Bob and Janet's Excellent Adventure Continues...

...After a two year hiatus, I decided to pick up the trail.  

We were supposed to take a Viking River Cruise, with extensions on either end, from Berlin to Prague.  Having scheduled this over a year ago, I had characteristically left the day by day planning until just a couple of weeks ago.  With eyes glazed over and butt going numb from sitting for hours in front of the screen, after jumping through German hoops to get Bundestag entry reservations, and after mapping the best biergartens on my offline map app, I was losing some enthusiasm for the trip.

Viking has notified us that "...water levels on the Elbe River are currently low, making it unlikely that your ship will be able to sail. Since rain is not forecasted in the near future, we have modified your itinerary...." 


Gott sei Dank gibt es so etwas wie den Klimawandel nicht!  (as Bob likes to say)

The modified itinerary involved too many logistical gymnastics and, given my waning enthusiasm, provided the perfect out.  We got our money back and slapped it down on a cruise from Rome to Rome.

My thoughts have turned from sausages to gellato, from biergartens to vineyards, and from Checkpoint Charlie to Gaudi.

Here's our new itinerary:

ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY
NAPLES, ITALY
AT SEA
PALMA DE MALLORCA, SPAIN
BARCELONA, SPAIN
BARCELONA, SPAIN
AT SEA
MONTE CARLO, MONACO
SANTA MARGHERITA, ITALY
FLORENCE/PISA(LASPEZIA)ITALY
ROME (CIVITAVECCHIA), ITALY

Greenwich mean

Now back at home, after being laid low for a week by the respiratory scourge of the Viking Sun, I'm finally getting around to the final (maybe) post.

We arrived at our Thames River mooring early in the morning.  I should have gotten up to see the sights as we made our way in to Greenwich, but needed to rest up for the next day's early call of 3:45 AM for transit to Heathrow.

We were anchored in the river, tied up to an immigration barge/office.  We exited the ship onto the barge and onto awaiting river taxis to carry us to shore.  All very efficient.

Perhaps it was a mistake, but we decided to skip the bus tour of London, saving it for a return visit, and focus on Greenwich.  We headed for the Royal Observatory.  We took a meandering route past pubs and quiet residential streets and parks.   A lovely, and no doubt, a pricey place to live.

The Royal Observatory self guided audio tour was just okay.  Great views and we had a photo op with feet in two different time zones.  Folks were queued up behind the ubiquitous oblivious young Asian girl who insisted upon a gazillion poses from her obliging devotee.

We strolled back down to the river and stopped for fish and chips and a beer at a pub before taking a tour of the Cutty Sark.  I'm not sure how Cutty Sark became associated with whiskey, but the ship was noted for it's transport of tea between England and the Far East.  It's been restored and has a glass visitors center surrounding the hull.

Taken through a porthole on The Cutty Sark

Bob heads back to the ship while I spend a couple hours wandering the streets and walking the Thames River pathway.  We'll come back to London someday, and Greenwich seems like a good spot for an AirBnB home base.

We're concerned about baggage handling.  We each have two large duffels, packed full, plus carryons and computer bags.  Our big bags have to be in the hallway by 10 PM for transport to shore.  We have a 3:45 AM call to tender ashore where we are to identify our bags and see that they end up on the bus to Heathrow with us.  What we're unsure about is how we'll be able to heft them to the bus ourselves and how we'll get them from the bus to baggage check at Heathrow.  Not to worry-everything went so smooth.  There were porters at the baggage tent that helped us to the bus and handcarts available at Heathrow to get us to baggage check.  Done.

Now relax in the business class lounge.  Wow.  I had no idea this was a thing, or else I would have made sure to be a few hours early for our flight to Miami back in December.  Mimosas, wine, bloody marys, breakfast, snacks, newspapers, comfy chairs, polite attendants.  I don't think I can go back to steerage.  More of the same treatment on the plane.  We had our own comfy pods and way too much food.  I was actually able to sleep a little.  Watched two movies, The Post (not so good) and Molly's Game (good mindless crime drama.)

Pete fetches us at JFK and it's a smooth ride back home.  Our pets welcome us and we head to the local joint for Cinco de Mayo.

Adios Amigos.

Goodbye new friends

Heather, Rex, Allen, Sandy, Bob, Janet

Cruise Director, Heather Clancy

Captain Atle H. Knutsen

Porto

Another tease.  Viking runs river tours of the Douro River Valley, so I guess they want to entice us to come back.  We had only a few hours here and it definitely calls for a few days, at least.  When I get home I’m going to start planning a trip to Spain and Portugal.  Please excuse the quality of the photos because, except for at two brief stops, all the photos were taken from the bus window.

The port where we are docked is outside the old city.  The new port building is pretty spectacular, Guggenheim-like and covered with glazed tile.   A Portuguese dance troupe greets us as we disembark.  

The bus follows the shore from the port area, passing a busy beach promenade, on the way into the city of Porto.  It’s May Day, equivalent to our Labor Day, and everybody is out walking, running, biking…., but not swimming.  The water doesn’t get much warmer than 65 degrees.

Porto’s old city is a UNESCO World Heritage site.  It’s an old fortified city, but not much of the city wall remains.  I think that the designation is due to the incredible number of granite buildings of high style.  These, along with the many facades of glazed tile, make for photo ops around every corner.

Tile facades

We stop for some independent strolling and shopping.  The guide heads down toward the river, saying there wouldn’t be much shopping in that direction.  Bob goes that way and I go uphill in search of small souvenirs (no room left in the luggage.)  Turns out that downhill was the better choice.  The riverside was busy with vendors and people celebrating the holiday.  On the upside-Portugal has gelato. 

J. K. Rowling was living in Porto when she started to conceive of the world of Harry Potter.  University students are known for dressing in all black (ironically, I guess.)  This became the uniform of Hogwarts.  The train station here was the model for the train station in her novels.

Portugal, and more famously Porto, is known for its port wine.  The fortified wines of Portugal came into being out of the necessity to make a wine that would withstand shipping.  The natural fermentation is stopped and a brandy-like alcohol is added, increasing the alcohol content and resulting in a longer shelf life.  Only those ports made in Portugal are allowed to call themselves “port.”  The hillsides of the city of Villa Nova de Gaia, across the river from Porto, are where all the port from the region is sent for fermentation and storage.  The cellars are built into the mountainside on this cooler side of the Douro River.  

We cross the Ponte Luis to Villa Nova de Gaia for a tour and port tasting at one of the cellars, Burmester.  We tasted a ruby, aged in stainless steel tanks, and a tawny, aged in oak barrels.

Back on the bus and retrace our steps back along the shore to the ship.  The housekeeping crew is lined up along the gangway to welcome us back with glasses of port.  I had to take one of each. 

Sail away.  Boo Hoo.