Our Trip Across the Pond

Up until this year, our travels have been limited to the Americas, with most of our foreign travel being port calls while on cruises. That changed in late April when we flew across the Pacific to spend a week in London, followed by a week-long transatlantic cruise back to New York City on the new Norwegian Breakaway.

We had been planning this trip for a long time and thought it would be just the two of us.  However, that changed as the result of the cruise we took earlier this year to Hawaii.  On that cruise, our dinner mates included Annette King and Colin Morgan, who live in Hook, which is southwest of London.  When they heard of our travel plans, they graciously offered to serve as our travel guides.  Another couple at our table, Reggie and Sharon Cornelius from Texas, decided they would join us, as well.  They would arrive in London two days after us.

We left Seattle on April 22 and arrived in London the next morning.  Neither of us got any sleep on our flights, so we were exhausted by the time we arrived in London.  But we were determined to stay up the rest of the day and try to get on a regular sleep schedule that night.  Annette and Colin met us at Heathrow Airport and accompanied us to our London hotel, the Doubletree (great hotel!).  I'm not sure we could have made it on our own.

We dropped off our luggage and headed out to a nearby pub for lunch. After that, we went to see the Churchill War Rooms. This is the bunker that sheltered Winston Churchill and his government during the Blitz.  This photo shows the Map Room, which served as the informational hub of the bunker. Everything remains the same as when bunker ceased operations on August 16, 1945.  Except that real people have been replaced with fake people.

The next day, we boarded a train to visit Annette and Colin at their home in Hook. After Annette and Colin hosted us for lunch at their home, we went on a road trip, with the first stop being the remnants of this castle that dates back to the 13th century. Apparently, King John built it as a hunting lodge.

After we visited the castle, we walked back to the car and noticed this swan swimming in our direction. It was one of many swans we saw while in England.

The next stop was one of England's most famous landmarks, Stonehenge, the ring of standing stones that is believed to have been constructed between 3000 BC and 2000 BC.  We've all seen the photos, but to see Stonehenge in person is truly amazing.

Our last stop of the day was in the city of Winchester, home of the Winchester Cathedral (if you're of my age, a certain song will now be stuck in your head). This cathedral was completed early in the 16th century, though earlier churches at the site date back as far as the 7th century.  It is where Jane Austen is buried.

Not far away is Winchester Castle.  Only the Great Hall remains, which is in the photo to the left.  The Winchester Round Table hangs inside the Great Hall. The large table top bears the names of various knights of King Arthur's Court.

After dinner at a local restaurant, it was back on the train for the ride back to London.

The next day, while we waited for Annette, Colin, Reggie and Sharon to arrive from Heathrow, we decided to just walk around. We headed in the general direction of Buckingham Palace.  I say "general direction," because we didn't exactly take the most direct route.  But a very helpful Londoner took pity on us as we were looking at our map with blank stares on our faces.  And I should add that he was one of several local residents who were very helpful in finding our way around.

We finally arrived at Buckingham Palace.  This would not be the day for watching the Changing of the Guard. That would wait until later in the trip.

We walked back to the hotel and met up with our travel companions. Our plan for the day was one of those hop-on/hop-off buses.  We left from Trafalgar Square, which is at the heart of London and commemorates the Battle of Trafalgar, a British naval victory over France.

We did "hop off" once during our bus tour and that was to visit St. Paul's Cathedral. The original church on this site was built in 604 AD. This church dates back to the late 17th century.  St. Paul's was where Prince Charles married Diana.  It was also the site of funerals for Lord Nelson, Winston Churchill, and most recently, Margaret Thatcher.

Back on the bus, we drove by many interesting landmarks. And over one. This is Tower Bridge.

Westminister Abbey, of course, is on the list of "must-sees" in London. Like St. Paul's Cathedral, visitors are not allowed to take photos inside, so this is all I have.   Construction on this church began in 1245, though there were churches on this site for several centuries prior.  It is traditionally where the coronations of monarchs are held.  It has also been the site of many royal weddings, including last year when Prince William married Catherine Middleton.  Many monarchs are buried here, as are other notable historical figures such as Geoffrey Chaucer, Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.

Right next to the Tower Bridge is the Tower of London, seen here from a riverboat cruise we took.  William the Conquerer began construction on the tower in the 1080's. Additional fortifications were added in the centuries that followed.  The tower served many purposes, including being the royal residence. But it is probably best known as a prison.

This room in Beauchamp Tower held some of the prisoners.  In it, you can see graffiti left by the prisoners.

Of course, you can't go to London without seeing the Changing of the Guard at Buckingham Palace.  We got there quite early so we could get fairly close to the fence.  We ended up being in the second row, which meant we could see what was going on in front of us fairly well.  And near the end, the folks in front of us left, which put us right on the fence and enabled me to stick my camera through the fence and get a few photos without the bars in my way.

Toward the rear of this photo is the marching band.  For the most part, they played the type of music you'd expect of a royal marching band.  So we were a little surprised when the band broke out in a version of ABBA's Mama Mia. Seriously, I'm NOT making that up.

Obviously, this is a huge attraction for tourists.  This photo may give you some idea of the size of the crowd that gathered for the ceremony. That's a statue of Queen Victoria in the background.

Speaking of royal residences, our next stop was Hampton Court, which required a train ride to its location west of London.  It's a huge place. Even though we were there for several hours, we did not see all of it.  Hampton Court was built by King Henry VIII in the early 1500's.  It served for a time as a royal residence, though the royal family has not lived there since the 18th century.

We were fortunate to visit on a day when Henry VIII was there.  That's him with his second wife, Anne Boleyn, who seems to have recovered nicely from that whole beheading thing.

Hampton Court has some spectacular gardens.  This is one example of many.

The garden photo above was taken while we were on a horse and carriage ride around some of the gardens.  This group photo was taken just we were about to begin the ride.  Our UK hosts, Annette and Colin, are on the two ends of the group. Just to my left are Reggie and Sharon from Texas.  We had a great time together.

At the end of this day, we bid farewell to Annette and Colin.  We are so grateful to them for making our trip so enjoyable.

One of the things we did on our final day in London was to take a ride on the London Eye. Well, except for Steph; she stayed below on solid ground.  And as someone who doesn't like heights, I was a little nervous about going up.  But I was fine.  And it was a lot of fun with incredible views.

This photo of the Houses of Parliament was taken near the highest point of the ride.  That clock tower on the right is officially known as Elizabeth Tower but is better known as Big Ben.  We heard it ring many times during our stay in London.

Here we are looking at Downing Street. Somewhere down that street is Number 10 Downing Street, the office and official residence of the Prime Minister.

That brought us to the end of our trip to London.  On the morning of April 30, we took a very nice train ride through the English countryside (where we saw this castle) to Southampton, where we boarded the Norwegian Breakaway for a very nice (and much smoother than I expected) seven-day cruise to New York City.  After an interesting bus tour of Manhattan, we headed for JFK and our LONG flight home. It was a great two weeks.  But, as always, it was nice to be home.

Cruise to Hawaii (January, 2013)

Our latest cruise took us round trip on the Diamond Princess from Los Angeles to Hawaii.  It was our tenth cruise overall, though our first on Princess.  At 14 days, it was also our longest cruise. And I think we can say it was our favorite cruise to date.  We left Wednesday, January 15.  We had 4+ days at sea followed by stops on the islands of Hawaii, Oahu, Kauai and Maui.  Then, it was another 4+ days at sea and a brief stop in Ensenada, Mexico, before returning to the mainland.

Our first port of call was Hilo, Hawaii, also known as The Big Island.  We took an excursion to Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. The park is the home of the Kilauea Volcano.  One of the most active volcanoes on earth, Kilauea is called "the world's only drive-in volcano."

Another interesting place to visit at the park was the Thurston Lava Tube, which was formed by flowing lava 500 years ago.  A little dark and a little wet, but a fairly easy walk.

Our next stop was in Honolulu.  We had been to Hawaii a couple of years earlier, so we had seen much of Oahu on that trip.  But one attraction we missed was the National Memorial Cemetery of the Pacific, also known as the punchbowl since it's located in the crater of an extinct volcano.  Rather than taking one of the ship's excursions, we grabbed a taxi to get us there.

The cemetery is the final resting place for many who fought in World War II and the Korean and Vietnam wars. Some who are buried here died in the line of duty; others died long after the wars were over.  There apparently was a service taking place as we walked around as we could hear "Taps" playing faintly in the distance.

One of those most famous individuals buried here is Ernie Pyle, the famed reporter known for his coverage of World War II.

From the top of the crater, you can see the Diamond Princess off in the distance. From the cemetery, we took a cab to Waikiki and spent some time there before walking back to the ship.

After Oahu, it was on to Kauai, the oldest of the Hawaiian islands and the least populous of the islands we visited.  For our excursion on Kauai, we boarded a tour bus for a winding road trip to Waimea Canyon.  Mark Twain called it the "Grand Canyon of the Pacific."  Not the kind of scenery I was expecting in Hawaii.

Same canyon. Different angle.

Our final port of call was Maui, an island we visited in 1976.  We took an excursion that took us to several locations.  Our first stop was Kepaniwai Park and Heritage Gardens, which was created in 1952 to celebrate the diversity of Hawaii's immigrants.  For example, this is a memorial to Korean immigrants who arrived in Hawaii in 1903.

Nearby is the Iao Needle, one of Maui's most recognizable landmarks.

Our ride back to the ship included a stop at the Maui Tropical Plantation. OK, it wasn't the most exciting part of the trip, but watching this guy open a coconut was actually kind of interesting.

But the majority of the trip was spent on the ship.  And we had a great time.  A lot of that had to do with the folks with whom we shared a dinner table each night. And a few trivia contests, as well.  In front are Reggie and Sharon from Texas.   Behind us are Karen and Gloria from Alberta.  And on the far right right are Colin and Annette from England.  We couldn't have asked for better cruise companions.  We're planning to see Colin and Annette again when we go to London in late April.

We also enjoyed our dinner crew. That's Julius (Assistant Waiter) on the left and Rafael (Waiter) on the right. Julius, in particular, cracked us up with his nightly antics. Witness this video of Julius and another member of the dinner crew serenading Reggie and Sharon on their anniversary (sorry for the bad video at the beginning...I was learning a new camera).

And then, there's this.  A photo that few of you could have predicted. Ships on this route generally offer ukelele lessons. They're offered on sea days only, so we had eight lessons.  Enough to prepare us for a performance in the ship's main theater.  This was taken on the day of the performance. The shirt was borrowed from Reggie, the ukelele was borrowed from the ship and the lei was made by Steph in a class she took.  The performance by the "Ukelele Masters" included three songs, two of them with hula dancers (another class offered on the ship).  We opened with Little Grass Shack, performed Tiny Bubbles sans dancers, and then rejoined the dancers to conclude with Aloha Oe.  About the only time I'm visible is on Tiny Bubbles, when there are no dancers in the way. I'm right behind our lead singer, Dave.  Dinner mates Sharon and Reggie are to the left of me.

That's it for now.  As I already mentioned, next up is a trip to London in late April.  We'll be on the brand new Norwegian Breakaway to get us back to the US.

New York City to Quebec City. And Back. Oct. 5-20, 2012.

We just returned from a two-week trip that included four full days in New York City and a ten-day cruise on the Norwegian Gem that took us to Quebec City and back to New York.  While the weather could have been better, we had a good time.  This was our second visit to New York City.  The first one, however, was very brief.  We only had a day to visit before we departed on another cruise last February.  So having four days in the city was a treat. 

On the first day, we met with Steph's nephew Martin, who lives in New York.  After lunch, we went to the Empire State Building, where this photo was taken. 

 

This photo was taken looking toward lower Manhattan.  You can see the gray skies that were typical of our trip.  The tallest building in the distance is the New World Trade Center, which is nearing completion.  A better photo of the new building is coming up later.

 

This photo looks in the opposite direction, overlooking midtown Manhattan toward Central Park.

We spent a lot of time just walking around.  This included Central Park, which was not far from our hotel.  The park is so immense that we only saw a small part of it.

 

One of those walks through Central Park took us to the American Museum of Natural History.  This institution for scientific research and education has collections that include more than 32 million specimens and artifacts.  Some of which even reminded us of home.

 

This one, for example.  This lava sample from Mount Rainier is 93,500 years old.  The column like structure is the result of rapid cooling against a glacier. 

This museum is a dream for fans of dinosaurs.  For example, this skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex, which was collected in 1908 in Montana, is one of few T-Rex specimens on public display.  Most museums only exhibit casts of fossils.  Hmmm...for some reason, I can't get the song Bang a Gong out of my head.

 

What's a trip to New York City without taking in some shows?  On our first day of the visit, we went to the half-price ticket stand in Times Square and came away with two tickets for that night's performance of Spiderman.  Lots of high-flying fun, and Spiderman even landed a few feet away from us a couple of times.  Before we left for New York, we had bought tickets for Chaplin, a musical that had just opened.  As it turned, we would have been better off waiting to buy our tickets; the woman setting next to us had a much cheaper ticket.  But we had no regrets as it was a wonderful show.  Go see it if you ever have the chance.

 

One of our goals for this trip was to see live performances of both Late Night with David Letterman and The Daily Show with Jon Stewart.  And we succeeded on both counts!

 

Our tickets for the Letterman show were on Monday, October 8.  Our seats were just a few feet away from the band.  Believe me, they're every bit as good as they're cracked up to be.  The main guest was Jack Hanna, who brought his usual menagerie of wild animals.

 

The next day, it was on to The Daily Show.  You had to get in line early to make sure you got tickets, so that's Steph walking up to get a place in line while I took the photo.  Jon's guest was Ben Affleck, who was promoting his new movie, Argo.

 

Getting tickets for both shows is a bit of a challenge.  I won't go into all of the details.  However, if you ever have an interest in seeing either show, I can provide some tips to improve your chances of getting tickets.

 

The next morning, it was off to the cruise terminal to begin our journey to Quebec City (and points in between).  This photo was taken as we cruised by lower Manhattan.  It provides a much better view of the New World Trade Center.

 

Shortly after, Lady Liberty bid us farewell as we headed out to sea. 

Our first port of call was Halifax, Nova Scotia.  Probably the biggest attraction there is Peggy's Cove.  However, we were at Peggy's Cove a couple of years ago, so we didn't see the need for a repeat visit. 

 

Instead, we went to the Halifax Citadel, a fort built in 1856.  Here we see the hourly changing of the guards.

 

Here's a view of the inside of the fort.

After leaving Halifax, we headed for the St. Lawrence on our way to Quebec City.  We were hoping the timing would be right to see the fall colors.  And it was.  I'm sure a little sun would have made the colors much more vibrant.

 

We arrived in Quebec City the afternoon of Oct. 14 and remained there until the following evening.  Founded in 1608, it's one of the oldest cities in North America.  The building on the top of the hill that dominates the skyline is the Fairmont La Chateau Frontenac Hotel.

 

On the first afternoon of our stay, we took a walking tour of Old Quebec.  It's an area of narrow streets and lots of small shops.  Beyond the street going up the hill is a cable railway known as a funicular, which we later rode on.  By the way, here's a tip if you ever take a walking tour of Quebec City in October.  Whenever you think you wearing enough layers of clothes, add one more.

 

On day two in Quebec City, we boarded a tour bus headed to the countryside for two stops.  The first was at Montmorency Falls and the second at the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre.

 

The people here are very proud of the fact that Montmorency Falls is taller than Niagara Falls.  And, yes, it is impressive.  But to paraphrase Lloyd Bentson, I've been to Niagara Falls, and you're no Niagara Falls.

 

From there, it was on to the Basilica of Sainte-Anne-de-Beaupre, which attracts about a half-million pilgrims every year. 

 

Here's the view from the inside.

 

After Quebec City, there were two ports before arriving back in New York City.  The first was in Corner Brook, Newfoundland.  I wish we could have seen it on a sunny day because it appeared to be quite beautiful.  Reminded me a little of home (and not just because of the rain!). 

 

Our last stop was in Sydney, Nova Scotia.  Honestly, there wasn't a lot to see there.  Except the sun!!

 

Lastly, what blog entry that involved a cruise would be complete without a towel animal created by our cabin attendant?