| Apr 26 |
Travel to London |
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| Apr 27 |
Arrive London |
We checked into our hotel, Eden Gardens and then went out walking. There was a large shopping district with lots of small shops and we spent a lot of time wandering around Kensington Gardens. We ate dinner at a local pub, fish and chips. |
| Apr 28 |
Tour London |
We walked down to catch the Hop on Hop off bus in the typical English weather, cold and wet. We saw most of the sites, Big Ben, Buckingham Palace, Westminster Abby, etc. We got off at the Tower of London and took the audioguide tour. We then got a riverboat down the Thames before returning to the hotel to shower and get ready for the evening. We then took the tube to the West End, ate at another local pub, and then saw Spamalot at the Palace Theater. Caught the Tube back to the hotel. |
| Apr 29 |
Board our cruise and depart Southhampton |
Got up early and had a ride back to Heathrow. At Heathrow we caught the Celebrity Shuttle to Southhampton, about an hour 45 minute ride, before boarding the cruise ship. Time to get settled in and tour the ship. There was a welcome aboard party for our group and then dinner. |
| Apr 30 |
Paris (LeHavre), France |
This was a long day with rain off and on, a little hail later in the day. We took the ship shore excursion to Paris, a 2.5 hour bus ride to Paris from LeHavre. It was such a short overview but we did see the Arc de Triomphe, the Louvre, Notre Dame and all the main sights from the bus. We then boarded the river boat for a lunch cruise on the Seine. We got to see "Laboulaye's Lady" (for those of you who saw National Treasure 2). After disembarking the riverboat we then had an hour of free time around the base of the Eiffel Tower. Pictures do not do it justice. It is much more impressive in person, much larger than I had imagined. We also wandered the local streets nearby. Then boarded the bus back to the ship. |
| May 1 |
Cherbourg, France |
Jet lag was setting in so we took it easy in Cherbourg. We walked around the city waterfront where the ship was docked and had lunch at a small local pizza shop. Naturally we had some of the local wine with lunch. |
| May 2 |
At Sea |
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| May 3 |
Bilbao, Spain |
Had never heard of this before. It was a beautiful, clean European city. We rode the shuttle into town and then walked for hours. |
| May 4 |
Gijon, Spain |
Another place we had not know about and another wonderful little city. We took a tour to a small resort fishing village, Leuconca, and then to Aviles for a walking tour. The fishing village is really a resort and while pretty it was uninteresting. Aviles was a beautiful little town with lots of old Medieval buildings and streets. |
| May 5 |
At Sea |
Art Auction today. We had absolutely no intention of buying anything but then we saw this Erte and it was the crack in the dam. Spent a lot of money we do not have. |
| May 6 |
Vigo, Spain |
Another beautiful Spanish City. We took the shuttle into town and then walked several miles uphill through the city to the remains of a fort at the top. We stopped and had lunch in one of the local cafes. |
| May 7 |
Lisbon, Portugal |
All I can say is wow. What a great place and we only saw a fraction of it. We took the audioguide walking tour. The city was clean, bright and just fantastic. Take a look at the pictures to see the sights. |
| May 8 |
Seville (Cadiz), Spain |
We took the bus tour to Sevilla, about an hour and a half bus ride each way. Sevilla is another great Spanish city. We took about a 2 hour walking tour around the old quarter of the city. The Cathedral is one of largest in the world and is incredibly impressive. Our ships escort is evidently a religious historian and added to the tour by enlarging on subjects, such as the organ, the guide would talk about. She even sang a small chant from the middle ages that would have been sung by the church choir. I'm afraid it was so dim in the Church that the pictures will not do it justice. We were the the last returning bus to the ship and they rolled the gangplank up as we walked on... |
| May 9 |
At Sea - Straits of Gibraltar |
We went thru hte Straits of Gibraltar last night in the dark so we really did not get to see anything but the lights on both sides. It was pretty impressive to see all of hte lights on our Starboard side in Africa and all of the lights on our port side in Europe. Had a great day at sea and this was the last Formal night. We ate in the Normandie Restaurant and had incredible service and Rack of Lamb. |
| May 10 |
Valencia, Spain |
Undoubtedly the most disappointing day on our trip to this beautiful city as it poured all morning and into the early afternoon. We were unable to take many pictures from the tour because of the rain. We did a little walking and got drenched even with umbrellas. |
| May 11 |
Disembark Barcelona, Spain |
Always hate this day. We would have loved to continue on the ship for another 12 days to Venice. Took the Gaudi city tour from the ship that drove us around some sights and then we got out and toured the Park Guell (pronounced Gway) as well as the incredible Temple de la Sagrada Familia. Construction on this Church began in 1870 and they are hoping to complete it in 2026 to celebrate the 100th anniversary of Gaudi's death. I can't decide if the man is a genius or is just crazy. Please take time to view Barcelona pictures to see the works of Gaudi. |
| May 12 |
Barcelona to Covina, CA |
Rose at 6:15AM Barcelona time to get ready for a 7am pickup to take us to the airport. Nice, the driver is on time and has a large Mercedes Benz to take us to the airport. We had a flight Barcelona to New York, where we went thru customs and then the flight to LAX> Fortunately our flights were on time and uneventful. We landed on time around 7PM LA Time. We got home around 8:30PM. We got very little sleep on the plane so we have been in transit for about 22 hours.
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