Day 22: Trip home

We are now back home and the past 3 weeks flew by. We got to mark a lot of things off our bucket list with this trip. We loved everywhere we visited and it would be very hard to choose a favorite city. I can say I see a land trip to Scotland in our future and Stacy fell in love with Paris, another city we hope to one day spend more time in as 2 nights with one full day was not nearly enough. We had some very memorable days and hope everyone enjoyed following along. We will always cherish our time with Drew and hope she had as much fun as we did.


For anyone interested in the companies and hotels we used here they are:

Edinburgh apartment hotel (we had penthouse): http://www.princesstreetsuites.co.uk/

Edinburgh International Book Festival: http://www.edbookfest.co.uk/

The Real Mary Kings Close: http://www.realmarykingsclose.com/

Edinburgh Castle (pre-purchase tickets): http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/

Edinburgh Military Tattoo (advance tickets a must): http://www.edintattoo.co.uk/

Edinburgh Festival Fringe: http://www.edfringe.com/

Restaurants: http://www.thecellardooredinburgh.com/
http://www.vittoriarestaurant.com/onthebridge/menus.php

Website for anything you ever wanted to know about Europe train travel: http://www.seat61.com/London-Paris-train.htm

Paris Hotel Mathis Elysees: http://www.paris-inn.com/uk-hotel-paris-mathis-elysees-description-4.html

Eiffel Tower: http://www.tour-eiffel.fr/teiffel/uk/index.html

Notre Dame: http://www.notredamedeparis.fr/-English-

Paris walking tour (highly recommend): http://discoverwalks.com/

Paris Bookstore: http://www.shakespeareandcompany.com/

Seine cruise (there are 2 companies, we used this one): http://www.vedettesdupontneuf.com/index.htm

Louvre: http://www.louvre.fr/llv/commun/home.jsp?bmLocale=en

London: The Ruben’s at the Palace Hotel: http://www.redcarnationhotels.com/uk-ru

Night sightseeing bus: http://www.london-by-night.net/index.html

The Ceremony of the Keys at the Tower of London (early pre-booking a must): http://www.hrp.org.uk/TowerOfLondon/WhatsOn/ceremonyofthekeys.aspx?EventDate=&Step=View

London Eye: http://www.londoneye.com/

Buckingham Palace Tour: http://www.royalcollection.org.uk/default.asp?action=article&ID=30

Changing of the Guard: http://www.army.mod.uk/events/ceremonial/1068.aspx

Wicked: http://www.army.mod.uk/events/ceremonial/1068.aspx

International Friends for transport & guide to Salisbury and Stonehenge 14 people and 49 pax from hotel to ship: http://www.internationalfriends.co.uk/groups.html

Stonehenge Special Access: http://www.english-heritage.org.uk/daysout/properties/stonehenge/explore/stone-circle-access/

Salisbury Cathedral: http://www.salisburycathedral.org.uk/visitor.php

Dublin Bus Company I used for 51 pax tour with guide (excellent): http://www.dualway.com/

Trinity College walking tour by special arrangement outside of normal hours includes entrance to Book of Kells: http://www.tcd.ie/Library/old-library/tour-attractions/

Arranged a group timed visit to Killmainham Goal: http://www.heritageireland.ie/en/Dublin/KilmainhamGaol/

Liverpool Beatles Guide and tour for 14 people with Jackie (excellent): http://www.beatleguides.com/

Belfast taxi tour for 4: http://belfastblackcabtours.co.uk/

Greenock tour arranged through Gordon with Jim (excellent guide with bagpipes) for 24 pax: http://www.greatscot-tours.com/cruise.html

Invergordon tour with Alastair (excellent) for 14 pax: http://www.clansandcastles.com/index.htm

South Queensferry (EDI) tour with Gordon (excellent) for 21 pax: http://www.greatscot-tours.com/cruise.html

Normandy D-Day tour for 16 pax: http://www.overlordtour.com/

Cruise was on the Crown Princess: http://www.princess.com/

Day 21: Last night in London

The ship arrives in Southampton overnight and we depart without any problems and take the train into London for one more night before our early flight tomorrow. We are staying at the Ruben’s at the Palace Hotel again and it is such a great hotel. When we are checking in the manager comes out to great us and remembers Drew’s birthday when we were here before the cruise. The concierge is the best we have ever had and puts all the US ones to shame! I now know now why Ramah loves London so much.


With time left to visit only one site we choose Westminster Abbey. It is a beautiful church and as we are coming out we are just in time to hear the nearby Big Ben strike 4 pm. After a pub dinner of fish ‘n chips we head back to the hotel for a quick rest before going to the theatre tonight to see “Love Never Dies”. It was a wonderful musical and it is now bedtime before our 5 am wake-up call in the morning and flight home.

Day 20: Normandy

Sadly, our last port stop has arrived but it is a much anticipated one. We are touring the Normandy D-Day beaches today. We have 2 eight passenger vans booked for today but when we exit the ship find they have arrived with one 16 passenger one. I ask for a price reduction since we only have one guide for all of us to no avail. Last May (2009) when we first booked this cruise Normandy was the port Char booked our tour in. After she had to cancel this cruise I took over the booking. I thought since we had booked so early we would have the owner of the company, Alan of Overlord Tours but he was with another group today. Our guide was very knowledgeable but had quite an accent. We had a great day despite the expectations not being met.


We drive 2 hours to the furthermost point of our tour, Utah Beach and our guide tells us lots of details about the invasion here. There is a nice bar in the back of the building by the parking lot which is recreated to look like it would have in 1945. Several veterans who have visited have wrote on the walls.

Next stop is St Marie Eglise. This is the village where the paratrooper landed on the church roof, was captured and held prisoner for a few days before escaping. This is a pretty village and it is market day, so we have lunch while walking around.

Pointe Du Hoc is our next site to visit. This is where a lot of destruction took place. The hill above the beach is riddled with huge craters where bombs fell.

Omaha beach is our next stop and again, our guide describes the events that took place there.

Our last stop for the day is the American Cemetery. It is the highlight of our day. It is so sad to see how many lives were lost but a beautiful cemetery and we enjoy a walk around. We have an hour to spend here and it is not long enough to visit the museum, so that will have to wait until another time.

It was yet another great day, even if a hurried one.

Day 19: Sea Day

Tim had a good midnight run in the casino as I slept. He tells me this morning on his first Let It Ride hand he is dealt 3 of a kind and the dealer turns the forth making it a $900 win! The casino has been open at various odd hours when the ship is far enough from land—12 miles out I think, so just a few hours here and there.

We sleep in today then go to the cruise critic group Farewell Lunch in the dining room which Kym has arranged for us and have a great lunch with our new cruising friends. Our roll call ended up with over 170 members and Bill and I tracked all sorts of info for everyone until he had to cancel the cruise then I was the keeper of information and helped organize the private tour info so everyone would know what they signed up for and were to meet for the various tours our members organized. At our lunch today, Kathleen gave me a logo book with thank you notes from a lot of our roll call members and it was very much appreciated. Kym also gave me some more Canadian goodies. We had a really great roll call bunch and we will miss everyone and the daily post on the message boards.

Here are 3 women from our group who were born in 1960:

I did a little packing today. It is hard to believe only one more port then the next day they will be kicking us off the ship! After dinner in dining room we sit on our balcony and enjoy the most beautiful sunset of the trip. As we are headed south to France today the seas have been smooth as glass and the temperatures are up in the 60’s.

Here is a photo just for the guys Tim works with. He had to do it after seeing the sign reading “Real Men Wear Kilts”

Day 18: Edinburgh

It is hard to believe we left behind 90 degree days at home as we are off early this morning and it is in the upper 40’s. South Queensferry is a tender port and I allow too much time to tender and meet the driver so we get to hang out by the Firth of Forth Bridge and wait.

We are met on the dock by bagpipers and drum

Our bus for 20 people today is almost new and very comfortable. Gordon Ross is our guide and our first stop is Rosslyn Chapel built by the St. Clair family over 500 years ago. It did not get many visitors before the movie “The Da Vinci Code”, but has had a steady flow since raising enough money for major restoration works. It is a beautiful Chapel and I am sorry to say there are no photos allowed inside. The interior is carved stone and it would take all day to look at all the carvings.

After looking around the Chapel, we take the trail down the hill to see the Rosslyn Castle where the final scene from the movie was filmed.

We next visit Linlithgow Palace where Mary Queen of Scotts was born. I can only imagine how magnificent it must have been in its heyday sitting on a hill overlooking a beautiful loch (lake)!

Also just inside the palace gates is St Michael’s Parish Church which was founded in 1242. It is a beautiful medieval church.

Still skimming the outskirts of the Edinburgh area we go to the Falkirk Wheel- a modern engineering marvel. It was built about 10 years ago to replace 11 lochs which connect Glasgow and Edinburgh by canal. After a quick lunch in the visitor’s center we take a ride on the wheel. It lifts your boat 110 feet from the bottom canal to the top one. We then journey down the canal for a little bit before returning for the ride down. It moves very slowly but I am still glad we are not seated in the front of the boat because as we pull back into the wheel, there is just the gate stopping us from plummeting 8 stories to the canal below.

We end our day with a 30 minute walk around Culross 16th century village which is quite charming. Another great day!

As we are sailingaway, we pass right by Edinburgh in the distance and the hill I climbed with Stacy and Drew 2 weeks ago!  We miss them and hate they didn't get to see some more of Scotland.

Lighthouse on an island as we leave harbor