Dublin

Dublin - looks like something out of Dr.Who

Iceland

Iceland

Young lava field covered in moss - Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Iceland

Shall I 

Freedom Tower

The Oculus

New York

27^th July 2015

On our way to Charleston in South Carolina we are enjoying a quiet sea day following a fairly hectic two days in New York.

As with NY the weather is hot and steamy, the sea is a lovely royal blue and although there’s a choppy sea and a few little white caps there is very little noticeable action from the ship.

At around 1630 on Friday we picked up a pilot and entered the Hudson River going into NY and along with best part of the ships compliment we stood on a foredeck and watch the New York skyline unfold while listening to a port expert describe various points of interest.

Up past liberty Island and the iconic statue to our port and then eventually Manhattan off to starboard with all of its sky-scrapers, glass and weird Gotham City looking buildings. What a place, choppers flying everywhere, boats and ferries darting about and even from the ship we could see the crazy traffic and hear the sirens of emergency services and the NYPD, there is something exciting about it all.

We docked at pier 90 about 1930 and then the shemozzle started with US immigration. As I said in a previous post we all had to disembark the ship and be processed before anyone was to be allowed back on board. We lined up like browns cows and left the ship at 2030, it took well over an hour to get through and then three of us wandered downtown to Time Square had a coffee and wandered back – Friday night mad house. It takes about 30 minutes of brisk walking at least each way from ship to Time Square, by the time we got back it was after midnight and passengers were just getting back on board we finally got back to our cabin after one in the morning. What a shambles but not the ships fault, that’s US immigration for you.

At least Saturday we had a free run without the hold up of officialdom. Having done a lot of the touristy things in NY in earlier times we were content with walking looking and shopping. A lady from our dining table asked to join us even though we were not going sight seeing and I think by the time we got back to the ship late afternoon she wished she hadn’t joined us as she was totally whacked.

I might add considering it was New York and the Yanks like to think they do everything in style, the cruise terminal was pretty poor. It was basically just a big shed with a telescopic gangway similar to how you board an aircraft. Inside other than toilets there weren’t any tourist facilities such as tourist or information desk, shops, duty free outlets or even wifi. Not impressed – worse than Brisbane.!!

Sunday morning we grabbed a cab and went straight to the Nine Eleven memorial site at the bottom end of Manhattan. There are two memorial pools, shaped in a square configuration. Looking into the pool, water surrounds another square in the middle that water cascades into from the main pool, it is rather intriguing as you cannot see the bottom of the inner square so it looks as if the water is dropping into a bottomless hole. Between the two memorial pools is a modernistic museum building where people were already queuing up to enter. All the way around the outer perimeter of the pools is a stainless steel wall about a meter high with the names of all the people that perished on that dreadful day.    All of this is set in a nice grassy park lined with shady trees, that gives a nice tranquil atmosphere to the memorial. From a corner of one of the pools I could look up at the Freedom Tower built on the same site and looking very stunning with the sun reflecting off it (it must be hell in neighbouring buildings)

Across the road but all part of the memorial site is another weird looking structure and to me looks like a set of bleached rib cages facing up to the sky. It’s called the “Oculus” and at this stage I haven’t had a chance to Google to establish what it represents.

 On either side of this structure further construction of buildings is taking place but it is disappointing to think how long all of this has taken when you consider how long ago the deed took place and the how much outcry there was it’s almost as if they have lost interest after the initial hype. Lets face it 9/11 has affected everyone globally ever since.

After spending some time in the area we headed off to go shopping, at some stage we decided to use the subway to travel from downtown to uptown as it was too far to walk. Following directions from a very helpful security chap who even gave us a map, we bought a couple of tickets and boarded a train.

The instructions were as follows – “The uptown train aint running from this station today, so best you take the downtown C or D train for 2 stops then change and get on an F train that will take you uptown to the Rockefeller Centre”. Too easy.

We just got onto the platform and there was a train already there, Nancy asked me if this was ours, but I held back to check first and by then the train had gone. So I was in trouble as we should have got on it. I insisted another train would be along in five minutes (which it was).

So we went the instructed two stops and got off just as an F train came in and quick as a flash I said “Come on” and hopped on – we were going the wrong way so I was in the poo again. “Not to worry we will get off at the next station and grab one going the other way”.

Fortunately New Yorkers are a helpful lot and this guy covered with tattoos leaned over and said if you get off at the next station you will have to pay again on the next train, so I suggest you get off in two stations walk around the barrier and back onto the next platform so you don’t have to pay again. All went well nothing like giving it a go.

We did a bit of shopping, Nancy couldn’t find what she wanted but we spent a lot of money anyway. I bought a new phone and didn’t realise just how long it takes to set the dam things up so we wasted heaps of time. By late afternoon we were running a bit late and needed to get back to the ship by 1600 and it had started to spit with rain so we flagged down a Yellow Cab and gave the driver the pier address and brief directions. We must have had “TOURISTS” plastered over our foreheads or something, because he started to make out he didn’t understand us and his accent suddenly became very broken English, he played with his GPS and then his mobile phone and so I gave him a map a bellowed some directions. Then we started going up a side road that I realised would cause slow driving so once again we pointed out he was going the wrong way, eventually I think he realised he wasn’t going to pull the wool over our eyes and we were about to jump out so he went around the block and got himself onto the right road and of course end of day traffic was building up so it was slow going anyway, on the way I pointed out a line up of people to Nancy and said I wonder what’s going on there and the driver who couldn’t hear us earlier or understand us suddenly said in good English they are lined up waiting for a coach to go on tour. (smart arse).

We finally got to where our ship was and he kept going for half a kilometre and we thought he was going to turn at the next set of lights and double back as we were on a one way highway but he pulled up and told us he could not make a turn. We didn’t have much time to argue so we just had to hurry to the ship arriving at twenty past four. Not only late but also late for a safety exercise that started at 1615 but we scraped in thank goodness hot, sweaty and bloody cranky.  

Regardless of the cab experience we decided we were a bit disappointed with NY this time – not sure why yet it’s just how we felt.

Charleston Tomorrow.

    

23rd July missed Halifax

23^rd July – At sea

We have been at sea since the 18^th initially our destination was Halifax with an ETA of 0700 today Thursday. Due to the dense fog and iceberg threat forcing the captain to take a diversionary course well out of harms way we are now heading directly to New York and expect to arrive early evening Friday 24^th instead of Saturday morning. Bit of a shame we missed Halifax but better to be safe than sorry as they say and at least we get our USA arrival requirements completed Friday night instead of four hours out of the day on Saturday.

It sound as if it will be a real shambles when we arrive as everyone has to be processed onshore meaning everyone gets off the ship and no one will be let back on board until all have been processed, it is expected to take about 4 hrs all up if all goes well!! 

Up in the foggy areas of the North Atlantic the sea was quite flat and the ship just had a steady roll. Now we are further south we are getting a bit of sun and the seas are a bit wilder with white caps and long choppy swells but the ships action isn’t bad. Health-wise I finally seem to have shaken my bug but Nancy is very chesty and wheezy with asthma, hopefully it will improve as the weather warms which it is doing daily.

We are still having issues with wifi, once online it’s no better than dial-up and chews up time then usually drops out before completing whatever you were trying to do. I have been lucky uploading to the blog a couple of times but not so lucky with Skyping Lisa, emails take for ever to download and then you find they are companies or organisations that we un-subscribed to prior to leaving Australia. Sending an email is painfully slow and a simple message leaves you watching the clock tick over as it gradually processes. I still haven’t been game to try uploading a photo.

Iceland

17^th July – At sea

After three consecutive city visits it’s good to get a sea day and rest up, doing the tourist thing is quite exhausting.

Once again the ships fog horn has been sounding every minute and we are travelling on the edge of an increasing low pressure

Wild seas and strong cold winds whipping spray off the waves and looking like an undulating snow field, the old girl is rolling something dramatic. (so is the ship).

Great news as I was passing through the Atrium area where the service desk is located I asked about my phone mainly to get details for insurance claiming. The girl at the desk couldn’t find the reference paperwork so went and checked in the pursers safe and came out with my phone. It had been found in the Southampton terminal and handed in, that means I misplaced it at the security check-point.

I was extremely pleased to get it back but quite annoyed that 1) It was five days later and they hadn’t contacted me as pre-arranged. 2) When I filled out the lost report the day after leaving Southampton the phone must have already been on board. – Like I said though I’m pleased to get it back.

18^th July – Iceland

Due into Reykjavik at 1300 we woke to a bright clear day with wind and swell reduced to a pleasant motion.

Even during breakfast (0900) we could see the outline of mountains in the distance and everyone got excited when we could see what we thought was an iceberg off to port, well it looked very white in the sunshine but I’m 99% sure it was a huge rock sitting up out of the sea.

‘Iceland is a land of volcanoes and glaciers, lava fields and green pastures, boiling

thermal springs and ice-cold rivers teeming with salmon.

This unspoiled demi-paradise is also home to a very old and sophisticated culture.

The northernmost capital in the world, Reykjavik was founded in 874 when Ingolfur Arnarson threw wood pillars into the sea, vowing to settle where the pillars washed ashore.

Today, Iceland is an international center of commerce and home to one of the most technologically sophisticated societies in the world.

Reykjavik is the gateway to Iceland's natural wonders, which range from ice fields to

thermal pools.

The island is in a continual process of transformation much like its society, which blends Nordic tradition with sophisticated technology.’ – travel brochure

Our planned shore coach tour started at around 1330 included a late lunch at 1730 and we got back to the ship at 2230 still broad daylight.

We drove through the main centre of Reykjavik a small modern city and out into the country our first stop was at a reservoir with a difference, it has been built to serve as a tourist attraction, a spiral stairway takes you up the centre to a large food area inside at the top with an observation deck outside giving 360 degree views of the city and surrounding mountains that have patches of snow on them. Surrounding the outside walls are huge insulated tanks that hold hot water from Iceland’s thermal areas this is used to heat the houses and buildings around the city hence you only see chimneys on the very old homes. Water, electricity and heating is very cheap in Iceland as they are making use of the very accessible geothermal activity.

Our coach took us through an ever-changing countryside made up of numerous extinct volcanoes and ancient lava fields, icy rivers and the ever present steam escaping from some sort of thermal activity.

We stopped at a geothermal power station also set up as a tourist attraction, watched a video and listened to a lecture regarding Iceland’s geology its thermal activity and how they tap into it for power generation and hot water distribution. A lot of research is gone into before a bore is put down to ensure over production from each hot spot doesn’t take place.

I remember several years ago visiting a friend in Rotorua NZ and they told me how every man and his dog had put down a small bore and were extracting steam or hot water to heat their houses and in doing so they had reduced the thermal activity in all of the tourist attractions which of course was a major concern as boiling mud pools became solidified bogs, bubbling hot water springs stopped bubbling and the mighty geysers were reduced to poor showings. I don’t know if they have improved since domestic extraction was controlled.

Adjacent to where we had our late lunch was a small walk to an active geyser that spurted hot water into the air every 7 minutes.

At another location in the distance we could see an enormous glacier and in the opposite direction we could see the volcano that erupted a few years ago and disrupted global air travel for several days. Nancy’s sister Nola got caught up in that fiasco.

At one point of our tour we walked to an observation point above a massive spectacular water fall where the icy wind and drifting spray made warm layers and beanies a Godsend the water obviously coming from melted snow and the distant glacier.

Later we saw an unusual sight where two continental plates are separated by a narrow gorge, on one side is the American Plate and on the other the European Plate the two are only a few metres apart and the gap is increasing gradually each year. – fascinating.

According to our guide lava flows take about 7,000 years to weather to a point where they sustain what looks like moss and at least 10,000 years weathering before grass and then eventually scrubby bush establishes. Most of the country looks very green, obviously there is a high rain fall and most of the place has weathered enough to at least support moss, grassy plains and in places the government is experimenting with tree species to establish forests for timber and soil erosion control.

The cost of living in Iceland is very high with prices of items in shops over the top compared with any where else.

Farming used to be the mainstay but appears to be dwindling, tourism is the go and they have geared accordingly. Farm equipment was all very modern, personal transport had all the normal cars that you see anywhere else in the world, heaps of 4wd’s with big wheels and tyres. Being summer and a Saturday there were lots of people camping in tents and the campers on the back of 4wd’s.

English is their second language and has to be taught in all the schools.

On the menu in Iceland is whale meat (pilot whale) and Puffin a sea bird with an unusual beak.

Iceland is a very clean, modern clinical place, unusual and certainly worth a visit. I wouldn’t want to live there though especially with the continual threat of volcanic eruption.

We now have four days at sea travelling south west to Halifax.

     

Glasgow

16^th July 2015 – Glasgow

‘Glasgow was Scotland's great industrial center during the 19th century.

Today, the city remains the commercial and cultural capital of the Lowlands.

Lying on the banks of the River Clyde, Glasgow boasts some of the finest Victorian architecture in the entire United Kingdom, including the stately City Chambers.

Elegant Princes Square offers excellent shopping, and among the host of museums and galleries, the Burrell Collection features a superb treasure trove of paintings and art objects.’ –brochure

The ship berthed 0730 at the port of Greenock after winding its way up the River Clyde accompanied by a chorus of squabbling gulls. There’s something about the sound of gulls around British waters, they sound totally different than anywhere else in the world or so it seems to me.

A twenty minute walk through Greenock was needed to reach the train station and then followed a 45minute train ride into Glasgow Central where we wandered around ‘just like tourists’ with our little back packs and cameras. (as with every second person you see).

Glasgow’s history stretches back almost 2,000 years with establishment of a Roman outpost called Cathures. With the advent of Christianity the city grew around a wooden church founded by St. Mungo in the 6^th century. Some 600 years later Glasgow Cathedral was built on the same site.

By the 18^th century many Glaswegian merchants had acquired great wealth by importing sugar, rum and tobacco from America. Even after the tobacco trade declined in the 19^th century the city continued to prosper as a centre for textile manufacturing, the coal and steel industry and ship-building.

Now with the cessation of shipbuilding Glasgow is very much reliant on tourism and it has plenty to offer.

Population in 2013 was almost 600,000.

From the magnificent structure of Central Railway Station we wandered up various streets window shopping and admiring the many grand old buildings until we came across George Square where we verified that every statue has a seagull perched on its head other than the statue of Queen Victoria !!!

Wondering what to do Nancy studied our tourist map and asked if I would like to visit the Buchanan Galleries as she was certain it contained many important works of art including several Monet’s, naturally I was eager.

Walking several blocks we came across Buchanan St that is now a really long street mall full of shoppers tourists and buskers and leads way up-hill to Buchanan Galleries in the distance.

We checked out every shop on both sides of the mall all the way to the Galleries and in one kilt making shop Nancy even bought herself a nice light Cashmere jumper.

After all that we finally arrived at Buchanan Galleries and after ascending several elevators and wandering around like a pair of idiots we finally established Buchanan Galleries was just a shopping centre – No Monet, God I hate shopping.

Time to get a load of our feet and do some people watching we found a nice little sandwich bar and dumped our gear in a corner near a window. I ordered take away coffee while paying for our ready made sandwiches and that confused the old duck behind the counter who promptly asked if we were eating in or taking away, “Eating in I said”. Not telling her take away is bigger and hotter than a cup.

“That will be ninety P extra to eat in”. (Bloody hell $2 to sit at a crummy little table and eat out of a paper bag).

At least I was able to get a haircut for under the equivalent of $20 on the way back through Greenock. I asked for a tidy up and shouldn’t need another cut until this time next year, glad I didn’t asked him to take a lot off.

Townsfolk sent us off with bagpipes and a lot flag waving which was a nice touch.