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Our next port was Cobh, which is where our ship docked.  The city that we were there to visit was Cork.  We took the train with the executive chef into Cork to shop for goods for the ship.  We visited the English Market, which was clean and interesting to see.  We stopped at the cheese counter and tasted some cheeses.  Then to the fish counter and learned about some of the fish that would be prepared for us on the ship.  The final shopping stop was the smoked fish counter.  Quite an interesting experience.

We then did a little sightseeing on our own.  We saw the St. Fin Barre Cathedral.  It dated from the 7th century.  We did a little more walking and then took the train back to Cobh.  Cobh was established by Vikings and was one of the ports that the Irish left from during the potato famine.  It was also the last port of call for the Titanic.

It was a fairly nice day weather-wise.  We have been told that “partly cloudy” is the normal forecast.

The highlight of the day was dinner in Le Champagne.  The food was amazing.  Six fabulous courses! The photo is of Bob’s risotto appetizer that had gold leaf on top.  Janice and Bette had the caviar, of course.  Quite a meal.

Our first port of call on August 23, was Fowey (pronounced Foy).  The town is charming with buildings from medieval times, Victorian times and early 1900’s.  We had a wonderful guide, Helen Doe, who is a retired college professor, University of Exeter, author, cruise ship lecturer and a fifth generation from Fowey.  We started our walking tour on Albert Quay, which was dedicated in the late 1800’s by Queen Victoria and her husband, Prince Albert.

We walked along twisty turney streets, into hidden gardens, learning the history of Fowey.  Fowey was a major port in medieval times.  It was very big in the export of tin, copper and china clay.  Many of the walls in town were built from the bricks used as ballast on the ships coming in to pick up the export items.

Two famous authors, wrote from Fowey.  Kenneth Graham, writing Wind in the Willows and Daphne du Maurier, writing Rebecca amongst other novels.

The Wind in the Willows Garden

The town was one of the take off points in World War II for the Normandy invasion.  The troops who were here landed on Omaha Beach.  The harbor was filled by the landing vessels, you could walk across from one side to the other.

There were two main families who developed the town in the early times, the Rashleighs and the Treffrys.  The big mansion on the hill is called Place and is still owned by the Treffry family and is lived in today.

Place

Smuggling was a big “industry” in the early days.  

It was a great first port.

We next drove from Cardiff to Southampton.  The British roads were all very good and filled with roundabouts which both Bob and Michael mastered.  GPS guided us to our cruse ship and the greeters helped us find the rental car return.

Then we were checked in and ready to sail.

Our staterooms are very nice and the ship is lovely.  The Silversea Whisper only has about 400 passengers so walking distances on board are very short.  We have all been using the stairs so we feel like we are giving our bodies some exercise!

The traditional Long Island Iced Tea as we sailed away

The weather was cloudy again, but it did not stop us from heading out to Swansea and The Mumbles.  These are 2 seaside towns about 45 minutes from Cardiff.  The ride through the country side was very nice, rolling green hills with cows and sheep grazing.

Finding your way around Swansea was not easy in a car with very few signs or street names.  We ended up parking at a Marriott hotel and walked to our places of interest.  The small yachting harbor was filled with sailboats, big sailboats.  There were also power boats.  We skipped the Maritime Museum and headed directly to the Dylan Thomas Center.  There were excellent exhibits telling about his life from the time he was born in Swansea to his death in New York City.  There were lots of photos, and recorded interviews, and books with his writings.  All in all very interesting.

We walked around the town which was not too big, had a bite of lunch and headed out to see The Mumbles.

This is another small seaside town with a long curving beach.  Unfortunately it had started raining and we did not get out to do the beach walk.  We drove around the town and then headed back to Cardiff.  No photos due to the rain.

Bette and Janice walked around the Cardiff Bay area.  By this time the sun was out, and we ended up having to shed jackets.  The Wales Parliament building had a wonderful art exhibit with clay poppies cascading from an open window.

Next up, we had to repack our bags, we cruise tomorrow!

Our first full day in Wales was spent seeing some of the famous castles in the area.  Our first stop was Caerphilly Castle.  This one was built around 1268 by Gilbert de Clare.  It is the largest castle in Wales.  It is surrounded by 2 sets of moats and 2 sets of walls. It is partially in ruins, with a “leaning tower”.  

Our second castle of the day was Castell Coch.  This was built by the 3rd Marquess of Bute.  It is built on the remains of a 13th century castle.  It was used by by the family until fairly recently.  The rooms and building were designed by William Burges.  The rooms are decorated with pieces from the family.  It is in good repair and has been used for the filming of various movies and tv shows.

We then went to the Penderyn Distillery for a tour.  We saw how the whiskey was made and got to taste it too.  There are no photos because we were not allowed to use our cameras.

The final stop of the day was back in Cardiff at Cardiff Castle.  Unfortunately it was pouring rain so we did not get photos of the castle itself (a ruin).  We did see the mansion on the grounds, which was built by the same people who did Castell Coch.  

It was a fun and busy day.

We started our latest adventure on August 18, 2017.  We left Fort Myers for Atlanta early afternoon.  While on the plane we got the wonderful phone call from Michael telling us that he and Dylan were engaged.  We are so happy for both of them.

We flew from Atlanta to London Heathrow and after a harrowing ordeal at the rental car pickup we were on our way to Wales. We are traveling with friends, Janice and Michael Danzig.

The trip to Cardiff was uneventful.  The St. David Hotel is located on Cardiff Bay and our rooms overlook the water.  Very lovely.  We took a walk around the area, we are staying near a restaurant and entertainment district.  We had a lovely dinner at the hotel restaurant, Tempus on Tides, and then we were off, for a good night’s sleep.

Our trip had us busy on this last day.  The sun had not set – actually the sun had not fully set in 5 days – but this day was planned to keep us moving.  The temperature was around 34 degrees , not expected to go above 37! Our group started with a home visit.  Normally these things are kind of weird, but this one was not.  “Going for coffee” is part of the culture in Greenland.  For special events, like birthdays, new baby, graduations or anything you want to celebrate you let your friends and relatives know that they should come for coffee.  We drove a short way from the hotel to get to the home of Pauline.  It was an apartment, and we were asked to remove our shoes when we entered her home.  The streets and walkways are mostly gravel and this helps to keep the home clean.  Her dining table and coffee table were set up for us.  Our group was only 6 so we sat around the coffee table.  We each were offered a drink – coffee, tea or water – and the tables were filled with different cakes for us to try.  Then we began our conversation.  Pauline told us about herself and her family.  It was actually her birthday and after she finished with our various groups she and her husband would be going north to her home village to spend time with her relatives to celebrate her birthday.  She was expecting friends to drop in later to have coffee with them.  We were free to ask questions and we found out about Greenland in a very personal way.  She shared about their educational system, healthcare, retirement and family life.  It was very interesting.  She even brought out her traditional clothing because we asked about it.  She was turning 64 but was not retiring from her work as an abuse counselor because she wanted to continue to help others.  We had a wonderful guide, Lise, who helped with the translating for us.

We then returned to the hotel, ready to go out for our next experience.  We went to visit sled dogs.  They are chained in pairs, one male and one female at this time of year.  First to keep them from fighting and second to hopefully produce more dogs.  The dogs were losing their winter coats.  We learned how they are harnessed and used for hunting and fishing.  The family that owns the dogs we saw, hunt seals and fish when the ice is frozen.  The sleds are about 10 feet long and they use 12 to 15 dogs to pull them.  When they are loaded they can weigh a ton.  There was a small sled, so our hostess could take her small children into town in the winter.

After lunch we were off to hike in a UNESCO World Heritage site, Sermermiut.  We saw the ice from a different point of view.  It was invigorating and even though we were told it was an easy hike, we all got warm and ended up taking off our hats and coats.

Then Bette was off to fly.  What a wonderful experience.  We could see the Ice Fjord, which is 70 kilometers long, filled with ice and icebergs.  We also flew along the coast for a while looking for whales.  It was a wonderful experience.

It was quite a magical day and a wonderful ending for our adventures.  We start back to reality in the morning.

Fitbit – 9090 steps, 42 floors and 4.3 miles

We left Iceland in the very, very early hour of 6:30.  This meant we were up at 4:30 so we could get our wheelies (roll aboards) to the luggage handlers by 5:30.  This is not a vacation as I am sure you figured out by now.  It is an expedition in the true sense of the word and this day was to prove that.

Our flight was 2 hours long, but because of the time change we arrived at approximately the time we left.  No customs or immigration – not happy about that because my passport will not have a stamp from Greenland.  We immediately boarded buses, I use that term loosely, with big wheels, sort of like the vehicles we used in Iceland, but not as nice.  And we were off to tour.  We landed in Kangerlussuaq, a bustling town of 500.

The vistas of Greenland are stark and beautiful at the same time.  We saw almost dry riverbed, the melt off of snow just beginning.  There were parts that were desert like, sand dunes and small rocks.  There were mountains, huge boulders and amazing colors.  There was also rain, unusual for Greenland, we were told they only get rain 60 days a year.  The ride was bumpy.  We saw part of the Inland Ice Cap and that was wonderful.  We had lunch in a tent on the shore of a lake.

We were scheduled to fly on to our final destination in Greenland, Ilulissat, at 2 PM, but there was an earthquake and tsunami in the north of Greenland and all aircraft had been called in to try to rescue the town that had been covered by a rock slide.  So we were told our flight was now at 4:30 and we were off to see the tundra and a small museum.

Half way through the tundra touring, more bumpy roads with the slight chance of seeing a muskox, our trip person got a call that there was now a plane earlier and some of us would get on it.  So we quickly made our way back to the airport, drew straws to see who got on the earlier flight and waited.  Those who lost the “lottery” for seats went on to the museum.  

We waited and waited for the plane to arrive and it did not.  Our tour person, started a tab for the group at the bar so we could get drinks and snacks, because we had not eaten in about 2 hours, and we waited.  Several planes came in, but not ours.  Finally around 7 we left for Ilulissat and 45 minutes later we were on the ground and 10 minutes later at the hotel.  This is the view from our room.

We had a quick dinner because we were scheduled to go out in boats on Disko Bay.  This is the time of the midnight sun and we are very close to the solstice.  The bay is filled with icebergs and we had a beautiful evening.  It was cold out, but the sights were spectacular.  Our photos can only give you a small impression of what we were treated to seeing.  The sun even peeked out for a few minutes.

We were back at the hotel, by 11:15 which was 21 hours since we got up!

Fitbit – 9141 steps, 96 floors and 4.33 miles

Sunday, June 18 was our second day of touring in Reykjavik.  It was another cold, rainy day.  Our morning activity was the Heiomork Nature Reserve.  It was only drizzling when we left the hotel, but turned into a downpour when we arrived at our destination.  We had a lovely guide who led us through the preserve.  She had various foods for us to taste.  They were made from the plants we were seeing.  We saw old homesteads and sheep pens.  There were several caves that we also explored.  She told us stories of trolls and elves.  The Icelandic people are very superstitious and believe that many of the rocks in the landscape are trolls who have been caught in the daylight.  When we reboarded our bus, we each picked a rune stone and she told us the meaning.  Other than the rain, it was a fun time.

Our afternoon was a photography outing with Sissi Brimberg, the National Geographic photographer traveling with us.  I only lasted a short time because it was raining hard again.

We opted to skip the evening event which entailed a ferry ride to an island for dinner.  Since we had to be up at 4:30 AM the next morning we just walked around town a short while and then had a delicious dinner at a local fish (what else) restaurant, Messinn.  I had Arctic char and Bob had a fishburger made from cod.  Both were delicious.

Fitbit – 10097 steps, 21 floors and 4.78 miles

Our Iceland on steroids day began early, 7:30 AM we were on our way.  Our vehicles we oversized “Jeeps” with seating for 8 plus our guide and driver.  The tires were big and there were 3 steps to get in.  We were on our way to tour the Golden Circle.  Our first stop was Thingvellir National Park.  It was here in 930 that the first parliament formed and the country of Iceland began.  Iceland over the ages has been “owned” by several countries, but became independent on June 17, 1944.  The day we were touring was their National Day.  It was fun to be out among the locals celebrating.  Our cars were decorated with the Icelandic flag and we looked like a small parade with our 10 vehicles following each other.

It was another cold and rainy day, but we forged ahead with our cheery guide who delighted in singing Icelandic songs to us.  After the National Park, we headed “off road”.  Our driver took great pleasure in hitting all the bumps in the road.  Then we were at Geysir.  There were bubbling “pots” of water and several geysers.  One was very regular spouting every 10 minutes.

After lunch at Hotel Geysir, we were off to Langjokull glacier, one of Iceland’s largest.  We were ready to go snowmobiling!  We had to put on warm suits that covered us from neck to ankle.  Then we put one overshoes to protect our feet and to keep our shoes dry.  Then a balaclava for our heads and neck followed by a helmet.  The final layer was rain gear, because it was still raining.  Then we waddled out to our keeps for the ride up the mountain side to where our snowmobiles waited.  Instructions were given on how to run them and we were off.  The ride was bumpy and we had to go fast to keep up.  Poor Bob, who was driving, had me behind him squealing and asking for him to slow down.  After about 12 hours – really 30 minutes – we stopped to take photos and change drivers.  We did not change, since we would probably still be out there going slowly.  The ride back was complicated by the rain and sleet storm, almost causing a white out for us.  We finally got back to the starting point and we had champagne waiting for us.

We returned our many layers of clothes and started back.  We did detour a bit to ford a river in our jeeps.  Quite fun!

Our last stop for the day was a giant waterfall, Gullfoss, one of the largest in Europe.

We did not have a group dinner, but were given money to dine on our own in Reykjavik.  Bob and I went to a restaurant called Laekjarbrekka.  We had fabulous lobster soup and Icelandic fish stew, which was delicious.  Dessert was Icelandic pancakes, which were like dessert crepes, filled with fruit and whipped cream. Yum!  The people at the next table heard us talking and asked where we were from.  When we told them Fort Myers, Florida, the woman said she was from Naples, Florida.  Crazy world we travel in.

It was a wonderful day!

Fitbit – 15042 steps, 22 floors and 7.12 miles