Little Dancers

Super cute dancing nieces!

North Sea Serenade – P.S.

I can’t believe that I forgot this yesterday but we had to go through immigration when we got off the ship.  The lady asked me why I was staying in the UK and I responded we’re going to Stonehenge and then we’re going to Wincanton.  She said ooh my cat’s name is Greebo.  And so we stood there visiting about Discworld and there is a huge line of grabby old people behind us waiting to go through immigration.

North Sea Serenade – Wincanton

This morning we got up – took a shower in a bath whose sides were as large as the Saracen stones at Stonehenge and Tom had to help me in and out.  I will be so glad to get back to my own shower.

So we have breakfast and all I felt like – after weeks of excess – was toast and coffee.  You would have thought I shot these people in the foot – anything else madam?  Nothing madam?  Are you crazed madam?  LOL  All I wanted was toast – and it was home baked and delicious and I didn’t need anything else. 

So off we go to Wincanton.  We are driving and the entire trip is like this:  you are too close on this side – I’m too close on this side – OMG Tom you’re too close – I’m too close on this side too.  It was nuts.  You have tiny two lane highways and people parking on both sides and traffic going both ways.  It’s insanity.  And so finally we make it to Wincanton and luck upon an excellent parking place.

When we get to the Discworld Emporium (DE) they fell upon us like lost family members.  It was so warm and inviting and special.  There was a whole bunch of stuff in that store that I still could have purchased but we had to carry it home.  It turned out on that day that they (DE) were entertaining a woman from the tourist bureau whom they were trying to get to add a tourist attraction sign to the highway so that people would come and see Wincanton and Somerset because of the DE.  So between sessions with that woman Bernard invited us into his office – which is one of those offices you would love to say oh my what is this and what’s the story behind this – a lovely office.  And he sat and talked to us for 45 minutes.  He is having extreme pain in his right knee and had a hard time getting around but he was so warm and wonderful and I have to say I love this man.  He told us that Terry Pratchett had offered to pay for his knee surgery which he is now scheduled to have in January thanks to socialized medicine but he didn’t want him to because he said then “Terry would own my knee and make me tattoo on it that this is the property of Terry Pratchett.”  If you have any opportunity to spend time with Bernard or Reb or Ian or Isobel (of DE) you should avail yourself because they are the most wonderful people on the planet.  And they have two lovely lovely cats.

So after Tom and I purchased everything in the store which Tom is now trying valiantly to pack we started our way back.  Tom bought me a silver quantum butterfly made by Ian who helps run the DE.  They also gave us a couple of sneak peeks about what is coming up for them and Terry.  But we can’t post about it because they trusted us not to leak the information.  Suffice it to say – it is amazing. 

As we were exiting the shop the woman from the tourist bureau wanted to speak with us and asked us if we really had come all the way from California to see the DE – well you know the answer is absolutely.  She said she didn’t have a lot of opportunity to speak with foreigners.  So we told her we would take her information and next time come back and be even closer to DE.  Bwahahaha.  LOL

I wanted to get a picture of the sign which says Wincanton that says twinned with Ankh-Morpork.  So Bernard tells us that it is by the grocery store.  We go to the grocery store and I walked up and down the highway looking for the darned sign only to find on returning that it was right there all along.  So we have pictures.  And also there is a housing development beginning in Wincanton which is based on Terry Pratchett novels unfortunately the sales office was closed and we couldn’t see his hands in the cement.  But I did get a picture of the street signs: Treacle Mine Road and Peach Tree Lane with Hens and Chickens Lane and a couple of others. 

So we are wending our way back – Wincanton (which goes right by Stonehenge BTW) with our you’re too close, I’m too close, there’s a car!!, there’s another car!!, it’s only due to Tom’s excellent driving that we are back here in one piece.  I would still be sitting in a roundabout crying.

So we come back to the hotel thinking we are going to relax but the room across the way has a bride for another wedding and the door is slam, slam, slam constantly.  Happily she is getting married at the moment however I’m worried about what is going to happen when they come back upstairs.

Tonight I had a scallop, salt baked cod (which was not salty as the name suggests but very tasty and lovely) and that banana macaron again and Tom had the scallop (which does not taste at ALL like Pacific scallops) and the lamb that I had last night.  The manager of the restaurant, the server and another girl that has waited on us before says where did you go today?  Wincanton.  I love Terry Pratchett too.  See? I’m never leaving!

So it appears that Tom has finished and we’re going to sleep and so tomorrow – home.  I will do one more blog which will be a recap of our feelings and bests and worsts probably not tomorrow but Sunday.  So now we go to bed happy, happy campers after a wonderful, amazing day and a wonderful, amazing trip.  

North Sea Serenade – Stonehenge and Great Fosters

This morning they shoved us off the ship but they did give us a great breakfast. So we get off the ship and find out that in order to get to our rental car company we have to get a cab ride of all of about five minutes.  And the cab driver yelled at us the entire way about how the cruise ships hire all the coaches and drive the passengers away from Southampton so they can make all the money and now the locals are making no money even though all these cruise ships are docking.  A very pleasant ride.

So we finally get to the rental car company and get our car whereupon I immediately go to the wrong side to get in.  I did that twice.  Tom did a great job driving and we had our GPS but it took us a little while to get the hang of the roundabouts.  This country is so green and lush – it’s beautiful.

So we get to Stonehenge and the first thing we see I think meh it’s okay but as we started to walk around it turned to ooooh and then to whoa.  Surprising facts:  no druids, no human sacrifice, no mystical significance to the stones.  The prevailing legend is that Merlin magicked them from Ireland for a burial place for Uther Pendragon.  Stonehenge was constructed about the time that they built the pyramids but they don’t know why it was built or why they stopped every couple of hundred years and then took it up again.  I was really glad we went.

Then we drove to our hotel for the next two nights.  We drove up to the hotel and there is a giant tour bus sitting in the driveway – nooooooooo!  But it turned out luckily for us it was leaving.  It is called Great Fosters and the building is ancient although the inside of the rooms is quite modern.  Our room is on the third floor and I will leave it to you to guess if there was an elevator or not.  Everything is watch your head – watch your step.  There are a zillion bees on this property and it turns out that they have a hive and make their own honey.  I don’t know if we will get any or not.    They have a hedge garden out in the back and it is very popular with people getting married and in fact there is a wedding here today.  There is allegedly a moat around the property but I didn’t feel like walking any more today so we will have to take their word for it.

We had an absolutely scrumptious tea (I had a raspberry macaron with fresh raspberries and clotted cream – so good) and will have dinner in a few hours – the menu looks lovely.  The dining room is called the Oak Room and the ceiling has flying buttresses although Tom and I don’t know if that is an exterior or interior construction.  It is beautiful and we had dinner while the sun set behind our building.  I had an amuse bouche of pork cheeks with pickled mushrooms.  The waitress said you Americans eat so fast.  LOL.  Then I had tandoori monk fish followed by lamb two ways.  Tom had foie gras which was delicious and halibut with cauliflower and mushrooms.  Then I had a banana macaron with banana ice cream and pop corn.  It was amazing.  Tomorrow . . . WINCANTON!!

North Sea Serenade – Fairytale Land

Today was our last shore excursion while on Regent Seven Seas.  And man did we walk.  Tom and I opted to take the longest tour available which we decided was a definite trend of ours.  And one not to be repeated in the future.  So today was Bruge.  Bruge is one of the most charming cities I have ever seen.  It is like a city where every building looks like Notre Dame.  Everything has spires and medieval architecture and it’s like a total fairytale.  If you really wanted to be a Disney princess you would move to Bruges.  The city has canals, cathedrals, churches, parks, swans by the hundreds, ducks, geese, cute little black birds with yellow beaks.  Palaces everywhere.

We were surprised that the language of Bruges is Dutch.  After years of watching Hercules Poirot I was certain the language was French.  “I am not a Frenchy – I am a Belgy!”  But some parts of Belgium speak French and our guide likened their French to Canadian French and said it’s not the same as French French.  And let me assure you this town was FULL of cobblestones.  I don’t want to see any more.  And I don’t want to walk on anymore.  Ever.

Imagine our surprise when we went to the Cathedral of Our Lady and they have a Michelangelo statue called Madonna and Child – it is beautiful.  It was designed for a cathedral in Sienna but the Archbishop didn’t want it because the statue of the child is naked.  The statue was in an area under renovation so I don’t know how well our pictures came out but the statue reminded me a lot of the Pieta.  Beginning and end.  Joy and sadness.

Wednesday the weekly market was out and we saw a whole bunch of food I would have loved to try however we had an appointment at the chocolate museum.  There was an extremely knowledgeable chocolate chef who showed us the difference between cocoa beans depending on area.  We were given a cocoa bean from Costa Rica and one from Peru and lo and behold they were indeed different.  I liked the one from Costa Rica best but the rest liked Peru better and the chef said that it was because the Peru bean was sweeter.  Then we had a demonstration of how they make their chocolates which are always filled because they like the snap of the chocolate and the gooey inside to contrast.  Then they made a big deal about real Belgian chocolate and chocolate that comes from China.  He said that M&Ms are MADE FROM COCOA POWDER AND NOT REAL CHOCOLATE!  CAN YOU IMAGINE??!!  Sacrilege!  He said that any chocolate which leaves a waxy taste in your mouth is not good chocolate.  Like we didn’t already know that.  J  Then we went to the palace court – I’m telling you these buildings are gorgeous and OLD.  We saw the Belfry Tower, the Town Hall and the Chapel of Blood where they allegedly have some of Christ’s blood. 

So then Tom and I went on our free time to a restaurant where we tried to have an authentic Belgian dinner and I had Flemish meat stew with pomme frites and Tom had steak with pomme frites and mayonnaise which is apparently how they eat them in Belgium.  Tom didn’t eat them that way but I did.  Then we went looking for some Belgian lace for the traveling hat and when I described to the lady what I wanted she said a lot of people come in here looking for that shape and I have some here and it really is very pretty handmade lace.  So Jennie will need to help me figure out how to combine my beautiful wool trim with the Belgian lace trim. 

We then went through the narrowest street in Bruges which used to be a street where no good was done and was also a public bathroom. Then we walked back to the bus – which was no small walk – and walked by the Lake of Love – Minnewater -- which was really very pretty and romantic.

So we came back to the boat – bitter sweet as it is our last night – and played trivia – although one of the questions was who was older Mickey Mouse, Donald Duck or Goofy – please -- and lost so we took our Regent points and Tom got a visor. 

So now we are packing and tomorrow we get kicked off and then we are off to Stonehenge and another adventure.  

North Sea Serenade – Amsterdam

We began this day, which was also beautiful weather – other than Visby we have had spectacular weather and Tom and I are getting a tan if you can believe it – by a short bus tour through Amsterdam.  At first I will say that Dutch reminds me of Klingon.  If you don’t understand it – it sounds a lot like throat clearing.

We saw the Baroque-style Royal Palace which is built on approx. 14,000 pilings sunk into the marsh.  We saw the zoo and the Rijksmuseum where they have all the Rembrandts.  We saw Ann Frank’s house but it was at an odd position so we were unable to take a picture.  We saw the Westerkerk (or West Church) the Nieuwekerk (New Church) the Historical Museum and the Archaeologic Museum.

Then we drove out to Beemster Polder which is the oldest reclaimed land in the Netherlands.  We went to an original 17^th Century windmill.  A polder is a lake and they first build a dike and then build some windmills (the ring dike).  After those windmills have pulled out as much water as they can then they build another dyke lower down and some more windmills and keep going until they have drained the lake (the middle mills followed by the lower mills and draining mills).  The water is channeled into a canal and waterway system called a Beemster.  Even though they have drained the lake they have to lay down reeds to stabilize the ground and then they grow grass and then they plant some yellow flowers – this process takes years and then finally they can begin to use the land.  They like to use sheep to walk along the dikes because they tamp down the dirt.  Cows are too dirty.

Then we went to Broek in Waterland which is a town where the church was built in 1400, burned by the Spanish in 1573 and rebuilt in 1628.  This was one of the first churches of the Protestant revolution.  There were two separate areas of the church one for the women and children and one for the men because women and children had to be under armed guard in church. And of course – more cobblestones.

Then we went to a cheese factory where they make Dutch cheese and they let us try about 20 of them.  I chose a sheep’s cheese which was to Tom and I the most delicious. Then we drove back to Amsterdam and saw the Mint Tower.  I really am going to miss all these churches and their bells ringing the hour.  We also saw the Weeper’s Tower which legend has it was where wives stood to wave their husbands off to see – as the guide said if you weren’t very happily married they might be tears of joy.

We then went to the flower market – we have never seen so many flower bulbs.  Oh interesting matter of note – Holland only grows tulips once every seven years.  This was not one of those years.

So we came back to the ship, won trivia – no bingo tonight – and I cannot believe I am already typing this – tomorrow our last stop – Brugges.  

North Sea Serenade – Copenhagen/Malmo/Lund

Today we got up so early after our late, late night last night.  We had to be in the theater (the starting point for tours) at 8 AM but until 8:45 we sat and waited because we were apparently the last cruise ship to come into the port and there was a big delay.

So we went for the obligatory visit to the Little Mermaid statue – she’s apparently been beheaded twice and is now filled with concrete so that nobody can remove her head again.  It was a tiny statue in the middle of this gigantic – and I mean gigantic – group of tourists.  People were scrambling down the rocks to try and get a picture with her – no thanks.  We took two – we are in neither.  Photo shop works well for that I understand.

Then we drove to the Amalienborg Palace where the Crown Prince is in residence.  We determined this by the flag flying over the palace.  The original palace was built to accommodate the four main families of Denmark but are now owned by the royal family.  Then we drove through the city seeing a whole bunch of stuff I can’t remember but we have pictures and then we headed toward Malmo whereupon Tom and I totally fell asleep.  Something about a bridge and when you see it from an airplane it looks like it ends in mid-river but it doesn’t because it goes into a tunnel and then we made it to Malmo.  They told us that we had 1.25 hours in Malmo – AND NOTHING WAS OPEN!  So we walked around and around and if I never see another cobblestone again in my life I will die a happy woman.  Talk about twisted ankles.  

Eventually we found a restaurant which was open and I had an amazing hamburger but they were a little heavy on the mayonnaise but that was okay with me.  With Tom?  Not so sure.  But they were yummy and the fries were amazing.  The bathroom was totally unisex where you went into the bathroom area and picked a door which was marked with a male or female symbol or you just picked an empty one – which after you have spent days and days in a long, long line for a female bathroom I could cheer up a storm for that mentality.

So we get back on the bus and drive to Lund.  Lund is a medieval town which has a Viking cathedral which was built in 1100 and is the oldest church In Scandinavia.  They told us a legend about the cathedral which was that there was a troll which kept tearing down the cathedral.  The Bishop struck a bargain with him that if he could guess his name he would not tear down the cathedral anymore and if he lost the Bishop would lose his eyes.  So the Bishop tried and tried to figure out his name and he did not succeed and so the night before he was to go to meet the troll he went out to look his last on the things that he loved and he encountered a woman trying to comfort an infant and she said your father Finn will be here soon to give you all your dreams and so the Bishop knew the troll’s name.  So the troll comes to talk to the Bishop and the Bishop says I know your name and the troll was so angry he was going to tear down the cathedral entirely but it turned to day and the troll turned to stone.  And he’s down in the basement of the Lund Cathedral.  His wife and child are also down there.  We have photographic evidence.

Then we drove back to Copenhagen.  We went and saw the Rosenborg Castle which is no longer a residence but it is a museum with the royal crown jewels.  We didn’t get to go inside because we were already so late.  We drove by the Tivoli Gardens we saw the Christiansborg Palace and the Tivoli Gardens neither of which we got to go in but we were so late by the time we got back to the ship that we had no time to shop on the dock which had some interesting looking shops.  We played trivia and lost and played bingo and lost.  I’m beginning to sense a trend here.

We are now headed out to the North Sea and the captain announced that when we get to the North Sea around 2:00 AM, there will be a strong wind with six foot swells.  Right now we are still in the protected Baltic Sea and there is already a strong wind developing around a two foot swell.  However, tomorrow is a sea day and Tom and I are really looking forward to lounging around.  I may or may not post tomorrow – but then we are on to Amsterdam.