Today was a travel day. We left Barcelona via RyanAir airlines and 2-1/2 hours later the plane dropped us off in Edinburgh, Scotland. It was sunny and in the mid 60's when we left Barcelona. It was somewhere in the upper 30's with sleet when we got off the plane in Edinburgh.
We took a taxi to the Old Waverly Hotel where we will be staying for 3 nights. The Hotel has a history dating back to 1848. It is situated on Edinburgh's famous Princes Street in the heart of the city center. It is near the Edinburgh Castle and the Scott Monument
The Old Waverly Hotel
You can see the Edinburgh Castle up on the hill from our hotel window.
The Scott Monument is a Victorian Gothic monument to Scottish author Sir Walter Scott. It is the second largest monument to a writer in the world. The construction was started in 1840 and it was completed in 1844.
A short walk around our hotel revealed lots of historic buildings, the Waverly Train Station, lots of shops, many restaurants, and beautiful gardens of trees and flowers.
On April 7th we left our homestead in Dunedin, Florida and headed to Fort Lauderdale. On the 8th we set off on a TransAtlantic cruise. Seven days later we finally saw land. It was Portugal's Azure islands. We explored the area around the Sete Cidades Crater Lake. Three days later we saw Spain. For the next few days our cruise ship stopped at various ports along the Spanish coast, including Cadiz, Gibraltar, Malaga, and Alicante. These cities had some amazing sights and history to offer us. Finally on day 15 we disembarked the cruise ship and spent a few days in Barcelona, Spain. We had a special evening when we met my daughter Kristin and her husband Kane, met us for dinner. It was totally by chance that they were on vacation in Barcelona the same time we were there. On day 17, we flew on a plane from Barcellona to Edinburgh, Scotland. We explored Edinburgh for a few days, then took a train to Glasgow. We expl...
We are starting our trip by boarding the Holland-America cruise ship Nieuw Statendam on Saturday, April 8, 2023. The ship was docked in Lauderdale, FL and we left the dock at 4:00 pm. Fourteen days later on April 22nd we will disembark in Barcelona, Spain. We are traveling with our friends Carmine and Holly Paolino. After spending some time in Spain, we will be flying to Scotland. We'll be driving around Scotland for a few weeks, then traveling by train to London. In London we will catch a plane back to Tampa Florida. We expect to be back in Dunedin Florida by May 10th. The Holland-America cruise ship Nieuw Statendam is not one of the larger cruise ships. It houses 2666 guests; is 975 ft in length and is 114.8 ft wide. There is an abundance of food and entertainment on the ship. I had mahi/mahi for dinner tonight, then played an exciting game of music trivia. There is something to entertain almost everyone. Everyth...
Still cruising along, however the ship is only using two engines. Previously we were using three engines and moving at 20 knots. We are now at 16 knots. The captain used the higher speed to stay head of a cold front. Now we can just cruise at a slower speed and still reach our destination in the Azores (identified by the number 2 on the map below) by noon on Saturday. Today was another overcast day and in the mid 60's. RoxAnne went swimming, but I spent most of the day going to education seminars. The first seminar was on astronomy and was taught by a Dr. Michael Douglas. The second seminar focused on the Italian cars. We covered the history of manufacturers, such as Fiat, Ferrari, Lamborghini, Alpha Romeo and Maserati. We also learned about Vespas. The last seminar was a technical class on phone safety and covered some of the safety related settings on your phone. We ate at a specialty restaurant tonight called the...
That hotel is gorgeous!!!😍
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