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Castles, Towers and a Dragon

After a sound night’s sleep we were up at 7.15am and got ourselves ready for the day. We had booked our breakfast for eight o’clock and, donning our masks we made our way to the dining room and stood in the socially-distanced queue outside. After sanitising our hands we entered the restaurant and were shown to our table for two.

Breakfast was in the form of a hot and cold buffet, which we were quite surprised at, but customers were invited, one table at a time, to select their meals. Tea and coffee were delivered to our table. I enjoyed some yogurt and cereal, followed by bacon, sausage and scrambled eggs, washed down with two cups of coffee.

Our group then assembled outside the hotel to await Mike and our tour bus; today we were going on a half-day exploratory walking tour of the city. The bus soon appeared in the back street and once again we had to put on our masks before boarding.

Off we went through the streets for the short journey to the main square, at which we met up with our local guide, Barbara. The sun was shining and there were hardly any clouds in the clear blue sky as we started our tour.

Our first visit was to the park at Wawel (pronounced Vavel) Hill to see the legendary Wawel Dragon statue. The statue was designed by Polish sculptor Bronisław Chromy and completed in 1969; it was installed in its present location in 1972. It contains a natural gas supply and is set to ignite roughly every five minutes, leading to its fiery breath! We had noticed, in souvenir shops, there were lots of dragon ornaments and plush dragon soft toys, and now we knew why. 🙂

We continued our walk up to Wawel Castle, which we had seen perched on the hill last night as we walked along the river. The castle looked as if it had been an old structure with other extensions added later, giving a sort of “house that Jack built” appearance, and indeed this was the case. The current castle was built in the 14th-century, and expanded over the next hundreds of years. In 1978 Wawel was declared the first World Heritage Site as part of the Historic Centre of Kraków.

We had a good look at the distinctive buildings, including Wawel Cathedral where Polish monarchs were crowned and buried. The cathedral contained twin domes, one of which was golden. We also walked around in the impressive 15th-century Renaissance courtyard, the corners of which contained gargoyles at the top.

In the castle grounds was an outdoor refreshment stand with tables and chairs set up nearby, and Barbara said we could have a 15 minute break. We therefore took a seat in the sunshine and Trevor had a coffee while I settled for a cold soft drink, and we each had a slice of Polish cake; I found mine a bit over-the-top sweet and sticky. We then had some free time to walk around and use the restrooms, which I did.

After Barbara rounded us all up, we continued on our way until we came to another statue, this time of Karol Józef Wojtyła, otherwise known as Pope John Paul II, who was the Archbishop of Kraków from 1964-1978.

As we were walking down the steps leading from the castle grounds we heard some music and came across a pair of musicians in traditional Polish dress; one playing an accordian and one the tambourine. We stopped and took some photos but we didn’t stay long enough to hear them play.

We soon arrived at the famous main city square, known as Rynek Główny, which dates back to the 13th century and is the largest medieval square in Europe. The Project for Public Spaces (PPS) lists the square as the best public space in Europe due to its lively street life, and it was a major factor in the inclusion of Kraków as one of the top off-the-beaten-path destinations in the world in 2016. It certainly did look impressive, and contained many historic buildings and churches, and was dominated by the famous Cloth Hall (Sukiennice).

Round the edges we also saw many charming restaurants, shops and pavement cafés, and we looked forward to exploring more later on.

The time was now about 11.45am and our guide, Barbara, told us to watch out for the clock on the Town Hall Tower chiming the hour at 12 noon, and to listen for what happens next…

We heard the clock strike 12 and then, from the tower of St. Mary’s Basilica, a window opened and a trumpet appeared. The musician then started to play a signal – called the called the Hejnał mariacki, which came to an abrupt end half-way through. The trumpeter then waved to everyone watching below, withdrew his trumpet and the window slammed shut. This tradition occurs on the hour, every hour (24 hours a day) and is (so legend has it) to commemorate a famous 13th century trumpeter who was shot in the throat while sounding the alarm before a Mongol attack on the city. The noon-time hejnał is heard across Poland and abroad broadcast live by the Polish national Radio 1 Station.

The sounding of the trumpet, at which we all waved, also heralded the end of our guided tour, and we all thanked Barbara with the traditional round of applause before she left us. Our travel rep Mike then informed us that the rest of the day was ours at leisure, and explained that we could either get the tram back to the hotel, walk back, or continue to explore on our own. He pointed out the various options to us, and recommended things to do, but Trevor and I had already made plans for this afternoon – a visit to Oskar Schindler’s enamelware factory, made famous by the film Schindler’s List.

We had already booked the tickets for 4.00pm, so we had a few hours to explore until then. We decided to go and have a drink and some lunch (I wasn’t hungry after the huge breakfast I’d eaten!) so we walked around looking for somewhere which took our fancy.

On our way, we came across a massive flock of pigeons in the square who were attracted by the crumbs of a little boy’s packet of crisps – it looked just like a seething grey carpet at the boy’s feet, while even more pigeons flew in and landed on other pigeons’ backs in their quest for a few crumbs. We saw a lady standing in among the pigeons, and held her arms out at her sides, whereupon two pigeons landed on each arm, and one perched on her head. It was like something out of Alfred Hitchcock’s The Birds. 🙂

I decided to have a try and, sure enough, a pigeon landed on my arms and pecked gently at my outstretched fingers. It was quite cute, and I hoped that I wouldn’t receive a “little present” from any of them, ha ha. 🙂

We then decided to go and have some lunch as we had plenty of time before our pre-booked visit to the Schindler factory. The sun was very warm so we looked around for somewhere in the shade and found a pleasant, dimly-lit bar-café; a sign advised that the loos were downstairs so we went down and discovered there was also a bar and restaurant down there. We each ordered a cold pint of Tyskie and Trevor had a cheese and ham panini, but I wasn’t hungry after our substantial breakfast. We stayed long enough for another beer, then went back upstairs and out in the sun again, and started to make our way towards our next destination which, according to Google Maps, was about a 30 minute walk away.

Once more we crossed the bridge over the Vistula, past the ferris wheel and the balloon, past parks with many trees, bushes, paths and joggers. One of the things we noticed was very popular here in Kraków was electric scooters; they were everywhere and their riders wove in and out of pedestrians with some speed.

Soon we came to Lipowa Street, number four of which is the famous Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik (DEF), where German industrialist and member of the Nazi party Oskar Schindler employed (and ultimately saved) nearly 1200 Jews. The former factory now serves as part of the Museum of Kraków and contains a permanent exhibition depicting Kraków during the occupation of 1939-1945.

We still had some time to kill before our 4.00pm slot, so we went to a pavement café over the road and had a drink each. We then went to the main entrance (avoiding the socially-distanced queue as we were pre-booked) and I showed the bloke on the door the booking number on my phone; we were then taken to the reception desk to pay our 26 Zlotys each (just over a fiver) and collect our tickets, and a brochure describing our self-guided tour.

It was very interesting indeed inside the factory, even if it wasn’t quite what we were expecting. To quote from the official web site:

“The exhibition is primarily a story about Kraków and its inhabitants, both Polish and Jewish, during World War Two. It is also a story about Nazi Germans – the occupiers who arrived here on 6 September 1939, brutally disrupting Kraków’s centuries-long history of Polish-Jewish relations. The great history of World War Two intersects here with everyday life, and the personal dramas of individual people overlap with the tragedy which affected the whole world.
The wartime history of Deutsche Emailwarenfabrik – DEF – and its owner Oskar Schindler was brought into the limelight in 1993 by Steven Spielberg’s film Schindler’s List. Ever since that time, tourists from all over the world have been coming to Lipowa Street to visit the place where Schindler saved the lives of over a thousand people.”

We did, however, see Oskar Schindler’s actual office, desk, chair and filing cabinet, as well as a large glass case containing a selection of some of the pots and pans that had been made in the factory. There was also a whole wall full of photographs of some of the people who had worked in the factory, as well as a small cinema running a film interviewing some of the former Schindler workers, who explained how he had saved them from an almost certain fate in the Płaszów concentration camp in Kraków. It was all very moving, and we spent about two hours in the museum before the closing time of 6.00pm.

On our return to the hotel, we determined we would go up in the balloon tonight, and we hurried along to try to get there before sunset; how fantastic it would be to photograph the sun going down from aloft! We walked briskly along the banks of the river and underneath the Pilsudski Bridge (which we’d nicknamed the “Tyne Bridge” due to the similarity in appearance). We could see the balloon up in the sky in the near distance, and with the sun dipping lower in the sky, it made a brilliant photograph.

We arrived a little after sunset (but with plenty of atmospheric light still available) just as the balloon was descending, and bought our tickets. As we joined the socially-distanced, mask-wearing queue, the gondola disgorged its passengers, one of whom was Frank, from our trip. He was lucky enough to have caught the sunset!

We then boarded the gondola, which was a doughnut shape with the cable that controlled the ascent and descent of the balloon running up through the hole in the centre. Usually it would carry up to 30 passengers, but this time it was only taking 12 per load, and the floor was marked into sectors, one for each person, to stand in.

Off we went, gradually rising higher and higher as the cable was paid out. There was only a little wind which did blow the balloon gently, but as was restrained by the tether the wind didn’t affect the movement too much, although the pilot did say that the balloon didn’t go up on very windy days.

We had fantastic views of the winding Vistula and its bridges, as well as the red-roofed buildings of Kraków spread out below us. We could also see the ferris wheel, its lights flashing and changing colour as it slowly revolved. The vehicles speeding by on the roads below looked like Dinky toys. What a great experience! 🙂

After about 15 minutes, the balloon began its controlled descent, landing perfectly over the hole from which the cables emerged, using the castors under the gondola to help it glide into position.

What a lot we had packed into today! We must have walked over 10 miles; in fact my Fitbit was showing well over 20,000 steps, and we were ready for something to eat now. We decided to make our way to our “favourite” restaurant, the Pierwszy Stopien.

When we arrived at the restaurant about 8.00pm, the same friendly waitress greeted us and said it was nice to see us again. She then showed us to a table for two in the warm, welcoming restaurant which was already doing a roaring trade. Trevor ordered his usual pint of Tyskie and I opted for an Aperol Spritz. I enjoyed a nice big main-meal salad consisting of chicken, ham, cheese and lots of fresh salad vegetables in a herby dressing, with a side order of dill pickles; it was delicious. We then finished off with another drink; this time I had a Mojito.

As we had done a lot today and we were quite tired, we decided just to go back to the hotel (I still had some of the wine I’d bought at the Spar yesterday) and read, watch the limited English-language TV and rest.

We had to be up early in the morning and leave the hotel for tomorrow’s excursion around 8.00am, so we settled down around 11 o’clock and slept very well.

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Welcome to Kraków

When the alarm shattered the silence at 3.20am it felt as if we had only been asleep for 10 minutes, as we blearily opened our eyes in the darkened Travel Lodge room. Straightaway I put the kettle on and made some coffee; we would have to wait until we were at the airport before having any breakfast.

We got washed, dressed and packed, looked around the room to ensure we hadn’t forgotten anything, and left the hotel just before 4.00am. A light rain (what we call a ‘mizzle’ in the North, i.e. mist+drizzle) was falling and I was glad I’d packed my cagoule in my carry-on bag. We loaded our stuff into the car and drove the short distance to the long-stay car park. Dropping the keys in at the reception, we were just in time to get the shuttle bus.

We had never flown from or into Edinburgh Airport and we were surprised at how big it was; certainly a lot bigger than Newcastle. As we approached the airport building we could already see the one-way system in place and the signs everywhere advising people to maintain social distancing and wear a mask at all times whilst in the airport terminal.

The queue at the EasyJet luggage drop desk was quite short (we’d already checked in and printed our boarding passes before leaving home) so, once we’d got rid of our cases, we went through security until we were airside. At this point we decided we’d try and find somewhere that was open where we could get something to eat and drink, which was quite difficult as most places were closed at this time of the morning, and the ones that were planning on opening would not do so before 5.00am. There was a Wetherspoons which stayed stubbornly closed, a Burger King which was also closed and a depressing-looking series of vending machines selling water and soft drinks.

Eventually we found a Costa Coffee that was open and we bought ourselves the unlikely breakfast of Heineken beer and a millionaire’s shortbread for me, and beer and a cheese toastie for Trevor. I also purchased a bottle of water to keep myself hydrated on the aircraft.

Soon the call for boarding appeared on the departure board, and we made our way to the EasyJet designated gate and joined the quick-moving queue to board. We were exciting at our first trip away this year, very unusual for us when we usually go on holiday three or four times a year. 🙂

The aircraft took to the skies on time, and we settled back for the 2 hours 10 minutes flight. Once we’d reached cruising height the refreshments trolley appeared, which I was surprised at because I had thought they would not be serving food and drink on a reasonably short flight, in order to avoid passengers having to remove their masks. But we enjoyed a coffee each and a small canister of Pringles (strange breakfast indeed!) then, when the trolley made its return journey along the aisle we had a cold beer each, as we were now slowly getting into the holiday mood. 🙂

Before landing, we had to complete our Passenger Locator Form with our contact details, a mandatory chore without which we would not be allowed to leave the airport. All part of the Track & Trace system, where they are supposed to keep an eye on people’s movements around the globe and advise them if they come into contact with someone who later tests positive for COVID-19.

We touched down at Pope John Paul II International Airport, Kraków, 20 minutes ahead of schedule and taxied along to the arrivals gate. I was disappointed to see that it was raining (!) as the weather in Poland recently had been sunny and warm. It didn’t take long to go through security, and we arrived at the luggage carousel at the exact time our cases appeared, so no waiting around there either. A bit different from our arrival into LAX last October, which took just under three hours to process via the US immigration system. 🙂

Putting up the hood of my cagoule, we trundled our bags to the airport exit, where we met Mike, the Newmarket Holidays rep. Only one other bloke, who we later found out was called Frank, had also come in on our flight from Edinburgh, so the three of us were directed to a private hire car which took us on the 45 minute ride to our hotel, the Golden Tulip, in Krakow-Kazimierz.

The main entrance to the hotel (and the back entrance, for that matter) were only accessible by a gate, and you had to press the buzzer to announce your arrival, or use your room card. The rain had abated quite a lot by now, and the sky looked a lot brighter; the forecast was for it to be fair this afternoon (good!) 🙂

The hotel was in a fantastic location, walking distance from most of Kraków’s attractions, and in a street containing many bars, restaurants and shops. We couldn’t wait to explore this, our 90th country. 🙂

We checked in and had to wait in the lobby for 20 minutes or so before our second-floor room was ready, all the time wearing our mask. Looking around we could see the entrance to the dining room, as well as a cocktail bar. Each of the entrances had hand-sanitizer dispensers nearby, as did the entrance to the lifts, which only allowed one person at a time, unless you were sharing a room.

Once in our room we thankfully removed our masks and had a single thought; an hour’s nap to make up for the very early start. We emptied our cases and hung up the few items of clothing we had brought for our 4-night stay, then I set the timer on my phone to go off in an hour’s time, and we settled down in the clean cotton sheets.

When we woke up it was about 12.30pm and, looking out of the window, we could see that the rain had stopped and the sun was tentatively trying to peep through. I freshened up a bit and then we decided to explore our immediate surroundings and go and have a spot of lunch somewhere.

Off we went along the street, looking in the windows of the shops (one of which was a Spar, just down the road from the hotel) and we soon came to an inviting-looking restaurant called Pierwszy Stopien; it contained lots of greenery and exposed brickwork and contained wooden chairs and tables with glass candle holders. As we went in, we were greeted by a friendly mask-wearing waitress and we confirmed we’d like a table for two.

We noticed that they were offering a lunchtime three-course set menu, so we placed our order and decided to sample a Polish beer, ordering a pint of Tyskie each. I ordered a thick asparagus soup garnished with fresh cream and chopped pistachio nuts, while Trevor enjoyed a chunky tomato soup.

For the main course, I had delicious stuffed red peppers which contained barley, onions and carrots amongst other things, served with a mixed salad. Trevor tried the steamed Russian dumplings.

Then we had a traditional Polish dessert which was something like cake with a fruit puree on top. It was all excellent value for money, coming to just over £13.00 for both of us. Currently there are five Polish złotys to the pound, and everything we’d seen so far seemed remarkably cheap.

After our delicious lunch we set off to explore the area. We walked along the uncrowded street to the former Jewish quarter of Kazimierz, and came to a square containing Isreali restaurants and Jewish bookshops, as well as a synagogue; the iron railings separating the square from the main road had Stars of David contained within the metal work. We came across a life-size statue of a man sitting on a bench, a nearby plaque proclaimed him to be Jan Karski, an emissary of the Polish people in German-occupied Poland in 1940-43, who tried to prevent the Holocaust. He lived from 1914-2000 and was given the accolade of “Righteous among the Nations” and became an honorary citizen of Israel. Trevor sat down on the bench next to the statue and I took his photo. 🙂

We walked a bit further along and came to a large, cream-coloured building set back from the road among some trees; a path led to the entrance which claimed it to be the Kupa Synagogue. It cost 10 złotys (a couple of quid) each to go inside, which was classed more as a donation than an entry fee. We decided to see what it was like, as I had never been in a synagogue before.

The Kupa synagogue was founded in 1643, so it was over 300 years old. It was richly decorated with paintings, wall decorations and featured a fantastically ornate ceiling, painted in subtle browns, blue, cream, white and beige, which depicted scenes from the Bible. Around the edge of the upper gallery (from which you could enter the women’s section) were the 12 signs of the zodiac. There was also a large bima (a big centrally-placed pulpit for reading Tora scrolls) as well as a double seat next to the bima for the person holding the scrolls. In addition, there were several long tables and benches which were used for dining on feast days.

We had a good look round, spending about half an hour inside the synagogue. On the leaflet we were given by the lady who took our money at the door was the notice:

“In Judaism the synagogue is used only for prayer, learning and religious purposes… it is forbidden to use the synagogue as, for instance, shelter against the rain or the sun or to visit it only to fill your curiosity. That is why visitors are requested to make a short prayer to the Creator of the world, the Host of this building, of whom they are guests at this moment.“

I don’t know many prayers off by heart, except the Lord’s Prayer, so I stood under the chandelier and recited that. 🙂

Once outside again, we walked along the pleasant streets, looking at the interesting architecture and the characterful shops, restaurants, bars and pavement cafés. The weather was bright and pleasant now, so we decided to have a drink at one of the bars, called Beer Street, which had some pleasant parasoled tables and chairs outside, at which small groups of (socially distanced) people sat.

Trevor ordered the drinks while I went to use the loo, and we spent a relaxing interlude sitting outside for a while, talking about the strange times we have been experiencing in 2020, and how we were lucky finally to get away on holiday somewhere, even if only for a short time.

Afterwards we walked back along to the hotel, stopping at the Spar to get some beer and wine to enjoy in our hotel room later on. 🙂

We then spent some time pottering around in our room, reading, watching TV (there was only one news channel in English, the rest of the channels were in Polish) and relaxing. At around 6.30pm I got washed and changed, and we decided to go back to the Pierwszy Stopien restaurant for our dinners; we had enjoyed it so much at lunchtime and we’d also seen some impressive-looking burgers being served, so we thought we try one of those. 🙂

We were greeted by the same smiling waitress (at least I assumed she was smiling under her mask) and shown to a table surrounded by lots of greenery, pot plants and glass candle-holders. There were more people in than there had been at lunchtime, and the atmosphere was relaxed and happy, that of family and friends breaking bread together. We each ordered the special burger and Trevor chose a Tyskie beer while I decided to have an Aperol Spritz.

The burgers were massive! They came in a triple-decker toasted bun and contained lettuce, tomato, onion and a special sauce, and were served with plump dill pickles and chunky chips. It was quite a struggle to finish the meal, and once again it was excellent value for money.

We then decided to try to walk off some of the calories by crossing the Vistula river and exploring further afield. We went across a bridge over what is a very wide river, as night was beginning to fall and the lights from the riverside buildings were reflecting on the rippling water. We saw a large boat that had evidently been converted to a restaurant and/or night club, and the sky was lit up by a large ferris wheel, the spokes and hub of which subtly changed colour. I can never resist going on a ferris wheel, so we each paid our 25 złotys and took our seats in one of the capsules.

Off we went, up and up, and enjoyed stunning views over the Vistula (also called the Wisła (pronounced Vizwa) in Polish) and the twinkling lights of Kraków. We had three revolutions of the ‘big wheel’ before we came to a stop and the sliding doors of our capsule opened.

As we walked along the riverside, we saw a large, interesting tethered balloon. It wasn’t a hot-air balloon and, at first, we thought it was just one of those advertising balloons you sometimes see, until we spotted a gondola underneath that was clearly big enough to hold people; in fact, a small queue had formed of people waiting to board. We stood and watched a while, then discovered you could buy tickets for the balloon at a nearby kiosk, it worked out at about 11 quid each for 10 minutes, but they stopped ‘flights’ at 8.00pm and it was five to eight now, and the last ascent was about to commence. We knew what we’d be doing tomorrow night! 🙂

As we watched, the balloon slowly lifted off; it was tethered by a steel cable which was wound around a revolving drum which allowed it to be paid out at a constant rate, leading to a smooth ascent. It went up to about 300 feet, glowing a pale blue in the darkened sky; from a distance it looked like a large, glowing moon, as you couldn’t see the cable.

We set off walking back to the hotel, as it was starting to get a bit chilly now, and we were still a little tired after our early start (and the hour’s time difference). We arrived back at the Golden Tulip around nine o’clock, and decided to open the beer and wine we’d bought at the Spar. I got washed and into my ‘jamas and enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine while reading my Kindle. I am reading the true-crime book Children who Kill by Carol Ann Lee; it is an interesting (although somewhat disturbing) anthology of child murderers (and murderers who are children), such as Thompson and Venebles, and Mary Bell.

At 10.30pm I could hardly keep my eyes open any more and we settled down for our first night in Poland. We had to be up at seven o’clock tomorrow for breakfast at eight, and we slept very well.

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Rosyth and Edinburgh

We hadn’t done much on Friday or Saturday, apart from packing our cases and getting ready for a trip away. Yes! We are finally able to go away on holiday and, whilst it may not be as exciting as Chile and Easter Island, at least it would be a break and a change of scenery.

But why Edinburgh? I hear you ask. Well, we are due to be flying out to Kraków, Poland tomorrow. Poland!! We are actually going abroad, a rarity indeed in these strange times. Newcastle Airport no longer offers direct flights to Kraków, so Edinburgh was our nearest airport, and as it will be an early start tomorrow morning, we decided to travel up early, make a day of it, and stay overnight at a hotel near the airport. 🙂

After breakfasting and finishing our packing, we loaded up the car with our cases and bags, and loaded our cat, Cedric, into his transporter to be taken to the 5-star cat hotel for him to have his holidays too. He was not a happy pussy as he hates going in the car, and he protested loudly on the 15-minute ride to the cattery. We’d stayed there before, so we knew he would be well-looked-after.

Off we went and headed north at a good rate, driving through the pleasant rugged sunlit countryside of County Durham and Northumberland before we eventually saw the blue and white Saltire and the “Welcome to Scotland” sign. We decided then we would stop at nearby Jedburgh for a comfort break, and we pulled up at a coach stop we knew well. There were no coaches around (presumably most coach trips were stopped due to the dreaded COVID-19) so none of the shops were open; there was only a small branch of Subway open in the petrol station, so we went in and had a coffee each and a cookie, and used the toilets.

We continued on our way, but it took a little longer than usual to get to Edinburgh because part of the A68 was closed due to roadworks, and there was quite a detour in operation. Before going into Edinburgh itself, our plan was to go to Rosyth to see all the Fred Olsen ships, which we know and love, as they have all been laid up there since March due to the pandemic. As we crossed the Firth of Forth on the new bridge, we spotted the familiar red Fred Olsen logo on the white funnels, and we also saw the former Holland America ship Rotterdam which is soon to join the Fred Olsen fleet as the newly-refurbished Borealis.

After we’d crossed the bridge we drove around to park up and try to get a good vantage point from which to view the ships. Unfortunately we couldn’t get very close to them, but I was still able to identify the Boudicca, the Black Watch and the Braemar alongside each other:

Funnels of the Boudicca, Black Watch and Braemar in Rosyth

To the right of these was the Balmoral and the soon-to-be Borealis. While it was nice to see them, it was sad that they were all just moored up there instead of sailing the ocean blue with their complement of happy passengers.

Funnels of the Balmoral and the Rotterdam (soon to be the Borealis)

We stayed awhile looking at the ships and longing to be on them again, then we decided to find a nearby pub and go for a drink and something to eat, as it was now after one o’clock. A quick check on Google Maps told us there was a pub close by called the Cottars, so we made our way to it and went inside. However, it was fully booked for Sunday lunch so we just had a pint in the sunshine outside and enjoyed a bag of crisps between us. 🙂

We then continued on our way into Edinburgh itself, and made our way to the Travel Lodge at Ratho Station, opposite the Airport.

Our room was plain and simple, but clean and comfortable which is all we needed for one night. We dumped our cases then went across to the road to await the city centre bus, details and timings of which had been kindly provided by the lady on the Travel Lodge reception. A bus arrived shortly aferwards and it was about a 20 minute ride into the centre; we got out in the main thoroughfare of Princes Street.

Edinburgh looked quite busy and there was lots of traffic and lots of people; the only clue to a global pandemic was the fact that everyone was wearing masks in the shops. We walked along and window-shopped and people-watched, and after about a mile or so we arrived at The Conan Doyle pub, which we knew from previous visits to Edinburgh, and we recalled that it served good, wholesome Scottish grub, including the compulsory Haggis, Tatties and Neeps. 🙂

Inside, we sanitised our hands and completed the Track & Trace details (part of what is becoming the “new normal”) and were then shown to a pleasant table near the window and handed a couple of disposable menus. I selected the haggis with homemade whisky sauce, while Trevor went for the full Sunday roast, and we each ordered a pint of Tennants beer. 🙂

My meal was hot and delicious; I’ve always enjoyed haggis although some people might balk at its ingredient list. Afterwards we decided to go the whole hog and have a dessert each; we had a scrumptious clotted cream cheesecake to finish. Thus sated, we exited onto the Edinburgh streets once again, as the shops were closing and the crowds were thinning out.

We walked along by the park and came to the Edinburgh Art Gallery and Museum, outside which a lively three-part band of musicians had started playing lively tunes; a guitarist, bagpipe player and enthusiastic drummer. A thinned-out crowd had gathered (social distancing!!) and a smattering of applause sounded as the trio ended one tune and swung into another.

We then decided to get the bus back to the Travel Lodge, as we knew we had an early start in the morning so we just wanted to spend the evening relaxing and watching TV.

After consulting our piece of paper with the bus details, we made our way to a bus-stop that indicated that a number “25” bus would be along soon, as indeed it was. We got on the bus, dropped the exact fare into the box provided for the purpose, and took our seats on the upper deck. It was only when the bus started along an unfamiliar route we realised, despite it being the number “25”, that it was actually from the wrong bus company and not going our way at all! We hurriedly alighted at the next stop, then had about a mile to walk back to Princes Street to await the correct bus. 🙂

Back in the Travel Lodge we made ourselved comfortable with a bottle of cava we’d brought with us; there was no glassware or even plastic tumblers in the room so it was the first time I’d ever enjoyed cava out of a coffee mug. 🙂 Then we sat and watched TV, read a little, and got washed and into our PJs before settling down between the crisp clean sheets at about 10.30pm. Early for us, but we had to leave the hotel at 4.00am tomorrow to go to the airport. It was the first night we had spent outside our home in 2020.

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These City Walls

Woke up this morning on a day that wasn’t sure if it was going to be sunny, windy, or raining (or all three). Got showered, dressed, had our breakfasts then put on our trainers and left the house at 9.00am to walk to Durham train station. Today we were going to spend in the beautiful and ancient walled city of York, a place we visit on a regular basis as it is only 50 minutes away on the train. 🙂

It took us about 40 minutes to walk the two miles to the railway station. We haven’t been since before the COVID-19 outbreak and the differences were evident immediately. As soon as we entered the station we were required to put on masks; the WHSmith kiosk and Costa Coffee remained firmly closed, and black-and-yellow striped tape everywhere indicated the one-way route around the station, with markers showing how far apart we had to stand.

Our train arrived on time and we boarded and found some empty seats and settled for the journey. Everyone was wearing masks apart from those who were eating or drinking something; you had to bring your own food and drink onto the train as there was no buffet or trolley service. 😦

Off we went, speeding through the northern English countryside, fields nearly ready for harvest glowing mellowly in the weak September sunshine. Darlington, Northallerton then York, arrival time 10.49am.

When we alighted from the train we were surprised at how busy York train station was, bearing in mind it was a working day. Everyone headed towards the exit and there was not much evidence of social distancing. Once the left the station, we thankfully removed our masks and headed in the direction of the city centre, walking along Station Road flanked by the impressive and imposing City Walls, and crossing the bridge over the River Ouse, where we briefly contemplated going down and taking a walk along the river…. no, that could wait until later.

Instead, we made our way towards the fantastic York Minster. We thought we might go inside, but there was quite a long queue as they are obviously limiting the number of people who can be inside at the same time. Instead, we wandered around and gazed up at the wonderful Gothic architecture, from the towers to the rose window to the main façade. A magnificent building, but maybe not quite as good as Durham Cathedral (but, then again, I am perhaps a little biased). 🙂

York Minster
York Minster, showing Rose Window

A couple of artists had taken up a good vantage point near the Minster; one was completing a water colour whilst the other appeared to be doing a charcoal sketch. It was not too crowded and there seemed to be plenty of space; last time we were here was just before Christmas 2019, when the streets were packed with stalls for the Christmas Market.

York is such a beautiful and striking city, with its old timbered buildings, some dating back to the 14th century. We set off in the direction of the Shambles, probably York’s most famous street. It’s simply wonderful, with old eclectic buildings, some so close together at the top you would have been able to reach out of the leaded windows and shake hands with the person in the window opposite.

Trevor walking along the Shambles

There were sweet shops and shops selling locally-made handicrafts and souvenirs; charming little cafés and tea-rooms all rubbing shoulders with 21st century retailers like mobile phone shops. I saw an old-fashioned sweet shop selling cinder toffee and nougat and couldn’t resist going in to buy some.

Cinder toffee, fudge and peanut brittle in a York sweet shop

After wandering around and looking at some of the market stalls, we came to The Three Cranes, a pub that we always visit when we go to York at Christmas, as they serve a wonderful mulled wine and mince pies! Whilst we couldn’t expect such a thing now, we still fancied a cold pint, so in we went.

Three Cranes pub

We like the Three Cranes because it’s a proper traditional pub with lots of character and atmosphere, unlike those soulless chain establishments. They also play a fantastic selection of 1960s and 70s music in the background. Ususally when we come here it is pretty crowded, but today we had the ‘snug’ area of the pub mostly to ourselves.

We enjoyed out pints then decided to go along to the Postern Gate for our lunch. This is one of the two Wetherspoons pubs in York, right on the banks of the Ouse, near the distinctive Clifford’s Tower perched on its grassy mound.

York Castle, otherwise known as Clifford’s Tower

When we arrived at the Postern Gate it was doing a roaring lunchtime trade. The guy who greeted us asked if we wanted to sit at one of the high tables or a lower one; we opted for the lower but there was only one left, and it was near the door which had to be kept open for a flow of fresh air into the pub. It looked out onto a sort of courtyard and balcony area overlooking the river, but where we were sitting it acted a bit like a wind tunnel, so it was somewhat draughty eating our lunch. At some point we decided it might be warmer in the courtyard, so we moved outside, where we had the benefit of the sunshine. The wind still had a nip to it though.

We ordered a second drink each and sat overlooking the river. It would have been really enjoyable but for that cold breeze, and once we’d finished we decided to move on.

We enjoyed a pleasant stroll walking around the streets and looking at the old buildings. At one point the sun decided to make a reappearance, instantly making a huge difference. Some of the centuries-old buildings looked as if they had been constructed without any spirit levels or plumb lines, such as York Gin in Pavement which looked as if it was sagging in the middle:

Old timbered building in Pavement, York

As the weather now felt pleasantly warm, we decided we’d take that walk by the river, so we went along to the bridge so we could go down the steps to the quayside. On the way we passed one of the strangest street names I’ve ever some across (in England, anyway).

Whip-Ma-Whop-Ma-Gate, York

It was very pleasant walking along the riverside, and the pavement cafés were doing a roaring trade, as were the York City Tours boat trips.

River Ouse, York

We spent about half an hour strolling around, then we decided we were ready for another beer (!) and so we started to make our way along to the Punch Bowl, another Wetherspoons pub which is handily situated about five minutes’ walk from the railway station.

Once again, we were lucky to find a seat inside and, apart from the perspex screens that had been erected between the tables, you would hardly have thought we were in the midst of a global pandemic, as the pub was doing a lively trade and, shortly after our arrival, people started to queue outside.

I enjoyed a couple of glasses of rosé prosecco while Trevor stuck to his pints of John Smith’s. We then made our way to the train station, once again donning our masks as we stood on the platform waiting for the Durham train. It arrived on time, and we took our seats feeling pleasantly tired.

50 minutes later, at 7.25pm, the train pulled into Durham station and despite having seen this sight many hundreds of times before, I never tire of the view of the Cathedral from the window of the train:

Durham Cathdral at dusk, from the window of a northbound train

Alighting from the carriage we set off on the two-mile walk home, arriving back just after 8.00pm. It had been an enjoyable day. 🙂

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Ramblings of a Different Kind

When is a cruise not a cruise? Answer: when it’s been booked to take place in 2020 and is invariably cancelled due to the dreaded worldwide COVID-19 pandemic.

Regular readers of this blog will notice that there hasn’t been a single post made since November 2019; the longest time I’ve gone without writing anything since I started this blog nearly 10 years ago. With life and any semblance of normality on hold in 2020, there has simply been nothing to write about. 😦

We had our long-awaited Balmoral cruise, which was due to start on 29th March 2020, cancelled on 13th – only 16 days beforehand, just before Britain went into lockdown and we were only allowed to leave our house for food purchases, hospital appointments or for one hour of exercise a day. Surely our next holiday, a relaxing week river cruising on the upper Danube in June on the Brabant would go ahead? Nope. 😦

We replaced the cancelled March Balmoral cruise with a two-week Caribbean cruise on the Braemar for 10th December. December is ages away – surely this nasty coronavirus will have gone away and life will be back to normal by Christmas? Apparently the Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) weren’t taking any chances, and they put a ban on any ocean-going cruises for the foreseeable future, which included December. Another cruise cancelled. 😦

Never mind though, I still had my February 2021 Suez Canal cruise on the Boudicca to look forward to – or did I? This two-week cruise formed one section of the 140-night world cruise which was due to start in November 2020 and was therefore cancelled. 😦

Today, we should have been jetting off to Santiago, Chile, to start a fantastic land-based escorted tour of this fascinating country, including three nights on Easter Island, one of the remotest islands in the world. But when COVID-19 is raging throughout South America and the FCO is advising against travel there, we decided several weeks ago to postpone this trip for a year. So we find ourselves with a fortnight off work, wondering how to fill the time. 🙂

Here in northern Blighty we have just come out of the coldest and wettest August on record, with temperatures barely in the teens and lots of rain largely deterring us from going out and exploring our own green and pleasant land. Not so much Chile as chilly. 🙂 We did have some tentative sunshine on August Bank Holiday, marred only by an arctic breeze necessitating the need for a jacket and – yes – even a woolly hat.

Back to today… we decided we’d join the Crook and Weardale Ramblers, of which we have been a member since 1989, for a five mile walk starting in Witton Park, County Durham. We wouldn’t normally be able to join a Wednesday morning walk because we would have been at work, but today we were off !!! 🙂

Whilst there was still that nip in the air, there was a weak autumnal sunshine as we drove to the starting point of the walk. There, we met up with the other ramblers who were joining us this morning, and off we went. The air was fresh and clean and day seemed ideal for striding out.

Our first brief stop was at the memorial dedicated to the Bradford brothers, who were born in Witton Park. There were four of them and three lost their lives in the Great War, two of them being awarded the Victoria Cross for valour during WW1, the only brothers to have done so.

George and Roland Bradford of Witton Park, County Durham
The Bradford brothers

Continuing on our way, we ambled along until we came out along a grassy track taking us to Paradise, a pleasant nature reserve and walk along the River Wear.

You can go to Paradise and back when you go to Witton Park, County Durham 🙂

It was lovely and relaxing just walking leisurely along in the sunshine, much better than being at work (if not quite as good as going to Chile!). We passed alongside a serene lake and came across a dog walker whose young dog was quite distressed at the loss of his ball! He had dropped the tennis ball in the lake but was too unsure and inexperienced to swim after it, even though the ball was only about a metre or so in front of him. Trevor had a brainwave; he used the nearby life belt, throwing it into the lake and encircling the ball, which we could then pull back into the dog’s reach with the attached rope. One happy dog, one happy owner! 😀

We continued on our way until we came to Escomb Church, which is one of the oldest Anglo-Saxon churches in England and one of only three complete Anglo-Saxon churches remaining in England, the others being St Lawrence’s Church, Bradford-on-Avon and All Saints’ Church, Brixworth. It was built circa 650AD. The church warden was about, and she kindly opened the church to allow us inside, on the condition that we sanitised our hands before entering and didn’t touch anything; another new ‘normal; in 2020. 🙂

Escomb Church, one of the oldest Saxon churches in England
Inside Escomb Church

It was lovely and peaceful in the church, and we spotted parts of the masonry which had been brought from the nearby Roman fort of Vinovia.

In the graveyard outside we briefly paused to read some of the inscriptions on the stones; one I looked at at random contained the epitaph:

“Here Lieth the Body of Ralph Simpson
who Departed this Life
September the 10th Anno Dom. 1720″

Wow, that’s almost 300 years to the day ago.

Ancient gravestone

All in all, the walk was about four miles, or you could add an extra loop of a mile on to make it five. As it had clouded over and there were a few spots of the inevitable rain, I decided to finish at the four mile point, and wait in the car for the others to complete the last mile, which only took another 20 minutes or so. By the time they arrived back it was just after 1.00pm, nice time for lunch. We’d already spotted the Saxon Inn over the road from the church, so we decided to go back there for a well-earned pint and a spot of lunch.

The Saxon Inn, Escomb

I enjoyed a nice plate of Hunter’s Chicken with salad and chips while Trevor had scampi; we each washed it down with a pint of cold John Smith’s which I enjoyed so much I had another one! 🙂

It was 3.00pm by the time we arrived back home after an enjoyable bit of exercise. By now the wind had got up and the rain had started in earnest, so we’d timed it perfectly.

Not the day we’d planned, but a pleasant one nonetheless. 🙂

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Time to re-LAX

Got up at 6.45am to find that the Celebrity Eclipse was docked in Los Angeles, right back where she started from.  Felt really depressed that this was the last day of our fabulous, long-awaited holiday.

The weather was dry but dull, and certainly cooler than it had been when we’d arrived. We walked along Deck 14 to the Ocean View café to get a substantial breakfast today as we didn’t know where/when we’d be eating next.  I therefore opted for the full American breakfast: coffee, juice, crispy bacon, corned beef hash, pancakes, waffles and maple syrup.  The self-service restaurant was fairly crowded as expected, and we thought enviously of those, such as quiz team-mates Frank and Norm, who’d be staying on board for the next cruise.

After breakfast we returned to stateroom 8166 to collect our bags and have a last look round to make sure we hadn’t left anything behind.  Then we left the room for the last time and made our way to the Eclipse Theatre for this morning’s excursion.  Yes! As our flight wasn’t until 20:50 hours tonight, we had time to do a half-day excursion around Los Angeles with a handy airport drop-off afterwards.

We waited for a short while in the theatre before our bus number was called, then off we went to Deck 2 and the disembarkation process.  At the quayside we were directed to our coach and we took our seats, stashing our carry-on bags in the overhead lockers, and settling down.

The bus set off through the busy Monday-morning LA traffic towards Beverly Hills, the millionaires and movie-stars hangout.  I’ve read a lot of the late, great Jackie Collins’ books, many of which are set in the cut-throat movie business in Beverly Hills, so it was interesting to see some of the places I’d only read about.

We travelled along the famous Santa Monica Boulevard on the way, and eventually the coach pulled up and we got off in Beverly Hills.  By now the sun was shining brightly and it felt pleasantly warm.  Our first stop was for some people to use the restrooms, and then we followed our guide across the busy street to the picturesque Beverly Gardens Park.

Beverly Gardens Park is 22-blocks long and stretches along Santa Monica Boulevard in Beverly Hills, California for 1.9 miles. It was designed by landscape architect Ralph D. Cornell.

The park serves to provide a lengthy green swathe between the northern residential area and the commercial sections of the city. It features a two-mile jogging path, many hundred-year-old cypress and ficus trees, gardens, sculpture, and the big, iconic Beverly Hills Sign, a re-creation of the original arching, lighted historic sign, built near the city’s centre.

The 6-monthly Beverly Hills Art Show is held on the park’s central blocks, during the third weekend of every May and the third weekend of each October. Approximately 250 artists from around Los Angeles and throughout the United States are selected to display work, and up to 50,000 patrons attend throughout the weekend.

It was pleasant and relaxing in the park, and Trevor posed for a photo in front of the sign.  Then we followed our guide along the streets towards the famous and elegant Rodeo Drive, full of designer shops and often frequented by the rich and famous.  On the way, the guide pointed out the area where the iconic “shop scene” in the movie Pretty Woman had taken place.

We strolled along the street, looking at the famous names like Louis Vuitton, Max Mara, Bulgari, Hermès, Rolex, Cartier, Tiffany & Co – all shops where Trevor and I could never afford to buy anything.  We were quite amused to see that many of the shops had their Christmas decorations up, and outside Versace was a huge Christmas tree and several ornate wreathes.  I know it’s already November, but I don’t feel at all Christmassy yet, and certainly not in the hot Californian sunshine!

At the end of Rodeo Drive, our guide pointed out the Regent Beverly Wilshire hotel.  This hotel is famously frequented by movie stars, millionaires and politicians, and it was also the hotel featured in Pretty Woman.

We then made our way through the streets and back towards the park to where the bus picked us all up, and we continued on our way to the famous Santa Monica pier.  Along the way, our guide pointed out all the huge, expensive properties and said it was impossible to buy even a small house here for under a million dollars.

We pulled up along the seafront and were told we had an hour and a quarter of free time here, so Trevor and I decided to go and find somewhere to get something to eat.

We walked up a side-street and spotted a Subway, so in we went.  Our guide had gone in there too for her lunch.  You can’t go wrong with a Subway sandwich; you can choose what type of bread you want and choose your filling and sauces.  We opted for the meal-deal and I chose a beef and cheese 6″ sub with lots of salad.  This was accompanied by a cardboard carton of Diet Coke and a bag of jalapeño crisps which were pretty hot.

After lunch we walked back across the road towards the park and funfair, where a small crowd had gathered round a couple of street entertainers.  The two guys had a massive ghetto-blaster and were doing break dancing to the loud bass rap music.  As we were watching, a couple arrived with their dog on a leash and stopped to watch as well.  Just then, I turned to look at the dog (which was quite an attractive animal) and it caught my eye, then launched itself at me with a series of frenzied barks!  It was just as well it was muzzled, because I surely would have been bitten.  I was a little shaken, but there was no harm done, and the couple apologised profusely.

We then returned to the bus and continued our excursion, this time towards Malibu.  We passed lots of huge, beach front houses and saw several surfers, swimmers, walkers and joggers just passing their time with insouciant ease.  Across the road from the beach the rugged hills rose into the cloudless blue sky, and we could see more of the millionaires’ homes perched in the hills with incomparable views of the sparkling Pacific Ocean.  How the other half live!

Soon we came to Malibu Bluffs park where we once again alighted from the bus for a walk around. There were a great many grey squirrels and signs up advising visitors not to feed them as it would lead to over-population and increase the nuisance value.  One of these signs was posted above another sign warning people to look out for rattlesnakes.

All too soon it was time to get back on the bus and make our way towards Los Angeles International Airport (LAX).  We arrived after about an hour, and the guide asked which airlines we were using so we could be dropped off at the correct terminal.  Trevor and I were the only ones getting off at the British Airways terminal.

Now came the extremely boring and tedious part of the day; the long, long, long wait around at the airport for our flight.  We had about six hours to kill, so we hoped it wouldn’t be too early to check our cases in.  The queue at the BA desk moved pretty fast, and when we got to the front we asked if we could have the upper deck on the Airbus A380, and preferably seats in Row 80, as these were the ones we’d been in on the outward journey.  When we received our boarding passes we noticed that the woman on the check-in desk had ignored our request altogether, giving us seats on the lower deck; one at the window and one in the centre of three, which meant there would be a stranger sitting beside us in the aisle seat who we would have to disturb from time to time.

In the meantime, we went through security and over into airside.  We browsed the duty-free shops but as the pound is weak against the US dollar, everything appeared very expensive so we didn’t buy anything.  We then went to a cheerful little wine bar that also sold craft beers, so we grabbed a bar stool each and ordered a bottle each.

We stayed for two drinks and the bill was an eye-opener; around $32.00 for four bottles of beer.  We then decided to move on, and just spent some time sitting and reading or playing games on my phone, as the time passed by so slowly.

Finally we decided to go to another bar.  We found one that seemed to be doing a roaring trade and we sat on bar stools; I had a large glass of Pino Grigio while Trevor had a pint of beer.  We took our time drinking them, and I got out my laptop and used the free wifi to check my emails and upload some of this blog.  We then asked for the bill, and it was a colossal $35.00, which worked out at £27.28 for two drinks !!!!!  Good grief.

Afterwards we just made our way along to the departure lounge and sat it out.  Soon came the time to board and we took our seats and settled back before the giant aircraft was pushed back from the gate and taxied to the runway for the 10 hour flight back to Blighty.

Flight BA268 then took to the skies and carried us east through the vast cloudscape, ever closer to home.

 

 

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Wine Tasting in Ensenada

REMEMBRANCE SUNDAY

Got up at eight o’clock this morning and went out onto the balcony; the weather was a bit warmer this morning and we hoped it would be hot and sunny on our arrival into Ensenada, Mexico.  We had last visited Ensenada in March 2000 on the Holiday, and we looked forward to seeing how it had changed.

Went up to Deck 14 to walk along to the Ocean View café. The usual morning power walkers and joggers were out in force, getting their pre-breakfast laps in.  We enjoyed our regular substantial breakfast then went along to the Sky Lounge to meet up with the rest of our (winning!) quiz team for the morning trivia.

We answered the questions and felt as though we’d done fairly well, but I don’t know if we won or not, because Trevor and I had to leave before they’d gone through all the answers.  This is because, at 10 o’clock, a Remembrance Service was being held in the Eclipse Theatre and we didn’t want to miss it.

The service was brief (only 15 minutes) but meaningful.  It was non-religious, and gave thanks to the armed forces for their sacrifices in both World Wars (and other wars).  One of the entertainment team gave a reading, then Big Mike played a classical piece on the piano. Then came the beautiful and famous Ode to Remembrance (from the poem For the Fallen):

They shall not grow old, as we who are left grow old.
Age shall not weary them, nor the years condemn.
At the going down of the sun and in the morning
WE WILL REMEMBER THEM.

We then stood up and had a minute’s silence, before the service finished with a tenor singing Nessun Dorma.

Afterwards we went back to our cabin and reluctantly decided to make a start with our packing, as tonight would be our last one on board.  Dragging one of the cases out from under the bed, we stashed a lot of the stuff we wouldn’t be needing again this cruise, as well as all the prizes we won.

We then went up on deck to have a wander around. We could see ‘land ahoy’ and we watched as the Eclipse manoeuvred her way into port.  We could hear the instantly-recognisable ohuh, ohuh, ohuh grunts of seals, and when we looked, sure enough we saw a group of them playing and frisking in the sea near the harbour wall.  There must have been about four of them, and their noise brought other passengers over to our side of the ship to have a look.  😊

We returned to 8166 to get our excursion tickets, as well as bag, phone, money, credit-cards etc. before making our way back to the theatre to await the call for our half-day excursion, which didn’t take too long.  Then we went down to Deck 2 to disembark the Eclipse and proceed to the line of waiting buses.  Beforehand, however, we all had to go and sign some sort of waiver form which we couldn’t understand, as we were only going to a vineyard for a spot of wine-tasting.  There were quite a lot of people milling around on the dockside, not quite knowing where we were supposed to be going; it didn’t seem to be very well organised.  There were about 90 people waiting to go on the vineyard tour, and I hoped the group would be split up into more manageably-sized groups, as it would have been ridiculous with a group of 90 (imagine the queues everywhere).

However, we needn’t have worried as we were split into two groups and each assigned a guide and a bus.  Our guide explained it would take about 45 minutes before we reached our chosen vineyard and winery and in the meantime we were to sit back, relax and enjoy the scenery passing by outside our windows.

The scenery included a very arid landscape with rocky hillsides and many cacti, as well as many grapevines growing in rows on the sandy slopes.  This area is noted for its deep granite soils, warm sunny days, and nights cool due to breezes from the nearby Pacific Ocean. The area is ideal for both red and white wines, and one of the few locales in the world that can grow grapes for world-class wines. Grapes for Baja California (which includes Ensenada) wines are also grown in areas in the neighbouring Sonora state. The varieties of red wine produced in the Baja California region are Cabernet Sauvignon, Ruby Cabernet, Zinfandel Grenache and Mission. The white wines are Chenin Blanc, Palomino, Riesling, Sauvignon Blanc, Sémillon, Saint Emilion and Malaga.

We were told that this area produced 90% of Mexico’s wine, with most of it coming from three regions not far from the port city of Ensenada: the San Antonio de las Minas zone, which includes the Valley of Guadalupe, the San Vicente Valley and the Santo Tomás Valley.

There are three major wine producers in this area, Vinos L.A. Cetto in the Calafia Valley, Vinos Pedro Domecq and Bodegas de Santo Tomás in the Santo Tomás Valley. All have had wines that won international competitions including the Double Gold won by L.A. Cetto at the San Francisco International Wine Competition in May 2009. Many of these wines are now exported to Europe, the U.S. and Canada.  Today we were visiting the first of these, Vinos L.A. Cetto.

On arrival at the winery we alighted from the bus into the hot Mexican sunshine.  Our guide explained how the grapes were grown, harvested and processed.  We went into one of the huge rooms where the wine was fermented in massive steel vats; in here the ambient temperature was strictly regulated and it felt cold after the sunshine outside.

We then went into another room where there were many large barrels containing the wine which was left to mature.  The air was rich with the scent of fruit, yeast and grape must. Then it was time to go along for the best part of the visit – the tasting.  😊

Inside the large shop a guy was waiting by a counter containing a long row of wine glasses, to which he poured some white wine to a depth of about half an inch.  We each took a glass (you kept the same glass for the duration of the tasting session) and swirled the wine about, sniffing and tasting, while the guy told us all about it and showed us the bottle, and how much it cost to buy.  We tried a total of three whites and three reds; they were all very palatable indeed, and very reasonably priced.

A lot of people were buying bottles (and even cases) of the wines, but we couldn’t really do so as we were flying home tomorrow. ☹

After visiting the restrooms we all got back on the bus again to our next stop, the Casa de Doña Lupe.  Not only was this a winery but it was also a farm shop, selling fresh, home-made breads in different varieties, some containing sun-dried tomatoes and jalapeños.  Also home-made cheeses, jams and marmalades.  If, like me, you were thinking of strawberry or raspberry jams – think again.  These were made of chillies, including jalapeño and the very hot habanero. The chillies were mixed with fruits like pineapples, peaches and apricots.

In the farm shop were many samples of the delicious breads, cheeses and jams for us to try.  As we hadn’t had any lunch we were quite hungry, so we tasted the breads and cheeses then joined the queue for the chilli jams.  There were Ritz crackers out so you could put a teaspoon of jam onto the cracker to try.  I tried a habanero one and, at first, all I tasted was sweetness.  A few seconds later the heat kicked in.  😊  I bought a jar of the home-made habanero jam to take into work for my colleagues to try.

Next was the wine-tasting.  We were each given some vouchers which entitled us to four samples of wine.  Taking a small plastic glass in which to contain it, we queued at the front of an open-sided trailer which had the list of available wines chalked on a board above it.  The queues were quite long, so the trick was to get your sample of wine, then immediately rejoin the queue so you could drink your wine before getting the next sample.  We tried a few – a delectable honey wine stood out for me; it was more like a sherry or a Madeira.

Once we’d used up all our vouchers it was time for pizza!  We all sat down at a long wooden trestle table while staff came round with large boards containing different varieties of pizza; we were allowed a slice each (which, to be honest, was sufficient, as the pizzas were large).

Then it was back on the bus for the return journey to the Celebrity Eclipse.  If anyone thought they were going to be able to have a nice, wine-induced nap on the bus, however, they were in for a disappointment.  For some inexplicable reason our guide put a Spanish-language movie on in the bus which we gleaned was about the tennis player Billie Jean King.  The sound was quite loud so that ruled out any napping!  I don’t think any of us understood Spanish well enough either.

We were glad when we finally arrived back at the port, but we had quite a bit to wait as the bus went through customs, and a Port Authority bloke came on the bus to look at all our passports and shipboard cards.  Eventually we got through, however, and it was around 4.20pm when we found ourselves back on board.

We did some more packing, leaving out what we would need for this evening.  Around five o’clock the Eclipse gave a long, loud blast on her foghorn and slowly started to move away from the dockside, next stop Los Angeles.

I got showered and shampooed and ready for the “last supper” in the Moonlight Sonata restaurant.  Quite a few people were absent from the restaurant, probably doing the last of their packing or eating in the self-service.  We enjoyed the usual calorie-laden delicious four-course meal and the impeccable service of our waiter David and our sommelier Demmy.  Then we said our “goodbyes” and “safe journeys” to our table mates and went back to our cabin to finish off our packing, as the cases had to be outside our cabin doors by 10.00pm.

Back in 8166 I changed out of my smart clothing and back into what I would be travelling home in tomorrow, that is, linen trousers, cotton top, flat shoes and fleece-lined denim jacket.  Then I just left out my toothbrush and cosmetics for tomorrow morning, and we sealed and locked the cases and put them outside the door before going to the Eclipse Theatre for the show.

Tonight’s performance was by the Show Company and was called “Euphoria”.  It was a very unusual show, more like a circus act, featuring the aerialists, gymnasts and acrobats as well as a number of inflatables, like huge dragons or chrysalises.  The music was amazing and it was an extremely enjoyable show.  We were sorry when it ended.

We finished the evening by going to the Quasar where Shania was valiantly trying to get a karaoke started, but there was hardly anyone there (unsurprisingly).  One person got up and sang in a half-hearted fashion, and I got up and did Zombie by the Cranberries, but that was about it.  Therefore,  Shania closed the karaoke early and had an unexpected bonus early finish.  She came over and thanked us for making her first cruise very memorable (if it was her first time, she was very good at it – a natural, in fact).

We then just stayed behind and had a few drinks and chatted with Eka.  Then we returned to stateroom 8166 for our last night on board the fabulous Celebrity Eclipse.  We turned in about 11.30pm – we didn’t want too late a night because we had to be out of our stateroom by 8.00am, and we needed to be up early for our arrival into Los Angeles.

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To the Victors, the Spoils

Got up this morning at our usual eight o’clock, marvelling that it was a fortnight ago that we’d left home.  How the time had winged by. Today was our last sea day before reaching terra firma, and once again we got into our routine and did all the ‘usual’ things.

After breakfast, therefore, it was just a case of convening in the Sky Lounge with the rest of our team mates for the morning trivia.  Maybe we weren’t quite awake yet but we didn’t win (we thought we’d give another team the chance).  😊

We had to be out of the Sky Lounge quickly to go down to the Eclipse Theatre where music historian Bill Powell was doing another very fascinating presentation and slide show; this time about the rise and fall of the Beatles.  As ever, it was most interesting.

After the talk we decided to venture out on deck and, although it was dry, there was still that annoyingly-brisk sea breeze which made it just that bit too uncomfortable to sit outside.  This was a shame really; with so many sea days in this cruise we had hoped we’d see better weather.  However, there was always plenty going on below decks on the Eclipse to keep us entertained.

Around 11.30am we went to the Casino bar and enjoyed a pre-luncheon drink each, while sitting doing one of our favourite cruise ship activities – people watching.  Then we went back up to the Ocean Café for our lunch; I had a big plate of fresh salad and cold cuts, washed down with a glass of prosecco.

We didn’t really do much after lunch; just relaxed and pottered around, reading, watching TV and (in my case) doing some of this blog or playing Plants vs Zombies 2 on my phone.

Soon the time came to make our way for the last time to the Sky Lounge to meet with Kendal, Janet, Norm and Frank for the Progressive Trivia. There was no quiz today, however, because it was the Results and Awards.  As far as we knew, “It’s Only A Game” had achieved second place, so that was the best we were hoping for.

In the meantime, we brought our 24 wrist bands (I wore 12 on each wrist, going up my arms) so we could trade them in for whatever prizes would be on offer.  We could see a table with lots of goodies and certificates on it, and Shirley was standing with the microphone ready to make the big announcement. 😊

She then announced the third-placed team, and their members went up and received a Celebrity Cruises t-shirt each, as well as a certificate.  Then we listened out for our team being named as the runners-up, but another team’s name was called instead!  We looked at each other in surprise – surely we couldn’t have dropped to 4th place, and out of the prizes?!

Then – drumroll – Shirley announced the winners.  She said that the competition had ended in a tie for first place between “The Internationals” and “It’s Only A Game” – we were therefore joint winners!  It had transpired, when she was checking all the papers, that someone had marked one of our papers incorrectly and not awarded us a point when we should have had one.  😊

We all went up to get our prizes; the inevitable Celebrity Cruises t-shirt and a certificate.  We’d really enjoyed doing all these quizzes and had had a really great team; without doubt the best we’d had on a cruise ship!  We were so pleased Kendal had asked us to join their team and we’d had a lot of fun with really nice people.  😊

Afterwards I went up to redeem all the wrist bands and ended up with two Celebrity Cruises towels (quite large and quite good quality) and two Celebrity Cruises coffee mugs – not a bad haul at all.  We then stayed in the Sky Lounge for a while afterwards, because Kendal had brought a bottle of fizz up with him and he dispensed it into six glasses for us all to have a victorious drink.

The rest of the afternoon winged by as usual, and soon it was time to start getting ready for the final ‘evening chic’ night. I dressed in a blue floral maxi dress with a silver beaded crochet shawl and my inevitable IC shoes (the Fruity Bowl ones).  I was somewhat dismayed to see/feel that the dress was considerably more snug on me now than it was last time I wore it!  ☹

In the Moonlight Sonata restaurant we were pleased to note that lobster was on the menu, so we enjoyed the usual extravagant meal (hence the reason for the snug dress!) washed down with rosé wine and followed with liqueurs.

Afterwards we passed some time in the Casino bar then went along to the theatre as usual for tonight’s entertainment, which featured violinist David Klinkenberg.  He was very good; he put a modern twist on some of the old classics and, accompanied by Big Mike and his orchestra, it was an excellent performance.

Then we went along to the Quasar Lounge where the karaoke was taking place once again; the usual suspects were there but I didn’t put my name down to sing anything as I’d probably exhausted my repertoire by now.  In any case, we wanted to be out in good time to see comedian Al Ducharme’s “adults only” show at 10.15pm.

Once again, the show was great; it was side-splittingly hilarious and all of Al’s sound effects were spot-on.

Back in the Quasar Lounge the karaoke was still going strong, but we just sat on bar stools, enjoying the prosecco and cocktails, chatting with Eka the barman and with some of the other karaoke singers, who we recognised.  Some of them (even the blokes!) came over to have a look at my shoes and asked what the brand was.  One of the guys, who was a very sharp dresser with long, blond dreadlocks, asked if Irregular Choice did men’s shoes, and when I said they did he went straight onto the web site and had a look, ordering himself a pair!  😊

It was probably about midnight when we left the Quasar and returned to 8166.  We were not due to arrive in Ensenada until 11.00am tomorrow, so we could still enjoy a lie-in.

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Ships that Pass in the Night

Ahhhh… woke up and stretched luxuriantly in our crisp cotton sheets this morning, and lay for a while watching the sea passing by outside our balcony doors.  Then I got up and went outside; once again the sea-breeze was brisk and it wasn’t as warm as we would have liked.

Today we had nothing planned at all; we were just going to go with the flow, so to speak.  It was great not to have to look at the clock and just to do what we wanted.  We didn’t really see anything in the programme we fancied doing today (other than the quizzes, of course!) but we looked forward to whatever the day would bring.

As we walked along the upper deck to breakfast in the Ocean View Café, the wind buffeted our skin and hair and there was a hint of rain in the air; hardly anyone was outside apart from those stalwarts who make the most of the jogging/walking track around the deck, who wouldn’t let a little thing like the weather prevent them from taking their morning exercise.

Afterwards we adjourned, as usual, to the Sky Lounge for the quiz with the rest of our team. We exchanged pleasantries and anecdotes then picked up our pencils and answer papers ready for the questions, interrupted at 9.45am as usual by Captain Leo’s announcement.  We didn’t win this time, meaning there was no grumbling from the other team who, I believe, were thoroughly fed up with us winning ‘all the time’.  😊

Then we just relaxed and lazed around the ship, reading, watching TV or just spending ages looking out at sea, almost hypnotised by the waves.  Looking around as far as the eye could see, from horizon to horizon, we could see nothing at all apart from the endless Pacific; we hadn’t seen any other ships for days.

My vivid imagination put myself in a situated where I was shipwrecked and was just alive on a raft, waiting to be rescued.  It must evoke fear and intense loneliness, the feeling there was no-one else in the world, no other living thing.  What must it be like at night, once the sun disappears?  In the black, black night there would only be the stars or moon to light your way, and it could be days and days before another ship would pass by, always assuming that someone spotted you and came to your rescue.  This is why I love reading the true stories such as Sole Survivor and Adrift where survivors of shipwrecks have shown remarkable fortitude and resourcefulness against all the odds.

As we were walking along on our wanderings around the ship, we came across Captain Leo and told him how much we enjoyed the Liars’ Club last night.  He asked us where we were from and when we told him England he said “from the North, by your accents?”  We were impressed!  He then asked us if (shock, horror) we were Newcastle United supporters and we told him that, on the contrary, we were Sunderland supporters.  “Aha… Sunderland”, he replied.  “Yes, I watched a documentary about Sunderland on Netflix!”.  We were quite amused at the Greek captain of the Celebrity Eclipse watching the Netflix series entitled Sunderland ‘Til I Die which we didn’t think would be of any interest to anyone but Sunderland supporters.  What an astute bloke.  😊

The day passed in its pleasant way and soon we were back in the Sky Lounge for the Music Trivia, which was TV themes.  Trevor and I hardly contributed anything this time as most of the television shows were American; it was only those that had made their way across the Pond that we recognised.  In any case, our team didn’t win.  Maybe 12 wristbands each was as much as we were going to get.

Afterwards we sat at the bar in the Sky Lounge and enjoyed a couple more drinks.  Then it was time for the final round of the Progressive Trivia, and the league tables showed that “The Internationals” were now only a point behind us.  The pressure was on!

When taking part in a quiz, there is no such thing as a “hard question”.  You either know the answer or you don’t, and if you don’t know the answer then it’s “hard”.  Some of us had different answers from our other team mates, so we had to discuss amongst ourselves which answer we were going to go with.  Once the scores were totted up we were most interested to see what our rivals had scored; it appeared that they were now one point ahead of “It’s Only A Game”.  As this was the final round, it looked as if we were destined to finish in second place, after being in the lead all the way through.  However, the total scores would be examined and checked by the quiz organisers prior to the final decision being made.  We were magnanimous in defeat; after all our team name said it all – it’s only a game. 😊

After the trivia we returned to our cabin, pottered around for a bit, then got washed and changed and ready for dinner.  As we were doing so and as dusk was falling, we spotted the lights of another ship on the horizon; it was a large vessel and was obviously another cruise ship.

Then we made our way along to the Moonlight Sonata restaurant and greeted our tablemates on #350, asking who had been up to what and looking forward to another sumptuous meal.  Some of our tablemates had also seen the other ship and someone must have been looking on Marine Traffic because it was identified as a Princess ship.

When our waiter brought the bread basket out, there was an extra loaf of bread covered with a white cloth. Grace, who is Jewish, explained that as today (Friday) is the Sabbath (in the Jewish religion) it was traditional to eat the plaited white loaf known as challah, and she asked us if we would like to join her.  The bread was passed around and everyone tore a piece off.

According to Jewish tradition, the three Sabbath meals (Friday night, Saturday lunch, and Saturday late afternoon) and two holiday meals (one at night and lunch the following day) each begin with two complete loaves of bread. This “double loaf” commemorates the manna that fell from the heavens when the Israelites wandered in the desert after the Exodus. The manna did not fall on Sabbath or holidays; instead, a double portion would fall the day before the holiday or sabbath.

In some customs, each loaf is woven with six strands of dough. Together, the loaves have twelve strands, alluding to the twelve loaves of the showbread offering in the Temple. Other numbers of strands commonly used are three, five and seven. Occasionally twelve are used, referred to as a “Twelve Tribes” challah.

I found it all very interesting; I always like to learn about the beliefs and traditions of other religions and cultures.

After our delicious dinner and our coffee and liqueurs (I tried Frangelico for the first time and liked it a lot) we went along to the Entertainment Court to see what was going on as well as wandering around the shops in search of any bargains.  Then we went to the Quasar Lounge where we joined another couple for the quiz, which was Movie Trailers.  We were absolutely appalling as we are not movie buffs at all; I think there was only ET and The Green Mile (one of my favourite films ever) that we recognised.

In the Eclipse Theatre tonight, the entertainment featured comedian Al Ducharme.  He was really, really funny – he was brilliant at making all sorts of noises, voices and sound effects. He was certainly different from your average comedian, and we really enjoyed the show.

Afterwards there was nothing on in the Quasar Lounge, so we finished the evening off perching on bar stools in the Sky Lounge where there was lively dance music.

We returned to stateroom 8166 around 11.30pm, but we had to put our clocks forward once again tonight as we travelled east, so we would lose an hour in bed.  Tomorrow was our last sea day, and we determined to make the most of it.

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The Captain of your Ship

Another long, lazy sea day today, with another packed programme of events in which to participate, should we be so inclined.  The weather was much improved today; the sun was out and it was not quite as windy as it was yesterday.

As usual, after breakfast, we went along to the Sky Lounge to take part in the Brain-Waker Trivia with Kendal, Janet, Frank and Norm. The little Colombian quiz-hostess Shirley had barely asked the final question before the “bing-bong” announcement came over the Tannoy: “Good morning Ladies and Gentlemen, this is the Voice from Above”, as Captain Leo always liked to start his daily updates.  There followed the usual highly amusing weather and navigational information, in which Captain Leo told us how many nautical miles we were from the Leaning Tower of Pisa and from Sydney Opera House, as well as how many millions of “Mexican Tacoes” we were from different places.  He then regaled us with some words of wisdom from his revered late grandfather before signing off.  😊

We could then continue with the answers to the quiz, and once again Trevor and I were part of the winning team!  Yay!  😊

Afterwards we had a cup of coffee and returned to our stateroom, sitting out on the balcony for a while.  One thing I can say about this cruise so far is just how calm the ocean has been, barely any perceptible motion; you’d hardly know you were on a ship.

At ten to eleven we found ourselves in the Eclipse Theatre for this morning’s presentation, entitled “Oceans Ahead – The Secrets of Ship’s Navigation”, by none other than Captain Leo himself.  It was an extremely interesting talk in which he spoke about his career to date, the fact that he was the latest captain in a long line of captains in the family, and the sea-faring influences on him as a young boy in his native Greece.  He explained in depth about all the things to consider when navigating a huge vessel through the world’s oceans and seas, the safety checks, the sea depths, weather, waves, the safety of the passengers and crew, and lots of other fascinating stuff.

At the end there was a Q and A session among the audience, and Captain Leo answered all the questions thoroughly and eloquently.  We thoroughly enjoyed the talk before the Captain took his leave to return to his duties on the bridge.  It wasn’t the last we’d seen of him today, however, not by a long chalk.  😊

The end of the Captain’s talk coincided nicely with the start of lunch, and first of all we went out to the Mast Bar where we enjoyed a pre-luncheon drink; an Aperol Spritz in my case and a bottle of Samuel Adams in Trevor’s.  Then we went into the Oceans Café for our lunch before once again adjourning to the Eclipse Theatre for the matinée performance by comedy magician Chad Chesmark, whose show we’d enjoyed so much the other day.

The theatre was already pretty full when we arrived so we couldn’t get our usual front-row seats; we had to sit further back (although, when a magician is performing, that’s not always a bad thing).  Chad’s performance today was a ‘mentalist’ show, based on supposed mind-reading and the power of suggestion, which is a great illusion if you’re very practised at doing it, which Chad clearly was.  We enjoyed this show more than his main one the other day.

It did mean we had to leave the show early to get up to Deck 14 and the Sky Lounge to participate in the music quiz; when we got there, Kendal was there with a couple of new blokes we hadn’t met before, Tom and Tom.  The theme today was Male Vocalists and the two Toms were brilliant at this, meaning we scored 13/15 and won yet again!  That is now a total of 24 rubber bracelets Trevor and I had accumulated and we were told that we could trade them in on Saturday for some great prizes.  😊

After the music quiz we decided to go back to 8166 for a power-nap before the Progressive Trivia later on.  I took back a cold glass of prosecco and did some of this blog then had a lie-down, watching the blue Pacific passing by our floor-to-ceiling glass doors.  We then reconvened in the Sky Lounge with the rest of our team.  We were somewhat dismayed to see that we were now leading by only one point over “The Internationals”, so we hoped that we would do well and they would do poorly.  The final round would be tomorrow before the “awards ceremony” on Saturday – would “It’s Only A Game” lose at the final hurdle?

We spent the remainder of the afternoon pottering around the ship and taking advantage of the all-inclusive drinks package.  😊  Then we got showered and shampooed and ready for dinner, which was the usual grand affair in which we ate far too much and were very well looked after by our attentive Jamaican waiter David.

The entertainment in the Eclipse Theatre tonight was a singer called Laura Wright.  She was a bit cheesy and a bit boring, and didn’t really stand out from any other cruise-ship singer.  When she ended her show with the dreary Somewhere Over The Rainbow (one of my top 10 most-boring songs) it was all I could do to suppress a gigantic yawn, and it was just as well the house lights came on when they did, as it effectively prevented me from going to sleep.

We then went along to the Quasar lounge where they were holding the inevitable karaoke again.  This time Kendal and Janet were there to give me some moral support, so I got up and sang You Know I’m No Good by Amy Winehouse, followed by Madonna’s Material Girl.  The other ‘regular’ singers got up and we had a few drinks and enjoyed the banter with the friendly barman.

We finished the evening off by going back to the Eclipse Theatre to see Liars’ Club (called Call My Bluff in the UK) and this featured one of the entertainment team (I think his name was Chris) along with magician Chad Chesmark and none other than our own Captain Leo.  The game works by displaying an obscure word on a screen and each of the three panellists must give the definition of the word – only one of them will be telling the truth and it’s up to the audience to guess which one.

The words usually have a risqué element to them (two of the words were HAWSEHOLE and INVAGINATION) so when each person was giving his definition it was absolutely hilarious, especially the captain.  He had everyone absolutely rolling in the aisles and could have been a stand-up comedian if he wasn’t a seafaring captain.  The hilarity was enhanced by his completely deadpan manner, and we laughed ourselves silly at this really enjoyable and entertaining show.  😊

We returned to 8166 around 11.30pm and settled down for the evening, trying to put to the back of our minds that we only had another two sea days to go and the end of our fabulous cruise was looming ever nearer.