London

Fri, July 12

Today we experienced London, with a difference. Not just any impersonal excursion for us – but a very enjoyable personalised city tour with our friends from Manchester, Ian and Jane, whom we had met on a previous cruise around Australia and New Zealand.

After setting off from their home at 4.00am, they met us about 5 hours later at Dover and we were whisked off in their car for a whirlwind tour of London, all the while catching up on all our news.

Blackwall Tunnel took us to London’s East End and the Jewish Quarter, then the Financial District, Trafalgar Square, Harrods, Buckingham Palace, Hyde Park, museums, Downing St, St Paul’s Cathedral, the Tower of London, Big Ben and the list goes on, plus all the bridges – each of which Ian crossed twice to ensure we got good photos!

Jane thought of everything and even provided lunch ‘”on the go”” as we didn’t realise it is all but impossible to drive into London and park somewhere!

Then on to Canterbury to see the Cathedral and a walk around the town, before stopping for a “cup of tea”. In keeping with my interest in trying some local food, I was quite excited to see Eton Mess on the menu, something which I had only read about. Needless to say, it was delicious and reminded me of pavlova with strawberries and cream which we enjoy in Australia, only all mixed up together in a glass.

We arrived back at the ship just in time to board at 6.30pm and reluctantly waved goodbye as we set sail at 7.00pm, clutching a bag of English chocolates which they thoughtfully gave us as a parting gift. We had a wonderful day and so we say thanks and au revoir. Today was certainly a highlight of our vacation.

Canterbury

White cliffs of Dover

This post is dedicated to our good friends, Ian and Jane. Thanks guys, for going out of your way to make our day so memorable and enjoyable. We appreciate your friendship and hope to see you again in the not-too-distant future.

France

Thurs, July 11

What to do in France? We were very fortunate on our river cruise last year to stay in Paris for 3 days, so we decided to go somewhere completely different this time, which is the only reason we chose to go to Honfleur. We had never heard of this village, so did not realise what a treat was in store for us.

We set off from the port of Le Havre by coach into the Normandy countryside on a lovely warm morning, meandering through some of the surrounding villages. We saw beautiful gardens and thatched roof cottages, some of which had irises growing in the thatch.

Eventually we arrived at the 13th century Norman fishing village which is also a popular yacht harbour, where our guide took us on a walking tour of its picturesque cobbled streets, 17th century salt warehouse now used for exhibitions and concerts, boutiques and traditional craft shops and works by Honfleur’s famous painter, Eugene Boudin. We also saw the remains of the old prison and Saint Catherine’s Church, a 15th century church built by shipwrights. Today, it is the largest wooden church with a separate bell-tower in France.

One of my photos shows a narrow street with the sewer running down the centre, so people had to walk close to the walls to avoid the contents of buckets which were emptied from the upstairs windows. The village square had lots of outdoor tables and chairs and I was sorry that I did not have time to sit a while at the table with the fancy chairs with a glass of wine in hand!

Honfleur is famous for apple cider and caramels so they were easy choices for souvenirs, plus a small drawing of the port bought from the artist himself. I could not leave France without a stop at the patisserie, and came out with a bag of 6 delicious French pastries for 2 Euros – what a bargain!

Our tour concluded with a drive over the new Normandy Bridge, the largest of its kind in Europe, spanning the Seine estuary before making our way back to Le Havre.

My impressions of Honfleur – charming and delightful and a little gem we would love to visit again someday…..

Irises growing on top of the thatched roof

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St Catherine’s Church

Bell-tower behind church

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Charming carousel played beautiful music

Greenock, Scotland

Tue, July 9

Glasgow is the chief port city in western Scotland and we passed through it as we took the 1-1/2 hour coach trip to Edinburgh. The country looked green and lush as we skirted Loch Lomond.

Arriving in Scotland’s capital, we spent the next few hours walking the Royal Mile, the heart of the old town, where we sampled Scottish beer while taking in such historical sites as Edinburgh Castle, Sir Walter Scott Memorial, Greyfriars Bobby and St Giles Cathedral. People were very friendly and it was easy to find our way around town. We noticed how expensive clothes and food are here and fuel equates to $A2.89 litre!

The unemployment situation is not good in Ireland or Scotland; manufacturing is on the decline and we saw a lot of houses up for sale where values have dropped dramatically and also many completely empty office buildings.

Edinburgh is a big, bustling city and everywhere you look there is amazing architecture, shops, markets and countless side streets with stories to tell. The castle dominates the top of the Royal Mile and at the lower end is Holyrood Palace, the official royal residence in Scotland. Some friends did a tour of the Royal Yacht Britannia and had lunch there as well which they enjoyed, so no shortage of things to do.

Keen to try something local, lunch consisted of a ploughman’s lunch for Alex and I had a great-tasting soup, called Cullen Skink, consisting of fish and potatoes and a pint of Killelan beer.

Temperatures were up once again and it was nice to have a swim when we got back “home”! A Scottish band played on the pier next to the ship until we sailed and some locals came to see us off and were waving Australian flags!