.. regrettably, our friends from the U.K will not be making the cruise with us, as they had to cancel at the last minute.. but we look forward to seeing them sometime while we are in London, and maybe as well when we visit the south of France...
...in the event you might want to come along on a day to day tour recap... glad to have you visit with us...
...all our love... bj & bern
Day 1. Wednesday - August 10th
Flight out of JFK at 9:30am.. took off one hour late (had to replace an engine oil gauge).. but still arrived on time at Heathrow at 9:30pm... met by car service and drove to The Bowood Hotel in Derry Hill.. arrived just before midnight.. had drink & something to eat at the hotel bar and off to bed.
Day 2. Thursday - August 11th
After breakfast, took a taxi over to Chippenham to pick up our rental car.
Then went out to visit Stonehenge.. started to downpour while we were in line to enter, so left the line to see the site and drove over to Avebury, another famous stone circle site... spend most all afternoon at this pleasant little village. Stonehenge will have to wait for another day.
Had dinner at the Shelburne restaurant at Bowood that evening.
Day 3. Friday - August 12th
Went to visit the National Heritage Village of Lacock, one of the picture perfect villages close in the area... fans of the Harry Potter films know it well for the Lacock Abbey, where a good portion of some scenes from several of the movies were filmed.
Around lunchtime we drove over to the nearby Village of Bradford-on-Avon, a charming small village set on the river, and referred to by many as 'the mini-Bath.' Had a very nice and leisurely lunch at The Three Feathers restaurant and spent the remainder of the afternoon touring the many sights of the town.
That evening had dinner at The Landsdowne Arms pub... just outside the 'Golden Gate' at Bowood.
Day 4. Saturday - August 13th
Started off with a visit to the world famous City of Bath in the morning. It's said Bath is the second most visited location in England after the city of London. It was terribly busy on this Saturday, so we just walked about for a couple-three hours, then went of to visit.Corsham, a pretty little village not far from Bath, with one of the most famous tourist locations in the area... Corsham Court..
From Corsham we went to visit Stonehenge..another location in Britain that is known by most everyone.
And then a couple of final stops to visit some of the most recent crop circle formations just outside Yatesbury.. very nearby the Silent Circle.
This one below we did not see.. the two we did were much less elaborate, and in all probability were of the man-made variety...
 |
| Temple Farm, near Rockley, reported August 7th |
Day 5. Sunday - August 14th
Traveling over to Twyford this morning (90 min east of Bowood) to visit with Trish, Mark, Ryan, Michael and Maryann... and have lunch along the river at the St George & Dragon Pub.
Then back to Bowood for a long sunset walk around the golf course pathways... our final night in the English countryside.
We enjoyed our stay at Bowood very much and look forward to returning.. maybe to rent the Queenwood Lodge... want to come along?
Day 6. Monday - August 15th...
After breakfast on to Chippenham to return the rental car and pick up the train to Paddington Station in London.. and then a cab to The Millennium Hotel In Grosvenor Square in Mayfair. ..
.. we used up half a tank of gas in the four days... cost 60 pounds to fill it back up.. folks in the US are spoiled... would take almost $200.00 to fill that tank up here in the UK !! (..these prices will be coming to us in America pretty soon !!)...
after checking into the hotel in London and getting settled in, we went for a long walk on Grosvenor Street over to Regent Street and then back towards the hotel on Piccadilly.
Had one heck of a huge piece of English beef for dinner at Goodman Restaurant not far from the hotel.
Day 7. Tuesday - August 16th...
After breakfast today we go over to Buckingham Palace for 'the dress' tour..
they told us 8,000-9,000 people a day tour the palace during summer... seemed like all 9k were there same time as us !! Queen's doin okay with all the cash registers ringing at the numerous 'Royal' gift shops, and all the tour tix being sold...
...to be fair though, it is a very well done tour, the palace and grounds are amazing.. and the ticket does grant you a one year pass to return.
Tonight we do seafood at Scott's restaurant on Mount Street a couple blocks away from the hotel.. said one of the best seafood places in the area... we'll see.
Yes.. it is one of the best restaurants we have found in town.. upscale all the way.. pricey, but you get the goods delivered.. will definitely return.
Day 8. Wednesday - August 17th...
In the morning we take the underground to the Waterloo rail station to head out south to meet up with Brenda (she's 1/2 of the couple from the UK we normally go cruising with).. we're doing lunch with her and then a visit to Mac & Mac Interiors in Farnham.. to see a certain 'Betty' chair we thinking about purchasing for the dining room out in Nevada.... ultra contemporary look... like it allot..
Our friend could not make lunch (she was not feeling well).. but we did venture out to Farnham by rail (an easy journey).. took a look at the Cattelan Italia 'Betty' chair and decided it will work. The price was less than the quotes we got from companies in the States.. so we'll more than likely be ordering them from the store here in England.
... we tried to find this chair in showrooms out west that carried the brand.. but none of them had the chair 'on the floor', and we were not about to buy them sight unseen. So, we had to travel 40 miles outside London to the small town of Farnham to view them.
Dinner that night was at a place Bern came across in the dining section of the NYT in May... the St. John Hotel restaurant off Leicester Square. The meal was exceptional.. very eclectic, intriguing and well prepared food, and service that was top notch... a great find from a piece in a recent NYT by Bern.
Day 9. Thursday - August 18th...
In the morning we'll head over to Knightsbridge and walk-around Harvey Nichols before having a late lunch at 'Dinner' the new Heston Blumenthal restaurant that Bern again read about in the NYT (tried to go for dinner, but they are solidly booked weeks and weeks in advance).
So how was it... great !! Blumenthal's restaurant at the Mandarin Oriental is very trendy, very busy, very expensive... and VERY good !! A starter I had was from a recipe circa 1390 by a chef of Richard II... (and it was fantastic!). Glad we were able to make it there for lunch... believe we'll be skipping dinner this evening though.
Day 10. Friday - August 19th...
Grab some breakfast and afterward catch a cab to the Waterloo rail station.. then off to Southampton to meet up with the cruise ship.
London was an enjoyable stop, although the weather was much cooler than expected or normal for August... overall we have seen very little of the sun since arriving in England a week and a half ago.
The trip down to the Port of Southampton was pretty easy by rail.. a short cab ride to the ship and we were on board having lunch by 1pm. Rest of the day spent setteling in and getting accustomed to the new surroundings on-board the Regent Seven Seas 'Voyager.'
At dinner last night in the ship's main dining room we were seated at the same table with a couple that also lives in Nevada.. in Henderson.. in a community just a couple of miles from us... and another couple Dave & Carol that were on the Regent cruise we took to Peru a couple years back.. and they were also part of a very small group that went on a side trip to Machu Picchu as well.... what are the odds.
The ship set sail at 6pm for Le Havre, France... the first stop on the 14 night cruise ending in Monte Carlo...
Day 11. Saturday - August 20th...
We're free in the morning.. after lunch we go on tour to Deauvill & Pays d'Auge.
We docked in the morning in the small picturesque Port of Honfleur... it is a very quaint and pretty place, easily one where more time can be spent wandering the many wonderful old and very charming streets and numerous enticing shops and restaurants.. an extremely pleasant surprise.
The afternoon tour stopped at a Calvedos winery.. a place that could have easily been skipped.. but the stop at Deauville was an eye opener.
Deauville is an outstanding Normandy resort town... with its racecourse, harbour, international film festival, marinas, conference center, villas, Grand Casino and sumptuous hotels, Deauville is regarded as the "queen of the Norman beaches" and one of the most prestigious seaside resorts in all of France. Before visiting here, we had never thought much about it before but it is without a doubt a premier world class destination, and could be somewhere that we could easily look forward to returning to sometime in the near future.
It was too bad Deauville was not an all-day tour stop... spending so little time there was unfortunate.
The ship pulled out to sea at 6pm... tomorrow is one of out two 'at sea' days.. time to catch our breath and do absolutely very little.
Day 12. - Sunday, August 21st...
At sea today... sailing from Normandy to Bordeaux... weather is slightly overcast, sea relatively calm, just some slight rolling side to side from the sea swells.
We're scheduled to arrive at Bordeaux mid-day tomorrow.
Day 13 & 14 - Monday & Tuesday, August 22nd & 23rd...
Still under way, we are scheduled to be docking around noon today. We have a scheduled tour of a chateau & winery this afternoon. Afterward we'll probably stay in Bordeaux for a few hours, then return back to the ship for a late dinner (or should we come across a restaurant on shore we'd really like to try, we'll eat there).
The ship overnights in Bordeaux.
Bordeaux was a very relaxing port stop... being right at the waterfront promenade and being able to walk right into the city both day and night was great.
Day 15 - Wednesday, August 24th...
From 8am to 8pm today the ship was at anchor at Saint Jean de Luz, on the Cote Basque, France.. only a very short distance north of the Spanish border. A small, very picturesque little fishing and tourist village on the coast. Weather was misty for most all the day but not enough rain to make things uncomfortable.
We'll took a coach tour to the resort city of Biarritz. It's a city which lies on the Bay of Biscay, and it is a very luxurious seaside town, popular with tourists and surfers.
The town lies in Basque territory, and Basque flags and symbols are prevalent throughout Biarritz. It is a bid deal, world class French resort town... a place that's definitely worth returning to sometime soon.
Day 16 - Thursday, August 25th...
Early this morning we entered the Port of Bilbao, Spain, ... we also today take a tour and visit the nearby resort town of Getxo
Bilbo is really a fairly good sized city, spread out among the surrounding mountains.. and the Guggenheim Museum is the tourist 'show' centerpiece.. an amazing construction.
Getxo is right alongside Bilbo, and one of the suburban areas that expanded population as Bilbo grew in size over the past couple of decades.
Day 17 - Friday, August 26th...
Today we are in La Coruna, Spain... most of the older period buildings in the town were taken down, leaving it with much less appeal... the physical location and the several very large municipal beaches are very nice... well worth a walk about.
 |
| La Coruna -Plaza de Raizor |
This was really more of a port stop for those passengers wanting to go on the all day tour to Santiago de Compostala.. the main inland attraction.
Day 18 - Saturday, August 27th...
Oporto, Portugal is the port stop.. and our tour is to the nearby medieval city of Guimaraes.
 |
| Oporto, Portugal |
Day 19 - Sunday, August 28th...
Lisbon, Portugal is our stop today... capital and largest city in the country.. 1/4th of the population lives in Lisbon. The city is the seventh-most-visited city in Southern Europe, after Istanbul, Rome, Barcelona, Madrid, Athens, and Milan, with almost 2 million tourists in 2009.
We're off in the morning to tour the oldest district in Lisbon.. Alfama district....the Lisbon Cathedral... and the Ajuda National Palace.
 |
| Alfama District in Lisbon |
The port stop is Cadiz, Spain... but we leave the ship at noon to travel to Seville for the day... we do not return to the ship until 8pm.
Seville is the artistic, historic, cultural, and financial capital of southern Spain. It is the capital of the autonomous community of Andalusia and of the province of Seville.
One of the highlights of the tour is a visit to the Alcazar Palace... a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The upper levels of the Alcázar are still used by the royal family as the official Seville residence.
 |
| Alcazar - Patio de las doncellas |
 |
| Cathedral of St Mary of the See.. or the Seville Cathedral |
Seville is a special city.. in normal times a very beautiful and livable place... but as many of the villages, towns, and cities we have visited on this trip to date, it too is having it's fair share of economic difficulties.
With unemployment for it's young people approaching unbelievably high levels.. there are no jobs for university school graduates. And as you walk the main streets and boulevards the numbers of empty storefronts is quite apparent, evidencing just how deep the recession has hit... they too do not know what will bring them out from this crisis.
(With budget troubles everywhere, you wonder just how much longer many of these kinds very costly 'attractions' we have been visiting will be able to be maintained and kept open.)
Day 21 - Tuesday, August 30th...
In the very early hours of the morning we passed through the Strait of Gibraltar, on our way from Cadiz to our next port stop in Barcelona.. arriving there early tomorrow morning.
We spend all day today at sea... time to nurse the colds we both have caught, and catch up on some needed rest.
Day 22 - Wednesday, August 31st...
Arrive in Barcelona in the morning... in all of Europe, one of our favorite cities to visit... lots of street life, and magnificent architecture to enjoy.
Las Ramblas...with its world famous Boqueria Market... Avenue de Catalunya... and Passeig de Gracia... all wonderful street to stroll for hours.
Then there is the old 'Gothic Quarter' of the city, with it's narrow streets and buildings that seem to have been there forever.
A week would be too short a time to spend in this magnificent city... we will be back again soon.
Day 23 - Thursday, September 1st...
We had to take the day off from touring the Provence countryside (our scheduled tour was to be Aix-en-Provence) just north of the port stop of Marseille, France. We just felt a bit too weary and battling sore throats from our colds (Bern visited the ship's doctor to get some medicine to help).
Will maybe go out after lunch (depending how we feel), and see some of the sights of Marseilles.
Day 24 - Friday, September 2nd...
Arrive in Monte Carlo, Monaco in the morning and departed the ship. We meet up with Stephen (our friend living in Monaco), and spent a very pleasant morning at his port apartment overlooking the Monte Carlo harbor. We then picked up a car at a nearby location, and headed over to a small hotel Le Mas Candille just outside the very small town of Mougins just northwest of Monaco for four nights.
Arriving at the town a bit tired we just walked about the old town for a couple of hours.. had dinner on the dining terrace at the hotel (lovely), and went early to bed.
Day 25 - Saturday, September 3rd...
Our 35th wedding anniversary... we were not feeling to well... our severe colds having their way with us. But we did manage to get down to visit with Stephen down in Cannes... just a short drive south from where we are staying in Mougins. We had some lunch at a spot along the beach...
... and then afterward spent a couple hours with him at his apartment on the Rue de Antibes.
We returned back to Mougins late afternoon and had dinner at a restaurant in Mougins.
Day 27 - Sunday, September 4th...
With the 90% chance for rain the entire day, we still decided to make the drive down to Nice to meet up with Dave & Carol for lunch on the beach. Was good seeing them again after leaving the ship, and walking around Nice for a few hours was great.. (and although it did shower a couple of times, all in all it was not too bad a day).
We had dinner back in Mougins again that evening.
Day 28 - Monday, September 5th..
We had thought we'd be taking a drive over to St Paul d'Venice, but still not feeling decided to spend the morning strolling around Mougins and having lunch in one of the town restaurants.
Dinner will also be in Mougins, at one of the several top restaurants for which the town is noted... L'amandier des Mougins
Day 29 - Tuesday, September 6th...
Today we leave Mougins mid-morning and travel to Nice to fly into London for our connecting flight back to New York... we're scheduled to arrive in JFK in the evening around 8pm.
