I think that is the same puppy that was there when I went in 2004!

Those are some long lasting flowers!!!

:lct:

Sitting in port in La Coruna --I decided to take a much needed sea day today. Yesterday was a wonderful day in Bilbao. We were impressed with the Guggenheim and the entire city much of which has been reconstructed in the last 10-15 years. I agree with Eugene, the artwork in the museum was strange but it was definitely worth the visit just to see the inside and outside of the building. We had a great dinner in Prime 7 last night with Bob and Maria and Don and Carolyn. Oporto is tomorrow--it'll be Jerry's favorite place, I'm sure. The only thing better for him than the place where they make Port wine would be a town named Johnny Walker Blue :D Beth, we said hello to Constantine for you--we enjoy him also.

Enjoying your blogs. Please have some ports in memory of me. The only thing I truly relish...a nice tawny...Keep having a lovely time.

Well despite the weather forecast we woke up today to a nice day. We slept in today until 11.00 am so not sure what it was like earlier but by that time the skys were blue and the sun was shining. I am sure they had a nice day today on the long tour to Santiago de Compostela. We did that a few years back and enjoyed it. Maria and Bob are jumping a train and doing "their own thing" we are looking forward to hearing about that adventure.

Enjoying the great food after the Russian River trip. Lamb last night was great and lunch today was flank steak which was REALLY good. My daughter Cindy and son in law Mark were on the last cruise around the British Isles. One of the waiters knew Mark was my son inlaw so when Mark ordered rack of lamb the waiter asked him if he wanted his lamb like I ordered mine. Mark aksed how does she order it? The reply was "we bring an entire rack". This waiter knows me well!

:D Peggy, you crack me up! Have always wanted to visit Oporto. I agree with Andi, I always love a tawny.

Peggy Marc would join Jerry in "Blue town" in a heatbeat.

So happy all is going well for you wino's....so funny about Mark's lamb, Ngaire they know you so well !!

Terrific day in Santiago de Compostela. Weather much better than expected.

We just had an interesting dinner in CR. We are experiencing very heavy swells. A section of the dining room ceiling came crashing down near us--maybe 4 feet by 2 feet. Fortunately it was over the walkway and no one was walking under it at the time. Maybe it's good the ship is going into dry dock after this cruise!

Off on a long excursion tomorrow from Oporto, Portugal to the Minoh Province. Weather is supposed to be good.

I'll try to post a few photos if we ever have any down time. Of course sleeping tonight may be interesting. Last night was fairly bumpy and creaky, too.

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Eugene

Thanks for posting, Eugene. Great to hear that the weather didn't interfere with the day in port. Scary about the ceiling in CR!

Hoping all WINEos sleep well!

Thanks for all your mail - what a nice trip!

Peggy, Thanks for saying Hi to Constantine for me. He sure is a talented guy. He has an extensive library of songs if you have a special request.

While in Oporto, try for the White Port. It is really nice chilled, too.

WOW, the CR ceiling falling in does sound scary. So glad no one was injured.

Whoa, scary about the ceiling in CR. Luckily as you said no one was hurt. Good luck with the seas tonight, hope it settles down. Guess I would be taking my pills LOL. :p that would be me.

Thanks for the updates, sounds like overall its been a great cruise with great ports.

thanks so much for the updates,......ngaire i am cooking lamb chops tomorrow night on my new grill! (how many women are excited about a grill?) sounds like you are having a wonderful time. please say hello to our roar friends. what a wonderful trip for you all.......enjoy every minute!

Yesterday, we went to Santiago de Compostela. It took about an hour to get there from the port of La Coruna. We went through a brief shower on the way, but it was nice though cool when we arrived. Our guide, who was actually Italian, was very good and we did a very thorough walking tour of the old town. We spent a lot of time at the center of the city at the Plaza del Obradoiro. There is a huge Romanesque cathedral there that we spent considerable time investigating.

The other buildings around the plaza were also impressive. We actually had lunch at the Hostal de Los Reyes Catolicos, a former hospital that is now a luxury hotel. We ate in a chapel of the old building, which was different. Lunch was okay--fish soup, followed by a spinach and pork terrine, then chicken and potatoes, and ice cream for dessert. They poured a tasty rose to accompany the meal.

Gail also found a very nice shop that had great ceramics and nice jewelry. Of course we did some "damage" there, but I've learned that if we see something I better not say we'll see it elsewhere at a better price. Actually, I thought prices were fairly reasonable given the weak dollar and the fact that we were in such a tourist area.

In the cathedral, there is a silver urn with the ashes of St. James, the Apostle of Santiago. St. James could be seen everywhere. Despite a chancy forecast, it turned it out be a beautiful day, and we had thought that this was one of the better excursions we've been on.

We returned to the ship just in time for trivia, but took advantage of a lull to do laundry. We met the Simpsons for dinner, which was good. They had done a walking tour of La Coruna, the port, which included a stop at a couple of places for tapas. They said that they really enjoyed that excursion and their guide also.

Seas became very rough at dinner time with huge swells. While we were eating, not 15 feet away, a section of ther ceiling fell in the dining room. It was at least 4 x 2 feet and luckily it was over one of the main walkways and no one was walking there at the time. It could have done some serious damage. It was a bit humorous watching the staff cope with the event as they shoved wires back up and tried to fasten the ceiling piece with tape. Hopefully, a more permanent solution will be found. We are going to watch ourselves when walking in there--if we remember.

After dinner, Gail and I went up to the Observation lounge to watch the seas. They were pretty impressive, and walking was not easy. In fact several elevators were turned off because of the rough seas. Eventually, we went back to the cabin to call it a night. We turned back the clocks as Portugal is an hour behind Spain and France.

Today, we're off to the Minho Province of Portugal and the city of Braga. The weather forecast is good.

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Eugene

Marc - Just stop by or call Steve (the owner) of Mary's Grocery and he will special order any liquor or wine you want at a competitive price. They are located on Hwy 431 near Hampton Cove. Steve also has the best wine selection in all Huntsville - he really knows his stuff. You can mention my name if you want.
Sally Harris

Sally, thanks! I had found Belgian Beer pretty easily so it is great to have a good source of wine and liquors.

:lct:

edited for mis-type

Yes, we did and loved it! So much that we bought two bottles . I didn't even know that White port existed.

Yesterday Bob and I also went to Santiago, but we did it on our own, by train. Very fast and easy. When we went to the Cathedral and saw the big Botafumeiro (silver incense burner)hanging from the ceiling over the main altar, I knew that meant they would swing it during the noon Pilgrim's Mass. So I sat at a great spot, on one of the side naves and waited. Bob decided to leave and go on our original planned visit of the roofs of the Cathedral.
I had been in Santiago 3 prior times and they never used the Botafumeiro. What a spectacle, it was surreal! The Cathedral was so packed, people sitting on the floor , standing room only. I was so happy I could finally see it.

The ship has been rocking and rolling the last two nights . I couldn't even wear heels yesterday! Hope that crusing from Porto to Lisbon later today is quieter.

PS: Beth, we also said hi to Constantine from you. He's very talented and we enjoy listening to him.

Marc - Steve can get beer too!

Tried on and off all day yesterday to upload these.

The first is the cathedral at Santiago de Compostela.

The second is the Apostle St. James. Apparently, there was A picture of dead moors behind that was covered up after 9/11 for fear of terrorists.

Yesterday we toured the Minho Province out of Oporto. It was another beautiful day. Tour was good though Gail thought it a little long. More cathedrals and a pretty good lunch on a hill overlooking Braga.

We won trivia for the second time.

Had a nice dinner with Ken, Sheila, Don, and Carolyn. Asian prawns for appetizer and magret de canard for main course.

Today we'll be in Lisbon. We are off to see palaces.

Better post this before something happens.

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Eugene

Maria,

So glad you enjoyed the White Port. You can ask for it on the ship, too.

Though we visited the Cathedral at Santiago de Compostela, I remember seeing the Botafumeiro. It was quite amazing. One of the reasons for it is quite understandable.

How special see that Mass, Maria! I love to go to Mass in other countries, makes me feel part of the larger community. Sounds like such a great trip.
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Helen

I agree Helen - we were in port, Civitavecchia, one Sunday and decided to stay there - had done Rome - we wandered around and found 11 AM Mass it was spectaular! Then left and found hole in wall for lunch YUM- a great day!!!

Enjoying all your seamail and great pictures Eugene. Thanks guys!

Saturday, we drove to the Minho Province from Oporto, Portugal. Our first stop was Guimaraes, which was the first capital of Portugal and the birthplace of the first king. There we visited the palace of the Dukes of Braganca. This palace has 39 chimneys and a lot of furniture from the 17th and 18th centuries. From the palace we walked down to the center of town, which was picturesque. The we rebounded the bus and headed for Braga to see the Bom Jesus Sanctuary. The twin-towered church is at the top of a very long staircase that the devout and those with better knees than ours climb to visit the church. Apparently, there are chapels along the staircase that represent the Stations of the Cross. There is also a funicular that one can ride up to the church from below, though we arrived by coach.

We had lunch at a very nice restaurant near the church that had beautiful views of the town below. We had a very good thick vegetable soup, followed by veal with potatoes and some other vegetables. Strangely, they then came around with a huge platter of rice that was sort of sautéed and flavorful. Our guide said that it was a custom to have both potatoes and rice.

After lunch we drove down to the city of Braga where we saw its cathedral, which is known for massive gilded organs that together have over 3,000 pipes. Then we took a walking tour around the area and had some free time though it was siesta time so not that many shops were open.

The we boarded the bus and headed back to the ship. We got back to the ship just in time for trivia, which was ot well attended and not very difficult. We won with 14 of 15 questions correct. As I mentioned above dinner was with the Rodmans and Simpsons and was very good--most had an appetizer portion of asian style tiger prawns, followed by magret de canard.

Again, it had been a cloudless day with temperatures in the high 70s or low 80s.

Yesterday, we were in and around Lisbon and I'll try to report on that. Today is Cadiz/Seville. It's supposed to be considerably warmer. Tomorrow, thank goodness is a second and last sea day,

--------------------

Eugene

P.S. The "special" event is later this morning for gold, platinum, titanium--Spanish tapas and sangria.

Lovely to hear about your time in the Minho. We spent a few days there after a similar cruise a few years back, and loved that part of the world.

On Sunday, we were in Lisbon and went on an excursion called Palaces and Cascais outside of the city. It began with a visit to the palace of Queluz. This palace was transformed by Queen Maria I into a spectacular residence. Clearly, she was imitating the style of Versailles. The result is a Portuguese manor with French decoration. I thought it was one of the nicest relatively small palaces that I've seen. It also had nice gardens. I took loads of photos and posted a few below. (It's not easy on this trip.)

Our next stop was Sintra--an old village nestled in tree-clad hills. Another royal palace was located there that is one of the oldest buildings in Portugal. In addition to the palace, we had a few minutes to look at the local shops, and we wished that we had longer.

Our final stop was at Cascais, which was by a beautiful bay. We also had only a relatively short stop at this coastal resort, looking at the nice beaches and the nearby houses and shops. Again, more time would have been nice. The wavy tiled streets were particularly interesting.

Our trip back to the ship was all along the coast where we continued to see a number of beaches that we teeming with people.

We had a nice dinner with the Sonksens. Gail had duck a l'orange and I had prime rib. (I had to send mine back because it was overdone, but the second time around it was excellent.). For dessert I had a warm brioche and panettone pudding, which was like a fancy bread pudding, and it was quite good.

After dinner we went to the Horizon Lounge because they were doing Beatles night. What can I say? I think they "murdered" the songs. While we care little about the entertainment on these cruises, I am still amazed at the poor quality of the singers. We danced to a couple of songs before calling it a night.

----------------------------
Eugene


Didn't realize who was in the mirror.



Faux marble in the Queluz Palace



Wavy street in Cascais

Thanks Eugene for your postings. The towns look lovely. Glad you sent the prime rib back...gotta have rare prime rib

Very cool street. When you said "wavy", I had it pictured as the texture of the street rather than the pattern of the pavement.

Great pix and postings! I got dizzy looking at that wavy street.

Thanks Eugene! Please give Ken and Sheila and Susan and Paul our very best!

We just returned from taking Clyde and Jean to the airport to fly home. No one had posted what happened as we were not sure if they would want their situation on LCT but Jean told me to post what she called “their adventures”.

On embarkation Jean did not feel well and the ships doctor was concerned she may be having a stroke so during the life boat drill she was taken off the ship by stretcher to a hospital in Southampton. She had nothing but praise for the British medical system, loved her doctors and they gave her the most complete check up. Also she said the Regent port agent was wonderful. Jean was okay and it was probably just the stress of the flight and travel that had her vital signs so off kilter but always better to be safe than sorry.

They stayed in a small hotel in Southampton for a few days while she was cleared to travel again. Then they transferred to Gatwick to fly to Bordeaux and rejoin the ship. They arrived back to the ship on Clyde’s 96th birthday and had a lovely birthday celebration dinner. The ship did their block party that night and the officers stopped and sang happy birthday to Clyde. All was going just fine.

Two nights later while we were docked Clyde fell stepping out of the shower. He was pretty banged up and could not move for a while but did progress each day. Jean caught a cold as well and they decided they wanted to head home. The good news was that we were able to get them perfect flights home.
Barcelona to Atlanta at 10.00 am in business class – 2 hour layover – Atlanta to Jacksonville in First Class arriving home at 5.30 pm. The last night on board they left their cabin and went to Signatures for dinner that was a wonderful thing to have that last nice meal onboard somewhere other than their cabin. Many of the LCT’ers went by their table and said goodbye to them and they really appreciated that.

The airport went SO smoothly. Regent handled their immigration on board without them having to go through the normal procedures. A taxi van was waiting with a great driver to take us to the airport and we had a Regent wheelchair with us for Clyde that we would bring back to the ship. The taxi driver talked to the police and they allowed him to leave the taxi parked curbside and accompanied Clyde, Jean, Ken and me inside the airport. While he went and checked them in and got the boarding passes we waited for two wheelchairs, one for Jean and one for Clyde.
Of course we had the third Regent wheelchair. Jean grabbed her phone from her purse and had Ken take a picture of me in the spare wheelchair between Clyde and Jean. I am sure it was a cute shot. She is going to see if she can figure out how to post this on LCT. We never thought about taking a camera to the airport.

Of course we could not go past security but they had two great young guys as wheelchair drivers who were taking them through to the VIP lounge and they will not have to wait long for their flight. It could not have gone any smoother.

They are such a great couple, wonderful attitude and Clyde is absolutely amazing for 96 years old the taxi driver did not believe that was his age. They kept talking about how great the doctor had been to them, their room steward she said was amazingly helpful doing everything for them for the first days after Clyde’s fall. The GM Franck Galzy they said kept checking on them and they felt very well taken of by the Regent staff. That is nice to hear as you never know when things could happen to any of us on a trip. I think they were ready to get home.

They will be cancelling Canada now and we will all miss them and I can understand after this experience this is the best decision for them.

I am so sorry to hear about Jean and Clyde's situation but happy they are homeward bound. Sometimes home is where you need to be. Best wishes and thoughts to both of them :hug: :hug: :hug:

I too am so sorry to hear about their situation and will so miss them on CANADA. I was looking forward to seeing them again, we had such a nice time with them on FUN2.

I hope they both continue to mend and feel better and I'm sure being at home in their own comfortable environment will go a long way toward that.

Sounds like they were well taken care of by Regent and you Ngaire as well and ended their cruise on a positive note.

Frank and I send our love and best wishes.

So sorry to hear about the circumstances that cut short Jean & Clyde's trip. Hope the trip home was good and I'm so happy to hear that you, Ngaire & Ken, and Regent took such good care of them. We will miss them on CANADA. Best wishes for feeling better soon to them both!

I am so sad to hear about their misshaps. These are two of the sweetest people you will ever meet. I agree though sometimes home is the best place to be. I am sure they knew they were in good hands with Regent, Ngaire and Ken.

I am so dissapointed we won't see them on CANADA. I was so looking forward to seeing them again as they are such great dinner companions, etc.

Get well soon Clyde!

Wow! I am pretty stunned that at 96, Clyde was able to undertake this trip in the first place and so sad that it ended as it did. I also was taken by how well they were treated by you, Ngaire, and by Regent. Best wishes to both for a full recovery.
-----------------
Helen

96 is just a number - he and Jean can run circles around us :) :)

Well its a mighty impressive number, Joanna
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Helen

So sorry about the health issues but Jean and Clyde couldn't be in better hands than Ngaire, Ken and Regent.

Is there a more caring TA anywhere than Ngaire?

We all hope for good health outcomes for Jean and Clyde and a safe and comfortable journey home.