Nantes, Bordeaux, Dune du Pilat
Sunday, October 5, 2014 On the way to Nantes we made a flying visit to St Malo. We planned to stop for a quick coffee and a look around, but all of the parking was height restricted so we made…
Adventures
Caroline finally makes it to Mont St Michel
Saturday, October 4, 2014 We approached Mont-Saint-Michel late afternoon under overcast skies. But nothing could diminish the excitement of finally seeing this tiny island commune in Normandy. I (Caroline) had been wanting to see this for the longest time. First…
Normandy Beaches
Friday, October 3, 2014 We visited the very helpful Tourist Information Center in Caen and got all the information we needed to visit the Normandy Beaches. The first piece of advice was to visit the Museum/Memorial of Caen. Although it…
Amiens, Paris and Versailles
Monday, September 29, 2014 After lunch we said goodbye to Marijke and Coen and drove from Wageningen to Tourcoing; the latter picked solely as stopover en route to Versailles to avoid a long day’s driving. There is not much to…
Marijke, Coen and Kuipwagen in Wageningen
Sunday, September 28, 2014 We had a pleasant drive north to Wageningen in The Netherlands stopping only once for coffee. Our trusty GPS did not really know where Coen and Marijke lived, but it was not before long we deciphered…
Eeklo Mostly
Monday, September 22, 2014 We slept in a little to help get over our jet-lag. Stephen was sent out to get some Starbucks from the nearby train station. Lunchtime was fast approaching and we arranged to have frites and frikadelleworst…
Steven, Sophia and Brussels
Sunday, September 21, 2014 We landed back in Belgium after a short stop-over in Munich. Fortunately both ourselves and our bags made the tight connection. We headed into Brussels to take a few drinks with Steven and Sophia. So nice…
Tokyo
Wednesday, September 17, 2014 We sailed into Tokyo harbor around lunchtime to the sounds of a brass band playing on the dock. It was not long before the ship was docked and cleared and our friend Dale made her way…
At Sea – Otaru to Tokyo
Monday and Tuesday, September 15-16, 2014 A chance to catchup on email, the blog and relax as we sail from Otaru to Tokyo. The seas were calm which was very nice and made the sea journey much more enjoyable.
Birthday in Otaru
Saturday, September 13, 2014 Today we celebrated Stephen’s birthday. The day started with a birthday breakfast with some good friends. The breakfast provided a chance to open some birthday presents. The ship arrived back in Otaru just after lunch. Once…
Korsakov
Friday, September 12, 2014 Basically a day at sea as we head away from the Sea of Okhotsk towards Korsakov where we cleared out of Russia. The expedition comes to an end and we celebrated with the rest of the…
Simushir Island
Thursday, September 11, 2014 Early that morning we arrived off Simushir (Симушир) Island and Brouton Bay (бухта Броутона) which is like Yankicha, also a caldera, the remnants of a collapsed volcano. Although there was a heavy swell at the ship, the…
Yankicha Island
Wednesday, September 10, 2014 Yankicha, also known as Ushishir, is one of two connected islets in the center of the Kuril chain.The islets are the summit of a quiescent volcano which last erupted in 1884. One wall of Yankicha’s caldera…
Atlasova Island
Tuesday, September 9, 2014 Atlasova Island lies 64km / 40mi to the West of Cape Lapatka. It is the northern most in the Kuril Island chain and, at 2,339m / 7674ft it is the highest volcano in the archipelago. It…
Petropavlovsk
Monday, September 8, 2014 The World arrived and anchored off Petropavlovsk late yesterday evening, all ready for us to go and explore the city in the morning. Founded by famed explorer Vitus Bering in 1740 and named for his two…