Trudy Myers's Blog, page 14

St Thomas & St John's

Friday, 11/11/22 - St Thomas

Our shore excursion for the day was Kayaking, Hiking and Snorkeling. We were a little nervous about it, because neither of us had ever been Kayaking. I was worried the hike might become a forced march for me, since I walk so slowly and don't have much stamina. But the snorkeling would definitely be fun!

The 'bus' was a truck with lots of back seats in it, and no doors on the sides. Also, no seatbelts, so one had to be careful not to fall out. The bus took us to the other side of the island, where we received 10 minutes of instruction on how to kayak. Then we were loaded into the kayaks, usually 2 to a boat. (One family of 3 put their young daughter in the middle, and there may have been one woman in a boat by herself, I'm not sure.) I was nervous getting in, but I managed it with lots of help from a couple of the guides. I was in the front seat. John sounded just as nervous, getting into the back seat. The dock was in a small inlet, and I dutifully paddled around, trying to get a feel for this new mode of traveling. But it seemed like every time I paddled, I bumped into somebody else's boat or some bushes. I didn't feel like I had any control over getting it to turn or stop at all.

Soon everybody was ready, and we took off. I paddled left, right, left, right... but the boat kept turning left. I wondered if it was because John and I were both right handed, and those arms would push harder. Then one of the guides realized John was having problems, and came over to give him a second belt to help hold him upright. That was nerve-wracking for me, since I had no idea what was going on behind me, and couldn't turn enough to look. We took off again, already far behind the others, but the guide stayed with us. John said it was uncomfortable for him to sit in the boat, and if he tried to paddle, he sank down into the seat. So... I was paddling alone.

We caught up with the others, for they had stopped to talk about the local flora and fauna, and I bumped into other boats again, still unable to stop. As soon as a guide started out again, I was right there after him, trying not to fall behind again. But we did, and when we finally reached the end point of the kayaking, everybody else had moved on to the hiking stage. John and the guide did that, trying to catch up, but I was pretty winded, so after 100 feet or so, I decided to turn back and go to the tent, where there was a picknik table and benches for sitting.

Before long, everybody got back, and it was on to the snorkeling. Unfortunately, John didn't have any water shoes, and when he took off his clunky shoes, he couldn't walk on the rocky beach to get in the water. Everybody else was already a quarter mile away, so we decided to pass on the snorkeling and waited for them to get back.

Because we had taken so long to kayak to the finish, they sent us back to the starting point in a motor boat, our kayak tied up along side of us. I kind of wanted to kayak back, but in hind sight, there wasn't enough time for us to move back as slowly as we had moved outward. We would have missed the bus back, and would have missed the ship.

We got back to the ship about 1:30, where we changed out of our wet(!) clothes and went to O'Sheehan's for a late lunch. I guess we didn't get wet enough that morning, because after lunch, we changed again and went to the hot tub. Later, we went to the buffet for supper. There was no show in the theater this night, so we returned to our cabin to watch some tv. I slathered on moisterizer, because I was sun-burnt from my head right down to the tops of my feet.

 

Saturday, 11/12 - St John's

For some reason, I woke up tired this day, getting up at 7. Our shore excursion wasn't until 12:45, so after we had breakfast, I laid down for an hour and felt much better. Then I went to the Atrium bar on deck 6 for a coke and to write, while John went in search of a quiet place to read.

We met at the cabin at noon, and went to find our excursion, titled A Taste of Antigua (the city we were in). They loaded us into 3 extended vans to drive us around a little bit and see some of the sites, then we were dropped off at a night club venue for the tasting bit. We were given a half glass of fruit punch to help refresh us as we found seats around several tables. We listened to some history of the island and were given tastes of 3 different ages of rum. We were also given some sugar cane, some local dishes and a native fruit called a sweet apple (which was not an apple at all. It had a slight similarity to a pomegranate, but with bigger seeds.)

After that, we were loaded back up on the vans and returned to the dock. Did not notice any shopping locations at or near the dock, so we didn't get any souvenirs. We rested a bit and then went to O'Sheehan's for supper.

After that, we went to the theater for a musical play about Elvis Presley, Johnny Cash, Carl Perkins, and Jerry Lee Lewis and the small recording company they all started with. I enjoyed it a great deal, since it was mostly early rock and roll. For that same reason, I don't know how John felt about it. Then back to our cabin to call it a day.

A day at Sea & Another Day at Sea

Wednesday, 11/9/22 - A Day at Sea

We were supposed to dock at Norwegian's private island on this day, but we were still trying to skirt around Hurricane Nichole, so it was a day at sea. We had booked a shore excursion for this day, but obviously, it was cancelled. After breakfast, I went to the gym and spent half an hour on a stationary bike. It had a screen on it, and you could choose one of several courses to 'ride' on. I chose Monument Valley. It was a little disconcerting to have a screen full of desert, and all around the screen was ocean and sky, as the bike faced a glass wall on the side of the ship. But I got half an hour done, and felt good about it.

Back to the stateroom, where I found John watching the election results. He grabbed the laptop to go do some writing, and I grabbed paper and pens to do the same thing. If you know John, you know he needs absolute quiet to write. We hadn't yet found the library, and the 'internet cafe' was a wide spot in the deck 6 atrium, which included a busy bar, a Starbuck's, music from the dance floor, and 6 desks where passengers could ask questions, make restaurant reservations, and so on. So much not a quiet place for him to work.

Later, we ran into each other at the Deck 6 Atrium bar, where I had gone to get a coke. Turns out Microsoft had decided our laptop needed an update, and wouldn't let us use Word until it had gotten the update. So the laptop was useless. He switched gears and started looking for a relatively quiet place to read.

Meanwhile, there wasn't any space for me at the bar to write (I don't need quiet), so I went to the pool area and managed to find a table there, but before long, it started raining on me, my table being in the open. We ran into each other again, and found the library, tucked away in a nook on deck 6. It was small, and doubled as the card room, and all four tables were being used for cards, so it wouldn't do for us. We went back up to the pool area, and then up to deck 16, where we found some chairs set up for people to use. Deck 16 also had the jogging track, so John decided to do some walking, and I worked on my writing.

Sometime after 1, we found each other again and went for lunch, which was not that memorable. After that, the sun had come out, so we changed and went to the hot tub for close to an hour.

About 5:30, we went to The Taste for supper. The Taste and Savor were 2 complimentary restaurants situated directly across from each other on deck 6. They were decorated similarly, and shared the same menu. We never had a problem with Savor, but unfortunately, this night in the Taste, the service was soooo slooow! We missed the 7:00 show in the theater, but we did get to the 7:30 show, where Sioblane Walsh did some fantastic Whitney Houston songs. By the time that got out, John (who is an early riser) was ready to sleep, so our day reached its conclusion.

 

Thursday, 11/10/22 - Another Day at Sea

This was another day at sea, but this one was scheduled as such. We went to the buffet for breakfast, where John got an omelet and lots of other protein. I got a bowl of grits with dried cranberries, pecans and brown sugar. I wanted cream of wheat, but their choices were oatmeal or grits. Afterwards, John went to do his walking, and I went to the gym to bike for half an hour.

We had done it again, separated without deciding when and where to meet. I went to the pool bar to write, and got a coke to drink. Later, I got a vodka and cranberry, which I thought would be a great combination, but... not so much. At 12, I went to try and find John for lunch. I didn't find him, but I wasn't hungry, so I didn't worry about it. We finally found each other and did some errands, had a drink each and listened to the music on deck 6. I think John had a mudslide, and I don't remember what I had. His mudslide looked kind of like a chocolate shake, and kind of tasted like it, too.

Then we went to the main dining room when it opened for dinner. We didn't realize they would have a 20-30 minute dance show in the middle of our meal. Apparently, it was to whet our appetites for the full version of the dance show that would be given several days later in the cruise. Anyway, the show started just as we were served our entrees, and it seemed that all service came to a dead stop when the dancing started. We were wondering if we would have to walk out without any desserts in order to make it to the comedy show being held in the theater. But luckily, we got to have our 'cake' and make it to the theater in time for the show. I even paused for half a minute to tell Ms Walsh how much I had enjoyed her rendition of Whitney Houston songs.

The theater show was late starting due to some kind of technical issues. When it did start, it was fun, and I was glad we had made it in time. There were 2 comedians, each lasting about 20-25 minutes. The first one was pretty typical and even good. The second one was... more on the odd side. He seemed to specialize in extreme movements, if you can imagine what I mean.

Getting to the Port & Getting to the Ship

Monday, 11/7 - Getting to the port

Another cruise! And this time, no long airplane ride to get to and from it, for this was a cruise of the Caribbean, where we've been several times. All we had to do was drive about an hour from our house to Port Carnaval. What could go wrong?

Well, we could wander around the city of Cocoa for about an hour before we found our hotel. Our computer-generated directions suddenly degenerated to nonsensical instructions, such as turn left, go 189 feet, turn right, go 50 feet. No street names, no landmarks... But we did have the address for our hotel, so once we got on the right street, and headed in the correct direction, we eventually found it and got checked in.

Once we got checked in and made arrangements for our car to be parked in a near-by parking lot during the cruise, we went to the ale house next door for supper. John was pretty happy with what he ordered, but the cook put chicken in my cheese quesadilla! I had to send it back for a re-do.

Well, back to the hotel to watch some tv. Not used to cable tv anymore, we managed to find reruns of a comedy we used to watch all the time, and watched about 4 episodes of it. At 8:30, John was ready to go to bed. (He's also an early riser.) Since he needs absolute darkness and absolute quiet to fall sleep, that meant I had to go to bed, too.

At 10:28, my phone went off with a severe warning for possible flooding within 36 hours. I confirmed that I'd gotten it and assumed it was due to Hurricane Nicole, which was headed straight for Florida.

 

Tuesday, 11/8 - Getting to the Ship

We got up about 7 and went to the lobby for our free breakfast. John was disappointed, as the only 'protein' available was yogurt, but we ate and made do. Then we took our car to the parking lot about 2 blocks away and walked back to watch a couple hours of tv.

We got another emergency warning on my phone, this one indicated Nicole was within 36 hours of our location. Then we got a text message from the cruise line that the ship was leaving early, and everybody needed to be aboard by 3:30 pm. We went to the lobby to wait for the next shuttle, which would be leaving at 10:30, an hour before we had booked rides for it, but they had room for us, so we got on.

Once we got to the dock and handed our luggage to the porters, we took a couple steps to get in the end of the line going into the building, which was about a block away. When we entered the building, the line split into 2 lines, and wouldn't you know it, the line they put us in didn't go anywhere very fast. Lots of standing and waiting while the other line passed us by. A woman in the other line fainted, and 2 or 3 husky guys carried her to the sidelines and got her some help.

Eventually, we got to the point where they would give us room keys and let us board the ship. BUT despite all the paperwork we filled out online in the previous 2 weeks, they still had one more form for us to sign. And John, being as cautious as he is, insisted on reading it before he signed it. He is not a fast reader, and it took him a long time to get it read, but finally we were able to get on the ship. It was about 12:30.

We only had 1 carry-on bag with us, but we couldn't get to our cabin to leave it there, as the cabins were not all cleaned yet. So we took it with us to the buffet and got some lunch. As we were finishing our desserts, they announced that the cabins were available now.

About 4:30, the ship started pulling away from the dock. Once we hit the ocean, the ship's motion was very unpredictable. At 5:30, we went to a bar to listen to music. At 7, we went to the theater to see 2 comedians. The first one was pretty normal, and fairly good. The 2nd was... strange. He seemed to specialize in extreme movements, if you can imagine what I mean.

About 8:30, we went to O'Sheehan's, which is an Irish pub located right in the middle of the casino. Since we were definitely out to sea by then, the casino was going full blast. We couldn't hear ourselves think, let alone talk. Then we called it a night, watched a little tv and went to bed.

A Rude Return Home

This week's blog was supposed to be about our recent cruise to the Caribbean (Suddenly, I've become a Travel Blogger?) But something happened when we returned home that I feel is more important. The flu.

We hear about the flu all the time, it's in the news every fall. And we usually just shrug and go about our business; it's something we all have to live with, apparently. It's just a fact of life.

But the flu is nothing to sneeze about.

It put my husband in the hospital for 2 days.

It all started on Friday, Nov 18th. The end of our cruise to the Caribbean. As soon as my hubby stepped off the ship, he started coughing. We thought it was his hay fever, which means his post-nasal drip was causing his coughing. By the time we got home about noon, he was coughing pretty non-stop, so we called the doctor.

They assumed it was his post-nasal drip, for which they had treated him all during October, and ordered a stronger nasal spray and a stronger decongestant.

Hubby coughed all night long, didn't get any sleep. In the morning (Saturday), he complained that the meds weren't working. He needed my help getting off the sofa to go to the bathroom. This was concerning, so I called the doctor's answering service to ask what we should do.

The next I knew, he had fallen onto the sofa, with his head on the seat and his knees on the floor. He wasn't hurt, but he couldn't get up. I couldn't get him up. So I called for an ambulance. The fire truck arrived first, of course, and the 2 men who came helped him get seated on the sofa while I answered questions for the woman who had come. Then the ambulance arrived, and the paramedics evaluated him.

Suddenly, "Okay, we're going to take him in now", and they were wheeling him out the door. I had to ask where they were taking him, hoping it was South Lake Hospital, because I knew where that was. That was the place. I took a deep breath, trying to settle my nerves, gathered what I needed, and headed out.

What I learned in short order when I got to the Emergency Room was that he had a fever of 104, his pulse was rapid, his breathing was rapid, he was dehydrated, his blood oxygen was low and he was low on potassium. I watched as they attached his IV port (which they had put in before I got there) to 2-3 bags of saline, a bag of tylenol and one of potassium. They swabbed his nasals to test for a variety of viruses. They x-rayed his chest. They hooked him up to a bi-pac (similar to but different from a c-pac) to help his breathing. They sent him for a catscan and sent him upstairs to be admitted.

All because of the flu.

Little did I know at the time, but I was fighting the flu, too. When I got up on Sunday, I was feverish, headachy, and coughing. I didn't want to wind up as sick as he was, so I needed to get on that tamiflu you hear about, and do it fast. How to do that? I drove myself to the only urgent care location I knew, and they weren't open on Sundays (which deserves its own rant, but not today). So I drove to the South Lake Emergency Room. They swabbed my nose and took my temperature, gave me some tylenol and confirmed I had the flu. I got prescriptions for tamiflu and a strong decongestant and was sent home. I took my first dosages and climbed into bed, with an alarm set to wake me up when it was time to take more pills.

Thankfully, we are both getting better. Hubby is home, still feeling weak and foggy-headed. I occasionally cough and can't exert myself much, but I've lost the headache and the fever. I ordered Thanksgiving dinner and went to pick it up yesterday, and that was almost too much for me. But at least I won't have to cook.

We are thankful we are managing to get through this illness.

But please, flu is not just a fact of life; it's a dangerous fact of life. Take care of yourselves.

Monday, 8/15 - Getting Home, Part 2

I don't think either of us got any sleep. The benches were made of cold, hard rock, and every time I started to doze off, somebody would walk by, and either their heels clattered on the floor, or the wheels on their suitcases were insanely loud. 

Sometime around 4, we got up and went to find the Canadian TSA place, which opened about 5, so we spent some time standing in line in order to stand in line. We got through that, and found our new gate. Hubby said he would go and try to find something for us to eat. I noticed a restaurant right across the hall was opening, and I asked if they accepted food vouchers, and they said yes. So we got a decent breakfast, although it took more than the $40 in vouchers.

Our first flight of the day was to Boston. I think it was pretty uneventful, but I was trying to doze, so a dozen screaming monkeys probably would have struck me as uneventful.

I don't remember much about the airport in Boston, except we were changing airlines. We had to walk all the way out of one terminal, through another long terminal, and into a 3rd terminal to get to our gate. I felt like we were doing a marathon, except we didn't have to run. Walk fast, yes, but not run.

We finally got on the plane to take us to Orlando. Here, too, I was trying to sleep, or at least relax, so I really don't remember much about it except that it seemed long.

Once we got back to Orlando, and got our luggage, then we had to wait for the shuttle to our parking lot. All this time, I was worried they would try to charge us for another day of parking, because I had said we would pick up our car at 1 am that day, and here it was, late afternoon. But nobody said a word about it, so we got in our car and drove home, picking up some burgers on our way home.

It took me 2 days to recover from this last 'adventure' of this particular cruise. Now, as you read this blog, I am finishing up another cruise. No long-distance flying required this time! The ship starts and ends in Port Canaveral, about 1 1/2 hours from home. Wish us luck.

Sunday, 8/14 - The Long Way Home

It was only a hop across the pond. How exhausting could it be? Unfortunately, it got complicated.

We got up and had a quick breakfast, then went down to claim our luggage and get on the bus to take us to the airport. It was not the slickest conversion from ship to bus that we've ever had; the people herding the passengers onto the buses had to ask us twice what airline we were taking so as to get us on the right bus. Then I think it was a 2 1/2 hr drive from Southampton to Heathrow. The airport is nearly as confusing as the one at Barcelona, and their version of TSA nearly came to loggerheads with hubby, but eventually we got through that and found our gate. For some reason, even though we were sitting next to each other on the plane, hubby and I were in different groups for boarding. So we both had to wait until the latter group was called, because I can't lift my overnight bag into the overhead bins. I'm just too short, and my shoulders no longer will lift that high.

The flight from Heathrow to Montreal was pretty uneventful. I was looking forward to actually getting home that night, even though that meant being up and awake for about 24 hours. Once we got to Montreal, we had to take our overnight bags and go through US customs before we could find our gate for the flight to Orlando. Part of that involved riding up an escalator. Here I was, juggling 3 bottles of water, a cpac case and an overnight bag, and when I lost my balance on the escalator, I just kept tumbling down to the bottom. A nice man in a uniform (not a security uniform) came over and helped me up, made sure I was okay. I had lost a shoe, which had ridden up the escalator without me. Hubby went up the escalator to claim my shoe. The uniformed man showed me where the elevator was, and then rode up with me to make sure I was okay. I was shaken a bit, but not too badly stirred.

Shortly after that, we arrived at the US TSA outpost, and I had to throw out all 3 bottles of water, because you can't take food or drink past that point. Then came US Customs, and that was even more of a madhouse. Everybody had to get in one big line, but as flight times started approaching, the crowd handlers would call out for people with that destination, and they were rushed to the front of the line so they could make their plane. If they had just had 1 or 2 more customs officers working the booths, that probably wouldn't have been such a big problem.

Eventually, we got through that, and then we found our gate for our flight to Orlando. We were just trying to decide if we had any time to grab something—chips or a drink or something—when they announced our flight was cancelled. We were lead down a couple hallways, and told to go downstairs and claim our luggage. No word on which carousel our luggage would be on, so hubby was wandering around this huge stadium-sized room, trying to figure out where our luggage was. I got to sit on a bench with our 2 overnight cases and 2 cpacs.

People were getting notices on their smart phones of what flight they had been shifted to, but our phones don't work outside the US, so we had to find the counter than handled such things. We happened to stumble on the counter we needed and got in line just before they started hollering at people to go upstairs to the ticket booths. An hour or more later, we were given our tickets for the 2 flights it would take on Monday to get us back to Orlando. We were also given $40 in vouchers for food, and a voucher for a hotel, and they told us what door to go out of to find the shuttle.

We stood outside that door for at least another hour, but the shuttle from our hotel never showed up. We noticed a sign that gave telephone numbers of hotels with shuttles, but a) our phones don't work outside the US, and b) there was no telephone number for the hotel we were assigned.

We went back inside. The airport was shutting down. So we found 2 benches next to other, shoved our luggage between them and tried to get some sleep. It was 11 o'clock or later, and we figured we had to be back by 4 am to catch our first flight. Good night, all.

Saturday, 8/13 - 2nd English Shore Excursion

The Roman Bath at Bath

The next morning, we were set to go see the Roman baths in the town of Bath. There were a lot of groups for this particular excursion. The theater, which was the place where everybody was gathered to get organized for their excursions, was pretty nearly full when we got there. When they started announcing the Bath excursions, I think half the people in the theater got up to go, but since we were part of that big group, and I don't like crowds, I may be a bit biased about that. Hubby and I had to make sure we got the same # pasted to our shirts so we'd be on the same bus.

And then came a long bus ride. I'm thinking about an hour and a half to get from the port to the center of Bath, where the bus dropped us off in a quarter circle 'bus stop' that took up at least half a block and was wide enough for 3 buses side by side.

After we all got off the bus, we were quickly marched down a narrow street of shops to a corner of a large square with benches, hurried diagonally across the square, and around the corner to the door of the Baths. The doorway was packed with people waiting to go in, and our guide had to make sure he handed out the tickets to people who were on his bus. We were given 3 hours to go through the whole thing, and were told that afterwards, the gift shop would let us out 'down the street by those columns'. I couldn't see any doorway down by the columns, but the guide had gotten away before I could ask any more questions.

Once we got in the building, we were given head phones with a keypad to type in the number of the area sign we were standing in front of, and a recorded voice would talk about that particular area of the building. Unfortunately, Hubby decided he couldn't listen to the head phones and take pictures at the same time.

We found ourselves on a balcony that surrounded and overlooked 2 large pools of water, kind of like fountains, but with no splashing displays. Unfortunately, it looked like these pools had not been cleaned out in a long time, the water was a sick green, and had bird feathers and other trash in it. It was not an appealing sight. There were 2 other rooms off this balcony, I think they were called the East Bath and the West Bath, but we didn't go to those. We had a limited time to get through this, and no idea just how big it was.

We walked around the balcony, taking pictures and listening to numbers, then we went downstairs to a museum-like area. Mostly, the museum was about the Romans who used the local hot springs to create the bath house.

Then we went outside again, and found ourselves under the balcony, on the same level as the bath pools. There was a Roman character there, in full costume, and Hubby got my picture standing next to her. I was surprised that the sick green water of the baths did not smell bad. Hot springs often carry dissolved minerals in the water, and that can lead to a 'yucky' smell in the air. It sure does in Yellowstone, when we visited there when I was a kid.

The day was hot; the air in the bath particularly humid. Happily, they had a small refreshment stand in the shade opposite the 2 pools, and they were able to take our credit cards. Hooray! We each got a small container of ice cream and ate it down. It helped cool us down a little, and took the edge off the hunger we were beginning to feel. Then we set off, sure we were nearly at the end of this adventure.

We took a wrong turn, and found ourselves in what looked like a dead-end cavern, while the earphones talked about the Romans using this area as a workout space. After that, I found somebody who worked there and asked, "How do we get out of here?" She put us on the correct path once again. That path took us through more caverns, some with hot water streaming through them, some where the path was elevated above the cavern floor, and you found yourself walking across glass. Or clear plastic. Made me nervous and very happy that the path had walls, though those were clear, too.

Finally, we found a wall full of cubbies, which was where we were suppose to deposit our headphones. Then up a few steps and into the gift shop. We looked around, but we don't buy a lot of souvenirs anymore, so before long, we stepped outside into the street.

I looked for the front door and the bath building. And didn't see it anywhere. Before I could start to panic, or wonder what to do next, someone started yelling in the street, saying things like the country is going to h*ll and I don't remember what all. I do remember thinking, "He sounds like a Trumper." Which didn't make sense, because we were in England, not the US. Hubby moved away from me, and I followed him to the corner, where he started talking to the dustman, who had stopped his work to listen to the yelling.

None of us had any clue what the Yelling Man was on about, but since we had this nice gentleman's attention, I asked how I could get to the front door of the bath house. If I could get there, I could find our way back to the bus stop. Once the dustman realized we were actually looking for a tour bus, he said, just go up this street. Three blocks and we'd be right at the bus stop. So we said thank you and started up the street.

Sure enough, after one block, we came to the square with the benches. We apparently had 15 or 20 minutes before our bus was due back, so we sat on one of the benches, even though it was in the direct, hot sunlight. At least, I sat down, Hubby kept wandering around, trying to give me a heart attack whenever I looked around and couldn't find him right away. But eventually, he came back and we decided to go look for our bus.

When we got to the bus stop, all half a block long and 3 buses wide, it was crowded with people looking for their bus. Happily, as soon as a bus got all its people aboard, it somehow inched its way out of the mess and onto the street and started back for the port. Eventually, our bus was able to jockey its way into the bus stop area, and we started climbing aboard. One couple was a little late getting back, and the tour guide raced down the street to try to find them, but found them at about the square with the benches, so we were able to head out as soon as those 3 got aboard.

Now for the race to get back to the port, and it really felt like we were racing, that we had gotten a late start back for the port. I don't know if the driver was taking a more direct route or what, but buildings I had noted on the way to Bath, I didn't see on the way back to port.

When we got to the port, there was a frenzy of buses all trying to get close enough to the ship to let their passengers off. For its part, the ship had 2 gangways open and were taking people in as fast as they could at both doors, but still there was a long long line for each of them. I had a terrible thought that the ship would suddenly stop letting people get on, and would shut up the gangways and leave us stranded there while it went on its merry way. Luckily, they didn't do that until Hubby and I were aboard. I assume they waited for everybody who was in line to get on.

I'm pretty sure we went in search of food after that, but I'm not sure where we went.

8/12 – 3rd Irish Shore Excursion

Cork - the Blarney Stone

The next day, we were again in Ireland, in Cork, where we would take a bus to the Blarney Castle, presumably to see the Blarney Stone. First, the bus took us to a little shopping center about a 2 mile hike from the Blarney Castle. This was where the bus would be parked.

Each of us was given a coupon to take to the pub and get a free Irish coffee. So I got into line, and somehow lost Hubby. Probably, he went to find a bathroom, or to take some pictures. So I got an Irish coffee for each of us and sat down at a table in the courtyard for him to find me. I didn't like the Irish coffee. All I tasted was very hot coffee. Whenever I drink coffee (hardly ever), I like it with lots of cream and sugar, to tone that coffee taste down. Eventually, Hubby found me, and tried his own cup. I don't know if he liked it or not; he usually drinks his coffee black and strong, so maybe he did.

We were supposed to meet the tour guide in the middle of the shopping mall in about half an hour, so she could get us all through the castle gate as a group. I was worried about missing her, but found some other members of our group, so my nerves settled down. But where was my hubby? He finally reappeared out of a store, having bought a bottle of coffee beans and 1 bottle of mead to thank the neighbor for watching our house while we were gone. Somehow, I wound up with that sack to carry during the hike to and from the castle, so that he could take pictures.

So we were forced marched guided to the castle gateway, where the staff counted us in order to let us in. Once we were inside the grounds, the tour guide said we had 1 hour to walk the rest of the way to the castle and get back to the bus. We were turned loose. Hubby—and most everybody else in the group—soon left me in the dust as they hurried towards the castle. I traveled at my own speed and enjoyed the walk.

When I finally got up the hill to the castle, there was a line snaking out the castle door and around the courtyard. The people were there to climb a steep set of stairs up to the top of the castle, where the Blarney Stone was located. We could see it from the outside, but of course, you had to be on the top of the castle to have any hope of touching it. And the markers indicated that the line was an hour long. We only had about 45 minutes left to get back to bus.

We had our picture taken in front of the castle, but didn't get in line. Instead, we wandered off to view the 'Poison Garden'. John was snapping pictures like crazy. It wasn't long before I told him, "Well, I have to start back, because I move slower than you do." So I left, and hoped he kept an eye on his watch.

When I got back to the parking lot, all the several tour buses had rearranged themselves. I checked in with the tour guide, and then started down the line of buses, looking for #17, for that was my group. It was the next-to-the-last bus, of course. I found our seats, and then started worrying about John getting back in time. He wasn't the last member of the group to get back, and then we had an uneventful bus trip back to the ship.

I wouldn't mind going back again, perhaps not on a shore excursion, to spend a night or two at the local tavern and do a long walk around the castle, perhaps even check out the stores in that little shopping center.

Thursday, 8/11 – 2nd Irish Shore Excursion

Dublin – Dublin Highlights

Hubby seemed to be feeling better in the morning. He climbed out of bed about 6 and got dressed. We needed to gather in the Stardust Theater by 7:50, so I got up shortly after he did. We went to the buffet once again, and then he wanted to go out on the deck to get some pictures. And probably do some walking. He tries to walk 10,000 steps a day. I went back to our cabin to get our tickets for the day’s excursion.

7:40, I went out into the hall to catch sight of him as soon as possible, keeping an eye on both the corridor and the nearest bank of elevators. About 7:45, I finally saw him walking towards me down the corridor, so I started walking that way, because it was the opposite end of the ship that we needed to get to! We barely made it there on time, and then had to go down to the very front of the theater to find any seats to sit on. But we had just gotten situated when they called the first tour of the day. It was us! So we had to climb back up the stairs halfway, to the deck 6 exit, where we were given stickers to tell us which bus to get on. Then we had to walk down 2 decks, halfway to the rear of the ship, cross to the port side, and finally climb out to board the tender.

It was a 20- or 25-minute ride to get to the pontoon pier. Then a rather long walk to where the buses were waiting. But once we got aboard, it wasn’t long before we were on our way. This was to be a 4-hour tour, with most of it being on the bus. It sounded delightful. No struggling to keep up with a speedy tour guide, no stopping to taste or shop; just sitting on a bus and looking out the windows. Mostly.

Our tour guide was full of information; history, architecture, current events, more history, even a quick lesson in speaking Gaelic.

Our one stop was at Saint Patrick’s Cathedral. After the bus parked in the back of the cathedral, we walked about 2 blocks to get to the front, where we were organized to go in as a group. We were given 45 minutes to look around at the many, many displays, and if we had any questions, we could find the tour guide and ask her. I should have asked her about the circular staircase that seemed to go up through the ceiling. Its outside was decorated with ornately carved columns, but the stairs seemed scarcely wide enough for a child to use, and the entire staircase’s diameter seemed to be about a yard.

I didn’t want to hurry back to the bus, so I left the cathedral after 35 minutes. It took me 6 minutes to saunter back to the bus. Before I left, I had warned Hubby that it was nearly time to go, and to not forget to leave time to walk to the bus. He wasn’t the last to get to the bus, but he was among the last 5 to arrive there. Happily, they weren’t late.

We zig-zagged through down-town Dublin for some time, looking at bridges, statues, Georgian squares and other examples of architecture. Eventually, we left Dublin to head to the pier a few kilometers away. We boarded a tender and rode back to the ship, where we went to the buffet for a quick lunch.

As we left the buffet, Hubby started to complain that he had a stomachache again. When we got to our cabin, he sat down to watch some tv. I plugged in my computer, and then his camera battery, which had run out of juice in the middle of Dublin. Then I laid down and listened to the tv for the better part of an hour.

When I did get up to take my computer to the internet café, I asked what he was thinking of doing, and he said possibly go walking. I wondered if he might have developed an ulcer, and he asked, “Starting yesterday?” Well, those things have to start some time. He came back with the suggestion that maybe he’s been without coffee for too long. He hasn’t been drinking it because the coffee served in the buffet is amazingly bitter. Now, I’ve ‘broken’ my caffeine addiction 2 or 3 times, and I don’t remember a stomachache as one of my symptoms. I hoped he felt better by evening; we had a reservation at the Japanese restaurant.

Wednesday, 8/10 - 1st English Shore Excursion

Liverpool – Charming Chester

Hubby woke up still tired. He has days like that. We had to meet to leave for our shore excursion by 7:15, so we went to the buffet for our usual made-to-order omelet and cream of wheat. When we were sent out to find our bus, it seemed like we walked a couple miles to get there. We hoped there would not be a lot walking today but couldn’t remember anything about this excursion.

It turned out we were leaving Liverpool to visit the charming town of Chester, some 45 minutes away.

Chester started out as a walled garrison for some 6,000 Roman soldiers. It wasn’t called Chester then, but I don’t remember what it was called, due to an adventure Hubby had. More on that later.

After the Romans were chased away, the walls around the town were made higher. You can walk around the inner city atop the walls, a distance of about 2 miles.

Peter, our tour guide, pointed out some sights of the town as we drove through and around it for a few minutes. Then the bus stopped outside The StoryHouse, which has 2 theaters, a cinema, the library and a café. We were supposed to meet back at the StoryHouse to get on our bus 2 hours later, at 11:15. Then Peter took the group south on Northgate Street to the center of town. By then, my knees had started to ache, which is never a good sign, so when Peter said he would take us to the East gate, and then to the Cathedral, I handed Hubby the map of Chester and told him I was headed back to the StoryHouse. He wasn’t happy, but my aching knees aren’t something that can be argued with. So Hubby continued with Peter, and I turned back to climb the hill back to the StoryHouse.

About half way up the hill, I found a bench in the shade and sat down to rest for a while. While I was resting, I realized I was directly across the street from the Information Center, so I crossed over to see if they had any interesting books. They had some history books that looked interesting, but they were £18 or more. I settled on a children’s book for £7, and went back to the bench to sit for a little longer.

At 10:45, I walked back to the StoryHouse and found a bench outside to sit on as I waited for my bus. There were plenty of buses to choose from, but I couldn’t tell which one was mine. At 11:08, I decided I’d better walk across the street and see if one of the 2 buses was mine. One of them was, and as I got ready to board, I told Peter, “I haven’t seen my husband return. I hope he’s already on the bus.”

But Hubby was not on the bus, so I selected our seats and sat down to wait for him. About 11:20, Peter counted the people on the bus, and then asked if my husband was on the bus. I said no, and he said, “He’s the one that’s missing, then.” A few minutes later, he asked if I knew where Hubby would have gone. The last I’d seen him, he was following Peter toward the East Gate, which had a clock tower. At about 11:27, John finally showed up, out of breath and looking exhausted.

We got underway to head back for Liverpool. Once Hubby caught his breath, he told me he had decided to walk around the town on the city walls, a distance of about 2 miles. He started at the clock tower, and walked leisurely, taking pictures. Once he saw the race track outside the city, which was approximately half way around, he decided he’d better pick up his pace in order to get back to the bus. But he didn’t know how much further he had to go. Apparently, he didn’t realize when he got to the North Gate, nor that that was the closest point to the StoryHouse. So he continued to hoof it back to the East Gate, then down East Gate Road and up North Gate Street, where he was vastly relieved to find the bus was still there.

When we got back to the ship, Hubby started to complain that his stomach was upset and he was desperate for a cold drink. We went to O’Sheehan’s for lunch, where he got a particle of food caught in his throat and kept coughing, trying to get it unstuck. He finally drank enough pop to get it washed down, so we went to our cabin and lay down for about an hour, to give us time to recuperate. I took a pain reliever because my knees were still aching.

After that hour, he got up to watch some tv and said he was feeling a bit better. I took my computer and went off to the internet cafe, where I could sit at a table and type. I returned to our cabin about 6:30, and he told me to go have supper without him, that he wasn’t feeling any better, and he was going to bed early. He asked me to bring him back a Diet Pepsi when I came back.

So I went back to O’Sheehan’s, where I had loaded nachos and their Blue Plate Special, which was meatloaf, mashed potatoes and corn. I enjoyed the food very much, but I skipped dessert. When I was done eating and ready to leave, I asked for a diet Pepsi, which I carefully carried back to the room. Hubby was climbing into bed, having forgotten he had asked for a diet Pepsi. He had me put it in the refrigerator, and then I sat and read until 10, when I tried to set a wake-up call for 6 AM before going to bed.