Friday night dinner was Indian – You can’t spend any amount of time in London  and not eat Indian.  We chose Marsala Zone on Earls’s Court Road, just a stone’s throw from our hotel.  We both had the “Grand Thali”, mine with lamb, Elaine’s with chicken.  Very nice and spicy, accompanied by some garlic naan and a bottle of wine.

The Grand Thali

Equal to a starter and main course combined. It comprises a Canapé,  a choice of  curry, 2 vegetables (one green and one root), Dal (lentil), Raita (yoghurt), Indian salad, Papadum & Chutney, freshly-made whole wheat Chapatti (Indian bread) & Rice.

The drizzle was gone by late in the day yesterday (Friday).  For our last day in London we decided on a light day – a guided walking tour of Quirky London – to maybe learn a few more new things about this great city.  (Yes, we abhor tours, but what the hell!)  The tour began at Covent Garden, the London equivalent of Quincy Market in Boston.  I’ll let the pictures tell the story of our walk which ended up in Trafalgar Square.

Tomorrow (Sunday) we were supposed to take a taxi to Paddington and then the Heathrow Express (train) to Heathrow for our flight home.  Not so fast!  Work stoppage on the Heathrow Express  no trains on Sunday.  We considered going by tube, but with bags, it would be a hassle.  So we have a car picking us up at the hotel at 9:00 AM.  We fly to Boston where we will stay overnight at the Airport Hilton and then fly home on Tuesday morning (US Air) to Phoenix.  We’ll be home by 1:30 PM on Tuesday.

[addendum]  The Heathrow Express work stoppage was cancelled, so it ran.  But I had already requested a refund (and got it).  The car cost 1/2 as much as the Heathrow Express when you factor in the taxi needed to get to Paddington and was twice as convenient.  The Heathrow Express is often cited as being the most expensive train ride in the world (for the 15 minute experience).  You can fly London to Madris for less.

Dinner Thursday night was at a little French restaurant called, of all things, a Little French Restaurant (emphasis on little – maybe seven tables).  French cooking, eastern European staff, and Italian house wine.  Eclectic but good.  Elaine had Vichyssoise (hot – I thought it was always cold) for a starter while I had chicken livers in a red wine reduction.  We both has coq au vin for our mains and apple pie (tart really) with ice cream for dessert.  Everything was delicious except the ice cream which was icy.  Total bill including two Kir Royales, a bottle of wine, and gratuity:  £55 – extraordinarily reasonable in London.  Cash only.

Friday broke cloudy and we had scattered sprinkles (nothing serious) but bright sun by mid afternoon.  We continued our search for new things to see in London by taking the tube to Russell Square:

First stop: the Charles Dickens Museum where Dickens and his family lived for part of their lives.  He wrote here and produced a bunch of children.  Very well done museum.  We had hot chocolates in the cafe for breakfast.

Second stop: the Sir John Saone Museum.  An architect, Saone was a collector, and his collections are displayed here.  Really quite a remarkable home.  It is located at Lincoln Inn Fields, a lovely park, so we bought picnic stuff at Pret A Manger and ate at a bench in the park.  No pictures allowed in the museum.

Third Stop:  the Old Curiosity Shop immortalized by Dickens.  Actually this isn’t the place he wrote about, but why quibble – it’s cute?  We viewed from outside but did not enter.

Fourth stop:  the Hunterian Museum at the Royal College of Surgeons.  All you ever wanted to know about surgery and more.  You could spend hours here.  We would have spent longer but we were rousted out by a fire alarm.  Did you know surgeons in the seventeenth century did not have a college education but rather were apprenticed?  They were joined in a professional society with barbers.  Things change with time.

Fifth and final stop: a walking tour of the Lincoln Inns of Court, an active and thriving society of lawyers with a very long history, situated in a tranquil enclave of some 11 acres in central London.  “Lincoln’s Inn” thus refers both to the Society and the place.  Think Rumpole.  The tour was led by a spry old lady who had a brilliant sense of humor.  Great fun and very educational and entertaining.

A pint at a pub and back to the hotel by 5:00 PM – a long day.  No reservations tonight, so we will venture out and find somewhere to eat.

Dinner last night was at The Orjowon, a Lebanese restaurant a short walk from the hotel.  We had the set meal offering and a bottle of wine, and it was all grand!  We booked a table for Saturday night, our last night in London.

Thursday started out and stayed just beautiful – all sun and 70 degrees.  Having been to London so many times, there was no need to see Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abbey, St Paul’s, the Horse Guards, Churchill’s War Rooms, Piccadilly Circus, et. al.

That said, we decided on a walking tour that began at St. Paul’s.  So we used our Oyster Cards from our last trip, which still had some value on them, and took the tube to St. Paul’s station.  Amazingly, they now charge £15 ($22) just to get in the cathedral.  We viewed the outside and started our walk, stopping in order at:

• The Millennium Bridge over the Thames.
• The College of Arms where Queen appointed heralds record and keep track of coats of arms.
• A Church now converted into a bible school and/or a tea room.  We had hot chocolates and a oatmeal raspberry muffin.
• The Guildhall (official headquarters of the Lord Mayor of London since the 12th century.  Boris didn’t come out to greet us.  Bad form on him.  We visited the art museum here.  The clock museum is being moved to the Science Museum and won’t reopen until October, so we couldn’t see that.
• St Lawrence Jewry at the Guildhall, the Mayor’s official church
• We briefly viewed Mansion House, the Lord  Mayor’s residence.
• We stopped in at St Stephen Walbrook church designed by Sir Christopher Wren, a predecessor of St Paul’s.
• The Bank of England and it’s museum
• Leadenhall Market, which dates back to the 14th century, and is now a popular meeting spot for locals working in the financial industry and needing a cup of tea or a pint of lager.

We also stopped at Waterstone’s so I could buy a new book.  (Remember when Waterstone’s had the best bookstore in Boston in the Back Bay?)

I had  a beer at The Swan while Elaine did some shopping at Marks and Spencer.  Some of you will remember having beers at the Swan with us in London.  (You know who you are!)  Well, this is a different Swan.  There are at least three pubs named the Swan in London, probably lots more.

Then we topped up our London Transport Oyster Cards and took the tube back to Kensington, had a brew at the Courtfield Pub where we chatted up some locals, and ambled back to the Nadler for naps.  It was a great day!

CLICK PICS TO ENLARGE IN A NEW WINDOW

The sail from Dublin to Southampton was bumpy and the bars and dining rooms were relatively empty as lots of folks were suffering from sea sickness.  Luckily rough seas don’t bother us and we rather enjoy the rocking and rolling.  Despite the weather, we docked on time in Southampton (referred to locally as Soton), and we skipped breakfast and disembarked at 8:00 AM after the luggage had been offloaded.  We quickly claimed our bags and found our driver to London waiting for us.  The drive took a bit over two hours in some rush hour traffic.  Fortunately our room was ready at the Nadler Kensington, and we settled in before heading out to lunch.  Our room is at the back, so there will be no noisy traffic and street noise at night.

The Nadler is in the Earl’s Court area of London.  We wandered down busy Earl’s Court Road and picked the Blackbird Pub for lunch.  I decided to try a real cask ale and chose Fuller’s London Pride.  Cask ales are served at room temperature, so they are an acquired taste for Americans.  It’s nice for a change, but not really to my liking.  We both had pies for lunch – mine was White Texel Dorset Leg of Lamb Hotpot Pie with red wine, rosemary, and mint gravy , Elaine’s was ham hock, leek, and chicken in tarragon cream sauce.  With chips they hit the spot.

We did a bit more walking around, then stopped at another pub, the Courtfield, for beer desserts, and went back to the hotel for a rest.  Tomorrow we’ll be a bit more adventurous and will get some pictures.

 

Surprise posting using the ship’s internet after leaving Dublin on Monday night!  

Yes, Jane, we knew Beckett was Irish.  The Samuel Beckett bridge is near the ship dock.  (See, we do read the comments.) 

It was mostly overcast with occasional drizzle (typical Irish weather) today.  Once again we took the shuttle into town.  We started off with a walk around Trinity College.  The Book of Kells (Google it!) is on display here.  We had seen it on prior trips so we didn’t brave the long lines of people waiting for a glimpse.

Having been shut out of Saint Patrick’s Cathedral twice yesterday (before 12:30 because there were services in progress and again after 2:30 because of more services – who says religion is dying out?), we yet again walked to Saint Patrick’s using a different route.  Hooray, we got in!

Now all churches are nice inside, but sometimes they all begin to look the same.  Saint Patrick’s, however, the National Cathedral and Collegiate Church of Ireland (Anglican), is especially historic and photogenic.  It, more than any other building in Ireland, embodies the history and heritage of the Irish people from the earliest times to the present day.  Saint Patrick himself is said to have baptized converts at a well that once existed alongside the Cathedral.

Jonathan Swift himself was Dean of Saint Patrick’s from 1713-1745.  Swift and his closest friend Stella (Esther Johnson) are buried here.  Stella died young at age 46 in 1728.  Swift was heartbroken and moved out of his usual rooms so as not to see her funeral lights in the Cathedral’s windows.  Swift himself was 87 when he passed away in 1745.

Another highlight is the display of the actual chair that King Willian III used in 1690 when he came to Saint Patrick’s to give thanks to God for his victory over King James II at the Battle of the Boyne.

Also in St. Patrick’s  is the Door of Reconciliation.  It was the door to the Chapter House in the Cathedral behind which the Earl of Ormond had barricaded himself and his followers in 1492.  His longtime enemy, the Earl of Kildare, cut a hole in the door, extended his arm through the hole to offer his hand.  Ormond took Kildare’s hand, and the feud was officially over.  Reconciliation had been achieved.

As we left it started to drizzle, so we searched out a picturesque pub with wi-fi (so I could do the previous post).  Picturesque pubs with wi-fi are all over the place in Dublin.  We picked Bruxelles Pub where Elaine drank her usual (Harp Lager) while I had mine (Guinness).  Guinness does indeed taste so much better in Ireland than it does anywhere else.  I had Shepard’s Pie while Elaine had Fish & Chips, but we shared.

Then it was back to the shuttle bus stop, but we just missed one, the line was long, and another wasn’t due for 25 minutes.  Instead we flagged down a taxi and were quickly back on board for a nap.

It’s now Tuesday morning, a sea day, and the seas are rough.  The Atlantic was like a lake, but the Irish Sea is acting up.  We love it!  Tomorrow morning we arrive in Southampton where we will disembark at 8:00 AM, gather our luggage, and find the car we have reserved to take us to London.  Back at you from the Nadler Kensington on Wednesday night or Thursday morning.

So, weather has intervened with our cruise schedule.  Saturday night as we were leaving Belfast, the Captain announced that bad weather was forecast for the Irish Sea and the English Channel for Monday and Tuesday, the days we were to dock in Holyhead (Wales) and anchor & tender at the Isle of Jersey (in the Med).  Holyhead is a notoriously difficult port in which to dock in rough seas and tendering is always difficult in bad weather.  So the decision was made to extend our stay in Dublin to two days in place of Holyhead and then to spend a day at sea rather than trying to anchor at Guernsey.

That’s all OK with us.  An extra day in Dublin is never a bad thing, and there is essentially nothing to see in the town of Holyhead.  It’s a great place for tours to nearby northern Wales, but we were there on our car trip last year and did not plan on anything beyond a trip to a pub.  We’ll miss Jersey, but we saw it’s sister island, Jersey, two years back, and it is very similar.  We will miss the chance to see Barb & Kris passing us on their cruise which is scheduled to go from Southampton to Guernsey on Tuesday night – literally it would have been two ships passing in the night.  Hope you make it into Guernsey, girls!

Sunday morning we arrived in Dublin on time at 8:00 AM.  It was mainly sunny skies with some clouds and a chance of showers.  We caught the shuttle bus from the dock to downtown and had a long walkabout.  We’ve seen much of Dublin, so we walked from the drop-off point at Trinity College through St Stephen’s Green to St. Patrick’s Cathedral.  It’s Sunday for it was closed for services until 12:30, so we continued to the Christ Church Cathedral (Church of Ireland – Anglican).  Closed for services until 12:30.  Oh, well, the walk was nice.

We continued on along the River Liffey to O’Connell Street, Dublin’s main shopping thoroughfare and saw the newly installed spire.  (At least I thinks it’s new as I don’t remember seeing it before.  Further up O’Connell we visited the very interesting Dublin Writer’s Museum where we took the very informative recorded tour.  (OK, we all know about Brendan Behen and and James Joyce and Jonathan Swift and Oscar Wilde and George Bernard Shaw and, of course, Yeats.  Who out there knew Bram Stoker of Dracula fame was Irish?  I didn’t.)

We adjourned down the road to the Parnell Pub – lager for Elaine, Guinness for me.  Then we walked through Dublin’s pub and nightclub district, Temple Bar.  We were hungry and some what incongruously, we dropped in at McDonald’s for fries and a coke.  Then we were back at Christ Church Cathedral to check out the inside.  The catacombs were closed, but we walked around the cathedral proper.  Luckily we heard an organ and choir rehearsal that was nice.  We saw the tomb of Strongbow, the Anglo-Norman who led the capture of Dublin in 1170.  Unfortunately we could not see the mummified cat and rat (literally) that were trapped in an organ pipe in the 1860’s because they are located in the closed crypt.

Meanwhile St. Patrick’s had closed again for afternoon services, so once again we missed seeing the interior.  At that point we hopped a taxi back to the ship.  As luck would have it, it started to rain just as we got in the cab, so our timing was fortuitous.

It’s Monday now, the beginning of our second day in Dublin.  It’s a bank holiday here, so the streets will be teeming was tourists and locals again like yesterday.  It’s a bustling city.  My next posting won’t be until Wednesday night when we are ensconced in our hotel in London.  See you then!

The ship didn’t dock until 1:00 PM, so the normal thing to do would have been to have lunch on board and then venture ashore to see Belfast.  But who said we were normal?  Having been to Belfast before, our number one thing to do was to pay a return visit to the little Mourne Seafood Bar for lunch.  The dock is isolated, so we took the shuttle downtown and quickly found the Mourne.  There was a short wait but we got in quick enough.

Elaine wasn’t hungry, having just finished a late morning “French Classics” cooking class with my stand-in, Len.  So she had a Belfast Lager and a Bowl of Seafood Chowder (“The best seafood chowder ever!”).  I had six scrumptious local oysters followed by a delicious seafood casserole (sort of like a bouillabaisse). My beverage was Mourne Oyster Stout.

Then we just walked around.  We had missed Belfast Cathedral (St Anne’s – Anglican) on our last visit here so we made a stop.   Then we walked to the Belfast Clock Tower which has always been the ultimate Belfast sight (at least until the Titanic Museum opened a few years ago – been there, done that).  The clock tower had been shrouded in scaffolding the last time we were here.  The other place we wanted to see was White’s Tavern, Belfast’s oldest bar (1630), but we hadn’t a clue where it was.  As we walked back toward the shuttle bus, I noticed an innocuous little sign pointing to White’s Tavern down an alley.  We stopped in and had pints of Harp.  Elaine made a new friend, Jim Kenner.

Then it was back to the ship in time for 5:00 PM canapés and cocktails.  Dinner tonight will be casual in the Terrace Cafe.  We sail at 11:00 PM for an 8:00 AM arrival in Dublin.

Not much to report.  Food great.  Liquor flowing.

Wednesday

Sailing through fog, calm seas.  Had to clear UK Immigration face-to-face with immigration officers on-board – nice TDY for them!  It was “warm” enough for cocktails on our balcony albeit warmly wrapped up in polar fleece.  Dinner at Red Ginger, Elaine’s favorite specialty restaurant – duck and watermelon salad was as good as remembered.  I had delicious soft shell crab tempura as an appetizer.

Thursday:

Still overcast although relatively clear.  Seas still calm.  We both did workouts (mainly treadmill) in the gym.  In the morning I watched a lecture on the great ships of state:  The SS France; the USS United States; the QE, QM, QE2, and QM2 of Britain’s Cunard, etc.  It was Indian food night at the Terrace Cafe which Elaine was looking forward to with great anticipation.  The choices were endless and enjoyable.

Friday:

No fog this morning.  Back to the gym again.  Mandatory lifeboat drill at 10:00 AM.  At 11:00 Elaine attended her first (of three) culinary classes, this one called “Tasty Little Treats”.  The ship has a full culinary education center where about 20-25 people can take culinary classes.  I finished the books I had on my Kindle so I was off to the library to find something to read.  Dinner tonight was in the last of the specialty restaurants, “Jacques”, named for Jacques Pepin, Oceania’s culinary advisor.  We shared terrine of foie gras, then we both had soups (Vichyssoise for Elaine, classic French onion for me), followed by a massive (and sumptuous) veal chop for me and Coquilles St-Jacques (scallops) for Elaine.  For dessert neither of us could resiste lavender infused crème brulée.

Saturday:

At 6:30 AM we sailed past Malin Head, the northernmost point on the island known as Ireland.  Strangely, if you know your Irish geography, the northernmost part of the island is in the Republic, not in Northern Ireland.  Elaine had her second culinary class at 10:00 – “French Classics”.  In a weak moment I had signed myself up for this one also.  But I knew I wouldn’t enjoy it, so our new friend Len took my spot.  It is 1:00 PM now and we are making fast to the dock in Belfast, Northern Ireland.

The camera has been idle at sea.  Pictures will resume in the next post.  After Belfast, it’s on to Dublin, Holyhead, the Isle of Guernsey, and disembarkation in Southampton.

MONDAY IN CHILLY FRANCE

Sunday night we ate at the Terrace Cafe.  Len & Dave joined us.  We had a good time and too much wine.  Aspirin before bed!

Monday was bright and beautiful and cold.  High today:  48^o.  At 8:00 AM we docked in Saint-Pierre & Miquelon (SPM), a self-governing overseas territory of France, situated in the northwestern Atlantic Ocean near Canada. It is the only remnant of the former colonial empire of New France that remains under French control and has a population of 6,080.  The islands are situated at the entrance of Fortune Bay, which extends into the southern coast of Newfoundland.

The dock has no facilities and is located about a mile or so from the town.  Shuttle buses were provided into town and we were on the first bus at about 8:45.  We walked around the downtown area and made several stops, including the thrice-burned-down cathedral and the Musee L’Arche.  At the museum you learn everything you will ever need to know (and more) about SPM (Saint-Pierre & Miquelon).  In the 1700’s and 1800’s it transferred back and forth from British to French control nine times, finally becoming a permanent part of France in 1813.

During World War II there was much concern that the Vichy Government of France (under German control) would use SPM to launch offenses against the US and Canada.  Both Britain and the US considered armed intervention in SPM, but General de Gaulle would hear nothing of that.  He led Free French forces, then headquartered in Britain, in a successful landing on SPM to take control of the government.

Another interesting period in SPM history was during the American Prohibition.  Canadian distilleries could not legally ship alcoholic products to the USA, and the government cracked down hard on illegal shipments.  But the distilleries could ship alcohol to France, and Saint-Pierre & Miquelon was France.  So a huge amount of legal booze regularly found its way into tiny Saint-Pierre. Many gangsters including Al Capone and Bill McCoy set up operations in the islands, using them as a base to smuggle alcohol into the US  using speedy rum runner boats.

We had dinner Monday night in the specialty Italian restaurant on board, La Toscana.  Good eats!  Elaine started with octopus carpaccio followed by veal osso buco.  I had lightly battered and fried calamari to start and delicious rack of lamb.

TUESDAY IN SAINT JOHN’S, NEWFOUNDLAND

We were supposed to land here back in 2009 when we crossed from Southampton to New York on the Grand Princess, but bad weather prevented that huge ship from making port.  Today the weather is good and the much smaller Marina had no trouble docking.  High temperature today was expected to be in the low fifties.  In fact, it seemed much warmer.  Bright sun and almost no wind.  A pleasure.

We walked hilly St John’s, not to be confused with St-John (without the s) in New Brunswick.  It is a bustling town and very pretty.  We hiked up the hill and visited both the Anglican Cathedral and the Catholic Basilica of St John the Baptist.  They were starting a mass just as we left.  Good timing.

Then we went to The Rooms – this is a modern building that is part art gallery, part museum, part cultural center, and part tea room and cafeteria.  It’s very well done.  We enjoyed the art of Christopher Pratt and the museum describing life in Newfoundland and Labrador.  Lots of references to the Irish who helped settle here.  God bless them.

Then we hiked back down the hill to George Street where we enjoyed micro brews in the Yellow Belly Brewery & Public House – Fighting Irish Red for me and seasonal Pale Beer for Elaine.  We also shared an order of short-rib poutine (french fries with gravy and short ribs), a take on traditional Quebecoise poutine which is french fries, gravy, and cheese curds.

All good, and then back on board for our 2:00 PM sailing for Belfast. We will be on the Atlantic all day Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday before docking in Belfast at 1:00 PM on Saturday.  There will be no more postings until Saturday night.  See you then!

SAINT-JOHN’S PICS (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

SAINT-PIERRE PICS (CLICK TO ENLARGE)

Dinner Saturday night was in the Polo Grill, one of four specialty restaurants on Marina, this one noted as a steak house.  Elaine opted for a special, sea bream, thereby violating one of my cardinal rules: in a steak house, eat beef.  She was not overjoyed with her main course.  I had a delicious rib eye with steak fries and asparagus stalks.  Wonderful.

Sydney in Australia has it’s Opera House; Sydney, Nova Scotia has the world’s largest fiddle.  The fiddle is essential to the good Celtic music in this part of Nova Scotia.  It’s sort of like being in Ireland or Brittany in France.

Sydney is more noted as the launching point for trips to Louisburg Fortress or to the Cabot Trail.  Been there, done that, so we just wandered around town which was conveniently located two minutes from the cruise terminal.  And the weather was brilliant: cloudless sunny blue skies and temperatures in the low sixties.  Great for walking around.

We visited St Patrick’s, a church now converted into a mini museum, and both the Cossit House and the Jost House, period houses now serving as museums.  After overloading on museums, we sauntered down to Governor’s Pub & Eatery where we split some coconut shrimp before both indulging in some delicious seafood chowder.  Elaine had the local lager while Joe had two oatmeal stouts.

Then it was back to the ship for rest, relaxation, snacks, drinks, naps, cocktails, and eventually dinner.

Tomorrow we are in France – well, St. Pierre, just off Canada, but technically a part of France.  Then on to St John’s, Newfoundland on Tuesday.  Then it will be three full days on the Atlantic crossing over to our first European port in Belfast, Northern Ireland.  I should be able to post the next two days; then there will be a hiatus while we are on the high seas.

C:LICK ON PICS FOR LARGER VIEWS IN NEW TAB