You think the current Royal Family has problems?  Well, British history shows a lot worse.   Let me start with three King Charles. Charles I was born in 1600 and king from 1625 to 1649...when he was executed.  The monarchy was also abolished. His son Charles II was born in 1630, became king of Scotland in 1649, then when the monarchy was restored, became king of England, Scotland and Ireland in 1660.  Reigned until 1685. Of course Charles III is now the King, I now jump to Queen Mary II, because the ship I'm on is named after her. Was born in 1662 as the niece of King Charles II. The eldest daughter, a younger sister Anne, was born in 1665.  Both became queens. Mary 2 at the age of 15 married her cousin William of Orange in 1677. They jointly became King and Queen of Great Britain in 1689. Mary 2 endowed the formation of William and Mary College in Virginia. But she died of smallpox at the age of 32, and William III ruled until 1702. Next Anne. She married Prince George of Denmark,

  The view from our Moxy Hotel room towards the port.  But that does not look like the Queen Mary 2. Taxi to the Queen Mary 2. Checking into any cruise ship is a slow and sometimes painful experience.  This one was no different.  We had been traveling for nearly 6 weeks, so we missed getting an important document that others had.  Took us a bit longer, then, to get through the system, only to find another line.  We were sent to an area with six elevators, but 5 were being used to bring luggage to the rooms.  Waited and waited and finally got to our floor.  However, my suitcase was not there.  This same thing happened on our Tauck Tulip cruise.  My baggage went to another room, and I did not get it until 8PM after I had given up hope.  Some canapés provided by Costco (we worked through them to get this cruise paid) and champagne, provided by the ship. Not much of a view from our veranda. Still no suitcase, so went to dinner. Cocktails befor dinner.   Then the ship departed.  Last view o

We spent some time at the Westquay Shopping Centre located across the street, and had lunner at, again, Wagamama.   We ate at one of these restaurants  when we were in Copenhagen after visiting Tivoli Gardens.  Had an excellent pork ramen there with beer. What we experienced at Westquay was amazing.  We thought  Southampton  was just a dull port town with maybe a stoplight.  Not so. Has a population of more than a quarter million, and is famous more than anything else as the departure point for several fatal ships. In 1620 the Mayflower carried 120, Pilgrims to America, making anchor near Cape Cord, Massachusetts.  Many died on the way, and only 50 survived the first winter. Of course, the other that left here was the RMS Titanic in 1912 on a maiden voyage to New York, something we will also do soon, but hope to succeed.  That's an actual photo of the ship leaving Southampton.  Around 550 of the 2224 passengers and crew died, the deadliest sinking of any ship in history.  500 on bo

Yesterday was probably my most difficult day on this trip.  Nothing went truly wrong, but very few things went well.  A stressful and physically trying series of experiences, from Piraeus, Greece to Heathrow Airport in England, then a bus ride to Southampton, ending with a long, wet, bumpy, dangerous walk to our hotel, the Moxy. So to begin, goodbye Regent Seven Seas Voyager in Piraeus. My Blue-bar pigeon said have nice flight. Nice buildings along the way.  But traffic was slow, very much so. A street scene. It was an excruciatingly long ride.  We were supposed to leave the ship at 8:35AM, but delays made this departure time closer to 10AM.  We did not get to the airport until after 11:30, and by the time got to the Aegean Air lounge, it was only half an hour to boarding.  That's why my posting was so late yesterday.  There was no time to get connected.  We had almost nothing in the lounge. Our Aegean Air plane. Salad, etc., with John Walker. Added Ouzo with the chicken. Then the