Easy days

In Bordeaux, TSH and Diva ignored all the offered excursions and walked unaccompanied along the riverside and back through the city. Local people held a small protest outside the ship – objecting to the carbon footprint of the Silver Moon.

The next day was a sea day. At lunch time, as wells as the buffet, there are always a couple of dishes cooked to order – usually a pasta and a stir-fry. One of them was labelled ‘crazy water’, which was a new concept to TSH and Diva. They think it must have been something like this: Fish in Crazy Water Recipe - Marcella Hazan | Food & Wine (foodandwine.com)

A guest from the US is spending 2 weeks in London at the end of the cruise. He wants suggestions about what to do and he has chosen TSH and Diva (Northerners who hardly ever visit London now) for his source of wisdom.

The Sainsburys order has been placed. So food will arrive at their house 16:00 – 17:00 on the day of return

Covid update: 3 guests testing positive. All ‘more or less’ well.

Crazy water, Bordeaux, silver moon, sainsburys, covid

Drinking in the morning (4)

The excursion in Bordeaux took TSH and Diva to the wine museum. This is a very modern, interesting and well set up building – photo below. In order to hear the commentary and understand the exhibits, you need headphones and a transmit/receive device. Point the device at the indicated places around the museum and you hear the commentary in your own language. Unfortunately, no-one told TSH and Diva which bit of the device to point, so they needed help from some kind French people. In turn, they were able to help other people who had not been told how the system worked. They learned that the original meaning of ‘symposium’ was ‘drinking together’. So all those business meetings were accurately described after all.

The final part of the visit was to the Belvedere on the 8^th floor. Diva does not like crowded lifts but dug up enough schoolgirl French to ask the attendant not to allow too many people in with her. He was very sympathetic and held most people back for a later ascent. On the Belvedere, they each drank a glass of Bordeaux rose (seemed more morning-like) and looked at the views over the city. TSH and his camera went to the outside viewing platform.

Over lunch, Diva was incredibly impressed to hear people discussing the recently found possible discrepancy in the mass of the W boson (Particle’s surprise mass threatens to upend the standard model (nature.com)). This potentially overturns the standard model of particle physics. And one of the people on the next table had been involved in the work at Fermi Labs!!!

Later, outside Panorama lounge, there was discussion about the advantages of the James Webb telescope over the Hubble telescope. Silver Moon is a physics ship.

 

TSH is let out on his own

In St Jean de Luz, Diva decided that she did not want to be herded round on another guided tour, The ship was anchored in the very scenic bay, so she decided to enjoy her last views of the Pyrenees.  

TSH left the Silver Moon to visit Bayonne and Biarritz accompanied only by his camera.

He has often encountered road signs in two languages but this time there were three. In Bayonne, road signs were in French, Basque and Gascon - a language local to South-West France.

The cathedral in Bayonne had an English feel about it -  the building was started by the English and completed by the French.

The bus driver expressed a view which TSH has often thought to be the case. He said that he was driving something stronger than the cars, so he could pull out in front of them at a busy roundabout. However, he was more polite when there was an emergency vehicle behind him - he drove the bus right round the roundabout to let it pass. At Biarritz the driver encountered a “Route Barree” sign, so alternative parking and additional walking were organised.

TSH returned triumphant – he had been on the correct tour (see Turkey) and he had not been left behind anywhere (see Terracotta warriors). By the time he returned, La Terrazza was closed so he went to the Arts Café for lunch.

The bus theme continued into the evening as one of the waiters sang “the wheels on the bus” whilst turning the handle on the parmesan cheese grater. 

The pilot for the navigation along the Gironde  river to Bordeaux was dropped onto the Silver Moon from a helicopter.

Diva is still working out how much remains of the on-board credit and what she can spend it on.

St Emilion and Belle-ile

The tour to St Emilion was the best Silversea tour this cruise. It took TSH and Diva to a medieval stone village which is a world heritage site. On the way, they passed many famous vineyards, such as Pomeron and Cheval blanc, whose produce is way beyond TSH’s wine budget. One of the highlights of the village was the stone church which had been carved out of the rock. During WW2, it was used to store the stained glass windows of the northern France cathedrals to save them from the bombing. Back in Bordeaux, they had a good external view of the new wine museum, open for just a few days, which is designed to look like wine swirling into a decanter. The inside seems to be a bit like the Guinness museum in Dublin, with tasting in the panoramic view bar at the end.

The Silversea boutique had a sale of venetian glass jewellery, so after a couple of glasses of port, Diva added to her collection.

The excursion to Belle-ile has two narratives. TSH thought it was interesting and scenic and he had a good time. Except when Diva was complaining. Because the walking in the heat up hills and over cobbles was far more than she had expected. And everybody walks faster than she does. It felt like games class at school. Parts of the coast were very wild and rocky, like Cornwall but the interior was mainly rolling small hills. The views on the coast were very dramatic – in one place, it was totally clear and in just a few moments the mist rolled in. TSH took so many pics that his SD card ran out of space.

An unscheduled stop next so that the Silver Wind can officially exit the Schengen area.

TSH photographed gannets following the Silver Wind and on Belle-ile he spotted a few lizards of varying sizes. Also special breeds of cows and sheep.

The executive chef is providing special food most evenings. Mostly cheese but sometimes antipasti, such as olives or oysters. Diva ate the oyster but TSH passed. He had eaten shellfish earlier in the day when he did not wear his specs to visit the buffet and he ended up with seafood pizza.

Bordeaux

The sea was still calm as the Silver Wind made its way across part of the Bay of Biscay. Diva spotted a couple of dolphins leaping out of the water as they came over to investigate the ship. It was good to hear that one of the waitresses (20 years with Silversea) had been able to find time to visit the Guggenheim in Bilbao.

A few nights ago, Diva thought that the butler was very efficient on a time-change night as the alarm clocks has been altered. Turns out it was TSH who was the efficient one.

Bordeaux is a beautiful city which can be appreciated even from the mooring close to the city centre. The only other vessels there were river boats, including one belonging to Viking. The morning walk took in the seafront, a farmers’ market and several large squares, including the one between the cathedral and the hotel de ville and the one with the main theatre.

Referendum: One young woman thinks that the best prospects for the UK lie in Brexit and then becoming a tax haven. Her greatest fear was of extreme German socialism. Not sure which kind of socialism she was afraid of.

Photoblog

This a summary of the Silversea cruise on Silver Cloud from Lisbon to Southampton:

Santiago de Compostela:

Parador at Santiago de Compostela:

Church in Northern Spain near Gijon:

A cow:

Lake near Gijon:

Scary mountain scenery - these were the white-knuckle roads:

Guggenheim at Bilbao:

A traditional food shop in Bilbao:

Sailing into Bordeaux:

Church in Bordeaux:

Silver Cloud in Bordeaux:

Message from Rosie:

Diva ready for formal dinner:

St Malo

Silver Cloud's grounded tender:

Parachutist model from St Marie eglise:

Stained glass window from St Marie eglise:

Breakfast pastries from Lisbon: