Tuesday 30 July 2013 - Aruba, Carribean

We had meant to be in Antigua for Monday 29 July howeve due to bad weather they decided we would miss that port and have an extra stop in Aruba.

SMS - Mon 29 July
I have booked a tour on a semi sub surface vessel but have been advised I am on the waiting list so we shall see.  I will look for a second option.  Sea is a bit rough but we are using the stabilisers so not too bad.  I made the 3rd round of bowls today and 2nd in the bean bag toss.

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We arrived in Aruba 2,5 hours ahead of schedule. I woke as I heard the engine 'change gears' and looked out in the dark at 4.30am and could only see a row of lights in the distance. We had arrived. We were due to arrive at 8am. By 5.30 we were tied up.

Aruba is one of the three ABC islands in the southern Carribbean. The others are Bonaire, the smallest, and Curacao, the largest, which we will visit tomorrow. Aruba is 36km long and is quite close to Venezuela. On a clear day, you can see Venezuela from Jamanota, the highest point on Aruba, 188 m high in the south of the island.

I had booked a tour to see the shipwreck o at 400ft long.f the German Antilla, one of the largest shipwrecks in the Carribean. It was sunk (porposely by the captain) early during the war. The captain after delivering his cargo did not want to return to Germany because the war had started. Approaching Aruba he fired up the boilers and the made a hole so the water came in and the whole thing blew up. The captain was the last one to leave the ship! Unlike the 'Chicken of the Sea' the captain of the Costa who stumbled and fell into the lifeboat ? !

I was originally put on a waiting list for this, but during the last couple of days they had over 20 waiting and managed to organise and afternoon tour and we all got on, all 27 of us.

The driver took us along the 'hotel strip' towards the north of the island. There are two main areas, low level, up to 5 stories, and a bit further north 5 and above. At Malmok Beach we boarded a small ferry to take us to the sub above the Antilla. We were herded downstairs into the viewing area, ca 1.8m wide with windows on both sides and seats where we could look out and admire the life on the outside.

The sub sailed above the wreck, back and forth so we could see on both sides. So much fish, but only small ones. The largest were dark blue with electric blue edge on their tailfin and a yellow spot near the tail, ca 15cm long. There were also striped fish about 8 - 10cm and hundreds of what looked like baby sardines, 2-3cm, they were everywhere. There were also some quite large 2-legged fish!! 5-6feet long I think.

It was amazing to see the wreck itself. It rests in 55 feet (18meters) of water laying on its side, but the top side is only a couple of meters under water and easily accessible and very popular with divers. On the way back to land we saw some turtles. They were swimming on the surface, but as soon as we got close, they dived and I could not get a photo of them.

Our next stop was the California Lighthouse located on a hill near the northern point of Aruba. It was named after the steamship California which sank just north of the island. The lighthouse was buit in 1910, but is no longer manned since it has been made automatic. The Keepers cottage has been converted into an Italian restaurant, popular for weddings.

We turned our bus southwest towards the centre of Aruba to view the Casibari Rocks, large boulders, some as large as houses. Quite amazing in the middle of a landscape mostly flat with almost desert like small scrubs and dry sparse grass.

Further west we came to the Baby Natural Bridge, the only remaining since the large one collapsed some years ago in the middle of the night. Thank heavens it was not during the day when the tourists were there walking across. We also could see along the road some lava rocks under a half metre layer of coral, a sign that Aruba has likely been mostly under water many thousands of years ago. The beaches which are all public, not reserved for the hotels along the coast, are made of white coral dust and does not get hot like normal sand because coral does not absorb the heat.

We returned home just in time for dinner. Tomorrow we will visit Curacao.

 

 

 

Coconuts

 

 Fish from under boat

 

 

 

 

Thursday 25 July 2013 - New York, USA

So, now I have been to New York too. (the big apple)

I had booked a tour of Lower Manhattan with a scenic drive through town. We were asked to meet at the Princess Theater at 8an an hour before the tour was to begin. Ths was to allow for extra time for Border Security to do face-to-face interviews. We did this once before and it went through easy.

This time we had to have our passports, a card issued by Princess declearing us to be "Passenger in Transit", and a declaration for BS about what we were leaving behind in the US. So passport and papers in hand we filed into the theater and sat in groups depending what tour we were booked on. Mine was Orange 18. And we waited, and we waited, and we...

One group that finally walked out said they had been waiting 1,5 hours. So a while to go yet, only 40min had passed at this stage. After 1 hour and 45 minutes we were tolk to proceed to the gangway and into the Terminal Building where they were waiting for us. More waiting. A snake of a que bending 5 times as they do at the airport. There were about 10 officers on duty, but they could fit in 8 more as there were 8 empty stations by the time I got to the last 'bend'. A couple of the officers had left (for morning tea?).

We had to have our finger prints and eyes recorded and answer a few questions, then our passport was stamped and we were free to go. Our tour started 1.5 hours late! Makes you want to come back? ?

Our tour guide seemed a nice guy, not young, he was a senior like most of us. In the bus it was fine, but when we left the bus and he was telling us something, only half a dozen people could hear him, he had a very soft voice. He took us to a park (Battery Park?) opposite the Statue of Liberty. Next we had a look at the Winter Garden (which we all thought was a garden of sorts), but it is a building with a lot of financial offices, a couple of cafees and a chemist (where I replenished my shampoo). It had a nice glass roof and some tall palm trees. Many of our group was unhappy that we had not had an explanation about what we were going to see.

Our driver took us around town, we passed the Stock Exchange and the Millenium Hilton before stopping for a visit to St Paul's Chapel. It is situated almost opposite Ground Zero, but was not damaged by what happened on 9/11.  A small church built in 1766.  The building was hidden by too many big trees, impossible to take a photo from the outside.    In April 1789 after George Washington had taken the oath of office as the first president, he visited this church and came back several times since till the Capital was moved to Philadelphia in 1790.

Because of our late start, we had to cut a couple of the sights including the Brooklyn Bridge. A couple of passengers asked if they could be let off at Times Square, so we found a spot to park and they left. We then went through a few more streets and back to the ship. Much easier to get back on, the officers from this morning had all gone.

This morning we had an update on our itinerary from our new Captain. We were meant to visit Antigua next, but a storm is on its way so to play it safe, we will go to Aruba instead.

Statue of Liberty

Winter garden

Ground zero rebuilding

 

New tower at ground zero

Empire state building

 

Fire escape on building

 

Thursday 18 July 2013 - Torshaven, Faroe Islands

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After a day at sea we approchaed the harbour, the pilot came on board, but shortly after, the Captain announced we would not land as the wind was too strong. The Pilot boat after delivering the pilot moved away from the ship and made one and a half circle pushed by the wind. It was not possible to get into the dock and the anchors could not hold the ship to allow us to used the Tenders, the wind was forecast to increase during the morning. Big disappointment on board.

Pilot boat

 

 Church on an island

 

 

Tuesday 16 July 2013 - Oslo, Norway

Oslo today and Mum was meeting up with her brothers.  They met in Oslo ad then went back to the family home for a gathering with family and meet the newest additions.

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Margrethe ad put on a lovely lunch and gathere all their children and grandkids and Tore and Solbjørg were also there. We sat down to a chat or two and the time flew by. The latest addition to the grandchildren were also there.

Afternoon coffee was served with "Tilslørede Bondepiker". Wonderful, one of my favorite sweets made with toasted bread crumbs, stewed apples and whipped cream on top. I skipped dinner when I got back on board, there was no room left.

Tore and Solbjørg offered to drive me back to the ship. We arrived in good time and stood and chatted a bit before I climbed the gangway. We sailed back out Oslofjorden and headed around the south of Norway towards Faroe Islands and Torshavn.

 

Lier valley

Lunch on the deck

Dessert - Tilslørede Bondepiker

New baby twins

 

Oslo city hall

Monday 15 July 2013 - Copenhagen, Denmark

Because of the distance from Rotterdam to Copenhagen, we had a sea day before reaching the Danish capital. The waves were a bit rougher across the North Sea, but calmed down when we turned into Skagerak, and were quite calm down through Kattegat. A few people were sea sick, but we have not had many of those.

As we were tying up the ship on Langelinie, I spotted 4 people I recognised. Henning and Inger, and Bjarne and Birgith. It was very good of them to come all the way across Denmark from the west coast to see me. It was wonderful to see the familiar faces.

Our first stop was of course The Little Mermaid. There was a couple of hundred people there and everybody wanted a photo with the mermaid so no closeups.

Bjarne and Birgith brought their car and suggested we should visit the new aquarium. It turned out a few thousand other people thought the same and the que was very long so we decided to pass on that idea. We drove instead to Dragør a pretty fishing village where they had a international market on. There were stands from Spain, Greece, Italy, France, and others. Interesting to see. We had a cup coffee and enjoyed the sunshine.

From here we drove to Nyhavn og after parkeing the car took a stroll up 'Strøget', the longest pedestrian street in Europe. We did not walk the whole way. We visited Royal Copenhagen and et par other shops. Back in Nyhavn we found a cafe and ordered lunch, and talked a bit more, and more. We had to watch the time so we could get back in time. I did not bring my swimmers, it is a long way to Oslo from here if I was to swim.

Mum with The Little Mermaid

 

Dragør Strand Hotel

Mum in Nyhavn

 

 

 

Danish windmills

New Opera House in Copenhagen

 

 

Saturday 13 July 2013 - Rotterdam, Netherlands

After crossing the English Channel we docked in Rotterdam. We entered a basseng which was not much bigger than the Sea Princess, the Captain and the crew swung the ship around virtually on a 5cent piece. I only think we had 20m clearance from and back. Amazing work. The ship is not a small boat measuring 261m in length.

I did not go ashore in Rotterdam, but took a few photos from the ship. We were docked next to a pretty bridge called Erasmusbrug but named The Swan because of its shape. The White House, one of the few buildings that survived the bombng in 1940, was the tallest building here when completed

 

 

 

 

 

Pic from Google Images

 

Friday 12 July 2013 - London, UK

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Today it is London. It is 2 hours drive from Dover into the city of London. As we approached the harbour we had a good view of the "White Cliffs of Dover".

White cliffs of Dover

On the way up we first saw Dover Castle which has its origins in Roman and Saxon times. William the Conqueror strengthened the walls and towers to make it a major fortress. It as been improved and changed several times over the years. During some works there they found ruins of a Roman Lighthouse from 49 AD. The oldest building in Britain.

There were many fields and pastures on the way. We got a very brief glance at the Cathedral at Canterbury. Not enough time to take a photo. You may have to Google this one.

We drove through the tunnel that goes under the Thames. As we emerged on the northern side of the river, we headed for The Tower of London and the Parliament Buildings. Later we stopped at Westminster Abbey. We had an hour to look around and take photos. Next stop was St Pauls Cathedral where we also had photo time. They are really imposing buildings compared to many of the 'boxes' that are made today.

Westminster Abbey

 

 

River Thames

Big Ben

A Buckingham Palace we arrived shortly before the Changing of the Guard, but there was no parking anywhere. We drove around the palace and on the way down the Mall again we were stopped by the Guards marching towards the Palace for the changing seremony, so we had our own. When the traffic was flowing again, we headed for our Pub Lunch. We were served Fish and Chips with Apple Pie for afters.

Buckingham Palace

Changing of the guard

Back in the bus we headed for the Tower Bridge. We left the bus in a back street and went on foot to take photos and also snapped The Shard, the tallest building in London. It looks as if it is not finished on top. We could also see the Eye which we duly took more photos of.

 

Old gate to the city

Pic from Google images

Thursday 11 July 2013 - (Le Havre) Paris, France

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Le Havre is 3 hours drive from Paris so we had an early start. Breakfast at 7, bus ready to go at 8.15 once we had all onboard. On average we had 35 - 40 passengers on each bus.

Our tour guide was telling us about the places we passed on the way to Paris, sha also saBng for us, she had a good voice. We drove down Champs Elysees, past the Arc de Triomphe and got a glimpse of the Eiffel Tower. A bit later we had a photostop on the bank opposite the tower for a good view. The Eiffel Tower had its 200 millionth visitor in 2002. We passed the Place de l'Opera one of the most elegant streets in Paris, then to Pont Neuf, 'the new bridge' which is now the oldest bridge in Paris.

Lunch was in a french restaurant before travelling to Notre Dame located on an island in the middle of the Seine. where we had an hour to ourselves, take photos, look around, check the street vendors and souvenir shops along the banks of the river. A really beautiful building. Construction started in 1163 and was completed in 1345, so it took nearly 200 years to build.

We saw the Louvre, but could not get close enough to see the 'Pyramid' because of roadworks. At the Hotel des Invalides we had a photo stop. On the way home we Bois de Bologne and saw some very cute rabbits only 5 meters from the bus. They just looked up and continued eating.

We arrived home to late dinner and it was bed after that.

 

 

 

Pic from google images

 

Tuesday 9 July 2013 - Greenock (Edinburgh/Glasgow), Scotland

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In Scotland we docked in Greenock the port for Glasgow. We did not go into Glasgow itself, but took the motorway to Loch Lomond. Beautiful green country side, they had a wet spring, but the weather they served up for us was very good. Forecast was for 25 degrees and sunshine. We got the sunshine and the temperature got up to 28 degrees. Very nice.

We have bee very lucky with the weather, it has been nice nearly the whole way. We had a shower or two in Mumbai and in Langkawi, but I think the rest has been fine.

Closer to the lake we turned onto some country roads that were narrower and a bit of a challenge for our driver, but he had no problem with the traffic. We saw lots of wild flowers. At the lake we boarded a ferry for a one hour cruise.

Loch Lomond is 37km long and 8km wide. It is Scotland's 3rd deepest lake at over 200m and is only 7 meters above sea level. The water temperature in August gets up to 12 degrees, - anyone for a swim?

Some of the old houses or castles were pointed out to us as we sailed past, they are now mostly taken over and turned into hotels or timeshare apartments for the holidays. Auchendennan House built in 1866 is now owned by The Scottish Youth Association and was at one time the largest Youth Hostel in Europe with room for 200 people.

Further up the lake was could see Ben Lomond, at 974meters high, it is the highest landfall from here all the way south to Lands End. Up to 4 500 million liters of water is fed into the watersupply for central Scotland including Glasgow and Edinburgh. 30cm depth of water from the lake = 22.500.000.000 liters. The rainfall in the area is 160cm per year, plenty of water for everybody. In the middle of the lake there are several islands, one of them Lady Arran introduced wallabies, presumably from Australia. There are now about 50 of them.

On the way back we stopped on a lookout with a view over the forestsand I saw 'røsslyng', (heather), for the first time since we were kids and went picking 'tyttebær', (cranberries). We also stopped at a Scottish Woolcentre where they had a demonstration of working Border Collie dogs. There was also a shop selling their products and coffee and icecream.

So we took the motorway back to Greenock and our ship. Next stop is Le Havre and Paris.

mums pics -