October 6 - La Rochelle, France

Bonjour from La Rochelle. This is a city of approximately 80,000 on France’s Atlantic coast midway between Brittany and Bordeaux.  The area was first settled by a Gallic tribe but eventually was occupied by the Romans after their conquest of Gaul in the first century BC. The Romans developed salt and wine industries in the area and exported both throughout the empire. (Those Romans knew what people needed.)

The city of La Rochelle was founded in the 10th century AD and became an important port in the 12th century. For a couple of hundred years it fell under the English Plantagenet kings’ domain through Eleanor of Aquitaine  who married Henry II.  I won’t write about her here but if you are interested in learning about strong, scheming women, she’s a good one to read about. During the Hundred Years War, the people of this part of France defeated the British ending their rule. An interesting fact is that the English were defeated in a naval battle, the Battle of La Rochelle, which included the first use of handguns on warships.

Evidently the people of the area were independent-minded because in the 16th   and 17th centuries many became Protestant, both Calvinists and Huguenots, and fought against the Catholic French. The English, who still had an eye on reacquiring territory in France decided to do some meddling and eventually suffered a resounding defeat.  Some of the events going on at the time are part of the backdrop of Dumas’ book The Three Musketeers.

Because of its location on the Atlantic La Rochelle was a good jumping off spot for French explorers headed to the New World.  There was an unsuccessful expedition to settle a colony in Brazil.  Others went to what is now Canada, the Canaries, and the Caribbean with more success.  The French engaged in their own triangular trade, bringing slaves from Africa to the Caribbean, and sugar from the islands and furs from Canada back to France.  La Rochelle became a wealthy city because of it.

Following the Napoleonic wars in the late 18th and early 19th century,  and the abolition of slavery around the same time, La Rochelle’s importance declined. Then in WWII after the Germans occupied France they built a submarine base and sub pens in La Rochelle.  Following the Allied invasion in June 1944, the Allies moved to capture the sub base and actually laid siege to it from September 1944 to May 1945.  For movie buffs some of the sub base scenes in Das Boot and Raiders of the Lost Ark were filmed in La Rochelle.

Today is an absolutely gorgeous day with a Carolina blue sky and not a single cloud around.  The dock is in an industrial port and Seabourn is running a shuttle bus to the old town. I had booked a tour which was canceled so I decided to just walk around a little. The old town is charming with lots of cafés and bistros. I didn’t see many shops which was probably a good thing because I really don’t need anything.

I was on the same shuttle as my new friend Mae so we strolled around.  It was lunchtime for the locals (they don’t eat as late as Spaniards do) and the cafés were filling up.  We passed one restaurant where a man was shucking oysters outside and arranging them on  beds of ice on platters.  After we walked around the little harbor we headed back to André’s and went in to try the local wine and some shrimp and oysters.  We hadn’t had breakfast too long before, but how could we not try these?   They didn’t disappoint us.  I am always amazed at the difference in taste of oysters depending on where they were raised.  These were saltier than ours at home but absolutely delicious and the large shrimp had been cooked to perfection. The wine was pretty good too!

After our little break we headed back to the shuttle bus stop.  It was a nice, relaxing visit to a very pretty place. I’m doing something I hardly ever do; I’m including a photo of Mae and me.

Oops, I uploaded two of the same photo and I can't figure out how to delete it.  Oh, well!

Tomorrow we’ll be in Spain so this evening I’ll have to wave goodbye to France for this trip.

October 4 & 5 - The Seine River and Bay of Biscay

I've been without an internet connection all day. Perhaps Seabourn needs to make a deal with Elon Musk to use Starlink as Royal Caribbean will be doing.  It's no great loss though because there’s not a lot to report today. We've had two nice relaxing days on the Ovation.

Tuesday morning around 11 AM we set sail from Rouen for our journey back down the Seine, out into the Channel at Le Havre and then around Brittany to the Bay of Biscay. When we sailed it was clear but cool, much better than yesterday.  The countryside along the way was very picturesque with lots of farms and orchards. Many of the houses were half-timbered, some that must be quite old because the roofs sagged and they just looked ancient.

It was interesting that on our port side there were more grand  houses than on the starboard.  There were lots of pastures with some very happy-looking cows and sheep. All and all it looks peaceful and almost idyllic.  It’s hard to imagine what it must have been like less than 80 years ago when war was raging across this countryside.

I played trivia at noon both days.  We have a team with one British gentleman and the rest of us women with a mix of American and one Australian.  On Tuesday we finished in last place. Today we did better (third out of eight).  But, after all, it is only a game.

The captain had told us yesterday when we sailed that the weather conditions would be deteriorating and he was true to his word. Tuesday evening we started moving around a little and this morning we were doing some pretty good rocking and rolling.  I don’t mind it but we all looked like drunken sailors (how unfair to use that expression) moving about the ship.  It was also rainy and very windy.  I had an appointment for a pedicure at 10:30 AM and as I was sitting in the chair with my feet soaking a beautiful rainbow appeared.  A good omen I hope.  This afternoon the seas have calmed and the sky has brightened.  I hope that’s a sign of good weather tomorrow when we’re in La Rochelle, France.

We solo travelers are getting invitations every night and usually with the same staff member so we're getting to know one another well.  The retired aeronautical lady I wrote about earlier is from Virginia originally and since she lived on the Peninsula for a long time we can talk about a lot of memories we share. Tonight we dined with two of the singers on the ship.  The young man is from Fredericksburg and the young woman is from Maryland outside of DC. Neither is married and since they only perform evenings they are able to go ashore at nearly every port.  I thought what a great way for a young person to see the world.

Anyway, that's about all for now. Boring, I know, but I thought I should report in.   I'll add a few pictures from our trip down the Seine.  Adieu!

The last picture is one of the two tall bridges we sailed under on our way to the sea.  They are tall enough that we and small freighters could pass under but one of those big container ships couldn't make it.

October 3 - Château Gaillard and Lyons-la-Forét

Overnight we crossed the English Channel and sailed up the Seine River to the city of Rouen, which is approximately 65 miles inland.  The river is still navigable for ships like ours and so Rouen also happens to be France’s sixth largest port.  Among other things Rouen is famous for being the place where Joan of Arc was burned at the stake and it’s also the home of the beautiful cathedral whose façade Claude Monet painted 30 times in different light.

Last night I was exhausted and we had to set our clocks forward one hour.  Then this morning my tour was scheduled to meet on the dock at 8:30 AM.  When I awoke it was incredibly foggy outside and because of the fog we arrived in Rouen one hour late. I would have really enjoyed having that extra hour to sleep.

Finally we were on our way for our tour to Château Gaillard, a ruined castle built by Richard the Lionhearted,  English king and Duke of Normandy,  in 1196 on a hill overlooking the Seine.  Normandy was fought over for hundreds of years by the French and English and Richard was worried about incursions by the former.  He had a chain pulled across the river to stop intruders.  After the end of the Hundred Years War a French king had the castle, which was largely in ruins already, destroyed.  All that remains now are remnants of the three concentric walls, the dry moat and the castle keep.  Below at the river’s edge is a little town called Les Andelys.  While it’s quite pretty, most of the buildings are fairly modern because during WWII it was home to an ammunition factory so it was heavily bombed.

                                        Château Gaillard (not much to see really)

                                         The misty Seine below the castle

                             A very pretty rose window in the church in Les Andelys which I saw as we passed by

The fog had lifted some and there were just wisps around which made the ruins look a little mysterious. After having a look around we boarded our bus for our next stop.  We drove through beautiful farmland and beech forests to the little village of Lyons-la-Forét.  The area we drove through is eastern Normandy and is primarily agricultural.  They grow maize, wheat and sugar beets and raise cattle among other things. Lyons-la-Forét is considered one of the most beautiful villages in France because it is largely intact as it has been for centuries.  Many of the buildings are half-timbered and stone.  Some had thatched roofs.  On most of those there were iris planted in the thatch.  Our guide told us that iris and lily plants are symbols of the Virgin Mary and so they are planted on the roofs in order for that home to be under Mary’s protection.The structures are long and not too wide.  They were built that way because their width was limited by the size of the timbers being used to construct them. Parts of the streets are still cobbled. In many of the tiny front yards along the streets there were lovely flower gardens with things still in bloom.

                                        Some photos of the streets of Lyons-la-Forét

In a little area of the village not large enough tp be called a square, there is a memorial to soldiers from the village who died in WWII.  Even more interesting was attribute to a woman of the village Huguette Verhague who worked with the Resistance during the war and saved a number of Allied airmen shot down.  I’m attaching a link here to an account of her exploits I found on the internet. She must have been a truly remarkable and courageous woman.

http://102ceylonsquadronassociation.org/Story%20of%20Huguette%20Verhague%20by%20Olek%20Brezski.pdf

We had a walkabout to have a closer look at the houses, many of which had interesting doorknockers.  They reminded me of a visit we made years ago to Orvieto, Italy, where many homes had sometimes fantastical knockers.  The village looked kind of sleepy and I asked our guide Christian why.  He said that on Mondays many things are closed in France.  Later on back aboard I heard some people talking about their time in Rouen and they said even in that much larger city, many places were closed.

There was a patisserie/boulangerie open and I and most of my fellow travelers decided to buy something.  There are not many things more wonderful than stepping into a French bakery and having the aroma of freshly baked bread and pastries assail your nose.  One couple bought two loaves of bread. (I wondered about that because they do feed us very well on the ship.)  I bought an almond pastry and a bottle of locally made cider.  In Normandy they actually don’t produce as much wine as many parts of France, but they are famous for their Calvados, an apple brandy, and cider.

After a nice interlude it was time to get back on the bus and head home to our ship in Rouen.  It was pretty chilly outside and since many things were closed I stayed aboard.  I had heard that even the cathedral was closed for some kind of renovations.  That was too bad for anyone had hadn’t been here before.  I had thought about dining ashore tonight since we are staying here overnight.  Unfortunately when I looked online most of the restaurants I saw that sounded interesting were closed on Mondays.

I had declined my dinner invitation with a couple of the entertainers and instead when I went to the restaurant I was invited to join a lovely couple, Barry and Victoria from Sussex, England.  We had a delightful evening talking about all sorts of things and in fact we were close to the last people to leave the dining room.  You meet some of the nicest and most interesting people on ships.

Well, that’s all for now.  It was another good day. 

October 2 - Stonehenge and Salisbury

We didn’t have to go far last night; as the crow flies it’s only a little over 100 miles between Dover and Portsmouth, our first port.  One of the tour choices was a trip to Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral.  I went to Stonehenge about 15 years ago, before the visitor center was opened, so I decided it was worth visiting again. In addition Salisbury Cathedral is quite beautiful and should be seen.

Unfortunately it was raining when I got off the ship, but this is England so it’s not unexpected. We boarded our bus and were off on the hour-long drive to Stonehenge.  Our journey took us through the New Forest, a misnomer really.  The forest is not really a forest; it’s a national park that includes forest, pastureland and heaths.  It was proclaimed a royal forest in 1079 by William the Conqueror because he liked to hunt and it was described in the Domesday Book in 1086.  So much for being new!  Now the area is home to a lot of fauna, especially ponies, cows, pigs, deer, sheep and donkeys who just wander around pretty freely.

Stonehenge is a prehistoric monument on Salisbury plain in southwest England.  Archaeologists in this century  have found evidence around the site of human presence since around 10,000 BC. Today Stonehenge consists of an outer ring of fifteen stones, each about 7 meters tall and weighing 25 tons topped with horizontal lintel stones (not all of them still in place) and an inner ring of smaller stones  weighing about 3 tons each.  When it was built there were more than double the number of stones  that are still in place.  Tests have been done to determine where the stones came from and it has been determined that the outer ring came from near Marlborough, about 15 miles away, whereas the inner stones appear to have come from Wales about 140 miles away.  Considering that Stonehenge was built between 2600 and 2200 BC I find it amazing that these monoliths were moved here.  The rings are arranged so that they would align with the sunrise on the summer solstice.  The purpose of the site is subject to some debate but most theories involve some kind of religious or healing rituals.  I just find the place to be fascinating and intriguing, but then I’m always in awe of things built so very long ago without the benefit of modern technology. Now visitors have to stay outside a cordoned off area.  On four days each year, the summer and winter solstices and the two equinoxes, people can approach the ring.  The small visitor’s center offers an interesting display of tools that were used to carve the stones and artifacts found in archaeological digs around the site.

                                   A few photos of Stonehenge

Naturally as we finished our walkabout the rain stopped and the sky cleared.  The afternoon was gorgeous. Our second stop was in Salisbury to visit the Cathedral.  This cathedral has a number of firsts and superlatives.  It has the tallest church spire in the United Kingdom and the largest cloister and cathedral close in the country.  It has one of the oldest working clocks in the world dating to 1386.  And it has one of only four remaining original copies of the Magna Carta and by all accounts the best preserved one.  The main body of the cathedral was built in just 38 years from 1220 to 1258.  Rather than being built from the bottom up it was built from east to west; so the main altar area was completed in about three years and sealed off so it could be used while construction continued.  The roughly 400 foot spire has presented problems.  Including its tower, it adds about 6,400 tons atop the building.  In order to help support it buttresses, anchor irons and bracing arches were added over the years. In the mid 17th century Sir Christopher Wren devised a system of tie beams over the central nave and transept and these were installed and a fake ceiling was added to hide them from view.  Our guide had us stand next to one of the tall pillars at that point and look straight up the pillar.  It was amazing the curvature that occurred of these huge marble columns because of the weight pressing down on them.  Our guide was very good and very informative, but honestly I felt like my head was going to explode with all the information it was trying to absorb.  The cathedral organist was playing and I would have been happy to just sit and listen to the glorious music for a little while.

                                             Salisbury Cathedral Facade

                                                 The tallest spire in the UK

                                             Very old working clock

                                                   Main altar

                                                   City square in Salisbury

After our visit we all had lunch in the town.  My friends and I opted for an Italian restaurant (not very British, I know!) and then it was time to head back to Portsmouth. It was a tiring day but very enjoyable nonetheless.  By the time I got back to my cabin I had walked not quite 12,000 steps and my feet were telling me about it.

Dinner was at a table with the Guest Services Manager, the future Cruise Sales person, and a very nice couple from the UK.  The gentleman is retired but evidently volunteers with a choir group and plays the organ with them. A few weeks ago he played in St. Paul’s Cathedral in London, so I’m pretty sure he must not be a novice.  It was a good day.  Unfortunately when I got back to my cabin there was a notice that we had to move our clocks forward an hour (we’ll be 6 hours ahead of home) and I have to get up for an 8:30 pickup for tomorrow’s excursion.  This vacationing is tiring! 

October 1 – Part Deux

Two posts in one day!  I’m hoping to stay up-to-date so here is part 2.  I went to the solo travelers' get-together and met some lovely ladies.  My buddy Robert, the cruise director on my last cruise who serenaded me on my birthday, came and we did hug-hug, kiss-kiss (very continental).  He’s a good guy! One lady was a retired aeronautical scientist from NASA Langley who now lives in Sarasota Florida.  She spent the day before she flew to London to meet the cruise bailing out water from her house.  She had  no internet or phone and only found out that her flight out was canceled by accident.  Thankfully she was able to get rebooked from Tampa and she made it. We had a group of eight of us and they were all nice people. Three of us found we were invited to the guest lecturer’s table for dinner.  He is David Gardner, a British historian, traveling with his wife.  Let me tell you that’s the life.  If you can figure out some thing to lecture about and you are free to travel, you have it made. Too bad I don’t have some expertise that I could talk about to do this cruising for free.  Anyway they were a delightful couple.   They did have definite opinions on the new PM Liz Truss and Brexit. As opinionated as I am, I don’t have any defensible position on either so I just listened. We did all agree though, that the late Queen was a great lady and we did agree that Meghan Markle and Harry are two pieces of work.  We differed on what should be done with that pair.  The other American and I wanted to send them back to the UK and the Brits said  we should refuse to let them leave the US except perhaps to go to China or even Russia.

The conversation was interesting and spirited and the food and wine were excellent. So a good time was had by all.  There was a show, but I learned from my tablemates that my tour to Stonehenge and Salisbury meets pierside  at 7:45 AM.  Whatever was I thinking?  Thus, I decided to pass on the show and try to go nighty-night at a reasonable time. I think it’s unamerican to have a tour on a vacation that early. So it’s time to read for a few minutes and then hit the hay.

It’s a funny thing, but I’m so used to having Emma snuggle up to me in bed that I find myself reaching out to rub her tummy, 

Oh, one more thing. This ship has a capacity of 600 passengers and on this cruise we have 198. There are more crew than passengers. 

October 1 – Heathrow to Dover

I arrived safely to London Heathrow yesterday but frankly I was too exhausted to write.  Some observations about my flight first.  I flew on Delta in Delta One, their first class, and it was the most uncomfortable seat I’ve been in for ages.  Despite being one of those pod things it was cramped and the seat was like sitting on a board.  After a couple of hours my rear end was protesting and I kept trying to shift around.  Second, the food was absolutely horrendous.  I don’t expect good food on planes, but this stuff was just awful and I’m not too picky an eater.  Enough about the flight.  

We arrived at Heathrow at 7:30 AM in fog so thick that I couldn’t see the terminal until we pulled up to the gate.  In the last few years I’ve always flown into Heathrow on British Airways which goes to the new terminal.  This time I was at the older one and it is pretty bad.  The walk was long to get to UK Border Control and there were some sets of stairs.  For those of us who didn’t want to go down those, there were some zigzag ramps which had been waxed so that they were like ice rinks.  I had visions of sliding down on my rear if I mis-stepped so I clung to the railing.  Eventually the walk ended in a huge room with perhaps 1000 people walking back and forth in those theme park kinds of cordoned off lines. By the time I got through there, picked up my luggage and figured out how to get to my hotel which was attached to Terminal 5, it was close to 10 AM.  

Getting from where I was to where I was going offered me two choices – take the underground train or get a taxi.  With two suitcases and a carry-on (yes, I probably over-packed) I decided that a taxi was the better course of action.  I had a lovely taxi driver who I could barely understand because he had a very broad Yorkshire (I think) accent but he took good care of me and got me to the Sofitel.

By the time I checked in I was completely pooped and according to my apple watch I had walked nearly 13,000 steps since I left home.  I decided it was time for a nap.  My plan was to go to Windsor, which is not far from Hounslow where Heathrow is located, after I got cleaned up and had a little snooze.  That was not to be.  I slept for several hours and when I awoke it was raining pretty hard.  I decided Windsor has been there for hundreds of years and will be there the next time I come to England on a sunny day. I spent the rest of the day dozing off and eating some light snacks in the hotel’s club lounge.

                                       An exciting photo of the hotel lobby

This morning it was beautifully sunny and around 60°.  I had arranged for a car and driver to take me from the hotel to Dover and he was there early.  The drive is about two hours but it passed quickly because my driver, Mr. Habib, and I had a nice conversation and solved most of the problems of the western world as we drove along.  As with most highways there wasn’t much to see except for fields and occasional flocks of sheep.

At the cruise terminal I boarded within five minutes and was on the Ovation.  Cabins weren’t ready yet so I had a light lunch in the Colonnade and now I’m in my home away from home for the next two weeks.  This is the first time I’ve been in a regular veranda cabin on Seabourn and it’s very nice and more than adequate for me.  I’ll upload some photos so you can see.  

                                            More photos than you probably want to see, but here they are.

From the veranda I can see Dover Castle and some of the famous white cliffs.  The captain just announced that tonight we only have to travel 120 nautical miles to our first port of Portsmouth.  Unfortunately he also announced that tomorrow light rain is forecast for at least the morning so I may have a soggy visit to Stonehenge and Salisbury.  Oh well, I won’t melt.  More later.

                                                            Dover Castle

                                                         The White Cliffs of Dover

September 29, 2022 - On My Way

I’m sitting in Boston’s Logan airport waiting to fly to London Heathrow. I’m flying Delta this time to use up the last of some e-vouchers accumulated during Covid.  I have to say I am so far not impressed with the Delta lounge here. British Airways at Dulles is much nicer but I was able to fly from Richmond which is more convenient and my friends Cyndi and Ed were wonderful enough to give me a ride. 

I’m spending tomorrow night in London and then heading down to Dover to board the Seabourn Ovation for a 14-day cruise ending in Barcelona. Along the way we’ll have a couple of stops in France, Spain and Portugal plus Gibraltar. I’ve been to almost all of the ports before so I don’t feel a compulsion to do a forced march every day.  There will be time to relax and just enjoy being pampered. No photos today. This place is nothing but a glorified cafeteria with no view of the outside at all.

I’m guessing that they are doing some construction at this airport (maybe money from the much-vaunted infrastructure bill?) I landed at a terminal I’ve been to before and then had to take a shuttle bus to a newer looking building.  When we got off the bus, we had to walk up a zigzag temporary ramp and then an endless walk through an empty terminal.  I haven’t done anything but walk in airports today and I’m up to slightly over 2 miles already. And I still have to get through Heathrow! I’ll be getting all the steps in  the next couple of weeks that I didn’t do all summer.

So that’s it for now. I’ll write more when I have something interesting to talk about.