Blogs from United Kingdom, Europe - page 16

Portland Castle Portland marked our first port of call on our British Isles Cruise. After departing the ship Renata, Mom and I headed over to the first stop Portland Castle. At the Castle, we enjoyed some stunning sea views from the gun platforms and saw some interesting cannons. The Castle overlooking Portland Harbour in Dorset is one of Henry VIII’s finest coastal forts and was built in the early 1540s to protect against French and Spanish invasions. Four miles from Portland Castle, we took the shuttle bus to Weymouth a contemporary seaside town. Mom headed back to the cruise ship early but Renata and I spent some time exploring the town. We saw the beach (too bad we didn’t bring our bathing suits), tried our first Cornish pastry and explored the various streets. We then proceeded ... read more

Cruise Day Today is the start of our British Isles cruise with Princess departing from Southampton. We took an Uber from our cousin Jean’s house to the London Victoria Coach Station. From the Coach station, we boarded a coach prearranged with Princess Cruises to the Southampton Princess Cruise port. After getting our Princess Medallions we settled into our rooms and started to explore the ship. We enjoyed the buffet, sat in the hot tub and had some coffee at the café. We enjoyed some alcoholic beverages while reading our books by the pool. There were various activities on the ship and we enjoyed picking and choosing the activities we wanted to go to. There were daily shows and movies under the stars. However, what Renata and I enjoyed the most were the various ports of call ... read more

Today Renata and I headed into Central London to explore. We made our way to Platform 9 ¾ and discovered the Rosetta Stone at the British Museum. We ended our day going on the Harry Potter Studio Tour. Renata and I are fairly big Harry Potter fans. We named our cat after the titular character. So, we were excited to see where Harry Potter was filmed. On the tour, we saw various costumes, breathtaking sets and interesting props. We also tried our first taste of butter beer, which was delicious I must say. I could have spent all day at the Harry Potter Studio, but we were on a time limit and the night was getting dark. We had to head back to central London to take the train to Norbury back to our cousin ... read more

We are in Wales but only just . A few hundred yards down the road is the border . The medieval bridge spanning the River Dee . One side Wales . The other England. From where we were standing we could see England. We also could see the medieval church of St Chads on the other side . It seemed as if each church watched each other from a distance . What history they both told . We had visited St Chads on the English side . Now it was the turn of St Chads on the Welsh side . St Chad was awfully popular on both sides of the river or the congregation of the two churches had not got the imagination to find two different saints to name their churches after. St Chad is ... read more

Day 7 - Today has turned a little miserable weatherwise - rainy, foggy, cold - so slight change to our plans. Headed to Padstow, best known for Rick Stein, everything is his, from restaurants, cafes, deli's....etc. Great village on the river, which has massive tides. Had lunch in the pub and then off to our next destination of Port Isaac. Now for those who watch the ABC television series, Doc Martin, this is actually Port Wenn in the show. Photos around the tiny laneway's and in front of Doc Martins television home. A casual drive home through the fields and tiny laneway's, and as I was driving today, a little challenging with having to reverse back into a wider point or driveway as other vehicles approached. Day 8 - Another lazy start to the day, heading ... read more