DFR Travels: June 2015

Home again...

Wednesday, June 17. Sunny, all the half way round the world.

We were up at 5:15, coffee, dressed, breakfast and ready to disembark at 7:15, we got off at 8:00. At the airport in jig time and through all the security stuff and sitting in the KLM lounger munching cheese on a bun with tea by 10:00.

Soon we were in the plane which took off at 1:35 and we landed in Vancouver at 1:35. Nine hour flight and nine hour time difference. I slept for maybe three hours, Fellette somewhat less. The journey from the airport home took 1 1/2 hours due to traffic.

We were in the garden having tea and surveying the damage incurred by our 19 day absence within minutes of arriving home. Not too bad: nothing that a little weeding and some watering won't fix in a couple of days. Fellette picked some berries and snap peas and we retired to our house. Jeanette and Alicia came for a visit which is always nice. Happy to be home and looking forward to bed tonight for sure.

This will be THE LAST POST folks, until we take off someday for some place interesting.

Hope you enjoyed the trip.

Seated and ready for the day. This was eight hours after we got up.
It was a very long day today.

10 minutes after take off. Nice way to start the journey home.

The TV monitor at our seat showing our progress.

KLM handed out these little bottles of Amsterdam Historic Houses just before we landed.
One for each of us. A small amount of liqueur in each.

Checking the garden this afternoon.

The acorn squash have gone amok!

Same as the onions and potatoes.

We thought that the birds would have the cherries by now but they are not quite ripe enough for them.

Into the raspberries for tomorrow's breakfast. They need to have some long drinks of water.

If it's Tuesday, it must be Belgium...

Tuesday, June 16. Cloudy and mild, clearing later, great day.

Well today is our last day in this fantasy world that we have been in for some time. I am writing this in the morning around 10:00 as the ship is docking in Zeebrugge, Belgium. We are scheduled to get off around noon for a walking trip through Bruge. We have been here before but it is the last chance to get out before we head home.

Tomorrow at this time we will be at the airport and the long travel day ahead awaiting us. We leave at 1:00 pm and arrive at 2:00 pm, Lord willing. We will be out of kilter for a few days but at least we will be in 100% control of our life and can crash any time we want to.

The view the last two days has been a far cry from the green, green fields of Ireland. Somehow, all big cities have a certain similarity. Looking out the balcony windows we could be any where in the world in some industrialized city: grey looking with containers piled high and uninteresting warehouses as far as I can see.

Fellette is busy packing the bags as I write this, and all done as I finish this.

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Our day went well. We had a guide who was obviously Belgian and proud of it. He was also a history buff and we became saturated with facts about this tiny country within an hour. I am befuddled as to state one or two facts about this country because we had over 1000 facts given to us before we had done two hours of walking.

We started with a tour of a chocolate factory which was very interesting and then we continued our history lesson while strolling through the streets of this very busy but beautiful city. The weather could not have been better and it got better as the day went on.

We managed to squeeze in some power shopping for chocloates, a wee gift or two and also time for a refreshing Belgian beer before heading back to the ship. We had about 10 minutes to freshen up before heading down for dinner where our friends were kindly waiting for us. The menu was fine and the evening was delightful.

We noticed that the ship was headed in completely the wrong direction as we came out from dinner and never did find out why we are heading due west when we should have been going due east. I suggest we will know what happened before the trip is over.

The packing started as we waited for our tour to be called.

Everything is well organized, these tags let us know when we can get off tomorrow morning.

One of the old gates to enter the city, some few hundred years ago.

The old city had canals as a measure of defense.

Almost like Amsterdam, but a bit neater in some regard.

In the Chocolate Museum, [?]. Given to the troops in the British Army in South African in 1900. We have one such tin.

Yup, you guessed it, made from chocolate!

Our chocolatier, he has been at it for some 20 years.

How do they get these perfect berries in this climate?

Too many people here is the only problem!

A canal cruise seems the way to see Bruge, and it is, we had one a few years ago.

It was hot enough for even Fellette to have a cool one today.

This evening after dinner as the ship steamed west [?] at good speed. We suspect it is returning to Bruge with a medical emergency. We had a Dutch lady collapse on our tour but she 'refused medical treatment' when she came back by taxi to the ship. Who knows, maybe things worsened for her.

Cider, Cheese and Honfleur...

Monday, June 14. Cloudy overcast day. Not a good day for photos.

Today it was to be Cider, Cheese and the old town of Honfleur, considered the birthplace of the Impressionist and Romantic art movements.

First we were bussed to the Calvados distillery where all the ins and out of turning apple juice into either a pleasant juice or a screetching burning cognac-like brandy was explained to us. It was interesting but it would have been more so in the apple season.

We were given a chance to sample a mild, somewhat easy to take brandy and then a more potent throat searing version of an older brew.

Next we went and sampled a variety of cheeses and then could appreciate a mild apple cider that was quite refreshing. The cheeses were excellent and this was our first encounter with French Bread, other than on the ship. [By the way, the breads on the ship are absolutrly marvelous.]

Next we took the 20 minute ride to the most interesting of cities or town that I can recall, Honfleur. We have been here before on a river cruise and picked this tour so we could stroll it at a more leisurely pace today. Combined, we took 114 photos. I can see why this is such a mecca for painters, in days gone by and still today. Every time you look, there is a picture waiting to be painted or a photo to be taken.

We did get into the wooden catherdral this time, last visit there was a wedding taking place. The bell tower was too heavy to put atop the wooden structure so the made it a separate building for it.

Back to the ship for tea, but no lunch and a short quiet time. Tonight we are dining in style in a ship's specialty restaurant. Tonight I think it will be fish, we have had a bit too much meat the last two weeks methinks.

At the Calvados Distillery. The two towers were at one time standing alone and separate and a few hundred years ago, they joined them. This was a German occupied building during WWII.

It was quite a pleasant refreshing drink.

We miss tea in our own garden.

The maintenance costs must be astronomical.

Belly up to the bar, boys. Now 10:00 am!

Topped off the brandy with cheese, bread and a mild pleasant

cider.

In Honfleur. This town escaped bombing whereas larger

Le Havre was flattened and is all new buildings now.

Flowers where you can get them I suppose. No gardens as such in the town.

Once again, if the walls could talk.

It looks like a Hollywood set, or a painting you would by on the riverbank in Paris.

The Old Harbour in Honfleur.

What do you call five hundred yards of sidewalk cafes?

This was fascinating, a shop that only sells sardines or derivatives of them.

This is the Bell Tower that was too heavy to put on top of a wooden catherdral, constructed of wood because the architects were too busy working on other structures. They we replacing the buildings the 'English' burned during the 100 Years War. Some few hundred years ago. It is amazing, the English and the French have been annoying each other almost since recorded history.

I thought that this domestic scene of a man painting his store-front was worthy of a shot. What a beautiful shade of green he had chosen. So French! The photo did not really pick up the colour though.

To France and homeward bound...

Sunday, June 14. Sunny but cool. Calm seas.

Another sleeping day for us. My gosh, how can we be so lazy and dozy? Fellette says the less you do the dozier you become. We tried to walk the deck after a late breakfast but that was a bit of a challenge with the wind and chill. So we decided to walk the interior of the ship but there were so many people milling about trying to find something to do we retired to our cabin. I watched a BBC documentary on 'The Disappeared by The IRA'. Now I recall why I am not a friend of the Irish. Tough time to be in Ireland during The Troubles.

Today is the last of the three sea days and is a Formal Night as well. Since we are not at a set table it is not such a grand event as on a world cruise. However we enjoy the dressing up and will likely have dinner with our elderly Americans we met on the first night. It is certainly not a ribald laughter-filled evening but perfectly enjoyable.

As this cruise comes to an end I find that my mind drifts back to life at home more often than it has for a couple of weeks. At home we are in full gardening mode and also in a waiting mode regarding the development and possible build. I don't think much has changed in regards to any of these. No doubt the garden needs weeding, trimming and watering in some ares, at least that is what we hope for.

Regarding the development and build, not much has changed other than the calendar has flipped over another month and some banter back and forth with Scott and the Township. However, nothing positive like a green light from the masters of beaurocracy.

This short time aboard has reminded me on my thoughts on cruising: It is a wonderful thing to do if you do not have much else to do, or want to kill some time away from home. However, at this time at home the garden calls us, even though in a matter of days we will, hopefully, have it fully under control and be looking for something else to do. That we will not have any trouble doing as there are a number of things we must attend to.

I am sad to say the highlight of the day may have been two pigeons we spotted on board. I suppose they are not strangers to people, and ships, so they stopped for a breather. They both had bands on their legs. French or English? We could not get close enough to hear if they had an accent.

Not what we expected today...

Saturday, June 13. Cloudy.

I am not sure if yesterday's blog got published yesterday, or today, or twice. The internet was acting funny.

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In the town of Foynes, county of Limerick

Off to quaint little Limerick Town; we thought. After a 1/2 hour bus ride to Limerick, through some wonderful green countryside, beguiled by a lovely Irish guide, we drove into a rather industrial and worn city of about 300,000 souls.

We could have been in any one of thousands of cities in the western world. We were expecting a friendly little town full of smiling Irish folk, instead we got busy town citizens bustling about on a Saturday in the city.

Our guide managed to steer us through something close to what we had expected, narrow streets and interesting pubs and shops. By the way, I have come to the conclusion that many of the troubles that the Irish have encountered may have originated by their apparent love of drink! My gosh, there are pubs and bars everywhere, and they make no bones about it either.

There is much history here, as everywhere, but today we saw a castle that still stands today that was built by King John in about 1200. My gosh, that is almost at the beginning of 'English' history, or close to it. 1066 was the Norman Invasion and 1200 was not much after that. I am sure the castle has been restored and repaired many, many times but it is impressive to see it so intact and actually read and hear about the accounts of those early days. If the walls could talk!

After the wandering tour we all, [32 of us in two groups], met in a pub for a drop of whatever we pleased. Then, back to the ship.

The guide made an interesting point today when he said that Ireland did not benefit very muchfrom the Industrial Revolution, which was driven by steam and coal. Ireland does not have coal, and it was primarily agricultural oriented, so it stood still and was basically a peasant society until comparatively recent times.

The dock where we berthed is a very industrial site and tight for this ship to get into. The body of water we passed through at the narrowest point this morning is about 150 yards across and the ship has to go in or out with or against the tide, and a two-tug escort.

Upon departing at the end of the day, the ship had to leave 1/2 hour early because of the tide and winds and be swung by the same two tugs. The water is shallow here and the captain said that if they waited longer the flow of the tide would be too much for the ship to be swung and block the flow of water going in. The last bus of people on tour had to watch the ship sail away and then wait while we stood by in a larger bay some disitance away and then they could be transported by tender to the ship.

We have had our last Irish port and tonight we sail for France with tomorrow being a sea day. Next port on Monday: Le Havre.