we walked back to the ship about 4 pm. We decided to skip the evening entertainment to get extra rest for our stop in Lisbon on Sunday and Oporto on Monday.…

April 19, 2019 – at Sea

Nice recovery day and then 3 port days. We have been so lucky with the weather but rain is forecast for tomorrow.

Which famous German composer lost his hearing at 29. I immediately thought Beethoven but then I thought, was there a Germany at his time? I thought it was controlled by Austria. Beethoven was correct. I didn’t have to give Hamish a hard time on this one but his pronunciation of the river Danube made us cringe. Dah – Nube. Right

We had dinner with Brian and Sandy. Brian is a pediatric urologist and Sandy is a nurse. They are from Grand Rapids, Michigan. They were with us at the Dead Sea mud bath. They have done a lot more traveling then we have and it was nice to listen to their experiences.

The evening entertainment was a performance of the Spanish Rumba Kings. This is a tribute group to the Gypsy Kings. The group is from Seville. 4 guitarists who used a metronome that had a bass drum sound.

The quartet started with two playing an instrumental piece. Nice playing but they were not in tune. The next number included all of the members. Two of them sang. Nice harmony and blend. After the third number the first two finally retuned. No issue for the rest of the performance. I really enjoyed their performance and they played a variety of tunes. Hotel California, Volare, My Way were tunes I recognized. They played well and we enjoyed listening to them.…

April 18, 2019 – Barcelona, Spain

We arrived at 8 am as scheduled but had to wait for another ship to pull in to port. There were many cruise ships docked. I counted at least 5 and they were massive ships. This was a guarantee of a very congested Barcelona.

We are on our own today. The Captain gave us an extra hour because of the delay in port. All aboard is now 6:30 pm.

Our first stop is the Sagrada Familia or Church of the Holy Family. This would be about 2.8 mile walk.

Along the way we commented on how much Barcelona reminded us of Paris. Very clean, lots of shops, narrow streets, wide avenues.

The Arc De Triompf.

Construction of the Sagrada Familia church began in 1882 and the architect was Antoni Gaudi. It is hard to describe this church, still not finished, and the pictures do not do it justice.

There were many, many tour busses and hundreds of people on all sides of this church. A very long line to get inside. We asked about tickets. “you have to buy them online and we are sold out until Monday”. A reason to come back to Barcelona. This would be an all day event even without a line. Judging from the exterior there would be lots to see inside also.

Next stop was Gimenco’s for cigars. A nice and large humidor in the basement. Prices reasonable. I bought two boxes of Cubans that are made only for export to Spain.

We had lunch at “a restaurant”. We shared some Tapas. Food was very good. Some nice jazz was played on the speakers.

After lunch we decided to follow a tour I had on my iphone. The architectural highlights of Barcelona. Many but not all of the buildings were designed by Gaudi.

The Catalan Music Palace

We put on about 10 miles walking around Barcelona and decided it was time to head back. The shuttle meeting place was at the world trade center. We arrived at the shuttle about 5 pm and enjoyed the short ride back to the ship.

There was a sail away party in the Lido Pool area. We grabbed a drink and had dinner back in the Lido dining room.

Early night. Exhausted.…

April 17, 2019 – at Sea

Today we cruise almost directly west toward Spain. France is on the starboard side and we did pass by some French islands where I was able to get cellular service. The ships internet was down most of the day. Henk, the hotel manager, sent a note later in the day that apologized for the interruptions and promised improved internet service as they are aware of and are working on the problem.

We received notification that our flight home has been changed to a later time. 10pm. This means and arrival time into Detroit at 1:30 am or so. Holland America is working on changing that. Not sure what we will do all day as the ship arrives at 7am.

We were finally the winners in group trivia today as we only missed two questions. Doolin, the assistant cruise director, was today’s host. His games are always much faster than when Hamish is the host. Hamish has the Jamaican accent that so many cannot understand. No problem, mon.

The seas were calm as far as the eye could see. Today’s sunrise.

Islands south of France.

Ian did his presentation about Barcelona at 2 pm today. Lots to see and one day will hardly be enough. We are going to start with the Sagrada Familia church. Still unfinished, this church shows the Gaudi architecture that many buildings in Barcelona are famous for.

We spent the rest of the afternoon on the lower promenade at the rear of the ship. Lots of sun and little wind.

We decided to see a movie after dinner in the Wajang Theater. Night Train to Lisbon. Very interesting movie about the revolution that took place in the 1970s. The movie was more of a book being read as the story was told in conversations, not action. Interesting story. We are visiting Lisbon on Sunday.

Early to bed. Lot’s of walking tomorrow.…

April 16, 2019 – Naples, Italy

We arrived at 8 am today. Captain Mercer announced that the immigration officials wouldn’t be on board for at least 15 minutes and that it would take at least 30 minutes to clear us. Next announcement was when the officials finally came aboard. 8:35. Hammish finally announced that we were cleared at 9:10. He also said that the Captain gave us extra time in Naples. All aboard is now 6:30. It is amazing how things work.

We quickly got off the ship and headed to an ATM in town to get some Euros. We will be able to use the Euros at most of the stops we will make until we finally head home. Lots of traffic on the streets and lots of horns. We did find an ATM and were able to withdraw some Euros. We headed back to the port to meet out tour guide. Pick-up was 9:45.

Maria met us at about 9:35 and we waited for two other couples. We boarded out tour bus at 9:45 and made two more pickup stops on our way to Pompei. I remember Pompei from school and I knew it was Mt. Vesuvius that caused the sudden destruction of the city. Mt. Vesuvius exploded in 79 AD and completed covered a very prominent Roman City. Second only to Rome in size. The area was first settled around 800 BC

We didn’t arrive until 11 am because of the pickups and traffic. My main concern about this adventure was getting back on the ship. Now it looks like 6:30 pm is not even enough time.

We finally started the tour at 11:30 am and the site contained hundreds if not thousands of visitors. We considered breaking off of the group more than one time but glad we did hang in with the group.

I have seen ruins from the Roman times before but I was really impressed with the size of the city. It covers about 170 acres. Maria said that it had been covered with 4 – 6 meters of ash and was forgotten about until the 16 C. Serious excavation took place in the 19 C. What really is amazing is that life was captured as it ended. People were covered in ash and their bodies decomposed after about a year. What was left were the skeletal remains and a cavern of hardened ash around what was formerly their bodies. Archeologists could tunnel down, pour in plaster and then clear the debris around them. What remained was a plaster likeness of their bodies with the skeleton inside. These bodies could be viewed at the museum. Closed on Tuesday. I did look on the internet and found some images. Very impressive.

I took this photo to try to capture how big the area is. This is just one street of many, many streets. The stone structure in the lower part of the photo held water. There were many to be found.

Each water fountain had an image carved into it. This became a way to identify areas of the city for those that lived here.

Water was carried in lead pipes. There are some who believe that these pipes killed the Roman society by poisoning them with lead. Others think they didn’t live a long enough life to be affected by lead.

These signs were added by the excavation team.

This is a close up of the street. The narrow crevices are spaces between stones. The large one is a rut worn by the countless wagons that rolled down the road.

This is a photo of the spa. The spa was used after the work day ended. The work day began with the sun at 6am and ended at noon. Afternoon was spent at the spa.

The ceiling still shows intricate design and color.

This is where one would undress and then store clothes above the bench.

Water was heated and brought into the spa with pipes. The room with the water would feel like the sauna at today’s gym.

Directions to the brothel.

Above each room in the brothel.

A concrete bed insured kept customers didn’t take too much time.

This floor was the entrance to one of the wealthier residents.

This held rainwater that residents used before aqueducts were built.

Mt. Vesuvius

Items found in the city.

The city square.

We spent about two hours exploring and then went for lunch. With all of the delays it was 2:30. We walked over to the restaurant where we were to enjoy pizza and a drink and then on to Mt. Vesuvius. Unfortunately our guide said that they could not get us back to the ship on time because the road to and from Mt. Vesuvius was clogged with traffic. Disappointed, we left the restaurant and were taken back to the port area in Naples. We decided we would try lunch in town.

This place looked perfect. Trattoria Medina.

What can be better than a deep fried pizza?

We did a little shopping after lunch and returned to the ship about 5:15. After all of the fuss above ship departure time we arrived an hour early.…