Skip to main content

at thats it for now folks...

I'm punctuating this post with random totally unrelated to the text photos just to share some more pictures.  Some of which might have appeared before...🤣  
I never swam once... inspite of buying newcozzie...

This is our last cruise for quite a few months, in fact until December.   We've been on the Balmoral which is my favorite boat. 
This is sideways on andzwont change.. specimens...

Apparently it's going to be decommissioned in 2029 and actually when you look around I'm not surprised, in spite of the refit it is starting to look a little bit tired in places.  
Lovely nativity in Sans Sebastian (not as nice as Bishop Auckland Palace one)

The cabin we were finally allocated ( no fault of ours ) this time is definitely been the worst we've ever had.  It was extremely noisy,  meaning that we perhaps got three hours of sleep any one time being constantly woken in the night by crashing and banging because we were under the kitchens.
Pirates ahoy

The daytime wasn't any better - some nights we went to bed at 8 o'clock just so we could catch up on sleep.  We often missed breakfast ( not that thats unusual)  because that would be the quietest time when they were actually in the dining room and not in the kitchen.  Neither of us function very well on little sleep so we were a bit tetchy...
Coffee and beer planning time

We did enquire ( politely because technically we are supernumery so we should be grateful for what we get) about alternative cabin but there was nothing available.   
Rainbow

However, given all that the rest of the boat was quite good fun.  We met some really nice people and we were fed quite well over the period of the two weeks.. 
Unreachable rocks at Sintra🙁

we were able to sit out side on the deck in the sunshine,  and we went to some interesting places. 
Take that you bounder - tile at Sintra

We walked up and down quite a lot of hills and steps (this is definitely been the year for hills and steps) and had some lovely days out.
The sky at night

Dr Freds session were recieved extremly well and a lot of people stopped him for chats and questions  as we wandered around the ship. 
Ceramic bather

I very much enjoyed the art classes... the teacher this time was very good - I struggle with watercolours but she gave me some good tips.  Its possible I might improve🤣.
Local colour

However... Its nice to be home... freezing as we wait for our boiler to be mended but our own bed makes for a warm haven... 
Next adventure looming ....
Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Alesund

Our final destination stop was Alesund. This is a very pretty town in southern Norway built on a peninsula. All the houses are painted pretty colours and a lot of the architecture is all very Art Nouveau based. This is because the town itself was completely burnt to the ground In 1904 by a fire for which they never found the original cause. The whole town had to be rebuilt and this became a huge National Effort and a lot of prominent and up and coming architects flocked to the town to stick there 20 pence in. Consequently the town is very heavily Art Nouveau which was very fashionable at the time. There is this wonderful Museum just off the harbour which is a very beautiful Art Nouveau house. It has amazing panelling, doors, wallpaper, and it's all furnished with beautiful art Nouveau Furniture. It also house a collection of of enameled Art Nouveau Trinkets,boxes, spoons, jewellery, very very beautiful.   There is an interesting collection of old books and paintings a...
1 comment
Read more

Isle of Bute

 Another Landmark Trust tick - this time Ascog House on the Isle of Bute - stunning as always... a very comfortable warm accommodation for the usual 8 suspects. This time we had a wee tower house for Dr Fred and myself - a lovely bedroom up the stairs with a big window and a bathroom al to ourselves - having said that all the other bedrooms in the big house were large and serviced by two bathrooms so there was no hardship for any visitors!   The grounds of the house were very extensive with ponds and secret passages - hidden paths and we even spotted a deer late afternoon - there were lots of old features - ornate staircases and a lovely hidden door which I did a quick sketch of. Bute provided quite a lot of entertainment as well - the weather was kind and we did a a muddy wander down the south of the Island taking in St Blanes Monastery and Kilcannon Bay.  The views were spectacular and it was fabulous to be out in the fresh (and it was fresh on the tops) air and we...
Post a Comment
Read more

Kalamata and random stuff

We suddenly got busy catching up with old friends met on previous cruises - and making some new friends who were working this cruise. Dr Fred got organised arranging Stargazing sessions and future talks, while I'm embroidering a coat!  All this takes time and energy inbetween being available for food..... It was formal night in the 1920s style with the Captain's Cocktail party. So we donned our gladrags, smartened ourselves up and went meet the captain and have a to drink in the Neptune theatre before dinner. I have to say I'm quite impressed with the effort that people go to on these formal nights and some people have some amazing clothes And it was particularly good this night because of the 1920s theme They were an awful lot of headbands with feathers in them but they did look good and some of the frocks were just absolutely stunning.  They've refurbished the selfservice area. Its now known as the Thistle - and it's very pleasant - al...
Post a Comment
Read more