On Dry Land

We arrived in Southampton at 6:30 a.m., disembarked from the fabulous Queen Mary 2 at 9:30a.m., and took a bus to St. Pancras Station where we are currently awaiting the 16:02 Eurostar train to Paris Nord. The Internet on the ship was expensive AND slow, so I was reluctant to post very often. But now that I am enjoying free wi-fi, I will try to take this time to bring you up to date.

The Queen Mary 2 was tremendous. One of the highlights of each day was dinner in the Britannia Restaurant, where the dress code was quite formal.

We are all smiling here because our photo was being taken by a man in a kilt. Did you know that it is impossible NOT to smile when your picture is being taken by a man wearing a kilt?

We really did spend a LOT of time eating, and we savored every morsel. When we weren't eating we found time to read books, nap, play games, go to concerts, watch movies, and swim.

Another highlight of our trip was a mid-Atlantic rendezvous with a tiny canoe and the four men in it who are trying to beat the world record for rowing from New York to England. We waved and cheered them on. The record is 55 days, and when we met up with them they had been rowing for over a month. In that time they had capsized twice, lost one man overboard (but recovered him quickly) and had performed surgery on an ingrown toenail with a Swiss army knife.

The QM2 launched one of its fast rescue boats to greet the canoe--a spectacle in and of itself--and then they took some photos while greeting the rowers. We purchased one of these pictures for three reasons: 1.) They got an amazingly cool shot! 2.) It shows the size of both boats relative to each other, which is mind-boggling in both respects, and 3.) If they break the world record we were witness to an historic endeavor. Unfortunately, we only have a paper copy of the photo, so I can't upload it until we have our scanner. But trust me...it was SO TOTALLY AWESOME!

The name of their boat is the Artemis Investments--you can Google them if you want more info.

Well our train is getting ready to board. So much more to say, but it will have to wait. TTFN!

Tweet