Sailing Home!

We left Southampton on the maiden voyage of Royal Caribbean's newest ship, the Quantum of the Seas.  

Quacker Jack is ready to board the ship.

Our stateroom, complete with virtual balcony

The North Star, in the background...we did not take a ride in it.

This is the maiden voyage, so there was still some unpacking left to do.  







The indoor skydiving instructors had fun demonstrating before we sailed.

We found a cozy little seat in the Solarium.

We spent time on one of the upper decks waiting for us to set sail.

This ferry boat sailed by before we set sail.

Lots of cars and people in the parking lot across the water waited to see us push off.

 We finally set sail!

Those are some mighty big fenders.

Our captain was so good - he backed us out of the channel and into open water.

Imagine our surprise when we found Alabama brewed beer on the ship!

 We made an unplanned stop by the Azores to drop someone off for an emergency medical procedure.  We were there for about 45 minutes to get the passenger off loaded - it was a surprise to see land halfway into our cruise.

 More North Star action

There is beautiful art all around the ship.  This one, though, is not exactly what you want to see aboard a ship's maiden voyage from Southampton to New York  (sound familiar?). 

One of the cute animals our room steward, Anna, made for us

We got little prizes a couple nights to celebrate the maiden voyage.  These backpacks were nice, but check out those CERTIFICATES!

Our captain managed to work out a sail by the Statue of Liberty as we came into port early Monday morning.  New York themed music played on the pool deck and a news helicopter circled us - not a bad way to return to the US.
 

Total distance sailed = 3695 nautical miles 

London, Baby! Or....England Part Two

We took an easy flight from Amsterdam back to London to spend some time before we head home.  After the flight, we took a train into the city.  Here is Quacker Jack on our train to "London, Baby!!!".

 Waiting for the train to leave the station

 You can't tell so much from this picture, but this chandelier hanging in the middle of an intersection looks like peacock feathers.  I can't imagine how pretty it is at night! 

You know you're in London when fancy sports cars are everywhere.

 We cut through Hyde Park regularly - the walk was so much more pleasant and relaxing than walking on the street.

 We didn't get enough museum time on our first visit.  This time, we added the Victoria and Albert Museum along with our old favorites, the British Museum and the Museum of Natural History.

 We were surprised to find such an open and sunny subway tube station.

 Another fancy car - this one is inside a dealership.  








Happy to be back at the British Museum!

The line to get into this place wrapped around the block!  We visited the V &A Museum until the line died down in the afternoon.  We quickly learned the line wasn't so much for the museum, but for the dinosaur exhibit.  We waited until about 20 minutes before closing time and then hopped into the dino line.  Plenty of time to see all the other interesting exhibits before breezing through the dinosaurs.   


I was so excited to see a skeleton of my favorite dinosaur, the Stegosaurus.  

 

The lady profiled at the bottom left of the picture, Mary Anning,  was a pioneer in geology.  This is not a hands-on museum.  Notice the fellow in the bottom right corner. 

 Quacker Jack with a skeleton.

 This guy is the ancestor to the modern day armadillo.  

J looking into the skull of ancient man.









We visited a Twinings Tea store that's been in existence since 1706. 
  

 A pretty street view 

 A funny little building in a park (there was no information given about it)

 We walked through some of the theater district one evening.

 We're pretty sure the mounted police were getting read for Halloween the following night.

 

 More strolling through Hyde park

We left London (by train) to get to Southampton, England.  








This picture does not truly capture the steepness of the stairs at our Southampton hotel.  We were so proud of ourselves for "packing light".  Ask J how light those cases were after climbing three flights of stairs.  Lesson learned...true carry-on sized case that weighs 10 kilograms or less.

Thanks to much footwork on J's part before we left, we were able to collect our absentee ballots at the Southampton post office and cast our votes.  

Pretty exciting to be able to exercise our right to vote even while out of the country!