Vigo, Spain

Dear Family and Friends,

Our next stop was in northern Spain.  We stopped at the port city of Vigo.  Many passengers were taking the excursion to Santigo de Compostela.  Since we had just been there last year, (you can read about it here) we elected to just enjoy Vigo instead.

Here is a picture of our ship parked behind the marine terminal.  I took this picture as we were having morning coffee and checking our email before heading out to see the city.

Vigo is a another pretty European city.  Again, we loved seeing the buildings in the old part of the city.

 A high rise of condos. 

Like many cities in Europe they have little bars in secluded areas.   Always just around the corner and just when you need them.

As in all other cities there are lots of tourist shops.  Here is a cute basket store, maybe this shop is for the local people because I don't know how a tourist could get a basket home on the airplane.

We enjoyed walking the city and having a delicious seafood lunch....out of doors of course.

Tomorrow we see Lisbon, Portugal.

Love,
Nancy

Mont St. Michel

Dear Family and Friends,

Our next port of call was Cherbourg, France. Chuck and I booked an excursion through the ship to go to Mont St. Michel.  It was an all day excursion, but five and a half hours of that was spent on the bus to get to our destination.  It was worth it though.  We have been to many places in France but we had not seen Mont St. Michel before.  Here it is as we approached.  I snapped the picture, it has the corn field in the foreground.

At the base of the abbey, there is a small medieval town.  Narrow streets, shops, hotels and restaurants today.

 Some pictures of the houses.

 and rooftops.....

Since we did not have much time there, I gave Chuck the camera to go and explore the abbey on top. 
 He is taking over the post from here on.

 This is what a tired horde of sight seers look like after climbing about half of the 500+ steps just to get into the monastery.  Nancy wisely handed off her camera and did not climb the endless stairs.

 And here is an example of the beautiful architecture we saw in numerous rooms.

 But, since I was alone with the camera,  focused on  guy's stuff.  Here is a great old bombard. n early version of a cannon.

 It was abandoned by an English adventurer in 1432, sixty years before Columbus discovered America.

When I approached the mount, I saw a vertical construction, which looked like part of a temporary restoration project. 

When I eventually got to a viewpoint above it, it still looked like part of the restoration.

Only, what it that sled like object with the chain on it?

The sled was connected to a chain which was connected to a rope which was wound up on a huge wheel by humans walking inside the wheel. It looked as if the monks designed a method of raising supplies.

 

 

 However, I learned that when the monastery was used as a prison in the 1800's, the wheel was rebuilt and new wheeled sleds were constructed. Prisoners provided the man power to raise supplies. I am sure I saw this wheel, or another prison wheel, in an old version of Les Misrerables. It made me tired just thinking about it.

Chuck

I have the camera back and I shot this photo as we left the abby behind.

 
Here is Chuck on the bus on the way back to the ship.  Climbing to the top is hard work.

Love,
Nancy and Chuck

FOTO FRIDAY - 9/20/13

Dear Family and Friends,

This first Foto Friday is of a famous church in Moscow, Russia.  It's official name is "Cathedral of the Protection of Most Holy Theotokos on the Moat."  It's popular name is Saint. Basil's Cathedral.  It is located at one end of Red Square just outside the Kremlin.

I was told by a co-worker that when the architect finished building this church, the Tsar, Ivan "the terrible," had his eyes burned with a hot poker so that he could never recreate this building.

This church is in St. Petersburg.  The official name is Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ, it's popular name is Church of Spilled Blood because it is built on the site where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated and was dedicated to his memory.

Another photo is of the Yuriev Monastery just outside Novgorod, Russia.

Love,
Nancy

Dover, England and some Tales of Canterbury

Dear Family and Friends,

After leaving Amsterdam, we sailed through the night and arrived at our next port, Dover, England about 8:00am the next morning.  We had all day to explore.

Here are the famous "white cliffs of Dover."

We wandered the city center and checked the early morning sights.

I guess you can tell what this is.....Great Britain's equivalent to the Dollar Store in the U.S.  The name is Poundland and everything is only a pound.

After about a half hour of looking around, we took a bus (about 30 minutes) to Canterbury for our self guided tour.

I think the most important feature of Canterbury is the cathedral. Canterbury is one of the oldest centers of Christianity in England.  It was also one of northern Europe's great pilgrimage sites, as written about in Chaucer 's Canterbury Tales.

The first picture is of the gate in the medieval wall that surrounds the cathedral until today on three sides.

A photo of the cathedral as we passed though the gate.

 Inside the Nave.

Chuck peering into St. Michael's chapel. 

It was just inside this spot that Thomas Beckett was murdered in 1170.

Another view of the cathedral from the outside.

The historic part of the city of Canterbury is very charming with it's half timbered houses and narrow pedestrian streets.

This is a bakery building I loved.  The pastries in the rounded window looked delicious and I loved the leaded windows on the upper level.

Another picture of the sea of tourists. 

After we left Canterbury we went to WWII Lashenden Air Warfare Museum.  This was a place Chuck wanted to visit.  Unfortunately they did not allow photography so I do not have any pictures to share.  Just think old salvaged WWII airplanes and you will have an idea.

We returned to Dover and enjoyed fish and chips before boarding the ship.

Our next stop is Cherbourg, France.

Love,
Nancy

Amsterdam...Beginning of Phase Two

Dear Family and Friends,

After we sailed the Baltic our ship returned to Kiel, Germany.  For 3,000 passengers the cruise was finished.  They disembarked and most likely headed back home.  For about 30 of us passengers it was the finish of the first half of our adventure.  Chuck and I got off the ship and went into town but only for a couple of hours because we had to be back on board in time for it's next sailing.

When the ship left Kiel it spent the next day sailing.  The following day we reached our first stop....Amsterdam.

Chuck and I walked into town.  We  chose not to take an organized tour.  We have been to Amsterdam in the past so we had already seen most of the tourist sights.  We just wanted to walk around and soak up the ambiance.

This first picture is of the old palace.  It is not lived in anymore but is located on a huge square with lots of fun activity.  

This building was the old post office.  It has been turned into a shopping mall.

This is the inside of the mall.  Nice transformation and the beautiful old building is well preserved.

In the basement of the mall there was an exhibit of Rembrandt's paintings.  They were all reproductions but all of his known paintings were displayed.  It was quite an exhibit.

As we left this young man gave us a poster from the exhibit.

Some very old houses along the canal.  They are typical Amsterdam houses.

The canals are what make Amsterdam so unique to me.   There are many houseboats along the sides and some people live right on the canal.

We had to make a cheese stop at this cheese store.  Living in Cuenca, we feel cheese deprived.

We took time to have a beer at a local pub.  While there we were able to check our emails.

We walked back to the ship and started thinking about tomorrow.....Dover, England.

Love,
Nancy