9-8 Southampton, Stonehenge, and Salisbury
This is being sent out a day late because first night of the cruise is crazy slow with all the new users trying to get signed up. So you’ll get Monday’s new on Tuesday. Deal – life’s rough sometimes!
Monday ended the first part of the cruise and started the second. Once again, Princess messed with us. We got a statement in our mailbox stating that we disembark. Um, no. I went to the desk yet again to talk to one of the guest services people and he assured me all was fine and despite our cruise card having ending on Sep 8, we could wait till we got back from our excursion to get a new one. He lied. When we tried to come back aboard, Security pulled us out of line and had us wait on the side while someone from Admin took our old cruise cards and got us new ones. Then it turns out the changing of the card disabled my internet account, which I just finished getting fixed with the help of a very nice internet manager. Boy, howdy, is this cruise line going to get a letter from me when this is all over…
Once again, I woke way too early, what with time change and our early arrival in Southampton. We were on the dock side of the ship, so I got to hear all the noise of the gangplanks being installed, the luggage being brought off the ship, the luggage crates being broken down noisily, and various loud sounds I couldn’t identify. But we had breakfast, watched a little TV, then went to meet with our tour group for a day at Stonehenge and Salisbury.
I don’t think I’ve mentioned, but everywhere we’ve taken a bus, we’ve been required to wear a seatbelt. And in most cases, one end was practically buried between the seat cushion and the frame of the seat, so the only way to fasten was by feel – and that didn’t always work. But apparently if the bus gets pulled over, passengers who are not belted can be fined. Rah.
Anyway, we had a scenic drive to Stonehenge which started out sunny and ended up dreary and overcast, naturally. We were surprised at the number of people there – who goes to Stonehenge on a Monday morning??? Lots of folks, apparently. But our admission included a device for taking a self-directed tour – you punch in certain numbers at certain spots along the path and various narrators tell you all sorts of fascinating facts. So that was nice. We took tons of photos as we circled around. Among the younger visitors, the popular photo seemed to involve standing with arms outstretched, head raised with the stones in the background. Being tragically unhip, I have no idea what they were up to.
Once we finished the walking tour, we returned to the visitor center where they had mock-up of the types of huts they think the workers lived in, plus an exhibit showing how they believe the stones were moved – more photo ops! Finally, we made a quick pass thru the gift shop for yet another fridge magnet, plus free samples of lemon curd and something else they were selling. That all pretty much filled the 2 hours we had there. And, naturally, as the bus pulled out, the sky turned blue and the sun came out.
Next, we headed into Salisbury for another hour and a half. We stopped in a little place for some lunch, since it was after 1 – Mom did fish and chips yet again, and I had a chicken and mushroom pie – very yum!! Apparently green peas are a very popular side dish in this little corner of the world. Luckily, we like green peas. When I went to pay, I had to show the guy working the register how to swipe a credit card. Apparently the only cards he’s ever encountered have chips that are read from a separate slot. So I flipped my card in the correct direction and ran it thru the magnetic reader – eureka!! Good thing it worked – we had no cash and I hadn’t brought my debit card.
After eating, we headed towards Salisbury Cathedral where we caught up with our tour guide, so we hung with him and a small subgroup from our bus, figuring he’d get us back to the bus on time. And pretty much all we had time for was about 5 or 6 minutes at the cathedral, then a march back to the bus. Lunch took longer than we’d expected, so once again, no real time to play tourist. But everyone was on the bus on time, so there’s that, and we got back to the ship in plenty of time. And that’s where the adventure of the cruise card occurred…
We’ve got another time change in anticipation of Bergen, Norway on Wednesday. I plan to get up early Tuesday and toss a load of clothes into a washer. Assuming we continue to be as tidy as we have been we shouldn’t have to do more than this one load. Since there’s just 2 weeks to go, I think we’re going to make it without another laundry day! WOOHOO!!
Tuesday night’s another formal dinner, but other than that, it’s an at-sea day, so I won’t have anything to share. You’ll hear from me again on Wednesday. MWAH!