10/8/25 Southampton England, divide and conquer

We are back to Southampton again, and starting the second leg of the voyage which is crossing the Atlantic!!

Since we can’t agree on where to go in Southampton, we decided to divide and conquer…. I will go to Stonehenge and P will go to Winchester

Arriving Southampton early in the morning while the moon is still up
Passed through new forest park and it’s gorgeous and idyllic
Neighboring environment around Stonehenge where they need to shuttle us in from car park…. Also quite a few camper trucks parked right on the unpaved road beside Stonehenge…. What a wonderful place to camp
Our fabulous guide Ted, explaining Stonehenge using a children’s pop up book
Crowds doing selfie
Me doing selfie
The ambiance around the Stonehenge is unbelievably serene and calm

Now below is the Winchester part reported from P with much better pics

The beautiful medieval town of Winchester
…right by River Itchen
… A city that feel like Bruges but prettier
The beautiful stainless windows of Winchester cathedral
Winchester Cathedral… Many movies and tvs were shot here
… And Jane Austen was buried here…. Thanks for Mr. Darcy Jane 🙏🙏
Celebrating the successful divide and conquer plan back in our stateroom

10/7/25 Le Havre Normandy France

Because of the route change we will do Le Havre twice…. This first time, we will take a 3 hour tour bus ride to check out Mont Saint-Michel, a UNESCO world heritage site

A tidal island and mainland commune set in a serene setting surrounded by low tide beaches, grazing sheeps and corn fields
Beautiful delicately design stained glass windows
Beaches all around
Checked out it’s local delicacies gallette in the medieval village at the foot hill of the commune
Sceneries captured from bus
Enjoy the sheeps of Normandy….

10/5/25 Cobh/Cork, Ireland

The port of Cobh also had a Titanic connection.. It was the last port where it stops and picked up 123 passengers before their ill fated voyage

Finally!! The sun is out after MIA for couple of days
Titanic, Cobh, our ship….
Caught a train from Cobh to Cork city which is about 30 mins away
Snap shots of the city of Cork
Have sukiyaki for lunch…. Because, why not?!…. And its mid autumn festival tomorrow 🙌🙌
Train back to the seaside town of Cobh….
These colorful Deck of card houses are iconic here
Snapshots of this beautiful seaside town
Ending the journey with Guinness…. This pub has 100 % Irish pub vibe complete with live music…. We walked back to the ship with with them serenading us with U2’s One 🙌🙌

10/4/25 sea day

Because of storm Amy, our itinerary was in havoc…. But we don’t care, we already make the special trip to Edinburgh which we will miss if we did nothing…. Cheers to that….. So now we can relax, enjoy the sea day,  do special dinning crab shack and  captain’s circle… We will also enjoy one day of internet fasting…. So goodbye for now!!

10/3/25 Edinburgh Scotland

We woke up before dawn and catch the old city of Edinburgh at its full  glory

Leaves are turning yellow and red and they framed the old city and Edinburgh Castle very nicely
The whole city is dripping with flowers

So happy that we spent the night at Edinburgh… The train ride from Glasgow to Edinburgh (cross country actually) is only 1 hour long

10/2 Greenock/ Glasgow Scotland

It’s kind of gloomy and drizzling but so happy to step foot on Scotland for the first time

The famous Sterling castle and former royal palace during the Renaissance
The unicorns are popular here
The charming town of Callander in the  trossachs
Highland cows are Scotland’s endearing mascot.. this one is called ginger
A beautiful moment by the river with swans
the bony banks of Loch lomond…
Our very wonderful guide and driver wee Davie
Catching a train to Edinburgh


			

9/30 Dublin Dun laoghaire port

We were last here almost 2 decades ago and really love the happy c’est la vi vibe of the Irish people….now the Dublin we knew from before has changed a lot so it’s time for a update

Tender boat to the Port and then train to Dublin
Trinity college…. We skipped the world famous library this time as we had been there before and they are charging entrance fee of $20 Euros now 😆
Pic of the  library from the net…. Wish we could dig out the old actual photos as they were taken before the digital age..
The famous Ha’penny bridge and mingling with the locals…
Lunch and Irish coffee at the iconic Temple Bar with live music, where we soaked in as much Irish vibe as possible!! The Irish coffee is rich and potent!! Yum 😋
How people transport Guinness on the street….. Smart!!
National Gallery of Ireland
There’s a “portal” right in the middle of busy part of Dublin
Another wonderful Irish pub… Where we have shepherd’s pie and potato and leak soup… And of course, Guinness!! The group of German tourist right next to us are here for football game and they are super friendly
Street scenes of Dublin

So, here’s the update : Globalization happened to Dublin too!! Everything is super expensive here, especially clothing… And there are much more immigrants than before..