June 29, 2017 Bergen Norway

Today we knew that we were going to walk about, and catch the hop on hop off bus. And as luck would have it, where we parked it was at stop number on. Norway takes CC everywhere including the HOPO bus, but boy howdy it isn't cheep. 250 KORNOR for the two of us comes up to $65!  But it took us to the fish market, and Starbucks where we could try to get internet, that we did and didn't.  So off we went, noticing, on the way, that there were postcards right by the ship gangway, well that was good, wouldn't have to look for those. 

The bus is nice, and they give you earphone, so you can listen to the travel info along the way, in what ever language you need, worked well. We arrived at the fish market in about 20 minutes, stop #11 the big deal here is wale sausage!  I'm not sure how I feel about that one, but I tasted it and it was tasty, and I think the wale they use is what we know as killer wale. We looked at beautiful berries, strawberry, cherrys, blackberries, and a greenish cherry that the Germans called Mearabellem.  We took pictures, but I will have to post them when we have fast wifi. 

So we left the fish market and Ed noticed a Starbucks accross the street, so we went over there, climbed two flights of stairs, walked in to a looooooong line. So Ed got a table, and I waited in line. It was worth the wait, there mocha coffee, was really good. I thought Ed would have been on line by now, but no. He wasn't able to. I managed to get right on, but of coarse, he was now ready to go, because he had nothing to do! 

So, we left, and I thought we would go and find a pharmacy so I could get some patches for my foot, but no, Ed wanted to go back to the ship! It was all of 11:30! So back to the ship we went, and Ed got the post cards and stamps, now he was happy, but he was finished, no more looking around for us, all aboard was 3:30, and don't you know, we might miss it! So that was all we saw in Bergen,  and I wasn't happy. 

We had a great dinner, with Karen and Pat O'bryan the people we met at the begging of the cruise, and saw the comedian who was somewhat funny, but his jokes, we're not very well planed for the audience he was playing to. So off to bed, with nice weather expected tommrow. 

  

Bergen Norway

(Backup) June 27, 2017 Dover GB

We had an early morning get up to make our tour at 8:30 am. As it happened we both did not wake until the alarm went off, at 6 am when we opened the drapes we were already docked!  We that shows you that when you party harty, the night before, at our age, your dragging, the next day.  But we made breakfast, and that was fin to see, they were changing out the chairs in the dinning room. These were the new chairs, that they were suppose to get while the ship was in dry dock, but because of the storms that hit there, they had them sent to Dover. The poor dinning crew had to remove all the chairs, before they could bring even one in!  They latterly were taking chairs out as people vacated them!!  We and the staff were laughing, you didn't dare get up to use the bathroom 😄

So we were called for our tour, and had to walk a gauntlet to get off the ship, the gangway was a killer, of up and down switch backs, made sence to go down BUT NOT UP!  Any way then a long walk to the buss. Can you tell I was tired allready, it didn't get better. I should have gone to sleep on the bus, like one of the dancers that accompanied us on this tour, but I was afraid I'd miss something. So first stop, after an hours drive was Leeds Castle, wow what a place, you could easily spend the day here, we didn't have a day, and the guid thought we were all teens, she failed to tell us until later, that we could have taken a little train up to the castle, so we walked at least a mile, up!  And when a Brit, says it's a 10 or 15 minute walk, Don't believe them, we struggled for 30, some minutes, and there were still stairs!  Luck would have it the lady at the gate, said sence we were soooooo exhausted, we could avoid the stairs, and go through the front door. I could have kissed her, but I know that she would probably not take to that. We would still have to climb stairs later, but by then we could do it. 

Now Leeds castle, it was built on a lake, some 600 years ago, there is not much left of the oraginal castle left, as has been repaired over the years. It has a story some what like the Taj Mahal, in the sence the king was very much in love with his wife, he gave it to her. It was then passed from husband to wife many times, it was quite beautiful, and I once again can see how you could get lost in a castle, even one that isn't considered large. 

From there we drove about 45 minutes to Canterbury, which was advertised to be a long afternoon, of shopping and time for lunch, and maybe see the cathedral, well how do you do all that in an hour and a half, which was all we had left!  It seems we are always running from one point to another. 

So we went to the cathedral and it is huge, we could have spent hours in there. Becket was supposedly barrier there, but they know he wasn't, or if he ever was they stole his remains, but they have a nice memorial to him any way. 

One highlight of the day was going, finding, the Weaver Pub, wow never knew beer could tast so good, the meat pie wasn't bad eaither. 

Then it was back on the bus, and back to the ship, by four a'clock as scheduled. A good shower was in order, and ready for dinner, and see all the new furniture in the dinning room. It is beautiful, white leather, like, chairs, very pretty, and comfortable. 

  

(Backup) June 27, 2017 Sea Day

We awoke to a lake outside, what a change, and it's about 15c/59f degrees, and the sea is warmer at 16/61 and we have traveled 5119.3 and this is the last sea day of this segment, so a lot of people are saying there good-by's.  I think about 400 people are leaving, only 160 staying on, and over 400 will be joining us tomorrow. 

We had a leisure morning, Ed slept later then me, again, 😜 we skipped breakfast, decided to have coffee in the room. Ed went up and got a capachino  for me, and big coffee, for him, and we ate a couple of the wee cookies, from last nights dinner, and that was plenty. 

Today Ed went to see what the chart of this segment would go for and maybe bid on it, but he was diapointed as it didn't reflect, our deviation, it was just a large pretty collector map. And it was auctioned at $200.

It is now 3:43 pm and the sea is still flat, wow nice.  The best way to see our sea condition, is the link I posted at the begging of this cruise, sorry we can't seem to post pictures from this connection. 

We are suppose to eat with 6 other people, we have met and enjoyed, I'll let you know how that works out, so now it's nap time. More later.

June 26, 2017 Dundee Scotland

We had a tour this morning, to see Glamis Castle, so the alarm set for 6:00 and boy was that hard, I didn't sleep well at all, up every two hours all night. I guess because  the ship wasn't rocking, I was constantly thinking I had set the alarm wrong, and we overslept. Any way when it was time to get up I was so tired, I almost went to sleep on the bus, any enough of that. 

We went to the dinning room fo breakfast, and that was not good. They had Spanish omelette on the minue so we tried it, not good, I think they use egg beaters, not fresh eggs, but it was some food. We forget, that on this small ship, we don't have to build in as much time to get from one place to another. So once again we were way too early for our tour. We could have slept another hour! 

Glamis Castle, what a beautiful place. It was about a 45 minute drive from the port, through green pastures and rolling hills. Looked a lot like Virginia, in the hills. The castle itself sets on a huge estate. This is the castle harkens back to 1372 when Robert the Bruce awarded the land to the Bowes-Lyons ancestors of Bitain's Queen Mother. And, other residents, included Mary Queen of Scots, Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth, The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret. They said we might see a ghost, seems there have been many sightings, but alas we did not. It was a really nice tour, and we had plenty of time to walk around outside, and see the small museum that held the coronation robes of Queen Elisabeth. And of coarse visit the gift shop. 

On the way back to Dundee, we went accross the Tay, to tack a picture back of our ship in the harbor, then they drove to the city center, and let those who wanted to get out and shop, we thought about it, but decided not to, as it looked like the rain that had stayed away was coming. And sure enough as we boarded the ship, it came with a vengeance. 

The port here, is not a cruise port, so the gangway, was VERY steep, and in the rain was a chalange, for us and later to get a wheelchair up, not fun. 

We saw a wonderful show after dinner called Moto City, the 5 dancers on this ship are incredabul, there energy and ability is every bit as good as anything we have ever seen, and the fact they are so close, you really see it all. Sea day tomorrow so we could have a late night.