Day 3, Sat, Oct 14
Our computer went down last night therefore we are writing this blog from home after the entire wonderful trip.
We met Mark and Nigel at noon and had a great lunch
at a local restaurant. Then we walked
about Paris with them and they showed us the sights that a tourist would not
know about and it was really fun. They
even took us to their flat. No question,
we could like there for an entire month and not get tired of their Paris.
After our walking tour, we went back to the hotel to
change clothes and then took the subway back to meet Mark & Nigel for
dinner. They took us to a beautiful
local restaurant where we spent the next several hours eating, talking and just
having a wonderful time.
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| Lunch in Paris |
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| Breakfast at the Marriott |
Day 4, Sun, Oct 15 - Paris until late night
Before we met Mark and Nigel in the morning, we went
to the Cathedral of Noter Dame and went to mass there. It was in French, but it didn't matter - it was very moving to be in such a great Cathedral for church in Paris.
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| The entry to Make and Nigel's home in Paris |
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| The Catherdal of Noter Dame |
After another wonderful lunch the for of us rented bikes and biked for a couple of hours in Paris, mostly along the River Seine!! For our trip to London by train through
the Chunnel, we were to meet Mark and Nigel at 5:30pm at the crooked house
outside the train station. We took an
Uber car there as it was ½ the cost of a London taxi and when we arrive, the
Uber driver helped us carry out luggage across the busy street right to our
meeting place.
Mark and Nigel were right on
time and helped us get though all of the customs, etc. and right up to the
business lounge where we able to drink and snack until it was time to board the
train for the trip to London. We had
been given a bottle of Champaign by the Marriott so we brought it with us and
Mark and Nigel brought sandwiches. Mark
went to open the bottle and it popped and sent Champaign over us and the people
in the seats across the aisle. Not much spray
and it was just so much fun when the cork really popped loudly!!
Arriving in London - When we arrived at the train
station, Mark and Nigel helped us with our luggage right to the hotel, which
was inside the train stations.
Words cannot describe the fun and friendship that we felt with Mark and Nigel. These are two people who we met on a cruise, enjoyed being with them and they invited us to join them at their weekend home in Paris. What an unforgettable experience - Thanks forever Mark and Nigel!!!
We
are requested an upgrade to the Executive floor and also a high floor as always
and this time and they said they did not have a room in the Executive floor but
did upgrade to a room higher than we paid for.
When we went to the room, we were very disappointed as it was small and
on the first floor but it was late; we were tired and just left it.
After
waking up and having breakfast in the Chambers Lounge we took off walking to a computer
store in London to see if they could work on Ed’s computer as it had gone down and
wouldn’t charge. We found the store;
however, since it wasn’t an English purchased computer, they couldn’t work on
it. As we had been to several places, we
finally gave up on getting the computer fixed and would not be able to do the
blog.
So
we took the subway back to the hotel, left the computer there and took another
subway to Kensington Palace to see a display of the clothes and life of Princess
Diana which was very interesting. She
was very tiny and Barb could have worn her clothes.
Following
that we walked back up to the subway and took it to the London Tower Bridge
where we had a personal guided 1 ½ tour of the bridge on how it was built and
its history. It was a very fascinating
tour.
After
that we walked along the water front and the sky was a very unusual because of
a hurricane in the north and also sand blowing in from the Sarah desert. It was beautiful
Back
we went to the hotel to clean up and meet Mark & Nigel for dinner in their
neighborhood. It was a wonderful dinner
and afterwards we walked for about an hour, including visiting their home. What a wonderful time we had with them over
the past several days. Barb and I had Avocado
and Shrimp appetizer and a main dish of seared tuna and it was amazing. Mark and Nigel each had a whole Sea
Bass. Mark and Nigel were very enjoyable
to be around and they really taught us a lot about Paris and London and we were
honored to be with them for the long weekend.
After the walk we said our final goodbye for this trip and went back to
the hotel and crashed for the evening.
Day 6, Tues, Oct 17 – London
We
had a good night’s sleep and woke up slowly and ate breakfast in the Chambers
Club and walked to the subway. We had
only one destination in mind, Burroughs Market, one of the all-time great food
markets and eating destinations in London and we had been to it on each of our
former trips. Also, Barb wanted to buy a
new Burroughs Market burlap bag to use for grocery shopping. Prior to going into the market, we also
visited the oldest Gothic Church in England and it was beautiful.
We
took the subway to Burroughs Market, walked around, bought a market bag for
Barb and ate before leaving to go back to the hotel. We took an Uber car to the station where a
tall muscular guard carried our bags into the station. The station did not have carts to put bags on
so the guard told me to go to the train masters office which I did. We
ended up having a wonderful lady driving a big “tram” as she called it, take
our bags directly to our train before anyone boarded, put the bags onboard and
stayed around and talked with us until it was time for everyone else to board
the train – what a delight.
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| She took us on her tram to the train |
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| Loaded and ready to go |
We
were on the train to visit more friends, Maurice &
Astrid’s who we had also met on a cruise for an overnight stay at their
house. The train ride was about 1 hour
long and when we arrived at the station, two passengers took part of our
luggage and carried them into the station where Maurice was waiting for us. We piled our entire luggage into his Mercedes
and we drove to their home.
What a delight to see Maurice and Astrid once again
as the last time had been on a European cruise in 2010. They were wonderful and their house really,
nice. We had time to relax with them until
dinner time when they had invited a neighbor couple to join us for a wonderful 3
hour dinner.
It was so much fun, just sitting around the dinner
table and their living room taking about travelling and catching up on a very
old friendship.
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| Tea with Astrid |
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| The dinner table is set |
Day 7, Wed, Oct 18
We woke up to the smells of a very English breakfast
being cooked by Astrid & Maurice and it was really, really good, including having
crumpets!! They even had a crumpet
holder – very proper British!!! Maurice
and Ed walked to the corner grocery store to buy some Pepsi for the trip. This could have been anywhere in the US,
except we were walking in England – we are so blessed. By 11:00am, it was time for us to say goodbye
to Astrid and for Maurice to take us 1 hour south to board the Celebrity Eclipse. It was sad saying goodbye and we certainly
hope that we will be able to see them in the future.
Again, words cannot describe the love and friendship we felt between us. It is simply amazing to think that we met this couple 7 years ago on a cruise and here we are once again with them and in their home. We have said it before and we will say it again - Barb and I are truly blessed to enjoy this experience. A long life and good health to Astrid and Maurice - they are what you would picuture as the perfect, proper British couple and we are so fortunate to know them.
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| Astrid and Maurice at breakfast |
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| Barb with Crumpets |
Checking in was a breeze and by 1:00pm we were on
the back of the ship having lunch with our friends from New York City, Jeff and
Vera. Our last cruise with them was the 2016
July 4th cruise to Bermuda.
It was fun catching up and going over our plans for the next 10
days. Basically, we planned to eat,
play blackjack, sightsee, eat and do it all over again.
Day 8, Thu, Oct 19 - At Sea
We woke up to a cold and raining England day which
everyone expected. The good news is that
we were heading south to warmer weather and sunny skies. We had breakfast, Ed exercised and then we walked
around the deck and did basically nothing until lunch which we had at the main
buffet with Jeff and Vera. The buffet was
very crowed as you could not sit outside in the cold weather.
Then we went to play in the blackjack tournament;
however, it wasn’t held as there were not enough players. So we played a casino session and neither of
us won. Later on, we watched the dance
band in the foyer and then went to the show where a comedian performed who wasn’t
all that good.
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| Afternoon snack |
Next was dinner which was good, especially the
service from the waiter and we made sure that we could have that same table each
night. Then into the casino where Barb
won because she didn’t play and Ed lost a little. We were in bed by midnight and hoped to see
sun the next day.
Day 9, Fri, Oct 20 - At Sea
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| At sea |
For our second day at sea and the weather was
warmer, but not warm enough to sit outside on the deck – what a bummer. Ed exercised, had breakfast and then we
simply walked around. We had lunch with
Jeff and Verna in the main dining room which was the first time we did lunch in
the dining room like this on any cruise, but we had lots of time to spare.
Then we went to the casino where Barb broke even and Ed lost a
little. We all went to the Rock ‘n Roll production
show and while it was a little too loud, it was a good show. Dinner was of course good and then we went to
the casino were we both did well.
Day 10, Sat, Oct 21 – Overnight at Funchal (Madeira), Portugal
Ed woke up early, before dawn and ate breakfast and went to the gym. The sun was out and we were eager to get off
the ship finally as we were docking in Maderia, Portugal at 1:00pm. What a difference 24 hours made as far as the
weather was concerned.
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| Arriving |
The four of us took
a cab into the main town and walked to a restaurant in an old castle area that
Jeff and Vera had found and had a great lunch.
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| Where we ate lunch |
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| Lunch |
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| Lunch |
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| Lunch |
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| Lunch |
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| Lunch |
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| and more lunch!!! WOW what a meal we had |
Then we walked through the old port town where we were to meet a guide
at 4:00pm; however, he did not show up.
When we called him, he said out tour had been scheduled for 10:00am the
next day. We had confirmation that it
was this day; however, he was not there so there was nothing we could do.
Day 11, Sun, Oct 22 - Funchal (Madeira), Portugal
For our second day in Madeira we went into the city for our walking tour
at 10am and spend the next 2 hours waling around the city and enjoying hearing
about its history – it was a good tour.
After that we all took a taxi to a local finish village about 30 minutes
away and had a great lunch. We took a
cab back to the ship at 3 and immediately changed into our swimming suits and
went up to the sun deck to sit in the sun – wow did that feel good just
relaxing on the deck.
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| Starting our walking tour |
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| Walking the streets |
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| Of course Barb needs a scraff |
We went the show, which was a mini-cabaret show of the singers from the
cast, then had dinner at a specialty restaurant with Jeff and Vera called Tuscan
and it was very good, plus the fee was paid for by the casino. Then we went to the casino where we both won
and were both up for the trip so it was a great feeling to be ahead.
Day 12, Mon, Oct 23 - Tenerife, Canary Islands
Day 13, Tues, Oct 24 - Lanzarote, Canary Islands
Day 14, Wed, Oct 25 – At Sea
A great day at sea – Ed exercised, ate breakfast and
then we laid out on the deck, ate lunch, played a casino session, saw a magic
show, ate dinner, and then went to the casino – a very predictable day at sea
in warm weather.
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| Cruising the coast |
Day 15, Thur, Oct 26 – Vigo, Spain
Dinner was with our Host Dee and Duane the Casino
Manager as their guest in the specialty restaurant Tuscan again and we had a
good time for 2 ½ hours eating. laughing and renewing old friendships – it was
a fun time. It was the first time we
have ever had dinner on a ship with just the Host and Manager and we felt very privileged
to do so. The show afterwards was a
singer who was ok and then we went to the casino where Barb was down a little
and Ed was even. They had a prize
drawing and Barb won a very nice bracelet.
Day 16, Fri, Oct 27 – At Sea
As we feared, we were now close to England and the
weather was terrible.
We slept in, Ed exercised and then came back to the
cabin were we snoozed in until time to go eat lunch with Jeff and Vera at the
main buffet where we spent a couple of hours with them just slowly eating. We went to our room and then to the casino
where we were both up nicely. The show
was a Cirque type of show and it was very good.
Our last dinner on ship was quite good and then we went to the casino
where we played our longest time, 2 hours and Barb lost just a little and Ed
broke even. We are up very nicely for
the trip and one of our better casino runs.
We hugged a lot of the casino staff and said our goodbyes to them and
went to bed on the last night of a wonderful cruise.
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| The Casino Manager Duane and Dee our Casino Host - what great fun we had in one of the best casinos at sea!! |
There is no question that the highlights were the
visits with old friends, Mark and Nigel and then Astrid and Maurice and we will
always be grateful for their sharing their world with us.
Then of course what a fun time we had on the cruise
with Jeff and Vera and in 60 days we shall be back cruising with them again.
Day 17, Sat,
Oct 28 –
We arrived at Southampton and were off the ship be
8am to meet our driver with Jeff and Vera for the ride to the London airport.
The flights on Delta were very good and we were home
by 11:00pm to a very cold house. But it
was a great trip and good to be home.
