Our last day on the ship, we took a few pictures of our "home away from home," the Norwegian Spirit. It is an old ship and is scheduled for a big overhaul in Jan. 2020. It had a certain charm and we loved the walking deck, but we had experienced plumbing issues periodically and that was a new experience for us. The crew members were exceptionally nice and attentive though and that makes a huge difference.
Yixuan Liu was our favorite server and her assistant below had such an infectious smile.
Our friends from Toronto, Anita and Daniel Wong, are people we hope to stay in touch with.
We had some absolutely gorgeous "moon" experiences which added to our enjoyment.
There was a lot of Oriental décor on this ship.
And some replicas of Terra Cotta Warriors.
These servers often serenaded guests eating breakfast in the buffet area. They were from the Phillipines.
These two young ladies worked very hard to assist guests in booking future cruises. For some reason, they became our special friends.
I kept running into this group of ladies dressed in gold one day, so we all decided to sit down and have a photo taken together. They thought it was pretty cool that I wore their colors.
The beautiful round carpet in the middle of the atrium was original to the ship and was said to have been handpicked by the owner's wife at a cost of $2.5 million dollars. Whew!
Hello Southampton! We're back.
Steve was happy to garner the front seat for our excursion through the Cotswolds on our last day.
Our first Cotswold village was Bampton in Oxfordshire. It is one of the main filming spots for the famous TV series and movie Downton Abbey. Our guide gave us lots of particulars.
This church of St. Mary is referred to in the film as St. Michaels.
Each of the buildings on this side of the street have been renamed and purposed for the show/movie.
We loved this thatch roofed home. They are very expensive to build with the current regulations and have to be changed every seven years so people who have them are usually more wealthy which is just the opposite of their original use.
Burford, a small medieval town on the River Windrush in Oxfordshire, is often referred to as the "Gateway to the Cotswold's". It is popular with visitors for its beauty, history and specialist independent shops.
We stopped at a beautiful old hotel where they served us a lovely lunch in this dining room.
I especially liked the patio and gardens where I am sure they have hosted many weddings and parties.
The Rupert Murdoch family owns the mansion behind this fence in Burford, UK. Our bus parked directly in front of the gate.
Our last village stop was Stow-on-the Wold, Gloucestershire.
At nearly 800 ft., Stow is the highest of the Cotswold towns, located on the Roman Fosse Way and at the point where several roads meet, hence an important trading centre. Fairs have been held by royal charter since 1330. It was founded as a planned market place by Norman lords. At the height of the Cotswold wool industry as many as 20,000 sheep were sold at one time.
This old hotel and its gardens were very beautiful. The Stow Library and Visitor Information Centre was hosting a local craft fair that weekend. There were some interesting and beautiful items on display but they were definitely on the pricey end and we didn't need to take anything more home.
We were able to get some change from a local ice cream vendor so we could pay 20 pence for the restrooms. The grocery store wouldn't give us any change. Interesting!
At the end of a long but lovely day, we were delivered back to our hotel near the airport so we could catch our return flight home the next morning.
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