UK – Day 6 – Bound for the Baltics

We are absolutely thrilled with the size of our room and glad we didn’t get the balcony – as that extra space is in our room :-).

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After getting our bags unpacked and everything sorted and put away we went for a wander around the ship. It’s quite a nice size – big but not too big. But because we’ve not sailed this class before it’s going to take us a while to learn our way around.

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At 4.30pm we had muster but we didn’t have to take our life jackets and we just went to the theatre – very civilized. It’s amazing how different places have different regulations.

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Since sailaway was scheduled for 6pm – right when we’d be at dinner – we had our ritual cocktail beforehand. Amy and I had virigin pina coladas.

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We enjoyed those then went back to the room for a little while before heading to dinner. It was caotic getting into dinner – with everyone having to be taken to their tables the first night. I was happy to be seated next to the window and the best part was our lovely table companions from Canada, Melissa and Osbourne, and their two little girls,, Alyssa and Anna, who are 7 and 9.

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Dinner was delicious – Onion tart, vegetable quesadillas and strawberry pavlova.

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We had planned to go to the Welcome Aboard show but it had already started by the time we left dinner. The girls wanted to go for a swim but when we went down the outdoor pool was closed for maintainence and they were not allowed to use the indoor pool (it’s only available for kids at certain times). So I got myself a cup of tea (no tea making facilities in our cabin – shock horror!!!!) and we went back to our room. We’re looking forward to a fun day at sea tomorrow.

Leaving Harwich…

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Be back soon

Sorry to have disappeared completely. Unfortuanately internet is slow and very expensive so we haven’t used it – till today. We’re on the second last day of the cruise and as soon I get back the UK I will start bombarding you with photos and diary from the last 12 days. The cruise has been fabulous – esp. Russia which we all fell in love with. I’ve missed reading your blogs and hearing from you but all will be back to normal very soon.

UK – Day 6 – Setting Sail

Finally a bit of a sleep in. I didn’t wake until 6am today :-). I started typing up yesterdays blog while Christy was asleep but once she awoke I moved to packing up all our stuff. We enjoyed our last breakfast at the B&B.

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Just before 10am the van arrived to drive us to Harwich. It took nearly 2 hours but it was a nice drive through the English countryside. I was very excited to catch my first glimpse of the ship.

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Check in hadn’t yet started so we had a bit of a wait till we could check in, then we were on board. Unfortunately we can’t go to our room yet as they sanitising all rooms (after having virus onboard the cruise before last). We set up camp and had lunch at Windjammers.

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I started with some Asparagus Soup.

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I then hopped online to finish up yesterdays blog post.

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I later enjoyed some salad – love the salads you can get onboard.

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It’s 2pm and they’ve just announced we can go to our cabins so we’re off to drop off our luggage and explore the ship. I’ll try and update when I can.

UK – Day 5 – Please Sir can I have some more?

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More of London that is. I can’t believe it’s our last day. Time has gone so fast and we’ve seen and done so much.

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The day started out like every other – waking around 5am, playing on laptops, getting ready for the day, breakfast watching the kitties play and catching the tube.

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First stop today was the London Eye. It was such a beautiful and a whole lot quieter than I’m glad we skipped going the other day. The 3D experience was enjoyable but only because there was no waiting for it. Luckily there was only a few minutes wait to get on the Eye as well and we had a fantastic view. It was certainly something to do once but the kids were a little bored.

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We then walked over the bridge to Westminster Abbey – eating an ice cream as we went.

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We were also lucky enough to be passing Big Ben right at 11am and got to hear it chime.

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Westminster Abbey is amazing. Unfortunately we had just missed the last verger guided tour (at 11am) so had to make do with the audio one. We encountered our first unhelpful Londoner who wouldn’t let Christy do the audio tour. Apparantly all under 10s get bored and start swinging their audio players around! We just sent Amy over to another guide to collect one. And of course, she listened and didn’t swirl her player around even once :-). No photos inside but I got plenty of the outside.

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Kevin was excited to find the graves of Issac Newton and Charles Darwin. I was amazed that Elizabeth I is buried over the top of Mary I. Just an amazing place. So full of history. We had lunch in the courtyard cafe.

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We then walked to the nearest tube station and went to Baker Street – home not only of Sherlock Holmes but Madame Trussards.

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Some of the celebrities we met…

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Charles Darwin in case you didn’t know.

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And we even got to meet the Queen of England.

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Christy loved doing the little ride at the end. We also did the Marvel Superhero 4D ride which was fun. Since it was only 2pm we decided to go to visit Buckingham Palace so Christy could see the gates that my Poppa painted.

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Both girls were suffering with blisters so we decided to catch a black cab to Covent Garden.

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Upon arrival in Covent Garden we went in search of somewhere to sit and rest our weary feet. We eventually found a Marks and Spencer and shared some ice cream sundaes.

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We then wandered around for a bit, bought Christy a handbag, watched some of the entertainment. After another wander around we sat and the girls waited, in vain, for some street entertainers.

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And Kevin & I enjoyed some fresh raspberries.

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Christy also played with the video camera. We now have some very riveting footage of the local pigeons.

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We then walked over to the Royal Theatre where we were to meet my old school friend, Sue, for dinner before the show.

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It was so good catching up after reconnecting on facebook. I haven’t seen her for 25 years and she was THE BEST company.

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Dinner was yummy.

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The girls loved this puffy bread.

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All too soon we had to say farewell to Sue and head across the road to the theatre to see the musical Oliver.

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The show was great. Amy fell asleep and missed half the show. I must say I was that tired my eyes closed a few times as well. The show was fantastic though. Christy loved it – esp. all the kids. I couldn’t believe how many were in the cast.

After the show we staggered back to the tube station and went home to Southgate for the last time. Because we were all so tired and the girls had blisters we caught another black cab. Then it was straight to bed. It was 11pm but boy it had been a busy, long, day. We’ve loved London but are looking forward to two more relaxing days.