A Day in Dublin

We opened the curtains on a slightly overcast but dry day, apparently an anomaly for this summer according to the shuttle bus driver who took us into town. Not that the Irish are at all prone to exaggeration, but he said that it has rained every day of the summer; we could only hope that the luck of the Irish works better for visitors than it does for locals.

Rather than taking an organized tour from the ship, we took the advice given by a few people who had been here before, and just did our own walking tour. In case anyone's keeping track, the pedometer told us we had walked yet another 7 miles when all was said and done.

So here's what we saw of Dublin. It's a good thing that we're planning to be back here next summer on a British Isles cruise – there's still lots more to visit.

We wanted to start our tour at Trinity College to see the exhibit of the Book of Kells, but there was a lineup to get in and we weren't sure how long a wait it would be. So we decided to leave it until later. Instead, we walked toward St. Patrick's Cathedral. On the way, we found the bronze statue of Molly Malone, affectionately known either as 'the Dish with the Fish' or 'the Tart with the Cart', depending on your state of mind when you pass by.

Our route took us by Dublin Castle, so we stopped to check it out. It doesn't look that much like a castle, except for the church and tower, but it does have a very nice green surrounded by gardens (the green apparently also doubles as a helicopter landing area for the government departments that are located in the Castle – there's not another open piece of ground big enough that we could see).

We finally reached St. Patrick's Cathedral. What an impressive building, both inside and outside, although we had expected there to be a bit more decoration on the inside. One of the more interesting features is the church organ. The original organ was replaced over a hundred years ago, but it is on display, and is the same organ on which George Frederic Handel played his 'Messiah' oratorio in a church for the first time in 1742. Apparently he wrote much of the piece while in Dublin, and there is a plaque and a hotel bearing his name on the spot where the first actual performance took place.

This photo isn't just for the intricate floor tiles - people have hand-stitched
their seat cushions in some very beautiful patterns.

The original organ that was played by Handel

The plaque and hotel are just behind Christ Church Cathedral, which happened to be the stop after St. Patrick's on our little tour. It would have been nice to get more than one photo of it, or maybe visit the interior, but we walked all the way around and couldn't find anything that looked like a main entrance. Maybe you need to be a member of the congregation before they'll tell you how to get inside…

After all that walking, we decided to look around in the Temple Bar area, an older part of town that now houses shops and restaurants, and maybe find a traditional Irish pub for a spot of lunch.

Once we arrived, we discovered "finding a pub" would not be a difficult task. They are only side-by-side all the way down the three blocks of the main street in this very touristy part of town. After walking from one end of Temple Bar (the actual street name) to the other and back, we settled on The Original Temple Bar Pub. Looking through any of its many doors it was crowded with "locals" so it had to be the place for us. And we were not disappointed. Finding a spot at the main bar, we ordered a "traditional" Irish cold meat and cheese platter, complete with fresh-baked crusty breads and crackers. And a Jamesons Irish on the rocks for Monica while Larry had an NA version of a local draught brew.

And this is only the Irish whiskies!!

We finally managed to get into the Book of Kells exhibit. This is a hand-written and beautifully illuminated (decorated) Latin manuscript of the four Gospels that was used by St. Colum Cille to 'turn darkness into light', to spread Christianity throughout the country. It is said to have been written over 1,000 years ago, in the 9th Century, probably by monks on the island of Iona off the coast of Scotland. It was even stolen once, around 1050, when the thieves made off with the jewel-encrusted cover and threw the rest of the book into a gutter. After it was recovered it was cared for a little more carefully, and eventually ended up in Trinity College in 1661. We don't think it has been on display for all that time; if it had been the entry fee probably wouldn't have been as high. Of course, you can't take photos of the exhibit, but the few pages of the book that are open to view are quite impressive. There is probably a lot of info on the Internet if you're interested in checking it out further.

The ship leaves at 6:00 for the first of two sea days on our way to Iceland. Our table host last night, the Chief Officer, told us that we will once again (for us anyway) cross north of the Arctic Circle, and at the Welcome Party last night the Captain dropped some "teasers" about cold weather and rough seas. He commented that Serenity was in Istanbul, where it was 34C and that we could look forward to a temperature of 34 too. In Fahrenheit!!!! So I guess we will just have to wait and see what the North Atlantic has in store for us.

We'll leave you with a photo of us taken by Justine, one of the bar waitresses, in the Starlight Lounge before dinner and the party. This one's for you, Jane:

Return to Crystal Symphony

Although our room at the B&B was quite small, the bed was very comfortable. Since nobody in the south of England has air conditioning, we slept with the window cracked open a bit, under a nice thick duvet. After all of Tuesday's exercise, the lights went out just after the blog was posted (around 9:45), and we didn't wake up until about 7:30.


The morning's adventure was using the shower. Anyone who read the blog from our river cruise in France will recall that Larry found the shower very small, to the point where he counted tiles to figure out the exact square footage. Well, he did it again here – and discovered that this shower was even smaller than the one on River Baroness! In fact, he dropped the shampoo bottle and had to turn off the water and come out of the shower stall to pick it up!! But that was only a minor inconvenience.

After getting everything packed up again, we headed down to breakfast. There is a nice little room all set up for 14 guests, the standard maximum. You can see the room from the breakfast photos below. And, by the way, it was quite delicious!

Just as we finished breakfast, another couple was debating with Sharon about a taxi pickup time. It turned out that they were also coming aboard Symphony, so we talked for a few minutes and decided to share a cab to the port a little before noon. That being settled, we headed out for another walk, this time toward the waterfront.

Not far around the corner from Castle House are the ruins of Old St. James' Church, which was founded in Saxon Times and most likely one of the Dover churches that was mentioned in the Domesday Book. Although left in disrepair since the 1860s when the town needed a larger church, it was destroyed during the Second World War by German long range artillery fired from France. It has been left as a monument to the citizens of Dover who suffered from the long-range bombings during the war.

Here are a few photos from down near the beach and the quay. The beach would not be too comfortable to walk on in bare feet – it is made of stones rather than sand – but we did see a few hardy souls swimming at 10:00 in the morning!

The little brown blob in the cliff face is the balcony we were on yesterday
from the tunnels

First glimpse of Symphony at the cruise ship port

On our way back, we took a closer look at the rows of banners stretching up and across the pedestrian street to the town square, where there is a huge outdoor TV screen showing the Paralympic Games that are currently taking place. These banners were all knit or crocheted, probably about a thousand in all. Monica had to take some photos just for the Casting Off the Cold group.

We asked Sharon about them later. They were made as an Olympic project by people with learning or other disabilities, as well as people in addiction rehab in various facilities in the Dover area. The strings of banners add a real sense of celebration to the downtown area; we hope they leave them up after the Games are over.

Our wanderings led us back past St. Mary's Church, and another view of the very old churchyard, and then on to St. Paul's Catholic Church and a very pretty house nearby. Hope this gives you an idea of how picturesque a town Dover is. Many Brits probably don't even notice, since Dover is the main landing point for the Channel ferries that go to Calais and Boulogne. The highway literally runs right down to the car ferry ramps, so there's no need to see much of the town.

A rose blooming in the small patio at Castle House

We arrived at the Cruise Terminal just after 11:30. The check-in was being done on the ship, so there was a little wait in the lounge until they were ready for us on board. We hooked up with Roy, Judy and Bob, with whom we had shared the ride from Southampton. Apparently, even though our room was a bit small and the bathroom rather cramped, we had the better deal on the accommodation front. They stayed right on the beach in the Best Western Marina Hotel, and were not particularly happy, especially since, of course, there was no air conditioning and they could only open the window a couple of inches. On top of that, they didn't find breakfast all that appetizing – so they were rather jealous when they saw our photos.

Finally on board, we got checked in and headed out to take a look around Symphony. We hadn't sailed on this ship since 2009, and she recently went through an extensive drydock that remodelled a number of the public rooms. Particularly impressive is the new Palm Court, that got a complete makeover. We'll take some photos and post them in the next day or so. In the meantime, here are a couple of shots taken from the vantage point of Deck 12.

Our best shot of the White Cliffs to the west of town. We'll be
going to dinner at sailaway, so there may not be another chance
for a photo.

Symphony's pool deck

One of the breakwater lighthouses

For dinner we are at a hosted table (officer to be advised when we meet him/her). One of our tablemate couples is from Sydney, Australia and the other one we've met so far is from Chicago – and it turns out that we've sailed together before, on the Dubai-Athens cruise on Serenity in 2010. They are celebrating their 40th anniversary and are now on their third consecutive cruise, having done the Baltic and the British Isles itineraries that preceded this one. The last couple is also on from the British Isles cruise and will be joining us for the first formal night tonight.

Of course, we couldn't go very far without running into Jim Brochu! We were heading past the Starlight Lounge after dinner and there he was, sitting with Ken Rees and John and Laura Loesser. They are all very friendly and interesting; we're looking forward to Ken's destination lectures and John and Jim's talks focusing on entertainment.

We also ran into a few more of the Cruise Critic group, especially Nancy and her husband Larry – then the party moved from the Starlight into the Avenue Saloon, also newly renovated and redesigned…We were there until midnight, so it's a good thing that we're gaining time on this leg of the cruise instead of losing it!!

Overnight in Dover

Cunard, though claiming to be much classier than any other cruise line, is no different when it comes to turnaround day. We were up at 6:00 to shower, dress and get to breakfast before we needed to have our things out of the stateroom and head for our designated waiting lounge. Our stated disembarkation time was around 9:00 and we weren't too far off of that. The whole process was actually rather painless as disembarkations go.


Once clear of the terminal, we had to look for our van, which of course had all the guys a little nervous since there was nobody waiting with a sign…He did finally show up a bit after his scheduled time with a nice, roomy 8 passenger van/bus with plenty of room for all our luggage. Here's the only photo we have of the QM2, as we left her behind in Southampton

The drive took about 3 hours, but didn't give us too much of a glimpse of the lovely scenery, since it was all on the M-series motorways, but that gave us most of the afternoon in Dover. After leaving our companions at their hotel, the driver dropped us off at the Castle House Bed & Breakfast, just at the bottom of the hill to Dover Castle.

Outside

Our room, small but comfortable

After meeting Sharon, the owner, and getting settled, we took a short walk around to find a bite to eat before heading up to the castle. We found St. Mary's Church

and almost right beside it, Chaplin's, a small restaurant serving local specialties. So how could we resist? Lunch was a little late, but here's what we had:

Larry's Cottage Pie with veggies

Monica's Plaice & Chips

After that satisfying meal, we started off along Castle Hill Road – aptly named, especially the 'Hill' part. Here's a view along the flat part of the road

After climbing what seemed to be a 17% grade (judging by how much higher the path was than the 13% grade road) we finally reached –

a staircase, with 84 steps, leading up to the ticket booth for the castle. By the way, we left the pedometer in the bag, so we're only guessing that over the whole afternoon we added another 5 miles to our log for this trip.

The headland on which Dover Castle is built has been important to defence ever since the first century AD when the Romans built a lighthouse there to guide ships into the harbour. Then the Saxons built a fortification that was added to by William the Conqueror in 1066. Henry II remodelled the castle in the 1180s, and the new fortifications were put to the test during a siege by the French in 1216-1217. Here are a few photos around the grounds

Looking down over Dover

We climbed all the way to the top of the Great Tower, which was Henry's big contribution to the site. The view was impressive, but not as good as it could be due to the mist and the thick cloud of little bugs that never appeared anywhere else all afternoon.

We also visited the Church of St. Mary in Castro, dating back to around 1,000 AD. It is still used today as a military church having last been restored in 1862. Although it is not large, it is beautiful inside. Each of the pew cushions has been cross-stitched by hand and personalized, too.

Dover Castle's historical importance as a fortification includes the Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars with France in the late 1700s to early 1800s. At that time, a huge underground barracks was built to house a few thousand men. They weren't used much after that until 1940, and were instrumental during Operation Dynamo, where the British and French soldiers were rescued from Dunkirk. The whole operation was run from the underground offices, and a whole hospital was created to care for the wounded soldiers who came back across the Channel. There is a 45 minute tour that takes you through a portion of these tunnels and covers a lot of what went on to effect the rescue. Unfortunately, you can't take photos inside, but once you get out onto a balcony overlooking the harbour, cameras are allowed again.

After descending from the height, we stopped in to the B&B for a bit, and then headed out for a quick pub dinner. We had seen the Eight Bells Pub earlier in the afternoon and decided to give it a try. Obviously a regular haunt for quite a few of the locals; it was pretty busy even for a Tuesday night. Larry had a club sandwich made with fresh turkey and English bacon (like peameal without the cornmeal crust) and Monica had sausages, mashed potatoes and peas. Couldn't get much more typical than that!

Tomorrow we should be getting to the ship around noon. We'll report on the B&B breakfast that gets excellent ratings from TripAdvisor comments. Sharon already feels the pressure…

Land Ho!

Finally, after 6 days at an average speed of 20 knots in extremely calm seas, the Scilly Islands and Land's End came into view a little after 1:00 this afternoon. There hasn't been much to take photos of in the last few days, unless you're especially partial to fog, and there's been barely a ripple on the ocean. It would be great whale-watching weather if only there were whales. We did, however, see some dolphins just before reaching the Scilly Islands, as we had a quick drive-by from the British Life-Saving Society's rescue boat.


This certainly has been an experience, and a little hard to define. We had boarded the ship with open minds, but not expecting too much, trying not to put much credence in what others had told us beforehand. Given Cunard's reputation for "stuffiness" and the way they market the line, we weren't quite sure of what we were getting into. Perhaps Cedric and Reginald, in tailcoat and top hat, discussing the morning line at the Ascot Races whilst Hermine and Agatha agonized over which fascinator to wear to the Ball that night?? Truth be told, while there is a certain amount of that among some people we met along the way, by and large this was really no different than any other cruise we have taken. The speakers were by and large interesting, the people we met in the bars were pleasant, the food was good and the service varied from okay to excellent. In other words, it was pretty standard as cruises go, but without the shore excursions.
Our tablemates were great fun, and although we usually started dinner a bit later than usual, a two and a half hour meal wasn't out of the ordinary. But that often meant that we left the table, headed for the show and then went to bed since by that time it was almost midnight. The two American couples are both renting cars and driving off towards Cornwall for a few days before flying back to the US. The last couple live halfway between Southampton and London and so are heading home (to all those chores you can leave behind on a holiday).

The social knitting group that developed on board is going to keep in touch. One of the ladies, Nanci, is going to set up a web site and a blog for knitters at sea to give us all a sort of 'roll call' to set up more of these get togethers amongst handicrafters who like to take their projects along. Should be fun!

Tuesday morning we arrive in Southampton, and the wake up call will come at 6:00AM. By this time tomorrow we will be in our B&B in Dover, and in 48 hours we will be settled in our cabin on Crystal Symphony for the next part of the adventure.

The journey continues.