We are Sailing... We are sailing

The ships activities consist of mainly guess Lecturers or requested get togethers... we have had  get togethers for every state in Australia, New Zealand, GLBT’s, Car enthusiasts, Grey Nomads, Men with their Toys (Now that has me puzzled ) and even a Men’s Shed.... The boys Warren and Dave have excelled themselves in catering to every request.... The only routine we seem to have is that we make it to trivia at 4.30pm, made even more special when our favourite Barbara is the Host.... we love her...

It seems the boys are visiting our blog every now and again and actually mentioned on the wake show that the first person with a photo of them wins a prize.... now we must of been up on deck capturing an early sail in so Ros beat me to it..... so I am going to try to win a prize for the most pictures of cruise staff..... LOL

1.     1.  Captain Todd McBain and us ... ( but who is dropping names

2.    2.   Angus and me....  Head Honcho at the Pursers...

3.     3.  Warren and Dave looking their best.... Warren is our cruise Director and Dave is Deputy Cruise Director

4.       4.Watchara and Neil ... look after so well at dinner time...

5.     5.  The Fabulous Rui.... Maitre D Extraordinaire

6.       6.Maurizio – the suavest Deputy Maitre D we have ever met..

7.     7.  The beautiful Barbara

8.      8. DJ Lee

9.       9.Ryan my man at the Pursers Desk

10.10.My 2 assistants when I am in the Captains Chair..

11. 11.  Daniel ... who told me I remind him of his mum...... hmmm  she must of been a child bride!!

Goodbye Europe... Hello America's....

It is with sadness that we leave the Europe side of the world.... we have loved their ports that are steeped in history which makes Australia seem like such a baby......  What we would call historic they would call contemporary.

It was not long after we sailed out of Cobh that we knew that we were hitting the Atlantic.... just like a scene out of the movie Titanic the mist started rolling in....  We had great faith in the ship navigational equipment as you couldn’t see two feet in front of you.  You could feel the ship starting to rock and roll ever so gently that it was actually quite soothing and nothing like what we expected the Atlantic to be....

We have spent the last 2 days trapped inside as the weather was still cool and the winds made it uncomfortable to be on deck. But now as we are moving further southwest and towards beautiful Bermuda it is warming up nicely...

Gone are the winter clothes once again.. Packed under the bed and the deck chairs are starting to be utilized once again.  The captain has told us to expect temperatures of 28 deg C  in Bermuda, but the humidity will make it feel like 38 deg C

Bring it on!!

 

He's On a Roll.....!!!

With all those port days in the Mediterranean and the fact that we didn’t visit the dining room on those nights my bread roll count kept getting missed.....

But here is what you all have been waiting for....... The Update.....

Drum Roll Please!!

Garry’s Princess Bread Roll Count - 162

Joanne’s Lobster count – 11

Might I add that the lobster count should have been higher but we decided to miss our first formal night the other day.... and of course it had to be lobster night.....

 

Australia Day in Cobh... 1

Australia Day in Cobh...

Yesterday the captain informed everyone of what was waiting for us in Cobh.  Cobh was celebrating the fact that after all the years that they had sent ship loads of people out to Australia, this was only the second time that Australia had sent a ship load  back.

We docked just near the town and in easy walking distance.  That was until you wanted to visit the Cathedral,  all up hill and steep at that..... It was Sunday and we couldn’t go into the church as mass had started .... so we decided to continue on to the Old cemetery .....

We walked and walked and consoled ourselves in the fact that it would be a downhill run on the way back.... well that was until we got to the crest  and realised we had another half a mile down hill till we got there... 

Others that we spoke to later,  said they gave up as the only thing they could see at the crest was the 3 large supermarkets at the bottom of the hill. We  had actually been told by a local that the cemetery was just beyond the last of the shops....  so we soldiered on....

The  cemetery had the remains of the old church along with some memorials to the victims of the sunken “Lusitania” and of course boxer , singer and actor Jack Doyle.

After we wandered back into town and had a well deserved coffee....  we checked out some of the shop windows decorated  with an Australian Flavour which was also judged... First prize went to a shop that had everything upside down signifying that we were from down under. 2^nd prize when to a shop with a very beachy feel.... A commendation went to a shop that highlighted the dangers that we are faced with the wild life here in our country.

We found that Cobh were also selling off some of own icons...  this is what we found in the Real estate’s Windows

The Harbour Bridge -  This is an unmistakable landmark in Sydney, Australia and vital transport link to the city.  Potential exists to turn the bridge into a Toll Bridge with a good revenue stream expected.

Ayres Rock –  This is an unmistakable sandstone rock formation in central Australia. Ayres Rock or Uluru is 230 miles by road from Alice Springs and has virtually no development potential as it is a sacred site and world heritage site.

Sydney Opera House – An Iconic building strategically  situated in an unrivalled waterside location on Sydney Harbour. Currently used as a multi performance venue including a Concert Hall with seating for 2678 people and an Opera Theatre with seating for 1507.

To Arrange a viewing for any of these properties please see any Travel Agent.

Cobh had an assortment of Bands and dancers performing and it felt like the whole town was out to welcome us and participated in the festivities.  There were market stalls and BBQ’s and lots of flags!!

We opted to have lunch at a little Quay side restaurant as all the pubs were over flowing.  We sat out on the balcony and enjoyed our lunch and best of all the free wifi...... I did manage to take a picture of it as we sailed past it later in the day.  First thing I did was checked us in on facebook complete with a few pictures then checked out the pictures of the kids back at home.....  Here we ate fish and chips, burgers and mussel’s ... and topped it off with a really yummy banoffie Pie.... ( banana and toffee )

We want to congratulate Cobh on a wonderful day and most of all the most wonderful send off of the whole trip.... We invited ourselves onto Ros and Arnolds balcony and waved and cheered to the hundreds of people below.... it was a sea of Irish and Aussie Flags waved to the sounds of the bands that played below.... Everywhere you looked they were waving .... on the dock, up on street level... from the overlooking houses... it was fantastic.... and even as sailed up the harbour they lined the foreshore .... it was a good Day...... Thankyou Cobh

 

Ahh the luck of the Irish.... Dublin 1

 

Ahh the luck of the Irish.... Dublin 2

The first thing we did this morning was turn on bridge cam and to our relief we were already docked in Dublin.... Our biggest fear was that history would repeat itself and we would miss this port....

The Awesome Foursome were hitting town once again. Geared with our maps, less the maps that I had forgotten  in our cabin we caught a cab into the centre of town ... Princess were once again offering the $7 shuttle . The four of us only paid 15 Euro, so finding friends is useful.

We started our trip with the “Tart with the Cart”.... the Statue of Molly Mallone .  Going off the ship early has it’s advantages.... although nothing is open, at least you can take pictures without thousands of people to contend with.  From here we walked up Grafton St, a pedestrian walkway lined with shops and many no different to the ones at home...  We were heading towards  St Stephens green when we spotted some horse and carriages just outside the park.... Arnold thought this would be a good idea this early in the morning.  So Jimmy and his horse Blacky took us on the Cooks Tour of this Georgian area.

We passed many of their historical and government buildings along with a few places of interest, including the smallest pub and the smallest cemetery in town.... he asked us how many dead people do you think are in there.....we sat and pondered the question and threw a few answers at him... he smiled and answered “all of them” ........

After our ride we walked into the  Green with its pretty gardens and lake.  Following our noses and our maps we walked along some interesting backstreets until we reached St Patricks Cathedral.  ABC... Another Beautiful Cathedral... isn’t that how the acronym goes.... we contemplated going in but a princess bus just beat us there so we decided to keep going... We walked to most of Dublin’s attractions including Christ Church Cathedral, Dublin Castle and Trinity College. 

We walked around the Temple Bar district which is filled with lots of quaint pubs and restaurants.   We found  The Old Mill restaurant where the boys enjoyed a traditional Dublin Coddle and a pint of Guinness...  A Dublin Coddle you ask.... Irish Stew topped with mashed potato and  a couple of sausages plonked on top of that...

What we found was that Dublin seems full of young people... and that is not just because we are only used to seeing older people on the boat....   We can only surmise that Trinity College attracts lots of students to the area... I guess as Dublin is steeped in literary and arts history, this seems to have continued through the ages... although the youngans that spray painted themselves as zombies and walked the street did attract a lot of attention. 

On the way back we made a quick stop at the Famine Memorial for a few pictures .....  Now you know there is the London Eye, the Singapore Flyer   but only in Dublin would you expect to see their Ferris wheel called the “Revolver”

Another great day and another hat for dinner!!!