The Azores
After two days at sea, we were in Br
est. The “Norwegian Jade” and a small German boat were the only vessels in the port.
As many other French cities, Brest suffered from bombing during the World War II. What was left from the medieval times should not take much time to see and I was not in a hurry to leave the ship. Waking through the port was not allowed for security reasons. The NCL offered a ride to the city center for $15. The Port authorities ran a free shuttle. The message from the NCL warned that the seats on the shuttle were limited. The passengers were advised to buy tickets for an NCL bus. The morning was cold. I waited until 11 am when most of the passengers were gone, the temperature rose and took a free shuttle.
The 1st of May is a holiday in France, the Labor Day to celebrate workers rights. I prepared at home a list of places to see in Brest. None of them was open. All I could do was to stroll around the city. Rue St. Malo was on my list. It was supposed to be a busy art market. The street was deserted but looked very French anyway.
Having completed a loop around the city center, I started to search for a place with Wi-Fi. At one café, I was told that they did not have Wi-Fi. In fact, they were closed. A kind lady, however, pointed me to a bar where there was Wi-Fi. I bought an espresso that I did not really need and got a Wi-Fi password for doing that.
It was my birthday; I turned 62. This figure sounded scary, but who cares what the birth certificate says? It only matters if you feel your age or not. I answered messages with birthday wishes and spoke with my husband. After that there was nothing to do in Brest and I took a free shuttle back to the ship.
Our next stop was going to be on the following day in Portland, UK.
Love reading about your adventure! Keep it coming! Joan
Thank you, Joan. Take care!