Year 3 Day 346- “Living the Dream”. Friday, 4/12/2024. Day 11 of 28-day European Vacation – day 9 of 18-night Northern Europe MSC Euribia cruise. We are in Southampton, United Kingdom for the second time with this ship. From our balcony you can see the Southampton Civic center clock. This municipal building is located in the Cultural Quarter area within the city. The building with the clock is occupied by a library, a museum, the city council, an art gallery, and I am other interesting offices such as Guildhall.
We have a mandatory immigration control visual inspection this morning at 10:45am in the Sportsplex on Deck 16. All guests must go this quick face-to-face meeting with their passport and cruise card.
Here’s a link to our first time. Living the Dream Year 3 Day 339 – Day 4 of 28-day European Vacation – Day 2 of 18 Night Northern Europe cruise on MSC Euribia – Southampton, United Kingdom and Stonehenge – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count Our excursion today is – Discover the city of Bath.
Last night we ate our first meal in the Colorado River main dining room. The food was interesting. Steve got medium well prime rib and he swears it was wiggling. Steve loves the vanilla ice cream, and they give you a huge serving. The service was exceptional it was quiet compared to the Marketplace buffet. We caught just a little bit of the servers playing plate music.
This morning for breakfast I tried Spelt bread which I had never had before. Spelt is one of the world’s most ancient grains. It’s native to Iran and parts of Europe and was one of the first species of wheat ever used to make bread. The bread was wonderful. It was a hearty nutty flavored bread. We always eat our breakfast as early as possible in the mornings whenever we cruise. We love the quiet at that time, the fact the food is not picked over yet, and the utensils have not been handled by a million people. Therefore, as soon as the Marketplace Buffet opened at 6:30AM this morning we were there. It was nice and quiet.
Before we headed to the theatre to meet for our excursion, we went back to the Buffet again to have some coffee. Look how crowded it is later in the morning.
It is amazing how many employees on board can speak many different languages. In the theater waiting for our excursion to leave, the announcers speak at least five languages. We are loaded on a motor coach bus and on our way promptly. An observation I have is on American cruises things aren’t always on time. On a European cruise line everything is early. I f they say 9:30am, they may leave buy 8:45am. Bath is located in the county of Somerset, England. The city is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site, recognized for its significant cultural and architectural importance. UNESCO is the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization which is a specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and security through international cooperation in education, arts, sciences and culture. Bath is known for and named after its Roman-built baths. The population is about 100,000. Bath is in the valley of the River Avon, 97 miles west of London and 11 miles southeast of Bristol. Our ride today will be over an hour. This will be another long day. We failed to do our safety drill meeting yesterday for the back-to-back. Hoping we are back in time for our 6pm scheduled time. Today is a gorgeous sunny day and the trees are starting to blossom. In the United Kingdom buses are taken in the cities and coaches are taken between cities. I won’t make that mistake again. I was corrected by the tour guide. Lol
We drove through New Forest again today like we did when we went to Stonehenge last week. Here’s a link to last week’s excursion. Living the Dream Year 3 Day 339 – Day 4 of 28-day European Vacation – Day 2 of 18 Night Northern Europe cruise on MSC Euribia – Southampton, United Kingdom and Stonehenge – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count. The New Forest is one of Europe’s most important locations for nature and conservation. It has woodlands, wetlands and bogs, and open heathlands. It is home to many rare species of plants and wildlife long since lost from the UK and Europe. The animals keep the pasture grass nearly mowed. There are about 7,000 animals in this forest.
We drove from Hampshire County into Wiltshire and then Somerset.
We drove over the Avon River three times. This is a famous chalk river. There are only 200 chalk rivers globally, 85% of which are found in the UK in southern and eastern England. Chalk rivers emerge from the chalk aquifer. The water is very pure and rich in 47 minerals and remains at a fairly constant temperature year-round.
Somerset county is famous for its legends such as King Arthur and alsopp;[[[ its Cheddar cheese. Cheddar cheese originates from the village of Cheddar in Somerset County. Our destination is Bath today. Here there are hot springs. The water is heated by high temperature rocks to an estimated 156˚ Fahrenheit before rising back up through one of the three springs in the center of the city, namely the Cross Spring, the Hetling Spring or the King’s Spring which supplies the Roman Baths. Once they reach the surface, the spring waters are on average 113 º Fahrenheit. The waters then cool down to the optimum bathing temperature of approximately 93 º Fahrenheit. It is one of the most expensive cities in England. Bath has been attracting health seekers for thousands of years. The Romans called the town Aquae Sulis, meaning “waters of Sulis” – an ancient British god of healing springs. Most of Bath’s buildings are made from the local, golden-colored, Bath Stone. The dominant architectural style is Georgian Palladium style. The city was a fashionable popular spa and social center during the 18th century. Today on our drive to Bath there is another motor car accident, and we have to alter our route. The same thing happened when we left Stonehenge last week. This tour is way too long of a drive. I would not recommend it. Look at this map it is about an hour further away from the cruise port than Stonehenge.
It was almost as bad as the flight from Philadelphia to Paris. We saw and learned about Chimney pots though which was really interesting. Chimney pots have been used in Britain since the 13th Century. They are usually made from clay or tin. Chimney pots are known as ‘tuns’ in England. A Chimney pot is supposed to draw smoke more effectively out into the air.
The bus made a short stop at The Royal Crescent. The 500-foot Royal Crescent is one of Bath’s most iconic landmarks. It was designed by John Wood the Younger and built between 1767 and 1775. This building is arranged around a perfect lawn overlooking the Royal Victoria Park. There is an impressive ha–ha, which was designed to keep grazing animals out of the more formal areas of the garden. I had never heard of a ha-ha before. A ha-ha is a type of sunken fence that was commonly used in landscaped gardens and parks in the 18th century. It gave the viewer of the garden the illusion of an unbroken, continuous rolling lawn, while providing boundaries for grazing livestock. Very cool idea. No stepping out into your front lawn and stepping in animal droppings. The Royal Crescent is currently home to the five-star hotel The Royal Crescent Hotel & Spa, the museum of Georgian life at No. 1 Royal Crescent, and also private housing.
It is so funny to see bricked up windows. This is due to old houses from when the Window Tax was in force in the UK between 1696 and 1851. “People were taxed on the number of windows they had in their houses so many windows were bricked up to reduce tax paid by homeowners.
Bath is super crowded with many street performers. The street performers were amazing. We had clotted cream ice cream for an afternoon treat. It was yummy. Clotted cream ice cream is a traditional British ice cream that’s associated with Cornwall. It is sold throughout the United Kingdom. This ice cream is made with Cornish whole milk, eggs, and clotted cream. We had a few hours of free time. It was a warm beautiful sunny afternoon. At the end of the day, I am glad we did the excursion. Pretty cool we visited a T-K-Maxx not a T-J-Maxx
We made it back to the ship at 5:40 and did the mandatory assembly station drill at 6pm. So again, we are given 7:30pm dining. So, I guess we are eating in the buffet the whole vacation.
We made a quick trip around the ship after dinner to check out the macarons and see what is displayed on the Galleria Euribia ceiling. Very cool ceiling tonight. The Galleria Euribai is the indoor promenade which features an 80-meter LED ceiling which changes through the day during the cruise.
There are many great benefits from being a MSC Voyagers club member. We didn’t go to the Welcome Back Cocktail Party, but here is a short video as it was just starting, and we were walking by.
Here’s today’s Daily Planner, excursion planner, other invites, and the dinner menu.
Things to ponder today! Have to leave you thinking.
Packing Cubes – Here’s a link to today’s Amazon recommendation: https://amzn.to/49Z48ax These are the best packing cubes. I have had other less expensive ones. These are worth the little extra cost. Traveled to Europe for a month and used these. They are strong, the sizes are perfect for my needs, and they keep your items organized. I rolled my clothes and packed them tight. They seem really durable. I expect to have and use these for a long time. Also, the burgundy color is nice and rich looking.
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To view the complete daily diary, click here – This starts at Year 1 Day 1: Living the Dream – Deestimes – Make every step of the journey count