On the Ferry

Once we were on board we found our room, put our stuff away and then went to check out the rest of the ship. 

There were only 13 foot passengers coming on board, but we quickly realised that this was a popular way for families to travel with their cars. The place was full of kids!! It makes sense though when we thought about it. We were on the 3rd deck and on the 4th deck there were 2 bars, a small place selling sandwiches and pizzas, and one big restaurant at the front of the ship. Everywhere people were settling in for the night ahead - choosing the best and more comfortable spots. Three such passengers we had noticed as we boarded, they had set up their air mattresses, mats and sleeping bags in the alcove created by sweeping staircases on either side of them. Clearly they had done this before.

We wandered up to the 2nd and 1st decks to say farewell to Cherbourg. On the top deck the wind was quite blustery and chilly...and there were people setting up for the night there as well. Jolene and I were quite glad that we had a room, with proper beds and a bathroom with a shower! 

Cherbourg has what is believed to be the second largest harbour in the world (second only to the one in Qatar). It was quite impressive to see the massive harbour walls pass. As we hit the English Channel proper and the ship began to pick up speed it became even colder. Again, Jolene and I thanked our lucky stars that we had chosen to take a cabin...and then we thought about the second ferry ride that we would take to leave Ireland. We had no such luxury...we were going to be those people setting up for the night in whatever spot we could find. The only slight consolation was that instead of 17 hours, we would only be on board for 4 hours...not so bad, even though that was just 4 hours of a 24 hour bus extravaganza from Dublin to Paris. But I'm getting ahead of myself.

We hung out in our fabulously appointed room until an announcement told us that the restaurant was closing in 20 minutes. We hurried down and there was no one left waiting in the giant queue that had been there only 1 hour prior. We sat right at the front window of the ship and watched the water drift by and the sun setting. Fantastic.

I highly recommend ferry crossings! It was great fun, we slept well and were able to take a shower when we got up so we were fresh to start the next leg of the journey.

----PS I'm having problems uploading photos, but whenever I can I will ------