Friday - boarding

We boarded Holland America Lines' Nieuw Statendam on Friday. We took an Uber from the hotel to the cruise port -- we were really glad that we did as it would have been a very long walk with luggage. The Uber driver took us right to the ship...

This picture is from the Uber car. 

He parked at the place indicated by the port folks (where the buses for excursions would park), and there was a lady right there to collect our luggage and carry it onboard for us.

We went through security in the port, checked in, and waited just a short time before they called us to board... 

Heading up the gangway onto the ship

A picture of the outside of the ship as we were preparing to get on

We had heard that boarding time was noon -- we got to the port about 10:45am, and they let us board soon after 11am. When we got on board, they directed us to go up to the buffet on deck 9...

Carl trying to decide which of the many options to try first!

A picture of Dover castle taken out of the window in the buffet dining area

When we first boarded, they said that our staterooms were not yet available, but soon after we started eating, an announcement indicated that all staterooms were now ready! So, after we ate, we headed down to deck 6...

... and checked out our room.

We have a balcony room.

Dover castle

White cliff of Dover

Bathroom 

Other part of bathroom -- it isn't huge, but the shower is bigger than the one on Gracie!

Our luggage was not yet delivered, so we decided to walk around the ship and get familiar with places that we might want to visit during the cruise.

We saw the main pool -- this one has a retractable roof to keep it more comfortable if we end up being in some colder areas.

We saw the fitness center -- nice view from the treadmills out the front of the ship. Carl said he'd take this picture so all his friends know where he'll be spending his time, uh, maybe not!

When we returned to our room, all of our luggage had been delivered. We met up with friends Joe and Pat. We had dinner with Joe and Pat, and met another couple, Steph and John, who are from England, and who also shared our table. We enjoy sharing tables on cruise ships and meeting other people.

After dinner, we went to the evening stage performance...

... it was done by the ship's entertainers and was good.

We are glad to be on the ship and able to hopefully slow down a little. (Carl is telling people that he walked every street, rode every double-decker bus, and travelled every tube line in London! He *might* be exaggerating!)

Thursday - travel to Dover

We had made arrangements to stay the night before our cruise in Dover, so Thursday, we checked out of the Hampton by Hilton Old Street hotel, got a black cab (which actually was white) to St Pancras International Station, and caught a Southeastern train to Dover.

We got to the station early, and were watching the board to see when the platform for our train was indicated -- it was ultimately going to Sandwich, but we took it just to Dover Priory.

On the train - we saw some of southeastern England as we traveled.

The train was quite full for much of the journey, but towards Dover, everyone could get seats (we had successfully gotten seats when we first got on, but moved to seats where we had a window after other people got off).

Along the southern coast, we saw some of the white cliffs that are part of the area around Dover.

A view of the Southeastern network

Our train at Dover Priory station

We got to our hotel -- it is pretty small, but sufficient for our needs (the bed is right up against the wall on the other side).

With all the walking we have been doing, Carl had gotten a blister on the bottom of his foot, so at the train station, he found "Multi-Purpose Blister Plasters" (plaster = bandaid).

After getting settled into our hotel room, we walked down to the main street to get a late lunch... 

We stopped at Biggin's Fish & Chips...

... we shared a large order of fish and chips and it was very good!

We walked further down the shopping area...

...before returning back by the shop where we had gotten fish and chips. While we were eating inside, there was a sea gull outside the window encouraging us to bring food out to him. We did not, but we threw away our leftovers in the trash can out on the patio -- you can see the sea gull on the ground watching the trash can where our box was placed...

... as we walked by, the sea gull was making an effort to get the box open and access to our leftovers!

We walked on back to our hotel, Park Inn Palace. It is very adequate, though nothing fancy.

We are looking forward to getting started on our cruise on Friday!

Wednesday around London

We were planning to leave London on Thursday to travel to Dover in preparation for boarding our ship on Friday, so we decided to get some laundry done on Wednesday morning...

... we headed to a laundrette a few blocks from our hotel -- got the prices for wash and dry so we'd know how much cash to get, went to a cash machine to get pounds, and then returned to do our laundry. We just had one load to wash and dry, and were able to do it in £10. This facility also did dry cleaning, and I think they would do your laundry with pressing and folding too. It didn't take too long (a little over an hour), and we had clean clothes to pack for the rest of our journey.

We were meeting a former co-worker of mine for dinner at his club, and since we never know exactly how long it will take us to get anywhere in London, we decided to just go ahead and dress for dinner, and head out for our last sightseeing in London.

We caught a bus and got the front seat upstairs again (they should just reserve that seat for us!). We enjoy seeing things as we drive through the city.

This bicycle delivery guy had passed our bus, and we had passed him a few times. He was stopped, I guess at his delivery location -- it looked like he was carrying 1/2 gallons of milk in his front carrier area.

We got off the bus to visit the King's Life Guard to see the mounted guards...

Folks were going up (outside the white lines) to get their pictures taken with the horses. This one was a little fractious - he was evidently about *done* with standing! He was about 20 minutes in to his 1 hour shift (according to what we read, they change every hour on the hour).

This one was standing totally still. 

Then we walked back to Buckingham Palace since the foot guards were no longer in place when we had visited earlier (the guards change to active patrols around the grounds in the evening).

At this time of day, there were two guards... this was the one on the left...

... Carl getting ready to take a picture of the one on the right...

This was the one on the right.

According to information that Google AI provided me:

Shift Routine and Rules

Sentry rotations: Guards complete two hours on duty followed by four hours off, repeating this cycle throughout a total 24-to-48-hour overall tour of duty.
Movement on duty: Sentry guards do not stand completely frozen for the full two hours; every 10 minutes, they come to attention, slope arms, and march about 20 paces across their post before returning to stand at ease.
Overall presence: The palace guard coverage runs 24 hours a day, 365 days a year, with nighttime duties shifting to active patrols around the grounds.

We left the Buckingham Palace area and caught a bus that would take us near the London Eye (ferris wheel). Unfortunately, the bus was not a double decker, and didn't have air conditioning, so it was rather hot and uncomfortable. We decided to get off once we had crossed the River Thames and walk along the river...

We had some beautiful views of the Houses of Parliament and Big Ben.

Big Ben

London Eye

We were still pretty warm, and needed a place to sit down in relative cool, so we found the London Eye Lounge...

...where we got still water and non-alcoholic apple cider - both drinks really hit the spot!

We could see the mechanism that runs the wheel -- "Friction Rollers: Standard commercial truck tires (such as Continental HSR models) press directly against the outer steel rim of the wheel."

A couple of the pods. I think I read that each pod can hold up to 25 people. The wheel rotates once every 30 minutes.

We took the Golden Jubilee Pedestrian Bridge across the River Thames...

From the bridge, we had a view of the London Eye and Big Ben.

Another view of the London Eye and Big Ben.

We met Julian at his club (National Liberal Club). He gave us a tour and provided us information about the history of clubs in general, and this club specifically.

The library - Julian and me

Julian took a selfie with the three of us.

Julian told me that he understood that the ladies room up on the top floor was quite amazing, and encouraged me to go up... since he would never be able to go in (and since I was the only one in there), I took some pictures...

The lounge area with makeup tables

The washing-up area -- through the opening is access to the toilets. It was the most opulent restroom / loo / toilets I have ever visited!

One of the reception rooms

One of the rooms had a couple of portraits that we were intrigued with -- Julian took pictures of them and sent them to me afterwards, so I researched them...

This lady seemed to have a rather serious expression. There was no label to tell us who she was.

From Google Lens:

This image is a portrait of Jadwiga Branicka (née Potocka), a Polish noblewoman.

It was painted around 1862 by the renowned German artist Franz Xaver Winterhalter, who was famous for his portraits of European royalty and aristocracy.

The original oil-on-canvas painting measures approximately 79 cm by 63 cm and is part of the collection at the Palace Museum in Wilanów in Warsaw.

This specific image appears to be a reproduction of the painting, commonly available as a print or wall art.

This lady had a more playful expression.

From Google Lens:

This image shows a reproduction of Giovanni Boldini’s oil painting Portrait of Lady Colin Campbell.

Artist: Giovanni Boldini (1842–1931).

Original Subject: Gertrude Elizabeth Blood, Lady Colin Campbell, an Irish journalist and author.

Original Location: The painting is held at the National Portrait Gallery in London.

Style: The painting is known for its dramatic brushwork, particularly in the rendering of the black satin evening dress, a style sometimes called "the master of swish".

One of the most dramatic features of the club is its magnificent spiral staircase...

Julian told us that, during the bombings during WWII, a bomb fell through the roof straight down the middle of these stairs, destroying them. They were reconstructed to look as much like the original as possible. 

I had read online that the club rents out space for weddings, and we could imagine it would be quite the picture for a bride to walk down these steps in her gown. Rooms in the club could also be used for reception activities.

We ate on the terrace - we could have eaten in the dining room, but it was a beautiful evening and we enjoyed being outside. The dinner was so good -- Carl had tuna and I had salmon and we both thoroughly enjoyed our meals! 

For desert, we got what Julian told us is a British standard, sticky toffee pudding with ice cream - yum!

Julian got a chocolate ganache (and other things that I don't remember what they were) -- he said his was also delicious!

We had a great time sharing stories and catching up. It was so nice for Julian to host us at his club!!