Day 11 – Northern Ireland, Ireland, Scarlet Night, and England

Today we visited Belfast and Northern Ireland. Our tour was a little larger than what we have had in the past few days. Today we had a bus full. There was some confusion over not enough front row seats for all the people who had paid for front row seats. The last couple to board was sitting in the jump seats at the front of the bus and they were not happy about it. I, on the other hand, jumped at the opportunity to trade places with them. We were sitting on the second row and with my tendency to get nauseous in cars and buses, I was only to happy to take the seats at the very front of the bus. Not only did this help with my nausea, but it also meant we had an amazing view and were the first ones off the bus at every stop. (It also meant we were the last ones on the bus at every stop – but every perk has its price.)

Our first stop was Belfast City Hall. I had read online that you should not miss the chance to go inside, and that turned out to be very true. It was a beautiful building on the inside. I only got pictures of a couple of the stained glass windows, but if I showed you everything we saw, there would be no reason for you to visit (not really true) and this would turn into a book instead of a blog!

After City Hall, we were taken on a tour of the murals around Belfast. Our driver, Lindsay, gave us his personal recollections of the “troubles” in Ireland. Where before the troubles started, all the neighborhoods were integrated between the Catholics and the Protestants, once they started, people moved to one side or the other. He explained that the basic issue was not as much religion as politics. Protestant households were given one vote per individual in the household, while Catholic families received one vote per household. I’m not going to go into a lot of what he told us, if you want to know more about the troubles, check it out on Google.

The murals around Belfast were wide and varied in subject matter as well as style. Lindsay drove us through the Peace Gates which were separated the two sides of Belfast. The Peace Wall, he explained, was built in stages as each time the wall needed to be taller to keep items from being thrown over the top. We stopped at the Peace Wall and we were all given an opportunity to add our names to the wall in the name of peace.

This door had a great story. It was located next to the Catholic Church. The door was covered in brass. The dents in the brass had a different story depending on whether you are Catholic or Protestant. One story was that it was the Protestants throwing things at the door to protest the Catholic Church. The other story was that it was the ladies of the church banging on the door to wake the priest up for mass. As to which story belongs to which side, I leave that up to you to decide.

Our next stop was Dunluce Castle, a medieval castle built on the side of a cliff. The colors of the grass and the ocean were absolutely stunning. Ireland is such a beautiful country.

Quick photo stop at Dunluce Castle and we were on our way to Giants Causeway. I didn’t really know anything about Giants Causeway before researching this trip, but Diana wanted to go, otherwise I might have missed something really incredible. The rocks and rock columns are all natural phenomena but look manmade. Our bus driver told us there was a bus that could take us down to the rocks and return us for 1£ each way. He said it was pretty steep coming back, so we thought we would see once we got there if we needed the bus or not. What Lindsay forgot to tell us was that it was one and a half miles to get from the visitor center where he dropped us off to the rocks. Needless to say, we road the bus back.

(By the way, thanks to AI, you can really see the beauty of the place. In reality, there were people crawling everywhere!)

After all that exercise, it was time for some refreshment at the Bushmills Distillery. We were only given thirty minutes, so we shared a quick flight (remember we get off the bus first, so we also got to the bar first!) and then back on the bus.

Our final stop was The Dark Hedges, also know as The King’s Road for Game of Thrones fans. We had a quick lunch and a coffee. As we headed to the Dark Hedges, it began to rain so we didn’t go as far as we might have had it been nice weather.

After the Dark Hedges, it was back to the boat to get ready for dinner and Scarlet Night. Scarlet Night is exclusive to Virgin Voyages cruises and is a ship wide party. Everyone wears red and it is all about the myth of Scarlet Night, a story about a sailor and the Octopus Queen.

Day 12 – At Sea

For a Sea Day, we were very busy. First, we had a chocolate making class, then a class on champagne (it pairs well with fried chicken, who knew?), then a show in the Manor with the Hostess – I won the dance contest, again, who knew? – ok it was really a tie, but free champagne so I’m in! – and then a comedy supper club. We hit the hay tonight, pretty tired.

Day 13 – Dublin, Ireland

Today, we had no tour. We had to sign up for a slot to tender to the shore from the ship and then we had to take a train about twenty minutes into Dublin. From there, we walked around at our leisure and explored. We found Trinity College, but as it was raining pretty hard, we found a place out of the rain and met a very nice Irish man from Galway. After talking with John for about twenty minutes, the rain let up and we moved on to the Irish Whiskey Museum across the street. Unfortunately, they were not very quick with service and we gave up and went to the Temple Bar District instead. We found a nice little market and had our first fish and chips in Ireland. Disappointingly, Leo Burdock’s Famous Fish and Chips were terrible! The fish was so overcooked that it tasted like straw. Maybe we just got there at a bad time? After Leo’s we went to the Quays bar and I had a Guinness while Diana had a Bailey’s coffee.

After we had been revived with a bit of food and drink, we decided to find the National Leprechaun Museum. There isn’t much to see here, but there is lots to hear and to learn. It is a “museum” dedicated to preserving the art of oral storytelling. We met our guide Katie who led us from room to room regaling us with myths and legends about Irish faeries, leprechauns, and selkies.

A little bit of shopping later we found ourselves once again in the Temple Bar District and this time Diana had a pint of Harp Lager and I had an Irish coffee. Since it was going to take about an hour to get back to our ship, we headed back to the train station to travel to Dun Laoghaire (dun-leery) where we would pick up our tender.

Day 14 – At Sea

Today, thankfully, was very quiet. We had to get up earlier than we would have liked in order to reclaim our passports which we had to surrender before docking in Dublin. A quick breakfast and back to the room to catch up on this blog!

This afternoon we saw David Maestro on stage in the Manor. The Charmer on the cruise doesn’t normally get their own show, but David is amazing and is well-deserving of this honor. I hope someday to see him in Vegas!

Day 15 – Disembarkation and on to London

We said goodbye to the Scarlet Lady this morning. While waiting for our bus to London, we stopped and had a pot of tea and scones to get out of the rain. After about two and a half hours, we made it to the Victoria Coach Station in London. Our hotel was only a quarter mile away so we hoofed it with our luggage to the hotel. Sad note: Diana’s luggage is now on its last legs. On the way to the bus station, it broke a wheel and when the bus driver was loading it onto the bus, the zipper broke, spilling her clothes out onto the pavement. Fortunately she was able to get the zipper closed again and we made it without any further incident to our hotel. However, we did find a luggage strap while we were out and about in London to patch it up long enough to get her home.

We checked into our hotel which is a very quaint, family-owned place. However, part of being quaint means no AC, no elevators, and very small rooms. Fortunately, we are on the ground floor so the lack of elevators is not a problem. The room is so small, there is nowhere to open our suitcases, but we are managing so far. On my side of the bed, there is a picture on the wall with a couple of pretty creepy figures staring at us. I did find a solution and we think we will sleep peacefully tonight.

With nothing specific on the itinerary this afternoon, we decided to get our bearing and walk down to Buckingham Palace. I was here about 47 years ago, and you’ll never guess, things haven’t changed much at all. Since Charles was apparently not in town, we headed back towards our hotel with one task in mind – find some good fish and chips to erase the memory of the fish we had in Dublin. With much relief, we found some traditional fish and chips and a couple of drinks. Retiring back to our hotel at the very “late” hour of 8 pm, we put on our jammies and I am finally caught up with this blog. Tomorrow we are going to see Hadestown at the Lyric Theater so I will call it a very early night and look forward to sleeping in tomorrow.

Day 16 – London and the West End

Today we are headed to the West End to see a show. It’s only about a mile and a half, so we decided to stroll and take in the sights. First, breakfast at Pimlico Fresh. The owner/manager was a very friendly Brit who welcomed us in and gave us the scoop. The menu was on the wall – I ordered a slice of quiche Lorraine and Diana got a full English breakfast. The chai latte was one of the best I’ve had over here!

Since we were so close, and it was Sunday, we decided to take in the Solemn Mass at Westminster Cathedral. A gorgeous church and a good message from the priest on humility. After mass we strolled by the palace again. Charles was still out so we continued on through St. James’ Park. It was a beautiful day and many people were enjoying the amazing weather. We made a small detour to see the Diana Fountain, as it just seemed appropriate given my companion’s name.

Our destination was the Lyric Theater which was showing Hadestown. Last year, I had tickets to see this show but came down sick the day before. The show is based on the story of Orpheus and Eurydice, one of my favorites. When Orpheus is taken to the underworld by Hades, Orpheus follows her down to bring her back. His song moves Persephone, the wife of Hades, and Hades allows Orpheus to take Eurydice back to the land of the living on one condition: he must not look back at her until he reaches the surface. If he does, he loses her forever. You can look up the story if you want to know the ending. The modern adaptation of this ancient story was very well done. The orchestra was onstage and the trombonist was phenomenal!! I really appreciated the way they handled the story and there were so many things to ponder as we left the theater.

We strolled through Leicester Square on our way back to the hotel (not really on the way back, but we just kept walking down interesting streets…)
We ended up in Trafalgar Square and then decided we needed to find some dinner. We checked Maps and found The Clarence (literally right next to us) and decided to give it a try. We shared a pork belly roast with more trimmings than I think I’ve ever seen outside of Thanksgiving – potatoes, roasted in duck fat, braised red cabbage, Yorkshire pudding (turns out it is really more of a roll than a pudding), roasted carrots and parsnips, and a celeriac puree that was delicious! We finished our meal off with a traditional sticky pudding and headed back toward the hotel. At one point Maps took us on a shortcut which we followed with a bit of trepidation, but it actually turned out to be a very good shortcut. Tomorrow we have an eleven hour tour of Windsor Castle, Bath, and Stonehenge, so we hit the hay early to get our beauty sleep.

Day 17 – Stonehenge, Windsor Castle, and Bath

Today was our last full day in the United Kingdom, so we hit it hard. Our tour guide with Evan Evans Tours was Richard. He was constantly reminding us that we were just touching on each of our stops so that we would realize we needed to return to visit again.

Our first stop was Windsor Castle and St. George’s Chapel. From the coach (not bus) park, we walked to Windsor Castle, about six minutes. Richard suggested that we start at St. George’s Chapel in order to miss the longer lines. We were not allowed to take photos inside any of the buildings, so enjoy the exteriors. Another ancestral connection – I am also a descendent of William the Conqueror, so apparently Windsor Castle is also an ancestral home.

We didn’t get to see all of Windsor Castle. As we were touring the State Apartments, we were evacuated because of a fire alarm. Unfortunately, we did not have enough time to wait for them to clear the alarm, so we headed back to our motorcoach.

From Windsor, we drove to Bath, the site of the only still working Roman Baths. If you have never seen a natural, hot, mineral bath, you might think this looks disgusting, but it is not dirty, it is the minerals in the water that make it green. This bath is still filled from natural hot springs. At the end of the tour, we even got to taste the water. It wasn’t my favorite, but it was potable and apparently good for you, too.

If you are a fan of the show Bridgerton, the last picture I took in Bath was of the house that is used for the exterior of Lady Danbury’s House in the series.

Last but not least, we drove to Stonehenge. I was so happy that I had visited the standing stones in Scotland as it really helped me to appreciate Stonehenge and the differences between them. My favorite of the three was probably the Standing Stones of Stenness since we were allowed to walk among them. We could not get inside the circle at Stonehenge, but they were quite impressive. We walked all around them and were about three-quarters of the way around when it started to sprinkle. No worries, I had my raincoat and umbrella. However, within about ten seconds, it went from sprinkling to a horizontal blowing downpour. There is nothing around Stonehenge, so no shelter to be had. Holding on to my umbrella with my head down, we ran for the shuttle to take us back to the Visitor’s Center. By the time we reach the shuttle, we were drenched! With no dry clothes to change into, we endured the two and a half hour drive back to London in our wet clothes. Good news is that we were all laughing.

So….I’ve seen fire and I’ve seen rain…I’ve seen sunny days that I thought would never end (but I was wrong). Tomorrow it is back to reality.

Day 18 – Travel Home

Today our adventure comes to an end. Our Uber delivered us to Terminal 2 at London Heathrow where Diana was scheduled to depart. I made my way to Terminal 3 and received a nice surprise. I was waved into the First Class Lounge at the Cathay Pacific Lounge where I had an amazing breakfast and a comfortable wait for my flight home. I was disappointed that Robert could not come with me on this adventure, but I have to admit it was a tremendous blessing that I was allowed to spend these last two and a half weeks with my best friend. What a gift! I am also so blessed that Robert insisted that I go on this trip even if I had to do it without him as I was humbled, inspired, and moved by visiting the land of my ancestors. Tìoraidh until the next time….