Le Havre and Final Reflections.

Prior to arriving here today we were informed that as it was a Sunday nothing would be open and therefore it would be better to book a tour. Sorry Princess but you lied, although all the large stores were closed many small shops and a large market provided plenty of entertainment.
Much of the centre of Le Havre was destroyed in the war and unlike some British towns it has been rebuilt in a most tasteful manner. Although largely made from reinforced concrete the design by Auguste Perret has been thought highly enough of to be named a World Heritage Site.
The shuttle bus dropped us off in a large square at the top of Rue George V with the magnificent “Volcan” building in front of us.

Designed by famous architect Oscar Niemeyer these buildings house a theatre and media library. Opposite stands the impressive war memorial standing in honour of those who fell in both World Wars and other conflicts that the French have been involved with.

As we made our way through the side streets towards St Joseph’s Church we came across the Sunday market. Here a mixture of indoor and outdoor stalls sold various items of clothing along with cakes...

…..cheeses,

…and (of course no blog post about a market would be complete without),fish.

The market was a destination both for tourists and locals, with the latter picking up their weekend meat and vegetables. Entertainment was on hand for the children while some adults sat and sipped coffee watching the crowds go by.

Some smaller shops were open including this one….

…presumably “pour les personnes locale”!!
A short walk from the market took us to the yacht harbour and the beach beyond. A wide promenade was full of walkers, runners and cyclists all enjoying this bright Sunday morning.

The beach itself was a little disapponting being made up of small peebles rather than sand, not a patch on our local South Wales’ beaches. The modern architectural style even presented itself on the beach with this installation, the Sunday sailors in their small yachts in the distance.

Visible from all over the city is another of Perret’s creations, the 107 metre high tower of St Joseph’s Church.

The tower contains some 12000 plus pieces of multi coloured glass the full effect of which can be seen from withing the church.

It’s well worth visiting if you are in the area.
In addition to the picturesque flower beds, the gardens outside the town hall contain various fountains, models of birds…..

…and a lovely avenue of trees.

So contrary to what we were told Le Havre was a charming place to visit and the fact that the large stores were closed was probably a major advantage.
We disembark Royal Princess in Southampton early tomorrow so this will be the final post. It has been a good yet busy cruise with nine ports of call and only two sea days. We have seen places we have never visited before and refreshed our memory in some that we know quite well. We’ve managed to fit in a number of games of table tennis and won our fair share of trivia. Princess has however changed the prizes and we are now the proud owners of several Princess bags and some wine stoppers (they’ll make excellent Christmas presents!!!).
Hope you have enjoyed our journey and look forward to continuing our rambling next April.

Stirling Castle and the Battle of Bannockburn.

The ship today was berthed at South Queensferry just by the three bridges that cross the Firth of Forth; the red railway bridge, the old road bridge and the recently opened Queensferry bridge.

The trip we had booked was due to leave at 1.30 so we spent the morning relaxing on the ship, playing table tennis and trying out a new game (for us) of pickle ball. Played on a court similar to that used in badminton the game uses a plastic ball with hard wood bats. It kept us amused for a while but suffice to say neither of us will be taking it up professionally.
The tender ashore took us under the railway bridge to a small pier in the town itself and we boarded the coach to take us firstly to the Battle of Bannockburn site. Along the route we passed the town of Falkirk and the giant horses heads known as The Kelpies. These stand some 30 metres tall and lie next to the motorway, this photograph taken through the coach window.

Arriving at the Bannockburn Heritage Centre we were treated to a 3D film presentation outlining the events leading up to the battle. This was then followed by a brilliant presentation that took us through the battle hour by hour. The battle which took place in 1314 was fought between Robert the Bruce and his Scottish troops and King Edward II’s vastly bigger English army. Bruce used his knowledge of the area and some superb military tactics to defeat Edward’s army and in the words of the song ..”Sent him homeward to think again”.
Unlike Culloden where we visited yesterday, the battlefield has been developed with housing built on part of the site. Standing proudly in the centre of the field is a statue of the hero of the day, Robert the Bruce.

The battlefield sits just outside the city of Stirling in which the magnificent castle sits high on an extinct volcano dominating the plains below. Due to its key strategic location Stirling is one of the most besieged castles in the country with the Battle of Sterling Bridge taking place nearby. It was in this battle in 1297 that William Wallace (Braveheart) also defeated an English army.
As we approached the castle Sylvia couldn’t resist having her photo taken with her 21st Great Grand Father.

The castle gates or forework, seen here from the Queen Anne garden…….

….was installed by James IV (of Scotland) around 1500 and inside sits the Royal Palace. These have been completely renovated inside in the style of the 1540s such as here in the Queen’s bedroom.

Throughout the palace the hugh fireplaces were decorated with banners…..

….but the most spectacular part of the visit was the Stirling Heads Gallery. These are a series of tiles in the ceiling of the King’s Inner Hall depicting the heads of various great and good people. Unfortunately the originals have been lost in the long history of the castle but these replicas were commissioned to replace them.

Outside the Queen Anne’s garden are well laid out with lawns and a quite magnificent array of flowering plants.

From the battlements of the castle the Wallace Monument, built in honour of Braveheart himself, is visible in the distance.

We arrived back at South Queensferry and caught the final tender back to the ship. We now have a sea day tomorrow before our final port of call on Sunday, Le Havre.

The Battle of Culloden and looking for Nessie.

Invergordon, today’s stop, is a charming little port town whose deep harbour is home to many oil platforms that are here for refurbishment. The town itself is small but forms the gateway to the Eastern Highlands of Scotland.

Todays trip was to take us along the banks of Loch Ness to Urquhart Castle onto Inverness and then finally a visit to the battlefield of Culloden Moor.
After a lovely early morning drive through the various villages along the loch side, our guide pointing out items of interest, we arrived at Urquhart Castle. Visiting the toilets a Scotsman wearing national dress explained to me how much easier it was in a kilt. I didn’t quite know what to say, so smiled, washed my hands and left.
The castle is a little bit of a ruin but its location on the edge of Loch Ness makes it very photogenic.

Parts of the castle date back to Pictish times and it was once one of the largest strongholds of medieval Scotland. It was destroyed during the Jacobite rebellion in the 18th Century but you can still see the outline of the great castle it once was.

From the castle we took a boat trip up the loch towards Inverness, unfortunately this is when the weather broke and it began raining. It still gave opportunities for some great shots of the castle from the loch.

As we sailed along the loch we kept our eyes peeled for any sightings of the creature of the lake but the rain must have deterred him/her as we saw nothing.
We drove into Inverness, known as the capital of the highlands, for lunch. It looked a very nice city but unfortunately we didn’t have too much time to explore it.

The main focus of the afternoon was a visit to the site of the last battle on British soil, Culloden Moor. Here the Jacobites lead by Bonnie Prince Charlie fought against the government troops of King George I. Although often described as a religious conflict or an England vs Scotland battle, our guide took time to explain that this was a civil war. Families were split with fathers and sons sometimes on opposite sides. On this bleak moorland battle ground in 1746…..

….the Jacobean army was effectively massacred by the vastly superior numbers of government troops. The site today is really a mass graveyard for the hundreds of soldiers on both sides who lost their lives on that one day. Stones mark the sites of the graves of the various Scottish clans.

At the edge of the battlefield sits a small cottage which formed the headquarters of the government troops….

…nearby to which a number of Jacobean soldiers were slaughtered in a barn.
The exhibition hall at the site has many artefacts of the battle and shows a very graphic film presentation of events of the day. A very sobering experience.
Tomorrow we will be visiting another great battle site at Bannockburn.

Chocolate Buffet and Kirkwall.

Cruising and chocolate buffets go hand in hand. On our first couple of cruises the buffet was held at midnight and sported an array of cakes and confections together with a chocolate fountain. On later cruises the event was moved to an afternoon where you could enjoy your sugar rush together with a nice cup of tea. On this cruise Princess have surpassed that, the chocolate buffet was served at breakfast yesterday.

In addition to the usual cakes,mousses and chocolate fountain, you could indulge in chocolate porridge - a lovely way to start a sea day.

I don’t usually mention the entertainment in these posts but last night we had the pleasure of listening to a brilliant vocal trio call The Flyrights. They sang and danced to a series of soul, Motown and R&B favourites and were excellent.

Today’s visit was to the capital of the Orkney Islands, Kirkwall. The town itself is located on the largest of the islands which is called Mainland,so when a local says he is "going to the Mainland” he means this island.
The ship’s berth is approximately a mile from the town centre but it was such a pleasant morning we decided to walk rather than catch the shuttle bus. On the way in we passed a Hydrogen Refuelling station, the first time I had seen one of these. The Orkneys are a centre for renewable energy as this sign demonstrates.(For you Diarra).

Dominating the skyline of the town is the magnificent St Magnus Cathedral, built in 1137. Built of old red sandstone it is known as the “Light of the North” …….

……inside the walls are covered by 15th century gravestones of people who are buried under the floor.

On the side of the cathedral is a quite magnificent doorway and arch.

Opposite the cathedral sits the Bishop’s and Earl’s Palace constructed in the early 11th century at the same time as the main church. Although now largely a ruin…..

….it still gives a good idea of how the upper classes lived at the time. Including how big their fire places were!!

Although originally built for the Bishop the palace fell into the hands of one Patrick Stewart, an illegitimate son of James V, in the 16th century. He was known as “Black Patie” and it was he who had the Earl’s Palace built.

His lavish lifestyle and the construction costs left him heavily in debt and he was compelled to hand over his palces to the bishop...

…his magnificent cathedral visible all the time.

After a short walk through the shops to the harbour….

…..we returned to the ship, this time via the shuttle bus.

Tomorrow the port of Invergordon and a visit to Loch Ness, hopefully Nessie will grace us with his (or her) presence.

Edinburgh via Greenock.

Today’s destination, the port of Greenock is located about a 45 minute drive from Glasgow. As Sylvia and I had visited this city on a number of occassions we decided to take the oppurtunity to visit Edinburgh as we had not been there before. This involved an early morning call to board the coach at 07.15 to make the 2 hour journey to Scotland’s capital city. The weather in Greenock when we left was overcast but dry; in Edinburgh it was overcast and wet, and it didn’t improve all day.
Our coach dropped us off near Waverley Station and we made the short walk up the Royal Mile to the castle. The festival and military tattoo finished last week and as we walked through the castle entrance workmen were removing the event’s temporary seating.

I was surprised at how compact the parade ground was, it looked much larger on TV.
We explored the various parts of the castle trying to avoid the rain and the ever increasing number of tourists... they get everywhere.

The Scottish Crown Jewels and the Stone of Destiny are both housed at the castle and we joined the queue to view them. No photographs were allowed in this room and the exhibits were poorly labelled, a little disappointing really.

The castle sits high on a hill overlooking both the old and new town below. On a clear day I am certain that the view would be amazing but today this was the best we could get.

After spending an hour or so at the castle we decided we could do with a drink and something to eat, so we made our way down the hill towards Greyfriars. Here we came across a small cafe that has great literary connections.

It was in the Elephant House that writer JK Rowling wrote the first drafts of the Harry Potter books. Just around the corner is Greyfriars Kirk…...

…the graveyard of which gave Miss Rowling many of the names for the books. Here can be found graves for the Potter family, Scrymgeour, Black and this one for Thomas Riddell(Lord Voldemort).

Of course Greyfriars itself is better known as the home of that loyal little dog known as Greyfriars Bobby who sat on his late master’s grave for some 12 years after his death. A statue commemorates his loyalty.

Almost directly opposite this statue lies the National Museum of Scotland where Sylvia and I decided to split up for a short time. She visited an exhibition on fashion through the ages whereas I went into “Rip It Up” , the story of Scottish Pop. This outlined the history of Scottish Pop from Lonnie Donegan to current artists such as Biffy Clyro through audio visual presentations and memorabilia. A very good and enjoyable experience.

The last literary link that we made today was a visit to the Sir Walter Scott memorial on Prince’s Street, prior to returning to the coach for our journey back to the ship.

A great day in Edinburgh even if we did get very wet.
Back at the ship we were entertained by a Scottish Folkloric group which included singers, dancers and a pipe and drum ensemble. An excellent presentation.

At just after six the ship sailed away from Greenock along the Firth of Clyde onwards to our next port of call, Kirkwall.

Tomorrow is a sea day so no blog unless something exciting happens.