BLOG #2:  FROM TILBURY TO LE HAVRE

Our first stop was in Tilbury, United Kingdom.  This is the closest port to London and most people from the ship booked tours into that famous city.  As we didn’t feel like a long drive on a bus, we simply took the shuttle into Tilbury itself, so that we could shop for toiletries, etc.

Tilbury is the port closest to London and has been around since Roman times.  I don’t know what it was like two centuries ago but now Tilbury is a very depressed and depressing town with most of the buildings in the main area boarded up.  The only thing open Tuesday morning was a rather seedy convenience store and an even seedier pharmacy.  Apparently, this port town fell on hard times after container shipping replaced freight handlers and stevedores.  Returning to the ship for an afternoon nap was definitely the highlight.

On Wednesday (Sept. 29) we docked in Zeebrugge, Belgium.  We took a 20-minute taxi ride into the centre of the city of Bruges (a UNESCO World Heritage city) and, on the advice of the taxi driver, took a city tour on a mini bus with clear glass sides and a clear glass roof.

The contrast from Tilbury could not have been greater.  Bruges is an incredibly beautiful city with wonderful architecture.  I wished we had had more time to explore, but we had to return to the ship so Betty could make her appointment with a hair dresser at the ship’s spa.  Fortunately, this service is free to passengers who frequently sail on Oceania.

Betty got a call Wednesday night from the airport in Amsterdam.  Our luggage showed up on Wednesday, and now the logistics of getting it from the airport to a constantly moving ship has to be solved.  It is possible that we may get the luggage in Cobh, Ireland on Monday Oct 3.  Nonetheless, I wonder if getting our clothes next week will be all that much of a benefit.  With the quality of the food and wine on the ship we may no longer fit into any of them.

The dinner menu in the Main Dining Room changes daily.  Each morning the menu is available on TV and then one decides whether to eat there in the evening or score a reservation at one of the specialty restaurants (where the menus do not change).  Another little change in technology from our last cruise is that one no longer needs an identification card to board or leave the ship.  Security is handled by a facial recognition device, which I suspect is also reading one’s temperature.

Modern architecture is not something that I usually find particularly pleasing, yet when we docked at Le Havre Friday we took a shuttle to the city center to The Volcan Cultural Center. This area was designed by the famous Brazilian architect Oscar Niemeyer as the focal point of the city.  Featured are two buildings, the theatre and the library, which are supposed to represent volcanos.  To me they seemed more like derelict nuclear plants.  Perhaps I have finally found some buildings that are even more ugly than Antigonish’s Credit Union.

We continue to enjoy life aboard.  Last evening we opted to skip the musical performance in the theatre and instead, sipped pre-dinner wine while enjoying the string quartet.  This was followed by dawdling over a 3-hour meal, shared with two American couples, in the Grand Dining Room.  Tonight, we get our first meal of the trip in Toscano’s, the Italian restaurant.  I have already decided to follow lobster risotto with a plate of veal picada. 

 

 

FIRST TRAVELBLOG FOR THE FALL OF 2022

The start of any extended trip can be stressful, with a myriad of last-minute preparations, airports to navigate, and a thousand and one little aggravations.  Nonetheless, things usually improve and the rewards of visiting new places keep us awaiting our next venture.

The start of this trip was no different.  As most of you know a robot gave Betty her second new knee in late July and we wondered if she would be ready to travel in September.  However, her surgeon gave approval, provided she flew business class (didn’t budget for that). 

The plan was to leave Halifax on Sunday, Sept. 25 and fly to Amsterdam as the first stop of a 43-day adventure.  That almost didn’t happen as Hurricane Fiona hit Nova Scotia on Friday night.  The eye of the storm passed directly over Antigonish, leading to the lowest barometric pressure ever recorded in Canada.  The winds peaked at 179 kph.  Lots of damage in Eastern Nova Scotia, but we escaped with minor damage to our yard and garden. 

So right on schedule we left Antigonish with downed trees and power lines and no expectation of having the lights on anytime soon (power did return to our house on Monday night).  After an uneventful flight to the world’s worst airport (Toronto) we sat on the tarmac for almost an hour as Toronto didn’t have enough ground crew to gate planes.  We almost missed our flight and were the last persons to board.  Our luggage, however, didn’t make it and we don’t know how we are going to manage without very many clothes or toiletries.

We stayed overnight in Amsterdam where it is very wet and cold.  In the evening we ventured out in the rain and walked to a “hole-in-the-wall” Italian restaurant where we had the comfort of great pastas washed down with copious but thin house wine.  Apparently, tipping is not common here.  I added a small tip (small enough to anger a Canadian waiter) to our bill.  Our server than asked us to stay and she then brought us two free glasses of limencello.  None of the other diners received this wonderful drink.

We made it to the ship Tuesday morning and it was a great feeling “to be home”.  The first thing was a lunch in the buffet.  Betty’s cane was immediately spotted and a server came to accompany her and carry her food.  The server remembered her from our last cruise on this ship (2019) and apologized that she couldn’t remember Betty’s name.

After lunch I made a dinner reservation at “Jacques”, the wonderful French restaurant.  Betty is hesitant to accompany because she is embarrassed that she will have to wear the same clothes that we she has been wearing for the past 3 days.   Assuming our luggage doesn’t miraculously arrive we may have a look for new clothes in the onboard shop.  We were told when we checked in that we had a special 25% discount because we arrived with no luggage.  For now the ship is providing toiletries.

Because this is our free cruise we don’t get the normal complementary wines.  Thus, I pre-ordered 14 bottles of wine for the next 14 nights.  I did this to get a discount.  Now I have the interesting challenge of matching my food order to the wine, rather than matching the wine to what I am eating.

Our washroom seems to be well equipped and the picture below suggests we won’t run out of toilet paper anytime soon.