Heathrow Airport 6/30 to Amarillo 7/1/10

It was a several hour bus ride from the ship to the airport. A very comfortable bus and we even had a rest stop mid-way. The driver said that there were times when the M26 became a big parking lot and he didn't want a lot of uncomfortable passengers!

We got through ticketing and security fairly easily but were surprised by how less strict security was than the last trip here about 2 years ago. The signs said shoes were to be removed but we only saw one gal who had on knee-high boots who was asked to remove those. We had several hours to wait and one of the places we browsed was in Harrods shop. Lots of pretty things to tempt tourists with something to take home.

On the flight from London to Minneapolis. We were in the center section with 3 seats, I had the middle seat between Bob & Karen from Des Moines, Iowa who had been on the cruise with us. Not much space in the middle so I was truly ready to get off 9 hrs later!

We were on Delta again from Minneapolish to Dallas. We got in about 10:30 p.m. Texas time, many, many hours after we had gotten up in Dover, England, so we spent the night in Dallas before catching an American Eagle home on Thursday, July 1.

And here we are descending into the airport in Amarillo. Good to be home!

Dover, England to Heathrow Airport 6/30/10

We were up very early as we had to be ready to go into customs on the ship at 7 a.m. before leaving the ship. They have everything organized so that it is an easy process, once your passport is stamped you go with your group to where your checked luggage is held off the ship. Your large luggage is collected the evening before and you have only your carry-on for over-night and to take off with you. The groups leave the ship according to the time of their flight or other transportation. This is a view of the beautiful "white cliffs of Dover" which were strategic to England's safety in WWII.

This is our last view of our ship, Oceania's Regatta.

This is the building where we picked up our luggage. As we walked in from the gang plank, a porter met us and led us to where our luggage was. He put our 2 bags on a cart and walked us to the bus which would take us to Heathrow Airport.

This was our first view as the bus left for the airport, very foggy. Really can't see the cliffs at this time.

A bit better view of the lighthouse with the white cliffs behind it.

Sailing away from Belgium

The last day of the trip is always bitter sweet--we never are ready for it to end! After walking on cobblestones for about 5 hours, Bob's back was really hurting so he took a nap while I packed. Hard to get it all crammed in to go home and be sure the weight in the suitcases is balanced for checking at the airport. We decided we needed to have tea one more time as we knew no one would be fixing it at our house.

Out on deck for the sailing away from Belgium. A nice warm & breezy afternoon.

We had amazingly calm seas the entire cruise! Really spoiled us. We sail tonight to dock at 4 a.m. in Dover, England tomorrow.

After having a big tea we weren't ready to go to dinner very early so went to listen to the piano and have a diet Coke. While we were there one of the passengers, a lady about our age, got up and sang 4 songs. She was very good & Bob asked her if she sang professionally and she said she sang just as a hobby. Quite amazing.

And one last time to sit down and listen to the string music. They play several times a day and we always enjoy taking a few minutes to listen. From here we went on into dinner and to tell people we had met on the cruise "good bye".

Bruges, Belgium

Another of the corner "Ave Maria" that were in many corners of the city. The flowers show in this one.

This is another of the little pocket gardens next to an ancient wall of the city.

One of the bridges with modern life seen on the other side--a bright yellow delivery truck.

Can you believe? A Texas flag in Bruges, Belgium! The guide said a Texas man had bought this building & was doing interior renovation. Would be fun to see inside!

Just another view of the canal & a bridge with foot traffic. We certainly got in a lot of little boat trips but each was different and this was definitely our favorite!

The Madonna & Child of Bruges

This tells about the Madonna & Child which was stolen by the Nazi's and then returned to the church in Bruges. It doesn't mention that it had been stolen but this is the one which was discussed in the lecture.

This shows the placement of the Michelangelo's sculpture and the sort of green lines over it is because it is protected from being stolen again! This was a beautiful church and we were allowed some time to stay and view it. Bob's back was still bothering a great deal so he was glad to have a place to sit down for awhile.

And this is a close-up of the statue. It was truly beautiful and a joy to see particularly after learning how it was nearly lost to the world.

Another canal view but with a house built across the canal! These were such peaceful places to walk along and we would have enjoyed lingering to look at our leisure. Love the reflections in the water.

A peaceful green area to enjoy on our walk--there were a number of places like this with lots of flowers and shade.

Bruges, Belgium June 29, 2010

Today's tour was to one of our most favorite places, the medival city of Bruges, Belgium! If I could go back to any place we have visited, it would be here. This was our 2nd visit but better than the first. When we got to Bruges we picked up a 2nd guide, a nice older man who led us about at a nice pace & stopped to explain what we were seeing instead of just walking quickly & talking all the time as some of the younger ones do. Since we had 2 guides, they split us into 2 groups each of about 20. This is a typical street scene in the "new" part of Bruges. The gables are much like the ones on homes in Amsterdam and there are even more canals.

Many of the street corners had corner statues of Mary and Jesus. Some of them were very beautiful & I wanted to share this one. Most had flowers with them but they don't show in this photo but made bright spots as you walked down the streets.

It is hard to pick what photos to share! This is leaving one of the fantastic squares with civic buildings and churches which had much gilding and decorative statues. You may want to click on this to see how beautiful this little street is with it's arch, & statues. I would love to go back and just spend several days wandering down these little old streets and stopping in the shops & churches!

This is a view from a bridge looking down one of the canals. Very peaceful at the moment.

Another view with a graceful willow tree at the edge of the canal. Shows one of the bridges that cross the canals.

6/28/10 Amsterdam continued

The place we all think of in Amsterdam is the home where Anne Frank was hidden from the Nazi's during WWII and it was one of our stops.

This shows the sign up close that is in front of the house.

And just another view of the bicycles of Amsterdam--it is hard to believe how many there are until you see them!

This was one of the nice little cafes along the canal. Looked like it would be fun to sit there with coffee and watch the boats go by.

The typical gabled roofs of the many storied homes and another house boat in front. We very much enjoyed this tour of Amsterdam.

Tour of Amsterdam

A major part of today's tour was by canal boat. Such a pretty day for being outside and you can see so much more from the water. We had done a canal boat tour of Amsterdam on a previous cruise but this one covered some different areas and included quite a good bus tour too.

A beautiful flower shop on the canal--you could shop from either the street or canal side. Very bright and the plants all looked very healthy.

A good view looking down a canal with the homes and shops along the sides. If you click on the photo to enlarge it, you'll see that the cars park right tight to the canal. Think it looks like there is a rail along here for them to park against but some places there wasn't anything at all to stop the car from going in the canal if they drove a bit too far! The guide said that does happen!

Bridge after bridge after bridge. Certainly a different way of life from ours in Amarillo, TX!

There are many house boats in the canals and many of them have their own gardens. All kinds of structures are used as house boats and some were quite large, others very small.

Amsterdam, Holland June 28, 2010

Beautiful warm day and we left on our tour at 8:15 a.m. It was so nice that we ate our breakfast out on the Terrace deck.

We were into the city before school started and so got to see all the kids being taken to school on their mom or dad's bike.

We were there during World Cup so got to see lots of orange flags and other decorations celebrating their team.

And got to hear folks yelling "Hup Holland Hup" to cheer the team on!

Everyone is on bikes! And they have their own lane and you had better stay out of it!

Through the locks in the Kiel Canal, June 27,2010

Here is the view as we were coming into the lock. Nothing as big as the Panama Canal but still neat to watch.

This was just as we were entering the lock. Looked like some sort of hotel or recreational area with lots and lots of people watching us and waving to us. A number of small pleasure boats were docked there, too.

Here we are actually in the lock and you can see the 3 pilots leaving us after successfully guiding down the canal.

And we are now leaving the lock and going past the light house on our way out into the North Sea. We were really moving along at a good speed by 3:30 p.m. after traveling very slowly all day. We had our Iowa Alumni group photo taken and then ate dinner with the alumni group. Bob was still miserable with his back so we read after dinner and got some extra rest.

Watch that bridge, June 27, 2010

Our Oceania cruise ship is one of the largest that can use the Kiel canal and when you look at this bridge you can see the crowd at the rail looking up to see if we are actually going to clear! You may need to enlarge the picture to see how close it is.

And this is just as we start under the bridge! We were really glad that we were watching! Pretty awesome.

This picture shows another bridge in the distance and that there was controlled traffic in the canal. At intervals there were lights showing either red or green (like you see along train tracks) and we also had 3 pilots aboard to guide us along. There were times at we were nearly stopped waiting on traffic.

And one of our big surprises that no one could have planned was that we saw the biggest yacht in the world which is owned by Paul Allen, Bill Gates Microsoft partner. It seemed to be just sitting, not moving and we saw no one on board at least on the outside. At first we thought it was a small river cruise boat.

A view of the heliport on the yacht with no helicopter so perhaps they were off to visit somewhere in Germany! Fun to see how the rich live.