Life's a Stitch

Scotland: Edinburgh and Lerwick, Shetland Islands

Sept 22nd and 23rd

 

Our first port in Scotland was “Potteresque” Edinburgh, full of history and charming architecture. I appreciate urban areas devoid of high rise buildings. 

The ship required a tender to ferry us back and forth to the dock. Then we spent the day on the Hop On Hop Off bus, which we’ve found to be an excellent way to tour a new city if the weather cooperates. One of my goals was to shop for a scarf from Scotland. When I went to pay for it I noticed the clerk unpacking more from a large box that had arrived from China. I asked where they were made and it was confirmed, they are not products of Scotland at all. I was directed to one small bank of shelves with locally produced scarves at an exorbitant price, so I put off my quest until we arrive in the Shetland Islands. It made me laugh, however, to think of our past trip to China where everything is "locally made," and we bought things we wouldn't buy elsewhere because they were made in China.

 

A disadvantage of a large ship is the tendering process. Although we had priority boarding for the tender in, due to our “loyalty” status, it was not so for the return. We arrived at the dock on time, with a couple of thousand others and it took a good hour to board. With so many in the same boat, so to speak, we knew the ship wouldn’t leave without us. 

 

We sailed 482k (300 miles) to the Shetland Islands and landed in Lerwick, where it’s inconceivable that I was unaware that the Shetland Wool Week conference was happening.

Home to Jamieson yarns, Lerwick is a knitter’s paradise.

We were able to attend the exhibition at the main museum as well as the meet and greet.  As if that wasn’t enough of a treat for me, I was invited to a geocaching meetup later in the afternoon. Afterwards I found my UK made lamb's wool scarf as a significantly lower cost than in Edinburgh.

 

Back on board waiting for me was one of my favourite loyalty benefits, a free “bag” of laundry, delivered back in a wicker basket and tissue paper. You quickly learn how to roll clothing tightly to fit more into that small paper laundry bag. 

The next day was a sea day. You know it’s going to be rough when the wine glasses are placed lying down on the tables and barf bag dispensers are positioned at each landing on the stairwell.

On to Iceland.

Zeebrugge, Belgium and LaHavre, France

September 19 and 20, 2023 (once again, catching up).

If it’s Tuesday, this must be Belgium. That was the name of a 1969 movie about a whirlwind 18-day sightseeing tour of Europe. Apparently I’m living the plot of that film, as it’s Tuesday and we are in Belgium for the day.

Not a fan of large cruise ships, we disembarked in Zeebrugge on a grey windy day with about 4000 others. There are two types of people on a cruise ship: those who don’t care how much they spend on organized excursions and those more adventurous, determined to spend less and see what they want to. Today the group was split maybe 50/50 and I’m sure you can predict which side we’d be on. 

Our half went to the tiny grocery store to buy a day’s transit pass that would take us into Bruges. What the clerk failed to mention was that there was only one bus per hour, which held 50 passengers. That combined with the short amount of time at this port, would have given us 90 minutes max in Bruges. Combined with the fact that it was a dark and stormy day, we elected to stay put and explore the seaside town of Zeebrugge, where there was a geocache situated on the pier.

We arrived back at the port with enough time to visit the Belgian chocolate factory store located near the ship.

On Wednesday it was LaHavre, France. I was so looking forward to this port, our only stop in France, for one, albeit strange reason. France has a version of Nescafé decaf that is as good as decent brewed coffee. I have tried the Nescafé decaf in a number of countries and none are as good, so it was my opportunity to stock up. Dear friends, if you ever find yourself in France, with space in your luggage, I would appreciate any that you can carry home. 

A group of five of us walked the city of LaHavre, which was nearly totally destroyed in the war, and rebuilt with designs by architect, Auguste Perret. We met a local, who truly loved her city and gave us a private history lesson. We took the funicular for a city view 

then back down to board the Bee Bus to the village of Honfleur on the other side of the intimidating Normandy Bridge.

Rosemary and I had the required French meal - Moules Frites, mussels and fries, mine with chenin blanc, hers with rose. Chuck went off to find a bar with what he describes as the best hard cider of his life.

C discovered my rain jacket had fallen through a hole in his backpack, so a trip to Decathlon, our favourite sporting goods store of our Camino days, was required on the way back to the ship. Storms are in the forecast.