Southampton – Arrived Back

So arrived back on the mainland.  Came into Southampton.  After disembarking which took quite a while we headed to a Premier Inn

inSouthampton to stay the night so we weren’t rushing home.  Ended up walking round some parks in Southampton as the day was so nice.  Ben and

I explored the Forbidden Planet in Southampton which was excellent and had an original Dalek from the 1960’s Dr Who series.

After this we had a Pizza hut and watched the world cup.  Quiet end but still quite relaxing.  The night before we arrived back we had a spectacular sunset.  Check it out here.

St Peter Port, Guernsey

Ben in the pool!

Last port of call today at St Peter Port in Guernsey.  The port is too small for us to dock into so we had tenders to take us

ashore.  Wee boats which took us into the port.  We didn’t spend to much time there that day but did find a nice Thai place on the port which looked out to sea and was quite nice.

When we got back to the ship we went to the Sailaway which was great fun.  Lots of singing and dancing in the pool and lots of the passengers all together waving flags!

That evening we went for one last wander round the ship and into the atrium area etc.  It was so vast!  Huge area.  Golf range was excellent as was the bungee trampolining which Sophie loved!

We headed to bed that night feeling a wee bit sad that the holiday was over but it was really enjoyable and we’d definitely do it again some time…when I can get another mortgage to pay for it!  😉

Brest, France

Couldn’t get a snow globe in Brest.  It was unfortunately a bit of a building site when we got there.  The castle was great but was a little bit too much outdoors.

This was probably the most disappointing destination.  It looks like it would be nice but it rained badly all day plus there was so much building work going on that it was kinda like trying to sightsee on a building site.

The castle does go back to Roman times and is now a Naval Museum  plus the French Navy still uses the port as a base.

A wee video of the day.

La Rochelle, France

La Rochelle started off a bit poor as the rain was torrential and the boat was docked in the port area (obviously) which was very industrial.  We went downtown though and after an initial rain the sun came out and it turned out to be the highlight of the whole holiday.  The three towers of La Rochelle are a fantastic piece of history and each have a seperate story.  The beach was lovely and there was even a Templar bastion to look over which pleased me no end.

Carol got a new dress which pleased her greatly and Ben got to order a baguette in french which he loved.  Myself and Sophie shared this donner kebab baguette thing which was great and we got a lot of sight seeing in.

Sophie bought a La Rtochelle vest top which was a highlight for her…you can see a pattern…

Back at the ship the weather was scorching and the kids wanted to go to the kids club so myself and Carol got to sit by the pool eating cornettos and drinking fresh orange…very refreshing!

Later on we went to a pub quiz.  It was a movie one and we won!  A bottle of Rose wine…nice.  This night was the second formal night on board so we were ‘toffed up to the nines!’  Very luxurious.

Ben’s favourite bit about La Rochelle – ordering a baguette in French!

Sophie’s – The Hello Kitty vest top

Bilbao, Spain

Second port was Bilbao.  There were excursions on sale for a trip to the Guggenheim which we considered but luckily we decided on the free shuttle bus to the town and then visited the Guggenheim on our own…saving over £100 which was nice…

The Guggenheim in Bilbao is a spectacular building and the gallery is not too bad…if a little stuffy.  The kids were hushed up quite a few times by the security folks in the museum…even in the auditory areas which made no sense at all…

We forgot the camera this day so we had to buy a little disposable camera but don’t have the photos scanned yet!  Carol and Sophie loved the Zara shops…which we could get in Buchanan street!  Ben was collecting Snow globes and he got one this day that had the dog from the front of the Guggenheim in there.  Sophie did smash the first snow globe we picked up so we ended up having to buy two of the same snow globe out of sheer embarassment.

Some great entertainment on the ship this day from Martin Daniels (son of Paul).

La Coruna

First port of call for the ship was La Coruna in Spain.  The weather was slightly overcast.  It was a Monday so there were a few things closed like the museum we tried to go to first.  However we wandered around town and took in the main square which is called the Maria Pita Square.

After much Ice cream we walked round the shops and then down to the beach.  Unfortunately it was raining when we got to the beach so we hopped on the tram (which is excellent value and a great way to get around).  On the tram we passed the Tower of Hercules which is apparently a 2000 year old light house!

We then moved back to the ship and played in the play park at the port before going back on board.  Kids liked the fact that they had a chocolate waiting on their pillow after they got back!

Ben and Sophies favourite bit – The play park and the tram!

The Ventura

Our blog has been a little neglected lately but we’re going to catch up!

We went on a cruise on the P&O ship the Ventura around the Bay of Biscay.  Day one was on the sea.  What a size this ship was!  It took about 15 minutes to walk from one end to the other.  Had a ton of pools and restaurants – some open 24 hrs!  A few bars too it seems ;-).

Kids wanted to go swimming almost straight away on the ship so we had to get ready and go straight to the pool.  First day was sailing away from Southampton and then a day at sea as we headed down to Spain.  The weather was quite nice this day, warm but not too hot.

We were exploring for most of  the day.  Playing Ping pong, shuffle board.  Unprepared for dinner (you don’t go down with shorts on!) then had to go back to the cabin and get changed.  We met with a nice couple Bill and Anne from Newcastle who were on the cruise with their daughter Claire and grandaughter Olivia.  Very nice folks and we dined with them most nights.

Kids went to the kids club after dinner and Carol and I retired to the Metropolis bar where there was a singing group for entertainment.  Actually very good fun as the back of the bar was the back of the ship and we saw a huge school of Dolphins off the back of the ship.

Ben and Sophie’s favourite bit – The pool!