I know, I know, I haven't been publishing the blog for the last few days.
I did hope to be able to post when we were away, but either the connection was so either so slow as to be unacceptable or unacceptable expensive.
Never mind, The Man and I are back now.
Wednesday October 10 2012
Overnight the Marco Polo sailed us back
to Tilbury. By the time we had finished breakfast the tugs brought
us alongside and we were tied up at the the wharf. What a lovely blue
sky day we have to welcome us back to England.
We'd packed out cases last night and
only had to add the last minute bits and pieces, and disembark.
It was an easy walk to the bus stop and
from there to the local train station. Within an hour we were back at
Crystal palace and the first load of washing was under way. It didn't
take long to tidy up and stow everything away.
Tuesday October 9 2012
When hadn't realised when we booked our
trip, just how far apart the expected destination were, but as mush
of our travelling between them was overnight we hardly noticed it.
If we thought Hamburg harbour was big
and busy we were amazed to see just how much industry there was in
and around the harbours we have seen over here.
It was a very leisurely cruise into
Antwerp. There are so many tours we could do from the ship, today's
is a trip up the canals of Ghent. So we hopped onto the pre arranged
coach for the short 30 minute run to Ghent.
The canal boat guide was very
knowledgeable about the history of the buildings alongside the
waterways. A tea house here that was also known as the house of lust.
The Castle of the Count, that never played any defensive part in
Ghent s history. It fell into disuses, and later housed factory and
today is a museum. Next our guide pointed out an Augustine monastery
,where the few monks aged between 104 and 39 continue to make beer in
a traditional way.
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| Our young tour guide |
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| Part of an historic Teahouse, also known as The House of Lust |
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| Castle of the Count |
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| Goodnight and goodbye |
The tour included an hour or so free to
wander around the centre of the old town and to buy some of the
famous Belgium chocolate. Yummy , it was very nice too.
Of course parts of the town could be
anywhere if you looked at the range of modern stores, but we did
manage to find some more authentic parts.
An hour was not enough, but we did find
a small café across the canal from where we would pick up the boat
again. In our fractured French we ordered coffee and apple strudel,
which in reality turned out to be apple pie. But it was nice.
All too soon we were on our way back to
the ship.
We have had excellent entertainment and
tonight line-up was no different. The Marco Polo performers gave us
their interpretation of the Freddie Mercury musical called We will
Rock You.
They are a very talented group of young
performers. All to soon it was time for bed, not forgetting to put
our clocks back an hour to get us back to British Summertime
Monday 8 October 2012
We could get used to this lifestyle.
As I write The Man and I are sitting in
the little library of the Marco Polo watching the passing scenery.
Tiny picturesque villages, steeply gabbled roofs and church steeples,
give way to ploughed paddocks and fields of fruit trees. Occasionally
a more modern dwelling sit in stark contrast to historic châteaus.
And behind them all steep limestone cliffs, occasionally bare of
trees show their very straight striations. Not like at home where
most exposed cliffs bear witness to great upheavals in the earth's
crust. And all this accompanied by coffee, scones warm from the
oven, with jam and cream Hows that for decadence? Now though we have
come back down the river Seine and past Honfluer on our way back into
the North Sea. passed under an amazing bridge that had the roadway
suspended by wires, when it was built it was the biggest in Europe.
When we woke this morning the ship was
in Rouen. And we had a relatively early start, for us that is, as the
tour I had booked us onto was set to depart at 0830. Was more like
0900 when it did , but that is OK. Who watches the clock when you are
holiday anyway?
The weather makes us feel at home, a
bit overcast and drizzly. But a bit of water never hurt anyone and
besides we had out brollys didn't we.
The bus took us onto the heart of the
old market town, where we were met by our guide, Martine. She
introduced herself to us with her delightful French accent and
referred to Rouen as 'her town'
Brolllys erected we followed her
around, snapping pictures of old buildings and being suitably
impressed at the age of some of them, Rouen was very hard hit during
the war, and the French people themselves dismantled all the town
bridges so that they could not be used by the occupying Germans. A
great deal of the historic town was destroyed by allied bombing,
again we were told to try to halt the German advance. There has been
a lot of rebuilding, but in the old style. Here and there you can see
where parts of the old have been incorporated into the new.
It was a bit disappointing that the
famous cathedral of Notre Dame was closed to visitors, but we were
nonetheless impressed with the grandeur of it. Our guide told of a
Sunday morning in 2009 (at least I think that is what she said) when
one of the mini spires which sit at each corner of one of the main
spire collapsed and fell down into eh chancel. No one was hurt as it
happened a couple of hours before the regular Sunday service.
The church of Joan of Arc was open
though.
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| Joan of Arc Church |
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| Notre Dame |
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| Decoarted door arch at Notre Dame |
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| Notre Dame |
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| Garden at rear of Notre Dame |
As we approached the entry Martine pointed out the site where
a nineteen year old Joan of Arc was burned at the stake. Modern
though the church is the townspeople have taken it to their hearts as
it is now the home of a collection of beautiful old stained glass
windows. With incredible foresight, the windows were removed from the
church they were created for, crated up and sent far away for
safekeeping. They were later displayed in a museum. Incorporated into
the modern church their glory is displayed again in a place of
worship. Martine made us laugh when she related how sometimes during
Sunday sermons the priest needed to cough discreetly to bring the
congregations attention back to his words.
We only had a couple of hours in Rouen,
but it was enough to get an impression of this historic town. Which
despite the rain The Man and I enjoyed immensely.
Tonight's entertainment was a
comedian/magician who had us in stitches with his jokes and called
The man up on to the stage to help him with a rope trick. Somehow The
Man was unable to use the scissors he was handed to cut the rope.
Sunday 7 October 2012
There was a tanker in front of us
through the channel out of Amsterdam that the ship missed its tide
opportunity to come into the Seine. So what does that mean to us?
Its a bonus really as it means that
were get an extra stop at Honfleur today docking at 1530 and stopping
there until after the witching hour. So we will go and have a potter
around the historic town and then while we are sleeping the ship will
take us in to Rouen. Very nice.
Shuttle buses took us from the ship to
the centre of the town As this was an unexpected stop we did wonder
if the small town would be closed up.
But it was bustling. Across the small
river we spotted a large area of parked camper vans, that we walked
through on our way back
The market was set around a pretty
inner harbour where many small pleasure boats and yachts, their masts
decorated with bunting added to the colourful scene. As we approached
a small crowd who were gathered around a stage, here we are all the
way over in France,and what is the first bit of music that we hear
but the skirl of pipes. Not only that the quartet were most suitably
attired in their kilts. Perfect. Well those of you who know me will
be well aware of the fact that I do love a man in a kilt.
We wandered around the quayside until
we found a café with a few empty seats where we sat with our coffee
and crepes to watch the world go by. Over on the other side small
children were having a ball climbing up a land based set up of ships
rigging, their squeals of delight at reaching the top to ring the
bell rang out loudly over the water. Fed and watered we continued out
saunter, through a flea market with way over the top prices, and then
past some very arty shops. We would have loved to have had the
finances to buys some of the art works. One store in particular
captured our imagination. It displayed many sculptures incorporating
glass and metal. The beautiful glass violin in the window, its metal
bow being played by a small brass hand was amazing. Words do not do
it justice. Pride of place on one wall was a stylised peacock formed
of multiple circles and semi circles of brass.
Brilliant entertainment tonight with
the Marco polo performers rocking and rolling and making us wish we
had the energy to get up and join them
Saturday 6 October 21012
An interesting first night on board. It
can take a bit of time to get used to sleeping in a different bed.
That combined with a bit of rocking and rolling at about two o'clock
this morning made for an interesting night.
When we went down for breakfast we
found that the ship was making its way along the long canal towards
Amsterdam. Built on the banks if the river Amsterdam..
We joined the queue of fellow
travellers, passports in hand, and pretty soon our feet were walking
on Dutch soil. We needed out brollys to begin with, but not for
long.. By the time the big red tour bus had got to the diamond
exhibition the sun was shining. And the diamonds were sparkling. We
watched the craftsmen polishing and mounting the stones for a while.
The price of some of the finished pieces would be enough to buy a
small car.
I wanted to visit the Van Gough
museum, but the location had changed and we were a bit far away form
it. So we caught the next Big red tour bus and hopped off a bit
further along its route.
With a couple of hours to spare it was
interesting to do a bit of people watching.
Between the tall buildings we spotted
what looked like a flea market, rows of gazebos. One thing that took
us by surprise was the number of stalls openly selling cannabis
lollies.
Yes you have not read it wrong. Lollipops laced with the
stuff. But then Amsterdam is a very laid back and promiscuous city.
Once through the market area we realised that we
With very little parking space much of
the population gets about by bike or by the very efficient public
transport. Had literally gone around the block. Still with plenty of
time to spare, and keeping the huge impressive front of the red brick
central railway station in out sights it was easy to work out way
back towards where the boat was moored.
When you look at a map of the city, it
appears as though there are as many canals as road. In fact in one
brochure I read it called it Venice of The North, and has over 1000
small bridges.
We had to be back on board by three for
sailing at four.
After dinner the ships entertainment
troupe put on an all singing and dancing show to the music of that
great foursome Abba. What an excellent way to end an evening..
Friday 5 October 2012
Well its today when we are off on our
very first cruise. Hard to believe that we have gotten to our time of
life without gong on one I know but it really is our first. Wont be
the last hough.
We have become so blasé about
travelling that we didn't do any packing until this morning.
And we travel really light,just a small
case each and even then they are not full.
So off to the local station and into he
city to get the train from Fenchurch Street Station and off we go.
My cousins son met us at Tlibury Town
and drove us to the cruise terming. Where we boarded the Marco Polo.
With sailing set for 1700 we had time
to unpack the cases and explore the ship and orientate ourselves.
Had a txt from cousin Andy saying they
were at the wharf at he back of the ship. So off we went and waved
at the people in the red station wagon, we thought maybe they hadn't
seen us. Until I had another txt from them saying that they had got
cold waiting and gone home. No wonder we didn't get a wave in return.
There was a bit of rain as we left but
it didn't dampen our spirits at all. We watched the coast recede, and
coffee in hand we went and sat in the library and watched the coast
go past.
After a very nice buffet tea we made
out way to one of the lounges to watch the nights show. Which was
songs from The musicals. Great live entertainment,
so here we are back in our comfy cabin,
well fed and watered and getting ready to to hit the hay. In the
morning we will be in Amsterdam. Not forgetting to put our clocks
forward and hour.
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| Can you see the harbour Pilot clamberign on board? |
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