Ok, Southampton is not exactly in the running for the "most scenic" town in the UK but it's where we boarded our ship from.
Besides a couple of families with small children in tow, we are much younger than most of the passengers. Visualize lots of gray hair, walkers, canes & wheelchairs. We're thinking that this is the European version of our Alaska cruises which tend to cater to an older crowd.
Once we were onboard the EuroCup final game (soccer) was on in every public room on the ship. Everyone gathered around & watched Spain win. Afterwards, there was one Spanish TV channel that either played game highlights, team interviews or fan celebrations for the next 36 hours or so (straight). Over 1 million people came to Madrid to see the team arrive & congratulate them. The Chicken watched it all!
July 3, 2008
June 30, 2008
Day Trip to Scotland
We took a train from London's Kings Cross station into Edinburgh, Scotland. We truly lucked out in terms of weather. It was partly sunny most of the time spent there. We really couldn't ask for much more than that.
The train trip back to London was a bit long, but well worth the time. However, a train filled with Scots on a Friday evening can be a bit rowdy; particularly when they come on board with a cooler full of beer (and left with an empty one).
The train trip back to London was a bit long, but well worth the time. However, a train filled with Scots on a Friday evening can be a bit rowdy; particularly when they come on board with a cooler full of beer (and left with an empty one).
Chicken Around London
The Chicken enjoyed his time tooling around London (& stalking the Royal Family).
FYI: We're a bit behind in our postings as the first few days have been quite busy.
FYI: We're a bit behind in our postings as the first few days have been quite busy.
June 22, 2008
European Trip Itinerary
Below is the basic itinerary for our upcoming trip to Europe:
- England
- London (Royal Garden Hotel)
- Belgium
- Brussels
- Bruges
- Ireland
- Dublin
- Scotland
- Edinburgh
- England
- Southampton
- Board NCL Jade cruise ship
- Cruise through Norway (see map)
April 5, 2008
Barbados & St. Lucia
These things sum up what we did in both Barbados & St. Lucia: Snorkel with fish & turtles and hang on the beach.
April 1, 2008
Samana, Tortola & Antigua
Okay…. We have been bad. We have been enjoying our cruise and have not gotten to posting much on the blog up until now. Bad cruisers! Bad!
Well, today we are going to remedy that to some extent.
The weather has been really pretty amazing (no, not snowing like it was in Seattle when we left). It has been in the high seventies or low eighties since we landed in Miami. We had a very short rain shower today, but it was the kind that actually felt good since it had been so warm. Sorry, if we seem to be rubbing it in, but when you can sit by the pool and lounge in the sun for most of the afternoon, it’s a good vacation.
The town of Samana (we were there on Sunday) is a fairly undeveloped port; and for an undeveloped port, things were very hectic. The traffic was insane – it seems that dodging motorcycles and taxis as you walk across the street could be an Olympic-class event. We walked through town in the morning and ended up spending the afternoon up on the deck by the pool.
In Tortola we had an excursion that took us on a short scenic trip across the island and ended up on a beach where we rented a couple of chairs to lounge in for the early afternoon. The beach was one of the more renowned (in other words “crowded”) beaches, but was very beautiful. After making it back to the ship, we somehow ended up back by the pool for a few more hours of lounging.
Antigua was very a very busy port. There were 4 large ships docked by 8:00 AM. This stop was a very “traditional” stop where the port opened up to a large shopping district that had many small jewelry or t-shirt shops that all sold the same thing for roughly the same price. It becomes impossible to remember which shop you found that cool little magnet in because by the third one you have visited, they all have blended together into one. The really distinguishing factor of Antigua was that it was sunny and warm – oh wait… Anyway, we decided to close out the day by doing something a bit different from the past couple of days. We went up to the pool deck and lounged out in the sun for a couple of hours.
Anyway, tonight after dinner we walked down to the casino where we played some penny slots. Lori was at a game called “It’s a Blast” where the theme seems to be something about sheep and explosives. Anyway, on $20 Lori ended up playing somewhere closed to two full hours! I am sure that she will be blowing up sheep in her sleep, but we had fun anyway.
Tomorrow’s port is Barbados and we have a snorkeling trip planned to go swim with some green turtles after doing a bit of cruising around town. Tomorrow is supposed to be somewhere around 81 degrees.
Oh… and down in the casino there is a betting line that is posted that has it a 2-to-1 favorite that we will ended up some place lounging in the sun. My advice is to not bet against.
Well, today we are going to remedy that to some extent.
The weather has been really pretty amazing (no, not snowing like it was in Seattle when we left). It has been in the high seventies or low eighties since we landed in Miami. We had a very short rain shower today, but it was the kind that actually felt good since it had been so warm. Sorry, if we seem to be rubbing it in, but when you can sit by the pool and lounge in the sun for most of the afternoon, it’s a good vacation.
The town of Samana (we were there on Sunday) is a fairly undeveloped port; and for an undeveloped port, things were very hectic. The traffic was insane – it seems that dodging motorcycles and taxis as you walk across the street could be an Olympic-class event. We walked through town in the morning and ended up spending the afternoon up on the deck by the pool.
In Tortola we had an excursion that took us on a short scenic trip across the island and ended up on a beach where we rented a couple of chairs to lounge in for the early afternoon. The beach was one of the more renowned (in other words “crowded”) beaches, but was very beautiful. After making it back to the ship, we somehow ended up back by the pool for a few more hours of lounging.
Antigua was very a very busy port. There were 4 large ships docked by 8:00 AM. This stop was a very “traditional” stop where the port opened up to a large shopping district that had many small jewelry or t-shirt shops that all sold the same thing for roughly the same price. It becomes impossible to remember which shop you found that cool little magnet in because by the third one you have visited, they all have blended together into one. The really distinguishing factor of Antigua was that it was sunny and warm – oh wait… Anyway, we decided to close out the day by doing something a bit different from the past couple of days. We went up to the pool deck and lounged out in the sun for a couple of hours.
Anyway, tonight after dinner we walked down to the casino where we played some penny slots. Lori was at a game called “It’s a Blast” where the theme seems to be something about sheep and explosives. Anyway, on $20 Lori ended up playing somewhere closed to two full hours! I am sure that she will be blowing up sheep in her sleep, but we had fun anyway.
Tomorrow’s port is Barbados and we have a snorkeling trip planned to go swim with some green turtles after doing a bit of cruising around town. Tomorrow is supposed to be somewhere around 81 degrees.
Oh… and down in the casino there is a betting line that is posted that has it a 2-to-1 favorite that we will ended up some place lounging in the sun. My advice is to not bet against.
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