May 16, 2015
Today is a day
at sea. We didn’t go to breakfast until
almost 9. The outside temperature was 6
C with a slight wind and mainly cloudy sky. We had breakfast with an English
couple and woman from British Columbia.
We are sailing between the Outer Hebrides and mainland northern Scotland
in a strait called The Minch. This morning there is a gentle swell to the
water. Much later today we will enter
the Pentland Firth which is known for strong tides and currents flowing between
the Atlantic Ocean and North Sea in a channel about 12 kilometers wide. The
voyage could be rough.
To pass the
time, we went to the Princess Theatre to watch a 45 minute documentary on a
brief history of Europe from Roman Times to the fall of the Soviet Union. Then
we went to deck 17 to walk for 30 minutes before going to deck16’s Horizon
Bistro for Hot Chocolate. There was merchandise - watches, necklaces, scarves,
t-shirts and clutch purses all priced at $10 - set up in the Symphony Dining
Room. Then we went back to walk some more. On the way we stopped to chat with
Peter and Karen, then Brian and Brendene. Returning we met Dave and Trish when
they were waiting at the Wheelhouse Bar for the British Pub theme lunch today.
Then we went back for another walk of the Sports Deck and found that the wind
was stronger, as we rounded a corner into the wind we slowed down quickly and
were almost pushed backward. There were
white caps on the waves and the ship was rolling slightly even with the
stabilizers extended to their maximum seven meters on each side. Steps so far
were 8,663. We went to the Wheelhouse Bar for today’s British Pub style lunch.
After lunch we strolled on the boutiques deck and chatted with Ken before going
to the Piazza to sip cappuccino and watch the Irish Dancing lesson. The people
had to be careful to keep their balance when they put their foot back on the
floor, since the ship seemed to be rolling more. We got our cameras and went
out on deck 7 and took pictures of the cliffs of northern Scotland with the
winds strong, the sky overcast and the temperature about 11 C. I cannot find a
channel on the CCTV where the current weather conditions are available. Steps
10,309, We then went to the Concerto Dining Room for afternoon tea. We had Earl
Grey tea, several different kinds of tiny sandwiches, a variety of small
dessert slices and then scones with a choice of strawberry jam and whipped
cream. We sat with Eleanor, who had been on the ship since it left Fort
Lauderdale, Florida 21 days ago and a couple from Southampton, England, from
where we started. We walked along deck 5 and found Peter and Karen in the Vines
wine bar and then returned to the stateroom to get dressed for the final formal
evening.
By 5 pm, we had
entered the North Sea, past the most northern point of mainland Great Britain,
the village of John o’ Groats, and then we were heading south along Scotland’s
east coast. As we walked to the dining room, we stopped at two photographer’s
stations to pose for photos. At our table tonight were Ed and Linda and Trudy
and Eisa. When the photographer came to
our table we asked that the six of us and the other three couples from our
group pose together for a group picture and mentioned that it was unfortunate
the Karen and Peter were not here to be included in the picture. The dinner
tonight started with Twice Baked Goat Cheese soufflé and Cream of Wild Mushroom
soup. The entrées we chose were Seared scallops with citrus juice and white
wine reduction with julienned vegetables or cocoa spiced rubbed Pork Tenderloin
with eggplant, zucchini and truffled mashed potatoes. Dessert was chocolate
trio of 3 cm by 3 cm squares of chocolate cake, chocolate mousse and chocolate
torte with amaretto ice cream and coffee or tea. We skipped the show and sat in the Piazza and
spoke with a woman from Peru whose husband and brother in law had both been in
the Peruvian military and were killed during the political upheavals. She spoke
very good English. The New Deal band was
plying Beatles and Rolling Stones music in the Piazza. We chatted with Peter and Karen and later
with Trish and Dave. Then Larry went to the casino, one of the few times that
it was open on this trip and I caught up on journal entries. At 9:30 p.m. the temperature was 8 C with a
north wind of 40 mph. Tomorrow’s forecast is for 12 C for the high, 20mph WSW
winds and 60% chance of rain in Invergordon and Inverness. Total steps 14,026
May 15, 2015
We are further
north today. We are docked at Greenock, Scotland. This harbor is from where my
ancestors sailed to Montreal, Canada in 1824 leaving Lanarkshire in the
Scottish southern uplands. We will be checking stores for the family tartan,
but it is sect of a larger clan and the tartan was hard to find when we were
last in Scotland in 1985. The morning temperature is 5 C with very little wind.
There is blue sky but lots of thin wispy clouds. After breakfast, we walked
down the gangplank. There was a huge mural on the cruise terminal exterior wall
welcoming visitors to Scotland. There was an information booth in the terminal
and they were out of Glasgow maps, but assured us we could get one in
Glasgow. Glasgow is Scotland’s largest
city situated on the Clyde River. We did have two maps of central Glasgow to
use. In just 20 minutes of walking, we were at the train station to catch a
train into Glasgow, the second largest city in the United Kingdom (after
London). There were a few dozen people leaving the ship at the same time, some
walking, others taking a bus to the station. The fare was just £6.90 return, about $13 Canadian each,
to ride into central Glasgow. If we had booked the trip to get to and from
Glasgow by the ship’s organized bus shuttle, the cost would have been more than
$85 each and we would have had to stay in Glasgow for seven hours. Steps 3,532.
There was free WiFi on the train, so Larry got caught up on emails, since his
tablet is working. During the 45 minute commute, we passed fields of grazing
sheep along the way, near Paisley.
Paisley had an interesting church steeple showing above the trees. It
looked like it could be several hundred years old. However, it belonged to the Thomas Coats Memorial Baptist Church in
Paisley which was opened in 1894. The church was built in memory of one of the
founders of the thread maker, J & P Coats Ltd. Later I found out, that steeple
style is called a crown spire and is 60 meters high. We arrived at and later returned from
Glasgow Central Station on track 15. It is a nice clean large station with
shops and cafés. Track 15 was the
furthest track from the main entrance, about 500 meters. We could not spot an information booth in the
main lobby of the station and headed out to find the information office at 170-174
Buchanan Street. No luck, but we spent
about half an hour looking and even checked a map on a street corner and it
showed another information booth location, but that one was also
invisible. We did get a chuckle, when we
saw the GoMA, the Gallery of Modern Art, building at Royal Exchange Square and
the Duke of Wellington statue in front of it, which was erected in 1844. GoMA was originally a wealthy 19th
century’s merchant’s mansion. This morning the rider and the horse both wore
orange safety cones on their heads, a normal state for the statue over the
decades. There was even a “Keep the Cone” campaign in Glasgow in the fall of
2013. We walked around Buchanan Street and St. Vincent and St. George’s Square
and took pictures, including the City Chambers building, completed in 1888. We
stopped and bought some souvenirs of Scotland, shot glasses for the kids and
tartan hair barrettes for my brother’s granddaughters. We walked through
Queen’s Street station, then, finally giving up on finding the information
kiosk, we used our own bare bones map to find Cathedral Street and go to
Glasgow Cathedral. It was a great day
for walking. At Castle Street, near the
cathedral was a massive building that was the Royal Glasgow Infirmary. It
originated in 1794 and has had many additions and renovations over the
centuries. As we approached the Glasgow Cathedral, in the garden in front of it
was a statue of David Livingston, a Scottish Missionary explorer. In the mid
1800s, David Livingston explored central and southern Africa and in 1855
”discovered” Victoria Falls. Not far away is Provand’s Lordship, the oldest
house in Glasgow built in 1471. At one time it was used as a hospital and is
one of just four remaining medieval building to survive in Glasgow. On the east side of Glasgow Cathedral is the Necropolis,
first planned in the 1830s, it is a 37 acre Victorian garden cemetery situated
on a low hill. There is a lovely wrought iron gate, painted black and golden, beside
the Cathedral, that leads to a path that crosses the "Bridge of
Sighs" to the main cemetery. On the opposite side you encounter the
Entrance Facade for a tunnel no longer used. Below the bridge is a deep ravine
which is a roadway now. You can see the 1914 section of Royal Glasgow Infirmary
from the Necropolis. Among the many statues in the cemetery is one for the founder
of the Presbyterian Church in Scotland, John Knox, erected in 1825. He was
Minister of Edinburgh from 1559 to 1572. We spent about 30 minutes walking
along the wandering pathways before investigating the 12th century Glasgow
Cathedral, consecrated in 1197. It is the only Scottish cathedral to survive
the Reformation unharmed and has beautiful post World War II stained glass windows. The area is believed to be where St.
Kentigern or Mungo had a mission. He was the Bishop of Glasgow who died in the
7th century. His tomb is under the Quire section of the cathedral. A small
donation of £2 is suggested to view the Glasgow Cathedral interior. The Quire
Screen or Pulpitum, was added in the late 1400s and separates the Choir from
the Nave. The Quire section, which is over 800 years old, has an intricate
wooden ceiling with coats of arms at junctions. When we left the cathedral, we
had walked 9,758 steps. Next to the cathedral was the Glasqow Evangelical Church
and, across the street, is the 1889 Barony Parish Church, now used for some
University of Glasgow ceremonies. We walked along High Street back toward the
River Clyde, passing Rottenrow street which dates to Roman times. The street
name changed to Saltmarket at the Glasgow Cross intersection where the street
to the west is Trongate and to the east is Gallowgate. Over 500 years ago, this
area was a market. Glasgow was never a walled city. Nearby is the Tolbooth
Steeple, on a traffic island at Glasgow Cross, built in 1627 was part of a building
that housed the city clerk’s office, the council chamber and the city jail. The
building was demolished almost 100 years ago. Our step count was 12,759 as we
decided it was time for lunch. We turned down Trongate and found the Rose and
Grants café. Claire chose cappuccino and a tuna salad sandwich and with his IRN-BRU
soft drink Larry ordered spicy Tuscan sausage sandwich. Author Ian Rankin’s
fictional detective, Inspector John Rebus, often drinks Barr IRN-BRU, so we
were interested to finally taste the refreshing non-alcoholic orange beverage.
Revived, we returned to Trongate and sauntered through the Argyle Street
pedestrian mall back to Glasgow Central train station and caught the 2:06 train
back to Greenock. On the journey back, a light rain started, but not enough to
discourage an hour long wander around Greenock.
At McLean’s Museum gardens, we spoke to a cyclist who told us about a
self guided walking tour of 22 historic sites and said the museum would have
the guide book. The museum had only an old copy and gave us direction to the
newsagent down the street who had lots of the free booklet, Greenock Town
Trail. The town has been a main port since the 1700s and was a target in the
World War II bombing raids of Britain. We photographed the Sheriff’s
Court built in 1869, Union street with St. John’s Episcopal Church in the
foreground looking at St. George’s Square, the Mansion House built in 1886 and
the Tontine Hotel built in 1807. Claire’s
ancestors may have passed the hotel in 1824 on their way to their ship to Lower
Canada. The last building that we photographed was the Glebe Sugar Refinery
built in 1765 to process raw sugar cane from the West Indies of the
Caribbean. As the rain got heavier, we
stopped at a bakery for a takeaway coffee and pastry before returning to the
ship. Our step count when we boarded the ship was 20,654. We danced in the
Piazza to the Rick Kilburn Quartet, before dinner, then we met Peter and Karen
at Alfredo’s on deck 6 for pizza. While
they were exploring today, Karen found a couple of family history booklets, on
my father’s Scottish family, that she gave to me. Dinner started with Sangria
and an appetizer of Italian cold cuts or Minestrone soup then pizzas and for
dessert Tiramisu. Before the ship left Greenock harbor, the captain announced
that the next 24 hours could have rough seas due to a storm front coming as the
ship navigates past Cape Wrath at the northern end of mainland Scotland. The
ship will be travelling at a faster speed until it turns east to go through
Pentland Firth. After dinner, the four of us went to the show violinist Michael
Bacala from Poland. After the show the outside temperature was 7 C and the wind
was north 24 miles per hour.
Total steps for
today 21,903.
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