May 18 & 19, 2015

May 19, 2015

Today is the second and last day at sea.  We didn’t go to breakfast until almost 9 (but it was really just before 8 with a time zone change done a day early). 

The CCTV channel revealed that the ship was on a course of 131.1, east of Bridlington, England, travelling at 18 knots.  Knot is a 17^th century way of measuring sea distances and is equivalent to 1.852 km per hour.

The outside temperature was 8 C with a North 15 km/hr wind, cloudy with a 30% chance of rain. The North Sea has white caps and 1 .5 meter swells. We had breakfast with Ann and Gail from Florida.  Next we got our coats and walked on decks 17 and 18 in the wind with some periods of sunshine. For most of today we will be seeing different sizes of oil rigs since we are travelling through the North Sea oil fields.  By 11 am, the temperature was 10 C with a 24 mph wind. We took a break to get a copy of the purchases charged to our ship account.  From our Deck 10 to Deck 5 it is 94 stairs. We had accumulated 8,089 steps. When we returned to the stateroom we found our disembarkation forms and baggage tags. After a snack at the Horizon Court buffet we went to a lecture on ship navigation and then to an hour of dancing in the Piazza to Eric and the Royal Princess show band.  We stopped at the International Café for frappés.  At 3 p.m. the ship was in the North Sea west of Amsterdam, going 15 knots on course 192.5. The temperature was only 2 degrees higher at 10 C and the wind was blowing at 35 mph.  There were very dark clouds in the west. We met Karen and Peter for afternoon tea at 3:30.  After tea, we went to the Piazza to watch Brendene in a choir of over 50 passengers singing songs from the Sound of Music movie also celebrating a 50^th anniversary this year.  The group cocktail party was held in the Wheelhouse Pub at 5 pm.  We ordered a Pimm’s Cup cocktail, using Pimm’s Liqueur and gin, which our son had recommended that we try.  At dinner, Brendene and Brian received congratulations on their 42^nd wedding anniversary from the tour company, Carlson Wagonlit.   

The tonight’s dinner started with a tian of crab, scallops, shrimp with caviar (paté) appetizer. The soups were by goat cheese & apple cold soup or hot roasted tomato cream soup.  The entrées we chose were Filet of Beef Wellington with mashed potatoes, glazed carrots and spinach mousse or Lobster Tail & King Prawn with rice and asparagus. Dessert was Chocolate Pistachio Mousse with Almond sauce and coffee or tea.  There was no dancing until 9 in the Vista Lounge with Rick Kilburn Quartet which only drew about 30 people, with 6 or 7 getting up to dance.  Peter and Karen were there and we arranged to meet in the morning since we are taking the same tour to Honfleur, France in the morning.  Total steps 16,839.

May 18, 2015

We are anchored in the Firth (fjord) of Forth at South Queensferry, Scotland (west of Edinburgh) and will be tendered to the pier.  The morning temperature is 8 C, the sky was cloudy with a gentle breeze and there a 100% chance of rain today. After breakfast, we got our tour stickers in the Princess Theatre, then boarded the lifeboat to tender to the South Queensferry’s pier. We passed under the 8,296 feet long steel Forth Railway Bridge. Completed in 1890, the Forth Railway Bridge replaced a specially designed ferry boat used for transporting railway coaches across the Firth. One of the admiralty stipulations for the bridge was that it needed to be high enough that the Firth was still navigable for large ships. It was the first all steel railway bridge in the world. The tide was low as we stepped on to Hawes Pier and walked about 300 meters to get to street. There was pipe and drum quartet, in kilts, playing as the passengers walked up the dock to the awaiting tour buses. When we returned back to Hawes Pier, almost six hours later, the tender was just a small distance from the shoreline due to the high tide and it was a much shorter walk to the lifeboat. We chose a tour of Edinburgh and its medieval castle.  There was a light drizzle as we walked to the bus driven by Ryan and Mike was the guide. The 19^th century Scottish writer, Robert Louis Stevenson, while living in Edinburgh, visited South Queensferry as a child several times.  A legend tells that a ship grounded near present day South Queensferry in the 1060s. Fleeing William the Conqueror, the ship carried English royalty, including Margaret, sister of the young English King Edgar Atheling.  Margaret married King Malcolm III of Scotland in 1070 and later improved the ferry crossing the Firth of Forth with a few more boats and proclaimed that pilgrims and the poor should receive free passage.  Her son, David, one of her eight children, had a chapel built in her memory in Edinburgh Castle. The chapel is the oldest building within the castle walls. Queen Margaret was later canonized in 1250 and is a recognized in both the Catholic and Anglican churches of Scotland.

There are artifacts, from the first century A.D., that prove that the Romans did get to Scotland and called the area Caledonia.  Until the 15^th century, the Scottish capital was wherever the King’s court was located.  Eventually, Edinburgh was declared the capital of Scotland.  It is a merchant, trade and finance city, but besides distilleries, there is no industry in Edinburgh.  The old town of Edinburgh was enclosed within Edinburgh Castle.  In 1766, more room was needed for an expanding population so the British parliament passed an act to approve a new town planned on a grid system, which included Princes Street, Queen Street and Charlotte Square. This New Town is a mix of Georgian and modern architecture.  Our guide, Mike, related that Edinburgh came from the name Dùn Èideann, in Scottish Gaelic, meaning fortified hill of Edwin. The stone for the buildings comes from three quarries in the area. As we drove through Edinburgh we viewed Fettes College, a panorama from Leif Bridge, St. John’s Church with Edinburgh Castle barracks in the background, Edinburgh Castle from a distance, Edinburgh Bank with its green dome, Walter Scott memorial, Waverley Bridge, Waverley train station, the Balmoral Hotel with its clock tower, Robert Burns memorial, a 15^th century Tower House, Holyrood Park and the 21^st century New Scottish Parliament Building not far from Holyrood Palace. Holyrood Palace is an official residence of the British monarch. Our bus was able to overlook Edinburgh from Arthur’s Seat and view the historic Royal Mile stretching from the baroque style, Holyrood Palace to Edinburgh Castle, with its many different architectural styles due to damages from the many battles fought at the castle. Edinburgh Castle and the Royal Mile are located on an ancient Volcano plug. A light rain that lasted about an hour started to fall as we drove through the Arthur’s Seat Holyrood Park. From Holyrood Park, we drove up the Canongate toward Edinburgh Castle as the cobblestoned street slightly widened near John Knox house and went past Greyfriars pub in the Grassmarket area viewing the lifelike statue of Greyfriars Bobby, a Skye Terrier. After the dog’s owner died in 1858, the little dog remained at his grave in Greyfriars Kirkyard for more than decade being cared for by local residents. Our coach stopped and we were given directions to a meeting place on the Esplanade, just in front of Edinburgh Castle.  Then we walked through the gatehouse, where on either side of the entrance from Esplanade, facing outward, are two large statues - Robert the Bruce on one side and William Wallace on the other side.  Once inside, we were given another commentary about the castle, in the rain.  Fortunately, we were wearing hooded raincoats and had an umbrella to share. We had about 90 minutes to explore the castle.  We were lead up through Old Town to the 15^th century Crown Square, the principal courtyard, and waited 15 minutes in line to get into the Royal Palace to view the Crown Jewels.  James IV was presented with the silver-gilt scepter by Pope Alexander VI in 1494, then when remodeled in 1536 was topped with a polished rock crystal globe, the silver-gilt handled sword, decorated with oak leaves and acorns, was presented by Pope Julius II in 1507 (Julius II commissioned Michelangelo to paint the ceiling of the Vatican’s Sistine Chapel.), and the crown, made from Scottish gold, was first worn by James V for the coronation of his wife, Queen Mary of Guise, in 1540. The crown was remodeled from a damaged previous crown and contains 22 gemstones, 20 precious stones as well as freshwater pearls from Scotland's rivers.  The three objects are collectively called the Honours of Scotland and have an interesting history of being hidden and found. Also on display was the Stone of Destiny, or Stone of Scone, returned to Scotland in 1996, from centuries in London, where I think we saw it in 1985 under the coronation throne at Westminster Abbey.  On the way out of the Royal Palace, is the tiny ground floor room where the future James VI of Scotland (1567) and later James I of England (1603 when Elizabeth I of England died), son of Mary Queen of Scots, was born in 1566. James I was the king that Guy Fawkes unsuccessfully schemed to kill in 1605. November 5^th is celebrated annually as Guy Fawkes Day to commemorate the failed assassination attempt. 

The Crown Square is surrounded by four buildings: the Royal Palace, dates back to the 1400s; the Great Hall, with its hammer bean ceiling/roof was completed in 1511; the Scottish National War Memorial built in the early 1920s and Queen Anne building from 1708 rebuilt in 1933 as a museum. With the rain stopped for the time being, we walked along the Half Moon Battery with its cannons and took pictures of the city below.  We saw the one o’clock cannon being readied for later in the day. Then, we located the 12th century St. Margaret’s Chapel, built by King David in memory of his mother, Queen Margaret. The chapel is the oldest building within the castle, which in the 18^th and 19^th centuries, was used for gunpowder storage. It is a private chapel for the royal family with a capacity of just 25 people. We stopped and browsed in a couple of castle gift shops in order to warm up from the cool wind and damp weather. We were back to the Esplanade by noon and saw the changing of the guard by the drawbridge just as Peter and Karen’s guided group arrived at the castle.  As we walked back to our bus along part of the Royal Mile, we passed St. Giles Church.  On the site of a former church, St. Giles Church was the second building on this site and had been completed when in 1385 there was a small fire.  A church has been on this site since the 9^th century.  It has a crown steeple that reminded me of the one in Paisley, Scotland several days ago.  Over the centuries, many chapels have been added to the original church. John Knox was the church’s minister from 1559 to 1572. As we retraced the drive along the Royal Mile, it was mentioned that the Grassmarket Area was where public hangings took place until the mid 18^th century and it was the market square which included slaughter houses. Steps  4,037.

On the drive back to South Queensferry, there was another rain shower, but people still visiting Edinburgh Castle reported hail there.  After arriving back at the Hawes Pier, we decided to wander up High Street and look around for a café, since it was after 1 p.m.  We had great views of the firth and took pictures of the railway bridge with the ship in the background. The South Queensferry map showed another shops area, so we wandered through streets and paths to find a strip mall containing a pub, billiard hall, convenience store and a small grocery store.  We bought a used novel and returned to the High Street by a pathway along a ravine back to the High Street, where we selected a cozy café called the Jitter Bean Café and Barista.  We had cappuccinos and dessert. Our step count was 10,648. Then we returned to Hawes Pier to catch a tender back to the ship.  Across from the pier is an interesting collection of five buildings, dating from 1683, called The Hawes Inn. We only waited ten minutes for the next tender and found that Peter and Karen were on the same boat.  We made a quick stop at our stateroom to remove our coats then met Karen and Peter for afternoon tea.  Before dinner, we met them in Vines for pre-dinner wine.  You can order a sampler of three two ounce glasses of wine called a flight.  There are several wine combination choices.

At dinner Trudy, Eisa and Evangeline were missing.  We ordered Wild Mushroom tartlets as appetizers, then mixed greens salad with cherry tomatoes and shredded beets. The entrées chosen were Prime Rib beef or Orange Roughy fish.  Dessert was Orange Grande Marnier Soufflé or Black Forest cake.  Ed was presented with a small retirement cake & card since he recently retired.  The maitre D’ reminded our tables that clocks would be advanced one hour overnight in preparation for Wednesday’s visit to Le Havre, France. After dinner we encountered Peter and Karen as they left the comedian, David Copperfield’s show early. The 8:15 Princess Theatre show was a Celine Dion tribute performed by Tracey Shield.  Later when we were in the Piazza listening to the Soul Classics, Brian and Brendene came by with disembarkation information for Thursday.  Our meeting place would be the Wheelhouse Bar at 6:30 a.m. then take a bus from Southampton cruise terminal to Heathrow Airport.

During the evening there was an announcement from the captain to advance our watches and there was a note on our pillows also to remind us.  Tomorrow we will be travelling along England’s east coast until we reach the English Channel then proceed east and south to Le Havre, France.  Total steps for today 15,532.