Land & Sea - LIVE (nearly) from Amsterdam and ms Rotterdam 15 day Atlantic Sojourn - October 7th, 2023

[kazu]

After Rouen, we headed to the beautiful town of Honfleur.

 

So pretty no matter how many times you have been.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

Last night’s MDR menu was a special one with dishes by the different chefs featured as you saw.

 

We missed it.  We had a booking for Sel de Mer.  

 

FAIR WARNING. - GOOD PORN ALERT

 

we started with our little amuse bouche

 

 

 

And of course the different tapenades for our dinner

 

 

 

Jacqui had plans for that night - can you tell by the setting on the right that we were about to get serious?

 

 

Yes, I decided we were having Fruits de Mer

 

 

Since there were 5 of us I decided we needed two.

 

 

There was lots of lobster in it and two of us are from the East Coast and know lobster and we both declared it very good.

 

There was some concern there was too much.  Want to make a bet?

 

 

Niçoise salad:

 

 

Lobster salad:

 

 

Bouillabaisse 

 

 

 

Shrimp Provençal:

 

 

Desert that most had (or shared):

 

 

It was very good.  The Fruits de Mer were absolutely superb and well worth the surcharge. 

 

We all enjoyed the long leisurely dinner. 🙂 

[kazu]

Yesterday we were in Portland England and went on a HAL excursion to the Abbotsbury Gardens and Swannery.  

 

The gardens are exquisite.  Those who know me know I love gardens so you might find this overwhelming but here goes.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

Have to show you some more - sorry,

 

It’s just so pretty here and knowing how much Jose loved gardens and how much he would have enjoyed this, I left a few of his ashes here too.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This succulent was incredible - a close up:

 

 

 

a close up of the beautiful rose type flower:

 

 

 

a close up of the angel trumpet above

 

 

Of course, I had to have some English tea, and scone with clotted cream and jam 😉.

 

 

I had missed breakfast or a bite of any form with the Immmigration schnozzle.  More on that later if you want to hear.  

[kazu]

Then we were off to the Swannery.

 

 

It’s the only protected colony of muted swans in the world.

 

 

 

The swans are not really mute, just much more subdued and not as loud as trumpeter swans.

 

 

 

 

Time to feed the swans.

 

 

 

 

 

[St Pete Cruiser]

The gardens look very beautiful! I'm sorry we missed that. 

There were a lot of white envelopes on our neighbors doors this morning. Meet and Greet tomorrow!

[kazu]

The sanctuary is huge.

 

The swans are fed in the water except for the non breeding ones.  They are fed first to keep them away from the nests and the others.

 

 

the cygnets are in separate sections with the parents and foster parents to protect them from predators.

 

 

They are grey as youngsters and slowly turn white.  

 

 

 

They don’t reach maturity, breeding age until 3.

 

 

The cygnets have a low survival rate.  Rats and other predators will happily take them.

 

 

 

Here are a few attempts at videos of the swans being fed if you want to see them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It’s and incredible place.

[ski ww]

Those pictures of Honfleur brings back memories of our time there. It's nice you got to spread some of Jose ashes in the garden.

[kazu]

26 minutes ago, St Pete Cruiser said:

The gardens look very beautiful! I'm sorry we missed that. 

There were a lot of white envelopes on our neighbors doors this morning. Meet and Greet tomorrow!

 

Hope to see you at the Meet and Greet.

 

Anyone who gave me their cabin number & said they were coming got one (hopefully).

 

I have a wonderful story on the Meet and Greet.

 

Roxy is in charge and asked to meet with me.  OMG - she takes great pride & interest in them.

 

We went over everything - table size for name tags, mikes, bar service  and oh, by the way would Iike officers to come.?  Would I like her to do the invites?  I told her they were all done and I had enough for the officers.  Told her if she didnt mind to use mine since I have a thank you in it for the ship and crew.

 

then she OFFERED to have the invites delivered for me.

 

To put this in perspective, there are around 120 invites - we have a HUGE roll call (hoping everyone comes since I made name tags).  I had a group who had offered to help deliver the invites but since she offered….

She promised they would be delivered this morning and they have been.

 

I am very impressed with her help and interest.  AND she’s putting on extra bar service for our cabin crawl in the Ocean Bar for us 🙂 

 

VERY impressed with her service.

[Haljo1935]

3 hours ago, kazu said:

...

I hate carrying mine.  I have a duplicate that I take always but that won’t fly.  Oh well, it is what it is.

When you say you have a duplicate passport, can you clarify what you mean by that? Do you have a picture of it or....?

[mawvkysc]

6 hours ago, oakridger said:

 

I'll be with you on the TA from Ft. Lauderdale to Ijmuiden!  See you there.

 

~Nancy

Can’t wait! 

[BetsyS.]

Jacqui - Thanks for taking the time to post your reports and beautiful pictures. I loved the scenery, gardens, swans, and all the food pictures. Your dinner at Rudi's looked delicious!  That's wonderful that Roxy helped you with the Meet and Greet.

[kazu]

4 hours ago, Haljo1935 said:

When you say you have a duplicate passport, can you clarify what you mean by that? Do you have a picture of it or....?

 

Just a photocopy of my passport key page - sorry I wasn’t clear.

[Shalandara]

7 hours ago, kazu said:

Of course, I had to have some English tea, and scone with clotted cream and jam 😉.

 

 

I had missed breakfast or a bite of any form with the Immmigration schnozzle.  More on that later if you want to hear.  

What was the issue? 

Edited October 11, 2023 by Shalandara
formatting

[Haljo1935]

1 hour ago, kazu said:

 

Just a photocopy of my passport key page - sorry I wasn’t clear.

Thank you - I thought maybe thete was a magic trick for getting a duplicate 🤭

Hope you continue to have a great trip. I love that you're leaving a bit of Jose along the way in places that speak to your heart.

[kazu]

45 minutes ago, Shalandara said:

What was the issue? 

 

I have to wait until I’m not too angry to post that vent.  Immigration was a MESS and was the ships’ excursions.

[kazu]

Here is today’s program:

 

 

 

 

[kazu]

OK out of order, but I just got back from Club Orange.

 

Their special was the scallops.  I debated between the lamb and scallops and asked.  

 

He said for sure the scallops.  (It is a CO special).

 

So I ordered them.

 

 

Note - I substituted the corn grits for the potato.  They were to die for.  Absolutely delicious.  Cooked to absolute perfection.  

 

Scallops are tricky to grill as I know full well.  Absolutely perfect.  I had beef carpaccio as my appetizer and you all know what the looks like and it was good.  

 

I turned down dessert.  Why you ask?  I was headed to the Lido.  It’s French cheese night and I’m testing.

 

And yes, when I asked they gave me crackers!  She had to go somewhere to get them.  I told her no worries - I’d get some bread and she said no and went and got them for me.

 

Some of it may end up going back to the room.  that’s ok too.

 

Fabulous dinner.

 

[puppycanducruise]

Love the flowers and food pictures.  Thanks.

[kazu]

Today we were in Brest and headed to Quimper.

 

Brest itself has a lovely boardwalk with great restaurants and seafood.  Unfortunately the shuttle bus provided took you right downtown to the train station.  Getting picked up elsewhere was not possible.

 

Brest itself other than a couple of museums is pretty bereft of interesting things to do.  Like Lehavre much was destroyed in the war and had to be rebuilt.

 

We are heading to Quimper, part of Brittany  along with Brest.  They spoke French and Breton here.  The Brittany coastline is huge.  The largest here.  You can see them fishing for oysters in the large river on the way to Quimper.

 

 

Unlike Brest, Quimper dates back 100’s of years - 6 or 7 BC and has retained many of it’s buildings & charm.

 

 

There is no snow here in the winter.  Things stay relatively mild (sounds good to me )

 

 

 

 

 

A number of years ago Jose and I went with our roll call to Quimper on

a bus I chartered and had an absolutely wonderful time so I am happy to return again

 

 

 

 

 

We passed by a lovely patisserie - I’ll have you know we resisted until we made the trip back LOL.  (For the record, I was good).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Flower city Quimper is called - and deservedly so - it’s mild and humid - lush.

 

 

 

 

Then we passed by the chocolate shop.  We went in for a taste and you know what happened right?  Yup - we bought more chocolate.

 

 

 

 

And off we were to the Cathedral.  It’s beautiful.

 

 

 

 

You won’t see any gold ornate work.  It was all looted in the French Revolution but it’s still beautiful.

 

 

 

 

 

A few snaps travelling

 

 

 

A beautiful spot and worth a visit.

 

 

 

Apologies for the upside down pic - it’s fine in my photos and I can’t fix it no matter what I do.

[1ANGELCAT]

Jacqui, the pictures of the chocolates and the pastries look amazing. 
on a bit off topic, any luck locating the wandering air tag😀

[beachbum6264]

Your pictures are wonderful! What kind of camera do you have? Looking for one for me....

Thank you for a wonderful review.

[travelnap]

Jaqui, it is so sweet to hear that you are leaving some of Jose's ashes in various places that you are visiting.  It's like a little bit of him will always be at the places you both loved.

[kazu]

1 hour ago, 1ANGELCAT said:

Jacqui, the pictures of the chocolates and the pastries look amazing. 
on a bit off topic, any luck locating the wandering air tag😀

 

 

Not yet.  I have talked to guest services but we need the current occupants permission to go in.

 

They boarded fast on embarkation day.  So that threw that idea out.

 

I may not succeed but i am trying.  I already did the explanation that the crew didn’t.\\

 

We’ll seel

[kazu]

38 minutes ago, travelnap said:

Jaqui, it is so sweet to hear that you are leaving some of Jose's ashes in various places that you are visiting.  It's like a little bit of him will always be at the places you both loved.

 

That was my thought.  He loved Rouen and I know he would have loved the Abbotsbury gardens.  Not trying to be a tear jerker but It’s part of the importance for cruising for me.  I know he would want me to, but as a solo it’s a whole different kettle of fish - at least, for me - I can’t help but miss him when I see things but it is what it is.