On our way to the Southampton cruise port, we stopped at Stonehenge. I booked the Inner Circle Access so we could walk among the stones. That meant a 5 am pick up time. Yay! It was all worth it.
Standing in the exact spot where the solstice sun shines through was awesome.
We also got to see the stones shimmer via the help of a flashlight.
One question that brought me here was "Why here?"
Our guide had a great theory. Very close to the stones is a
spring that doesn't freeze. This likely attracted animals in the winter and the
hunters followed. The spring is also a bit magical. It has an algae that turns
bright pink when exposed to air. This means items dipped in the spring would
seem to glow.
Our next stop was Salisbury Cathedral:
Salisbury Cathedral was built in the middle of the 13th
century. It holds one of the four known
copies of the Magna Carta. Its main
principle is that the king and his government were not above the law.
The cathedral sits above groundwater. Our guide used a measuring stick (actually some sort of cross) to show how deep it is.
The
cathedral has flooded in the past. They
also display a medieval clock from the 13th century that still works, albeit
with some repairs. Can't say that for my
Casio from the 1980's. Beautiful
architecture. It's always amazing to me how architects of the time could figure
out how to build something like this and not have it fall over.
Then it was time to board the Queen Mary 2.
Before the cruise, I was nervous. Over the years, I’d heard
a lot about the Cunard sailings. I was nervous about how formal the cruise
would be. We’d heard that you had to be in a suit and dress after 6 pm to
access anything on the ship. I was worried the crew would be overly formal.
These worries were silly. Our clothes were fine. My husband did wear a suit on
the gala nights and I wore a fancier dress. He also wore a blazer over a polo
shirt on the smart casual nights. The Queen Mary 2 allows casual dress after 6
pm in the buffet, casino, nightclub, and one of the lounges.
We had a great time. The food was decent. We enjoyed sitting outside at the Terrace Pool and Bar.
We didn't buy the wifi because we heard it was expensive and didn't work well. Fellow guests onboard agreed. We were glad we took a break to be offline. The entertainment was terrific. We heard two piano players, four bands / orchestras, an Irish Duo, a string trio, and a guitar player.
We had a lot of fun with Rolando and Violeta in the Chart Room.
We visited the only planetarium at sea and enjoyed an interactive experience called The West.
We'd definitely take a transatlantic crossing again.
