Livin’ my best cruisin’ life

 We had a terrific day today! John’s Kings Point classmate , best man, and our long-time friend, Ty, drove from outside Edinburgh to Oban with his beautiful wife, Julie, to spend the day on the ship with us! It was as if no time had passed since our last meeting-conversation was great-we had so much catching up to do! Hopefully, they will visit us in Florida!

 Yesterday was a Dutch holiday-King’s Day-and a great excuse to wear anything orange!

 This morning the mist obscured this lovely island as we sailed in and anchored outside the port. We were here several years ago in the summer and I remember the mystical feeling of this part of Scotland. It is very green from all the rain that threatens-and does- fall every day. Because of today’s cold and bad weather we opted to stay on board. Here are a few pictures from the ship.

 Unfortunately I’ve spent the last few days sick in bed and it’s been so cold in Norway( around 40-45 degrees) that I haven’t posted anything! I managed to take a few pictures as we were going through the fjords and it was really lovely. Fortunately John and I have been here before, so we really didn’t miss too much.

 As I toured the city, I remembered a few places from our visit several years ago- the Vineland Park, the Viking Museum, the Kon Tiki Museum. However, there were many areas of the city that I didn’t remember and I’ve included pictures here-the Opera House, downtown buildings, the yacht basin.

 This morning John was up early and got a picture of the most beautiful sunrise. As we made our way through the Oslo fjord, I took some photos of the lovely islands we passed.

 A few more pictures-cherry trees in bloom, the Queen’s Quay, and some street scenes.

 Another lovely European city! It was in the high fifties today but very sunny. I took the tour bus around town since I’ve been here before. The Danes seemed to think this was a summer day-cafes were crowded and people were in shirtsleeves! I took some pictures-the Little Mermaid statue in the harbor, a statue of Hans Christian Anderson, the Nyhavn section of the city, a sculpire of a baby outside the hospital.

 

 Today we visited these amazing gardens outside of Amsterdam. These are billed as the most beautiful spring gardens in the world and that is probably true! Approximately 7 million flower bulbs are planted in the gardens annually. The flowers are mainly tulips, but many other spring blooms are here too.

Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of Holland America. To celebrate, all the ships in the fleet had a gala dinner. Our ship also celebrated with a huge party on the Lifo deck, which featured hundreds of tulips, a fabulous band, a huge cake. In addition the President of Holland America flew in to speak to us and to spend a few days on the ship. 

 Exciting day today! We took the train to Bruges this morning to meet our long-time friends, Jean Marc and Christiane Dufour. The train ride took about 15 minutes and was quiet and comfortable. I wish we had trains like this in the US! After meeting our friends, we took a canal ride through beautiful Bruges. It was fantastic-but cold! Temperature was about 45 degrees and it was overcast-not so pleasant for this Florida girl!

 I took at trip to Foodtown in Dover to pick up some lovely British snacks for the room. While I was there, I bought something to commemorate the coronation next month. You must have something for the coronation-I’m only sorry I didn’t buy the tablecloth and napkins too!

 We made an unexpected stop here-our original port was Le Havre but, due to the dockworkers’ strike, we had to skip this French city. John and I had been to Dover before, since it’s the port in England for Oceania cruises. At that time we walked on the white cliffs and were moved by the plaques commemorating the Battle of Britain. Obviously this is a very historic area-I’ve included a picture of the castle where Eisenhower set out the plans for DDay. Since it was Sunday, we found a local pub, had a drink, and wstched football.