BOXING DAY Starry, starry nightFlaming flowers that brightly blazeSwirling clouds in violet hazeReflect in Vincent’s eyes of china blue ‘Vincent’ – Don McLean So we’d made it into Amsterdam; that was good. This is because, prior to leaving home, we’d purchased tickets online for entry into the Van Gogh museum at 3.30pm and we certainly…
CHRISTMAS DAY Well, this was a first for us – we’ve never spent Christmas day anywhere else in our lives but at home. Here we were, in the North Sea en route to Amsterdam, and we wondered what delights P&O Cruises had in store for us. We hated to say it, but so far our…
CHRISTMAS EVE Didn’t sleep all that well last night; I’d started a tickly throat a couple of days ago that I had put down to the very dry air around the ship, but during the night it had turned into the sniffles – a cold. The first thing I did when we got up was…
LITTLE CHRISTMAS EVE Victory awaits him, who has everything in order – “luck” we call it. Defeat is definitely due for him, who has neglected to take the necessary precautions – “bad luck” we call it. Roald Amundsen What an amazing day today turned out to be! We got up at around 7.30am and went…
Woke up to the happy anticipation of wandering the charming streets of Denmark, and perhaps partaking of a Carlsberg (what else?) or two. 😊 Looking out from our balcony, we noticed that the CitySightseeing hop-on-hop-off bus was parked up, so we decided that would be what we’d do for today. We breakfasted as usual in…
WINTER SOLSTICE When the days are short and the nights are dark and cold, many people welcome the Winter Solstice (the “shortest day of the year”) as the sign that the sun is on its way back again. We got up with morning at 8.30am; I would like to have said that we had an…
We got up around 8.30am this morning (which felt like 7.30 because of the lost hour). Going out onto our balcony, it wasn’t freezing cold, but the sky and the sea were a dull grey and there was a lot of moisture in the air. The balcony contained a small table and couple of deckchairs…
A mere 24 days after we disembarked Queen Victoria, we once again found ourselves waking up at the unearthly hour of 3.45am in order to get ourselves ready and pack up all those last minute things like toiletries, cosmetics and electronic device chargers, ready for another cruise! 😊 Yes! Once again we had to make…
During the night, we were certainly aware of the increased motion of the Queen Victoria as she headed determinedly north. Looking at the shipping forecast areas, today we would find ourselves crossing Fitzroy (previously known as Finisterre), Biscay and, as we made our way into the English Channel, Plymouth. When we got up this morning…
Once more on the deck I standOf my own swift gliding craftSet sail! Farewell to the landThe gale follows fair abaft A Life On The Ocean Wave – Henry Russell Today would see the first of two full days at sea en route to Southampton. It was a good feeling, when we woke up, to…
