|
Breakfast. Relaxing. Playing cards. Beautiful skies but a bit cold.  They had a "Polar Bear" plunge in the rear pool which had lots of ice added. There were quite a few who were willing to get very cold.   Tonight is a dressy night, and we have dinner at the Pinnacle. We were disappointed in the meal. The service was exceptional, but the food was not. I doubt we will ever go the Pinnacle again.
0 Comments
May 21,Wed Trondheim, Norway, 8am-4pm We decided to walk into town and explore on our own before our guided walking tour.  As you can tell it was a bit chilly about 47 degrees and looked like we might have some rain. We had our winter wool layers on under the rain gear since we would be outside the whole time. Trondheim is a much larger city. Trondheim is a popular cruise port and was Norway’s Viking capital and is the third-biggest city in Norway. The buses are electric. It was kind of neat finding one being charged up. The system is pretty much automatic. The bus just has to stop at the charger and it positions itself and pugs into the roof.  We walk into town and pass some pretty interesting sculptures. And then.... wait is that a Yellow Submarine!!!??? From the Beatles movie??? All the taxis in town were Tesla's.  The walk along the Nidelva River and over wooden bridge was interesting. The area is called Piren and is known for the old fishing warehouses that have been converted to apartments and restaurants. They are required to maintain the appearance and a very limited color choices for painting. Later we will take a boat along this same river. Next we walked to see the medieval Gothic Nidaros Cathedral is amazing. Pretty Flowers....   We were very glad to have our rain coats because we were rained on several times during our tour and even when on the boat tour. Back on the river with a different view of the Piren. Back on the ship to warm up and change clothes. We were a bit damp.  On World Stage: Vocal Entertainer Chris Ritchie was really good. He is performs as an impressionist of music from Neil Diamond, Tom Jones, Elvis and more. A fun, feel good show, full of music we recognized and stories. Before sunset and as we left port, it started to hail. Small but the temperature outside dropped fast. Glad we were nice and warm inside.  May 20,Tue Alesund, Norway, 10am-7pm Our first port in Norway is Ålesund which is primarily a fishing town of less than 50,000 people in western Norway. We are not in a hurry this morning but did want to see the view as we sail into the Alesund port. We did have some nice mountains to view on the way. Trolls are a big deal in Norway. We were greeted by one just as we got off the ship.  Something that is becoming more and more common is that the ships "plugin" to city power. This was one of those ports. This ship only needs a few megawatts (yes I got that right) and the large cruise ships can need more that 5 megawatts.  Today, we go on a hike to the top of Sukkertoppen. My lungs held up to the climb even though it was steep 3.7 mile hike and a 1000 foot rise to the top. Our guides try very hard to keep everyone together on the hike. Much of the path is rock. We did have some nice views of the city and our cruise ship. At the top we got some nice views and there was a marker that pointed out points of view. Not that I had any idea what it said.      As we walk up, the beginning is in forest but by top they are all gone and only small plants remain. Ride back to town, we did see some of the city, but it was almost all aboard time so no time to walk around.    By 7pm, we were head out to our next port.
Sea days are relaxing for us. We slept in and went to Brunch in the dining room. Sat a large table and talk to other travelers. Lunch was overlooking the pool. We usually go to the Crow's Nest in the afternoon to play cards, games, or put together a puzzle. Tonight is dressy so we will put on nice clothes for diner in the main dining room. At the mainstage, we had a Captains toast with free champagne. The performer was Juliette Primrose, a Violinist who for 8 years performed with the Irish group "River Dance.". She was very good and even did a rendition over several rock song including Hotel California.  Back to the Crow's nest for an after-dinner drink and relax before bed. Tomorrow is our first port in Norway.  We are staying at the Hilton Hotel in Rotterdam Netherlands and was opened by Mr. Hilton himself in 1969. Rotterdam is the 2nd biggest city in the Netherlands and largest port of Europe. A few facts about Rotterdam and the Netherlands: Rotterdam was heavily bombed during WWII. Very few buildings survived. Most buildings are less than 80 years old which is brand new by European standards. 1/3 of the country is below sea level and sinking with the lowest point being 20 feet below sea level. If it were not for pumps, the country would be flooded. Many of the current windmills were built between 1738 and 1740. At one time, there were 6000 windmills. Now most of the surviving ones are decommissioned and converted into homes. 1200 windmills are active with many modern pumping stations taking on most of the pumping needed. The reason the wooden ones are maintained is that several times power issues have taken the electric pumps offline and the only pumping was by the old windmills. To live in an active windmill a person must take classes and be certified on how to maintain and operate the windmill. The modern pumps are based on the design by Archimedes who invented the system back in 235 BC Egypt. It is amazing how a simple design is still valid today and has had very little improvement. Aliens? Stargate? Just a really smart guy. Who knows? We were up early to get ready to checkout of the hotel and leave on our bus tour. The bus is through the cruise line and will bring our luggage with us to the cruise port after a tour of the windmills of Kinderdijk. Soon after leaving the city, we started seeing windmills. We arrive at the Kinderdijk windmills and take a short walk to the visitor center.  Along the way, Shawna found lots of flowerers. There will be many more flowers later. We are in Holland which is known for flowers. After a nice movie about the windmills which had a lot of climate change commentary. In the center they also had a scale model of the wood used in the windmills. Next we walked down the canals to the windmill we could tour. Most are not open as they are active and do not have the protective measures to keep tourists from getting hurt.  The wind picked up for a short while, and we saw this windmill really spinning fast. We found out that the primary reason a windmill will catch fire is from spinning too fast. It is important for the manager to apply breaks and remove the sails when needed.  And no I did not speed up the video. Soon we were at the windmill to tour. It was surprising how big it was when your standing next to it. The large wheel with the white handles is for pointing the windmill. The Millwright will throughout the day and night check the direction of the wind and adjust the windmill by spinning the wheel. Yes is is completely manual. Time to go inside. Walking up to and in a working windmill was great. Huge wood Gears. The stairs were steep. Really steep. And the ceiling on each floor was so short even Shawna had to be careful. The living areas were interesting. Imagine growing up as a child in a windmill. Oh the kitchen was outside and separated from the mill. We stopped on the way back to grab a coffee and some apple pie at the gift shop. Everything was very good. Oh and more flowers. The ride back through small villages. Soon we were back in the city. We got to the port and 30 minutes later, we were on the ship. Attended the Welcome Aboard Ship celebration. Tonight, we have dinner at the Tamarind restaurant. It is our favorite of any restaurant we have every been to in the entire world. Our server Yela was great and the Nami Sushi Chef Marc was exceptional making fantastic fresh Sushi for us. Up by 6am and ready to head out by 7am to check out. The line for the bus was really long. We would have to wait until the 3rd bus trip. We decided to walk and got our steps in. We waited to checking bags. Waited to get through security/TSA. We grabbed a quick breakfast. Waited for the flight boarding. Waited on the plane. Trains are so much better. There is no comparison. Once off the ground, we saw Ireland fall behind then Scotland. We crossed the North Sea for a while, then the Netherlands came into view. Wow, the Amsterdam airport is huge. It seemed like we walk walked for miles just to wait through a long line at customs. When it was our turn, he did not ask any questions and just stamped the passports and sent us on our way. We grabbed our checked bags at baggage claim and headed for "nothing to declare." We had another long walk to the ticket counters for the train for Rotterdam. When she passed us our tickets, she said "you have 10 minutes and the train will be at platform 5". "What? Where is that?" "Straight ahead and down the C escalators." Once we arrived at our platform a few nice people reassured us that it would be there in a few minutes. The train from Amsterdam to Rotterdam was very nice. Interesting information displays.    We had nice views of farms and small towns but the train was moving pretty fast so they zoomed by us. We were traveling at 120 mph most of the trip. About an hour later, we were in Rotterdam Centraal. The main train station in the city. After some confusing directions from Google Maps, we found the hotel and checked in. The room was nice, and we decided to go down to the bar for something to eat. Rotterdam is famous as a port and for the many ships that left from Europe to take immigrants to Ellis Island in New York harbor. This is also the place where Holland America Line was established. After that, we walked down a block to a grocery for some breakfast pastries. It was a bit confusing as everything and I mean everything was in Dutch. Just a clue but it is usually not possible to look at a label in Dutch and have any idea what is inside. Lucky for us most things are in clear packaging. We needed Google to translate from Dutch anything we could not recognize. Back to the hotel and their pub to get some drinks and dinner. Prices are in Euros. Not bad for a hotel pub.  Of all the cities, we have visited in Europe, this is the dirtiest. Every crack in the pavement or sidewalk was covered in cigarette butts. It is sad. Every other city we have visited was cleaner. Very few buildings here are older than 80 years old as almost everything here was bombed during WWII. By European standards, that makes the whole city brand new. Just outside of town are windmills that were built before 1740.
We gave an excursion early morning with the cruise line to see windmills and transport to the ship so off to bed. Up early and then breakfast. Again, it's very good.
We settled the bill and headed to the train station. Taking trains is starting to seem normal. They are quiet and fast. Much better that a driving or using a plane or bus. Next stop in Dublin to pick up our stored luggage and go to the airport hotel by bus. After a little bit of a walk, we were at the hotel. We will only be there overnight and fly out tomorrow. Dinner at the hotel pub and then resting in our room.
Another good breakfast and then off to visit several museums.
The museum of time. There are a massive number of very old clocks. They did have volunteers to answer questions and they were very knowledgeable. The museum keeps most of the clocks on different times so that when they ring, gong, or otherwise sounded off we would not be deafened by the sound. Even with only a few that were set to the same time it was pretty amazing. I wish I had that on video. There was no way to get away from the ticking. The bathroom had an interesting sign on the door.
The Waterford Crystal tour.
This was a surprise. I was expecting something far less extensive. Maybe a few unfinished pieces and maybe a short demonstration. What we got was every step of the creation of the crystal. We were taken through the process from melting the glass, demonstration of glass blowing, inspection and sanding, and finally the cutting of designs.
Of course, we ended with a store. They have very expensive Crystal for sale. The least expensive were over $20,000.
Next, we walked across the street to the Irish Wake Museum.
The guide walked us through explaining the house and how it was built over an old cemetery. The house was commissioned by wealthy benefactors to be a home for older or dying people to pray for the benefactor's souls to keep them out of purgatory. They were fed and housed but had to pray 3 times in the night and in the day. If they missed a prayer, they were not fed that day. There were many displays on the medical treatment of people and also in death. At the end, we were told of the Irish wake. How it was mainly for the gathering of those who loved the person but also to socialize.
The last museum was the Bishops House.
We had a guided tour with a 'reenactor' as the housekeeper of the manor. It is amazing how old everything is here such as a lock of Napoleon's hair, original paintings, and furniture.
We had a Linner today. Linner is a meal between Lunch and Dinner. We decided to head back to The Reg. They had very good food and we even had room for dessert which is rare for us. We were stuffed by the end
Back to the hotel to prepare for leaving in the morning. We did not have a restful night. There was lots of street noise and people talking just below our window. Next time, we will have to add not having a pub next door to the hotel as a requirement for reservations. We were up early and down to breakfast. The hotel cooks breakfast to order. It was very nice every day we were here. Soon, we started our walk down to the Viking Triangle. This is a group of blocks in town that have the oldest buildings, and many are Viking related. We were heading to the Viking Virtual Experience. It was very good. Our two guides were dressed as Vikings and were extras in the TV show 'Vikings'. They both had degrees in Viking history and archeology. From their opinion, the show is more dramatic than historically accurate and was instead made to attract the Game Of Thrones audience. Being a virtual experience, we were fitted with VR head gear as you can see in one of the pictures. We sat and were transported to see battles, building, sailing of Viking ships, and lots of history. They did a fantastic job of presenting the history of Vikings and the impact on Ireland. The 'experience' sits in the remains of the Grayfriars Abbey a French Church. The Church has an interesting history. It was built by the Blackfriers who arrived in 1226. Henry III give permission for a friary to be built for the Dominicans. The church was active until 1540. The Irish Court of Inquisition held here in 1626. WOW! Next, we walked past a large Chess set with 4 ft tall pieces and then on to the Waterford Treasures Medieval Museum. As we entered, we were directed down to the basement to wine cellar. Next we walked up into an area that had several medieval era carved stones, a layout of the original walls, and a head with antlers of the elk that long ago lived on the island. We realized that our walking tour was about to start and we spoke with the admissions to make sure we could return after our tour. We met the tour near by and our guide was great. After the tour, we stopped into O'Sullivan's Vintage Social which was more like a restaurant than a pub. Below is the menu. Prices are in Euro's. At this time, the Euro and US Dollar were only a few cents apart so when you see 21 euros it is a little more in dollars.   From there we returned to the Medieval museum and the 800 year old wine cellar. They also had a ship model entirely in silver. We left the cellar and then on to the upper floors where we were able to see Church Vestments from 1460s. These were found during the demolition of the medieval cathedral. An iron chest was found under a large floor stone and contained the vestments. They are made from Italian silk embroidered in gold. The vestments were hidden and buried underground to protect them from Cromwell's siege of Waterford in 1650. This is the most complete set of vestments from this time period. The museum had many more displays. Next we went back to Reginald's Tower. It was completed by 1280. It is amazing that this tower had so many uses. From a protective tower for the city, a mint, military storehouse, the location of the wedding of Richard de Clare and Aoife, a prison, and finally a museum. It is amazing to know that this tower has stood for more than 745 years. In England and Ireland many buildings have these disks to indicate the significance of a building or location. This one was for the writer of the dozens of stories about a detective. A dozen movies have been made from those stories.  King Richard II's armadas landing.  The Irish flag was first displayed and flown here in Waterford.  We were thirsty so decided to stop in Reg's, a pub directly behind the tower. Then we took a walk around town finding more of the wood carvings. Found a new pub for dinner then back to the hotel. Up and going early. Picked up a cup of coffee then we headed for the train station. Our train takes us to Limerick Junction to change trains and head to Waterford. The change in Limerick junction was easy. Along the way, we passed Tipperary. Off through more pretty countryside. Train to Waterford, Irish Rail, Killarney to Limerick, 7:45am-9:19am, Limerick to Waterford, 9:45am to 11:30am Our trains were very nice and fast. There were not very many passengers. We have planned to visit several museums here. It was late afternoon so we decided to find a pub or restaurant for dinner after a walk along the river. It is amazing how clean the streets and sidewalks are here. Later in the middle of the night we will find our why. Not only do they regularly run street sweepers but they have a sweeper specifically designed to clean sidewalks. This is a pretty cool city. Reginald's Tower is over 1000 years old. WOW! The Christ Church which was built on the site of the marriage of Richard de Clare, 2nd Earl of Pembroke ("Strongbow") and Aoife the daughter of the King of Lester. There were some pretty amazing displays in the church. They have carved Viking styled columns in several places. We walked to a restaurant for dinner at the Granville Hotel. In Ireland, that is something special. Most people eat at pubs and only go to restaurants as a special occasion. We walked back to our room. The weather has been great and we hope it will stay that way.
|
AuthorWe are a couple who have started on a new adventure... Archives
May 2025
Categories |
RSS Feed