Friday, September 3, 2010

Friday, Sept. 3, 2010–London (Southamption, England– Salisbury, Stonehenge, Bath, etc.

Disembarkation from a cruise is always a busy, hectic time, even in the best of circumstances.  There’s the “checked” luggage to get packed and placed in the hallway the evening prior so it can be transported off the ship by ships’ personnel.   And then the next morning there is the final packing of the carry-on bags and what to do with those items that I kept out of the big suitcase that won’t fit in the carry-on, along with the settling of the final on-board expenses bill, clearing the in-room safe, and making certain to take all personal items along.   Then there is waiting; waiting  either in the stateroom or a lounge (depending on what is allowed by that cruise line).  As we wait we listen attentively for our disembarkation assigned color to be called so that we can proceed off the ship and collect the “checked” luggage and then pass through customs exams or directly to transportation for a departing flight.

This day was no different except that we chose to use a special class of disembarkation called “Express Walk Off”.  Express Walk Off allows the passengers to depart the ship at 8 a.m. carrying all their luggage—“checked” and carry-on.  It’s not easy.  That means that each person can possibly be handling one or two large suitcases along with their carry-on piece or pieces.  In our situation, Sylvia had one large suitcase which was damaged by the airlines on the trip from Houston to London so that the handle that was to used to roll it would only extend about 6 inches.  That meant that she couldn’t stand upright when pulling or pushing the suitcase.   She also had a rolling carry-on piece and her purse to contend with.  I had a large “checked” piece, a rolling carry-on, and a backpack.

With all that at about 7:00 a.m. we proceed through the hallways—hoping not to meet anyone because the narrowness of the hallways made passage very limited—to a lounge that was on the same deck as the gangway and we waited.  As we waited our group of 10 Cruise Critic friends all gathered with their respective belongings, some with more than we, a few with less.  As we waited, out of boredom, the laptop computers were taken out of carry-ons and people began “surfing” trying to see what was happening online.

Promptly at 8 a.m. the announcement was made that all people using the Express Walk Off could proceed to the gangway and we made our way off the ship in a group.  Once outside we gathered waiting for our transportation of the day, a mini-bus from the company of International Friends of England.  Within about a half hour we spotted our bus and the driver moved to an area where we could load our luggage.  The bus probably would accommodate 16-18 people but  the luggage the 10 of us had filled the back luggage area and also the extra 6-8 seats. So we began our wonderful day-tour of the English countryside and small villages with our driver/guide Tony.  Tony, a British native had spent a number of years, in his early adult life, living in San Diego, CA.   He was very witty and his knowledge of the American lifestyle made him a very warm, comfortable member of our group.

Our first stop in rural England was the city of Salisbury c.1220, built as a walled city with 5 gates, one of which is shown here. 

The shopping area, both inside & outside of the walls, looks very much up-to-date as any other English shopping area we visited.  Once parked, we proceed on foot through this area of the city to the Salisbury Cathedral.

There simply was no way with my inexpensive camera to get the entire tower of this steeple in one picture.

So I tried with two photos.  Construction on the Salisbury Cathedral began in 1220.  The main body of the building was completed in only 38 years and is a masterpiece of  Early English architecture.  The 404 ft tall spire was built later and is the tallest spire in the UK.   The cathedral contains the best preserved of the four surviving copies of the Magna Carta and a large mechanical clock installed in the cathedral in 1386 - the oldest surviving mechanical clock in Britain.  (The Cathedral was not open to visitors on that day so we were unable to view the Magna Carta).

Leaving the cathedral we passed by another of the gates of the city.

Lovely flowering plantings in city of Salisbury.

Next, we traveled through the English countryside…(taken through window of bus) to Stonehenge

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument located in the English county of Wiltshire 8 miles north of Salisbury.  One of the most famous sites in the world, Stonehenge is composed of  earthworks  surrounding a circular setting of large standing stones.  It is at the center of the most dense complex of  Neolithic and  Bronze Age  monuments in England, including several hundred  burial mounds.  Archaeologists believe that the iconic stone monument was erected around 2500 BC.   The surrounding circular earth bank and ditch, which constitute the earliest phase of the monument, have been dated to about 3100 BC.

From Stonehenge as we traveled through Wiltshire, Tony pointed out that the ground is made of white chalk rather than the typical brown dirt.   This is evident along hiking trails, where the treaded pathway is white.  This means that you can create large lines and pattern them in recognizable figures. It was not rocket science to figure out that chalked figures were visible for miles, and three thousand years ago, the outlines of a horse were set in a hillside in Uffington.  Thousands of years later, people decided to continue a tradition of creating white horses on hillsides even as recent as this century. The difference between the ancient horse and the modern ones is how they were created. The ancient horse's lines were dug as a trench and then chalk was used to fill in the trench. The modern ones are worn from the surface of the land.

In this same area we passed many houses with thatched roofs.

Here, I photographed a roof where the thatch was being renewed.  (Taken through the window of the bus). Thatching is the craft of building a roof with dry vegetation such as straw, water reed, sedge, rushes, and heather, layering the vegetation so as to shed water away from the inner roof.   The tradition of thatching has been passed down from generation to generation for thousands of years.  There are more thatched roofs in the England and Ireland  than in any other European country. Good quality thatching straw can last for more than 45–50 years when applied by a skilled thatcher.

Thatch has become much more popular in the UK over the past 30 years, and is now a symbol of wealth rather than poverty. There are now approximately 1,000 full time thatchers at work in the UK, and thatching is becoming popular again because of the renewed interest in preserving historic buildings and using more sustainable building materials.  We were told that if a house has a thatched roof  the roof can never be changed to any other roofing surface.

 

along the way we passed an unidentified castle…

We stopped at the village of Lacock c.1232 “a village lost in time” and proceeded to The George Inn, a pub that dates back to the year 1361.  The pub has had a continuous license dating back to the Cromwell days.  One can muse about the swash buckling ironsides visiting The Inn, as The George was known in those days.

On visiting the George these days, one is captivated by the old English character which pervades.  Original exposed beams and very low ceilings give it a private and cozy atmosphere.

Lovely flowers in the village of Lacock…

From Lacock we continued on to the city of Bath.  Here is shown the entrance to the Cathedral of Bath.

 

The city was first established as a spa resort by the Romans  in AD 43 although verbal tradition suggests that Bath was known before then.   The Romans built baths and a temple on the surrounding hills and in the valley of the River Avon around hot springs.

Later, in Georgian times  in response to the increasing number of visitors to the spa and resort town who required accommodation, several areas of the city underwent development.  The city was laid out with new quarters in streets and squares, the identical façades of which gave an impression of palatial scale and classical decorum.

At this point my camera battery (2nd of the day) was exhausted and I have no additional photos.  In France on the next trip I purchased a 3rd battery.

We spent 2-2 1/2 hours in downtown Bath where there were street performers that Sylvia and I both enjoyed watching and wanted to photograph.  We also enjoyed gelato and simply “bathed” in the sunshine of the day.

Our excursions for this day ended with this city and at about 5 p.m. we started the trek back toward London.  At a hotel near Heathrow airport, at about 7 p.m. Tony dropped off 4 of us, David & Debbie from Ohio and Sylvia and me where we had reservations for the night.

The following morning, Saturday, we departed Heathrow Airport at 11:40 a.m. on a flight to Houston, arriving there about 3:50 p.m. (10-hour flight) and then drove home, stopping in Nacogdoches for Mexican food at one of our favorite restaurants.

Wednesday, September 1, 2010

Wednesday, Sept. 1 “at sea”; Thursday, Sept. 2–La Havre, France (Paris/Normandy)

On Wednesday we had a much-needed “day at sea” to just rest and recoup from the many busy days since we departed on this cruise.  That day, the only really significant happening for us was a lunch for the 165 Cruise Critic members who were onboard for this sailing.

On Thursday, our port of call was La Havre, France which was listed as “Paris/Normandy”.  People onboard with connections to World War II and the Allies landing at Normandy--either through family members or just interest in the history of the war-- were very interested in visiting the Normandy area.  Because our connections (through Sylvia’s father) to World War II were in the Pacific we decided to take the day to go to Paris and visit Versailles Palace.

This was the only port where we did not go on a private tour.  Instead, we used a Princess tour that was very long and expensive.  But, because of the scheduling and the possibility of private transportation being delayed in Paris traffic and not returning to the ship on time, we felt that it was the only safe choice.

Our tour in a group of about 50 departed the ship at 8:15 a.m. and was scheduled to return at 6:15 p.m.  Our guide was a French woman who spoke English with a very heavy accent that we had difficultly understanding.

Northern France is fertile and rich in resources of all sorts.  It supports a large, vigorous population with a tremendous variety of agricultural products.  These farms were very obvious as we traveled the little over 100 miles to Versailles.

The beauty of the small village with church steeple shows above this wall (taken from the bus window).

Taken again, through the window of the bus—this river (I couldn’t understand the name of it) and the very peaceful scene reflected in it…

The smaller farming villages…

I noticed this group of signs as we traveled through the “round-about”.  Glad I wasn’t driving!

As we got near the area of Versailles it appeared we were in a park.

The paved area leading to the first gate of Versailles Palace.

Corner decoration of the outside fence.

The inner gate…

Hall of Mirrors…

And, then we look outdoors…

And the gardens…

We look back at the Palace…

This is our guide…

Our tour ended with this view of the road leading away from the property.  Exhausted, I was asleep in a short time.  The return to the ship was a good nap!