I was all set to have a great day when we docked at Dover. I had booked an excursion to the Shepherd Neame Brewery in the medieval market town of Faversham. This was touted as Britain’s oldest beer maker. Then, in the afternoon, I was to spend my time in Canterbury. The excursion included a short orientation walk of Canterbury’s main sites followed by plenty of free time to really explore the Cathedral.
I had already gotten up, dressed, and had my breakfast before finding out that, due to high winds and choppy seas, we would not be able to dock. Instead we would have an unexpected day out at sea. Since my stateroom was on the Starboard side of the ship, facing the coast, I thought that perhaps I would be able to see various parts of the English coast as we went by. But no such luck. We were far enough out to sea that it wasn’t possible to recognize any landmarks.
Unless I wanted to hang a “do not disturb” sign on my door, I needed to vacate the room for housekeeping to be able to do their jobs. I grabbed the book I had been reading on the plane and headed down to the Living Room. There I had a hot chocolate with Bailey’s, which I leisurely sipped on while reading a novelized version of life in southern England shortly after William the Conqueror conquered the country.
Soon we had newly printed schedules in hand and could plan our onboard activities for the day. I was interested in an 11am lecture by resident historian Dr Caroline Malloy on “The Vikings”. One of the reasons I had selected this trip was because I had discovered through both genealogical research and DNA testing that I had some Viking ancestry. Some of those ancestors had moved from Norway to Orkney in the 9th century. Then, once Orkney became part of Scotland in the 15th century (and after a lot of intermarriage), they moved down into mainland Scotland before some of them headed down even further to Northumbria and Yorkshire. On this trip, after roaming around the UK and Ireland, we would head on up to Norway.
On the way to the lecture, I ran into Christine and Sherry from the day before. They were also interested in the lecture, which turned out to be quite fascinating. We sat together and then went to lunch. Since I had eaten so much the night before and had a pretty decent breakfast, I had a light lunch. After lunch I had a swim and then rested for a bit before our next lecture at 4:30pm.
By the way, Viking helmets that have been excavated in archaeological digs have not sported horns. So, Minnesota Vikings – not accurate.
Since we were at sea, the shops were open. Out at sea, they were both tax free and duty free.
I love amber. I had first purchased some jewelry of that semiprecious stone while on a tour of the Baltic countries back in 2012. The amber in the shop onboard ship was all from Poland. It came in many different shades with many different styles of settings. All of it was gorgeous. Most of the amber I already had was in a honey color. I quickly found some earrings in a more reddish shade and then hunted for a ring to go with them. I slipped these finds into my purse after giving them my stateroom number (they would be charged to the credit card attached to the stateroom) and headed for the next lecture.
This one was on “Enjoying Jane Austen and Her Characters”. I got there a little early and ordered a Lemon Drop Martini to sip on while waiting for Sherry and Christine to join me and the lecture to begin. The guest lecturer was a fellow named Dennis Fitzsimonds. He was there setting up and so we ended up having a chat about Ms Austen between the two of us. He was knowledgeable on the subject and I learned a few things I didn’t already know.
The lecture by Russell Lee that evening was called “Baa, Baa, Black Sheep – How Wool Transformed the World”. His lectures were quite entertaining as well as informative. The California ladies and I got into the habit of attending them every evening. It also wasn’t long until the wait staff knew my drink of choice and stateroom number by heart. I had my usual cocktail (just one) every evening to sip during the lecture. They were refreshing and acted as the perfect appetizer for dinner (which we would have once the lecture ended).
The following day was a scheduled day at sea. So two days in a row of lectures, the pool, and shopping. Not a lot of shopping though. I did attend a lecture on amber by Gabriella from the Baltic Amber Shop. Afterwards I spent some time with her in the shop looking at some green amber pieces and a golden-colored bracelet and some earrings to go with it. Then I was done. I figured I now had enough amber for any occasion. I guess I’d better stay out of Poland, Lithuania, Latvia, and Estonia for a while.
Each afternoon at 4pm tea was served in the Wintergarden. This was a full afternoon tea with a variety of sandwiches and desserts plus whatever tea met your fancy. My choice was Darjeeling. The only quibble I had was that they had only one type of scone – raisin. I don’t like raisins. But I was quite full anyway, so I only had half of it and picked out the raisins. No dinner needed.
That evening it seemed that everyone I encountered complimented me on my beautiful purple dress. Only it wasn’t a dress. It was a top that I used to wear with jeans. However, I had lost about three sizes in weight so, when I took a selfie (worn with some black jeans) and sent it out to friends, the consensus was that the top was now a dress. Time to switch out the black jeans for some black lace leggings.
Next time – Learning about Irish baking at Ballyknocken Farmhouse in County Wicklow (near Dublin).
