Late, late Sunday, August 31

Our first day at sea

August 31 brought us our first day as sea as we travel to Copenhagen.

The pictures are: (the pictures will not upload, will try tomorrow)
Barb and Claudia, our casino host at the slot tournament.
Barb playing video poker for the first time – and probably the last time.
Barb writing in her travel journal
This is what you see from our cabin deck – just the sea, but what a sight.

It is the first time that we have ever been on a cruise where it was too cold to lay out on the deck with sun tan oil on. The day was bright and clear but it was just a little cold to lie out.

So we did the next best thing – we slept, ate and ate and gambled.

Ed was up and ate breakfast while Barb slept in. We joined our friends for lunch and stuffed ourselves. Then it was on to the slot tournament where both Barb and Sheila qualified to be two of nine for the finals. Sheila didn’t place and Barb came in second. First paid $500, while second brought Barb some Carnival “stuff”. Ed didn’t make it to the finals.
We went to ABBA dancing and then played bingo. Talk about relaxing. Then we played a session of gambling and did great.

The evening was eating, going to the show and then gambling till 12:30; but, we have to turn the clocks ahead one hour so we had better say good night because the next stop is Copenhagen.

From somewhere at sea!!!

From somewhere at sea!!!

Wow – doesn’t that sound wonderful?

The pictures are:
The church built in 606
Inside the church
The Borough Market
Departing the Port of Dover
Barb at the pool on the Lideo deck

We started our first day on the cruise by getting up early in London and taking the tube to the London Bridge stop. Just outside that stop was a church that was first built in 606. It is now a Cathedral serving the south half of London. An amazing church to see and read the history on its walls.

Then we went to Borough Market. This is the largest outdoor food market in London and it was huge. Every kind of food you can imangine and also flowers that were very beautiful.

Almost every one of the booths had samples to try and we spent the next hour eating our way around the market.

Following the market, we took the tube back to our hotel area, which was at the corner of Hyde Park and walked down and back on Oxford Street, a very main shopping area.

By that time it was noon and it was time to be picked up and taken to the ship.

After a 2 hour ride with our friends from Florida, we arrived at the Port of Dover and our ship. It is the largest one that Carnival has built and there are 3,200 guests aboard but the ship is so well laid out that it does not seem crowded

Our check-in was slower than normal because their computers were down and everything had to be done by hand, but after a half hour we were in our cabin – a 10th floor balcony cabin.

Our dinner table was perfect, a round table for 8 in the first level of the main dinning room, the Black Pearl. Our table mates are a couple from Vermont and a couple from New Jersey along with our friends, Bob and Sheila from Florida.

Barb and I then went to the casino and met the new casino host, Claudia, and she seems very nice. We had fun in the casino meeting everyone on the staff and finally crashed about 12:30am.

This morning brings clear skies and cool enough that no one is wearing a bathing suit to

day. It is going to be a wonderful day at sea. Bye for now.

Thursday and Friday, August 28 and 29

London and Paris – we saved the best of the first week for the last two days.

The pictures are:

The town of Windsor as we got off the train.

Windson Castle

The Cathedral of Notre Dame

The Louve

On Thursday, in London, we started out by taking the train to Windsor and visiting Windsor Castle which is the home of the Queen during the weekends. It is undesirable it is so beautiful. We took a tour with a guide and then spent another couple of hours just exploring on our own. Because the Queen is in Scotland for these two months of the summer, they let you see the State Rooms and some of the areas that are normally off limits.

Then we took the train to Hampton Court Palace which is the largest Palace in existence. It was wonderful, but after seeing real working palaces, if was really just another historical sight.

Then up till 11 wandering the streets and eating out. We finally went to bed because we had to get up at 4:30 am to catch the train to Paris.

Paris on Friday – wow.

We took the EuroStar high speed train and we didn’t even realize that we had gone under the English Channel. It was totally first class and very smooth – a wonderful train ride. They served us breakfast also.
In Paris, we first went to the Cathedral of Notre Dame. A beautiful sight but after seeing St. Peters in Rome, all other Catholic churches seem small and almost plain and they are, by comparison.

Then it was on to the Louvre which cannot be described except to say it would take weeks just to go by every exhibit and read the information they have. We saw the high lights like the Mona Lisa and some other famous paintings and sculptors and then left for a walk along the Left Bank where all the artists are. Saw some wonderful things.

We then took a boat ride along the Seine River and then on to the Eiffel Tower. They had closed the very top but we went to the second level and could see for miles.

Paris is really a beautiful city and we really enjoyed our day. It is so different, bright and lively compared to London.

Anyway back on the train, dinner and back to the hotel to pack for the cruise.

See you later!!!

Wednesday August 27

For our Wednesday in London, we got up early and were the first to get to Buckingham Palace with hundreds more!! Anyway, the Palace is only open for 2 months in the summer when the Queen is in Scotland. We spent three hours walking a huge number of state rooms. These are rooms that are actually in use the other 10 m0nths of the year. They had a ballroom set up to hold a dinner for 78 and it was amazing to see.

The pictures are:
Westminster Abbey
Tower of London
Outside the Pub - the Audley

They we went to Westminster Abbey. This is the main church for the Church of England. It is very much like a Catholic church except more people buried in and under the Church than you can ever imagine. It is so beautiful to see inside. It will hope 8,000 for a major event and all the coronations are held in this church.

From there we went to the Tower of London, one of the biggest castles in London, maybe the biggest. We had a Beefeater take us on an hour tour that was really fun. From there we saw the Royal jewels that are kept there, including the largest diamond in the work, over 500 carets!!

Then it was on the Eye – this is the new Ferris like wheel on the banks of the Thames River. It takes ½ to go around and each capsule is air-conditioned and holds 25 people. It is over 400 feet in the are at its peak.

Then we ate at a local pub, had desert at the hotel with our friends from Florida.

On the way back, stopped by the local Corvette/Land Rover dealer. The new Z06 sitting in the window is priced at $125,000!!

Didn't get to take it for a test ride.

Well we are about to crash – what a great day.

Tuesday - August 26

Tuesday evening of the first week.

Well after our first nights sleep we awoke to a typical London day, they told us.

It was very cloudy all day, 70 but too cold for shorts.

The first pictures is of the House of Paliament ane Big Ben.

The second picture is lunch.

The third pictures is at Kensington Palace.

The fourth picture is out friends from Florida.

We started out day with a tour starting at the top of Wellington House, walking down and around Buckingham Palace and to the House of Parliament where we had tickets to get it.

They only allow tours of Parliament when Parliament isn’t in session and what a spectacular time we had. We toured the House of Lords first and then the House of Commons. We were actually right on the floors of both houses. We also went into the rooms where the Queen puts on her crown before addressing Parliament. Everything was over the top to say the least.

Then we took the tube to St. Paul’s Cathedral, which is the largest in the United Kingdom, but is only ¼ the size of St. Peters in Rome. But, it was still impressive. We
did not climb the 536 steps to the top.

Another tube ride took us to Kensington Palace were we could go into 30 of the State rooms, which were used in the time of Queen Victoria. The other 430 rooms in the Palace are closed as member of the Royal Family still live there.

We met our friends from our first Rome trip who got in today from their home in Florida and went out to a very old English Pub. Barb had fish and chips and I had bangers and mash – it was fun.

That’s all for tonight a big day tomorrow.

Wow – we are here. We left Chicago 2 hours late and made up an hour so we arrived on Monday at about noon, checked in and we started out on the streets of London. We traveled all about on the tube and had a ball. Finally finished last night with a trip along the Thames river was a blast. We had been up since 6am Sunday morning with a couple of hours of sleep on the plan. on a 2 hour walking tour, it

The pictures are:
Barb out side one of the entrances.

The front of the Marriott with 4 cars from the U A E all owned by the same person, a Lambrogannie( sp), a BMW, a Mercedes and a Bentley. It cost $14,000 to ship each car here for the week. The rich are rally different. I think that there are only a couple of Americans here at this hotel!

The view from our room.

Camden Markets

My first “pint” with St. Pauls across the Thames.

Gotta go – we slept for 9 hours and we have to go see the changing of the guard.

Europe 2008 Itinerary

Departing Bloomington Sunday, August 24 and returning September 11.

Staying at the Marriott Park Lane in London from 8/25 – 8/30.
Phone – 011-44-20-7493-7000

The pictures are:
The Marriott Park Lane
The ship - The Splendor - Carnival's newest


The Ship: Carnival Splendor Departs on Saturday, August 30.

The ships phone is 1-877-225-7447

It is a 12 day cruise of the Baltic from London (Dover), England

1 Sat -8/30
London (Dover), England Departing 5:00pm

2 Sun – 8/31
Fun Day At Sea

3 Mon – 9/1
Copenhagen, Denmark 8:00am - 4:00pm

4 Tue – 9/2
Berlin, (Warnemunde), Germany - 6:30am - 11:00pm

5 Wed – 9/3
Fun Day At Sea

6 Thur – 9/4
Tallinn, Estonia - 7:00am - 4:00pm

7 Fri – 9/5
St. Petersburg, Russia - arrive 7:00am

8 Sat – 9/6
St. Petersburg, Russia - depart 7:00pm

9 Sun – 9/7
Helsinki, Finland - 8:00am - 4:00pm

10 Mon – 9/8
Fun Day At Sea

11 Tues – 9/9
Fun Day At Sea

12 Wed – 9/10
Amsterdam, Netherlands - 10:00am - 6:00pm

13 Thur – 9/11
London (Dover), England - arrive 7:00am

Arrive home on American Airlines flight 3049 at 9:10 pm.

Europe 2008 - The first trip for the Blog and Barb is excited!!

Well - the excitement has started. This is a picture of Barb looking at one of the two binders that we have created about things to do and see on the cruise. Hopefully, by the start of the trip we will have figured out where we are going and what we are going to see.