North to Alaska!

In July we are finally going  north to Alaska!

This trip has been put off a few times because of illness in the family but we are looking forward to July 2 2016.

We are going to Alaska to see bears up close and personal.  Maybe not too close:

 Vancouver Island, Canada to see whales:

 and the the Rockies for the view:

And Yellowstone NP to see the thermal pools:

 And the Grand Canyon NP for the river:

Of course, our photos will be better!

Day 53-Stonehenge-8 July

Our last day!

Disembarked the ship and caught a tour bus to Salisbury Cathedral, Stonehenge and Windsor Castle. 

Salisbury Cathedral is huge and used for 1,500 services a year. It wasn't damaged in WWII but way back when Henry VIII decided to reform churches and ordered the destruction of the windows and statues. Many have been restored.
A little bit of English Mist:

 The cloisters:

 The leadlight windows were superb:

The Cathedral holds one of the 4 remaining originals of the Magna Carta dating from June 1215. It is considered to be the birth of democracy as it stresses that everyone had to treat people fairly and no one was above the law.

The Cathedral also has the world's oldest working mechanical clock from 1386.

Stonehenge was great. It didn't bother us that you couldn't get close to the stones because it meant you could get photos of the stones without people around them. Ominous grey clouds rolled in making for some spectacular skies but it didn't rain till we got back to the bus.

We went to Windsor to see the Castle but didn't visit it.

Passed Runnymede on the way to Heathrow.

We were delivered to Heathrow terminal 5 to catch a 9:30 pm BA flight.

Didn't get much sleep on the plane. We arrived in Sydney at 6am after a 28 hr flight. 

Day 52 - Le Havre - 7 July

Walked into le Havre to pick up our pre organised automatic Renault Scenic from Europcar and drove to Giverny to see Monet's House and Garden.  Ronnie drove while I navigated using the excellent, free GPS in the car and maps to be safe.

We parked 250m up the road only to find free parking next door to the gardens. Had lunch at La Capucine cafe then toured the gardens. The water lilies were in bloom as were many of the other flowers. It was looking beautiful.

 Monet lived in the house for 43 years from 1183 to 1926 and the house is as it was when he left it. One surprising thing to us was that Monet owned 230 Japanese woodblock paintings all by about 6 artists.  He obviously loved them.  Ronnie has a print of one of them on the wall at home.  On the walls are also reproductions of Monet's works as he had them when he was alive.  The originals are at the Musee Marmottan-Monet in Paris.

 The main gardens have various espaliered fruit trees (about 900mm high) and perennial flowers.

  The water gardens, accessed through a tunnel under the road, were superb with flowering water lilies and the beautiful Japanese bridge made famous in his paintings.

A fantastic day.

We intended to visit the Musee d'art moderne Andrew Malraux in Le Havre but it was closed. We returned the car and walked back to the ship.

Very rough seas and rain tonight.

Day 51 - At Sea - 6 July

At Sea from Edinburgh to France via the English Channel.

Sailed past wind farms and oil rigs and we we had a view of the land from both sides of the channel at various times. We had great weather and the seas were calm.

Day 50 - Edinburgh - 5 July

Edinburgh.

View from our balcony:

Tender to Queensferry then train to Edinburgh to see the National Museum of Scotland (yes, it does open on Sunday! I just checked.) 

Stairs to train:

Path on the way to train:

We were tendered to Queensferry on the south side of the Firth of Forth then we walked to the Dalmeny train station and caught the train to Edinburgh.

We had lunch on the steps of the National Museum of Scotland before visiting it. It poured while we were inside but it cleared as we emerged to walk the Royal Mile.  So lucky. We caught the train back to Queensferry and the tender back to the ship.

Day 49 - Inverness - 4 July

Inverness.

11- 18 degrees our first really rainy day.  But it should clear.

Inverness:

Fly fishing for Salmon on the River Ness right in Inverness:

Clava Cairn, ancient burial cairns built about 4000 years ago set in a beautiful glen (Scottish for valley.)  Some of the stones that originally formed a domed roof have been removed over time, probably for stone walls on the surrounding farms:

 Rail Viaduct made of sandstone blocks:

Cawdor Castle the original part of the castle was built in 1325.  It has been continuously lived in by one family and is still lived in today.  Beautifully preserved and maintained castle and gardens:

 The draw bridge:

We had been to Loch Ness before but this time we visited the end closest to Inverness.  This is the canal that connects the River Ness to Loch Ness via a Lock!

We had a wonderful lunch at the Dores Inn on the shores of Loch Ness:

 The northern end of Loch Ness:

Tall ship in Loch Ness! And Urquhart Castle as well, on the point in the middle of the picture.
I put this in because of the incredible sky:

Loch Ness, the tall ship and Urquhart Castle up close:

Serenaded by a Scottish band as we departed:

Big celebrations tonight for the 4th of July because it is an American ship. They recognised Canada day but in a subdued way.

Day 48 - At Sea - 3 July

At Sea.

Swapped the data sim to the iphone 5 and can now connect to internet when we are near land. 

Don't know why we kept struggling with the iphone 4.

Day 47 - Glasgow - 2 July

We are going to tour the area south of the port of Greenock today. The locals have won awards for their promotion of Inverclyde and we thought we'd support them. 

"Inver" means "the mouth of" and the Clyde is the River that Glasgow is on. 

Looking over the Greenoch port and residential area. One of the ladies said "It's a pity it's not a clear day. You'd get a beautiful view on a clear day."

The driver looked over at the view and said "This is a clear day!" 

Cloch light house designed by Tom Smith and his son-in-law Robert Louis Stephenson. 

Gourock has a long association with the US, Canada and French from the war and has many memorials. It was an ideal hopping off point to Europe for naval  convoys from here. They still have nuclear subs here.

Day 46 - Belfast - 1 Jul

Going to the Giant's causeway today right along the top of Northern Ireland.

This links, geologically, with Staffa Island off Scotland. 

Then carrick-a-rede rope bridge. 80 feet above the sea. (No photos yet as I couldn't get service) 

Back via the Antrim Coast and Glens. 

A very nice 22 deg C today, 

This is the Dunluce Castle which was abandoned when 6 kitchen staff died when part if the castle fell into the sea. 

Lunch in Ballycastle.

Bally means town so you would expect there to be a castle in the town but there isn't and never has been. Very Irish!!!

Withdrew money from ATM here and it was North Ireland Pounds! Rushed into bank (which closes at 1pm on Wednesdays) to exchange them for good old GBP. Phew. 

Beautiful scenery on the way back to Belfast. Sheep are their mainstay for farming as the land isn't fertile or good enough for crops. Big sheep and not many Suffolk. The fishing isn't as good "as the old days". 

One of the guys at our table last night was celebrating his nigh day and he got a special cake for dessert which he shared with everyone. Since there were only five of us we had a good serving. Double dessert! Very nice way to end Canada Day. 

Day 45-Liverpool

We did a tour with a U.S. family of four from Liverpool to North Wales via the tunnel under the Mersey.

We climbed the 13th Century walls if the town of Conwy to get a great view of the Conwy castle.

Train utilising one of the original entry points:

Had lunch at Tu Hwnt l'r Bont Tearooms, Llanrwst -the "little house by the bridge" built in 1480 as a residence then the bridge was built in the 1636 by Inigo Jones. The Ivy house was then used as a courthouse and now it is a tearoom.

We had Welsh rarebit which is just cheese and ham on toast and scones and jam and cream (not clotted cream). Mum makes better scones!

Then we went to Betws-y-coed. Pronounced Betsy-co-ed. Which means chapel in the wood. Which is in the Snowdonia National Park.

Back to Liverpool to see Port Sunlight an upmarket suburb that the Lever brothers built as houses for the workers in the Sunlight Soap factory in 1888. They also built art galleries and swimming pools for the workers to improve their lives.

 The Factory:

And Penny Lane:

The weather was a superb 27 degrees  and sunny. Our Guide was amazed at the beautiful weather as it lasted all day which is unusual in Wales. The locals in Liverpool can look over the Mersey and see Mt Snowdon.  They say if they can't see it, it's raining in Wales and if the can see it, it's about to rain!

Wind farm off Liverpool:

I think Tony Abbott will have to review his ideas on wind farms. They are everywhere I'm Europe and people are proud to be using wind power.