End of Cruise/England

 Today, our cruise ended! We spent the day going around England. First, we stopped at Salisbury to see the Salisbury Cathedral. 

We did a guided tour of the inside. which was absolutely lovely. Next, we went to Stonehenge. I have been there a few times, but PJ and her brother had not, so of course we had to stop. 

Finally, we headed up to the Hampton Court Palace, where Henry the 8th lived! It was glorious, there was so much history! So much house! So much land!

After all of this amazingness, we headed to London. We dropped off our rental car, then headed to our hotel, stopping in the Paddington station. This station did not disappoint. 

So cute! This was such a great trip, despite freezing for so much of it! 

Cruise Day 7: At Sea

 Today is our last cruise day, so of course its a sea day as we make our way back to England. Again, we spent the day playing games and snacking and whatnot. During dinner, a man whose daughter got married today was walking around giving everyone leftover wedding cake as they had too much. The cake was fine ... definitely they used a shortening for the frosting and not butter and you can definitely tell. 

Then we hung out on our balconies as we sailed into nothing. And this is how I looked each night (yes we did this every night to watch ourselves sail away)

It was FREEZING. I was in 2 jackets, two blankets, and a THICK pair of socks I had ended up buying in one of the ports because it was just too cold. That was my least favorite part of the cruise, just how dang cold it was all the time, every day. 

Cruise Day 6: Stavanger

 Today is our last Norwegian stop! We had a full day of activities planned here and then when we arrived, we learned its a national holiday over here, so everything was closed and everything was canceled, smh. So we basically just wandered around the town for many hours, trying to stay busy.

Cruise Day 5: Olden

 Today, we got to the city of Olden. Our activity here was riding this tram type thing to the top of the tallest mountain place and looking down. We got up there and it was FREEZING we could barely stand it! But we got some good pics, barely and then sprinted back down as we were so so cold. 

Cruise Day 4: Skjolden

 Today we found ourselves in Skjolden, and the only day we had an excursion booked. We booked a day of llamas! Excitement! We got a walking tour through the village and over to the farm. We met our llamas, our first one was named Google (the white one) and Google was obsessed with eating. Its all he wanted to do. Then on the way back, we had Juva, and she was the sweetest little girl, so soft and snuggly. 

We wandered around town and snagged some pics of the area, it was beautiful (and yes, freezing and rainy again)

Cruise Day 3: Haugesund

 Today we landed in Haugesund, a Norwegian stop. We arrived, and made our way over to a rental car company. We rented a car, drove 90 minutes to an amazing waterfall, and headed back. It was absolutely pouring rain for our entire walk to the place (a little over a mile) and then rained the whole drive up. It stopped raining for a few minutes at the falls, and then when we got back to town, it had stopped as well, thank goodness. We were soaked and freezing, but no worse for wear. 

A lovely place! We had a great time despite the weather.

Cruise, Day 2: At Sea

 Today we were at sea for the day, which meant a day full of games, snacks, and fun. They had an afternoon tea on deck today, and of course I ended up eating waaaay too much, trying all the treats and sandwiches. 

That night, after dinner, we were walking on the deck, when they made an announcement saying that there was an emergency on board, and a helicopter would be arriving to take that person to land. We then watched the helicopter for the next hour or so. They couldn't land on the ship, so they were just next to us, and then they loaded the person onto a stretcher and brought them up to the copter. 

An absolutely wild ride. 

Cruise, Day 1

 This morning we snagged a train ride from London to Southampton, to the port out here. We got onto our ship, dropped our luggage and started to explore. Did I take any pics during this time? Of course not, we were in a hurry! We ate dinner and then had some fun and went to trivia night, where they were doing 1 hit wonders. On the cruise was me, husband, PJ and Hair, PJ's brother. It was a fun night to get the trip started.