June 19, 2017 leaving London for home- San Francisco

 

Our vacation/cruise of the British Isles ended. 

I booked online an airport car service to take us to the airport.

We enjoyed our last buffet breakfast at the Radisson and then arranged for the bellman to bring the bags down to the lobby.

30 minutes later the car arrived and the bellman loaded the car with our luggage.

The ride to the airport was quick.

We were dropped off and we took our bags to the counter to check in.

Since we were early we walked around the airport terminal looking for last minute souvenirs and then had a coffee.

Since we have transited Heathrow many times it was easy to make our way to the gate.

Our flight was smooth and uneventful.

It seemed the time flew by. We visited so many places and some like Versailles and Liverpool were etched into our memories since we enjoyed visiting them so much.

The other ports/cities were interesting like Bath, Dublin and Le Havre.  Overall this was a good itinerary and we were glad we chose it. The time of the year was good too. We had mostly good weather and smooth seas.

London June 18, 2017

 

Today we disembarked the ship  in Southampton. We arranged to take a bus chartered by Celebrity to take us to London and drop us off at our hotels

When we arrived in London there was a traffic jam due to a Hare Krishna parade.

The driver took some side streets to bypass the parade and then started dropping off people at their hotels. We were the last ones to drop off.

We booked a room at the Radisson Blu Portman Hotel. I think we checked in around 1pm.

Before we left home I booked a reservation at the Georgian Restaurant at Harrods which was supposed to have an elegant afternoon tea. I had contacted the restaurant after making the reservation to see about the dress code and we were to be dressed up like resort casual or better. NO sneakers.

Well we changed and got a taxi to take us to Harrods and we were a little early so we walked around the level with the foods and delicacies and candy. Since it was approaching 2 pm and our reservations were at 3 I had a small lunch at the Rotisserie counter. The small chicken lunch cost 28€!

At 3 we went to the Georgian Restaurant and were we surprised. It was more like a restaurant and not a tearoom. The menu included sandwiches and a special of the day. The only difference was a special  menu for the high tea.

Georgian Restaurant 

As for the dress code it was a disappointment. Guests were dressed very casual and wearing sneakers. Here we dressed up expecting a more refined experience and it was a dud.

Children were running around and playing on the floor near their parents.

The food served with the tea was fine. During our travels after this  trip we had tea in different cities and hotels and they were superior to the highly rated Herrod's tea. 

We hailed an Uber and went back to the hotel to rest and figure where to have dinner.

I searched Google for  a local Greek restaurant and found one. We took an Uber to the Real Greek which turned out to be a Meze or appetizer restaurant.

The Real Greek serves authentic food in  a tiered serving tray. We ordered some dip and pita with glasses of wine as an appetizer. 

After sampling the pita and dip and a few sips of wine we ordered our Mezethes which served as our dinner.

The presentation was eye catching and different. We enjoyed everything we ordered. The food was so good.

Dessert was bougatsa topped with a scoop of vanilla ice cream.

This was one of the best meals on our trip!

We Ubered back to the hotel and finished packing to go home.

June 17, 2017 St. Peter Port Channel Islands

 

Today was our last port before we disembark in Southampton.

We had our usual  breakfast and went to the cabin to get our travelling things, my small pack with Purell, spare battery etc., sunglasses and a bottle of water.

This was a tender port so we lined up to get on a tender which took us to the wharf.

We got some sightseeing pamphlets and a map and went off on our own to tour  the town and to visit the botanical gardens.

https://www.cruisebe.com/st-peter-port

We climbed to the top of the hill in the town and went to the  Candie botanical gardens. 

https://www.visitguernsey.com/experiences/activities/candie-gardens/

It had a quaint teahouse called Victoria's Cafe and we had lunch here with the view of the gardens and sea.

https://www.visitguernsey.com/experiences/activities/candie-gardens/

After walking the upper and lower gardens we headed back down to the town and then to the pier  boarding a tender to to the ship.

St. Peter was very pretty and quaint. As our last port we had a quiet relaxing day with nice weather.

June 15,2017 Dublin

 

Today we docked in Dublin and decided to tour the city on our own.

When we got off the ship there were young people who performed the River Dance.

The shuttle bus to town was 10 Euros  and it took 20 minutes.  We boarded at 9:20 am and were  dropped 9:40 AM.

The bus ran every half hour back to the ship. The drop off spot was near the area where all the hop off and hop on buses passed. We chose a green hop off hop on bus and it started us on our tour of Dublin. 

We got off by accident in the Temple Bar area. We found out that this is a great pedestrian area full of pubs and tourist shops. 

We wandered and did some window shopping until lunch time and then decided to have lunch at a pub.

We stopped at the Porterhouse Temple bar for lunch- fish and chips and a corned beef sandwich. The atmosphere was what I expected in a pub and it was an experience.

After lunch we decided to head back to the ship. The hop off hop on bus passed the Guiness factory and a lot of people got off to take the tour.

We found our stop and the cruise shuttle bus waiting for us and we took the ride back and arrived to board the ship at 2pm.

June 16, 2017 Cork, Ireland

 

Today we visit Cork and in order to do so we dock in Cobb, Ireland home of the last port of call of the Titanic. 

In order to visit Cork we took a train for the 25 minute ride. Cost 9.90 Euros.

Some fellow travellers were taking the ship's excursion to the Blarney Stone. Since it was a strenuous tour we passed on it.

The train arrived at the station and then we went out looking for the Hop On Hop off Bus and our destination was the English Market.

Cork train station

The English market was like a giant farmers market with restaurants and butcher shops.

https://www.corkcity.ie/en/english-market/

https://xyuandbeyond.com/english-market-cork-ireland/

We bought a dishtowel, some Greek sweets (loukouma) and I had a sausage for lunch. It was a cool place to visit.

Afterwards we walked in the town for a while and then hopped on the bus to go back to the train station.

Cork Starbucks

We got off in Cobb and it was an easy walk to go to the center of town.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cobh

We walked around hoping to find a table and chairs at a pub but all were packed so we headed back to the ship.

We had a nice slow paced day and enjoyed seeing the local towns and countryside.

June 14, 2017 Liverpool Home of the Beatles

 

When I started the blog on this cruise I mentioned that there was one stop that was unexpected and turned out to be a highlight.

I knew we would visit Liverpool but I forgot that Liverpool was the home of the Beatles. When we were studying what excursion when on the ship to take in Liverpool I saw a Beatles tour. We signed up for it immediately. 

Luckily our ship docked on the side where our cabin was. We heard music and opened the curtain and went out to the balcony to see a band playing Beatles songs. What a wonderful greeting to the city of Liverpool.

We walked off the ship early so we can see the port area before our tour.

Heading towards Albert Dock we see the Beatles sculptures. 

Wow they were big.

Before I bought my Beatles Tee

After walking around we decided to stop and have a light lunch before the tour.

We   had lunch at The Fab 4 Cafe

Lasagna, cheese and tomato panini and drinks. 11pounds .

We were surprised to see that they served Beatles cake so of course we had to get a slice.

Note the Yellow submarine

We headed back to the pier to join the group. Our tour guide was Andy and he was going to show us the most interesting parts of Liverpool where the Beatles lived and wrote songs about.

Our first stop was at Penny Lane. 

We then drove by John Lennon's neighborhood.

Our next stop was at Strawberry Fields. We got out and took photos and looked at the neighborhood.

From here we went down to the Albert Dock to go to the Beatles Story.

https://www.beatlesstory.com/main-exhibition

The museum was laid out is a easy to follow order. The exhibits were great especially the Yellow Submarine one.

After visiting the Beatles story we got on the bus and headed to Matthew St. to visit the Cavern Club. 

https://www.cavernclub.com/

I forgot the Beatles got their start playing at the Cavern Club and it was so cool to visit it.

There was a huge man at the front door who let us in and we descended at least 3 flights to reach the club floor.

It was so mind blowing to see the club and stage and listen to a band who was performing. In another room was the bar and a display case with merchandise. Fortunately I had time to buy a T  shirt.!

We went back up to Matthew St. and our guide told us about the street and the statues. 

Eleanor Rigby statue

John Lennon

Cilla Black

Here the tour ended. I wish I saw the list of excursions before we got on the ship and I could have booked the 4 hour tour.

If I ever come back to England I would try and spend an overnight in Liverpool to visit the two Beatle museums, walk along Matthew St. and see any other Beatles related sites.

We boarded the ship around 5 pm and waited for the sailaway before going down to dinner. There were locals on the pier and the port shot out streamers and Beatles music was playing.

What a great day. Liverpool was the highlight of the trip for me. Versailles was nice but too far back in history. I remember the Beatles when they first were on TV on the Ed Sullivan Show.