Ships Position:

47°39′54″ N 5°36′27″ W

Distance Traveled: 4,585 nautical miles

We are now almost across the Bay of Biscay & will be entering the English Channel this evening. Looking forward to that because the ride is supposed to smooth out some more in the Channel.We are supposed to land at Le Havre, France early tomorrow (Friday) morning.

The weather today is very sunny but very cool – only 9 degrees C & the winds have dropped to only about 1/2 of what they were last night.

This morning a lot of the passengers attended a cooking demonstration put on by the Ship’s Head Chef & the Maitre D’Hotel. They gave a lot of good tips & were pretty funny as well.

The Chef’s secret is to use LOTS of extra virgin olive oil when making Caesar salad dressing & when cooking chopped vegetables & pasta sauce. I’ll have to remember to stock our ship’s galley with a case when I get home.

The next item on today’s itinerary was to do my laundry. Several decks on the ship have self serve laundromats but there’s nowhere near enough machines to service everyone on the same day. So I did the essentials today (socks & underwear) & will do shirts & pants tomorrow if I can find an available machine. Life at sea can be so exciting.

Cheers!

Ships Position:

43°20′28″ N 3°1′34″ W

Distance Traveled: 4,300 nautical miles

We arrived in Bilbao, Spain this morning about 7:00am local time. It was nice to be tied up to the dock after such a long & windy passage from Lisbon.

I signed up for a bus/walking tour of the city that started at a viewpoint of the city & the Guggenheim Art Gallery. The architecture of the Guggenheim is amazing & it’s done by Canadian Frank Gherry.

Unfortunately, our tour did not allow enough time for a visit through the art gallery but that’s ok – it gives us a good reason to come back!

Bilbao is in a river valley surrounded by mountains. It’s very pretty to view from a high perspective. I’m not sure how well the photo above shows up on a computer screen. Hopefully better than what I see on my iPhone! I took it using the panorama feature on my camera.

One of the outdoor exhibits includes a giant flower sculpture of a dog. This pice of living art was supposed to be temporary but it proved so popular with the locals & visitors that the curators decided to make it permanent. It is commonly referred to as “the puppy”.

After leaving the Art Gallery our guide took us on a walking tour of the Old Quarter of the city. It is a well preserved & vibrant area. Lots of places to relax at small cafes & soak in the ambiance.

Now I’m back on the ship & getting ready for dinner. Big excitement tonight after dinner as the UEFA playoff football game between Barcelona FC & Juventus is being broadcast on the big screen in one of the bars. I’ll have to get there early to find a good seat.

Cheers!

Ship’s Position:

44°0′52″ N 7°54′1″ W

Today we spent the entire day at sea. We arrive in Bilbao, Spain early tomorrow morning.

It was very calm but windy all this morning. I was beginning to think that the weather forecast had changed overnight & that we would not encounter the rough seas that the Captain had been talking about last night. However, when we entered the Bay of Biscay shortly after 12 noon the water conditions changed dramatically.

As soon as we “rounded” the cape & entered the Bay of Biscay the waves rose to between 3 & 4 meters & the apparent wind often peaks near 50 knots. Fortunately the ship is headed almost straight into the wind & waves so the ship’s ride has been pretty comfortable.

Today was a pretty laid back day. All passengers were required to report to the U.K. Customs Officials to be interviewed & get our passports stamped. That advance processing allows us to simply walk off the ship when we land in Southampton. So that was time well spent – compared to the potential chaos of going through all that on Saturday morning.

I have booked a walking tour of some of the sights in Bilbao tomorrow & am very much looking forward to seeing parts of the old city and the Guggenheim Museum.

Cheers!

Ships Position:

38°42′49″ N 9°7′15″ W

Distance Traveled: 3,675 nautical miles.

Today we docked in Lisbon. The weather cleared as we were coming into port, so we had some very nice views.

The bridge on the approach to the city looks a lot like the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco & also the Lions Gate Bridge in Vancouver.

As we passed under the bridge we had a great view of the massive statue of Jesus on the opposite shore of the river. Apparently it was inspired by the famous statue of Jesus in Rio, Brazil.

I took a bus tour of the city this afternoon. Our first stop was the statue. It is magnificent from a distance & even more so up close.

This location also gave us great views of the bridge that crosses the river back to Lisbon.

Next we drove around the city to see various historical and significant landmarks.

We left the city just after sunset. I wish we could have spent more time in Lisbon. It’s certainly a place that I would really like to come back to & stay for a week or two.

Tomorrow we spend a full day at sea & will arrive in Bilbao on Wednesday. The Captain announced that we will be encountering high winds gusting over 60 knots & waves 4 meters or higher for part of the day.

Should be a good ride. Guess I’ll eat lightly tomorrow.

Cheers!

Ship’s Position:

38°0′52″ N 17°30′40″ W

Total distance travelled so far: 3275 nautical miles. We are now about halfway between the Azores & Lisbon.

Last night I went to the Princess Theatre to see solo singer Ms Ngo Ngofa. She is a petite woman from England with a very big voice. She was wonderful & sang a variety of songs from broadway musical theatre & the big band era. I really liked her rendition of Etta James’ songs. Be sure to go to see her if you ever get the chance.

Today is a very grey day, only 16 degrees C, with scattered showers & strong gusty winds. The apparent winds, i.e. the oncoming wind plus the speed of the boat, have been constantly over 40 knots & frequently peaking at over 50 knots!

Fortunately the waves are relatively small & the ship is progressing without a lot of discomfort to the passengers. However, the winds are so strong that the Promenade Deck has been closed for safety. I’ve been brushing up on the ship’s safety procedures – just in case……

With no access to the Promenade Deck my outside walking routine has been interrupted so I’ve come up with an alternate routine – circling the two buffet restaurants on the Lido Deck. It’s actually worked out pretty well, ’cause I can stop to “graze” any time I feel my energy levels dropping. Only disadvantage is that there’s a lot more traffic around the buffets!

The inclement weather has actually done me another favor. With the ship pitching about It’s not safe to be walking around too much. It’s Match Day for the English Premier League so I decided that the wisest thing for me to do is stay seated in a comfortable chair and watch the back to back football games that are being broadcast on satellite TV.

Gotta go for now – kickoff is coming up soon for the match between Manchester United & Chelsea. Should be a good one!