And So It Goes

Today is Thursday, May 23, 2025. Well, we returned to these dis-United States yesterday, May 22, around 7 p.m. after spending about 14 days out of the country, first on the Celebrity Apex cruise ship for seven days and with two days in Wales, in book village Hay-on-Wye, and, finally, spending two days in London, England. I was very trepidatious about taking a traditional cruise since the last cruise I was on was a gay cruise with my friend “Gene” way back in February 2020. But my fears were largely unfounded as Elliot and I took our first cruise in a very long time. For the most part, we enjoyed most of the aspects of this cruise: the food, the entertainment, the ports of call, the staff, and everything else associated with the Celebrity Apex.

This time, almost everything meshed well. We confronted very few snags along the way, which would have been quite difficult to manage, especially on a cruise in which everything is practically done for you. We took hardly any luxurious shore excursions; we just got off the ship at a convenient time and walked about the little villages we docked in. We did take one excursion in Belgium, where we took a canal ride through the medieval town of Ghent. And the last day in which I took a bus ride up a spectacular mountain range in the town of Geiranger, Norway, where Elliot preferred to stay in town browsing. I’ll append some photos of that ride later here.

After the cruise which terminated in Southampton, England, we made our way back to London and headed toward Wales, particularly, Hay-on-Wye, via commuter railroad which took us to Hereford, England, the town made famous in that song from My Fair Lady in which Eliza Doolittle sings about “the rain in Spain that stays mainly in the plain.” In the rebuttal, “Hartford, Hereford, and Hampshire, hurricanes hardly happen” is Professor Higgins’ reply to Eliza. Thus we rode to Hereford where we took a local bus, the T14, to the small town of Hay-on-Wye. Here we stayed at a community inn called Kilverts Inn for just about two days. Our room boasted a low ceiling in which I banged my head on at least once during our stay. Then we headed out on Sunday to the bookstores, at least five or six of them. We arrived too late on Saturday to go to any store since we arrived after 5. So we had one full day which was Sunday. We made the most of that day: getting up early to have breakfast at the inn and then walking to the various bookstores. Most of the stores were open, so we lucked out. Even one that indicated it was closed on Sunday from the Google site, the Murder and Mayhem bookstore, was surprisingly open. So I bought a book – what else? – from this bookstore. I purchased Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple’s Final Cases. All in all, I think I bought eight books, primarily in Hay-on-Wye, and one or two in London.

After our sojourn in Wales, we headed back to London where we stayed two days at the Grange Beauchamp Hotel, in Bloomsbury, on Bedford Place. The first day Elliot and I separated after breakfast, where I made my way to the world-famous British Museum, to spend an exhausting three hours to see the museum’s must-sees, which supposedly could be viewed in one hour; for me, it took three hours because of the labyrinth nature of the museum. So I did see the Rosetta Stone, the Portland Vase, the Lewis Chessmen, and the Holy Thorn Reliquary, among others. During our stay in London, we also took in a play on the West End: Moulin Rouge, which we haven’t seen yet in New York. Prices for London plays are still not as expensive as they are on Broadway, so for two seats in stalls – which is equivalent to our orchestra seats – where we sat were only 90 pounds together, which is about $121. The play certainly was glitzy and loud.

On our last day, which was Wednesday, May 21, we had the pleasure of meeting my Queen Mary 2 friend from 2016, “Jared,” for drinks before heading toward Covent Garden for an early dinner reservation at Rules, London’s oldest restaurant, which was founded in 1798. We got the restaurant recommendation from a passenger on the Apex whom we met one night as we ate in one of the four restaurants on board.

So as you see, I’ve avoided writing about the Orange Cheeto here. Hell, I was on vacation and I wanted to eschew hearing about him these last two weeks. I had even contemplated saying that I hailed from Canada if anyone asked me onboard. I didn’t do that, but what I do remember about the cruise is that every Brit to whom I spoke could not understand why we reelected Dump this past November. They were very skeptical of our trust in this conman extraordinaire. I recall hearing about this particular news story concerning Qatar donating a jet to the autocrat from a passenger in Nordfjordeid, Norway, sitting on a bench in the town. So I wasn’t even trying to glean news about him at all while away. The news, it seems, came to me, if I wanted to hear it or not.

Anyway, we did have a good time on the Apex. The supply of food was practically inexhaustible. Even though there is no more midnight buffet or food offered past 10. If you hungered for coffee or some pastry, you had to pay for it at Cafe al Bacio on Deck 4. Looking at a the daily agenda of the Celebrity Apex, I now see that late-night snacks were offered at the Oceanview Cafe, 14, on Deck 14. Boy, am I glad I didn’t partake of that perk all during the cruise. I basically finished dining right after dinner. So I think I didn’t gain any additional weight on this cruise. That’s pretty amazing, given what was available for everyone to consume.

I’m going to end this now since I’m still on British time, which is 5 hours ahead of New York. It feels like it’s close to 2:30 a.m. here. It may take a few days to adjust to the real time here.

And so it went!

Here is the Portland Vase, in the British Museum. As you can read the inscription, the vase was made in Rome about 15 BC-AD 25.

This is the iconic Rosetta Stone which is important because it contains the same text inscribed in three different scripts: hieroglyphic, demotic, and Greek. This allowed scholars to use the known Greek text to decipher the hieroglyphic and demotic scripts, unlocking the ability to read and understand ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics. As you can see in the pic, my image is reflected back from the Stone where I’m wearing my pink cap and red shirt, I believe.

This is the oldest chess set: the Lewis Chessmen.

This is the Holy Thorn Reliquary, finished around 1400.

This is the ice cream parlor in Hay-on-Wye, Shepherd’s Parlour, where we both had ice cream.

This is Hay Castle, which I discovered only on our last day, so I didn’t have time to go throughout the structure, as we were leaving that Monday afternoon.