Not such a happy ending...

Well the good news is that we are home again, the bad news is that our driver was 3 1/2 hours late picking us up so we didn't get home until 4.00pm and had to stand/sit/walk around the Ocean Terminal for all that time.  Needless to say that I was pretty fuming when he did arrive and said "it's all my fault, I overslept."

We had been given strict instructions by Colin Maxwell to be on the first wave of people exiting the ship so we were up very early (around 6.15am) so that we could be at the Conservatory restaurant when it opened - in fact we didn't get there until it had been open for 30 minutes and had great difficulty getting a seat.  Hilary bagged a couple while I got me some fried eggs, beans, mushrooms, fried bread and toast.  good job too considering the wait that was to come.  With bellies full we hung around then for over an hour waiting to be called and as soon as Pink came up I was down the stairs at a trot and into the baggage hall.  The bags were easily found (we only had two that we checked) and we were out to the lounge by 9.05am.  No driver but "he will be there by 9.30am" we had been reassured on the way up so no panic on our part just a little disappointment that he hadn't arrived early.

By 10.00am we were getting antsy and I was looking for a public phone as we had left our mobile at home (well we never use it anyway!), so it was up the escalator to Enquiries and yes the nice lady said she would call the number for me.  Two goes and she got through - "sorry about that Mr Woollard, the driver was late leaving, he will be there by 10.45am".  Much snorting by me but nothing we could do about it.  The time he was due came and went, so back to Enquiries, this time a different lady who lent me her personal mobile.  "Isn't he there yet Mr Woollard?  Let me check with him..... "he's at Ringwood, be there in 30 minutes."  Another hour goes by and Hilary is about to book a different taxi when I persuad the first lady to let me use the Enquiries phone again.  This time I go the driver's mobile so that I could talk to him direct - "I'm at Ikea, be with you in 15 minutes," well of course 30 minutes go by and back to the second lady who lends me her personal mobile "I'm stuck in traffic, I can see the security men in yellow coats, be there in 5 minutes".  By now Hilary is on first name terms with the security men outside who are directing all the people arriving for the next cruise on Oriana due to to leave at 5.00pm and I am only half joking when I think about trying to book to go on it!

The driver John eventually turned up, took the blame for the delay, said that he had a late call the previous day and got to bed at 2.30am and didn't wake up for his alarm at 6.00am to come and get us blah, blah, blah.  We drove home in total stony silence, non-stop, no tea break, no pee break just the two of us in the back silently thinking "let's get this bloody nightmare over with."  We arrived dead on 4.00pm and put the kettle on!  Now all we have to do is unpack, grab a swift meal and fall in bed.

The really, really good news in all of this is that I now have a broadband that works and I can post this in seconds.  Night all....

Last night at the Proms

I don’t know how well you will be able to see this picture but it was given to me by the Headliners cast after the show tonight.  I managed to scribble out a poem for them which they seemed to enjoy and I have tried to attach it here ……  I hope you can read it and that it posts OK.  Clocks go back tonight and yes I have it right this time so by the time you read this we may well be home.  Thank you and goodnight readers, followers and commentators!

The Headliners are stars in the making.

While singing in tune

They fair make us swoon

The West End is there for the taking.

It’s Michael who leads this fine cast.

He leaps like a deer

A man with no fear

His entrechats never surpassed.

Edward sings songs with great glee.

His voice strong and clear

We all want to cheer

When he duets with singer Shellee.

Now Billy has powerful singing.

With energy to spare

Not a worry or a care.

Are they knickers the ladies are flinging?

Lee caresses his tune from the stage.

His voice rising steadily

As he gazes at Emily.

I wish I was half of their age!

The cast of the dancers is strong.

Oh my golly gosh,

There goes that young Josh.

This man can’t put a step wrong.

Six chorus girls make us feel merry.

Four blondes and two browns

To take away our frowns.

(The one with short hair is called Kerry).

Charlotte’s a brunette I’ll call Lotty.

She flits through the air

With never a care

A glamorous piece of totty!

Rebecca we’ll rename as Bex.

With such grace and poise

She’s a magnet for boys.

Who fall for those magnificent legs.

Veronica & Georgina are blondes.

With style and with grace

They light up the place.

Dance magicians without any wands.

Brunette Emily is our last dancer.

Just one of her tricks

Are fabulous high kicks

She’s surely a wonderful prancer.

You’ve given joy to a bunch of old farts

We’ve clapped and we’ve waved,

Our lives you have saved

So thanks from the bottom of our hearts.

Good luck with your future careers from Sam and Hilary Woollard Cabin C165

The final furlong

So here we are cruising through the Bay of Biscay which once again is as calm as a millpond, yesterday we did have a moderate swell but today there are no whitecaps or signs of disturbance on the water, in fact if the sea wasn’t that grey colour you would think that we were in the Caribbean – well that and the temperature outside is about 15C (60F.)  We finished our packing this morning and put the suitcases outside ready for collection and it seems that we were amongst the first to do so – now everything that is left will have to fit into the carry-out bags, but the good news is that this time we don’t have to carry the bloody elephants!

Our first port of call this morning was to go to the Peninsula Restaurant for breakfast where I could indulge in my favourite kippers, mushrooms and tomatoes with toast.  I will be well wired for the day as I also had two cups of full strength unleaded coffee but it did keep me awake for Terry Rockall’s last fingerprint lecture.  This was short today and mostly consisted of little anecdotes about some of the crime scenes he had witnessed but was followed by everyone in the audience having their thumbprint taken and analysed – I am a whorl while Hilary is a loop.  Those will go into the scrapbook along with many of the photos and postcards that we have bought.  We have thoroughly enjoyed his series of lectures, not the most fluent of speakers but very welcoming and with an engaging way of presenting his subject.

At this very moment we are back in the Crow’s Nest as it is too cold to sit outside for us, that and plus the fact that I have packed all my sweaters.  We picked a seat by the window and close to the Cyberstudy so that I could get a signal to use up the last of my internet minutes but it has a drawback as we have suddenly become surrounded by a group of people and a lecturer who is talking about Metabolism and how to lose weight.  It has become hard to concentrate on typing when someone is yakking on about kilocalories and how important they are and I shan’t be sorry when his little talk is over.  Part of the reason for sitting in this particular part of the Crow’s Nest is that it is so that I can connect to the internet and this guy is cramping my space, so I will concentrate on yesterday’s tour of the kitchens by Hilary.

All of the pictures were taken by Hilary as she passed the displays and I believe that she also sampled some of them (hopefully not a whole dolphin though)!  It was also the Chef’s special dinner last night and we got the full catering crew marching through the restaurant to the strains of Simply the Best.  All four of us on our table chose the shrimps to start, then the asparagus soup followed by the grilled salmon with all its different sauces and our waiter Suvin insisted on adding two small bowls of chips!  With a raspberry soufflé and ice cream dessert it was a very bloated foursome that made our way back to our cabins ready to pack our suitcases.

So has our cruise been a success – you betcha life it has – we have both thoroughly enjoyed it, we have seen some places that we have not been to before and we feel thoroughly relaxed, perhaps too much in my case as I could sleep all day given a chance.  It’s only 11.30am at the moment but I am going to post this, I may post again this afternoon or even after the final Headliner’s show tonight but don’t count on it.

Penultimate Blog

No early rise or swim today, there is a slight swell running but with the stabilizers out the motion is front to back rather than side to side and this creates quite a wave in the swimming pools.  I have probably had my last swim on Oriana for quite a while as tomorrow we will be in the Bay of Biscay proper and if today’s movement is anything to go by the water will be sloshing over the side of the pool.  There is also quite a wind whipping along the decks so there are more people moving around the inside of the ship than on the decks.  Of course there are always the ‘tan at all costs’ folks and when we walked across Deck 12 to grab a sandwich just now it was brown bellies to the fore with the exposure of lots of wrinkled skin facing the sun.  I happened to be up early on deck yesterday or the day before and watched a group of people, “you get your towels on those two Mabel, and I’ll get these  four for our friends, the sun will be coming from the aft and over this side, so make sure you angle them like this…”  Then it was “OK, now we have those loungers covered, I’ll go and get breakfast, while you go back to the cabin.”  Talk about the Germans, this lot had them beat hands down, the military precision on timing and layout was impeccable.

Down on the lower decks it is Sale Time, last night Hilary picked up a couple of pairs of trousers for £2 each and I have been eyeing up some sweaters but at 50% off £67 they are still out of my price range – I quite fancy the white Oriana bath robes at £15 but can you imagine me in one of those carrying a cup of tea?  Handbags and watches are reduced to £7.99 but the biggest queues are reserved for those buying spirits - we have thought about getting some Gin for the Pimms at the wedding but will probably forgo that bargain.

While I am writing this (and desperately trying to use up my minutes on the internet which have been costing me a fortune) Hilary is probably standing in line for the Chocoholic’s tour through the galley, she was warned that the queues can be quite long and as she missed it on the RTW she is not going to miss it this time.  That is not my idea of fun so I am giving it a miss although I have to say one of the little treats we have given ourselves up in the Crow’s Nest is the occasional mug of hot chocolate – very nice, but very fattening.

I handed over my poem to the Headliners last night, giving it to the team captain who said that he would read it out to the cast for me and then pin it up in their Green Room, I hope they liked it.  I really thought that last night was their final performance but I see now that we have one more tomorrow night so I might get a reaction to the poem after all.  We will see.  They had some great performances last night which concentrated on British musicals and I particularly enjoyed their excerpts from Cats, a great solo of Midnight followed by an incredibly enthusiastic dance/ballet number, this was just about equalled by their excerpt from Billy Elliott and Edward (my favourite of the male singers) showed that he is also an excellent dancer.  Can’t wait for tomorrow.

Tonight is the last formal night and this time it is black and white only so for one more time I have to squeeze into those black trousers with the stripe down the side.  Hilary has already picked out her outfit and it will include one of the silk hibiscus flowers she cut from an old lei on the RTW.  Look out for it in the pictures if I post them.  The picture I am posting today is the only one we have had taken of our dinner companions Peter and Kay on table 71.  Peter has not been in the best of health this past couple of days, he came down with a very croaky throat, the sniffles and a bit of a  cough about three days ago and he hasn’t really recovered completely yet.  He needs to because in a few weeks time he and Kay are flying to Venice for yet another cruise around the islands, but this time with some of their family and their grandchildren.  Kay is a very elegant lady who is splashing out today to have her hair done ready for the final formal night.

OK I can’t think of anything else to ramble on about so I will say goodnight, thank you for following the blog, thank you for the comments and our special thanks to our three official followers.  Tomorrow we have to pack our suitcases and leave them outside the cabin door overnight ready to be shipped to that vast pain in the backside warehouse in Southampton – let’s hope that this time I remember to collect them all before I exit the Customs Shed.

OK there are two pictures, one of table 71 and one of Hilary taken today sitting in the Crow's Nest doing the Sudoku (I gave up - too hard!)

Gibraltar

It’s been a funny old day – for a start I got the clocks wrong again!  I was convinced that I had read somewhere that they went back last night so Hilary and I dutifully changed our watches before we went to bed.  I was determined to be up at 7.00am so that I could swim without others getting in the way and up I got, switching the telly over to the ship’s information channel while I made a nice cup of tea.  “That’s funny,” I thought,” their clock shows that it is 8.00am.  Have I got it wrong again?”  And sure enough I had, no mention in Horizon of the clocks changing, no little notice from our cabin boy Agnelo and no mention of it by the dinner staff as we were leaving – so that’s another fine mess I got us into.  The upshot was of course that I had to share the pool with 3 others – but I nipped in first and got the longest length while they had to do with swimming to the steps and back (at least three strokes shorter).

We breakfasted in Al Fresco with a couple from Wales; to begin with I wasn’t too keen on him as he thought that the sea days going back home were “just a waste of time really, I could be out in the garden doing something useful.”  I was just starting to put him right when Hilary changed the subject and then we learned that this couple had married about 12 years ago and promptly went round the world for their honeymoon.  Not on a cruise of course (“too much bloody sea time man.  No we went to a local travel agent and he fixed us up with flights and hotels from Sydney to Fiji and America.  We had a great time.”  I warmed to him slightly but they are not a couple I would look for to have breakfast with again.

Then it was back to the Theatre Royal for a slightly gruesome talk by the fingerprint man who showed us how they take prints from dead bodies when the skin has started to peel away say from water immersion.  I won’t go into details but suffice it to say that I will never look at closely fitting gloves in the same light again.  We came out of the Theatre Royal into a mass of people all trying to either buy duty free booze at knock down prices or hanging around the chefs who were decorating plates with chocolate and coloured sauces, or entering the bed making competition, or in my case talking to the engineering staff about how the Oriana operates – and yes Julian before you ask I have got the technical brochure they were handing out.

I had to go back to the cabin for something and found a note on the bed asking me to contact the Passenger Relations Manager concerning my suggestion to give every Portunus member a 16 point bonus for being on this birthday cruise.  He was useless of course, explaining that the Captain thought it was a good idea, he thought it was a good idea but they hadn’t planned on doing so when the cruise started, it wasn’t a special Portunus cruise etc. etc.  I told him in no uncertain terms what I thought of their wishy washy words to put me off, I told him that they had ship to shore communication and could call Southampton to get it done but he would have none of it.  “Can’t help I’m afraid,” was the general attitude.  I told him that I wanted to contact the head of Portunus and got a card from him so I have emailed her explaining the situation and asking for a quick reply.  But I now realise that all he gave me was his boss’s details in Southampton and she probably can’t do much either.  I will persist by phone and letter when I get back but my chances are slim to none I think.  Once this 16^th birthday cruise is over the whole thing will be forgotten.

We skipped lunch today, unless you call one honey crumble biscuit lunch, and then went to see Mr Shakespeare whose lecture and sonnet were very good this time around and I didn’t doze off at all.  His theme was where Shakespeare got his information from to write his plays and how he changed the source material to make it more dramatic.  He was particularly good concerning Romeo and Juliet.  But his lecture finished at 2.30pm and everyone rushed out to try and see The Rock of Gibraltar from the deck – it was misty and we passed it without any great fanfare – so tonight we turn the corner and head north into the Bay of Biscay.  Wish us well….

Tonight is the last Headliners show, True Brit, and it is one we have been looking forward to.  As a tribute I have written a poem for them, personally I don’t think it scans as well as it should but I want to give it to them after the show tonight so it will have to do.  I have incorporated all their names so each one has a little stanza to themselves and I just hope they enjoy it.  On the RTW I had a long time to write their tribute and that went over well, so tomorrow I’ll let you know how I get on.

See some of you Saturday!

Palma

Well our last port of call was quite a surprise, we had fabulous weather, a free shuttle bus to take us into the city centre and several hours to ourselves to wander the narrow streets around the cathedral and beyond.  We set out with roughly €20 between us so we knew that we wouldn’t be doing much shopping and we also knew that it wasn’t enough to go on the round the city tour bus either, the last straw was that when we got to the cathedral it was closed (it opened 10 minutes later at 10.00am but by then was queued up to get in) and they wanted four of our precious euros each, so we didn’t go in after all.

I wasn’t going to post this first picture, me eating a hearty breakfast, but then it was taken after a very healthy early morning (7.15am) swim during which I managed 30 lengths before I had to stop and have a shower.  Having started swimming again has made me realise how much I miss it and how good it is for me, so if I can find the willpower I will try and get back to Meadowlands at least  once a week.

I would really like to come back to Mallorca and Palma for a longer stay, it seems to be an island with a lot going for it and reading the small brochure that came with the cruise there is quite a lot to see and do and certainly the people seem very friendly and not too pushy.  Apart from the men with the horse and cart who want to take you on a sight-seeing tour that is – they did not want to take no for an answer.  There was an abundance of living statues, one couple in particular all covered in red dirt and dressed to look like old American farmers were very good and I even gave them one of our precious euro coins.  We spent a few more when we saw a sidewalk café with a little strawberry tart in the window and we calculated that we had enough for one of them plus two cappuccinos but the big splurge had to be another handmade lace tablecloth that we saw in a shop window.  They took Visa of course and so another €48 was added to our credit card.  But the area known as the Rambla (they have a similar one in Barcelona called Las Ramblas) is great for tourist type shopping.  Our one failure was to get a fridge magnet as they were all priced at €2.95 and we refuse to pay more than €1.00.  Our biggest discovery was when we were lost (at least I was) and we found this lovely 4 lane highway where down the centre of it was all ladies selling flowers in bouquets, bunches and pots, the scent of the lilies was very strong and some of the hydrangeas were pure white.  Hilary managed to find our way back to the coach stop, my only technique was to keep going downhill knowing that it would eventually lead to the sea, but hers was more scientific – keep looking for the cathedral because it was near there the coach dropped us off….. it worked and we got back to the ship long before the allotted time.  We had sufficient time in fact to have a nice cup of tea before we went to the stern to watch The Great British Sail Away.  It was good fun actually with lots of flag waving and singing but we had practised for it the night before in the Theatre Royal as a prequel to the Headliners version of At the Hop.

We had seen that done before on the RTW so we knew that it was a very high energy show and the cast did themselves proud, as always I had a chat with them afterwards and gave them a bit of praise for they do deserve it.  It is a shame that they have to appear in front of such a bunch of old farts to be quite frank as after about 4 claps on the beat of a song they all go back to sleep.  These kids really need to see people dancing in the aisles but as I said to them if I did it I would be the only one – and I am always disgusted when half way through the last number some of the audience get up to leave so that they can grab their seats for whatever is happening next in the Crow’s Nest or wherever they are heading off to.  Shame on them, for the dancers and singers all leave the stage at the end of the performance to go up the aisles to stand by the doorways so that they can talk to the audience.  Last night they had to practically force themselves through hordes of greybeards trying to get out - it’s just not right!

OK rant over, I’m going to post this now together with a few photos of Palma.  Tomorrow it really is heading home time; no more stops it’s just full speed to Southampton, but with a bit of luck and if the timing is right we might just see the Rock of Gibraltar out of our window.  Night all…

Heading Home

It’s Monday and breezy on deck but I did get up early today and go for a swim.  At 8.00am I thought that I would be the only one in the pool but two others had beaten me to it.   The wind was really whipping across the deck but at least the pool was warm and over the course of the next 20 minutes I managed to do 30 lengths, a combination of breaststroke and thrashing around on my back.  I was reluctant to come out to be honest as I knew that I had to scurry across the open deck to get to my clothes but then it was into the warm shower.  I may have mentioned it before but I really like the deck showers, the cubicles are large, the water is hot and the jets are powerful – their only drawback is that they have a liquid soap dispenser that contains pretty smelly stuff and is hard to push.  Maybe next time I will remember to take my Dove for Men and our shampoo and conditioner.

We had an interesting evening yesterday because at 6.00pm we had to dress up in our finest to attend a Portunus party – free drinks whoopee! Then it was on to the lobster tail dinner and another meeting with what our now our good friends Peter and Kay Nash before heading into the theatre to see an entertainer “who can get a tune out of anything.”  It was an OK show, he wasn’t up to Roy Castle standards and when he brought out his penny whistle to play some Irish tunes the lady in front of us put her hands over her ears while the man next to her turned his hearing aid off!  For us it was a late night as we went from the theatre to the Crow’s Nest to see a trio plus lady singer who entertained us with ballads and we were there until nearly 11.00pm!  The singer was super and she sang one of my favourites, an Eva Cassidy title called Songbird – I spoke with her afterwards to find out if she sang Fields of Gold which I think is the best track on the album, but she is still learning that one.  Maybe we will see her on another cruise and hear it then.

The reason that I am blogging early today, apart from the fact that I was up early, is that our fingerprint man was early as well, this time putting on his lecture at 10.00am in the Theatre Royal which is a much better forum for him.  For a start it is much warmer in there than in the Pacific Room but more importantly the video screens are much more readable and for the first time we could actually make out a lot of the detail on his slides.  He also did a demonstration of how to take a fingerprint from a tumbler and transfer it to an image that could be used in the courtroom.  Of the two lecturers on the tour he really is the most entertaining but we will go and see the Shakespeare man later on and learn about some of the sonnets.

Tonight it is semi-formal and the Headliners afterwards, but at least I don’t have to get into the dreaded dinner suit trousers.  We have had our photographs taken a few times since we have been onboard and if all goes well these will be on this blog when I post it, take no notice of the dates superimposed on the photos as these were added when I re photographed them this morning.  Enjoy, and tomorrow we can tell you all about our day at our last port of call Palma – thanks for the comments, we much appreciate them.

Turn around day

So we have left the eastern Mediterranean and started our slow journey back, we have one more stop at Palma on Tuesday and then it is full steam ahead for Southampton.  With no tours today we had a lie in and didn’t drag ourselves out of bed until 8.30am but instead of heading off to a restaurant I took myself up for a swim.  The weather is sunny but as we have a cruising speed of 22 knots and a headwind of 10 knots it is still quite chilly up on deck.  But the good news is that the pool is heated and I spent a good 20 minutes or so on my own doing lengths – well they are quite short lengths but other than swimming in circles what else can you do?

Last night was another casual night but this time with a tropical theme so we both put on our best Hawaiian clothes for dinner where we had the rare choice of Skate or Mahi Mahi.  We both had the skate but when Peter’s Mahi Mahi arrived I wish that I had stuck with the Hawaiian theme and had that instead.  The evening show was another Headliners concert this time with an ABBA theme, it was very good and you can see that they are getting more confident with each other as the shows roll by.  We happened to meet the two male dancers and one of the girl dancers outside the lift the other day and spent 15 minutes or so chatting to them.  Six weeks ago they had never met one another, so they have done well to put on their performances so professionally.  Perhaps we judged them harshly at the beginning comparing them with the group that we got to know so well last time but then of course they had 82 nights with us whereas this group we only have for 16.

We have completed our two lectures for the day, the first one with the fingerprint expert and the second with our Shakespeare man who is beginning to grow on me.  I had never heard any of the sonnets before and his explanations have been brilliant – the biggest problem that we have is the location in the Pacific Lounge which seems to have its air conditioning on full blast all the time.  Hilary had to move at one stage so that she had the warmth of a high chair back behind her and she was still cold.  At the moment she is waiting for me in the Crow’s Nest which is surrounded by glass and nicely warm, for all that I know she may even have ordered herself a hot chocolate to drink.

OK, no pictures today so I am hoping for a quick upload and then I am to join my wife for a snooze in the sun.  Thanks for all the comments, we look forward to reading them, please keep them coming.

Rhodes

We did the steps!  All 365 of them up to the top of the Acropolis of Lindos and then down again.  Leaving around 8.45am we pretty much drove straight there from the dock, through some towns which apparently are heaving in the summertime with many of the bars being open until 6.30am – glad that we did the early season!  It was a long and winding 45minute drive with our guide Joanna describing what had happened to the island in its long history over many centuries BC.  It was so enthralling that several people on the coach dozed off including the lady opposite me who managed to rest her head on the adjacent person’s shoulder until sternly reminded to “Get off.”

The climb up however was well worth it and the view of the bay of Lindos from the top is spectacular with the blue sky and sea and the whitewashed houses.  But we were there to see the Acropolis which was a temple to the goddess Athena and dates from 400 BC.  Many little tourist shops line the stone pebbled pathway that preceded the steep steps up to the summit and we ignored them all.  Probably not having enough breath to speak was a good part of it, but so was the fact that we were pretty much out of euros and trying to conserve some of them.  On the way up we passed an enterprising Greek lady displaying table cloths hand-made from lace and stitch work, managed to get a price from her and carried on walking.  On the way down though we offered her €60 euros and settled on €65, Hilary considers that was a good deal in view of the fact that it was hand made by the lady’s family and included 12 napkins.  The good part of this is that we had no more money with us with which to buy trinkets (other than a fridge magnet of course).

Back on the coach we did the 45 minute trip into Rhodes for our excursion around the old part and this was really interesting.  In the 15^th century the Knights of the Templar rode into town and built a fortress and settled in the area between the Acropolis and the sea and this is still in great condition today.  Walls and moats protected the inhabitants and despite many invasions from the Turks they were never enslaved for very long.  Lots of the original frescos still exist and the pathways are made from mosaics of small pebbles, a bit hard on the feet (definitely not good for high heels) but all our coach party made it through the old town and back to the coach.  Tradition has it that the apostle Saint Paul landed at the beach of Lindos to preach Christianity to the people of Rhodes.  And here I must correct yesterday’s blog when I wrote about the Virgin Mary being taken to her final resting place by Saint Paul, she was of course accompanied by John the Baptist – but then you knew that already didn’t you?  That was just my test to see if you would correct it in your comments.

One other apology as the picture of Ted reading the Sudoku didn’t upload either so I shall try again today along with some of today’s pictures.  And with that I am going to make a nice cup of tea before I go up to the Crow’s Nest and upload this load of old rubbish.  We have two days at sea to come before our last port of call which is Palma and we are really looking forward to lying in and not worry about getting up early to pick up stickers and head for coaches.  The weather over the past few days has been fantastic, not too sunny or hot but temperatures in the high 60’s and low 70’s (Fahrenheit of course), long may it continue and if it does so I will be back in the pool as often as I can.  I need the exercise and I also need to cut down on my calorie intake – a late New Year Resolution is to lose at least 14 pound in weight and I won’t do that if I keep snacking on biscuits between large meals.  On our RTW cruise I know I blogged about men with big guts sunning themselves in tight vests – well I am one and that must stop.  Enjoy yourselves, we are back in exactly one week.

Kusadasi

Kusadasi is the gateway to Turkey, a smallish port but capable of holding two cruise ships simultaneously as today showed when the American owned m.v. Amsterdam arrived at the same time as us – we docked within minutes of each other and that kept the immigration people busy when we all tried to exit and get on our coaches at the same time.  But the day dawned clear and bright with sunshine all the way, we had breakfast in the open air, strolled down to get our boarding stickers and onto number 12 coach where we met up with our guide Kahn.  He was very good throughout the whole process and we each had a little receiver and earpiece so that we could keep in touch with him as he gave his detailed speeches. Actually our first visit was not to the ruins themselves but to the place where the Virgin Mary is supposed to have gone to live when Saint Paul took her there some 12 years after Jesus died.  By our reckoning she must have been into her late 50’s by then so it would have been an incredible journey.

 If you have never seen the ruins at Ephesus then you should go as they are far more impressive than anything that we saw in Greece, it is a good day out, most of the walking is on the flat (not too many steps although the marble slabs can be a bit slippery – I would not want to go there after a rainstorm or come to that in the height of the tourist season when it must be over bearably hot.  But we learned a lot about the Romans who built the place and this time it was all real life stuff and not lots of Greek gods and goddesses that we have never heard about.  We took lots and lots of pictures and even had some taken by a professional that we bought from him at the end of the tour, I will post some, but as you can probably tell Blogspot is not a good place to post photos unless you have lots of time on your hands and at 25p per minute I can't afford that luxury.  Not far from the ruins is the museum where you can get up close and personal with a lot of the statues dug up from the ruins and this is a nice way of rounding off the stay but for us it was a bit too short as we were on a time schedule to get to our luncheon place.  We could have happily spent more time in the museum.

Lunch was excellent, lots of hot meats for those that wanted it and plenty of salad with cheeses for those who didn’t – they also had a very nice lentil soup and to finish a selection of desserts that put pounds on just looking at them.  We were ordered by Kahn to have two slices of baklava although some of us couldn’t resist trying several of the other desserts as well.

Our final stop was back in Kusadasi where Kahn took us to a very large store that sold handmade Turkish rugs, leather goods and silver jewellery.  We managed to resist all the owner’s pleadings although I was very tempted by a nice silk rug that we could probably have got for less than €1000.  Hilary would have liked a wall hanging rug, while I see no point in those – for me rugs go on the floor and are to be used – even after 47 years together we still can’t agree on some things…

Left to our own devices we wandered through the small shops begging us to buy and we did succumb at one shop where we got several boxes of Turkish Delight in different flavours and of course the compulsory fridge magnet.  Where I lost my will power was a shop selling genuine fake Ralph Lauren polo shirts so I bought two… for followers of the RTW blog you will remember that during that cruise I ended up with 15 new short sleeved shirts, so two so far is very good.  Do I need them? No.  Did I want them? Yes.  Why? – I don’t have any with that logo or in those colours, case closed.

Just before I post you should know that Ted is leading a life of his own, especially in the evenings when we come back from dinner.  We have posted a couple of his pictures and today I have included last night’s where he was found with my reading glasses on sitting upright on the bed and doing the Sudoku.  I think that Agnelo our cabin steward is having fun with him.

We skipped the magician in the theatre last night to see a Jim Broadbent film, another strange one that takes place over the four seasons and is about the life of a geologist and counsellor and the friends that they have.  Not quite as strange as the one about the babies born for spare parts, but still pretty baffling.  Unsure tonight as to what to do, the main star is a lady singer and we are uncertain as to whether to see her or not; the film is Toy Story 3 and we have already done that in 3D.  Might just go to bed early and get ready for trekking around Rhodes for 4 hours tomorrow….  Goodnight all.

Athens

 

I didn’t sleep well last night, we went to bed a bit later than usual and I woke about 4.30am and just dozed on and off until 6.30am when I decided to get up.  We knew that it was an early start as we were on a coach trip from Piraues, where the ship moored, to Athens and that we could pick up our tickets anytime after 7.15am.  I wanted to be one of the early birds but even getting to the ticket place at 7.05am still meant that others had got there before me, but if was then off to Al Fresco for an early morning scrambled eggs and tinned tomatoes on toast before ambling down to catch the coach.  This we did manage to be first on and grabbed two nice seats with a big picture window before anyone else could get them.  The day was a little overcast but I risked going out in a short sleeve shirt but when I saw our guide all decked out in a black quilted jacket with a fur collar I did wonder if I had gauged it wrong.

With a full coach we were taken from Piraeus to the Acropolis via a short tour of Athens and during the ride (and subsequently during the tour) she proved herself to be an absolute master – or should that be mistress – of her subject.  We were bombarded with details about Zeus, Athena, Mars, etc. etc. until we were all quite bewildered by it all.  However it was all great fun, if a little crowded and also a little bit ankle twisting as we climbed up and down steps and over rocks.  With the tour of the Acropolis over it was time to see a bit more of the town from the coach before being dropped off close to the Plaka which is the narrow streets containing huge numbers of tourist shops and cafes.  Hilary purchased a nice loose cotton dress in blue which she may wear for the wedding in August plus a long sleeved cardigan/shawl that you can apparently tie in dozens of different ways.  I forgot to add that while sitting on the coach the first time around we succumbed to the sales pitch of a little Greek man selling 10 postcards and a book about Greece for €5 and at our first stop we bought a table cloth from a little Greek lady, although we did knock her down from €30 to €15.

Our coach party was packed up and ready to come back and we left Athens at 3.45pm and back on board for a nice cup of tea by 4.30pm.  There is WiFi in the Piraeus port terminal and I could just get a connection in our cabin, but it was too weak to be useful so I will have to pay for this blog.

As you could probably see from last night, getting pictures up and in order is a problem with Blogspot unless you have a lot of time to play around with it, so I will just continue to stick some up and hope that they come out OK.

It’s another casual night tonight (hooray for tour days) and then we must prepare ourselves to walk around Ephesus tomorrow, if the weather is as kind to us then as it was today we will be in good shape – I would hate for it to be too hot or too  cold to be honest.  I haven’t looked at our tickets but being another 6½ hour tour it probably means an early start so wish us well… 

Zakinthos

Our first real Greek island and one that we had to be taken to by small boat as the harbour is too small for the Oriana to enter.  The clocks went forward again last night so it was a pretty tired pair that dragged themselves out of bed at 7.00am to go onto our small deck and take pictures as we entered the outer harbour and dropped anchor.  As you can see from the photos Ted came too on this trip and he seems to be enjoying himself although he hasn’t made quite so many friends as last time.  We breakfasted in Al Fresco (can’t say the prunes are working terribly well, but I will persist with them) before making our way down the stairs to the Theatre where we got our boarding sticker for the first boat going ashore.  It didn’t help very much as it turned out for although we got to the quayside before lots of the others, we had to wait for an elderly man and his wife who were on the wrong coach and they had great difficulty getting him up the steps of our coach.  I don’t mean to sound unkind but why do people with severe disabilities book themselves onto tours which require lots of steps and walking?  The brochures are pretty clear about what degree of mobility may be required but some people still persist in trying to stretch themselves too far and then complain about it.  While I am on a rant the other thing that pi***s me off is people who rush into the theatre to grab an end of the row seat and them complain every time that they have to get up to let people in who are sitting further along the row.  It’s stupid; but we did see one comeuppance today when about 4 people managed to get on the trot boat, seated themselves in the open area closest to the exit so that they could be first off and then got absolutely soaked through with the spray which bounced through the gap – that’l larn ‘em as my Gran would have said.  But I am getting ahead of myself here….

Our coach guide was a Greek lady who had lived in both California and Chicago for 30 years and then married a guy from Zakinthos so she came back to the island to live.  She was excellent and allowed us to get off and take pictures at several stops around the island, including some inside the cathedral that was the only building left standing following a 6.7 level earthquake in August 1953.  I decided that we needed to light a candle for all those that lost their lives in Japan so duly purchased one and watched it burn before going to look at the sacred relics of the island’s patron saint. Alexandria then took us to a pottery where we watched the owner make a variety of items including the traditional pomegranate that is ceremoniously broken during a wedding reception to ensure lots of healthy children in the new family.  We bought a small bowl with a lid that was signed by the potter and it could be useful for sugar or something similar.  At the high point of the island we found a local ice cream man so Hilary and I plus a couple of others sneaked a quick sugar cone (not quite Lappert’s standard but pretty good and locally made.  Then it was to a hotel for a quick free cup of coffee and a biscuit before it was shopping time.

Zakinthos is strictly for tourists nowadays and the town consists of two main squares and two main roads lined with gift shops.  A speciality of the island is nougat with almonds, so of course we are bringing back some of that – then of course postcards and a fridge magnet (we will need a bigger fridge soon) and finally a successful hunt for a bolero jacket that Hilary can use in the evenings when it gets cool – and believe me it does!  The coach took us the few hundred yards down the jetty where we queued up for the trot boat (much pushing and shoving, gotta get there first) and we got on the second boat to leave which is where the fun started.  Our ride into harbour from the Oriana was as calm as a mill pond but going back the wind had picked up and it was a roller coaster of a ride, I noticed a few apprehensive faces as it bounced up and down but apart from the stupid few who had insisted on being near the exit and got soaked in the process, it really was quite good fun.   We think that Julian would have needed all his skill to get the boat alongside and moored against the Oriana’s hull but that he would probably have enjoyed it too.

Back on board, a quick nice cup of tea and back up to the Riviera deck for a swim for Sam and a relaxing read for Hilary.  There was a breeze on board though and the warmest places were definitely the pool and the hot tub, both of which I enjoyed all on my own for a good 45 minutes.  A shower, quick change, some cheese and biscuits and a bowl of fruit – plus of course another nice cup of tea and it was back inside into the warm.  I came up to blog while Hilary went off to do the one and only laundry session of the trip (we hope), not sure if she was successful or not but I will find out later on.

Tonight our Headliner’s show has been postponed for 15 minutes as something else has been planned for the sailaway so it will be a somewhat later night for us tonight but at least we don’t have to put the damn clocks forward again, but we do have to be up early ready for our full day walking up and down to the Acropolis and around the Plaka.  Let’s hope that it is a bit warmer.

OK I am going to post this with a few more photos, hope that you enjoy them…

Messina

Now this is how we expected the Mediterranean to be, blue seas, blue skies and warm sunshine.  It wasn’t too warm though with the temperature rising from around 63F as we entered the port at 8.00am, rising to 72F at the end of the afternoon.

Let me first explain the two Ted pictures; each night our cabin steward Agnelo takes great delight in sitting him in different positions – we have found him on the windowsill facing out and facing in, we have found him tucked in bed under the covers and these are the last two configurations where he has the notice regarding change of clocks and the next day’s proceedings.  Ted also features in some of the pictures we have taken and on this page they were obviously taken in Messina.

Messina is a busy port and from the harbour it is easy to see mainland Italy which is served by numerous ferries – we saw lots of them heading out just as we were coming in, presumably people going to work.  The town is a lot larger than the part we saw for we just walked to the main square and luckily got the last two seats on an open air tour bus. €10 each for a 45 minute tour was not bad and we saw all the highlights of the immediate area and then got back to the main square in time for noon, which is when the real highlight of Messina is shown.  Attached to the main cathedral is a tall clock tower and at noon just after the strikes have finished all the animals and figures in the clock tower start to move.  First a lion wags his tail, waves the flag he is holding, pulls back his head and roars – then a cock crows several times, a replica of the cathedral appears from desert sand, a procession of angels and attendants move to bring on the Nativity.  Very impressive and the whole thing lasts about 15 minutes.

Having seen the show, done the tour, bought some cards and a fridge magnet we strolled back to the Oriana and had a nice cup of tea.  It was warm enough for me to change into shorts for the first time so we headed up to a relatively empty deck and found the swimming pool completely empty.  This was too good an opportunity to miss so I donned my bathers and had the pool to myself (including the pulsating hot tub) for a good 45 minutes.  A grand day out…..

As I write this I expect that Hilary has made her way to the small C deck area which we used to watch us come into Messina harbour, it really is a good place from which to watch the ship’s comings and goings and not too many people know about it.

Casual dress tonight and the ballad singer who we missed last time around so we are looking forward to that.  Right this was all written offline with Word so I will try and post it complete with photographs….