After Stonehenge, I was driven to the port in Southampton. From the car to the ship was pretty easy, not the horrible lines I was afraid there might be. I did have one snafu. Security told me to take my Fitbit watch off, and in my haste to gather my belongings and get from x-ray to documents it somehow vanished. Once I got to my cabin, I realized it was gone and notified security, who treated me like a criminal, and searched my bag to make sure I wasn't just stupid (like I hadn't done that already?). About an hour later, they brought it to my room, made me sign the form stating I got it back and left without a hint of remorse or apology. It was not the way to make a guest feel welcome.
The room was narrow, but nice. There's a little blue couch on the other side of the bed.
The balcony. Easily my favorite part of the cabin.
I enjoyed sitting out here and breathing the sea air.
And the antics of the gulls.
Here's my one cruise tip: Bring a container. I happened to have this one, only because of leftover Chinese food in London. The container was too nice to toss, so I washed it and brought it along. I liked being able to pick up food on the ship and bring it back to the cabin and eat on the balcony, when I didn't feel like sitting by myself in a restaurant.
A quick breakfast before my first excursion. The food was fine. It wasn't gross, and it wasn't amazing. It was edible.
We call these random planes/tanks/pieces of military paraphernalia "sprinkles" in our family, because they're often sprinkled about bases like decorations.
The way it works is, if you buy a ship excursion, you go sit in the theater with your group number sticker and then they lead the various groups out to their busses, and off you go.
Our bus stopped for us to take a stroll around Rochefort.
Probably my second favorite picture I took.
We were walked through a French plaza. See the flag on the left? It was surreal. "I'm in FRANCE!"
Everything is old and pretty.
This long building was a rope factory during sailing days.
Our guide informed us that they grew a lot of cereal in this region.
The grounds were lovely, and the inside was also impressive, but we were not allowed to take pictures inside.
I did buy a postcard that's a photo of one of the rooms we were in, but it was a little disappointing not to be able to share the inside.
After the inside tour, we were free to wander about or grab a snack.
I spoke French at this point. 1) "Pardon" 2) "Toilette?" 3) "Merci." And I was super glad they answered back in English. Because I don't know the French equivalent of, "Over behind that delivery truck."
Before long, we were back on the bus, headed to the ship.
On the way back, our guide pointed out the
SUBMARINE PENS that the Germans built here during the occupation. Like, holy cow. I knew that the Germans occupied France. I'm aware of WW2 history. But to be confronted with lasting evidence... it was wow.
And there's my floating hotel.
I stopped in the buffet and had a bit of soup (and I'm pretty sure there was some dessert after this).
Do you know about cruising ducks? I learned about them on the cruise Facebook page before the trip. Some people really get into duck hunting and duck hiding, and some people even make their own critters to pass along. I found this crochet octopus hanging from the elevator hand rail, and it totally makes me smile.
Oh, while I'm at it, cruise tip #2: That blue wall there? It's magnetic. Bring a pack of magnetic hooks, and you can use the walls as your own bulletin board. I hung the newsletter, my fitbit at night, tickets to excursions, etc.
Very cool! This is a trip of a lifetime. Thanks for taking us along.
ReplyDeleteThanks for being my captive audience! :)
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