Cruise Adventures: New York to London

Subtitle: How to get to Europe without jet lag!

Somewhere in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.

One of the (many) benefits of retirement is the sheer abundance of time. Instead of cramming ourselves into cramped airplane seats for many hours of overnight, sleepless misery, we were able to take a luxurious two weeks to cross the Atlantic and adjust to the time change an hour at a time. We also stopped at a bunch of lovely places along the way. Here's how it all went:

Halifax, Nova Scotia

Our first stop after leaving New York was Halifax, Nova Scotia. Our crew of five first traveled to the UNESCO Heritage site of Lunenburg, a small fishing town on the coast of Nova Scotia. The town has the same look and layout as it did in the 1800s.

We also visited Peggy's Cove and Lighthouse:

And even met a 100-year-old lobster!

Don't worry, he wasn't for sale. They were putting him back in the ocean.

After Halifax, we settled in for a couple of days at sea until we reached Iceland. Unfortunately, the weather did not cooperate, and our Iceland stop was canceled due to high waves and many icebergs. We were sad to miss Iceland, but we found plenty to do on board the cruise ship for the now six days at sea including plenty of eating, drinking, and pokering:

Belfast, Ireland

We were all happy to see land, and what a beautiful land Ireland is. Our tour took us first up the lovely coast to the UNESCO site of Giant's Causeway:

We stopped for a photo shoot at a Games of Thrones filming location called the Dark Hedges. It was used as the King's Road in the show. In case you're not sure, we're the group on the left, and the Starks are on the right.

We stopped by the Old Bushmills Distillery for a little tasting:

Drink of choice at Callahan's Crosstime Saloon.

And, of course, our guide gave us a Belfast city tour and a history lesson all about The Troubles. Much of the wall between the two sides still stands as a reminder of the violence and separation. We added our messages of peace along with many others to the wall.

Our guide, Paddy, joined us for an end of the day photo in front of our cruise ship.

Dublin, Ireland

The next day we stopped again in Ireland and spent a lovely day in Dublin and the surrounding area. We couldn't have asked for a more beautiful day in this gorgeous land:

Of course, Dublin is the land of U2, and there was no shortage of memorable spots. I got to add a message to the "U2 Wall" of fan messages at the spot where the band's studio used to be and do a quick drive-by photo of the gate to Bono's house (no stopping allowed!):

We all partook of the local Guinness, even Brad:

Liverpool, England

Liverpool was a last minute addition to our stops to make up for the lost port stop in Iceland.

Liverpool from the cruise ship.

We didn't have time to plan much at this short stop, but we had fun taking the Hop On Hop Off Bus around town and seeing Beatles sites like Mathew Street where they played some of their earliest shows and their statues on the boardwalk. It was very windy. My hair isn't usually this bad.

Plymouth, England

Our second stop in England was the town of Plymouth where the pilgrims set sail from. We walked through the small town and visited the lighthouse. We then set sail from there ourselves, but on a much bigger boat than the pilgrims.

Normandy, Bayeux, and Honfleur, France

Our first time in France! From the port of Le Havre, we visited several locations. First stop was Normandy at the American Cemetery. Over 9,000 American soldiers who died in Europe during WW2, many on the beaches at Normandy, are buried here.

We caught our first glimpse of Omaha Beach from the cemetery:

We got a closer look at Omaha Beach along with a history lesson from our guide. Omaha was just one of the five beach landings on D-Day, but it had by far the most casualties. This was made famous in the movie Saving Private Ryan:

Next was the small town of Bayeux where we saw the Bayeux Tapestry. This 230 foot long embroidered cloth is almost 1,000 years old, and it shows 58 scenes from the Norman's conquest of England. The town was also lovely and may be a place we go back to for a longer stay.

Not the real tapestry. Pictures weren't allowed. This was in the gift shop.

We also had French Fries. In France!!!

They were particularly tasty. France knows what it is doing with fries.

We ended the tour at the cute town of Honfleur which reminded me of Amsterdam and could also use another longer visit.

Honfleur, France

Our cruise ended the next day at the port of Southampton, England where we made our way to London for a week. London adventures will be coming soon!