There are no school children in France!
They're all in London. Crocodiles of them everywhere one goes. An awful lot of French adults as well. Wonder who's minding the store in France?
Have been unable to post due to hotel's “limited connectivity,” whatever that might be. In my view, you're either connected or you're not. I'm not. Also have not had time, as we've been going nonstop. Yesterday when I had a bit of time to post, discovered that apparently I hadn't shut the computer down properly when I left the sky lounge in Detroit, so the battery was on its last legs. My adapter plug really is semi-functional—I have to force the three prongs into two (with the other one hanging out below), which isn't doing my computer brick any good, I'll bet.
So I'll try to recap the adventure thus far and post this if I ever get connected. Assume the ship's connection will work, although it's slow. And it actually has an American plug I can plug into to recharge!
Monday, May 16
Flight left Minneapolis on time. Can't remember the last flight I was on that left on time! Had a fairly long layover in Detroit since I was worried about missing the connection to London. Turned out to be a piece of cake—just across the hallway. But if I had taken the flights they originally set up with 40 minutes connection, the new gate would probably have been in Siberia. No problem. Off to the Sky Club for some R&R and free internet.
Flying first or business class beats the heck out of steerage. My last flight across the pond was in steerage, and it wasn't fun.
We got hot towels, snacks, drinks, and then a delicious (really!) dinner served course by course. Ahi tuna in the sky for an appetizer? Works for me. Best tomato bisque I've ever had. Desert cart? Bring it on.
Dinner finished, it occurs to me that if I'm going to get any sleep at all it had better be pretty quick, so I take my flat bed seat for a test drive. It's flat all right, but it could use a mattress pad. It's an interesting design—your seat reclines and slides into a hole under the table of the person in front of you. OK, so now I'm flat and I have my sleep mask on and my pillow and duvet, but, Lord, it's hotter than hades in here. Last time over I about froze to death. Heidi reported it was cold in steerage on her flight and Carolyn said it was hot on hers in business class.
Any way, I felt like I had finally gotten to sleep when a persistent alarm starts sounding. I noticed the sun was coming up. Sure enough, they want to wake us up so they can serve us breakfast. Started with the whole hot towel routine again. Breakfast was good—juice, yoghurt, granola, fresh fruit, assorted rolls, and LOTS of coffee.
Tuesday, May 17
We were given cards to expedite our passage through immigration, which turned out to be a good thing. The lines were very long, even the expedited one. Having finally passed muster with immigration, I went in search of my Heathrow Shuttle driver, who was supposed to be monitoring my flight. We were about an hour early. No driver. I waited for about half an hour, chatting with the drivers who were waiting for their passengers. One of them offered to call Heathrow Shuttle for me, which was good, since my phone doesn't work in Europe. They said he was at terminal 1 and would be along shortly. Not. Called again after about 15 minutes, was told he'd be there in about 10 minutes. Not. In the meantime, I've been joined by another passenger from my flight who hadn't had the benefit of expedited processing (it took him an hour longer to clear immigration). By this time, my new best friend with the phone has connected with his passengers and departed. Luckily, the new person comes to London often and has a phone that works. We call yet again. Great surprise on the part of Heathrow Shuttle (right) that we haven't been picked up yet, promise they will send a special van just for us in ten minutes. Driver shows up about 20 minutes later. Took about an hour to get into London to my hotel, arrived 3 hours after landing.
Bottom line is—should you happen to be traveling to London Heathrow, do not under any circumstances book your transport to London with Heathrow Shuttle!
Hotel is in Victoria on Belgrave Street. Luna Simone Hotel. Absolutely fabulous location. Bus 24 stops outside the door and will take you virtually anywhere you want to go. I've only taken two other buses in the time I've been here. Riding up top in the front row is an experience not to be missed! First of all, it's as good a view as the folks who have paid major money to ride the tourist buses, while we're paying about a pound/ride with our trusty Oyster cards which we ordered in advance and had mailed to us. Secondly, you get a bird's eye view of the bus driver's seeming attempt to crash into things and run people over. The bus runs about every four minutes. Have not even tried the tube, no scenery down there and the buses go everywhere you want to go.
Now, hotel is in fabulous location and the owners are wonderful and the breakfast is good. Only one problem (aside from the fact their internet connection doesn't work)—we're on the third floor (fourth floor to Americans) and there's no lift. We've taken to calling it climbing Mount Everest. Not only that, but breakfast is served in the basement, another flight of stairs! We decided we'd either be fit or dead by the time we leave! Passed a woman giving out passes to a health club on the sidewalk. Told her we didn't need a health club, we have our own stairmaster!
Somewhere during the journey, I have acquired a really nasty blister on the bottom of my left foot. Think it was from wearing socks with some Clarks that I normally wouldn't wear socks with. So, instead of setting off on my own, I decide to wait for Heidi who is due in an hour or so and give it a rest. Just what I need at the start of a journey that will be all about walking!
Heidi arrived and we set off in search of a chemist for some sort of miracle cure for my blister. Couldn't find any moleskin, but found some sort of sticking plaster that promised relief, so got that.
Had a pub lunch around the corner from the hotel and then off to the National Gallery for some great art viewing. This was our first encounter with the French schoolchildren.
By this time, both us were a bit punchy and very jet lagged, so we hopped on our trusty #24 steed and returned to the hotel, with a pit stop at Sainsburys for dinner provisions. Ate dinner and went to bed and slept for 12 hours straight!
Wednesday, May 18
This morning we had breakfast with Nelson and Terri who are leaving London today to tour Bath, Stonehenge, etc. We'll see them again when we board the ship. They're our next door neighbors.
We also met Carolyn & John from the roll call in the breakfast room.
We headed out to view the houses of Parliament, Westminster Abbey, and to walk along the Thames. Saw the Burghers of Calais and the statue of Bodicea and her daughters. Walked out onto the middle of Westminster Bridge to get good views of Big Ben, etc.
Then we headed through St. James Park (which contained the rest of the French schoolchildren who weren't congregating around Westminster and Parliament) on our way to Buckingham Palace for the changing of the guard. The plan was to meet Carolyn (who flew in this morning) at the Victoria Monument. Well, we couldn't find Carolyn, but we did meet a guy who lives in the town next to where she lives! Talk about small world. Being up on the Victoria Monument is a good place to watch the ceremony because the guards and the horse guards and the bands are coming to the palace from different directions, so you can move around to catch all the action. Basically, all you miss is a good view of what actually happens in front of the palace behind the fence. They also leave and march/ride off in different directions. Had good chats with the Bobbies whose job it was to keep the tourists from climbing up on Queen Victoria's lap and generally just keep an eye on things. I asked one of them if they have to do this every day—he said they rotate the duty so no one gets bored. Anyway, much pomp and circumstance and all very impressive.
Queen Victoria looks very bored with it all, by the way, and she has her back to the palace.
Carolyn found us after all the tourists started to leave. She had been standing down at the front of the monument, not up on the platform where we were.
Heidi says I must not leave out the story of her pratfall. While we were heading for the Queen Victoria monument, she tripped on a cobblestone and went flying. She was concentrating on protecting her Nikon, so got banged up a bit. Now we are the walking wounded, me with my blister and she with her bruises. Although my foot was much better.
We then headed to St. James Palace, but you can't see much there except for two bored looking sentries. Heidi and Carolyn wanted to see the mews and the Queen's galleries, so we split up. I headed for Piccadilly.
Piccadilly Street is a mess! Totally torn up for utility work or some such. Crossing it is a major adventure, so didn't try. Walked through Piccadilly Arcade to Jermyn Street. Didn't try the Burlington Arcade which was across Piccadilly Street. Visited Fortnum & Mason—very posh stuff, but nothing really caught my eye. Except all the food, but would have had to have that shipped. I bought lunch at the takeaway in the basement and proceeded out to Piccadilly Square to enjoy my lunch outside.
Then I hopped on a bus going up Shaftsbury figuring it would get me pretty near the British Museum, which it did. Enjoyed the special exhibit on the ancient civilization in Afghanistan—the gold crown which disassembles for traveling (they were nomads) was exquisite! They had it in a case with a small breeze blowing inside so you could see how the tiny pieces moved in the breeze. Fascinating. Met a woman with a baby boy while in there—she's from California and her husband is here on business. The child is 9 months old and this was his third trip to London. He had a really cute grin, so we got on famously.
Then went in search of something to drink and a place to sit down for a few moments.
Wandered through most of the Egyptian exhibit and then on to the Elgin Marbles. Quite impressive. Although the Greeks are understandably ticked off that Lord Elgin chiseled them all off the Parthenon. One does wonder if they would have come up with such an impressive display space or if they would have been left to crumble to dust on the Parthenon.
By this time, my legs were tired, so I wandered around in search of my trusty 24 bus and went back to the hotel. Carolyn was exhausted from her trip, so was staying in her room for dinner. Heidi and I went to a pub—I had an absolutely delicious chicken pot pie. Early to bed.
Thursday, May 19, 2011
Today we purchased River Rover tickets from City Cruises which enabled us to hop on and hop off all day from riverboats on the Thames. Approximately six pounds for seniors, very good deal. First we went to the Tower of London. Saw the crown jewels. The jewels were impressive. The plate was even more so. Amazing salt cellars and a gigantic wine bowl, all made out of gold.
We wandered around for a while, watched some street theater, visited the gift shop, and then decided we weren't up for climbing any of the towers, so went back to the boat and downriver to Greenwich. Had lunch when we arrived there and then went off to find the observatory where you can stand on both sides of the prime meridian. That turns out to be quite far off up a hill and no public transportation goes there, so we bagged that. Walked back down along the river—the tide was way up now and splashing over the footpath along the river.
Went back upriver to the Westminster Pier. They give good commentary both ways, so the trip is very interesting and it's a great way to see the city sitting down. We grabbed our trusty #24 steed back to the hotel with a pit stop at Sainsbury's for quick dinner fixings.
Then off to see Jersey Boys at the Prince Edward Theatre, also on the #24 line. Great show, high energy. We had purchased 20 pound tickets from the box office which are up in nosebleed territory. However, there were lots of seats lower down, so we moved down.
Friday, May 20, 2011
This morning the plan was to get to Westminster Abbey early before all the crowds and the French schoolchildren so we wouldn't have to queue for tickets. When we got there, we discovered it was closed until noon because there were two ceremonies taking place. So we took off to see St. Paul's Cathedral, Wren's masterpiece. Found his grave in the crypt. Gorgeous church, of course. We did not climb the tower. Are you catching our aversion to long flights of stairs here?
We left St. Paul's and crossed the river on the Millennium pedestrian footbridge which leads across the Thames from St. Paul's to the Tate Modern. Looked around a bit, but decided we wanted to get back to Westminster Abbey. Good thing, because for some reason we waited almost a half an hour for a bus to the Abbey. Since they were closing again at 3, this was a high priority for us.
Finally got there, queued for tickets, and got in with all the crowds which were being crammed into that short window of time. Beautiful place, loved the vaults, and of course all the interesting graves and monuments.
Decided after all that, we were toured out for the day and headed back to the hotel. Got a recommendation from one of the local chemists for a good Thai restaurant and went there for dinner. It was indeed very good and full of locals, which is always a good sign.
Back to the hotel to get ready for the next phase of the adventure, our two-week Baltic Cruise. We didn't see everything we wanted to in London, so I guess we'll have to return!
Saturday, May 21, 2011
Packed up, checked out of the hotel, and were picked up by Smiths for Airports. We were off for Southampton and the Eclipse! The trip is about two hours, most of which is just getting out of London.
We arrived, found our ship, and whisked right on, no lines. Nobody onboard checking on booze and, contrary to rumors reported on Cruise Critic, the scanning machines cannot detect booze in Rum Runners.
We looked around a bit and then they announced that the rooms were ready, so we went to our cabin to drop our carryons. These cabins have some features which are an improvement over the M class and some which are not. The bathroom is definitely improved. Lots of storage space there. The closet is smaller, but has some double hang space, so that can be overcome. It's not quite deep enough, so the clothes get pushed sideways a bit. But it doesn't open out on the corridor, a great improvement. However, it has sliding doors, not an improvement. Our cabin has the beds by the veranda and the couch by the closet, and we haven't found access to the closet to be the big problem reported by Cruise Critic.
Very little drawer space in the cabin, definitely not an improvement. Also, not the nice wall storage space of concierge class cabins on the M class. There are storage bins over the beds. Having been forewarned, we brought collapsible bins to use up there which are easy to pull down.
The bedside shelves are not as horrible as reported, but again, miss the drawer space. Solved that problem by using a small collapsible bin on the bottom shelf. They are definitely a bit narrow.
We have a very large veranda with two chairs which recline and a nice table which is high enough to be used for typing or eating. Couldn't bribe the steward to get us footrests. Apparently, they're strictly limiting those to concierge class and higher staterooms. We've relegated that annoying coffee table in front of the couch to the veranda, so we're not always bumping into it.
Another problem is the lack of a water carafe. If you're a tea drinker or like instant coffee, there's an electric kettle and cups, etc. on a tray which takes up quite a bit of valuable real estate. You can ask to have it removed. We just put ours on the couch which is quite long in case we ever want to make cocoa. There are two American outlets and one European one at the desk. We haven't used my power strip yet, but will probably need it when charging up everything before leaving. The hairdryer is one of those that you have to hold the button down to keep it on. That's annoying, but not annoying enough to cause me to drag a hairdryer along. The flat screen TV appears to have all sorts of connections if you're into that sort of thing.
Went out and explored the ship a bit. It's quite visually appealing, although I could do without the rugby scrum in the lido. Nowhere near enough tables and chairs for all these passengers.
At dinner, we discover our table has been changed from a long table by a window on the main floor to a round table by the balcony on the upper floor. Some wanted to change it back, but the maitre d' said he moved us because the area we were in was full of a Chinese group and he thought it would be very noisy. I actually prefer a round table, so we decided to give it a try. It's been fine, we have a good waiter and assistant, and we've stayed put.
Sunday, May 22
Today we arrived in Zeebrugge, Belgium, which is the harbor for Bruges. We had unsuccessfully attempted to book a van to pick us up to take us into Bruges—they have a limited number and the time slots we wanted were not available. So we booked a ship's tour which included transport to town, a guided walk around the town, and a boat trip on the canals. Plus, of course, an hour free for shopping.
Zeebrugge is an industrial port and you can't just walk out. The logistics of cruising in Europe seem to be quite different from cruising in Alaska or the Caribbean. It's much more convenient to be able to come and go from the ship as one pleases.
So, to start off our morning with a bit of drama, Heidi and I came back to the room after breakfast and found ourselves locked out. Neither of our sea passes would work. No sign of the room steward who could have let us in. Of course our passports, excursion tickets, cameras, etc. are locked in the room. So, off to stand in line at Guest Relations to have new sea passes made. By the time we finished standing in line and getting new cards made and picking up our stuff in our room, we are quite late for our excursion. They managed to hold the last bus for us. Our good luck, because we had an excellent guide! I had several interesting conversations with him about Belgian politics, religion, and life in general.
Bruges was larger than London in the Middle Ages and was a major trading center. Their specialty was making fine cloth. What caused their decline was that the river that runs to the sea started silting up, thus inhibiting shipping traffic. Also, the good citizens of Bruges got tired of paying high taxes to the French king (I've forgotten which one), so they popped him in jail the next time he showed up to collect. They also executed a few of his followers.
Needless to say, this didn't sit well with the king. I've forgotten how he managed to get out of jail, but he basically came back and pretty much laid waste to the place. Bruges became kind of a backwater, which saved it from the “improvements” of the industrial age and pretty much ensured that it remained intact as a medieval city. It was mostly spared bomb damage during the two world wars and has since concentrated on restoring its buildings and maintaining its character. It is now a World Heritage Site.
It is beautiful, and very interesting to see, both by walking around and from the canals. It is Sunday, so all the church bells were pealing. It reminded us of living in Germany. Because it was Sunday, we were unable to get into the lady church which contains a Michelangelo madonna and child because there was Mass going on.
I made an excursion to Leonidas and acquired some pralines. They're yummy when they're fresh—will see how they survive the trip home. We met Nelson & Terri in the square where they enjoyed Belgian waffles and coffee and we had Belgian frites. We'd been separated from our trip mates because of being late. We were all on different versions of the same tour.
We had an early sailaway at 3:00 p.m. Because we're a big ship, we can't fit through the Kiel Canal, so we have to sail all around Denmark in order to reach our next port of call, Warnemunde, Germany.
We're currently sailing past a huge wind farm of spinning turbines. Wondering how deep the sea is here in order to construct such a huge bunch. There must be over a hundred of them.
Tonight is the first formal night, so must go and get ready for dinner.
Monday, May 23, 2011
We slept in this morning since no rush to go anywhere. Went up for breakfast around 9:00 a.m. No place to sit inside. The lido seems pretty chaotic with all the separate food stations.
Went to a meeting with Celebrity officials at 10:00 for those of us who have private tours scheduled for St. Petersburg. They're trying to tell us we can't get off the ship until all the Celebrity tours have departed. We'll see about that.
Had the Cruise Critic Connections party at 10:30. Some perky young thing showed up, but she had not made nametags. No officers made the effort to attend. Most of the people have private excursions scheduled for St. Petersburg and are steamed about what Celebrity is telling us. We've pretty much decided we're going to assemble our groups 15 minutes before our tours are scheduled to start and head for the gangway at the time we're supposed to meet our tour.
On the bright side, it's a gorgeous, sunny day as we make our way up the west coast of Denmark. The seas are as calm as can be.
We've had the stateroom attendant open the dividers between our three verandas and we're enjoying visiting back and forth. We're all hanging out on our large verandas journaling, crossword puzzling, reading, whatever. This morning we did some wash that we didn't want to entrust to the Celebrity laundry. Carolyn has invited everyone for cocktails tonight so those who are in an inside cabin can see what they're missing.
My computer refuses to access the wi-fi, so who knows when this blog will be posted. Went down to the computer center and the techies there are at a loss to figure out why it worked yesterday and not today. His last suggestion was to let it rest for a while and maybe the problem would go away. Very technical.
The cocktail party had to be held indoors since the sun had disappeared and it had gotten a bit windy on our verandas. We were able to accommodate 7 people comfortably in Carolyn's room.
Went gambling after dinner. Carolyn wanted to play the penny machines. We couldn't find 3 together, so I tried a nickel machine. Couldn't lose. A first for me. I finally cashed out with a whopping $12.50 profit when the other two had exhausted their available gambling funds. We then went to check out the expensive jewelry and the VERY expensive nesting dolls. They also have some Fabergé eggs.
Tuesday, May 24, 2011
We're in Warnemunde, Germany, today. Light rain as we were getting off the ship. The clouds blew away from time to time and bright sun would appear. Then the clouds would come back.
We walked into town, out to the lighthouses at the entry to the harbor, along the beach, and to an old Soviet-area hotel, where we could go up for a good view. This is a big beach resort town for the Germans. There is a very wide beach. Nice, fine sand up closer to the land, but very rocky at it got closer to the water. It was a bit chilly for going in the water today!
We then walked back through the park, viewed the interesting Lutheran church which had not one but two ship models hanging from the rafters, and tried to find a bank where Heidi could change some money. Interestingly, the park is not kept up at all. TONS of dandelions and all the shrubs and trees were overgrown and forlorn looking. That kind of environment seems to attract the graffiti taggers, and all the benches were marked up. People who went to other towns reported that their parks were well tended.
I finally decided to come back to the ship and see if the computer dudes could finally exorcise the demons from my machine and get me connected again.After much fooling around, one of the guys was able to get it to work.
Heidi and Carolyn took a harbor tour and saw the Connie in port in Rostock. When they came back and told me that, I went upstairs and could see it from the upper deck. We'll see if the picture turns out.
Got some great (I hope) cloud photos from the veranda. If they're not great, I'm sure Nelson can make them great—he was taking the same photos next door. It really is nice having all our verandas connected.
Wanted to go to the casino after dinner to see if I could extend my winning streak, but forgot that the casino is closed while we're in port. We don't sail until midnight to allow the people who went to Berlin to get back to the ship. So the money is still safely in my pocket!
Wednesday, May 25, 2011
Today is a sea day. We lost another hour last night, so slept late this morning and went to breakfast late. It's still a rugby scrum in the lido, trying to find a place to sit is quite a challenge. Not one of the best features of this ship.
Went to the hot glass show after breakfast. That's fascinating. Watched one person blow a vase and one blow a pitcher. Won't get to see the finished product until tomorrow—they put them in a special oven to allow them to cool slowly so they don't shatter.
Looks like the Connie following us at a distance.
It's another beautiful sunny day, lots of people sunning by the pool, lawn bowling on the grass, putting, and generally just out and about enjoying the gorgeous weather. The sea is very calm, no movement of the ship. Wanted to get pictures of all the people out and about enjoying the weather—ran into many of the people from Cruise Critic while I was walking around.
