Starting on the next part of our current Grand Adventure…

Portland is a sleepy little town that is the entrance to the larger Weymouth and all we did was laze around the ship for a while, get off and wander about the town, stopping—OF COURSE!—for a pint at a local pub with a couple of friends. An added bonus is that we were first on the shuttle and chose to sit behind the driver to get a feel (OMG!) for the “other” (not the “wrong” side, just the “other” side—although I feel I must point out that there are only three countries in the WORLD where they drive on THAT side of the road) side of the road.

Last everything on the ship was bitter-sweet. Last dinner with our tablemates, last drinks with friends, last decadent breakfast in the Pinnacle Grill (our breakfast home almost every day, skipping it only when we had tours that left earlier than the PG opened), last goodbye to our favorite staff (especially Ryan, our waiter in the Crow’s Nest who froze our gin for us and started pouring as soon as he saw us every evening). But, we’re on to new adventures in England and Istanbul.

Since we had the “You can get off whenever you want” cards for the disenbarkation we had our decadent Pinnacle Grill breakfast and strolled leisurely off the ship about 8ish. Or so. Getting the rental car was interesting; I’ll leave it at: the British are very casual about business transactions. But we were on the road by about 9 with GPS in hand, heading for our next destination, Chipping Campden, touted in one guidebook as the prettiest town in the Cotswolds (true, we think!).

Randy was a bit nervous I think about driving on the left  but he did (does) magnificently. I, on the other hand, am a nervous wreck sitting on the left with no steering wheel in front of me! Seems much harder here than in Australia. Possibly because the roads here are about one yard wide with either stones or hedges on each side and cars parked every which way!

We found Chipping Campden (henceforward to be CC, Chipping Campden is too bloody long to keep writing over and over) and our lovely B&B cum tea house and even found parking in spite of the fact that it is a three-day Bank Holiday. Our hosts are Karen and Paul of Badgershall Tea House and B&B (badgershall.com), right in the middle of town on the main street, High Street. We wandered about the town and made reservations at Huxleys for dinner (lovely Italian place—no we did NOT have pizza, they don’t even offer pizza).

The procedure for getting to our room was unusual at best! We walk in through the tea-room (you can imagine the thoughts of the patrons seeing us traipse through with our luggage!) and up some stairs, past the dog, Bertie (he’s a little schizophrenic: he barks and wags his tail at the same time; if you pet him he barks and wags his tail) and into our room overlooking the garden part of the tea room. At night or late afternoon, the tea-room is closed so we have a key to let ourselves into the tea-room, making sure to lock the door behind us. Karen and Paul are very trusting!

Breakfast is made by Paul who also, I think, bakes all the pastries for the tea-room as when we met him the first morning, he was covered in flour! An excellent “Full English Breakfast” (as it’s stated on the breakfast request forms) was so delicious but also SO MUCH! Two eggs, two slices of English bacon, tomato, small boiled potatoes, a few other veggies, sautéed mushroom, fried bread AND the best toasted bread I’ve ever had. Whew. We skipped lunch.

Our day was the Blenheim Palace (www.blenheimpalace.com). Next to Versailles, it is the grandest “home” I’ve ever seen. We walked through the arch into what we thought was the palace. It was about the size of two football fields side by side. That was pretty impressive until we walked through another archway and whammo! There was another courtyard that the first one could fit in a tiny corner of. Surrounded on three sides by several stories of spectacular palace. It would have taken a small town just to keep it clean! Not to mention cooking meals and cleaning up after the horses and whatnot. According to Paul, the 11^th Duke of Marlborough still lives there and often mingles with the peasants during the various activities he sponsors. Winston Churchill was born there although I don’t think he was Duke of Marlborough since he was elected to the House of Commons. Because of the Bank Holiday there was lots going on, falconry and jousting mainly. Great fun, lots of people picnicking on the seemingly miles of grass surrounding the palace.

An interior panorama

A panorama of the main courtyard.

The inner courtyard

Dinner is served!

The back yard

The back door.

A jousting we shall go!

The view from the jousting area

After wandering the palace and the grounds for several hours we headed off to Moreton-in-Marsh (love those British town names!) to the Cotswold Falconry Centre (http://cotswold-falconry.co.uk/presta/) to watch their hour-long show. The 3pm show included kites, vultures (two kinds), and a Great Horned Owl named Desmond that anybody and everybody was invited to have him fly to their gloved hand. About 10-12 people took up the offer, everybody from small children to Randy! It was great fun to watch (and I have to say it was as good or better than our Desert Museum presentation in conservation message, presentation of the birds, and welfare of the birds).

Cotswold Falconry's Harris Hawk

Feeding owl chicks

A vulture in flight

I love you, too!

So, you want coffee?

A kite about to grab a morsel from the air

On our way back we had an experience that makes Stonehenge pale in comparison. Even though we haven’t seen Stonehenge, it could not be better than what we did see. Because the Rollright Stones (http://www.rollrightstones.co.uk/) are close to on our way back from the falconry centre and we did not want to be immersed in 14 gazillion tourists on Bank Holiday Weekend at Stonehenge, we decided to go to the Rollright Stones instead.

What we got was the annual May Day celebration of the Morris Men (http://www.legendarydartmoor.co.uk/roll_right.htm) and the local witches and warlocks of the wiccan (I think) groups who came to celebrate with music and drumming and fires and costumes and it was all so very exciting and interesting. MUCH better than anything we would have seen at Stonehenge! What a kick! 

The view from the stones across fields of canola.

Back “home” and dinner at the Lygon Arms in the bar. Lots of interesting local characters. Good food, have to order a double to get any drinkable amount of gin, however! 25ml is the normal pour.

On to our stay in the Castle Thornbury tomorrow.

The Two who shall remain nameless...

Our last two Spanish ports were A Coruña and Bilbao.

I can’t complain too much about the weather being rainy in A Coruña and Santiago de Compostela since we generally have had great weather. Well, actually I can complain, but probably nobody’s going to listen because, after all, we ARE travelling all around Spain, England, Istanbul, and Europe. Who’s going to give me any sympathy whatsoever?

But it was rainy and cold all day while we were in Santiago de Compostela but I did learn that a shirt, light vest and rain jacket kept me quite comfortable. We pretty much just followed our guide around the town, spoke to some pilgrims (yes, there are actually still pilgrims making the trip to Santiago de Compostela, and they come from all over the world. We also learned that there are signs in the streets—that is IN the streets—in many if not all cities in Spain directing them in the direction of Santiago de Compostela.

The day after, May 1, we went to Bilbao and better weather and another private tour organized by people from Cruise Critic. Unfortunately we did not get to spend a great deal of time in the Guggenheim Museum. Why not, you may wonder.

The tour guide, Aitor, was pretty good on knowledge of Bilbao. He was pretty bad on management of the tour. That, coupled with The Two in our group of nine who had their own ideas of what THEY wanted to do—which had nothing to do with the stated purpose of the tour: to see the historic Bilbao and go to the Guggenheim—made the tour go somewhat awry.

The guide did not stop for three and a half hours. No bathroom break, no coffee break, nothing. When we did finally get to a beautiful and historic square and we seven suggested a short stop for coffee (lots of neat coffee shops around a very historic and beautiful plaza), The Two said no, let’s get to the Guggenheim, there’s a food court there. As if a food court at a museum is a match in atmosphere to the plaza in old Bilbao! So off we marched to the Guggenheim to have something to eat and drink while The Two went to another museum for an hour. So we cooled our heels OUTSIDE the Guggenheim waiting for them to get back from their museum. The guide changed our group tickets’ time (so that we all—including The Two—could go in together) to 2:30. FIVE hours after he picked us up at the ship! And The Two left us after a short time in the Guggenheim because they were bored with the guide.

Outside the Guggenheim, a semi-selfie

Nice puppy!

We were only able to take photos in a few places. I have no words to describe this "art" display!

By 3:15pm I was just too exhausted to continue so we went back to the shuttle. To compound our misery, the buses were not coordinated well and we had to wait an hour in line to get on a bus. Our last stop in Spain and it was pretty much not a great day. 

Part of the line waiting for the shuttle back to the ship. Glad we had the beverage manager right in front of us. They might leave without US, but they wouldn't leave without HIM!

May 2 was a stop in Portland (Weymouth), England, a first for Holland America (as was Bilbao). We chose to just walk around town rather than go on one of the five buses headed to Stonehenge (we’ll go to Avebury later and maybe Stonehenge). Lovely little British town, hopefully much like the ones we’ll see in the Cotswolds. We found some friends (thank you, Cruise Critic!) and stopped for some wonderful British beer and then headed back to the ship to—sob!—pack for tomorrow’s disembarkation.

A last comment to those on Cruise Critic: CC is wonderful! But one needs to be careful. Please, if you organize a tour, get the money from the participants at the first opportunity—the first Meet and Greet, if possible. If you don’t you run the risk that what happened to us will happen to you. Two participants in one of my tours couldn’t find the meeting place (which was right outside the terminal). They waited five (!) minutes, then left. We waited 45 minutes for them, thus shortening our tour, then left on the tour. They refused to pay me for the tour, but the tour company demanded that they be paid for so Randy and I are out about $160 for them. Moral? Trust but verify! And get the money up front. I’m pretty sure the couple would have made more of an effort if we had their money already.

Sorry that this episode is not more cheerful, but the end of the trip has been a bit of a downer.

Moving on! We’re headed to a B&B, Badger’s Hall in Chipping Campden tomorrow and we are both looking forward to the days ahead. Perhaps not to driving on the left, but certainly to the days to come. It may even stop raining! We sat right behind the driver of the bus in Portland and it was an eyeopener, to say the least. Especially when we are thinking PIG (Passenger in Gutter) and the Brits park facing the wrong way! Very, very disconcerting!

Our little group

John Adams spent time in Bilbao. Who knew?

Bilbao was hosting a convention of mountaineers

The subway entrances, like much of Bilbao, are very modern

Not as many as Amsterdam, but a lot, nonetheless

And I always thought it was Rioja wine

This is a bar with a way to make a donation in honor of the Virgin Mary (note the tiny slot for coins leftover after you have paid for your libations and still have money left!

Beautiful doors in the churches

And room to meet after church but under cover if it's raining

The shell that points the way for the pilgrims on their way to Santiago de Campostelo

Pilgrims often wear a seashell on their packs to identify them to others.

A market in Bilbao

Mushrooms of all kinds and prices---up to 30 euros a kilo

No comment

Nor here

A VERY small elevator from one street to another (.45 euro up and another .45 euro down)

The shell that shows the way for the pilgrims

Typical street scene

Where is a martini when I need it?

Flowers are everywhere!

Sailing out of Bilbao, our last stop in Spain