Covid and an Unplanned London Adventure

Phillip and I disembarked from the Emerald Princess on Monday, May 9, 2022. Passengers who were flying home that day were Covid-tested onboard on the 8^th. Princess had no provisions for any tests on disembarkation day and they refused to test us on the 8th. Our flight was scheduled for the 10^th, so we had to test on the 9^th at Heathrow Airport. The United States requires an official negative test before boarding any flight home. We rode a cruise transfer bus from Southampton to Heathrow and found the Covid testing location. After some frustrations, we tested and then waited for a bus take us to our hotel for the night. We got the test result email while we were still at the bus stop: Pat, negative. Phillip, positive.

Once at our hotel, Phillip performed one of the eMed Covid tests that we had with us, hoping that he’d gotten a false positive from the airport test. Nope, that one lit up its positive bar within ten seconds. I immediately booked our hotel room for longer and he called the airline about our flight from Heathrow. They cancelled our May 10 flight and gave us flight credits for the future rebooking of it. Fortunately, our hotel room had two twin beds instead of a queen, so I was able to distance myself from Phillip in the hotel room.

Phillip had a headache and runny nose, so he stayed in the hotel room for the next several days. I didn’t want to catch his Covid cooties, so he suggested I go into London (about 45 minutes away from the hotel as the hotel was next to the airport). Good idea! I spent the next three days on my own in London, riding the Underground and buses to and from the hotel, becoming proficient with my Oyster card (their transit ticket system), and seeing a lot of sights. On Monday, I went to the British Museum, spending about five hours there. So many rooms, so many artifacts. Egyptian sarcophagi filled several rooms.

The actual Rosetta Stone is the most viewed exhibit in the Museum. It was discovered in 1799 with British scholars realizing its value in the 1820s. Three versions of a decree from 196 BC are on the stone, written in hieroglyphics, Demotic, and Ancient Greek. Until the Rosetta Stone, scholars could not translate hieroglyphics, but they could the other two languages. They used the Stone to unlock hieroglyphics.

Not knowing how long we would be stuck in England and not having a prepared sightseeing map, I decided on Wednesday to take the Hop On, Hop Off bus tour.

It was a rainy day. I was the only passenger who spent the entire three-hour trip on the open top of the bus. I had an umbrella but it was less than effective on the bus top. I saw the British Parliament.

Because of the weather, Trafalgar Square was pretty empty.

The bus crossed over the Thames River several times during its circuit of London.

It was still early afternoon when the bus returned to its starting spot, so I decided to walk to Buckingham Palace. The Queen’s Jubilee celebration will be in early June, so reviewing stand construction and cleaning of the statues was the order of the day at the palace. The rain and wind picked up so I ended the day’s adventure and returned to Phillip.

On Thursday, it was chilly but not raining. My Hop On ticket was good for 24 hours, so I returned to the bus before the ticket expired and was able to ride the circuit again, this time in better weather. I shared the bus top for about an hour with a class of schoolchildren.

I saw the same things as the day before, but more comfortably and I could get better pictures. Big Ben is not the clock or clock tower. Big Ben is really the name of the bell inside the tower. The clock tower is Queen Elizabeth Tower. 

After the bus tour, I decided to walk to Hyde Park, a 350-acre area of grass, flowers, lakes, and blooming trees.

I walked about twenty feet into the park and began sneezing and my eyes began watering. I could see pollen drifting in the air. Did I turn around and leave? Nope. I wanted to see the Princess Diana Memorial Fountain and Kensington Palace, at the other end of the park. So, Kleenexes in hand, I went thru Hyde Park. The pictures I took of the Diana Fountain don’t do it justice. It was one of the most moving water features I’ve seen.

Not a fountain with spouting water, but with water that flows in a circular motion over different surfaces.

I continued walking thru Hyde Park to Kensington Palace. I was getting tired, and running out of tissues, so I headed back to Phillip. 

At the hotel, I took a Covid self-test to make sure my symptoms were allergies, not Covid. I was still negative.

On Friday, Phillip was too bored to stay in the room and felt much better. He masked up and rode the Underground with me to London. FYI, London no longer has a quarantine requirement because 93% of the country is vaccinated. At the edge of St. James Park, near Buckingham Palace, we saw some of the early Jubilee activities.

We saw the Queen’s Guard wearing the traditional big fuzzy hats. While the Queen’s Guard have been around since 1656, their trademark bearskin shakos date back to the end of the Napoleonic Wars. French grenadiers wore large bearskin shakos to make themselves appear taller and more fearsome. In 1815, the British defeated Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo and the British took over the shako wearing as they were then the fiercest warriors.

As children, we learned the London Bridge song and got the idea that it is a grand bridge. This is actually the London Bridge:

The fancy bridge over the Thames, mistakenly called the London Bridge in some movies, is really the Tower Bridge.

During our trek, Phillip and I walked about 9 miles, from St. James Park to Big Ben, across one of the many bridges over the Thames, then along the south bank of the Thames to the Tower Bridge, across the Thames and back along the north bank.

The Tower of London, next to the Tower Bridge, looks more like a castle than a tower. It was built in 1078 and was used mainly as a royal residence until the 1700s. Over the years, additions and remodeling have been done. It has served as a prison, mainly for high status political prisoners. It’s where King Henry VIII imprisoned and beheaded Anne Boleyn in 1536 for treason. It still houses the royal jewels.

The weather turned nasty again on Saturday and Sunday, so we did not return to London. We just took Covid tests and waited for Phillip to become negative.

Finally, on Monday, the 16^th, he had a negative self-test. He immediately took our last e-Med test and was negative so we could fly. I took the bus to the airport and got my new official negative test and we flew from Heathrow to Newark, New Jersey on the 17^th to stay for six nights with Robin and Tom.

This was our first visit to their new home. They have lots of room in a multi-level house, a definite upgrade from a one-bedroom apartment!

On May 23, we flew back to DFW Airport to end this adventure. I enjoyed the opportunity to visit London, but would have rather done it on my terms, with Phillip in tow the entire time, not just one day. Our health update: Phillip came back still negative for Covid but with an ear infection needing antibiotics and ear drops. That allergic reaction I had in Hyde Park turned into a sinus infection needing antibiotics. Although I resisted Phillip’s Covid cooties in England and tested negative thru our visit with Robin, I tested positive after my return home. I’m asymptomatic and feel fine. Robin and Tom tested negative after we left so we did not leave Covid cooties with them.

Stonehenge, Titanic Museum, and a Whiskey Distillery Excursions

While on the Emerald Princess, Phillip and I took three excursions, all towards the end of the cruise. The Stonehenge tour, taken while we were docked the first time in Southampton, was my favorite. Visiting Stonehenge was on the bucket list that I created in 2009, right after I retired and we decided to travel. Stonehenge has always fascinated me and seeing it in person did not disappoint! I am even more impressed with the ancient people who built it. At the site, we went thru a display museum before riding a tram to the actual stones.

Archeology and modern science have answered some questions about Stonehenge. It was not built by the Druids, as some believed, but is much older. The first Stonehenge was constructed about 5000 years ago during the Neolithic Age, a temple that consisted of a circular ditch and bank with a few stones.

By about 2500 BC, more and larger stones were brought to the site, including the bluestones from 150 miles away and the huge sarsen (a type of sandstone) stones from about 50 miles away. Engineering was done by these early people to transport and raise the 25-ton sarsen stones and place the top (lintel) stone to create the trilithons.

The alignment of the stones is significant. On the summer solstice, the sun rises behind a stone called the Heel Stone and shines directly into the center of Stonehenge. The alignment also worked for the winter solstice, with the sun falling directly between the two upright stones of what is called the Great Trilithon, in line with the center of Stonehenge.

Once the huge sarsen stones were in place, they were not moved. Archeologists have determined that for about 800 to 1000 years, until about 1500 BC, the bluestones were rearranged at times. This was during the Bronze Age and evidence indicates that Stonehenge was the greatest temple in Britain. Hundreds of burial mounds from this time have been discovered on the surrounding hills.

I arranged our second excursion before we went on the cruise. I researched Cobh and found the Titanic Museum Experience there, so I ordered tickets and reserved a time for us. As I noted in my previous post, Cobh was the last stop of the Titanic before it sank during its Atlantic crossing. The museum had recreations of the cabins on the ship and lots of photographs and artifacts. Around 2,200 people were on board when the Titanic sank in 1912, but her maximum capacity was around 3,500. There were 908 crew members, 324 passengers in First Class, 284 in Second, and 709 in Third. The third class cabins had bunk beds and no private bathrooms.

The first class passengers had much nicer cabins.

Our tickets to the Experience were recreations of actual tickets so we could identify if our ticketed person survived or perished. I had the ticket of a first class passenger who, with her young son, survived. Phillip, however, was 3^rd class passenger Patrick Dooley who did not make it.

The third excursion was a ship-arranged tour in Dublin of the Jameson Bow Street Distillery. Our daughter Robin’s significant other, Tom, likes Jameson whiskey, so we visited the historic distillery for him. Bow Street is not currently distilling. It operated from 1780 to 1972.

The distillery is now a museum and educational location, providing a tasting with our tour. They had a great set-up where we had hands-on stations to smell and feel the ingredients that go into Jameson.

We were given three different Jamesons to taste. Jameson is a Scotch whiskey, not my favorite, but I was game to taste it. And to finish Phillip’s tasting! We were served a much more appealing Jameson cocktail, made with Jameson, ginger ale and lime at the conclusion of the tour. After our cocktail, we bought a bottle of a specific variety of Jameson, only available from the distillery, and had it personalized for Tom.

We enjoyed our excursions. Even though Phillip kept talking about touring a "pile of rocks" at Stonehenge, he was impressed. It is a UNESCO World Heritage site and I am so glad to be able to cross it off my bucket list. 

Ports Stops during Princess Transatlantic cruise

 One of the best parts of cruising is seeing different countries, even if just a taste of the country at a port town. From Fort Lauderdale, we had seven sea days before our first port, Ponta Delgado, in the Azore Islands and a part of Portugal.

The cruise ship docked on April 23^rd at a pier which gave ready access to the town. We walked around Ponta Delgado for about an hour. 

Some of our cruise mates took an excursion to Fire Lake, a body of was set in the crater of an extinct volcano. During my cruise preparation, I read that fog and mist are the rule for Fire Lake. Sure enough, we were glad we didn’t go because the clouds lowered and the view of the lake was obscured that day. We saw instead the town with pretty houses and bricked streets. The plazas used colored brick to make patterns in the walking surface.

On April 25, we were at Lisbon. Phillip and I stopped here on a previous cruise and enjoyed the city. The cruise pier is right at the edge of the main town. We got off the ship and walked along the Malecon (wide sidewalk between the street and the water) for several kilometers. 

I had read about a market past this main square, but the market was closed except for a grocery store because of Covid. We wandered around Lisbon, knowing that we couldn’t get lost. Just walk downhill and we’d be within sight of our ship. I had a sangria and a Portuguese egg tart at a small plaza. Later, Phillip was ready for lunch. I ordered another sangria. The waiter said it was happy hour with the large sangria only one euro more than the small one. So, I ordered the large. The waiter brought a liter of sangria and laughed when I said just one glass (Phillip doesn’t drink wine).

Two days later, we were in La Coruna, Spain. Just off the ship, we found a nice park between the main road and the ship cargo area. 

La Coruna has a UNESCO World Heritage lighthouse, called the Hercules Lighthouse, which is the oldest functioning lighthouse in the world, over 2000 years old. Unfortunately, I did not research the route to walk to it. I think it was quite a distance from the pier, so we didn’t try to find it. We walked around a bit, looking at shops and statues.

The following day, the 28^th, was Bilbao, Spain. Actually, the port town is Gexto, Bilbao is 30 km away. During our previous transatlantic cruise, we spent an entire day in Gexto. This time, we just walked off the boat to the water end of the pier and watched local people fishing before heading back on the boat to enjoy a quiet day.

April 30 found the ship docked at Cherburg, France. We spent several hours walking around Cherburg. We perused a farmer’s market in a square that also had a carousel for the kids. 

We were stopped on our return at the bridge over the harbor. A few boats, too tall to go under the bridge, were lined up to get out of the harbor. This bridge was a different drawbridge than we’d seen before. The bridge did not raise, rather it pivoted and swung sideways to allow the boats to pass thru. Interesting fifteen minutes to watch this bridge spin and then spin back. 

The terminal thru which we accessed the boat was an antique. It had polished wood surfaces, looking like a place from the 1920s.

Our next port was Southampton, England. Several hundred people disembarked here as they booked a fifteen-day cruise, not a twenty-three day cruise like we did. Phillip and I took an excursion to Stonehenge that I will detail in my next blog posting. The excursion stopped at Salisbury, so here are pictures that I took in the rain from the bus and in Salisbury. Thatched roof houses are still in use. Historic preservation rules govern the replacement of the thatch. 

Our tour guide took us to the Salisbury Cathedral.  The main church was built from 1220 to 1258. The spire, built in 1320, is the tallest church spire in England. The church has one of the four surviving original copies of Magna Carta, which I would have loved to have seen. However, we visited on a Sunday and the Magna Carta area was not open because of church services. 

And I took my first picture of the English phone booths.

The following day, May 2, the ship docked in Portland, England. Portland is a navy and cargo port, so we took the free shuttle bus for the fifteen-minute ride to Weymuth, a nearby town. Weymuth was delightful spot, again with a harbor. We watched a small boy crabbing at the edge of the harbor. The crabs are catch and release, but the boy was having fun dangling his bait, in a bag, no hooks allowed, in the water trying to snag a crab. 

The harbor is in the middle of town, with shops and houses on both sides of the water. 

Weymuth also had a drawbridge over the harbor. This one raised to allow the sailboats out of the harbor.

On May 3, the ship stopped at St. Peter Port, Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It was overcast and foggy and the ship’s lifeboats were being used as water shuttles. The harbor was too shallow for the cruise ship to dock. Phillip and I stayed onboard.

We did get off at the next port, Cobh, Ireland. The town’s previous name was Queensland and it was the final port of call for the Titanic in 1912 before she set out across the Atlantic. We had some time before our Titanic museum appointment, so we sat at a café and I enjoyed a Guiness. 

Lots of statues around town of travelers as many other Irish, not just those who went on the Titanic, left for America from Queensland. It was the departure point for 2.5 million people between 1848 and 1950.

This portion of our cruise was heavy with port days. The following day, May 5, the ship docked at Dun Laoghair (pronounced “Dun Leery”) and we took an excursion to Dublin. Jonathan Swift was born in Dublin, so we saw buildings with decorations from “Gulliver’s Travels” on the walls. 

May 6, the ship was in Holyhead, Wales, again at a water shuttle port. And again, the weather was nasty and the water looked rough, so again, we stayed on the ship. It would have been a long, miserable ride in the water shuttle if we'd tried to get off the ship.

The final port stop on May 7 was at Glenock, Scotland. Excursions were available to take passengers to Glasgow, 45 minutes away, but we decided to walk around Glenock. 

We walked about two hours, finding the Fire Brigade Museum with its enthusiastic volunteers who told us about the Scottish fire service and showed us antique fire engines, horse-drawn and steam powered. It was a nice little surprise during our walk. 

Although we saw kilts for sale, we decided not to buy one for our relatives!

On May 9, we returned to Southampton for our disembarkation. Next post: the excursions we took on this cruise.