THE BONNIE BONNIE BANKS O' LOCH LOMON'!

Regal Princess/Greenock, Scotland
Monday, September 30, 2024
Cloudy, foggy, rainy, 50F

Pipe Major David McRobert

played bagpipes before dinner

Greenock, where we are docked today on the River Clyde, is a small town in the far west of Scotland. Its population is around 44,000, and its most famous resident was James Watts who invented the steam engine around 1776.  Today it is a commuter town for Glasgow which is 25 miles away.

We were scheduled on a scenic bus tour around a few “lochs.”  Today was colder than the previous many days, and even wearing a t-shirt, a turtleneck, a sweatshirt, a jacket, and a rain jacket, I was very cold.  I am looking at this trip around Great Britain as a prep for winter back home.  TK is cold too, so it isn’t just me!  Believe it or not, there were people on the bus who wanted the air on. 

Public art near Greenock

nothing like throwing sledgehammers

Our tour guide was a delightful Scottish lad named Scott. He told us that if the Scots look at the River Clyde and can’t see across, it is raining. If they can see across the river, it isn’t raining yet.  I thought that was quite a funny remark.

Scotland’s population is 5.5 million with 8 million sheep! Only about 60,000 people speak Scottish Gaelic today, and English is the main language.  Scott gave us a little history lesson, and most interesting was that the Romans called the area Caledonia from the first century.

The countryside is very hilly with lots of deciduous looking trees, although still completely green, along with lots of pine trees.  We saw many grazing sheep along the way, but did not get any photos of sheep! Houses made of stone, brick apartment buildings, stone fences, ferns, creeks and rivulets, the area is hillier that Pennsylvania, although the countryside did remind me of Bear Lake in Warren County, untouched beauty (that is until the gas drilling started).

Loch Lomond

Our first stop was Loch Lomond, Scotland’s second largest freshwater lake that is 62 4 feet deep with a surface area of about 27 square miles, in the midst of   Trossachs National Park.  We did see some hardy fishermen, most likely fishing for perch, brown trout, bream, eel, or flounder.  A few sailboats were on the lake too.

 Within about 5 minutes walking distance was the charming village of Luss. We stopped for a coffee and freshly baked scones before it was time to board the bus. 

Some homes in the village of Luss, Scotland

Coach House Coffee Shop

The luscious baked goods, charming coffee shop

Coffee, scone, strawberry jam, butter, and clotted cream!

Scott played the song, Bonnie Bonnie Banks o’ Lomon’, for us.   You have probably heard this lovely song, with the second verse lyrics. Please take the time to Google this song!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gb8AGuD2uOI) :   

O ye'll take the high road and I'll take the low
And I'll be in Scotland afore ye
For me and my true love will never meet again
On the bonnie, bonnie banks o' Loch Lomon'

Hearing a song like this right on the banks of Loch Lomond really moved all of us. I thought of my little knowledge of Scottish history and their conflicts over the years, and the Scottish troops in World War One with their kilts and bagpipes—very moving to be right here.

Other lochs we saw while on the bus were Loch Long, Loch Fyne, Loch Eck, and Holy Loch. We  reached a ferry boat that took us across the River Clyde back to Greenock (the ferry crossing for our bus was $134).  Along the route of highland glens and valleys, there was extensive road work because of rockslides—Scott told us that just last week a rockslide had prevented passage where we were riding. Well, I am glad that was last week. 

Argyll National Forest Park

National Forest

Another view

Rock for my brother

Scotland is not a volcanic island, but it had many

volcanoes millions of years ago

Volcanic activity occurred across Scotland as a result of the collision of the tectonic plates, with volcanoes in southern Scotland, and magma chambers in the north, which today form the granite mountains such as the Cairngorms.

Equipment to repair the damage of the rockslide

Scott told us that Scotland gets from 3-4 ft of snow and the low temperature is around 8F. There are only 3 public outdoor swimming pools in Scotland—that should give you an idea about the climate. However, we passed one of those public swimming pools and at least 20 people were swimming in it! Scott said it was heated—ha!

Woodcarver advertising his wares along the road

Our scenic ride was over and back to our warm stateroom to get ready for dinner!  I can tell I have Scottish DNA, but the tolerance for cold is no longer there!

TK’s Takes:  He saw Mallard ducks and magpies. He said there was more room on the trains in Germany than on our bus.  He also remarked there are no solar panels here!

Loch Ness is 116 miles away.  Scott did tell us about the Kelpies--  Kelpies are often described as grey or white horses with dripping manes. When they appear as humans, they are usually men with seaweed in their hair or hooves instead of hands.   They lure humans into the water to drown them. We did not see any Kelpies, thank goodness.

 

CRUISING THE MERSEY WITH THE BEATLES!

Regal Princess/Liverpool, England
Sunday, September 29, 2024
Partly sunny, 58F, windy

Liverpool skyline this morning-on the Mersey

Liverpool is a port city and borough of Merseyside, England with a population of approximately 496,770 in 2022. The city is located on the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary, adjacent to the Irish Sea, and is approximately 178 miles from London. Liverpool is the fifth largest city in the United Kingdom.

I love Liverpool!  We walked off the ship onto the waterfront and the city was right there. 

Near the ship

Two of these distinct sculptures sit atop the building

Toy shop

TK takes a photo of Dunkin'

Actually our preferred coffee

The Cavern

The Beatles played at the Cavern Club--there are 

three similarly named spots nearby

After a coffee and a mug purchase at Starbucks, it was an easy walk to the Beatles Museum on Mathews Street where we spent about an hour and a half. TK is not as big a fan as I, but he knew more about them than I did. 

The Liverpool Beatles Museum

There were three floors of memorabilia—albums, written notes, Pete Best’s drum set, clothing.  Three floors covered the 3 eras of the Beatles, 1959-1962, 1963-1966, and the last era, 1967-1970.  My favorite albums, the ones I purchased years ago, were Help!, Rubber Soul, Meet the Beatles, A Hard Day’s Night, and Revolution. My favorite song was always “Yesterday,” but I love most of the early and middle era songs.  TK said he purchased several albums back in the day, including The White Album. His favorite songs were “Back in the USSR” and “It’s Your Birthday.”  Of course Beatles music was playing throughout the museum.

John, George, Paul, and Pete Best

Pictured for Friend M--she will know why

Brother Bill brought lederhosen exactly

like this back from Germany when he

was in the US Army for

Randy and Brian

John Lennon gave a pair to his son.

Liverpool is easy to walk, and a gigantic shopping area is so close. We spotted a shop called Hotel Chocolat and went inside this for another coffee. A sweet clerk gave us each a triple cherry chocolate to eat, almost heaven! If only we could safely bring chocolate home!!

Triple cherry chocolate

We really wanted a British lunch, so we stopped at The Old Bank, originally a beautiful, ornate bank. We enjoyed Sunday roast (TK) and Scouse (Janie). What is scouse? A sort of beef stew with potatoes, carrots, and small chunks of beef—just like my mother made—my roots!! Sunday roast was beef, with potato, stuffing, Yorkshire pudding. Why on earth they call Yorkshire pudding a pudding I have no idea—it is really a flaky kind of bread to me, made of eggs, flour, milk, and water.  TK also had sticky toffee for dessert (a kind of sponge cake drizzled in chocolate, with a bit of vanilla ice cream.) 

Inside The Old Bank

Sunday Roast

The Yorkshire pudding looks like a baseball glove

The ball on top is the stuffing

Cheesy cauliflower, broccoli, potatoes, and beef

Scouse

It was time for us to walk back to the ship. We wanted to catch the famous Beatles statue—early this morning there was no crowd, but this afternoon the city was full of people.  Everything seems to be open on Sundays in England.

I loved this little street cleaner

Beatles statue on the Waterfront

Tonight for dinner TK had beef stroganoff to see how the current chef made it—I will try to find previous versions on other cruises which were quite humorous.  I had fish and chips, which were quite tasty.

TK’s Takes:  He thought Liverpool was a suburb of London.  He liked how clean and modern it was, mixed with older architecture.  

Note: Liverpool suffered the second highest number of civilian deaths in air raids in the country in World War II.  Nearly one third of the houses in Liverpool were damaged or destroyed.  Between 1940 and 1941 almost 2300 people were killed in Liverpool.

And another note: It’s going to be a boy!!  In January I am going to be a great aunt for the 3^rd time!!

SUNNY BELFAST AND THE RMS TITANIC!

Regal Princess/Belfast
Saturday, September 28, 2024
Sunny, 58F

Janie on the bow of the Titanic

Port of Belfast

Early this morning, 8:30 a.m., we disembarked the Regal, hopped on the Princess shuttle ($17 RT each) to the Belfast visitor center, bought tickets for the Titanic Museum Experience (25 GBP each), and easily caught a bus (1.80 GBP each) to the site where the Titanic was built, and the museum was created. 

First, I couldn’t believe we were in Belfast, and it is a lovely big city with a population of 348,000. Béal Feirste in Irish, it is the capital city and the principal port of Northern Ireland and stands on the banks of the River Lagan, connected to the Irish Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

Exterior of the RMS Titanic Museum

This was one of the cars for the ride

Furnace for ironwork

Chain

Launching the Titanic

The launch, witnessed by 100,000 people

This is a partial view of a first class stateroom

My photos of other staterooms did not turn out 

and because of my photo issue I cannot edit them

By the time we were finished with the experience we felt as though we had helped build the Titanic and joined the passengers on its maiden voyage.  

Since this ship was the largest ever built at the time, many people from Ireland and Belfast were involved, from metal workers, carpenters, to seamstresses, officers, and crew, and so much more.  The story, shown in enlarged photos on the walls, drew us in.

One could easily imagine the noise, the need to finish the work on time, the last minute details.  There is even a ride reminiscent of an amusement park ride that takes the rider up and down several stories of the hull as it is being built.

After the building of the ship, one sees the first, second, and third class staterooms, china, carpeting samples, tickets, handbills, and so on that make one feel part of the ship.  TK and I were thoroughly engaged with the workers and the passengers, and then the ports of call as the Titanic picked up passengers in Southampton, Cherbourg, and Cobh. 

Everyone knows the ending to this story.  Toward the end of the museum experience, Robert Ballard’s film of the Titanic undersea as it rests today was shown in the most unique way, two stories down, under glass. We could see the fated ship as the camera passed over it—it was almost as if we were viewing it from beneath the ocean too.

 On a nearby wall was a list of the survivors and those who died. I noted that there were three Phillips men who died, and two Phillips ladies who survived.  There was a Bennett woman who survived, and a Walker male who died. An estimated 1517 people died and 712 survived, 32% survivors.  When one is introduced to this ship so personally while walking through, and then feels the impact of the sinking ship and the results, it is very very overwhelming.  The people of Belfast, who so proudly created this ship were monumentally affected too.

At the very end there are placards that state causes and changes since the Titanic:

• Weather-- I did not realize that the weather had been a little warmer and the icebergs floated further south into the planned route of the Titanic.   The warm and wet year 1908 created the conditions for a huge iceberg to travel in the early autumn of 1911 near southwest Greenland.  Today the U.S. Coast Guard monitors icebergs.
• Ice Warnings—necessary but not done
• Binoculars—no binoculars in the crow’s nest. That is a maritime regulation today
• Speed---the captain did not feel the ship should slow down, that it could plow through the ice
• Flooding—bulkheads were not high enough to prevent water from flowing over them
• Lifeboats—there were 20 lifeboats, but they were sent off with few people in them. Also, there weren’t enough lifeboats. Today there has to be lifeboats with capacity for every passenger and crew.
• Evacuation—lack of safety drills. Today cruise ships cannot leave port until every passenger has viewed the TV safety drill and reported to their Muster Station (this is how Princess does it)
• Distress Calls---the nearest ship did not hear the distress call because the crew member had gone to bed. Today someone must monitor the radio system 24 hours in every ship at sea.

 After this emotional visit, we toured the SS Nomadic, the last remaining White Star Line ship in the world. It served as a tender boat for the Titanic and other White Star ships.  It was much larger and opulent than any tender I have been on!!

SS Nomadic, a Tender boat

A beautful interior on a tender, like I have never seen!!

I really hate to say this, but now TK has caught the same disease I have--taking photos in the bathroom, today on the Nomadic---------------

I don't know if this is the sink or urinal and I 

am not going to ask

Toilet paper holder

Toilet part

Aside to Donna: We need to lobby for tenders like this again!!

We hopped on another bus to go to St. George’s Market and Victoria Square. This time I found sfogiatelle, the best pastry on the planet—called “shell” here in Belfast, but the vendor was Sicilian.  Florida, Trader Joe's, Germany, now Ireland!  This little Italian pastry goes far!

Janie at the Market in Belfast

Cheeses

 

Italian baked goods, including sfogiatelle

Janie's favorite (top right)

Many items for sale at the market

On our way back to the ship-------------------

Victoria Square

The two great yellow-painted gantry cranes Samson and Goliath have

 become icons of Belfast, dominating the entire city skyline. 

Constructed to service the vast new graving dock at 

Harland and Wolff, Goliath (the smaller at 315 ft) 

began work in 1969, and the 348 ft Samson five years later

After dinner I went to the Production show, “John and Paul.” These two men from Liverpool sound exactly like Beatles John and Paul—and they played early favorites. Priming us for Liverpool tomorrow!!

I also stayed in the theater for Pete Best, who came on the ship for a program. TK knew who he was, and I bet some of you do too—the Fifth Beatle! He told wonderful anecdotes about how they played in his mother’s Coffee House, the Casbah, played in Hamburg, Germany, and some troubles they got into.   I read about him before the show at https://www.beatlesbible.com/people/pete-best/   

It is late now and I do have nice photos, but I fear I must get off to bed for another early start tomorrow.  I’m hoping I wake up to a text from my brother about the “Gender Reveal” party we are missing tonight in the States!