23 September 2005 (continued):
We continue sailing
toward Dover in what could be described as ‘pleasantly brisk’ weather…..meaning that for the first time
in a very long time we are not hot. In fact, you can become down-right cool if you spend a little time on an open deck. This
is good. The seas, so far, have been relatively calm considering that we are in the North Sea.
Our
‘Cruise Critic’ meeting was OK, but nothing to brag about……think 70 people, most of them even more
nerdy than me, none of whom had ever met before, all in the same room wearing name tags showing their internet ‘handles’
(mine is SPI_RICK) and trying to think of something to say to each other. A woman from New England (internet handle I'll
call "TRIPLE-B"....that's not really it, but it would be appropriate), who spoke with a strong Brooklyn
accent, and who spoke constantly, without pause during the entire meeting and whose husband never spoke at all, latched onto
us became our ‘best friend’. I soon became convinced that the B in TRIPLE-B stood for BITCH. After about an hour
we escaped to the Laundromat to do some washing.
The next stop was the afternoon wine-tasting. Where
we were in a group of 300-350 people in the main dining room….and out of all of those people, who is it that they seated
at our table….the New England woman with the Brooklyn accent (TRIPLE-B). The wine, however, was very good. I never
did actually taste the flavors of pear, peach, mango and oak that the wine steward kept telling us was there, but I did find
the general taste to be good and the alcohol content to be very nice.
Dinner was formal, so tuxedo and evening dress
were required….apparently by everyone except a guy named Lou who was a new addition to our table for dinner. Lou showed
up in a sweater that looked like it was a Christmas present from a niece who didn’t really like him. But Lou did provide
entertainment. Lou had gotten “tired of the people at his office and needed a break”, so he took 7 months off
and had been just “hanging around Europe”. This is his trip home. Unfortunately for Lou, during a side trip to
Romania he became sick……seriously sick….requiring a 3 week stay in a Romanian hospital and another week
of recovery before he had the energy to catch a Euro Rail train to Copenhagen to join the cruise. As you might expect, Lou
had some negative comments about Romania in generally and Romanian food in particular. But his painful illness and near death
did provide us with some entertainment during dinner so it wasn’t a total loss.
24 September 2005:
Arrived in Dover and docked beneath the ‘white
cliffs’. Had to get up early to make an early shore excursion to London. It was a typical ‘American’ tour.
Two hours on the bus to London, Two hours back, 5 hours in the city with an hour for lunch and the rest of the time jumping
on and off the bus to take a few quick snapshots while our tour guide tried to herd us through as many photo opportunities
as possible. The end result is that I saw the outside of many famous London monuments, but did not see the inside of any of
them. Still, it was a long, but enjoyable day. By the time we got back on board we decided it was too late to go to dinner
in the main dining room so we just hit the buffett line for supper and watched the White Cliffs of Dover disappear as we sailed
away on the next leg of the journey….on to Falmouth and Land’s End.
25 September 2005:
Falmouth is a tendering port…..meaning that
we don’t park the boat at a dock…..it is parked in the middle of the bay and we get on little tiny boats….in
this case, the ship’s lifeboats….to make the trip into shore. Today it was about a 20 minute tender ride to the
town of Falmouth. There we caught a bus for a drive down the Cornish coast…..through places like, St. Ives and Penzance
and on to Land’s End. The drive took us through some very pretty countryside. We hit periods of rain 3 or 4 times; once
with a really outstanding rainbow. After a brief walk along the cliffs at Land’s End it was time to jump back in the
bus and return to Falmouth. We weren’t quite ready to get back on the boat so we walked into the town center and found
a small restaurant where we ate Steak and Ale Pie with Peas and Chips for lunch….and washed it down with Guinness Ale.
On the walk back to the dock to catch the tender to the ship, I stopped in a little “Mom & Pop” convenience
store where I found a 4-pack of Stella Artois beer…..my big ‘find’ of the day. Now with the Stella Artois
nestled safely in my mini-fridge, the evening is looking quite bright. After dinner we’ll probably either go to a show
or spend an hour or two in the casino and then back to the room for a little reading and Stella Artois. We sail out of Falmouth
tonight and arrive in Dublin tomorrow morning.
