Winchester Cathedral

 Winchester Cathedral dates back to 1079 when William the Conqueror began its construction. It is one of the largest and most hitorical cathedrals in Northern Europe. It's length, 558 feet, makes it the longest medieval Gothic cathedral in the world. It was first on our list to explore.

After a wonderful breakfast at our B&B, The Old Vine, we set out to visit the cathedral. I had already purchased tickets online. The online purchase was interesting. You don't purchase a ticket for one day. Instead, your purchase is for an annual pass. What made it more interesting was that you couldn't move through the purchase process without making a donation. I ended up making a one pound donation for each ticket and was finally able to purchase them. 

Annual passes in hand, we crossed the street (The Old Vine is right there by the cathedral) and followed the walkway through the grounds to the entrance door. Not only is the size of the building impressive from the outside but stepping inside puts you in awe of its immensity. 

Many prominent people, kings and religious leaders (bishops and archbishops) are entombed there, many under the floors of the cathedral. It always makes me a little self-conscious when I have to walk over graves. 

One of the early bishops, St. Swithin, was known to be very humble and insisted on being buried outside the cathedral rather than receiving honors inside. His name has been associated with rain ever since as when the monks moved his remains inside in 971, rain pelted them. 

There are fascinating chapels scattered about. My favorite was the guardian angels chapel with the angels watching over visitors from the ceiling.

As we were walking, the huge organ began to play. The organist was practicing although you'd never guess it was practice. The walls and ceilings reverberated with the music, deep and rich.

Each section of the cathedral represents various stages of construction or reconstruction. It is confusing to try to keep the dates and styles of architecture straight. Someone who paid more attention to their art history class might have done better than I did.

Of course we searched out the grave of Jane Austen. The marker and grave was dedicated by her "afflicted" father, a term I'm sure was a way to describe the deep grief he felt. There was also a large bronze plaque on the wall to commemorate her life.

Whenever we visit a cathedral and the opportunity to go down into the crypt is available Bob can't pass up the opportunity. The only way to see it was to join a tour that occurs three times a day. We were an hour away from the first one so we opted to take a walk around the entire cathedral block. 

There was a beautiful garden area with a water feature and the picture I took shows the cathedral through the trees.

Returning to the inside of the cathedral, we found the crypt entrance and queued with others interested in the tour. It turns out the crypt was not a place of burial but rather a structure that holds up some of the upper portions of the cathedral. 

It holds two wells which are quite potable. The big problem that exists there however is a low water table and while the wells do not cause flooding the water rises through the porous floor of the crypt. It doesn't rise more than a good pair of boots will cover and during a special service in the crypt, the choir had to wear boots with their fine robes.

The day had become sunny and warm and I needed to shed my light hoodie. We returned to the B&B and Bob fetched my water bottle from the room before we would continue our exploration of Winchester. 

Nest up on the agenda was a tour outlined in my GPS My City app. Still not hungry after the large breakfast we had (mine was porridge and fruit and Bob's was an English breakfast, beans and all and we both had delicious sourdough toast) lunch was skipped. I opened my app and we were on our way. The first stop, the cathedral, behind us. 

It's Always An Adventure

 It's been a little over two months since we've done any significant travel. That's a long time for us and we were more than ready to take on our next adventure. Little did we know what an adventurous start it would be.

Our wonderful friends "ubered" us to the airport and sent us off with well wishes for a good trip. We checked our bags and zipped through TSA without any delays. Appreciating our good fortune in such an easy entrance, we decided to stop in at the Pub at CLE for lunch with plenty of time to spare. The Pub looks very British so it was an appropriate start to a trip to the UK.

Boarding our flight to Philedelphia posed no problems and the short flight on the little "puddlejumper" was good. Philly's airport is large and we had to find our way to the international terminal. Luckily it was all well directed with signs and we hopped on a shuttle bus that took us there. With a little time to kill again, we had coffees and debated whether we wanted a light dinner before boarding. Since we had a late lunch, we really weren't hungry and we anticipated a meal, albeit a bit late since our flight was scheduled for takeoff at 6:45. That would turn out to be a mistake.

We enjoyed chatting with a young man on his way back to Ireland where he is originally from and is now doing some impressive study in Dublin, then hustled to our appropriate line to board our large British Airways jet. Boarding was done with ease and we found our seats and settled in.

So far, so good. The plane taxied toward the runway then stopped. Not unusual. Lots of times there's a short delay if there is a lot of traffic. We didn't worry until the announcement came that there was a lot of bad weather passing through the flight path that our plane was to take. So okay, we thought, we wait it out a bit, short delay, and we would be on our way. Nope.

To make a long story-and I do mean long-short, we sat on that tarmac for the full two hours that the regulation allows while our pilot who kept us updated on the half-hour (another regulation) let us know that he was working hard to get us another flight path since ours was now closed. Back and forth with all the powers that control such and he sounded a bit exasperated at times but still kept a slightly humorous tone or light tone. Hands were tied. Meanwhile we watched quite a lightening display as the storms moved through.

After two hours, we taxied to another gate where any passengers who desired to disembark were allowed to do so. Now we were approaching well over three hours as the few who disembarked needed to have their luggage retrieved from the cargo hold. It took a good half hour for ground crew to find it all. We sat at the gate for a time and finally received the news that we could at least pull back from the gate and once on the tarmac again, fingers crossed, get the okay for the new flight path.

The Ivy restaurant

A rousing cheer went up with applause when the pilot announced we were on our way and began the approach to the runway. Another cheer and applause when wheels lifted off the ground five hours after we had been originally scheduled. Meanwhile, in the plane's little kitchen, the dinner food had been ruined by waiting in the warmers too long. Instead, we got to eat the planned breakfast snack which was a warm rolled up breakfast sandwich. I thought of those granola bars I had been tempted to pack and decided not to. I won't do that again. Lesson learned.

So, all in all, we could have flown most of the way to Japan in the twelve hours we sat on the plane--only six of which were actual flight time thanks to a tail wind.

We did breeze through immigration, retrieved the luggage, had time for a light breakfast which was really more a brunch and waited for the next National Express bus to Winchester. We couldn't transfer our original ticket purchase to the later bus but the gentleman in customer service said we might get the money back from the airline because of the delay. Bob will work on that.

An hour ride to Winchester, a short local bus ride and a seven minute walk in a misty rain and we finally arrived at our B&B, The Old Vine. The rooms are over a pub and the bathroom has two packages of ear plugs should the noise get too loud for us. It is definitely a lovely quaint establishment and room. We crashed for a short time but then needed to find some dinner. 

While the pub below offers food, we found an interesting place called The Ivy nearby and decided on that. So glad we did. Wonderful shephard's pie and pasta with a creamy tomato sauce. After such a long day and a half, we treated ourselves to dessert as well. It will be an early night between jet lag and not much sleep on the plane but we are looking forward to a better day tomorrow exploring the town and the cathedral, the Winchester Cathedral. (Okay all you 60s teenagers, don't tell me that song isn't playing in your head now.)

Exploring Nevis, BIrthplace of Hamilton

 Celebrity Cruise Lines holds a special place in our hearts since it was the cruise line we used for our very first cruise on the Horizon in 1993. As I stated in my prvious post, we had been to all of the three ports on this short seven day cruise aboard the Celebrity Beyond. 

After the Dominican Republic with its "built for cruise ships" port at Peurto Plata and our ship excursion to St. John from St. Thomas (actually a very fancy ferry ride), we were ready for something new. We've done all the St. Kitts exploring which is nice if you haven't been there several times so we opted to go over the the neighboring island of Nevis.

This was an independent excursion meaning we had researched the ferry options and prices and what we could see in Nevis. I had found the points of interest within walking distance of the ferry terminal and mapped it out enough that we could find our way.

Often the best laid plans are something you have to adjust when the reality of the situation hits. St. Kitts cruise port is still under construction and it's a long walk from the ship to where you enter the port and of course, the shopping area. The ferry that I had found on my map turned out to only be for cars. So, we asked and found we had a bit of a walk to get to the passenger ferry.

It was at least another ten minute walk that felt like a half hour since the day was heating up along with the rising humidity. We finally found the right place and bought our tickets. When I researched, it had said we needed to pay in cash but when we got there it seemed you could have gone online to purchase. Oh well, cash worked just fine.

We sat in the cool waiting room for the next ferry run which was about a half hour's time. As we sat, I watched lots of boxes of supplies being loaded onto a small boat at the dock. When I noticed the name on the side, I wondered if that was more of a water taxi and when the actual ferry would dock. It wasn't long before we discovered that it was the ferry.

Cargo had to be moved in order to accommodate a full load of passengers and I believe one lady was left behind to wait for the next ferry. With the cargo all piled up behind Bob who sat in the last seat, I hoped it would be a smooth ride. Luckily one of the crew sat with the boxes to be sure they didn't fall.

The ride was about a half hour to forty minutes but we could get a nice view of a finger of St. Kitts that extended toward Nevis before we hit a short span of open water. Once at the dock in Nevis we quickly exited and found our way to the main street. First on the list was to visit the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, born January 11. 1755 on the island of Nevis.

Slave chains from a ship.

Until I researched the trip, I had no idea he came from Nevis. The walk was short although a little harrowing on a narrow street that suddenly had no sidewalk. We found the house and the museum easily enough and paid the ten dollar fee for each of us. The museum was very small but very interesting with artifacts from the very early days when slavery was a big business. 

Across from the museum was the small white house where the Hamiltons lived. It was filled with more information about Alexander Hamilton and how he got to become one of the founding fathers and the first treasurer of our country. He also founded the Coast Guard among several other important achievements. We learned many facts we either hadn't in our US history class or had forgotten since high school was at least sixty years ago.

Bob found a map of other interesting sites on the island and the town of Charleston. Most of the sites were old churches built by slave labor. We walked by a few (none were open doored) and decided that maybe it was time to return to the ship. In the Caribbean time is not always important and when you're not on a ship's excursion the ship doesn't wait for you. We were taking no chances that the ferry schedule would be crazy and we wouldn't make it back with time to spare. Besides, the temperature had climbed with the humidity and we were both done in.

The ferry ride back was much less crowded and our walk back to the ship a little shorter when we found a parking lot to cut through. Another successful adventure with our return to the ship in plenty of time to shower and relax a bit before dinner. 

It Was BEYOND Me

 

It's been a while since I've posted any travels. Our winter was spent enjoying Florida and our grandkids who are there. It was a cold Florida winter though I'm not complaining. It never really snowed. While there, we got to see our granddaughter receive several awards for scholarship in anticiation of her graduation from high school. Graduation was in May and we made our plans to fly down for it. "Well, if we're going to spend money to fly to Florida, we ought to take advantage and book a cruise," my sweet husband said. No need to ask me twice!

Our facorite lounge, Eden, with a view off the 
back of the ship. No lounge we could access with
view off front of ship.

We heard a lot about the new Celebrity class of ships called Edge. They feature a new concept of balcony, the Infinite Veranda. It is a floor to ceiling window that encloses a small area like a balcony with two chairs and a little table. The window is divided horizontally and the upper half will opon for you to enjoy the fresh sea air as you would on an open balcony. Add to that a restaurant/bar that is called the Magic Carpet that slides up and down along one side of the ship. Sounded like a different kind of adventure for us in the Caribbean. We booked.

The Grand Plaza with a martini 
bar on the bottom.

The graduation celebration was amazingly planned by our daughter-in-law and eleven of us enjoyed several days of sunny (but hot) weather boating, exploring and eating and just thoroughly enjoying being together. On Sunday we drove from the Gulf Coast of Florida to Miami where we turned in our rental car and took an Uber to the Port of Miami to board the Beyond.

Embarkation was a breeze as most of it was done through the Celebrity app online. Considering there are over 3200 passengers to board we were amazed at how everyone had already settled into ship life by the time we arrived around one o'clock. We eagerly located our room to see what this Infinity Veranda looked like. I expected the room to look larger than it was but it didn't seem to. The window did allow for a fantastic view as long as you didn't want to look side to side much. It felt a bit enclosed, for me, almost claustrophobic. We opened the window and immediately the hot humid Florida air flowed in. 

The huge led screen in the theater measures
20' high by 110' wide. A giant TV.

Normally on a balcony, you could enjoy the fresh air for a bit and then go back into a cool stateroom. The complication with opening the window is that the AC automatically cuts out in the room. We closed it quickly before the room would heat up too much and decided to find lunch. Unfortunately neither of us took a picture of our room for me to show you.

The buffet was buzzing as it usually does on the first day with people trying to find their way around. The buffet is arranged in stations and to find everything that's available you have to wander around, usually with a plate in hand. As on all other ships' buffets, I call it "bumper plates" like the bumper car rides at an amusement park. I really don't like the buffets. Bob wanders off to find what he needs before we have a chance to find a seat and then I have to search for him. I try not to get hot food that will get cold before we sit down together.

Theater tour showed us the back of 
the huge led screen.

Our usual routine for day one on a cruise, especially on a ship we haven't sailed before, is to start at the top and work our way down on each deck to explore the ship and get our bearings. The Beyond was seemed bigger than our last cruise ship but was actually about the same size. Maybe it was because of all the public areas, a rooftop garden, a strange jogging track that spanned two levels, a large retreat area that was for those with an upgraded room, the spa/salon area (it included a barber!), boutiques, several cafes and specialty restaurants and of course, bars. And what seemed like thousands of lounge chairs everywhere.

Instead of one huge main dining room there were four themed dining areas. Each had the same basic menu but included several dishes that complimented the theme, Italian, French, Mediterranean, Contemporary. We had booked the Asian restaurant and the steakhouse for two of our nights. One night we ate at the buffet because we got back to the ship late. It was surprisingly very satisfying and full of young kids to enjoy since a lot of parents probably didn't want to make them sit through a more formal dinner.

The Magic Carpet.

There were only three ports (for us, a really short cruise of seven days). We'd been to all of them before but managed to find a couple of new things to do at each. St. John's turned out to be not the quaint little town we remembered but I'm sure the beaches are still wonderful. We did have a nice drink and snack at one of the nicer restaurants. Nevis was a new place for us to visit (next post) and the manufactured cruise port at Puerto Plata in Domican Republic was very nice with a lazy river and large pool area with lots of shops. Thankfully we did the river early as not long after we were done, it began to pour rain. It is the rainy season in the south.

All in all, we had a nice week long cruise with great food, terrific entertainment and some quality time together. As for all the excitement about the room, well, why people like it is beyond me. Give me a balcony with the sound of the waves and the ocean breeze and the option to go back into a room that hasn't warmed from an open window.

This was the pool area. Why an
elephant is beyond me as well.

And before I end, the Magic Carpet that the advertising implied you could ride up or down as you enjoyed a drink...It moved without people aboard. One day it would be on Deck 14 and another day on Deck 5. It was so windy it would have been difficult to enjoy a drink or a meal out there. It was another feature that was just beyond me.