Home of the Beatles

Liverpool.  It's the home of the Beatles and the home of the Curly Blow hair do.  If you're from Liverpool you know its an essential part of the prep for a night out on the town.

Considering I've lived so close to Liverpool for the most part of my life, I have never been to this city.

It was a gloriously beautiful day on the Saturday when we got there.  And we were able to have lunch on the docks.  But being outdoors has its consequences and unfortunately we had some birds flying above that thought it was a good time to have a poop.  Luckily it didn't land on me, but on the girls with a lot of hair... :-)

Hip Hop Dance Festival

The International Dance Festival is in Birmingham this month.  There are street shows, theatre shows and free classes, indoors and outdoors, for you to learn all types of dance.

The activities on offer have been inspiring.  Particularly the Breaking Convention show that a friend and I went to see at the theatre.

There were several acts, but there was one particular act which was of dancers from all around the world.  What you didn't realise at the start, when they were all doing their back flips and spins, was that they all had a disability.

Some had a prosthetic leg and others had disabilities that they were born with e.g. genetic defects, blindness, deafness.

It was amazing that their passion for dance was so strong that it was enough to overcome their disability.  An inspiration to us all.

The video below is not from this particular act, but of another group of dancers.  It still is good enough to make you want to get up on your feet and dance.

Games: Chess, Black Jack, Roulette & Bingo

There are games on board the ship...

... Pimped up chess set... which had us deep in strategic thought...

...Black Jack and Roulette at the casino... something I am rubbish at.  Good job I'm not a gambler.  And a game where my sister managed to triple her money...

...And Bingo... although this seemed to be fixed.  It was always the same group of people winning...

Party Tricks

Today was a whole day at sea.  So what better way to past the time than a champagne and wine tasting.

There was a lot of wine at this particular tasting and not a lot of food... but I still managed to take this video of the head Sommelier showing us his party tricks with Champagne with a steady hand.

The Final Dock: Eidjford

It's the last stop on this cruise and the sun is shining.  We've stopped at Eidjford.  A little town surrounded by mountains.

It was a bit of a ghost town.  You could only see the other passengers of the cruise ship for miles around.

As per all the other places we docked at, we walked to a look out point to get a nice scenic view of the place.

Then lazed out on the pebbly shore of the Fjord.

As with most holidays, it wouldn't be a holiday if I didn't fall flat on my face.

And as if it was over due, I do just that as I try to get a good picture of the brother-in-law trying to make a flat pebble skip across the surface of the water.  Typical.

Picturesque Alesund

Out of all the Fjords, Alesund really delivered on the beautiful scenic views.

It was a cloudy day, but had it been bright blue skies and a blazing sun, it would have taken away from the majestic feel of these mountains.

It's almost like they were more comfortable against a cloudy backdrop.  Stunning.

Dinner at Cirque

Following the massive hike we did today, tonights dinner was well earned.   Particularly the multiple course meal my sister, brother-in-law and I had at the Cruise's gourmet restaurant, Cirque.

The first course was Foie Gras with a Rhubarb Jelly.  Now I'm not a big fan of Rhubarb, but this was amazing. A perfect combination of savoury and sweet.

Next on the menu was a Butternut Squash Soup.  That was presented in a kettle.  Yummy and with all that cream... very rich.

Next up was Veal served with creamy mash potatoes.  Usually the portion sizes are smaller to enable you to have more courses, but I was starting to get defeated.

And last but not least, there was the molten chocolate cake.  One of my favourite desserts.  And a great way to end the meal.