Travel ....Repeat...

24th May....

Good morning.....Liverpool.
The ship pulls right into the dock in Liverpool which was lovely.
We walked down to the World Heritage listed Albert Dock.

 Waved to the gorgeous Royal Liver building on the way past with its Liver birds at the top.

Stopped and had our photo taken with these 4 guys .... haha

.... then we headed off to  'The Beatles Story' exhibition... to soak in some Beatlemania. 

The exhibition was brilliant actually.... it told the story from the beginning to the end...with lots of memorabilia and personal stories. I know I walked out feeling like I knew them and their rise to fame so much better.

For a complete change of pace we left the Beatles exhibition and headed to the Liverpool Cathedral .... its enormous... the largest cathedral in the UK...and 5th largest in the world...however in contrast to a lot of the historic churches we had seen this one was relatively young... completed in 1978.
(Its also the only cathedral I've ever been in that has a coffee shop inside)

We took the lift and then the last 180 steps to the top of the 500m tower for a 360 deg view of Liverpool...which was spectacular. I was taken in by these oval housing estates... we just don't see them in Australia.

 We also visited the Elizabeth Hoare gallery on the third floor which houses a stunning collection of Victorian and Edwardian embroidery.

 Just outside was a little old cemetery with this path leading down....its so easy to loose time reading the stories on the headstones .. so many lived through such tough times...and we take so much for granted.

Keeping up our day of contrasts... we caught a cab out to the Liverpool Football club ... bit of a bummer it was closed as they renovated some stands or something...but we wandered the shop and took some photos.

Then it was back into Liverpool  for a visit to the Cavern Club which was where the Beatles story all began. Although this isn't the original cavern club (which was filled in during some rail extensions) it is a replica built with many of the same bricks. I guess its as close as you can get.
It had so much atmosphere inside....with music playing and drinks flowing....it would have been nice to stop for awhile and settle in....but that is one downside of a trip like ours...we were always watching the clock and needing to keep moving.

This lively part of Liverpool had bars and clubs dotted along the streets everywhere....with lots of reference to the famous four.

We squeezed in a little last minute wander of Albert Docks before boarding again....ready to set sail for Belfast in Ireland.

23rd May...

Bit of a late start today.... the ship didn't dock in Dublin until lunch time. I guess it was sort of nice to have a bit of a lazier morning.... but by lunch time we were keen as beans to get off and get exploring.

We decided on the 'Hop on Hop off bus... its an easy way to get around the city... hopping on and off as you wish knowing there will always be another along in 15 minutes or so.

First stop.... "The Guinness Storehouse" Seven floors of interactive displays telling the Guinness story ...finishing at the rooftop gravity bar for a pint and a 360 deg view of Dublin.

(I feel like the naughty kid here....I pinched this photo from an image search after realising I didn't actually take one outside)

Once at the top we could enjoy the view and although I passed on the pint... the others enjoyed theirs.


 Thankyou for a wonderful day Dublin.

22nd May ...

OMG.... sailing into Cobh this morning was amazing....beautiful homes lining the harbour... green hills...we were in IRELAND and excited for what our day would bring.


Its always hard when you pull into port on a cruise ship....so many people all wanting to make their way to the same things... and we did feel we made a slight stuff up with the transport this morning. We were unsure if it would be better to take the taxi or a train / bus. We regretted our decision of taking the train when it wasted so much time. But hey! it was still a beautiful morning and we were in Ireland...and it didn't matter in the end.

Our first destination was the Blarney Castle and gardens.... this castle was built nearly 600 years ago...and is world famous for the "Blarney Stone" at the top of the tower...legend has it that if you kiss the stone of eloquence you are never stuck for words again.



The gardens and surrounds were beautiful ... and the weather was perfect.

The queue for the Blarney Stone 'kissing' was long...and we debated skipping it.... but Donna was keen...and I was more than happy to line up as well.

The boys wandered the gardens while we waited patiently... Ian checked out the 'Poisonous Garden' and was delighted to spot rhubarb with a skull and crossbones sign....he has never liked it...and now he knows why.

The queue for the Blarney stone took just over an hour I guess..... we could see the stone above...and were keen to get our turn.


Finally made our way to the top of the tower and the view was spectacular...


Then it was our turn...you sit on the edge.... lean over backwards and kiss the stone.

(You can see some stone kissing action below.)

 All the way I was saying "Ill do it...but I am not actually letting my lips touch that germy stone".... but in the excitement of the moment I forgot and planted my lips fair and square on it (insert eeeek face) I then spent the next hour intermittently rubbing my lips with hand sanitiser. I am so glad we chose to stick out the queue.... it was a really special moment for Donna.. and one she will never forget.


From the gardens we wandered back to the Blarney Woollen Mills and the Pub for a delicious Irish stew and mash for lunch.

It was sad saying goodbye to Blarney....we had spent a beautiful part of the day here.
Luckily we had enough time in the port of Cobh for a look through the Titanic exhibition ...Cobh (then known as Queenstown)was the last port of call on its fateful voyage.
 Then it was time to jump back onboard the lovely Caribbean Princess which looked particularly massive today as it dwarfed the port buildings.

I'm not sure if it was excitement of a new place or some type of woeful jet lag but Ian and I were wide awake at 4am and so got up and walked the decks until it was time to get ready for our day.

In a mini nutshell...
Guernsey is the second largest island in the Channel islands group... and has been the property of England since the Battle of Hastings in 1066. It lies just off the Normandy region of France and was occupied by Germany during the war.

Our first views were beautiful even though it was a grey and overcast day... which later turned to incessant rain.

Although we didn't visit we could see the 13th century Castle Cornet guarding the harbour.

Our day included...
 a little stroll in the harbour city (St Peter Port)





a lovely 90 minute bus tour of the island...and then the German Underground Hospital and Ammunition store. This was incredible.   Let me quote the brochure...

" This is the largest structural reminder of German occupation existing in the Channel islands. This maze of tunnels covers an area of about 75,000 square feet. Almost invisible from the surface (except for the entrances) this vast concrete maze is built under a low hill in the heart of the Guernsey countryside" 




 Designed to accommodate 800 patients.. the hospital could have housed three or four times that number. It was dark... dank....and gloomy... not to mention wet and mouldy... not ideal for recovering in a hospital.


We also visited 'The little chapel' ... possibly the smallest chapel in the world. This beautiful tiny little chapel is completely covered in pebbles and broken china.

 It was undergoing some restoration during our visit with some scaffolding around the outer of the building but we could still enter..albeit one or two at a time and take a peak.

Guernsey was a beautiful stop.... such a pity it was so brief.

20th May 2016
Its nice to wake today with our feet on the ground and new adventures at our doorstep.
Yesterday went in a blur of shuttles... plane flights and customs as we said farewell to Japan and hello to England.

We stayed overnight at the lovely Novotel Southampton which provided a fabulous breakfast and was a nice easy walk from the historic old town... steeped in Titanic history.

I struggle to comprehend the age of and history of some of these buildings...seriously... this is the Bargate.... a medieval gatehouse constructed in Norman times as part of the Southampton walls... this was built in c1180 !!

 They weren't only building walls and gate houses back in Norman times...they were also building houses... like this World listed Tudor house.


We also felt a little like we had stepped back in time... The Titanic tragedy in 1912 struck Southampton hard... and there is a Titanic trail and references everywhere.

Our morning wandering Southampton was a lovely prelude to our cruise... we made our way to the dock and boarded the lovely Caribbean Princess around lunchtime ... so looking forward to our cruise of the British Isles.

18th May
This morning we experienced our first 'rush hour' in the Metro system... but like true professionals we navigated our way out to the Meiji Shrine and Gardens.
These beautiful tranquil gardens date back to 1603 eventually becoming the property of the Imperial Family around 1868.
We wandered peacefully around the gardens to the shrine and iris gardens... and to be honest we felt like we were in the country...not in the middle of Tokyo.


Our next navigational test was to make our way to the Sumo Wrestling Arena (Kokugikan) in the Ryoguku district  for a very exciting Sumo Wrestling experience. We had been looking forward to this since we discovered we would be visiting during the Tokyo Tournament program and so had bought our tickets very early.

Even on arrival we could tell this was a 'BIG THING' there ... excitement was in the air,
The Stadium was a lot larger than I imagined with a shrine in the centre and the elevated dohyo where each tournament takes place.


It was sensational to watch... before each match the wrestlers went through a long series of rituals... like salt throwing...leg stomps and belly slaps. The actual wrestle was often over within seconds...as soon as one was out of the ring or touched the ground it was finished and new contenders and a whole new set of rituals began. I was actually quite surprised as how much muscle and power these Sumo Wrestlers had and also that many of them are not Japanese at all.




Our final and most surprising and amazing thing this day was a night time helicopter flight over the city. Ron and Donna had booked 'a little surprise' before we left...and Ian and I had tried and tried to guess what it was. Never in a million years would we have guessed. I can only say it was spectacular!
I would have loved to share a photo from the night.... but my camera was not my friend...and every single shot was blurred.

This was our last day in Tokyo....  it was time to pack ready for an early start in the morning...new adventures await.

Journal quote "What a fantastic day in an amazing place.... couldn't love Tokyo more"