Alesund, Norway - Aug 3

Partly cloudy and 23 degrees is a wonderful change from the past couple of days. When we went to bed last night we were sailing through torrential rain and woke up to rain, but by the time we left the ship the skys were clearing.



another view of the hair pin road

hair pin road and WIND

and another

We have a long day ahead of us when we board the bus this morning, but it proves to be worth it. Much of the day is spent on the bus also, but we have quite a few photo stops along the way to break up the distance. Today is more about Norway’s waterfalls and mountainous terrain and less about fjords. We can’t help but see fjords - tomorrow’s focus is on fjords. It is like the mountains just popped up out of the sea. There’s messing around here - no beach, or slowly rising land, but water and mountains – maybe like some lakes in the mountains at home.


one of MANY waterfalls

over-hanging platform to view water fall



We take an incredibly winding road with 11 hair-pin turns called Trollstigen to finally reach a gorge. It is breath-taking. Once here we have ascended to about half-mile above sea level. The tourist infrastructure here is incredible – it seems like the road has been solely built for tourists.



Once we move inland a bit at the beginning of the day waterfalls appear everywhere – I don’t think I will ever tire of looking at and listening to waterfalls. The landscape here reminds me a bit of BC – roads carved into the mountain, pine trees and even orchards. They grow fruit here despite the fact that the latitude is the same as Anchorage, Alaska. Norway has a lot more sheep (and little else in terms of wildlife) and little buildings with lawns growing on the roofs as compared to BC.



another over-hanging platform

We don’t leave Alesund until 3 am, so we head to town after dinner. Our visit is short lived as we choke a bit on 12.00 beers! We weren’t surprised as we had been checking out prices and had chatted with a few people who had been here before, but – WOW! I guess that’s how they can have such swanky road-side ‘facilities’. I guess that’s a difference between here and BC too – fancy toilets at highway rest-stops.

Lerwick, Shetland Islands, Scotland, UK - Aug 2



Very foggy in the morning, clear in the PM, 14 degrees



some of the many birds

The morning started with a very thick fog. It wasn’t raining, but the fog at points made it hard to see much of anything from the bus on our way to Mousa Island which is where we would spend much of the day. This part of Sheltand Island is not nearly as thick with vegetation as where we have been.



foggy, rocky coast of Mousa Island, should be called Sheep Island

Mousa Island is about a 30 minute drive from Lerwick. It isn’t too cold, but certainly foggy. After the drive to Sandwick we take a 10 minute ferry to Mousa Island. This island is uninhabited by people, but there are many birds. We also saw seals, but unfortunately saw no porpoises or whales. One seal seemed to follow us along as we hiked along the coast. The terrain on Mousa Island is very rough and there are essentially no paths. I don’t think a lot of people visit here as what paths there are aren’t very worn. I ask the guide how many visit and she indicated that a few thousand visit which doesn’t seem like a lot to me, but she seemed to think it was a lot.



the unpath

We hiked for about 2 hours while the guide talked about the flora and fauna of the island. It was incredible how fast the fog could roll in and then roll out again. In addition to the plants and animals there is an Iron Age Broch. What is an Iron Age Broch you ask? Mousa Broch is a stone-built castle over 2000 years old, about 13 meters high. It is shaped like a bee hive and is essentially an open cone inside.



Also on the island were about a million sheep – well maybe not a million, but MANY. We were torn between having our eyes down trying to dodge dung or up trying to see seals.



For lunch we had fish and chips from a fish and chip shop. 

 



security?




some of the million sheep on a bridge



more sheep



lunch

Lerwick town

baby birds

Inverness, Scotland, UK - Aug 1



musical send-off, they looked FROZEN!!

huge leaves

Cawdor Castle

view from our window this morning

I’m not really sure what the high for today was but it was RAINY! It really wasn’t cold, but there was a lot of rain and quite a bit of wind. I am still In LOVE with Scotland.

The landscape is breathtaking. There is so much lush foliage I can’t believe we done get lost in it. Even when we travel where our guide describes as a bit more arid, I hardly notice. I don’t even care that as soon as we step foot off of the boat we are slammed with wind and rain – welcome to Inverness!!!.

Invergordon is the main port for the Inverness. We drive for about an hour while our guide describes this part of Scotland to us. Our first stop today of Cawdor Castle. The castle itself is a bit underwhelming. Maybe it’s our expectations. When we hear we are visiting a castle we expect stone wall and moats. This is that on the outside, but the inside is very much house-like.  However…it is the grounds that are jaw-dropping. There are 2 main points to see – the garden and the maze.  Consistent with the lushness that we saw yesterday, this is again stunningly beautiful. This is without a doubt the most lush.

After the visit to the castle we stop for lunch at a hotel and proceed to the afternoon visiting Loch Ness and Urquhart castle. Here is where we feel the rain. Between the guide and us we decide to cut our visit to the castle short and spend a bit of time in a town on the way back to the ship. This stop is about 30 minutes where we find a pub and have a pint before heading back to the ship.

I could easily spend a chunk of time here! I just have to convince Chris to get over the wet weather – I think the pubs could sway him.



Cawdor gardens

Urquhart Castle, can you see photographer's umbrella??

Edinburgh, Scotland, UK – July 31






castle

Partly cloudy, 18 degrees

We have no tour booked today, so we disembark the ship at our own pace. Edinburgh is a tendered port, so we are anchored off of the coast and take a 10 minute tender into the port - South Queensferry. South Queensferry is a town or suburb of Edinburgh about ten miles to the north west of the city centre, on the shore of the Firth of Forth.



approaching shore in the tender



thick foliage, steep climb

Once ashore we must hike (yes, hike) and then take a train into Edinburgh. The hike we take to get to the train station is through a forest and straight up. The first thing that strikes me when we step foot into the forest is how beautiful it is here. The forest is incredibly lush and thick with enormous trees and ivy – I don’t really know if it’s ivy, but it looks like it and lots of the trees have their trunks entirely covered by the it. I wonder if the entire country is like this? It gives a cozy, relaxing, comfortable feeling. I could get used to this.






thick foliage

Once we accomplish the hike to the station the ride is about 15 minutes to the heart of Edinburgh. Their Fringe Festival starts in the next couple of days and the Tatoo after that, so the place is bustling with street performers and tourists. I suspect that in the touristy area where we were is bustling a lot of the time.


thick foliage

We visit Edinburgh Castle, the Royal Mile, shop a bit, eat lunch and wander around taking in the sights and sounds of the city.

We are back on the ship by about 4:30 and set sail for Inverness at about 7. It was a lovely warm day.

As I suspect is obvious I am having 'issues' with pictures.




Chris in his element



building looks like it sprouted from the tree

bridge and our ship in the distance

castle

Day at Sea, Sailing the North Sea – July 30

Partly cloudy to clear at the end of the day, and 17 degrees


plenty of room


We are spending our day at sea today sailing for Edinburgh where we will arrive tomorrow morning. However much I enjoy sighting and visiting new places, I LOVE days at sea. They are the epitome of ‘carefree-ness” My biggest decision to make today was to take a nap at the pool or in the room – life is rough.




tight squeeze

Yesterday when we arrived we asked for 2 loungers for our balcony but were told that ‘loungers were only provided in the Caribbean’. WHAT??? The entire reason we booked this specific room was so that we had an over-sized balcony that accommodate lounge chairs. After a bit of ‘negotiating’ on Chris’ part we got a couple. These were put to good use this morning. It’s incredible how hot the sun is and how cool/cold the shade is especially considering that the temperature is apparently 17 degrees.

There are many activities to participate in today from Bridge (I have no idea how to play) to wine tasting, to shuffleboard (yes, shuffleboard), but we choose to make our own entertainment consisting of reading, eating and napping - relaxing.



we are ambitious

moving in

We discover there are a few of the staff on board who we know from last year-  in fact there is one casino worker we know from a couple of years back when we were on the sister cruise line to this one.

I thought this would be a good place for some ship shots.

Southampton, England, UK - July 29

octopus appetizer

Partly cloudy, some showers and 20 degrees

Today is a travel day; we leave Winchester, and move on to Southampton to board the boat for the next 12 days. The journey is about 20 minutes by cab. Boarding is very simple, and it is only about an hour and a half after we leave Winchester that we are sipping our celebratory glass of champagne – not too bad for a travel day.


As expected our room isn’t ready until about 2:30, but that gives us time to eat lunch and take a cat-nap next to the pool.  The weather is mostly delightful – there was a brief shower in the morning before we left which shortened my last terrace session at the hotel.
 

lamb

After unpacking and the safety drill it is time for dinner. Tonight’s meal is Italian - at one of the 4 restaurants on board that require a reservation. I have an octopus appetizer which is very good – very thinly sliced octopus with a bit of olive oil. The one thing that stood out to me about the octopus was the size of each piece. Each piece must have been sliced from a tentacle 4 or 5 inches in diameter, seems pretty big to me.

Tomorrow is a sea day, so we visit the casino after dinner. I won $1.75 on video poker!!

Hotel du Vin – Winchester

sitting room

A bit on our hotel…this is a lovely place. From the moment we walked through the doors I was charmed. It is a Georgian building dating from 1715 – I’m not sure what the building’s original function was, but the complex consists of a few small buildings. There are only 24 rooms none with room numbers but all with names based on wines – ours is Freixenet. We have a lovely sitting terrace outside of our door which is along a pathway lined with huge trees, shrubberies, smaller plants and flowers – delightful! This is the perfect spot to spend a few days before the cruise.

Winchester, England, UK – July 28





Arthur's Round Table

Winchester day 4

Today is our last in Winchester and we have a few tourist spots yet to hit. The first is King Arthur’s Round Table in The Great Hall - the only remaining part of Winchester Castle. There’s not much to this, but it is an attraction of Winchester and we are in Winchester so we check it out, it dates from the 13^th century.

Another of Winchester’s attractions is its cathedral. Winchester Cathedral is Europe’s longest medieval Cathedral, here we wander around the grounds a bit as it is Sunday and services prevent us from checking out the interior.






cathedral grounds


Another of Winchester’s claims to fame is being home to the house where Jane Austin died – which of course we walk past. It is basically a plaque on a wall on a house. This is a private house now.

We some how find ourselves at a pub and tuck in to our version of Sunday lunch – fish and chips. Not before getting a bit of a drenching with a short lived downpour – NOTHING like yesterday – NOTHING, but enough to make us thankful for our umbrella. I really appreciate the pub culture here – filled with kids, dogs, old, young, and plenty of characters. We have seen more than one group of “little-old-ladies” out for a rye and ginger at their local. Of course it’s a culture of drinking, but seems more of socializing and getting out – at least that is what it seems like to me.



cathedral

We also wandered through Winchester’s farmers’ market and ate our first water buffalo burger – I’m pretty sure it was beef.




Although we put in a valiant effort, in the end our efforts were in vain to spend our last afternoon here on our patio. The rain kept coming – oh and nap time did at one point steal my attention. I did my best to get in some post nap-time blogging out there, but once again Mother Nature got the best of me. When we were able to sit out there we were able to hear the hotel’s jazz group playing in the courtyard – cool




waiting for Sunday lunch



Dinner tonight was at our hotel. The surroundings couldn’t be more attractive for dinner or a drink.




passing the time waiting for Sunday lunch

pub from  other side of the canal

Dinner at the hotel was underwhelming so we had to go out for one last pint.

Winchester, England, UK – July 27

waiting out the rain - gorgeous scenery even in the rain

Day 3 here in Winchester.

Rain with a high of 22 degrees

Stonehenge was the main attraction today although Mother Nature came in a close second! The day began with a leisurely morning on the terrace under a hot and sunny sky despite a forecast of 100% chance of rain. It was hard to believe that the day would end with us returning to the hotel as 2 drowned rats, but that was what the day had in store for us.




rain stopped for a brief moment

It was about an hour’s train ride from Winchester to get to Salisbury which is the departure point for Stonehenge. We hop on to a HOHO (hop-on-hop-off) bus for a tour of Salisbury and anther 8K on to Stonehenge. Stonehenge was pretty much exactly as we had expected – a busy site wandering around the prehistoric monoliths that make up the site. We spent

Salisbury cathedral

 about an hour there which was plenty. We hopped on the HOHO back to Salisbury for lunch and a visit to the city’s cathedral.  The Anglican cathedral dates back to the 13^th century and is the tallest church spire in the UK and the world’s largest clock.

Stonehenge



my kind of commute

We take the train back to Winchester  and walk back to the hotel in the torrential rain to get ready for dinner. By the time we are heading out for dinner the rain has weakened.