Last day in Dublin

This post should bring an end to our adventure which took us across the Atlantic with stops in Edinburgh and Dublin before heading home. Our travel from Scotland to Ireland was uneventful and we arrived in Dublin around 3:00 on Saturday afternoon. We are staying at the Ashling Hotel that was very near the train station. Luckily our room was ready, so we dropped our stuff off and headed downtown to find some trouble. We took the tram and arrived downtown by 4:00. We strolled down Temple Bar and stopped in at The Quays bar and enjoyed a couple of properly poured pints of Guinness.

There was a band playing and the place was hopping at 5:00 in the afternoon. Everyone was having a good time and it reminded me of Nashville, but with an Irish accent.

A couple of Guinness and we were ready for supper. We found the Brazen Head Pub that claimed to be the oldest bar in Ireland.

Apperently it has only been at the current location since the 1600's, so the claim seems a little dubious. However, the food was delicious and the vibe was excellent.

It was an early night, as they all are these days, and we got ready for our next adventure. Angie has been planning a trip to Kildare since we booked the cruise. Her goal has been to find a Barbour wax jacket and there is an outlet mall with a Barbour store in Kildare. We jumped on a train right outside our Hotel and took the 40 minute ride to the town. The town is beautiful as we took a 20 minute walk to the mall. We passed an Abbey that was built in the 1200's and a graveyard right beside it. Very serene sight.

We got to the mall and Angie was in heaven as we walked around the stores. The good news is she found a jacket and she will be glad to show everyone when we get back home.

We returned from shopping and had a 3:30 appointment for a tour of the Guinness Storehouse. It was a 20 minute walk from our hotel and was very interesting. The best part was everyone got a pint at the end of the tour. And as a bonus it was served at the Gravity Bar on the top of the building with the best views of Dublin.

I'm not sure that either Angie or I have become addicted to the Guinness, but definitely have an appreciation after having some at it's home. Fun Fact: We were told not to sip it while imbibing, but to take a healthy mouthful. Of course, that may be a trick to get you to drink more. Today was our day to get on the Big Bus and tour around the city and see the highlights. It was a beautiful ride and the best part was getting off and getting a tour of the St. Patrick's Cathedral. It was said to be built on the land where St. Patrick perfomed miracles and baptised many devotees. We did an audio tour and learned many things about it. Here are some pictures of the cathedral and the park outside.

Right down the street is the Christ Church Cathedral that was built a little earlier in the 1100's.

After the bus tour, we were back at the hotel before a little rest before our last dinner at Nancy Hands Pub just down the street. We both had the Beef and Guinness Stew that was delicious.

Before returning to the hotel, we walked the other way to another wonderful park called Phoenix Park. As it was a lovely afternoon, there were quite a few people milling about about. Here is Angie beside some Palm trees. Not what you might expect in Dublin.

The last impressive sight in the park is the Wellington Memorial.

Angie's best: No rain in 19 days. Angie's worst: Nothing Mike's Best: Enjoying a Guinness in the Gravity Bar Mike's Worst: Trip is almost over. It has been a great trip for Angie and I as we celebrated our milestone birthdays. My 65th and Angie's 30th. I hope you have enjoyed the blog as much as I have had bringing it to you, (Probably not) and we look forward to seeing you all soon!

Edinburgh

I'm sure everyone is disappointed that I don't have a cruise post, but this will have to do. Angie and I disembarked the boat about 6:15am thinking it might take a while to get off and to make sure we had plenty of time to make our 9:30 bus ride to Heathrow. As it turns out, we could have spent a little longer on the boat as we reached the bus terminal at 6:30. The three hour wait was not wasted as Angie sat next to our first real celebrity of the trip. Her real name is Patricia Krentcil, but is much better known as Tan Mom. If you listen to Howard Stern at all, you would recognize who she was. It started as Angie pointed out this really annoying lady who was asking non stop stupid questions while I was gone for a walk. She looked kind of familiar, but when she opened her mouth, there was no doubt who she was. Luckily a seat opened up next to us and she sat beside Angie and peppered her with inane questions. Thankfully, her bus wasn't coming until 11:30 and we were able to escape. My only regret is that I didn't get a picture of her. We had an uneventful flight to Edinburgh, but were happy to get to our hotel by 4:00. If anyone has told you that Edinburgh is one of the most beautiful cities they have ever seen, they are underestimating it. We went for a walk around the old part of the city and were amazed.

We even ran into a young man playing the bagpipes.

We stopped at Berties and had a meal of proper fish and chips.

We slept in a bit this morning before having breakfast at the hotel. We then set off to see the Holy Grail of golf, the Old Course at St Andrews.

We took the train to a town called Leuchars about an hour away and jumped on a bus for a 15 minute ride to the town. It's like watching a movie as you drive into town and see the golf course and the surrounding buildings.

We walked by the first tee and 18th green before walking down the path adjacent to the 1st fairway. About halfway down the fairway is a road that you can walk right across the two fairways. We just had to watch out for the golfers. We walked down to the 17th hole also known as the road hole. I saw how small the green is and how narrow it is between the bunker and the road.

Something seemed odd about the way the golfers were playing the course and that's when I noticed they were playing the course backwards. Players were teeing off on 1st tee and playing to 17th green and so on after that. The last hole, tee off was from the second tee to the 18th green. The book I read on the boat talked a bit about that, so I understood what was happening. On the way back towards the first tee I saw a gentleman walking with his clubs and I asked him if he was playing today and he answered tomorrow. I asked him what he thought of the backwards round and he wasn't that impressed, but he was willing to try it. He must have thought I knew a little about the game and to our surprise he invited us to his clubhouse for a drink and a chance to warm up. We of course took him up on his offer. It turns out he is a member of The New Club, which isn't that new. It was started in 1902 and the clubhouse overlooks the 18th fairway. We sat in what used to be the locker room, but is now the coffee shop. Near the window overlooking the 18th is an looking glass that Old Tom Morris used when he was watching the course. In fact, Old Tom died after falling down some stairs in the clubhouse.

Here is the board that names the honorary members and it's a pretty short, but significant list. As we kept on talking with the gentleman, it turn's out his name is Charlie Huldal and he was a past Club Captain which is a very big honour. It was purely a stroke of luck to meet him, but it made a great day much, much better.

After that, we took a walk by St Andrew's College where Prince William and Kate first met. Right behind that was St Andrew's Castle where they used to throw witches off a 60 foot cliff into the Firth of Forth to see if they were truly a witch. If they died, they weren't a witch. If they survived, they were deemed to be a witch and were summarily burned at the stake. Didn't seem like a winning proposition either way.

Here is a picture of the 18th green with the famous "valley of sin" on the front left. After about 4 hours in St Andrew's, we sadly took the train back to Edinburgh and are getting ready for our next adventure in Dublin. Stay Tuned!!!

Day 11

Well, the first leg of our trip is coming to a close as we will be departing the Eclipse tommorrow morning and flying up to Edinburgh in the afternoon. We are looking forward to that part of the journey. As for the last two days on the boat, we have been eating, relaxing and drinking. A winning combination for sure. Monday night, the staff put on a Dancing with the Celebrity Stars competition which was actually fun to watch.

On a non cruise piece of info, if you haven't seen it, here is Jack at Monday night's Jays game. Pretty decent seats.

Yesterday, Angie and I had a few beverages and enjoyed meeting all sorts of people on the boat. Lots of interesting stories and a self imposed rule about not talking politics. Mike met the Captain and offered to help drive the boat, but after he saw that I had a rum and coke, he gracefully declined.

I think he felt bad for me and decided to name a club for me on the ship. Of course, I was still not allowed in.

Angie took a beautiful shot of the sunrise this morning off our balcony. It was only about 10 degrees, so we didn't spend a lot of time out there today.

Today is the last full day on the ship and they were putting a good show. The lunch buffet was great and they had a lovely selection of desserts.

The seas were almost angry today with the biggest waves of the trip so far. Still not too bad, but there was a bit of a wave pool in the main pool, but with the temperatures, it wasn't very busy.

If Phil was here, I don't think there would be much stroller hunting, but there could be quite a bit of scooter hunting. This is a small example of what you would see.

Angie's best: Lunch at the Tuscan specialty restaurant yesterday Angie's worst: Losing the ocean view from our balcony. Mike's best: Meeting the Captain. Mike's worst: Last day on the boat.

Day 9 Azores and Sea Day

We finally got to see dry land yesterday as we stopped at the city of Ponta Delgado on one of the Azores Islands. It was a beautiful island with about 500 years of history. When the Portuguese discovered it in the early 1500's it was uninhabited. The islands are relatively young as they were formed by volcanic eruptions starting about 8 million years ago.

Here is our view of the port from our ship. We booked a 4 hour bus tour with a guide that took us around the Island of San Miguel that included stops at a beautiful town, Fire Lake, a Mountain top and a Pineapple farm. Our first stop was at the town of Ribeira, which was a wonderful little town. We took a stroll through the downtown which featured a nice church and bandstand.

From there we started up the mountain to Fire Lake. It is used for the drinking water on the island and is a lake that was formed in the cone of a volcano.

We also discovered that the parking lot is a well known lover's lane on the island. Or perhaps they have water balloon fights up here.

We proceeded from there to the top of the mountain, but due to zero visibility, there will be no pictures. On the way back to the port, we stopped at a pineapple farm and spent 30 minutes learning much more about pineapples than I ever thought I wanted to know. They have their own variety of pineapple which they claim is the best. (No surprise)

After we got dropped off at the boat, we went for a stroll around the promenade at the port and found a Christmas Ornament for the tree. We also visited a grocery store that had some lovely pastries as well as a very lumpy looking soft drink.

We chose not to bring any Kima home with us. It was a great day and it was nice to get our feet on good old terra firma. Today has been fairly quiet. Angie went for her morning walk and I went to hit a few putts on the grass on the top level.

The grass wasn't very smooth and every putt broke towards Portugal. We had a light lunch after with the highlight being the chocolate fountain which we both took advantage of.

Angie's Best: Passed immigration test on the boat this morning. Angie's Worst: Temperature is getting cooler. Currently about 15 degrees. Mike's Best: Town of Ribeira on the Azores Mike's Worst: The self proclaimed world's smartest women with the loudest voice in the world sitting two rows behind us on the bus. She also had a walker and made us wait at every stop.

Day 7

Well, we are on the last of 4 straight days on the ocean and looking forward to stopping tommorrow at Ponta Del Gado. It will be fun to post some pictures that are not on the boat and not of us. I look forward to that post. Again we have had a couple fairly uneventful days, but that is a good thing to have on a transatlantic cruise.

Here is Angie enjoying her dinner last night in the dining room. It was a lovely dinner and we both enjoyed the pasta. Service is good as is the quality of the food.

After supper we went to see a comedian/magician. He was pretty funny, but should probably choose one skill or the other. ALl the shows are about 45 minutes, which is too short if the act is good or too long if it is lacking.

Once we got back to the room, we waited until midnight for the Jets game. We were hoping to watch it on the computer, but couldn't find a stream. I ended up finding it on the radio, so we were able to listen to it in bed. Nice win!!! This morning Angie went for a walk around the track after breakfast. It wasn't very busy as you can see.

After the walk, we went to the front of the ship and they let Angie drive the boat. Thankfully there isn't much to run into out here.

The sun came out in the afternoon and it was a beautiful afternoon. We couldn't see closely, but there were a few whales spotted off the side of the boat.

We went to the buffet for supper tonight and snuck down to the casino for a visit. Nobody got rich, but I did manage to get a decent bonus.

Early to bed tonight, just like every night, as we have a big day tomorrow. I hope to have a more exciting post coming out soon! Angie's best: Facetiming with the kids. Angie's worst: Mike forcing her to listen to the Jet's game at midnight last night. Bit into her beauty rest. Mike's best: Watching the sea and seeing the whales. Mike's worst: Not coming back from the casino with as much money as I should have