valeriesbookofme

This was our fourth TransAtlantic crossing on the QM2. The first time we crossed in October, the next in December. We then planned to take the 28th April crossing, remaining in Europe for three weeks and the return crossing on May 17th. We thought the weather would be nice enough to sit on deck. Hah! On the first crossing, the 28th April one, we had two days of high winds and rain, and the rest of the time it was just cold and grey. Several people complained of seasickness but we had a midships cabin on the 8th deck and only felt gentle rocking. No problems moving about during the day. But the crossing on May 17th was worse. We had I think 3 days of Force 7-10 winds and the promenade deck was actually closed. I did go out on deck but was about blown away. Again I met several people who were downing seasick pills like candy. The entertainment on both ships--lectures, fitness classes--was very good although I preferred the May 17th crossing because they had the RADA actors on board an...

Yesterday it stormed all day long. They actually closed the decks—not that I would have wanted to be out there anyway, it was difficult enough walking the deck on Tuesday, the wind almost knocked me off my feet. I did get 4 miles of “walking” in through going to Zumba and walking up and down the ship through the day.  I feel so sorry for the people on the upper decks. Every one of them says it has been awful at night. Makes our “obstructed” balcony better and better. I have thoroughly enjoyed this crossing and would do it again. Richard not so much but he doesn’t want me to comment on that in my blog ;) I have still participated in loads of activities, the RADA acting workshop, morning Yoga, Zumba (except for Tuesday when I was just too tired.)  I actually did go to the screening of Chocolat. Joanne Harris did a very poignant presentation, explaining the ups and downs of having one’s book made into a film (imagine if it HAD been filmed in the US with Whoopi Goldberg playing Vi...

We have had very high winds, yes, force 10, for the past day & night. Our cabin is toward the back of the ship but not at the very back. And we are on deck 8. The ship has cabins up to deck 12. So although we noticed the rolling of course and when I woke up to go the bathroom in the night I felt the roll, it wasn’t uncomfortable at all. However I was speaking to a fellow this morning—we are still getting up at 5:00 in the morning—who said he and his partner didn’t get any sleep as they are at the front of the ship and it was going UP and DOWN all night with a great whack every time it went down. The captain said yesterday at his noon announcement that there is a storm out in the Atlantic that they are trying to skirt around. It rained off and on yesterday so I guess that was the storm. No thunder or lightning though.  As I am writing this, the sky is turning blue with great puffy clouds: I was very tired yesterday. Actually fell asleep in the lecture on the Middle East and was ...

I actually went to a Catholic Mass this morning. There were two other services, Christian Fellowship and Interdenominational, but I felt drawn to the Catholic Mass. And I did feel spiritually fed and that I was somehow keeping the Sabbath, thanking God for all the many blessings we have had on this trip. Before that, I did start the day with the Yoga Stretch class. I have to find a good set of morning stretch exercises when I get home. I have felt so much better, my hip/sciatic nerve pain is almost completely gone. At 10:00 R and I went to a lecture on the original New York skyscrapers that was very good. Learned about how there had to be so many other events/innovations, invention of steel, of elevators, step pattern in buildings to allow light to hit the ground. Although in traditional post and lintel construction—like our childhood building blocks—the walls and lintels are key for holding the structure together, in skyscrapers it is the internal girding that is key. Who knew archite...

I didn’t grow up feeling pretty. In the era of Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton, I was too short, liked food too much. I wasn’t “obese” but I was chubby enough that boys skimmed their eyes over me but fastened them upon my taller, willowy, friends who also were more confident. Who knew how to act around boys. But that’s the past. I came to accept I was who I was, that I would never be taller, never have an Audrey Hepburn body. Especially as I entered my 60s, and R isn’t into glamorous parties or dances, I adopted a style of dressing neatly, comfortably, occasionally colorfully (have never forgotten what my seasonal colors are.) Which leads me to this picture. R took this photo last night. I saw this dress on a mannequin in Southampton last week. Loved it. I tried it on and, unlike so many dresses I tried on at R’s urging (he had this idea of my being more “classical”), it fit me really well. Concealed my lumps and bumps and it is so comfortable. And, yes, I feel pretty in it. He also insisted...

Sheila drove us to the train station yesterday at 10:15 a.m. We have had a wonderful time visiting her and I will be posting separately about our day trips whilst there. In many ways it was just the same as it always is when visiting her, her house hasn’t changed, Eddie the cat is still around, as is Dixie the dog. Actually Dixie is much friendlier and sweeter than the last time we stayed. Her antics made us miss Mitzi very much.  And Burnham is still the same. A slightly rundown coastal town, full of charity shops. Drivers that go way too fast on the narrow roads. But as I walked down the streets this time, I remembered ten years ago and my summer in England. How full of energy I was and how close we all were—Sheila, Dave, Sandy—how much fun we had. And my times of exploring the UK too. We are all a little more tired now, a little more conscious of aging and all that. The stairs in Sheila’s house get more difficult to negotiate at the end of a long day, the creaks and groans of th...

It’s now Tuesday, May 7th and we are headed on the train to Paris from Madrid (via Barcelona.) Last hotel on my itinerary as I cancelled our trip to the Lake District. It was just too much traveling, time to head to Sheila’s and stay put until it’s time to go to Southampton and our boat trip home. It’s been a great holiday but I am already ready to go home. That’s not to say that I am not glad that we will be seeing Sheila and England. Of course I am. It’s just that thoughts of home and Mitzi, walking and being quiet, have been coming into my mind more often.  I think I posted about Segovia. At least I wrote something up on my iPhone (currently typing on my iPad) that I hope was saved. Today it’s just been a very long day of traveling. We packed last night which was quite the job. We haven’t bought a lot of heavy stuff, just some clothes and a couple of Spanish tiles, t-shirts for the kiddos. But it still meant rearranging things. Glad we did it last night though. It took over an h...

Today is our last full day in Spain. When we first arrived in Madrid we decided we could take a day trip to Segovia. It was a hard decision to make because all the tours—Toledo, Avila, a combination of two—looked good. But R didn’t want to rush from place to place as he enjoys sitting and sketching. And I completely agreed with him, this may be the only time we get to some of these old cities and I want to remember them well. So we set off from Madrid on the tour bus at about 9:15 and arrived in Segovia at 10:30. The first stop for our little “family,” as our tour guide called us, were the toilets at the Information Center. Unfortunately there was a tour bus that came in at the same time so it took a good 10 minutes for the women’s line to go through. Sometimes being a man really helps. While we were waiting though, we admired the Roman Aqueduct. Magnificent.  Our first stop after that was the Cathedral. It took over 100 years to build, from about 1520 to 1655, th...

It poured rain in Barcelona this morning. Even though I wore my waterproof puffy hoodie, I was slightly damp. It really is a great jacket though, warm when I need warmth but very light too. We walked as far as the Cathedral, took a quick look inside it again, and then wound our way back to the hotel with a few wrong turns. Barcelona, like Paris, is a city of web like streets and so many look the same. Still, we made it back in plenty of time so R could change into dry clothes and we could check out in a relaxed way. Like yesterday, our taxi ride only took about 20 minutes. Although I had budgeted not to take taxis, from now on, if we have luggage or an early start, I would always go for a taxi from a train station unless we were literally only a 10-minute walk away. It felt good to see Barcelona again, especially as we had seen it already. We reminded each other of what we had seen and it will be fun when we get home to look at the photos we took a few years ago. I suggested to R that ...

It is 2:30 and I am sitting on a bench in the garden beside Palacio Real. We have walked over 4 miles today and my feet ache a bit. Still not bad for a couple of oldsters :) This morning we had breakfast at our hotel—very nice—and then walked down to the Golden Triangle of museums, the Prado, Thyssen and Reina Maria. The Prado’s line up was crazy long and online it had said their were no other tickets being sold today anyway. I had read that the Thyssen might be more interesting in terms of Impressionists so we walked over there and the line wasn’t long at all. It is a hidden gem, so many breathtaking paintings!! We spent an hour walking along the galleries and eventually were replete with images. Couldn’t take in any more! So we had sandwiches in the cafe and walked over to the Botanical Gardens. Huge line for those that didn’t seem to be moving so we decided to go back to our hotel for an afternoon siesta. Once again though all the side streets completely turned us around and ended u...

Our very sweet young concierge at the Hotel offered to book us a reservation at a restaurant nearby, Le Petit Cadet. However, when we got there at 6:00, the restaurant was closed. So we retraced our steps to the hotel and gently asked about it. He said, “Oh, it’s the First of May, a holiday. They’re closed.” Which made us wonder how he could have made a reservation but oh well. Then he phoned another place “Regalade de Conservatoire” but when we got there and read the menu, whoa, the food was way too fancy for us as was the price, E41-00 pp. So we trailed around near the Folies Bergere—how my parents would have laughed about us being outside this very famous nude theatre—and found Cafe Folies. The waiter there was utterly charming, spoke English for Richard’s sake, and of course nothing was too much bother.  Steak for me with frites and an enormous hamburger for R. Truly, we could have shared the burger and I can’t help wondering, given how friendly the staff was, whether they made...

I have had every good intention of writing but somehow my mind is so full of thoughts and impressions, it is hard to keep up with it. Right now, at 1:15 pm on Thursday May 2nd, we are on a train to Barcelona. We left Paris at 10:00 am, and have just stopped at Nimes. In a few more minutes, we will be at Montpelier. The train journey has been very good, the train travels at 286 km/h so trying to get photographs is difficult. Not to say that I haven’t tried :) Our trip from Dover to Paris yesterday went really well, especially considering that we missed our intended ferry and so had to get the one an hour later. Which made catching our train at the Calais Frethun station—which is actually a good 20-minute drive outside of Calais—hair raising. We arrived with five minutes to spare. Ironic that we could arrive at the train station five minutes before the train departed and get on while in Dover we arrived 45 minutes before the ferry departed and they wouldn’t let us. They are very strict o...