St. Malo to Wismar

Since we'd already scoured St. Malo twice, we took a picturesque coach ride (coach...don't call it a bus) to Dinan, a small medieval town a few miles south. Pretty neat little place.

Onward to Dunquerque in France, the site of Operation Dynamo where the cornered British troops were evacuated in 1940. We visited Fort des Dunes which protected the area back then.

A lot of brave men gave their lives in World War II. Let's never forget them.

The neat thing about Operation Dynamo was that Britain asked anyone who had a boat that could make it across the channel to sail it to Dunquerque to help. And so they did. Fishing boats, excursion boats, family boats, ferries...and they evacuated more than 338,000 men safely. A lot of equipment was left at the bottom of the harbor, though.

Onward to Antwerp, Belgium. We took off for Ghent, another medieval place, where we visited Saint Bavo's Cathedral and had some free time.

Next stop, Rotterdam, Netherlands and we visited Gouda, home of cheese. Now, please, let's say it correctly. It is pronounced "How-da". We got to taste four different Gouda cheeses, served with a glass of wine, at what used to be the weighing house. Hint: the aged one is soooo much better.

The following day took us through the Kiel Canal and we were betting that the captain was having apoplexy. It seems that schedules mean nothing to the Germans who operate the locks. It's first come, first served, and we entered the canal three hours late. So why was this so important? Because on the following day we were docked in Wismar, Germany and come people had 12-1/2 hour tours to Berlin and we were only there for about 12 hours. The tours operated, and gratefully we weren't on one of those long ones. We wisely took a walking tour of the town.

The Pig Bridge, in detail:

And other local buildings:

The tour culminated with a beer tasting at the local brewery (the only one left of many, many of them back in the old days). Nice way to end the day.

Then the weather caught up with us again. We skipped Ronne, Denmark. Too windy to get into the bay through the narrow approach. We didn't tour on the following day in Visby, Sweden.

Ireland and the UK

 Anchored in Dun Laoghaire, Ireland. Doesn't that look like it should be "Dun Longhair"? It's pronounced "Dun Leary". So when you go there, you can sound really smart. Off we went to Dublin to visit St. Patricks Cathedral,

And then to Trinity College to see the hand-illuminated Book of Kells. The impressive part was the Long Room, or the library. Just imagine what these bazillions of old, old, books are worth!

The grounds are charming, as well. Gordon thought this place looked like Hogwarts. He hasn't seen the movies, okay?

We remained in Dun Laoghaire overnight, and the next evening we were to return to Dublin. Well, the wind picked up and some passengers who had gone into the little town got stuck there. You see, the tenders couldn't launch from the ship or return because the sea was so rough. We had planned to go into town ourselves at about 1 p.m. While we waited, they turned the ship. No good. They moved the tender dock. Took a while, but that worked. Finally, some very distraught folks returned to the ship. We bravely headed onto the tender, because that evening offered a special event for those of us on the Grand Cruise: dinner and entertainment at Christ Church, preceded by cocktails in the crypt. Couldn't miss that!

We moved on to Liverpool, where we chose to ride to a cute little town called Chester.

There was an M & S there. More Percy Pigs. We had a Beatles night that evening. The old folks rocked the boat, in spite of chilly temperatures.

The next place that the Seven Seas Navigator anchored was Fishguard, Wales. We climbed the hill to Strumble Head to see the interesting, and very ancient, little Stonehenge that was up there. No one really knows its purpose, but there are several more scattered around the islands and they are believed to be navigational aids.

After we climbed up there, huffing and puffing, it turned out that the bus could have driven us to within a few yards of the thing. They didn't tell us that. It was okay, it was fun. We then bussed to Porthgain, which is a small, sheltered harbor with a big past. Here, bricks were loaded onto sailing vessels for export. The bricks raced down from the top of the cliff through chutes. Looked dangerous to us, but the views from above the port were amazing.

Last stop on this leg was Waterford, Ireland, where we took a walking tour of the town. Nothing particularly noteworthy there, except for the main Waterford Crystal store.

From there, we set off for the "turnover" at Southampton. While they turned over the ship (meaning some got off and some got on), we visited Westminster Cathedral.

Jane Austen is buried at Westminster:

It's really an impressive place.

By the way, do you know how to watch a Formula 1 race on a cruise ship? Well, the answer is, you don't. Not on TV, anyway. What we've been doing is firing up the F1 website for the lap-by-lap coverage and Pati does her best imitation of David Croft. It's pitiful.

Scotland and Ireland

At Kirkwall in the Orkney Islands we set off for the northern part of the island, passing through a really quaint little village on the way,

Then continued to the Stones of Stenness. These are far fewer, but much older, than Stonehenge.

Now, Pati asked Gordon to take a picture of her looking up at the monolith...

Her instructions apparently lacked specificity. Maybe the monolith should have been in the photo?

The sheep wander freely around this area during the summer, and its being spring, lambs were everywhere. Because the sheep are free to roam, they say to be very careful when driving: if one sheep crosses in front of you, two more are coming. And if you kill the farmer's sheep, you pay. Believe me, they do know which sheep are whose.

Next stop, Brough of Birsay. There are puffins and Orca whales around, but apparently both are very elusive. We didn't see any, anyway, but it was still a neat place.

Onward to Portree (accent on the second syllable, aye?). Our tour guide's name was Seoris, pronounced "shore-us". Scottish Gaelic for "George". Never heard that name before. Anyway, Seoris took us to Dunvegan Castle where we wandered the grounds for a couple of hours, taking in the interior of the castle and the gardens. So far on this trip, we've gone to a number of botanical gardens, each more impressive than the last.

We drove through the Cuillins on the way back. The Cuillins sport seven peaks over 3,500 feet in height.

The next day brought us to Belfast, Ireland. Most of us have been led to see Belfast as a kind of a broken down place, considering its warring factions and all the movies about that time. Actually, it's a bustling city with lots and lots of history. Here, we took a swift bus ride around town with an Irish guide who could have been a stand-up comedian. Here's an interesting tidbit: when you call Citibank and get a guy on the line who sounds like he's in Mumbai...he's actually in Belfast. Citi has its entire call center there. We took only a couple of pictures, but here you go.

Our next stop was Greenock, Scotland. We took a bus ride to Glasgow and shopped. Tesco: candy and cookies. M & S: more candy and cookies (Percy Pig!!). Onward toward Ireland again, this time Dublin.