The library is under a major restoration but still extraordinary in it’s ancient ambience. The volumes of ancient books are so intense. The Book of Kell written in 800’something AD is housed here.

This is the original \240Book of Kell. Very damn old and precious.

Every corner is mysterious and the smell unsettling. You can almost feel the spirits of the ancient scholars that wrote these books and cared for them.

I think I’m jet lagged!

The university campus is stark, not really inviting. I’m sure it sends students into fits of fear to get their work done.

We are always so lucky in our travels with the weather. It is 70 and sunny today. \240We were lucky last February when we went to Mexico City too. Hope that holds out for our cruise.

Sunday, we had a slow and easy day just walking around the different neighborhoods. \240I walked by the Gaiety Theater and we decided to go see the 5pm showing of River Dance! \240I mean… when in Dublin how can you not?

The old Gaiety was a beautiful old gem. \240We were enthralled with the performance. Irish dance is so different and athletic. Of course they have made it into a Las Vegas style performance. The glittering costumes were a bit much, but it was very entertaining.

We weren’t able to take pics till the encore but this quick video captures a touch of the wonderful show.

This is the 30th anniversary of River Dance and most of the tappers are the children of the original Micheal Flatly production.

Monday was a slower day of shopping and pub crawling! We went to a great old department store called Arnott’s. I bought a few things I didn’t need.

It’s noon so time for our first pub! \240Heading to the Merchant Arch pub across the river Finny.

I really like pictures of myself from behind. My hair is getting long! The flower pots all around the city are fantastic!

After a couple of vodkas Cynthia couldn’t quite get the picture of the bar straight! Look at all those brews on tap!

Lovely spot for a break in the day.

Next on our agenda, was the Irish Museum of Archaeology. \240Ireland has been inhabited for over 12,000 years. The object discovered and collected here are amazing. The building itself was well worth the visit.

They have an outrageous collection called the bog people. \240These are humans that have been preserved in the deep peat bogs across the midlands of this country. \240I’ve never seen anything like these preserved corpses (about 10) that were displayed in private vault like enclosures. \240I hated taking a picture but just had to. \240This poor guy, over a 1000 years old, is in pretty good shape! \240So crazy how the hair remained lush, shiny and with deep color. \240You can see his eyes… argh. Grossed me out a bit but you just can’t look away.

This was a humorous display in the lobby. \240This is the museum and neighboring library all done in Lego’s. What a challenge that must have been.

Tuesday! \240We hired a car and guide to take us out of Dublin to get a feel of Irish countryside. \240We had fabulous weather and drove 3 hours west to the Cliffs of Mohr on the Atlantic coast.

A truly magnificent coastal walk along the wild heather pathways.

As you can imagine they lose a few people a year to the cliffs along this treacherous pathway. Some by accident, some not.

It was just a riot of wildflower colors and smelled like heaven. \240I just loved it.

This is David our driver/guide. \240We learned more about Irish history and politics than you could ever get on your own from books! \240He was smart and super funny and shared many personal stories of his Irish life and being from a big catholic family of 9 children!

We absolutely enjoyed our hour of so wandering the cliff walk. David then took us to a local pub where we stuffed ourselves with fish and chips and libations ~ A truly wonderful day.

We say good bye to our favorite spot in the Shelbourne hotel, The Horseshoe Bar. \240This was a wonderful four days in a city so rich in history, culture and friendly people that I can’t wait to return.

Today! \240Time to board the Silver Wind and set sail on our expedition adventure. \240Below is our itinerary for the next two weeks. \24090% of our shore landings are on zodiac rafts. Dang.

Okay. \240My last two picture’s wont load. \240We have set sail. \240I’m going to try to send this now and I will catch up on pics later.

Our route for the next two weeks!

First of all… my editor (Cynthia) demands I make some corrections from my last Journo post!

First, In Dublin, it’s the River Liffey, not the river Finny! 🙄

Second, it’s the Book of Kells… not the Book of Kell.

Third, \240 We’ll, we have both forgotten what the 3rd one was so couldn’t have been too important.

Leaving Dublin on the Silver Wind.

Getting some practice in throwing the life preserver! Just in case someone throws Cynthia overboard.

My first beautiful sunrise over the Irish Sea. \240There really isn’t anything better than sleeping on a moving ship. Magic!

So, I don’t think I explained but this is unlike any of our other cruises! \240Neither of us has done an Expedition Cruise before. \240All our docking stations are done by Zodiac boats and not a leisurely stroll off the ship and on to a dry pier. \240And, being in the northern Herbredies, it is damn cold and almost always raining. \240WHAT WERE WE THINKING!

Here we are all geared up in our water proof outfits. \240Today, our first excursion is in Lunga, Scotland. \240This is a world heritage site and a protected breeding ground for the Puffins (called flying potatoes locally).

Waterproof backpack compliments of Silver Sea.

The life jackets look small but they are heavy! \2408 or 10 lbs. they are activated and expand when they hit the water. Let’s hope that doesn’t happen this trip!

We are two crazy old ladies!

Cynthia opted for the island landing and a hike up the bluff to view the puffin nests up close. \240I’ll feature her photos later.

I decided I would break into this zodiac travel a bit slower and chose to do a cruise of the island to see the Puffins in flight and nesting from a distance. It was magnificent. We saw at least 10 varieties of sea birds and many adorable grey seals.

Alberto. OMG one cute Argentinian. My zodiac captain and naturalist. These rafts are just incredible. \240So maneuverable and safe. \240I can confidently say I am cured of any sea sickness I use to experience! We had heavy 6 foot swells on this 75 minute trip and I didn’t have a twinge of discomfort. Actually loved the rock and roll of the vessel.

Our Ship, The Silver Wind. \240an older ship but still luxurious and beautiful. \240Only 275 guests on this cruise. They can’t find too many of us idiots to do these extreme trips!

This is the only way on and off this ship! \240No gang planks.

Watching the staff raise and lower the zodiacs is an experience itself!

Here are some Puffins up close. They are standing next to their burrows where their eggs are laid and raised. \240They have a 3 year maturity before they become mating pairs for life. They live about 20 years in the wild.

Cute video of pair checking up on their chick!

Puffins are amazing. \240They dig burrows over a meter deep for their chicks.. with their beaks! They are amazing swimmers, diving up to 10 meters to catch a fish! However, the are terrible flyers. \240Their wings are small and they have to constantly beat their wings (100 times per minute) to stay aloft. A lot of energy to maintain that. They can’t glide like all other sea birds.

Great Day! \240We are off tonight to our next port, Iona, Scotland. \240Weather is not looking all that good for us tomorrow.

Happy 4th of July. \240As predicted, it is miserable out there. \240We are suppose to go to Iona to visit the cathedral where the Book of Kells was written. \240Captain’s announcement just now (7 am) said to be prepared to get soaked on the zodiacs and to be walking in the pouring rain all day. I say…FORGET THAT! \240I’m going to stay all warm and cozy in my suite or head up to the Panorama lounge to start drinking early! \240Cynthia on the other hand is going to give it a whirl. Crazy lady.

As it turns out, just as Cynthia was about to step onto the raft the crew got a message from our captain. The weather was rapidly deteriorating and he was calling off the trip. \240Smart captain! Looking out for everyone’s safety. Justified my decision to stay on board. Cynthia lucked out. \240Now we have an extra sea day to look forward too!

We will spend the next two days crossing the Atlantic to Iceland. Hopefully we will see some improvement in the weather when we arrive. Lots of great excursions there. Meanwhile, we just spend the days reading, eating, drinking and napping! Heaven!

drinking! Heaven!

Below, we are in the Observation Lounge till lunch. Post lunch we are attending several lectures on the history and geography of Iceland.

In the Observation lounge this morning. \240Followed by the Panorama Lounge for pre lunch cocktail. A couple lectures this afternoon. \240

More from Iceland! \240Xoxox

7pm at our first landing in Iceland. \240It never gets dark. NOT AT ALL. \240The sun sets about midnight but just stays close below the horizon so at 3am it’s like dusk back home.

A long coach ride to the xxx (I can’t be bothered to look up the name) glacier but it was a lovely opportunity to take in the remote landscape.

Small mountains and cliffs but very very few trees. Our first excursion was to the xxx glacier.

We had to do an EXTRA layer, provided by the tour company. \240Of course with our tiny stature we were a bit overwhelmed by the coats.

Goofy old ladies!

The intrepid explorer. Do I remind you of Shackleton?

We were lucky with the weather, as we usually are, and although cold, it was sunny. \240The day before was pouring rain. We also got to witness a calving of the glacier. It is losing 160feet of glacier a year. Not a good thing.

Cynthia holding a piece of an iceberg. \240It felt like diamonds

The next day we made our first wet landing! \240We are only the second exploration tour to have set foot in this remote section of Iceland. I am done with wet landings 🫤

I mean.. is this crazy or what! \240Very cool to be here but I think I could have lived without this particular excursion.

Four sea tern chicks

Local girls selling home-made wears (sure). We were served delicious lamb soup.

We also got to witness the pure bred Icelandic horses! \240They were so cool. \240Other than the Andalusian horses in Spain, this is the only 100% pure breed in the world. \240No other horse is allowed to be brought into Iceland. No other horse has been allowed inside Iceland for the last 900 years! Amazing. \240They export about 2000 of these small horses to other parts of the world a year but they are never allowed to return. They are unique in that they have 5 different gates instead of the 3 that all other horses have. And they are incredibly rugged and capable of surviving the harshest weather conditions.

Video above

Very happy to get back on board the ship many hours later. I took the hardest walk I have ever taken, only a mile and 1/2 but over totally boggy grasslands. Extremely hard to keep your balance. \240Some guests had to turn around. Cynthia took the longer hike along the black sand beach front, Smart!

The bog was full of color and beautiful ground cover/

There are only 409,000 people in Iceland. That is small. \240The Island is about the size of Kentucky. \240It just got its independence in 1944, so a very new nation.

More scenes from our next stops.

Cynthia went to the evening event at Artic Henge! \240No thanks.

This is at 10pm

At 11pm. The arctic henge is an art installation to attract tourist to save their town from extinction.

Always a lovely church. \240The first settlers of Iceland were all of Viking decent and believed in the Norse gods. Until about 1000ad when the Christian’s found them

Stop in Djupavik to tour a abandoned herring factory. Herring just disappeared from Iceland in 1954, why??

The stories and the old Germany engines that ran this factory were marvelous.

Our last Iceland stop today. \240Husavik. \240We are going whale watching. \240Rain was predicted but we have sun! Maybe some of you have heard of the old Will Ferrel movie EuroVision? \240It was filmed in this town! \240Jaja-DingDong!

Do you see how I am gritting my teeth? \240This explorer shit is wearing thin.

Beautiful old ships for our 3 hour excursion.

The Silver Wind is a grand old vessel.

Another fabulous church… although they all look the same.

We had a stunning 3 hours out on the bay and saw lots and lots of whales- Minkes and hump backs.

Video above

So, tomorrow is a day at sea and I have never looked forward to a day off so much in my LIFE! \240I am going to read and sleep and play games and read and sleep etc. \240we have a few more stops in the Scottish Herbrittes islands before arriving back in Dublin on Wednesday morning 7/16. \240We then fly to Edinburgh to meet up with Vic and Jen for a week of more leisurely exploration of the castle and the pubs!

More soon.xoxoxo

Last night at 1:40am!

So, I was misinformed about the next day being an “at sea” day. Wishful thinking I guess. \240It was, however, our first dock side port so no need for zodiacs YAY! \240I still decided to not do an excursion to the geothermal spa. Ewww.. getting undressed with all my shipmates didn’t sound appealing. \240Cynthia went, of course, and had a great time and even did a polar plunge into the lake! She has a few loose marbles if you ask me.

I opted for a walk into the small village of Eskifjord. \240I heard they had a pretty good grocery store and I needed some mouthwash. \240As I was leaving the ship I got this shot of our entire crew doing an emergency evacuation drill! \240Very comforting to know they are well trained! At least they will know how to evacuate 😁.

A beautiful spot and the weather was finally incredible! Sunny and 70.

As we were leaving the dock around 1:30pm for our long day and a half \240sea route to Kirkwall, Scotland we were informed by the captain that he expected to hit some very heavy seas! \240And we did! \2403 meter swells and heavy rains. Very very exciting. Now that I do not get sea sick I love the challenge of rough seas - especially tucked into my cabin. Not a great night sleep and difficult to even get to the bathroom but fantastic experience. \240Wasn’t scared for a second. The zodiac launches were way more frightening.

1:40am. \240Beautiful sky. \240Absolutely doesn’t capture the roiling ocean! \240

My wonderful nest! My wine glass and water glass!

The entire next day at sea was cold, rainy and very rough. Perfect day to do exactly what I wanted… read, nap, eat and drink.

The following day we arrived in Kirkwall, Scotland. More precisely, the Orkney Islands (outer Hebrides) of Scotland. Brilliant weather. 70, sunny and calm. \240Cynthia and I took the shuttle into the village and enjoyed just walking around on our own.

The harbor

Very picturesque village. \240Finally got mouthwash. Cynthia went to a gin distillery and had a couple nips!

After lunch we took the tour out to visit the treasures of Orkney. One of our first stops was at the Rings of Brodgar. Straight out of game of thrones! \240Neolithic stone henge that no one knows for sure what it was for but wonderful nonetheless.

Our incredible guide Helen was definitely straight out of central casting. She is a doctor of anthropology and definitely knew her stuff. \240She had a intelligent and interesting way of talking about the ancient history of this island. Asking us to think out of the box because there is no right answer to why they did the things they did!

Is she a piece of work or what?!

The circle of stones were over 5000 years old and marvelous.

Just look at how much life depends on these stones!

Country cows enjoying the good weather.

Next we visited the dwellings of the ancient peoples that built the ring of stones. \240So well preserved and sophisticated in the planning! \240Every house was layed out exactly the same - hearth, beds, dresser for displaying their prized possessions. \240They had a drainage system beneath the homes to dispose of waste and garbage piles not far away. \240 For being 5000 years old ,pretty smart. Of course, living to 35 was a grand old age!

Onward! \240Departing Kirkwall we head to St. Kilda overnight. Cynthia took this beautiful shot and almost every single good shot in this Journo! \240Thank you Cyn.

Before we hit St. Kilda, we passed by several of the uninhabited Islands of the outer Hebrides that are bird sanctuaries to an amazing array of sea bird life. I learned so much about sea birds on this trip. What a species! Arctic terns travel the equivalent of going to the moon and back 3 times in their lifetime! \240WHAT!!!

Absolutely every little white speck on that rock is a bird. Gannets and artic terns nest here in the summer. Millions of them.

So.. St. Kilda. Creepy. \240This tiny Island has an interesting story. \240Not going to give the whole history here but basically only two families lived on this island for hundreds of years. \240Need I say more? \240The last were evacuated in 1930.

I passed on our last zodiac excursion, but our Cynthia went ashore. \240Horrid conditions. \240High seas, wind and rain. You got to be NUTS. \240But beautiful scenery.

I stayed on the ship and watched how difficult the zodiac launches were. \240Cynthia’s zodiac on her return, had to circle the ship for 45 minutes to get a break in the waves to pull along side!

My hero! \240Megan, wow! One of our expedition guides with a master’s in biology, one hard ass Wonder Woman when captain of a zodiac! I just can’t say enough about the expedition crew. I am totally amazed at the quality of crew Silver Sea got for this trip. \240They are unbelievable. Of course, this is what we are paying for. Experts on every level.

Our last portage! \240I have never been to Northern Ireland! \240I want to come back. \240We dock in Derry-Londonderry. \240The history here of the “Troubles” in the late 60’s, 70’s 80’s and 90’s was so complicated to me…but now all is clear.

They have been fighting about religious discrimination since 1613! \240Please, stop this nonsense!

The 70’s, 80’s and 90’s what a mess and so unnecessary. \240

Beautiful city and countryside.

Walking the walled in city of Derry. Protecting the Protestants from the catholic,,, and visa versa!

The Guild house which has been the seat of government here for centuries.

The Guild House.

The Derry Girls! I can’t wait to watch the series on Netflix

Another journey’s end! \240We dock at 8 am back in Dublin tomorrow . A quick flight to Edinburgh. \240Very much looking forward to our next adventure in Edinburgh with Vic and Jen.

Xoxoxoxox