Puffins,Coos and Kelpies oh my! :16 day , photo travelogue on the Caribbean Princess to the UK, Ireland, and Iceland 7-12-24

[scubacruiserx2]

  Most of our photos of this trip so far have been from our pocket Sony camera . I'm currently down loading to the desk top our photos from our new Canon D 90 , which should be a higher quality - if and when they come in .

Edited August 1 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 We are off in about 15 minutes for another Sonogram on the leg . Hopefully more photo when we return .

[Nolafan]

49 minutes ago, scubacruiserx2 said:

 We are off in about 15 minutes for another Sonogram on the leg . Hopefully more photo when we return .

Good luck with your leg. 

[scubacruiserx2]

  I brought out the old Canon telephoto ( 2012 ) and mounted it on the new Canon body ( 2024 ) to shoot this cannon at the Horse Guards drill yard .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 And some flower close shots without walking on the grass .

 

 

 

 

 

 Next stop : Chinatown

Edited August 1 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 Our original plan was to go to Chinatown for dinner and walk to His Majesties Theatre and see the Phantom of the Opera . But my leg wasn't up to it so we took a taxi to Chinatown .

 

 

 

 

 We passed Trafalgar Square

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Karl Marx moved to London in early June 1849 and would remain based in the city for the rest of his life. The headquarters of the Communist League also moved to London. Wikipedia

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Karl_Marx#:~:text=Marx moved to London in,League also moved to London.

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 Nearby was the Notre Dame Church - a retreat from the hustle and bustle 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 After some quite reflection we headed for Leicester Square which I first heard of on the Jethro Tull's song Jefferey goes to Leicester Square .

  When sighting this store there was a flash back to my childhood and my 1st Whopper in Miami where Burger King began when I was a child , before my wife was born . But we had other lunch plans on our minds .

 

 

 

 A busker with a pretty voice drew us to listen to her and record a quick video as people passed between the camera and the singer .

 

 

 

 

   It was the first hit for David Bowie , Space Oddity which came out about the same time as the Tull Album Stand up. Here's the original video which the rights belong to the artist .

 

 

 

 

  The singers name was Serena Kaos and as I was buying one of her CD's she explained that her next song was from the Fleetwood Mac Album that came about the time when my wife and I had just met . Unlike the song that is a breakup song , we have been together since 1976 .

 

 The Fleetwood Mac song is called Dreams and I think that she sings it better than the original singer .

 

 

 

Edited August 1 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 William Shakespeare was also here with a seagull hat .

 

 

 

 And Paddington Bear ( who would share a seat but not his sandwich )

 

 

 

 But this area may be best known for cheap theatre tickets 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

  We had our tickets but not lunch . So we grabbed another cab to our favorite Fish and Chips place in London . The Horse Guards were out so I shot a couple of photos from the taxi through the windows . We have never seen them wearing soft caps before . Or missing the breastplate .

 

 

 

 Or a panic button

 

 

 

  The normal helmet and breastplate during a training session in the park

 

 

 

 

[treesah]

I see that you are sleeping with Leonardo's Lady with Ermine.  You are a superb photographer. Very grateful for this thread.  Best wishes for good health.

[Justpackingmybags]

The guard is not from the Lifeguards or the Blues and Royals, who are the regiments with the plumed helmets and polished breastplates. She is from the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, and that is their full dress uniform. They are the unit who provide the 21 gun salutes.

sadly, the panic button has become necessary to bring police officers over to get rid of idiots who think it’s fun to go and try and provoke responses from the soldiers and their horses. These idiots can be very aggressive. 

Edited August 2 by Justpackingmybags

[scubacruiserx2]

6 hours ago, treesah said:

I see that you are sleeping with Leonardo's Lady with Ermine.  You are a superb photographer. Very grateful for this thread.  Best wishes for good health.

 

  Thank you for supplying the Artist and the Info . The only originals that we have seen from Leonardo are in the Hermitage .

 And thank you for your kind words and writing in and yes I love photos as a hobby . BTW we love to visit San Diego but not so much when I was at the NTC during Vietnam . Hospital Corp school was better as I had my car and surfboard - until they sent me to Camp LeJeune !

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

3 hours ago, Justpackingmybags said:

The guard is not from the Lifeguards or the Blues and Royals, who are the regiments with the plumed helmets and polished breastplates. She is from the King’s Troop, Royal Horse Artillery, and that is their full dress uniform. They are the unit who provide the 21 gun salutes.

sadly, the panic button has become necessary to bring police officers over to get rid of idiots who think it’s fun to go and try and provoke responses from the soldiers and their horses. These idiots can be very aggressive. 

 

 

 Thank you for Minding my knowledge gap and supplying answers to some unasked questions dancing around in my mind . Very informative ! We've seen some of the knuckleheads on video that you are talking about trying to get their special photos with the mounted guards and their mounts . The guards have a lot more patience and discipline then I currently have .

 We also love the Tate Britain in London and have a dear friend from Manchester who paints in the style of the Pre- Raphaelite Brotherhood .

 

 Ophelia - John Everett Millais

 

 

 

 

 

Christ in the house of his Parents - John Everett Millais

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 I also fancy the works of William Blake but not many were on display this trip , so here's a couple of older ones from our trip with our grandson there in 2016 .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 He also wrote the song Jerusalem preformed here at the proms in the Royal Albert Hall and in the movie Chariots of Fire , which took the movie tittle from a lyric in the song ( and in the Bible ) . We had tickets for the Proms our last night in London .

 

 

  

[Justpackingmybags]

Ah you’re welcome. I just wish those panic buttons weren’t a necessity.

it looks like you had a wonderful time exploring.

[scubacruiserx2]

3 minutes ago, Justpackingmybags said:

Ah you’re welcome. I just wish those panic buttons weren’t a necessity.

it looks like you had a wonderful time exploring.

 

  Agreed , but we know living in Florida how some tourists can be . In fact in the Fire Brigade we also had a panic button that we had to use on more than one occasion . If we squawked our unit number followed by a 3 digit number on our radio it meant the cavalry would be coming quickly and armed to the teeth with a licence to kill or arrest .

 And since were not tired of London yet , then apparently we still have some life left in us . 🙂😉

[scubacruiserx2]

  Our next stop on our magical history tour was one for the tummy at our favorite fish and chippery - The Laughing Halibut . It's never an official visit until we visit the good people and food there .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The owner and his family have been there as long as we remember serving the same good food at a great price .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

  After lunch we wanted a dessert but on the way we saw the Oxfam used book store . There was a book on the Queen that the Big Smile company will not stock so we tried there . Nope . A William Blake art photo book was next , nope . But Pat found a nice like new book that we liked for 3 GBP !

 We found Baclava at The Greek Life shop a couple of stores down but Pat wanted something cool and the worker told her about a Gelato stand which she was allowed to get and eat with me inside . Afterwards I asked if I could use the wash room to get the honey off my hands and she allowed me to use the employees Loo . All was fine - until the lights went out . Maybe they forgot to pay their electric bill . But as I moved , they came back on - duh , motion activated ! 😅

 

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 After a cab ride to the hotel a food coma nap was accomplished . We had the Phantom in the evening and the food and prices at the hotel looked good as the Garden dining was open .

 

 

 

 Carrot and Coriander Soup was good as well as the shrimps app.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Cauliflower Steak was much better than it sounded 

 

 

 

  Some demanding high rollers ( better dressed ) dropped in for a drink before the theater and our lone server was hopping with other folks so we decided to card him to prompt his memory that we were guests .

 

 

 

  He instantly recognized the issue and we told him that we were going also but left our proper clothes upstairs to avoid soiling them . He did over to buy us a drink after the show .

 

Dessert decision and the proper people and the phone people . We still don't understand constantly being on the phone while dining out .

 

 

 

 

 

 We wish that we could afford fencing like this for our yard

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

 Every time that we made a purchase in cash we asked if they had the new money with the King on it and the answer was always no . As we were leaving we bought some Walkers Shortbread at the duty free store and we finally found one . A 5 GBP that is the same on the rear but different on the face side .

 

 

 

[scubacruiserx2]

  After changing out after dinner , we headed out to our taxi for about a half mile ride to His Majesty's Theatre . It's about a half miles walk over uneven surfaces and the Taxi rides , our 4th this day , cost about 10 GBP with about a 2.5 GBP tip it ran about 50 GBP for the 4 trips that day .  We think that the London Taxi rides and drivers are the best that we have used .

 We were seated in the Royal Circle Center in the first 2 aisle seats on the left at E 28 and 27 . We were told not to record but many people we taking selfies in Row A  before the show .

 The seats were steep steps and we ordered a drink to be brought after intermission . The show began at about 1930 and was the 2nd time that we had seen it there . Our friend and her sons had seen it the night before and said that it was HOT . The seats are skinny without much leg room unless you are under 5' 3" which Pat is . I'm almost a foot taller . I tried slumping in my seat but the girls behind us kept crossing their legs and boots at my head level on my seat . I did ask them not to several times without success . So I just set up straight allowing their boot to massage my back instead of my head . The tickets were 130 GBP each and the white bubbly was 70 GBP . 

 The show was good but a few changes were updated in the show that we didn't care for . The taxi driver had told us to walk a long block and turn left to find cabs after the show . We were herded out of the theatre ASAP to " Set up for the next show " . After a comfort stop 1200 people we herded outside under the small covered area into a pouring rain . We spied a Pedicab and jumped into it without agreeing on a price . Rookie mistake . After a wet 5 minute ride to the hotel the driver demanded a 125  GBP !  We told him that we had only paid 50 for four rides that day but he remained firm . We suggested to discuss it under the hotel cover and got out . The doorman and porters heard the discussion and joined in speaking to him in Spanish and Arabic . He got the message and told us to give him what it was worth to us . We didn't but gave him 50 and told him to get a couple of other suckers somewhere else . We did change and let the Waiter at the Bar know that the drinks we appreciated , but not necessary . We slept well and was ready for the ride to Southampton at 0900 the next morning .

 Our takeaway is to rent the 2004 movie on your big screen for $3.99 like we did last night .

 

[scubacruiserx2]

  Tomorrow , the ride and the ship .

 

[Jazzbo]

On 7/31/2024 at 10:05 AM, coscab said:

Funny story, we were renting a house to some folks that had just arrived in Florida from England, the wife said to my husband  "come round and knock me up in the morning", he almost passed out!!  That's the first time I have heard/seen that expression since.  Looking forward to this review, sailing on Caribbean Princess in December, wondering if the rumors of drydock in October a true.

My Mum was from Liverpool. She and my Dad met and married in Liverpool while he was stationed at an Air Force base near there. They had been married about 2 1/2 years and I was 6 months old when my Dad was transferred back to the States and my Dad’s family met my Mum for the first time. My Dad and my Uncle Tony planned to go deer hunting and were leaving early in the morning. The night before my Mum said to my uncle, “knock me up in the morning before you leave, Tony.” Needless to say, that became part of our family lore! Thank you for reminding me and making me smile. 😊 

[scubacruiserx2]

29 minutes ago, Jazzbo said:

My Mum was from Liverpool. She and my Dad met and married in Liverpool while he was stationed at an Air Force base near there. They had been married about 2 1/2 years and I was 6 months old when my Dad was transferred back to the States and my Dad’s family met my Mum for the first time. My Dad and my Uncle Tony planned to go deer hunting and were leaving early in the morning. The night before my Mum said to my uncle, “knock me up in the morning before you leave, Tony.” Needless to say, that became part of our family lore! Thank you for reminding me and making me smile. 😊 

 

 You're welcome , and that you for making us smile this morning . A nice way to start a new day .

 I sometimes tell people that I'm bilingual . I speak both English and American . I became fascinated with English and it's slang after the Beatles A Hard days Night and the British Invasion of the early 60's - the music of the Baby Boomers . And Spinal Tap didn't hurt as much as I thought it would . Once in the good old days BP ( Before Putin , not British Petroleum ) , we were flying to and staying in Saint Petersburg and I was seated next to a coach of a British kids fencing team going to compete in St. Pete . He was about our son's age and we traded music with each other's device . The subject of Spinal Tap came up since he believed that they were a real group from my generation . He couldn't believe that they were not British as their accents were so good , but rather American actors including Micheal  Mc Kean who played Lenny on Happy Days and Laverne and Shirley .

[scubacruiserx2]

 We thought that we were fully packed and met our driver from Transzitt  promptly at 0915 for our transfer to the CB .  The driver owned a black  Mercedes van that seated 6 and luggage . About half of the time was spent in the city and half on the motorway . The CB was tied up in a different place than we have always used before on Celebrity . We watched to safety drill and checked in at the appointed place before having lunch at the Coral dining room . On the road Pat was a little sick with sinus issues . Boarding into Suite R 409 was a snap .

 

 

 

 

 

 

 Andrii our waiter is from the Ukraine but I spoke to him in  conversational Russian which we speak better than Spanish . He was very nice and a great person . Of course we highly approve of the defense of their nation and refuse to support their invaders even though we have friends in Russia who don't support their President's actions . But we have had some lemons also that we don't approve of their actions either .

 We have spent more time in Cozumel than anywhere outside of our county for SCUBA diving there . We were seated in front of a painting of Cozumel that shows mountains . It must have been painted by someone from Hollywood with a good imagination since it looks more like Hawaii than Cozumel .

 

Edited August 3 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 An area that we visited while in Rejavick had a glacial flood that washed out a bridge that we crossed  near Vik on July 19th  2024 .

 

 

https://www.google.com/search?q=stream+washes+out+road+in+iceland&oq=stream+washes+out+road+in+iceland&gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyBggAEEUYOTIJCAEQIRgKGKABMgkIAhAhGAoYoAEyCQgDECEYChigATIJCAQQIRgKGKABMgkIBRAhGAoYoAEyBwgGEC#fpstate=ive&vld=cid:b97aa964,vid:2hSxm7SYbIw,st:0

Edited August 3 by scubacruiserx2

[scubacruiserx2]

 

 

 Does anybody know what is this ?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The busy port video clip :

 

 

Edited August 3 by scubacruiserx2