July 31

Saturday July 31.




Cherbourg France



We woke up this morning to an early morning room service call. We had to meet at 8:15 in the Promenade Lounge for the tour to Tatihou Island.



It was hard to get the girls up and moving but room service arrived and we did make it on time.



There was a bus ride of about 40 minutes through some wonderful small French Villages, with lovely churches, graveyards and lots of lovely flowers. It was pretty early still so the villages were pretty quite but lots of people setting up the outdoor cafes beside the bakeries, and women walking with their baquettes.



It was a gray cool day but no rain. We arrived at a small port where we got onto an amphibian boat, being low tide we would be driving out around the oyster fields, at first it looked like they were for seaweed, but the tour guide said that they were for cultivating oysters.

 It was a short ride to the island and then we had a short walk through the gardens. There was a maritime museum that we were supposed to visit but we just walked past. The gardens were lovely, lots of interesting plants and some old shipbuilding remains.

There was an Adventure by Disney Guide with us also on the tour and they did try to make it more child friendly with a bird search when we got to the bird sanctuary but I felt bad for the guide as the only birds around were sea gulls. People were getting bored at this point so people started wandering off to the Vauban Tower. This was neat, a real drawbridge

and we were able to walk up the 4 or 5 stories and explore the tower.

Lots of steep spiral staircases.

View from the top

The view from the hill beside the tower

After this was a bit of a waste. Looking back I am assuming this was the free time that was listed on the tour description but the tour guide did not say anything and people just stood around waiting for something to happen. . We finally decided to head back and we got to check out the gardens and Lauren found a lovely coin of the Tower.

We met back at 11:30 to board the boat back to the port. The tide had come in so it was a boat ride to the bus.



The girls enjoyed the tower but the local tour guide was really hard to understand and he admitted that he did not normally go to this area, so I don’t think he knew that much about the tower, as looking at the tour description we missed a lot.



We got back to the ship about 1:00 and had lunch. I was hoping the girls would go to the clubs so I could head back into the town of Cherbourg and look around but the sun had come out and the girls wanted to go swimming.

The afternoon was spent on the pool deck, dinner was a rush as there was face painting in the clubs and the girls chill party was going on in the club.

A run in with a princess (look we match)

July 30

Friday July 30.




We all slept through the night again and did not get up till 8:00. Sydney had wanted to get up at 5:00 to watch the Magic come into port but luckily she did not wake up. We did rush out and the Magic was right there waiting for us.

We had breakfast and took another walk down the beach, lots of neat rocks but no sand on this beach.

About 11:00 we checked out and got a taxi to the Port. I though we had arrived late, but we got boarding card #7 so we would not have too long of a wait as they were going to start boarding at 11:45. I noticed DCL was touring a huge group of British Travel Agents so I think they are planning on more cruises out on the UK in the future.



Minnie arrived and of course Sydney was in line to get the first of many pictures. By the end of the cruise the photographers knew us by name without even looking at our key cards. Lauren of course does not want anything to do with the characters but was willing to fool around with some old English Gentlemen.

#7 was called and we were announced and welcomed back. The girls wanted to head straight for the pool so that was were we headed. Having always sailed in March which can be cold and dark by 6:00 the girls really took advantage of the warmth and extra day light. It was breezy up on the pool deck but the pools were warm.

The afternoon was spent in the pool, and playing shuffleboard, and a few characters all the favorite things to do.

Daisy was telling us what she got in St Petersburg.

4:00 PM was the Safety drill and you sure could tell there were a lot of first time cruisers on board. They kept asking people to line up smallest to largest with a row for each cabin but people kept going in front of all the kids and the staff could not find all the cabins, but they finally located everyone and we were finally allowed to leave.



We headed up to Deck 10 for the sail away and Sydney got into the dance mood. It was very impressive sailing out of Dover with the Castle in the background and also the White Cliffs of Dover.

We once again had early dinner and this cruise that was at 6:00. Dinners were slow once again, and the girls were still not very adventuresome in there choices . We were at a table with a girls Lauren’s age and they had lots of fun.

After dinner I think the Lauren rushed to the club and Sydney went for a swim.




We went to the welcome aboard show. The songs and dancers were good but the entertainers, a ventriloquist and magician were not terribly impressive and we will not be rushing to see their shows later in the week.

July 29

Thursday July 29




Today we were taking the train to Dover, so after breakfast we walked the short 2 minutes to Victoria Station and were able to get our tickets and find out where the train was leaving from.

After 2 hours on the train we arrived in Dover and it was still sunny, but pretty windy. We took a taxi to the hotel the Premier Inn Dover Ferry Docks. The room was not ready so we stowed our luggage and went for lunch. After lunch we headed for a walk down the beach. I was hoping to convince the girls that we should walk up to Dover Castle but they just wanted to stay on the beach, so Dover Castle will have to wait for another trip.

We had dinner at the hotel restaurant and it was so slow, but there was nothing else within walking distance. After dinner we headed back to the room and watched a couple of old episodes of Murder She Wrote, which the girls enjoyed. We were all pretty tired and asleep by 9:00.

We just got back from the girls first trip to Europe and we had a great time.




I booked this cruise strictly on that it was the only 1 that fit my work schedule, lots of ports and it was Disney so it should be ok. Well the more I researched and read other trip blogs the more excited I got as it looked like a great introduction to Europe for the girls.



Tuesday July 27 arrived, but there was a tons of last minute work that needed to be done. I think I talked to about 6 different people that I had not talked to in the last 6 months and they all needed something urgently before I left. I ended up having to take my laptop home and working right till we were about to leave, but it all got done.



We almost did not make the flight. We were flying Air Canada and did on line check in and got to the airport at 9:00 for and 11:30 flight and the line to drop bags off was snaking all the way through the International departure area to the US. People were not happy as the line was not moving. They had 4 people working and there were 5 international flights leaving at the same time. Luckily they called for all people on the flight to London and we got to drop our bags off, as we were no where near the front and would never had made it. A supervisor came out to try and calm people down and was arguing with a man that he should know it is summer and you need to be in line more than their posted recommended time. I kept thinking you know it is summer and that you have 5 flights leaving why do you have 10 terminals but only 4 of them manned.

Luckily there was no line for security and we made it just as the flight was about to board. The flight was not full and we ended up with an empty seat beside us. Sydney got the extra space and she got the most sleep, but none of got much sleep.



We arrived in London and were off the plane by 11:45 AM London time, it took about an hour to get our luggage and get through customs. I had originally planed to take the tube into London, but I decided to book a car service, Simply Airports was on time and we were off to our hotel, the Park Plaza Victoria Station, which we arrived at by 2:00.



The hotel was very nice and the lobby was full of legs, we later found a torso in the elevator lobby but we never found the head. Our room was ready and we were able to drop our bags off. Lauren really wanted to have a nap as she was tired, but we kept going. It was a beautiful day in London sunny but not too warm.



Our first stop was lunch, we decided on McDonalds in the train station, it was fast and girls ate and were perked up and really to head to the Mew at Buckingham Palace. I wish I had chosen the Palace, but the last admission was 3:00 and I did not think we would make it so I prebooked tickets to the Mews instead. The Mews are the stables where all the Queen’s horses and carriage are stored. It was interesting and Sydney was thrilled that the Queen has a horse with her name.

We spent about an hour there and then headed out through the gift shop. Lauren decided that she was going to collect coins and got one of Buckingham Palace and Sydney was going to collect book marks, so she got hers.

We walked around to the front of the Palace and took some pictures of the Guards, but we were fading fast and decided to head back.


 There was a restaurant we had passed that had been recommended to me, but there was no way the girls would stay awake for dinner so we found a grocery store and picked up some bread, salads and fruit and also some pink marshmallow cookies that were way too sweet.



Lauren lasted till 6:30 and she was out until 8:00 the next morning. Sydney and I stayed up till about 9:00, but we all slept through the night.

Packing

4 more sleeps and packing is in full force.

Sent from my iPod

Less than 1 week to go

So this time next week we will have landed in London, this trip is coming fast and I have had so much time to prepare why do I feel so unprepared, do have a rough idea of what we will do:

London we are doing the Royal Mews at Buckingham Palace, and then taking the train to Dover the next day.




Dover: Dover Castle

Cherbourg we are going to do a DCL tour to Tatihou Island which is a bird sanctuary and Vauban Tower a World UNESCO site.



Vigo we are  doing a DCL tour to Valenca which is a fortified city on the Spain/Portugal border.



Lisbon we are going to brave the public transportation and take the metro and trams to St Georges Castle and search for Portuguese pasties.



Cadiz we are taking the hop on hop off bus around the city and get off at one of the beaches.



Gibraltar we will take a taxi and do a Rock Tour and check out the Barbary Apes.

Barcelona we are going to Park Guell and Sagrada Familia.

Just realized that on Tuesday it will be 5 weeks till we leave. Got our cabin assignment we got an sideway inside on Deck 5, beside the room we were in on the Wonder in March, exactly what I was hoping for. Deck 5, is a great location close to the kids clubs.

Changed hotels in London we are now staying at the Park Plaza Victoria Station, and have decided to take a car service into London, instead of the tube, so that is arranged.
We have tickets to go to the Royal Mews after we arrive in London, Lauren is disappointed we are not doing Buckingham Palace, but the latest ticket for the palace is 3:15 and I did not think we would make that. Hoping to do St George Palace in Lisbon so once Palace should be good.


Need to get serious about packing.

A couple of pictures from March on the Wonder, we are so excited to be heading to the Magic, no Castaway Cay this time though.