My Day is Simple & Planned from the Start. Saturday, November 12

Last evening was the formal Captain's dinner, so we had to get all dressed up.  I was finally able to eat without feeling sick!  Watched the latest Mission:Impossible last night then woke up at 5:30 this morning.

Room Service Breakfast at 7:00. --I finally talked Ray into room service!!  If I'm by myself, I ALWAYS do room service but he is averse to it for unexplainable reasons--he can tell you but they really make no sense to me.  Anyway, I consider it a treat!

8:00 movie --Finding Dory.  ***really cute movie

10:00 movie --Star Wars: The Force Awakens.   ***always good

1:00. Maybe lunch or watch Forrest Gump.   ***opted for lunch in Windjammer Cafe

4:00 Ice Show on the skating rink on this ship.   ***amazing skating, super amazing that it's done on a moving ship

There is also a rock climbing wall which, if the weather improves, Ray may try.  There is a huge theatre outside, too, under the stars, but as of yet, the weather has been too wet to go out.  They even closed the Promenade deck yesterday because it was too blustery.  We have a Promenade Cabin, which isn't on the Promenade deck but has a window seat inside a big window that looks down into the ship from above.  Very good for people watching.   ***day turned out sunny but still very windy, probably 45 mph across the deck as we made one complete walk around.  There's also a putt-putt mini golf course onboard.

5:30 dinner. Excellent Cold Pina Colada Soup and Wimbledon dessert--strawberries with Champagne jello and lime cheesecake.

7:00. Show with Claire Maidin Vinkesteijn, a singer who does hits by Adele, Dolly Parton, and Alicia Keys.  ***she was an excellent pianist and a good singer but nowhere near as good as Adele.

Boat is starting to really move and now that my stomach is better from the food poisoning, I hope it's not time for my next malady--seasickness.    ***so far no seasickness.  Yay!

Doggie who dressed for lunch ever day in a different costume:

 

Windjammer Café on the 14th deck:

 

Sapphire Dining Room--3 levels--we were on the top:

Ray being silly, reinacting Titanic scene:

 

Climbing wall:

 

Mini golf:

 

looking down into atrium:

 

Johnny Rocket diner:

 

Towel creatures created by our room steward for us every evening:

 

Ice Show on the ship:

 

 

 

Singer who did Adele songs, and was good, but I didn't realize just how flat she was until listening to this video:

 

 

 

Restful Day. Friday, November 11

Very relaxing first full day onboard and at sea.  Breakfast in the Sapphire Room, lunch in the Windjammer Cafe, then dinner in the Sapphire again.  This evening's meal was the first that I have eaten since Wednesday that I didn't feel nauseated.

I must say that this vacation has been a real challenge as far as health was concerned.  First Ray gets a cold.  Then I get a UTI.  Then I catch Ray's cold and because of the mold in the cottage we were in, it turned into bronchitis, then all 4 of us-Margaret, Colin, Ray, and I--got food poisoning!  So basically, every single day of this trip, one of us has been sick!

Hopefully this cruise home will be non-eventful in every way.  Didn't do much today but hopefully tomorrow.

 

Our cabin is in the middle row of windows on the right, about 3 down:

 

decks:

 

 

Sapphire Dining Room, where we usually had dinner:

 

our cabin window also looked out on the mall with pubs, Ben & Jerry's, shops, etc.:

 

I liked these privacy curtains--partly sheer:

 

 

 

Amazing ship. Thursday, November 10

After being up all night with stomach troubles, I now have to get on a ship.  Just the thing you want before a cruise.

Anyway, can't even finish dinner and hope tomorrow will be better.

We have a Promenade cabin, # 6307, which looks out with a window seat onto the interior of the ship.  This stairway and this sculpture that sways on its strings as the ship moves is part of our view.

very sad news.... Wednesday, November 9

I didn't sleep much last night because of checking the election results.  Sadly I awoke early to find that ...I can't even say his name...Hillary did not win.  I am devastated.  I can't believe it.  So numb I can't even process the news.

Breakfast at the Corner Cafe then by Bladon to see Churchill's grave then on to Jane & Bob's, who have prepared an incredible Christmas dinner for us.  So good to see them, too.

Then on to Southampton from where we catch our shop tomorrow.

Fake birds on the rooftop of this house:

 

St. Martin's Church in Bladon:

 

Churchill's grave:

Jane & Bob's beautifully set table for our holiday dinner:

 

Complete with Christmas pudding!:

 

 

 

US Election, Coventry Cathedral, and Lady Godiva. Tuesday, November 8

Another fantastic breakfast by Colin then we were off to Coventry on the bus.  Saw the ruins of the cathedral that were bombed in the war,and the new cathedral with its amazing stained glass.  You walk in and see only one very large stained glass window to your right, but if you walk on in towards the altar and turn around, you are surprised, your breath taken away, by several stained glass floor to ceiling stained glass windows on both sides.  Amazing huge tapestry, too.

Very Christmasey lunch in the cafe at the cathedral.  As we were leaving Coventry, Colin remembered something and took me over to see the Lady Godiva statue.  Dinner as at the Tin Hat pub just down from their house.  Wish that was a tradition here--pubs in every neighborhood.

Coventry was bombed many times during the Blitz, but on one particular day, the cathedral was also hit along with 4300 homes and 2/3 of the city, which was damaged or destroyed.  The injured numbered over 1256, the dead 568.


Margaret & Colin's house:

 

Half-timbered buildings in Coventry:

 

Exploring the ruins of the old cathedral in Coventry:

 

 

Beautiful etched angels on the glass of the new cathedral:

 

Baptistery Window--First stained glass you see as you enter:

 

font from a hillside overlooking Bethlehem:

 

Huge and beautiful tapestry:

 

The stained glass you don't see until you go in and turn around:

Margaret touching the crown of thorns in one of the chapels:

charred cross made from one of the medieval roof beams found in ruins in the shape of the cross after the bombing:

 

cross on altar is made from nails from the beams found in the ruins:

I couldn't tell if this was stained glass or origami:

 

Colin has an idea:

 

and remembers that Lady Godiva statue is nearby:

cool three-wheeled car in Margaret and Colin's neighborhood: