Amsterdam and Cruise to United Kingdom, Norway, Ireland, France, and Belgium - Part 3 - May, 2019

Sunday - May 19, 2019                                        Belfast, Northern Ireland

We got up at 7:00 am and had breakfast in the Summer Palace.  We got ready for our excursion to The Giants Causeway which started at 9:30.  The tour began with a 1 1/2 hour drive through the country side of Northern Ireland.  This drive went through several small towns along the Antrim Coast to Ballycastle.  The bathroom on the bus was locked so Mike asked for a restroom stop.  We stopped at a small town park next to a hurling field.  Also, on the way to the Giant's Causeway the bus stopped at an overlook to view the Carrick-A-Rede Rope Bridge  It was an interesting view of the sea, but not a real good view of the rope bridge

View from bus as we went through Belfast

Rope bridge between small island and mainland

A typical sheep farm

View of the coastline

The tour got to the Giant's Causeway about 11:00.  We rode the free shuttle down from the visitor's center to the Causeway.  It was a cool, cloudy, misty day and was very crowded at the bottom of the Causeway.  We walked around at the bottom then walked about a mile back up to the visitor's center.  We looked around inside there until time for the bus to leave.

Mike on the causeway

Mary on the causeway

Some pretty flowers

Sitting on rocks on Giant's Causeway

Lots of tourists today

View of another part of the Giant's Causeway

 On the way back to Belfast the bus went by an overlook for Dunluce Castle.  This was pretty interesting and also had a good view of the sea.  This castle is in ruins, but still has a lot of the major structures.  It was built in the 1500's.

Dunluce Castle

A town on the way back to the ship

We got back to the ship about 3:30 and went to our room to clean up and rest.  About 4:30 we went for drinks at our favorite bar and went to dinner in the Summer Palace about 5:15.  We had skipped lunch so were pretty hungry.  After dinner we sat at the Champagne Bar listening to the Funky Roots Band and later Avalon.  Both groups were really good.  We called it a night about 9:00.  It was a really good day

Monday - May 20, 2019                                          Dublin, Ireland

We slept in because the ship wouldn't dock until 11:00 am. We had breakfast then sat on deck 6 waiting to turn our passports in.  Ireland collects passports while you are in port.  We ate lunch then went to our excursion at 12:45.  This tour started by doing a tour of Dublin.  One of the biggest waste of time was a stop in Dublin so that people could get off the bus to take a picture of a door that was changed for a visit from a king of England.

Building in Dublin

River Liffey

A bar in Dublin

St. Patrick's Cathedral

Temple Bar Area of Dublin

The Door - big waste of time

After Dublin the tour went through the Wicklow Mountains to Glendalough Monastery.  The scenery in this part of Ireland was beautiful.  Glendalough is not a monastery that is used anymore, but is still an interesting place to visit.  The buildings were built in the 8th to 12th centuries.  The weather was beautiful and warm.

View of Wicklow Mountains from bus

Another view of the mountains

A woman playing a bagpipe at Glendalough

The tower at Glendalough

Entry into the monastery grounds

Mike in the cemetary

Mary at Glendalough

A view of Glendalough

Glendalough scenery

 We got back to the ship at 6:00 pm.  We had drinks at the Whiskey Bar, then dinner in the Indigo Dining Room.  We listened to music at the Champagne Bar and headed to bed about 11:00.  This was a very enjoyable day.

Tuesday - May 21, 2019                                            Sea Day

We got up around 8:30, ate breakfast, then went and got our passports back.  We did get a new stamp from Ireland.  We sat in the Spinnaker Lounge reading until time for lunch and ice cream.  At 3:00 pm we went to the Stardust Theater for the variety show put on by the crew.  It was pretty good.  We went back to our  room to get cleaned up for dinner then went for drinks at the Whiskey Bar and dinner in the Indigo Dining Room.  After dinner we listened to the Funky Roots and we back in our room for the night by 8:00.  A pretty low key day.

Wednesday - May 22, 2019                                   Le Havre and D Day Beaches, France

We got up at 5:45 am (after moving clocks ahead one hour for the time change) so we were pretty sleepy.  We had breakfast in the Garden Cafe and got off the ship for our excursion by 7:45 am.  There was confusion about bus numbers.  We were assigned bus #5, but there was no 5, so we were put on the bus with the #4 people.  The tour guide had a very heavy accent and we could barely understand anything she was saying.  The bus took 2 hours driving through the French countryside and towns of Normandy before we got to our first stop in Arromanches.  This was a Normandy Beach occupied by the Canadian and British military after the D Day landing.  There was a museum there, but it was small and so crowded that we didn't stay in it, but walked some in town and on the beach.  There were remains of an artificial harbor from World War II that was built in Great Britain prior to D Day and towed over immediately after the landing.  We ate lunch at a restaurant by the beach.  It was a good lunch with complementary red wine.  Mike and I only drank a small part of ours.  While we were eating a group was filming a documentary about D Day outside the restaurant because of the 75th anniversary which was approaching.

Driving in a town on the way to Arromanches

Another town on the way to Arromanches

D Day Landing Museum - way too crowded

A part of the artificial port from WWII

Part of the town of Arromanches

Another shot of the town

After lunch the tour took us to the American D Day Cemetery at Colleville Saint Laurent.  There are over 9000 graves there, with the average age of the deceased being 22 years.  A very sobering experience.

On the side of a building in Colleville Saint Laurent

Another building in Colleville Saint Laurent

Some of the graves at the American Cemetery

Another shot of the American Cemetery

A pretty bird that we saw while walking through the cemetery

The reflecting pool at the memorial for Americans

After spending an hour at the cemetery the tour took us to Omaha Beach where we spent 30 minutes.  Some of the fortifications are still there after 75 years.

Memorial at Omaha Beach

The memorial on the beach

Flags of countries which took part in D Day

Omaha Beach Memorial

Mary at Omaha Beach

Mike at Omaha Beach

The next stop on the excursion was Point Du Hoc which was a German fortification with several bunkers.  There are still bomb craters at this location.  American rangers climbed the cliffs here to defeat the German fortifications at Point Du Hoc prior to the D Day landings.  We spent an hour walking around at this location before heading back to the ship.

One of the German Bunkers at Point du Hoc

The view from inside a bunker

Bomb craters from days prior to D Day

Point du Hoc with cliffs in background

When we got back to the ship we had drinks at the Whiskey Bar and dinner in the Indigo Dining Room then listened to Patricia sing for a while.  We headed to our room about 9:30.  This was a long, tiring, but very good day.

Thursday - May 23, 2019                                                London, England

We got up early again, at 6:30, ate breakfast in the Summer Palace Dining Room, and got ready for the excursion into London.  We got on the bus at 9:45.  Traffic in London was horrible.  We finally got to the spot where we were supposed get on a boat on the Thames River, but the tour company had failed to order the tickets.  There were 4 bus loads of tourists from our ship who had to wait in the sun for an hour to get on the boat.  Once we got on the boat we discovered that it was just a commuter boat and we rode on it for about 15 minutes and got off at the second stop down at Westminster Square. 

Tilbury Cruise Port

View of the Tower Bridge while waiting on boat

Tower of London from ticket line

Another shot of the Tower Bridge

London Eye from ticket line

A view of Thames River from boat

At Westminster Square we walked from the boat terminal past Big Bend to the actual square.  We were supposed to get on the bus here and go to Trafalgar Square for lunch, but the door on the bus was stuck so we had to find a place to eat lunch at Westminster Square area.  Mike and I shared a sandwich.  There were not very many places to eat here.

Big Bend - best shot because it is being renovated

One of the statues in Westminster Square

Houses of Parliament

The other half of the Houses of Parliament

Westminster Abbey

Mike joking around at a telephone booth

Mike and Mary in the London crowd

Another shot of Westminster Abbey

We got back on the bus and drove by Tralfagar Square, but didn't get off there.  Since the delays had been the fault of the tour company, we should have been allowed an extra hour and given time at Trafalgar Square.  After driving by Tralfagar Square we went to Buckingham Palace and got off to take pictures.  We were only there for about 10 minutes before getting back on the bus.

Square at Buckingham Palace

Guard at the palace

Statue in the square at Buckingham Palace

Proof that I was at the palace

We had to get a selfie with the palace in the background

A shot of London as we head back to the ship

A statue in Trafalgar Square

Fountain in Trafalgar Square

Tower of London

A final shot of the Tower of London

Once we were back on the bus we went through some of London again before our tour guide was let off the bus.  On the way back to the ship, the driver was on the phone arguing with his wife most of the time.  The tour guide should have stayed with the tour until the end and the driver should not have been on his phone at all while driving.  Very unprofessional and a bad tour company.

On the edge of London

A final picture of London

When we got back to the ship at 5:15 we went to the Whiskey Bar for drinks and then to dinner in the Indigo Dining Room.  After dinner we went to the 9:00 show in the Stardust Theater, Norwegian's Legends in Concert.  The singers were very good. After the show we headed to our room.  We did not enjoy London or our tour today.  At least we had good weather and can cross London off as a place we want to visit.

Friday - May 24, 2019                                                  Bruges, Belgium

We had breakfast so we would be ready to get on the excursion bus at 8:45.  It was a 30 minute ride to a park on the outside of the old town of Bruges.  We did a "Bruges on Your Own" excursion today which just provided a shuttle to and from the town and a map of the town.  The ride to Bruges took 30 minutes.  The bus let us off at Minnewater Park on the edge of town.  We walked through the park to get into the town.

Minnewater Park

Minnewater Park

Small church by the park

A canal close to the park

We navigated through streets looking for a public restroom and finally found one in the museum.  It cost .50 Euros and was not clean at all.  When we left the museum area we walked past a large church and past some canals on our way to the Market Square.  This town was crowded, but didn't have too much traffic and it was very pretty.

Large cathedral in town -
This was a point of reference to find our way around

Another shot of the church

A canal

Mary in park by canal

Typical street in town

Another shot of a canal

Mike on one of many canal bridges

Museum

We had lunch at a cafe on the square called Sint Joris.  We shared a sandwich and cole slaw.  It was a very good sandwich.

Market Square

Row of cafes on square - ate at one in the middle

Statue in Market Square

Church of the Holy Blood

Castle on Square

Another shot of square

After lunch we walked around the town some more.  I found a place to buy a souvenir and we visited several chocolate shops before buying gifts to take back home.  After visiting the shops we walked back to the square to get ice cream for dessert.  I couldn't eat the ice cream because of my nut allergy, but was able to have a Belgium waffle with fresh strawberries.  It  was very good.

Canal with large church in background

Pretty canal view

Another canal shot

A final shot of a canal

After our dessert we slowly made our way back to Minnewater Park to wait on the bus.  We were pretty tired from all of the walking (over 6 miles) and we had decided to sit in the park for a while.  It was another very pretty weather day.

Swans by canal close to Minnewater Park

Shot on our way out of town

We sat in the park for about an hour then went to the spot to meet the bus.  The bus was about 30 minutes late getting there.  We got back to the ship at 4:45 and went to our room to pack our suitcases for disembarkation.  We were finished packing and at the Whiskey Bar for our last round of before dinner drinks by 5:30.  We visited with Emerson one final time before heading to the Indigo Dining Room for dinner.  After dinner we had drinks at the Champagne Bar while listening to Patricia.  Patricia had a glass of wine with us before her final set.  We said goodbye to the servers in this bar area, Lynn, Monica, and Joanna. We had a lot of fun joking with them and getting to know them these past 2 weeks.  After the show we stopped at the Whiskey Bar to say a final good bye to Emerson.  We really enjoyed our talks with him every evening before dinner.  We went back to our room, put tags on our luggage, and set it out in the hall by about 9:30.  This was a very good last day to our cruise, a lovely town, and another day with beautiful weather.

Saturday - May 25, 2019                                     Disembarkation

We got up, finished packing our backpacks, and took everything with us to breakfast in the Summer Palace.  It was good that we had everything with us because we ended up getting off the ship earlier that scheduled, at 8:30.

Leaving cruise terminal

We caught a taxi at the terminal and went to the Holiday Inn Express - Schiphol Airport in Hoofdorf.  It was too early to get into our room, so we had a cup of coffee, checked our luggage at the hotel, and walked to the mall that was nearby.  It was about 1/2 mile to the mall from the hotel through a little park.  We even saw some albino peacocks in the petting zoo of the park.  We ate lunch at Woodstone Pizza (really good pizza), walked around the mall, then went to check in to our room.

Hoofdorf in park on way to mall

Some houses in Hoofdorf

When we got back to our room we lay around a while, took showers, got drinks at the hotel bar, then went back to Woodstone Pizza for dinner.  I had lasagna and Mike had a chicken pasta dish.  They were both delicious. After dinner we went back to our room and were ready to call it a night by 8:30.  We walked over 6 miles this day.  Hoofdorf is a nice place to stay for 2 days until we fly back to Alexandria.

Sunday - May 26, 2019                                                      Hoofdorf, Netherlands

We had breakfast at the hotel then lay around in bed all morning.  I had finally caught whatever sinus infection that Mike had been dealing with and didn't feel like doing anything.  At lunchtime we walked back to the mall, had some soft serve ice cream, then bought stuff for lunch and dinner at a grocery store at the mall.  We walked back to the hotel and basically slept on and off all day.

Monday - May 27, 2019                                             Flight to Dulles

We had breakfast then caught the hotel shuttle to the airport.  Check in at the airport was very easy because I had checked in online and we only had to check our luggage.  Going through security was super easy.  They had an automated system that scanned each passport then did a scan of the person's face to be sure it matched.  Then we didn't have to take our shoes off or take anything out of our backpacks before getting to the gate area.  We just got our backpacks x-rayed and ourselves scanned.  The flight was on time and pretty easy.  I watched a few movies, we ate a meal, and rested.  When we got to Dulles we took a taxi to Scott's and he grilled steaks for us for dinner. 

A final shot of The Netherlands from the airplane

Tuesday - May 28, 2019 through Sunday - June 2, 2019          Alexandria, Virginia

We spent another 6 days at Scott's house.  The kids had school everyday and Scott worked every day except Friday, so we didn't do much except sit around the house and walk in the neighborhood.  Scott took off work Friday so that he and Mike could go fishing.  They fished from shore in the Potomac River at Jones Point Park.  Scott caught a small catfish and snagged a large carp.  He kept the catfish and gave the carp away.  Mike caught a large catfish.  We ate both of the catfish for dinner.

Fishing spot under the I495 bridge

Scott's big fish - he pulled it in with his ultralight rod and reel

Mike's big catfish

Mike reeling something in

While the guys were fishing I walked on some trails in the park.  One trail went to the Jones Point Lighthouse.  At one spot near there I could step between Virginia, Maryland, and Washington DC.  Another part of the trail goes about a mile into Old Town Alexandria.  This was a nice spot hang out for the day.  We sat under the I495 bridge so were in the shade all day, there was a breeze that blew through most of the day, and there were public restrooms available.

Jone's Point Lighthouse

View of Old Town Alexandria from Jone's Point Park

On Saturday Beth picked up Elli and Oscar for the weekend.  Scott, Mike, and I went out to eat with Cristen and her kids.  After lunch we went to Cristen's house for the rest of the day.  After dinner we went back to Scott's for one last night.

Mary and Elli

Hanging out with Oscar and Elli before they leave

On Sunday Mike and I packed everything and Scott took us to the airport.  The flight was fine and we got to northwest Arkansas about 7:00 pm.  Jennifer picked us up at the airport and we made it home about 9:00.  We were able to drive around the tree that had fallen across our driveway about a week before.  This was a wonderful trip, but after 5 weeks we were ready to be home.

Tree across our driveway