Off to London….

When we woke after a great day in Paris, we were back in Southampton, where we departed from. Another peace of bad news, Barb was ill! She must have caught what ever the lady who was behind us on the bus was trying hard to share. Anyway, we made our way off the boat and through customs without any problems, found a cab to take us to the Southampton train station. We chose a BnB in Brentford (just outside London) and our hosts sent us detailed directions on how to get there using public transit. Now is a good time to have some sympathy for Barb, first a struggle with her bags to disembark, then a cab ride and then a train to the heart of London and she could not enjoy any of the sights or the ride! Arriving at London’s Waterloo station, we hustle to transfer to the train to Brentford. A little stressful to say the least, dragging our bags and not sure of where we are going in London’s busiest station. The train was comfortable even though London was entering an unusual warm period.

Arriving at the Brentford station on Thursday and disembarking into a totally unknown area, we get our bearings and follow our instructions to the BnB. What appeared to be short distance on paper turned out to be a 20 minute walk with our bags and Barb not feeling well enough for this type of adventure but we got to our accommodations without getting lost! We make our way up 3 flights of steps to our lodging and Barb crashes on the bed for the rest of the day. Welcome to London Babe….. These following pictures try to show you the area we stayed in. The main streets were busy but a great spot with the canals, pubs and shopping, oh, and the pubs.

Friday and Barb is not much better and this heat wave is not helping her. The bedroom windows are small and do not allow a lot of air movement. Our hosts provide a fan but it only blows around the hot air. Later in the afternoon, our hosts leave for the weekend so we have the whole 3 floors to ourselves so we move Barb down to the main floor where we have access to the patio and the patio door lets lots of air through. This helps her feel better already.

Saturday and Barb is able to sit up and feel somewhat better. She is determined not to let this bug get her down and miss out on seeing London so Kew Gardens (Royal Botanical Gardens) are just a few stops away on the train so off we go.

The walk back to the same train station we arrived at on Thursday doesn’t seem quite so far – they must have moved yesterday! We make the walk from the Kew Bridge Station, over the Thames River to the Elizabeth Gates of Kew Gardens. It was a bit of a hike but Barb made it but tiring quickly. Instead to walking around Kew Gardens, we took the tram. It worked out perfectly for us. We got off to tour Kew Palace and gardens. We sat in a garden off from the Palace and watched geese and ducks drift around and enjoyed the nature we were in. It was time though and we had to get back to the BnB to give Barb an opportunity to rest up a little before we hit one of the pubs for dinner.

Tomorrow is going to be a big day, our bus tour of London.

Paris, France…..

A Day at Sea before Paris

What a time we had at St Andrews, the Home of Golf! After our excitement settled down, we decided we want to spend a month in Scotland and with any luck, play the ‘Old Course’ as well as enjoy more of the beautiful country side and Scottish culture.

We have a day at sea while the ship makes it’s way to Le Havre France where we will board a bus for a 2 hour ride and tour Paris before we board a river boat for a lunch on the River Seine! On our way through the North Sea, we view many wind turbines ‘floating’ in the sea. They are connected together and provide renewable energy for most of Scotland. It was rather an amazing site and something you would not expect out in the North Sea.

We planned to use the gift that Terri and Mark arranged for us in the spa on ship. We spent some time on the warming beds – kinda neat, a heated lounge type structure that we laid on for 40 minutes before we went into the sauna. The heat was very soothing but comfort – not! Once we were ‘spa-ed’ out, we had lunch and wandered – not so aimlessly around the decks of the boat. People watching is always entertaining and I’m sure if others are watching us, they would agree….

Our afternoon was more of the same, walking, watching, snacking, and waiting until we arrive in France. Our evening pleasure was the on-board show in the theatre. They are generally good and fun and this night was no exception. We wake moored in Le Havre France. After breakfast, our departure is organized by bus so we wait in one of the restaurants for our number to be called to disembark for our bus tour of Paris.

We are greeted by a pair of mimes as we approach the customs area. Once on the bus, we start the 2 hour drive to Paris. We pass through cute areas until we turn onto the A-13 to Paris. It’s not unlike any freeway in North America. Our trip permits us a quick view of the Eiffel Tower from afar, awesome.

The tour takes us past so many historic landmarks, historic statues, beautiful architecture and busy streets. We see many points of interest, too many to list here but hopefully our pictures demonstrate the beauty of Paris.

After we saw the sights and heard the sounds, we took a lunch cruise on the River Seine. It was an excellent end to a fantastic day.

Before we head back, the tour guide gave us 60 minutes to prowl around Champs Elysees to shop, take photos or just kick back. We went into a souvenir shop and almost couldn’t move for too many other tourists in a small space! Everyone (?) said we just had to buy some French macaroons… We soon found a bakery that specialized in these delicacy's and after recovering my breath from the price, we went back to the bus pick up to continue on our way.

Now on our ride back to the ship, I don’t think anyone took into account that this was a holiday weekend in France and the A-13 was jammed with cars leaving Paris so the 2 hour bus ride is now a 3 ½ hour ride. We had a couple behind us talking loudly on their cell and the whole bus could here her conversation. One gentleman in front answered one of her questions – that was too funny. Unfortunately, the lady was hacking up a lung at the time so we’re hoping not to catch what she was trying to share!

We were so late arriving back to the ship that this is one of those reasons you take the activity from the boat so they don’t leave you behind. We get back to our stateroom in time to watch the sunset. Another wonderful day and tomorrow is the end of the cruise – just a buffet of attractions, with samples to try for any future plans.

I know this has been almost a painful experience with my slack updating of our blog but we still have 3 days in London so do come back if you dare….

The Royal and Ancient….

Well, I know that I am very late in writing but life gets in the way. What did we do before we retired I wonder?

Our next adventure on this wonderful 50^th anniversary trip is the golf mecca in Scotland, The Royal and Ancient St. Andrews Golf Links. Needless to say, we are both excited for this day trip.

Our ship glides into the port of South Queensferry, Scotland. One of our other choices would have been the tours of Edinburgh but being somewhat golfers, we could not give up this chance be at St. Andrews where all of the great golfers of the world have tried to bring the course to it’s knees!

Once again, the port is too shallow to dock so we have numerous tenders to take us ashore. Our tour bus picks us up after lunch so we decided to stay aboard and not wander through the sea shore village as we have at other ports. We have a leisurely breakfast, wander throughout the ship and recover from the past tours and activities.

Once on the bus, we admire the Scottish countryside on our way to St. Andrews. The quaint homes, farms and the rolling hillsides. Upon our arrival in the town, the driver gave us a quick tour of the ‘downtown’ and the historic St. Andrews Cathedral, the largest and most important church in medieval Scotland.

We arrive at the ‘Old Course’ and start looking at all the landmarks that we see on the golf shows or the televising of ‘The Open’. The Old Hotel, the Road Hole and of course, the Swilcan Bridge! Here is where all the retiring greats of golf stop to wave to the golf fans and pose for pictures. Our skin develops goose bumps standing and imagining these events.

As we are dreaming of playing, we enter the pro shop and pick up the Old Course Ballot Card with the rules related to entering the lottery to play. We have to send in the lottery form and have a signed handicap card – 24 for men and 36 for ladies. The course is also closed for play on a Sunday allowing people to walk along the famous fairways at the Links.

We go to the tee blocks of the 18^th hole and walk up onto the tee and gaze on down the fairway to get the feel of playing. The course is full but everyone understands and you can do this with no one bothering you as long as you don’t get in the way of the players.

We also cross over the 17^th fairway to get our picture and help other golf enthusiasts get their pictures standing on the ‘Swilcan’ bridge that crosses the Swilcan Burn between the first and eighteenth fairways. This was too exciting and really made our day!

There are four main ways to apply for a tee time on the Old Course:

The Advanced Reservations process starts at the beginning of September for play the following year. Full details can be found on our website.

The second and most common way is to enter the Ballot which is drawn every day for play two days ahead e.g. enter the names by 2pm on Monday for play on a Wednesday.

Single Golfers can approach the Starter on the day they wish to play and they will try to slot them in with groups going out that day.

And the last way is to buy guaranteed premium tee times is from the ‘Old Course Experience’.

After we get our fill, we walk in the downtown of St Andrews, past Ole Tom Morris’ house and past lots of golf shops. We did go in to one and bought a couple souvenirs for ourselves and continued along the street, admiring the buildings and surroundings. All too soon, it is nearing bus time so we venture down to the Old Course visitors centre then out onto the beach of St Andrews. It has been a great day for us.

Too soon, we are back on the boat and heading out to sea again. After a full day at sea, we are onto our next port of call, Le Havre, France. Please return to hear about our trip to Paris….