Of Wings and Whispers

[drron]

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The tulips are"in flower".

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[drron]

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[love_the_life]

I love Bruges but I did do a face plant there a few years ago when I was there with a friend - lolly-gawping at the gorgeous buildings and bang, straight down (and my friend says, straight up again). It caused much amusement to a group of school students and my friend!

 

[Pushka]

Bruges was my bro and SIL favourite place this trip too

 

[drron]

Well here's some more-

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[drron]

The last couple of photos from the boat.Was it worth it?If it wasn't in the package I wouldn't bother.The most earnest part of the commentary from our driver was when asking for a tip.He had his hand out so I shook it.

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We headed back to the rendezvous point as we were hungry and the restaurants there seemed to be at the lower end of pricing-still expensive.As well a couple had cover and it did look like it might rain.

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And that is the city tour bus.
And now to lunch.A beer from across the road for me and a small Sancerre for mrsdrron before our Moules et frites-

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We had a bowl each-should have shared but they were delicious.Mrsdrron then went to a craft shop.i told her the only thing worthwhile was this BBQ apron.Not impressed-

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[drron]

So after that I went on a walk by myself through the opening in the City Wall-

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As you can see there were very few tourists in this part of town.i was in my element-

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[drron]

I enjoyed my little stroll.Mainly religious order building with schools,a couple of churches,day care and a clinic.This one had a nice orchard-

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[drron]

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Amazing the City wall had been part demolished for a car park.Reminds me of a song.

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And back to the rendezvous point as the tour bus does another circuit.

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[drron]

The café where we had lunch-

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Now the drive back to the ship-

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That night was the Farewll coughtail party.First 2 of the Voices of Silversea,the Captain and then presentation of the crew-

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[drron]

Next was presenting employee of the month awards to several of the ship's departments-

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But that wasn't all tonight.This was Captain Corsaro's last voyage as a captain.Significant because he captained the first voyage of the Silversea line on the Silver Cloud in 1994.It became an emotional night.

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This is the Captain explaining that the first thing he wants to do in retirement was to take a cruise-a river cruise though.

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Video links brought messages from the Silversea chairman but also his family-

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[drron]

I thought a lot about posting the following pictures but decided to do so because they show the human qualities of the Captain.He was obviously emotional during his children's message but the crew had done a lot of sleuthing and were told of one of the Captain's favourite songs which was sung by the Voices of Silversea ably helped by all the passengers as the words appeared on the screens.

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And he leaves his last farewell as captain to a standing ovation.

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[drron]

That evening we had dinner with the Cruise Director,2 American couples and a woman from Lonnie.A very enjoyable evening again apart from one of the Americans.
So it was rapidly coming to the end of the cruise.We awoke as we were steaming into Southampton.A grey and cold day.not very interesting and as we came into the dock we had a wonderful view of the English countryside-

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Now the English are sticklers for their rules.Immigration is one of the ways they try to discourage tourism.No one is allowed off the ship until every passenger and crew member has had a face to face check by the Immigration officials.Naturally 2 couples didn't think this applied to them.No one got off until after 0945.their were some very irate passengers..
We got off in the first group,picked up our bags and got a taxi to the local airport.We picked up our Avis car there.It had been a very easy decision-an automatic Mercedes was cheaper than a manual ford.who was I to argue?We were just doing a short run to Bournemouth made a little longer by first heading in the wrong direction.
On the way a short detour via this village-

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The village of Tolpuddle-

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One of the "martyrs" was a Methodist preacher so the Methodist chapel has a lot of information on the Tolpuddle 6.And it is free so no need to go into the museum just up the road-

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The countryside-

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When we got to Bournemouth it was a little early for checkin so we stopped at the Asda supermarket and got some wraps for lunch.A good tip is that the supermarkets usually give you 3 hours free parking so often a good way if you are driving to cut down on parking costs.
It was then to the Hampton Inn where we learned that this was the birthplace of mr tony Hancock and that Benny Hill got his education here.But we had a lovely view-

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We then walked around the CBD and had a snack in the M&S café.
We enjoyed the Hampton.Although a small room it was well laid out,functional and comfortable.Their breakfast as usual included and certainly better than US Hamptons though still not spectacular but adequate.

 

[amaroo]

Great memories of Brugge. Hmmm.... beer and Flemish Fries

 

[drron]

Made a mistake in the last post.Tolpuddle is after Bournemouth.Just another senior moment!
So to continue.From Bournemouth we drove to Gidleigh Park situated in the Dartmoor NP.The day started out with a light fog but this got worse as the day went on virtually until we got to the hotel.This was our gourmet moment for this trip.It didn't disappoint.The report is here-
http://www.australianfrequentflyer....ws/gidleigh-park-chagford-devon-uk-78254.html

The accommodation was very comfortable and we did enjoy the dinner.The other feature is the number of walks around the property.We wandered about for a couple of hours and here are some of the visuals-

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Looking over the Bowlsrink-

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[drron]

And tennis courts-

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The cricket and croquet grounds.The Pavilion now is a part of the hotel accommodation now.

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[drron]

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Did you spot the little bit of home?
One of the tracks crosses the stream-

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[drron]

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[drron]

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[drron]

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Blue sky at last-

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Just outside the restaurant some of the ingredients are growing-

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Unfortunately a bit late but this might have been the perfect mate for JohnK-

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