Sunset, Dead Ahead

Back On Terra Firma, A Few Parting Shots

Notes On The Mary

All is calm today on the North Atlantic. A different story yesterday, by the afternoon the winds had grown to 45 knots from the west, with 25 foot swells   The ship slowed to 15 knots, today we are doing 22 knots to get us into New York on time at 6:30 on Sunday morning, now just two days and 900 miles away. Life has been good on the ship. During the last four stormy days I've spent a fair bit of time in the library, which is forward on deck eight and is a beautiful wood paneled room with glass fronted shelves holding 9000 books. It overlooks the bow, it's been great fun sitting there,  watching the ship climb the swells and then slam into the troughs, with a great shudder, sea spray flying. Last night I got hooked up with some Irish guys, we closed the disco, then ended up in my cabin to drink the free bottle of bubbly that every guest gets on boarding. Got to bed at 4:30 and slept till noon, living the life of Riley! Today they have finally opened the outdoor promenade deck that goes all the way around deck 7, three times around equals a mile. It's cold, windy, but sunny and lots of people are out getting fresh air, taking a stroll. I think cabin fever had just about set in. I love that the deck is real teak wood. as are all the outdoor decks on the Mary. In fact I love just about everything about this ship. She's a real classic transatlantic liner, built for the 21st century, just now entering her 10th year, with a projected service life of 40 to 50 years, I guess that about makes her a young adult in ship years. It really is some kind of miracle that she exists at all, no one ever thought that a successor to the QE2 would have been built, and it would not have happened had Carnival not purchased Cunard Line in the 90's. It's CEO, Micky Arrison, had the drive, the vision, the money, and the right naval architect, Steven Payne, to get the job done, and they did it right. It's so cool that there is still scheduled transatlantic service, which Cunard started in 1840 and has been doing continually since, interrupted only by WW2 when it's great liners, Queen Mary and Queen Elizabeth were made troop ships, ferrying US soldiers, 16,000 per trip, to Great Britain, including my dad, Morris, over on Mary and back at the end of the war on Elizabeth. When he was 93, in 2007, we went on QE2 from Southampton to Alexandria, Egypt. He was fond of telling people this was his third queen, in fact Cunard gave us a past passenger discount due to his wartime travel on the Queens.

There's a great diversity of passenger on board. The ship is doing 12 nights in the Caribbean after leaving NYC Sunday evening, then returning to Southampton, so there are quite a few Brits doing that. There are also quite a few who are coming over to spend Christmas in the States with family, then returning home on the Mary's January 3 eastbound. There is also quite a few who are spending one night in New York, then boarding the Norwegian Gem for a seven night cruise to the Caribbean, then two nights in NYC and returning on the Mary. There are Americans on board who have been staying with family in Britain. As usual there are folks on board who simply refuse to fly. There is a man from Transylvania going to spend Christmas in Toronto, an Irish family going to spend Christmas in Kentucky, and an Irish musician who is, with his wife and baby daughter, emigrating to America. No steerage aboard this vessel, but it's the traditional way for the Irish to reach the States.  It makes for interesting conversation. Really there's never a dull moment, if you are outgoing and friendly, which most people are. 

I took this photo a couple of years ago,  it's better than any I took today.

A rainbow yesterday.

Dressed for dinner, reflection, elevator door.

Looking forward, the library.

A cool thing is the window that looks onto the bridge, who's steering the ship? The computer,of course.

Noon Report, Thursday, December 19

The weather has deteriorated noticeably since yesterday, with gale force winds, force nine, or 30 knots, from the south onto the port side, causing the ship to heel a fair bit to the starboard side, the swell is long and up to 22 feet, so she's pitching a fit today and rolling a bit too. We are 43 degrees longitude west and 43 degrees latitude north. Sea temp is 60 fahrenheit,and the air temp is 54. Our speed is 19 knots.  We've been running 450 to 500 miles per day and have 1453 left on the run into New York. The Commodore assures us that there is no other ship afloat that would be handling these very heavy seas with such elegance and aplomb, I just finished trivia in the Golden Lion Pub, an American is always appreciated on a team of Brits as they always throw in a few questions that pertain to the States, we did well, 17 out of 20, but didn't win. Now it's off to lunch, I'm starving!

We had a bit of blue sky yesterday, a nice shot off the stern.

Crazy waves today,view from the casino.

On Board The Mary, (QM2), Mid Atlantic

Life on board the ship has been going very well indeed, since boarding Sunday afternoon. The ship is as beautiful as ever, the service and food great, the weather terrible, I love it! Since we hit the English Channel, about two hours out from Southampton, the sea state has been very rough with high winds and swells of up to 18 feet. QM2 handles it very well and has been maintaining an average speed of 20 knots, which is, as the Commodore says in his noon announcement, impressive given the heavy seas. There is quite a bit of pitching motion, but very little roll. Aboard are 2300 passengers, from 44 countries, with  about 1400 from the UK and some 400 Americans. At my dinner table in the gorgeous Britannia Restaurant there are three of us yanks, one Brit, one Swede and an annoying little guy from Belgium. There has to always be someone who irritates. The table is located right in the center of things, just below the grand tapestry that dominates the three deck high center of the room and adjacent to the Commodore's table. Could not be happier. We are all single males, the first night one of the guys dubbed us the lady killers (!). Very funny.  So dinner is the most fun event of the day, but lunches aren't bad either. I've been going to the dining room where you are seated at a large table if you want, so you can meet a lot of people that way, which has been fun. Today I had fish and chips in the pub. Both are located on deck two, and have great views of the roiling sea just outside, rushing by with towering waves, and the occasional window washer slamming the glass. Great fun!

Southamptons Sea City Museum

The Sea City Museum here tell the story of the Titanic disaster, from the point of view of Southampton.   The ship crewed up here, over 400 of it's citizens lost their lives, there was scarcely a block that did not lose someone, mostly young men, really and entire generation of young men was lost, this city was vastly more affected than any other.

A photo of a photo, taken boarding the Titnaic by an Irish priest who disembarked in Queenstown, Ireland, the Titanic's final port 

The museum has a fantastic, large model of the Queen Mary, home-ported here her whole career, now in Long Beach, Ca.

Southampton Is A Lively Little City

Stenna Line Ferry from Dublin across the Irish Sea, Sail and Rail, one ticket all the way to Southampton, a steal at 52 Euro, You have to change stations in London, I set a new personal record for the shortest visit there, 55 minutes.

The Juniper Berry is a pub that rents rooms for the night upstairs,stayed here two nights,great little inexpensive place, with a pub full of friendly locals,amused that an american had found it.

Like in most of the cities I visited this awesome trip, Southampton has a Christmas Market going on. Not only is it festive and fun people watching, but it's full of food booths, a great way to eat all kinds of food cheaply. I've been really lucky this whole trip. as the weather has been quite mild. It's raining a bit this morning, but that's the first I've seen, which is really unusual for Scotland, Ireland and England for December.

The Burren And The Cliffs Of Moher

I and my new friend Vincent took a full day tour out into the Irish countywide  to see the most visited natural site in Ireland, the Cliffs of Moher, which rise hundreds of feet out of the Atlantic,and are quite spectacular. On the way we rode through the Burren, which is a rocky highland,with medieval ruins and 5000 year old wedge tombs erected by the hunter gatherers of that time.

Vincent is a really cool French guy from Bretagne, living in Paris, who wants to speak better English, we did a lot of talking.

Love the ancient stone walls.

5000 year old wedge tomg.

A celtic cross of course

The cliffs are quite spectacular, and no rain!

On To Galway

Galway is a completely charming town about two and a half hours west of Dublin, right on the Atlantic coast. It's medieval core is intact and and chock full of shops restaurants and most of all pubs. There's a friendly, clean hostel called The Barnacle where I spent two nights, made some friends, hung out, ate some good food, and drank Guinness. lots of fun, traditional Irish music everywhere. Highly recommended!

Out And About In Dublin Town

Winter shadow at Trinity College

Feeding the seagulls at St. Stevens Green

Lovely St. Steven's Green  in City Centre was a gift from Arthur Guinness

Guinness and beef stew for lunch

Love the painted storefront windows

Seahorses on the Liffey

Snowmen toasting