Brest, France

 

On Tuesday, April 19th we docked at Brest, France.  The day had a rough start.  They provided shuttle buses to take us the 20 or 30 minutes into town, but there were not nearly enough buses.  So, they just kept cramming more and more people on in a standing room only bus/ shuttle. It was miserable.  I got so hot and my back hurt so badly standing, getting jostled.  We survived the trip and were so grateful to get to the drop-off point.

A government building in Brest across from where the shuttle dumped us.

Studying the map to figure out where we wanted to go after getting off that horrible shuttle!

There was a tourist information center about a block away where they(sort of )spoke English.  Ken got them to call a taxi for us.

Fabionne came.  She spoke pretty good English and gave us a nice tour.  I could tell she was very nervous.  They hadn't had cruise ships come for a couple of years and her English was rusty.  But she was pleasant and eager to please.

She took us out to St. Matthew's Lighthouse and Monastery.

It was an absolutely beautiful place on the coast.

The crumbling monastery from the 1600s was amazing to see.

I love this picture post card picture- one of my favorite from our entire trip.

Ken and Don spent time birding at this site.  Here are some of the birds Don photographed:

Gannett

Pipit

Stone Chat

Ken and I both took lots of pictures of this amazing site.  It was a beautiful, perfect day.

Fabionne then drove us around the French countryside and villages. It was beautiful and fun to imagine how the people live.

I'm so glad  I took this picture.  This was one of our favorite desserts- Raspberry Pavlova.  I found a recipe online and am going to try to make it.  

Refurbishing or repairing a ship at this port.  That is a sight you don't see often.  This picture was taken from our balcony.

On our balcony after we got back to the ship.

This was another of our favorite desserts- lemon meringue cheesecake.

The view of Brest from our balcony

The Azores, Portugal

 Saturday, April 16th was Don's birthday, and it was our first day ashore after a week at sea. We docked in Ponte del Gata, Azores, Portugal.  We had such a nice day ashore.  The scenery was gorgeous.  We couldn't stop taking pictures, as you will soon see.

We hired a taxi to take us on a tour to Blue Lake and Green Lake.  

Antonia, our taxi driver.

I was trying to take a picture of the bird, but he moved just as I clicked.

The village you see is called Seven Cities.

A church in Seven Cities

Our taxi driver explained that this gazebo is the site for huge festivals in the summertime.

Isn't that gorgeous?

We had Antonia drop us off in the city center.  We did some shopping and took some pictures of the city gate.

A beautiful church downtown

In front of the city gates

It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed walking back to the ship.

This was the little souvenir I chose from Portugal.

After lunch, Don and Ken went back out to bird.  I enjoyed a nap!

After dinner, the waiters gathered to sing Happy Birthday to Don.

Ada pre-ordered a birthday cake for Don.  Isn't that thoughtful?  We enjoyed it later that evening.  The workers gathered around and sang Happy birthday.

Don shared some beautiful pictures he took of birds here:

Blackbird Common Thrush

Serin

We enjoyed our first port in the Portugal Azore islands.  

A Lovely Compliment

 One of the entertainers on the ship was Paul Baker.  He was a very fine singer/actor.  He's played in many shows in London's west end theaters.  He won the Laurence Olivier award, which is equivalent to a Tony Award in the United States.

He did two shows on two different nights.  The night after his first show, he came to the theater to watch another singer.  He and his girlfriend sat right in front of us.  At that show, the entertainer invited the audience to sing along.  I don't remember the song, but I was singing loudly.  Mr. Baker turned around and said to me, "You have a really nice voice."  Wow!  High praise from someone of his status.  That really made me feel good.

You Are My Home

 This was a sweet movie.  These two needed each other.