London 30.6.2017

Today we decided that we would go to Hampstead Heath to visit Kenwood House.  We were a little later leaving the apartment this morning, in hindsight not such a great idea as the bus ride to Trafalgar Square that would normally take 25 minutes took at least an hour. Not only was the traffic congested, due to the Changing of the Guards, but the bus driver was very tentative, as though it was his first time driving!!! We changed buses at Trafalgar Square and headed to Camden Town, changed buses again to Hampstead Heath, a lovely village.

John thought that Kenwood House, would be quite close, however after asking around, we needed to catch another bus to the top of the Heath.  In the end it took us nearly 4 hours to get to Kenwood House.  On arrival at Kenwood House, a lovely Georgian House, on an 18th century estate.

There was a lovely man at the entrance, and after hearing of our travels, took us to what used to be the Dining Room, as he thought we needed a rest.  The first thing we noticed was the Self Portrait by Rembrandt on the wall, along with a Vermeer and a Van Dyck.

After a short time we then toured the house, which has a quite a number of amazing artworks, as well as the most elegant library.

In 1910 the 6th Earl of Mansfield sold Kenwood and it was bought by Edward Guinness to house his art collection.  He never lived in the house and bequeathed it to the Nation. We were very pleased we persisted and made it to look at this beautiful House and its contents.

We then came home via Euston Station,
to purchase our train tickets to Tamworth for Saturday.    This statue of Robert Stevenson is outside the entrance to Euston Station.









We then had an early dinner at Zizzi's at Tower Bridge before heading back to the apartment.

London 28th June, 2017

After a good nights sleep, we left the apartment reasonably early.  We caught the No 15 bus and our  first stop was the Oldest Church in the City of London, Hallows By The Tower.

The church dates back to 675, and was a Saxon Church built on Roman foundations.

  Parts of the Saxon Church are still intact inside. The Norman part of the church predate the Tower.It was bombed during the 2nd World War and only the tower and walls remained, but it has been faithfully restored.  The crypt of the church still shows a 2nd CenturyRoman pavement, which indicates city life on the site for almost 2000 years.
William Penn, founder of Pennsylvania, was baptised in the church and was educated in the old schoolroom. John Quincy Adams, 6th President of USA, was married in the church in 1797 and the Marriage Resister is on display in the crypt.

From here we went and had Fish and Chips beside the Tower of London.  Back onto the bus and the next stop was St Paul's Cathedral.  We had visited the cathedral before, but felt it was worth another visit.  We took the short introductory tour, and again visited the crypt, where Nelson,  the Duke of Wellington and Christopher Wren (architect of St Paul's Cathedral) are buried.
Next, was the Museum of London, which chronicles the history of London from Pre Historic times to the present time

By this time it was time to head to Fortnum and Mason for our special Afternoon Tea.  From the moment we stepped out of the lift on the 4th Floor, we knew we were in for something special. The room was very light and elegant, the service impeccable, our waiters knowledge of "Tea" was seriously amazing. The finger sandwiches, scones and cream, sweet treats ( all of which were replenished, as often as you required) were delicious.  Towards the end we were offered cake for desert, which we declined, and it was then boxed for us to take home. Our new favourite tea is "Royal Blend", which we then purchased as we left the store.  The store itself is amazing and very expensive !!

After leaving Fortnum and Mason, we walked to Piccadilly Road to catch the bus, and found we were outside Burlington Arcade.It is one of London's earliest covered Arcades, and was built for the sale of jewellery and fancy articles. 

After dinner at a pub in the city we headed back to the apartment - exhausted !!

Albury to London 26.6.17

We left home at 8am this morning and the sun was shinning.  John had received a message from Rob at 6.30am saying that it was clear of fog at the airport and to have a great trip !!! I was a little less convinced that there wouldn't be any fog - I was right !! We drove to Kay's and she took us to the airport, by this time the fog had started to roll in.  The flight was already delayed for an hour.  The fog got thicker and at one stage we couldn't even see the runway !




Our flight was further delayed - we finally left Albury at approximately 1.30pm .  Our flight to Singapore was changed from 1.10pm to 6.05pm. We arrived in Singapore at 12.35 (Singapore time) and the new flight we had been booked on was due to take off at 1.05am.  The flight was then delayed, for over 1 1/2 hrs, waiting for passengers (us and quite a few others)and baggage from the incoming flight.   Both flights were OK, but had stages of turbulence, enough to suspend inflight service.  We arrived at Heathrow in London to long (40min) queues at Immigration.  As I had meet and  assist, John left Immigration and was to meet me at the baggage claim.  There was no sign of him when I got to baggage claim - I collected the luggage and waited and waited !!! After about 15 mins, I was becoming concerned and went to the Singapore Airlines desk, where I was told he had contacted them, as he had walked straight out of the airport without me or the luggage !!! great start John!!! The taxi from Heathrow to our apartment took over an hour (and was quite expensive).  The travel time from door to door was approximately 36 hrs.  After a shower, we caught the No. 15 Bus into Trafalgar Square, had some afternoon tea, wandered around for a while, then decided we couldn't do any more ! caught the bus back, had a drink a the local pub, walked across the road had a pizza and were back in the apartment in bed by 8.15pm.

Disembarkation Day - Kiel - Hamburg - London 21st May, 2016

Today was disembarkation day.  After dropping our hand luggage at the cloak room, we had a leisurely breakfast in the dining room.  Then met with Donna and Lena and waited for to disembark.  We had a transfer booked from Kiel to Hamburg Airport, usually about 1 hrs drive, however due to roadworks it took over 1 1/2hrs.  We arrived at Hamburg Airport about 1 pm and after saying goodbye to Donna and Lena (who are spending another night in Hamburg) we headed through security - which was an absolute nightmare !!1to the departure lounge to await our flight to London, at 4.55pm.

We arrived at Heathrow Airport at about 5.40pm and caught a Taxi to our apartment in Kensington.  Our apartment was not the original one we had booked - we received an email while on the cruise to say that the location had been changed due to renovations !! The apartment was not great - the air conditioning wasn't working, which meant we had to leave the window open, which meant it was very noisy, and the apartment was smaller than we had booked.  After making a complaint, the staff at the Apartment were very helpful, and advised that they would move us to a larger apartment towards to back of the building, while were out and about tomorrow.

At Sea - Friday 20th May, 2016

Today we had breakfast in the dining room, then headed back to our cabin to make a start on packing our bags.  Bags need to be packed and ready to be collected by midnight tonight,

We had dinner with Gillian and Charles and then the 4 of us met Donna and Lena for goodbye drinks in the Tucano Lounge the then went to the Final Show of the Cruise

 

 

 

Stavanger Thursday 19th May, 2016

The ship had docked by the time we opened the balcony curtains today.  Stavanger at first glance was very different to the ports in Norway, in that is appeared very commercial.  We were later to find out that this is the port that supplied all of Norway's offshore North Sea Oil ventures.

 However, the photos below show the view from the ship.  Theses houses are the original houses from when Stavanger was a simple fishing village.  Our organised tour today didn't meet until 11.30, so we had time for breakfast in the dining room, with Lena and Donna.












The tour was of the Lysefjord, which is 42 ilm long It was informative and scenic, but really didn't have the wow factor of the other fjords.  We sailed for approximately 1 hr before reaching the fjord. We passed ships that supply the oil rigs, as well as Salmon in the middle of fjord

We sailed until we came to Hengjane Waterfall, where the pure fresh mountain water plummets 400 meters to the fjord. It was quite was spectacular !!!

We then turned and headed back, on the way stopping at Preikestolen, which translates to Pulpit Rock, in English.  Apparently,  it is one of the most famous tourist attractions in Norway.  The top of the cliff is 25 by 25 meters, square and almost flat and the cliff is 604 meters above the fjord

                                                                                     

                                           

On our return to Stavanger after the excursion we wandered through the little market and made out way to Starbucks for Hot Chocolate or Coffee and cake, and made good use of the free wifi for a little while before boarding the ship the get ready for the the final Gala night of the cruise.

Flaam Norway - Wednesday 18th May, 2016

This morning we arrived in Flaam, at around 8.00am.  Flaam is a small village in South Western Norway, located at the end of the Aurlandsfjord, itself a side arm of Norway's longest fjord, The Sognefjord, which is over 200 klms.

Our first thought when we saw the village from our balcony of the ship was that it looked like something you would see in a Miniature Village

 The picturesque village lies at the bottom of of the Flamsdalen Valley, nestled between dramatic mountains.














After a short walk from the ship to the railway, we boarded the Flamsbahn Train.  This railway is the steepest railway in the world.  It runs from sea level to Myrdal, which is 867 meters above seal level, on the Oslo-Bergen line. The scenery on the way up the mountain was spectacular. Beautiful valleys and amazing waterfalls.

The train made a photostop at the Kjosfossen Waterfall, where there was a mythical dancer.


           

As the Flam Line is a single track, at one stage we stopped and waited for the train going down the mountain to pass.
The train continued on to Myrdal, where we changed trains.  The scenery from Myrdal to Voss had huge amounts of snow, more than I have ever seen, and the houses that could be seen were summer houses and can only be reached by hiking.

 

 
 On arrival at Voss, located on Lake Vangvatnet, we enjoyed a lovely buffet lunch at a local hotel, followed by some time explore

  

 

Our trip down the mountain was by bus. The road had many sharp hairpin bends, as well as some stunning scenery as the bus made its way down the Naeroy Valley.

The bus made a stop at the Tvindefosses Waterfalls, a twin cascade of waterfalls, truly spectacular  

 

The bus continued down the mountain, passing through a tunnel that was 11 klms long and then a 2nd that was about 5 klms long, after which we arrived at the post of Flaam after a day of amazing scenery.

The ship departed Flaam at about 5.30pm and again the scenery as we left the fjord was amazing. We sailed until approximately 10.30 before leaving the fjord, and were again lucky tone witness to a beautiful sunset, even if it was at 10.30pm.

 
Just before heading to bed, we spotted this in the water !!!!