London: A Couple of Fun Days with Rob and Carol

WE MET up with Rob and Carol our first afternoon, in the lobby of our hotel. Our plan for the afternoon was to hit a couple of the local pubs in Paddington, and then have dinner somewhere. Earlier in the day, I had taken my first real walk down some of the side streets. In 2021, I only had one morning on my own, as we had a very full itinerary. I only walked up the main drag (Praed Street) a ways, and then discovered a nice, quiet little nook off the street (which I later learned was the Paddington Basin). On our first night in, we asked the concierge at the hotel for where we could find a pub to get some dinner. He really wasn't very helpful. He basically said there wasn't anything nearby and suggested a Mexican restaurant over behind the Paddington Station. We like Mexican food. But we were exhausted, and it was late, and we really didn't want to venture that far in the dark, on our first day in London. We ended up eating in a pub that was right in the station (which the concierge didn't even mention). We have liked the Paddington Hilton for the most part, but the concierge really wasn't very good that year. The guy behind that desk this year in 2025 was outstanding.

The Victoria Pub - Paddington - London, England
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

IT TURNS out that there are lots of pubs nearby. Some of them serve food. Some don't. Walking southeast from Praed Street, on either of the streets that flank the Hilton (Easbourne Terrace and London Street) just 3 blocks takes you to the very traditional and nice Victoria Pub, right on the edge of the high-end Hyde Park Gardens. It is at quiet intersection of residential streets and there is a bench right across from it that became my "office" on a couple mornings for a cigar and coffee. We started on Spring Street, just one street to the south of Sussex, at a cool little local brew pub called The Bear, where we sampled a couple of their micro-brews. From the Bear, we started looking for another pub on London Street: Dickens Tavern (we somehow passed it by, but ended up there for a very uninspiring dinner later in the week). Instead, we walked on down to the Victoria, where we sat outside and had a couple nice cocktails. Afterward, we walked back up Spring Street, where there are several streetside restaurants (wonder where they were in 2021 - I suppose it is possible that they were all closed up due to the pandemic). We found them a nice place to sit and "people watch," and did so on a couple occasions.

I find McDonalds all over the world - Paddington McDonalds
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

SINCE OUR stay in 2021, a very nice, modern restaurant had opened up right on the corner near our hotel: Vapiano Paddington. We decided to give them a try our first night. An Italian restaurant, they featured a very cool, electronic ordering system (becoming more and more common in cities around the world). The food was really very good. Fresh. And service was also fast. An added plus: it was two doors down from their hotel and 1/2 block from ours.

WE MET again mid-morning the next day, with a plan to go down to the City of London and walk around. We had no specific itinerary, except to go to the Borough Market, a large, indoor-outdoor market with some really great artisan foods (cheeses, breads, wine, produce, nuts and candies, etc.). That gave me some time to follow my routine of getting out with my camera, grabbing some coffee, and walking around the area. I concentrated on the area south of the Paddington Station, where we had walked the night before. I wanted to explore the Hyde Park area. It is primarily residential, and I didn't really find anything too exciting, photographically, though I did make a few images. I did discover a little park (there are tons of them in London) in an area called Sussex Gardens, with a rather unique statue setup of Paddington Bear, and some cinematographic bears photographing him. Cute.

One of numerous Paddington Bear statues found in London and particularly in and around Paddington - The namesake of Paddington The Bear
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

AT ONE point earlier I had mentioned to Rob that there were two things I wanted to try while in London this trip: a Scotch Egg and Pork Pie. Todd and I had some conversation during our planning stages and I assumed we would order them at one of our meals. To my surprise (and later delight), at some point just as we left the Market, Rob walked up and handed me a bag. In it was a large scotch egg and pork pie! I wasn't really sure what to do with them, as we were staying in the hotel and would probably be eating dinner out each night. That "problem" solved itself later in the week. Rob and Carol headed home on Thursday afternoon, and Todd and Heather would not arrive until Friday morning. We didn't have plans for dinner that night and were - frankly - exhausted. My friend behind the concierge desk took care of us, heated the scotch egg and porkpie, and delivered them to our room (when I had gotten back to the hotel on this particular evening I had asked the concierge if they could refrigerate the egg and pie for me. I would figure out what to do with it later).

Borough Market - London, England
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

FOR THIS  day, we found a nice restaurant for lunch right on the Thames (one that I had walked by a few times during our 2021 visit and smelled wonderful steak cooking smells): The Old Thameside Inn. Interestingly, it turns out that all these old and famous pubs and taverns in London are now owned by one or two large corporate outfits (we would again see this trend on our "pub crawl" later in the week). Two corporate owners that we seemed to encounter a few times in pubs were Nicholsons Pubs, and Greene King. The Old Thameside is a Nicholson's establishment. It was good, traditional pub food, and staying true to that theme, I had the fish and chips. And thoroughly enjoyed them. We found the Nicholsons establishments to be pretty uniformly good. The Green King establishments were yet another story.

The Old Thameside Inn - Fish and Chips
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

AFTER THE nice lunch, we walked along the river for a bit and eventually over the (pedestrian only) Millenium Bridge to the St. Paul's Cathedral area. We had a nice surprise when we learned that we actually knew of "a place" that our friends did not - and had never been to. In 2021, we had done a walking tour of that area and our guide had taken us to a top-floor bar and restaurant that had a splendid view of St. Paul's dome - and the City of London. Best yet, there was an elevator up! On our tour, we just went up to look and make a couple pictures. This time, we were ready to partake in some cocktails, along with the look. As we got up to the top, as we remembered, it is indeed quite a view. But to my disappointment, the view is now "lessened" by large, 5 or 6 foot plexiglass panels, to keep viewers back from the roof's edge. For their own safety. It seems that since 2021 there have been a couple jumpers. It's the world we live in today. I wrote (ranted?) about this not long ago in Making The World a Safer Place.

St. Paul's Cathedral - London, England
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THAT EVENING we located the Dickens Pub near our hotels and went in to see if we could get a burger. The front end was quaint and might have been a fun spot to have "a pint" as they say in London. The area where they served food was another story. it was back through and resembled more than anything I can think to describe: a pool hall (replete with a table). It was getting late and we were hungry, so we sat. Like many of the London pubs, ordering was done through and app. Easy enough. But that's where it fell apart. After our order was in and a wait, the waitress came back to inform us that 2 of the 4 of us had ordered entree's that they had run out of. We had to re-order. The food was - at best description - mediocre, to perhaps just not very good. Maybe a one-off, but this, we learned, was a Greene King establishment. Beer and spirits are what they are. But food is something that you can do really well. Or not so much. We were in a couple other Greene King pubs during the week. But never to have food.

Dickens Tavern - Paddington - London, England
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THE FOLLOWING day, Rob and Carol had made us reservations at the Natural History Museum (free admission, but reservations highly recommended). We agreed to meet mid-morning for our 11:00 reservations. Rob and I had discussed him joining me for my morning photo-walk, and I was interested in finding a morning location called Blackwalls Basin. He knew where it was and how to get there, so we met first thing that morning and jumped on the Tube, to head for Canary Wharf; London's new-ish and up and coming commercial financial district, to find the basin. With Rob's able guidance, find it we did. Look for an upcoming separate post on that morning's adventure soon.

London Museum of Natural History
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BACK IN Paddington, we met up with the ladies, and headed over to the Natural History Museum. For me, perhaps the most impressive part was the building. It is rather massive, and architecturally magnificent. We spent a few hours there, and then headed back to Paddington. That night, we had reservations at a well-regarded, nice restaurant near our hotels: Smith's Tavern. Our feet and legs were complaining, so we took the tube back to Paddington and sat at one of the streetside restaurants for a bit. Getting to Smith's would prove a challenge, but one that was well worth it. The food and atmosphere was excellent and I would readily recommend it to anyone staying in or near the Paddington area. There is another whole dimension of Paddington that we weren't aware of, on the backside of Paddington Station, along the Grand Union Canal. I will go into more detail when I blog about my morning walks later in the week. For now, this area is where the Smith's Tavern is.

Paddington Commercial/Business District (Smith's Tavern to the right) - London, England
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

PADDINGTON IS built around a major train station, and our hotel is built right on top of it. Below, there are two levels. The first (which is also street level) is the train station, with some nice little shops and the escalator to the Hilton at one end. One level down is the Tube. What we didn't know was that you could access the other side of the station from there (though it stands to reason and we probably should have known). I discovered it while doing some exploring the next morning. Part of the issue was that there was major construction going on, making it confusing. That second evening, we set out to walk to the northeast of the station only to find it barricaded. We didn't realize that all we had to do was walk down some stairs to the tunnel between ends of the station. Instead, we walked all the way around the front of the station, to the back and up a steady grade to get to the other side. Once there, we had to cross a major street and then go back down stairs to get to our destination. On my "wander" the next morning, I discovered that we had more than doubled our necessary walk, and included an uphill grade and stairway down that the tunnel right near our hotel exit completely eliminated. 😏 That information stood us in good stead later that week.

One of the numerous Pubs I found while walking around Paddington in the mornings
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

ROB AND CAROL were planning to take a train to Oxford, where his mom lives, later that afternoon. Since we still had the morning/early afternoon, we decided to go check out Harrods Department Store. It was on my bucket list to see someday. Parts of it were pretty impressive. There is a cool escalator in the middle of the store. There is a food court (that's what they call it - but it isn't really like any food court I have ever seen) in the middle of things. There are only 6 establishments in it and they are all sit-down and be served restaurants. We wanted something a little less over the top and weren't really all that interested in taking out second mortgages to afford lunch, so we walked on through. As far as the rest - hey, its a mall. Same old same old name brand stores. Just lots of them. Been there; done that. 😐 The outside is grand and imposing, though, taking up all of a large city block. I can now say I have seen it.

Harrods - London, England

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AFTER A nice lunch at a sidewalk cafe, we headed back to Paddington. They had already checked out and left their luggage in our room, so they picked that up and we walked them out to the train station and bid our farewells, promising to get together somewhere in the world again. Soon. It had been a busy few days and we (and our feet) were exhausted. We looked forward to an evening staying in and doing nothing. And for our dinner, I was able to talk the concierge into heating up our Scotch Egg and Pork Pie. We shared them, with some cookies I bought at the store in the train station for our dinner. It was plenty of food (too much, really) for the two of us. But both were delicious. It actually wouldn't be our last time for either of them this week.

London - 2025

London's Paddington Station
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

I HAVE gotten away from my recounting of our most recent European adventure. Fall and then year end comes along and does that to me. But I don't want to forget it. It was as much fun as any trip "over the pond" we have taken (which have now been a few). In Mid-August, we spent just over 3 weeks in Europe: a week in London, and then 12 days on The Celebrity Apex cruise ship in Norway (mostly).

Paddington Hilton - London
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

SOMETHING THAT made this one unique (and special) was the company we kept. I have often mused here how many new friends we make during cruises. Some of them remain acquaintances. People we had a lot of fun with and keep in contact with. We hope, someday, to run into them again (on a cruise, or otherwise). But others have become something more. Close friends who we not only share a lot in common with, but with whom we have gotten together again (sometimes multiple times). Probably our first were Lou and Penny who were our table-mates on our first Celebrity Cruise. We see them not infrequently. We met Mike and Elaine on our 2022 Baltic Cruise (also on Apex), and we have joined them on 2 Caribbean Cruises since, with another scheduled for 2026. On that same Baltic Cruise, we met Todd and Heather (more on that shortly), also. In 2019 we took a cruise where we were "on our own," and met yet another group of fun people. We have "run into" one of the couples who we spent some time with while on the cruise (Rob and Carol, from Manchester, England) a couple times now. Including this trip.

The company we kept

WE HAD spoken over time with Rob and Carol about getting together. They make trips to the U.S. occasionally, and we get over to London whenever the opportunity presents itself. This year, it was our week-long "prequel" to the Norway Fjords cruise on the Apex. Our cruise port for this one was Southampton, England (about 1 hour from London by car), and LHR Airport generally makes the most sense for us for flights. This one was really great, as we found a direct flight from our home airport of Tampa International.

Celebrity Apex - 2025
Copyright Todd Skobinsky 2025 - All Rights Reserved

AS IT turned out, the first part of our week in London coincided with a trip already in the works for Rob and Carol, and we were able to spend several very enjoyable days together.

Where it all began: Paddington Train Station
(all 6 of us came into London here)
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

BUT THE hits kept on coming! When we were on the Baltic Cruise, we met Todd and Heather. We didn't spend a lot of time with them, as they were with two great friends (we met them too - Eric and Bern). Eric was planning to surprise Bern with a proposal and Todd and Heather were in on it. It included some serious planning and a couple events. We met them (where I seem to make all my new friends, LOL) back in the cigar smoking area near the Sunset Bar, though and got to know them a bit. Enough so that we knew we had much in common and could become good friends. We kept in touch over the years, and in 2024, Todd messaged me that they had signed up for the Norway Fjords cruise and suggested we consider joining them (at that time, Norway had announced that 2025 would be the last year they would allow the larger cruise ships in the fjords. That has since been extended - apparently indefinitely, invoking the old phrase - IMHO - "money talks"). We jumped at the chance and over the next several months, spent some time planning.

We had cocktails with both Rob and Carol, and then later dinner and cocktails with Todd and Heather here - just a couple blocks from our hotel and right on the edge of London's ritzy "Hyde Park"
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PART OF the plan was to spend some time in London. They came in just a couple days before the cruise, but we made the most of 3 very full days. Lots of fun and adventures. After a week on the cruise together, we have definitely cemeted that friendship - lots of laughs and enjoyment and we now have two more scheduled for 2026 and 2027!

With that company, how could it not be a great week in London!

ROB GREW up near London and lived there as a young person. Todd spent some time when he was younger working and living in London. Todd and Heather have also visited there on a couple occasions. So it was fun to have some folks with some familiarity with the city. We had used Paddington as our base of operations back in 2022 when we spent a week there prior to a Princess Cruise in the English Channel. It was a central rail and tube hub and also had an express train to and from LHR. We liked it a lot, though we really didn't explore Paddington itself much. We decided on the same spot this trip. I fixed the "explore" Paddington this trip! And being familiar with it, Todd and Heather decided to stay in the same place - which made things easy for us). Rob and Carol stayed in a hotel literally across the street from our Paddington Hilton, so that was also convenient.

London, England
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

WITH THAT company, how could it not be a great week in London! It met - and exceeded - all our expectations! The next series of posts will chronicle London and then on to the North Sea and the Fjords of Norway. I know this is supposed to be a blog about photography - but over the years, my photography and my travel have more often than not become one jumbled up experience. And experiences they are. Travel shooting is so much more than photography. It is culture, and art, and architecture, and people, and unexpected things. It is a constant learning experience. I have changed the photography equipment I carry multiple times in response to a perceived need for more portability, and in reaction to new technology. Thats just gear, though. The other side is always trying to find a new perspective on a new image, and always trying to find unique, interesting, and at times humorous, subjects. I am not always successful, but I sure spend a lot of bits and bytes trying. Rather than spend a lot of time talking about technical photography, when I am on these trips, I let my photos posted here speak for themselves and hope that people enjoy them. But make no mistake, it is still about photography, and I never travel without a camera of some description. And when on land, I usually do early morning walks and find shots that interest me. I made some fun shots on this trip. I also spent a week in London in 2022, and posted a series of blogs following that trip on my Blog Archives, with many more photos.

2025 In The Rear View Mirror

I TRY to do this every year. I have been mostly successful at remembering. So much to be thankful for and so many new, as well as familiar old experiences.

Celebrity Cruise Terminal - Fort Lauderdale, Florida
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

ANOTHER YEAR is in the books. 2026 is here. There was a time not long ago when I had to adjust to writing the correct year on the date line of my checks. Not always successfully. These days I might write one check a year, so I have that going for me. As we celebrate the beginning of yet another year, I look hopefully forward, believing we can all have a better year than last. But for us, 2025 was a pretty good year.

Celebrity Beyond - Caribbean 2025
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

OUR YEAR started out focusing on family. For the month of December, 2024 and into the first week of 2025, we had the joy of having our 5-year-old grandson visit here from Japan and celebrate Christmas in the U.S. for the first time in his memory. It was fun for him (but probably more fun for us), watching him see the holiday lights, make cookies, decorate the tree, and help grandpa decorate and hang lights on the outside of our home here in Florida. Not much photography involved, though.

Celebrity Beyond - Caribbean 2025
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THE WINTER months for us are often filled with visits from our northern family and friends. We had some of that this year, but less than in years past. 2026 will be different. We have guests coming in starting the day after Christmas, and on through the first week of January, and then again during February. We will be doing some "family" travel off and on.

Smoking area near the Sunset Bar - Celebrity Beyond - Caribbean 2025 (where we always meet new friends!)
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THINGS RAMPED up in March. We generally begin our cruising/travel "season" about that time and 2025 was no exception. In March, we sailed from Ft. Lauderdale into The Southern Caribbean on the Celebrity Beyond. It was a new ship for us and though basically familiar, had some new touches and provided a fun, new experience. Ironically, since we moved to Florida (our own little patch of "Caribbean"), we have probably done more Caribbean cruises than we ever did in the past. It has basically become a yearly thing for us. In 2025, we actually ended up making 2 of them (and 2026 will also include 2, with the possibility of a 3rd). I always have my photographic gear on me with these trips and almost always find some time to make pictures.

Celebrity Beyond - Docked in Grenada - Caribbean 2025
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

WE MET a bunch of new friends on a cruise in the Baltic back in 2022. During the week, a few of us got together for dinner almost every night. With one particular couple, we also did a handful of shore excursions together. We met Mike and Elaine in the restaurant of our hotel the night before the cruise. They are frequent wintertime Caribbean Cruisers. They live near Buffalo, New York, and anyone familiar with winter weather in that part of the U.S. should completely understand their need to thaw out for a few days every year. 😁 During that cruise, we decided we would join them the following March on a Caribbean Cruise (our first in a few years). Since then, we have joined them on similar cruises 2 more times, inlcuding this year (and will see them again, soon, as we do it all over again in 2026).

Copyright Andy Richards 2021 - All Rights Reserved

WE MEET new friends on every cruise and this this year was no exception. The first morning was a day at sea and as I often do, I had breakfast in the buffet, and then grabbed a Bloody Mary, a cigar, my Kindle and headed to the back of the ship for a pleasant morning in the south Atlantic. Almost as soon as I sat down, I was greeted by Sandi and Steve, a couple from Fort Erie, Ontario (coincidentally, just across the border from Buffalo), who were there with a group of about 15 friends (several of whom we met and got to know back on the smoking deck). We spent a lot of time laughing and talking (at times more seriously). Readers may recall that this was right at the time that the U.S. "leadership" decided to impose tariffs around the world - including Canada. I generally keep politics out of this blog, so without passing judgement on the advisability of tariffs, lets just say some of us were discomforted at the manner in which they were announced. I have lived most of my lifetime on U.S. Canada border states (Michigan and Vermont) and have always had a strong appreciation of our relationship with our Canadian friends and neighbors. Despite the politicians from both countries words and actions that sometimes appear to be otherwise, the people of the U.S. and Canada have been friends and allies for over 150 years! It was very heartening to hear from our new Canadian friends that we were all in agreement. We were friends and would remain so - notwithstanding what some of us see as questionable foreign relations.

THE CANADIANS that I know can be an influential bunch. Our friend John, who lives in South Lancaster, east of Toronto and up near the St. Laurence Seaway has been telling me for years that I need to try a substitute drink for my morning Bloody Mary. Sandi was equally opinionated. I told her I keep thinking I am going to try one of your "Bloody Caesars," but always forget. When the server came around to check on us, I started to order "another," and Sandi jumped in and said no! He wants a Bloody Caesar. If you are reading, John, I finally came over the "other side." It is now my "go-to" in lieu of a Bloody Mary. 😋

St. Lucia - Celebrity Beyond - 2025
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WE HAD enough detente with our newfound Canadian friends that we all decided book the same future Cruise. We will be cruising the Celebrity Eclipse, again on the same ship with Sandi, Steve and some of their other friends, along with a couple that are our friends, on a split cruise; first to the Western Caribbean (the so-called "ABC" cruise of Aruba, Bonaire and Curacaou) and then back into our familiar Eastern Caribbean with stops in St. Kitts, St. Lucia and Barbados) in February - March of 2027.

Random Dogwood Bloom in the Forest - GSMNP - 2025
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

JUST TWO weeks after we returned from the Caribbean, I headed north to The Great Smoky Mountain National Park (GSMNP), to join my two "Rich" buddies (that would be Rich Pomeroy and Rich Ennis, both long-time friends and photographer buddies) on a Spring Photography outing. Rich Pomeroy and I had spent a week there in 2023 in October and really fell in love with the place. Known for its wildlife, landscape scenes and wildflowers (especially the Dogwood bloom), the park is really a photographer's paradise. I think this was Rich Ennis' first time in GSMNP. Rich is - in addition to landscape and nature skills, a talented wildlilfe shooter. Both Riches he came prepared with virtually every lens in their arsenal. The hired a guide to take them to "find" bear photographs. I, on the other hand, carried only the "holy trinity" of short, intermediate, and medium zoom lenses. I did not participate in the bear shooting, really having no tools for that. both got some nice photos. Rich Pomeroy gave me permission to post put a couple of his shots in my dedicated GSMP blog, earlier this year.

Black Bear sow napping in a tree - Cade's Cove; GSMNP - 2025 - Tennessee
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

I HAVEN'T asked Rich (Ennis) and while I am sure he would be fine with it, I am too lazy to do that at the moment, so I have linked to it below. I think all three of us agree that our favorite - and the highlight wildlife shot of the trip - was a combination of serendipity, Rich's readiness, and some skill. We were driving one morning up one of the GSMP roads when we saw something scamper across the road. Rich was riding shotgun, with his "wildlife" setup in his lap. Rich Pomeroy was driving and quickly pulled over to a stop so Rich could jump out and shoot the really cool photo of an adolescent Bobcat here, on his website. Follow the link and go look. You will be glad you did!

White Trillium in late bloom - GSMNP - Tennessee - 2025
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

MY OWN interest was really about nature, scenics, and wildflowers. I have written a lot here about the foliage season and how much is left to fate and nature's timing. With the GSMNP wildflower, you must add layers of complexity to that concept. Not only is timing and issue, but there are two other things that drive success here: Elevation and Species. Perhaps the most famous is the Dogwood bloom. We timed our trip for that, but learned after we arrived, that the bloom had occured quite early this year. I had visions of the green forests littered with the white blooms from the dogwood trees. That didn't happen, but we did find a few instances of it and it stimulated the imagination for what a full, "peak" bloom might look like. Other wildflowers - especially azalea - bloom much later, when we were told it is much less pleasant because of the summer heat and humidity. Maybe we will get there one day. The other phenomena is that there is so much elevation from the valleys up into the mountains, that the bloom (predictably) starts low and progressed upward over a several day period. We did find some nice fog up higher in the mountains. This park is famous for its sunrise/sunset scenes in the Smokies. We got some pretty nice stuff back in 2023 in the fall. Not quite as good this trip, but still worth the trip.

Cade's Cove Methodist Church - (from) Rich Mountain Road - Cade's Cove; GSMNP - Tenessee 2025
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

THE PROVERBIAL "cherry on top" for me was a complete surprise. Some years back, I had read about the magic of Cade's Cove. On shot I really wanted to try my hand at was a shot of the Cade's Cove Methodist Church from up high on the one-way Rich Mountain Road. I saw photos of it and thought it would make a nice addition to my own portfolio. Armed with a book by one of the area experts, we drove that road 3 times, trying to find the view. No maas. Later, we learned that (a familiar refrain for me by now) the new growth had completely obscured the view. We got some nice shots of the church from the field up behind it in 2023. But not that "iconic" view. This trip, we drove it one more time, for Rich's benefit. It really is a nice road and we were on the lookout for wildlife and for dogwoods (the random dogwood image above was made on Rich Mountain Road). As we drove by the point where we thought the old view of the Methodist Church probably was, I was shocked. Between fall 2023 and Spring, 2025 they had clear cut a section of the trees and there was - OMG - "The View." While I would have preferred a shot during fall foliage season, I wasn't about to let this opportunity pass. It is likely that I won't be back there during October again any time soon - if at all.

Twighlight over Townsend, Tennessee (our headquarters for the week) from the Foothills Parkway - GSMNP - 2025
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

IN LATE June and early July, I made my annual weeklong trip back to Michigan, spending time with family and friends. I always carry a camera with me, but really don't plan it as a photo outing and thus, rarely get much photography in. This trip was probably even less that usual. Then, for the balance of July and part of August, my grandson, who turned 6 during his visit, was back again.

One of our mornings, Rob and I got out early and he took me to Canary Wharf; a spot that I had scoped for a shot of the Blackwall Basin. I was looking for reflections, but it wasn't to be this morning. I bet I will be back.
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

BUT BEFORE we knew it, the time for our much anticipated trip to England and cruise in Norway's Fjords was here. We had spent a week in London in October 2021, just as the world was emerging from the Covid-19 Pandemic. We fell in love. London is one of those undappreciated cities in my view. When thinking about great European cities to visit, people tend to assign a certain cache' to places like Paris, Rome, Barcelona - (all pretty amazing in their own right). But London is a gem. The city is commonly said to have the most museums in Europe. They also have a very high concentration of palaces and castles in the metro area. In 2021, we used our train passes and visited quite a few palaces, as well as Windsor Castle. There are amazing buildings in the downtown of London, with the pinnacle probably being St. Paul's Cathedral. Especially at night, the skyline along the banks of the Thames is also spectacular. The architectural history is fascinating, particularly thast which sprung up after the great fire of London in the late 17th century. We have taken night tours of the boroughs along the Thames, visited the storied Borough Market, did food tours, gin tours and generally had a blast, before heading down to Southampton to board our Princess cruise ship.

The Victoria Pub - One of our first stops with Rob and Carol and just a short walk from our hotel - we would dine there later in the week with Todd and Heather
London, England
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

IT MADE sense then, that we follow the same pattern this year. But this trip was going to be different and we were pretty excited for it. I mentioned our 2022 Baltic Cruise above. In addition to Mike and Elaine (mentioned above) we met several more people, including a couple from Canada who we keep in touch with, and two couples from England. Rob and Carol Cook live in Manchester and we have developed a wonderful friendship with them. In 2023, while cruising in Iceland and Ireland, we made a stop in Liverpool. Manchester, it turned out, was only about 30 minutes from Liverpool, and knowing we would be there that day, they surprised us by meeting us for dinner and then seeing us off when our ship departed. This year, they joined us in London for the first 3 1/2 days of our week, acting as tour guides, and "assisting" us with pub crawls, museum visits and the like. It was a lot of fun.

London Museum of Natural History - we spent one of our mornings with Carol and Rob there
Copyright Andy Richards 2025 - All Rights Reserved

BUT WAIT, there's more. On that very same Baltic Cruise, we met another couple (actually several, but like Carol and Rob, these guys are special). They were cruising in a group of 4 (Eric, Tan, Heather and Todd). Serendipitously, Heather and Todd are (among - it turns out - many other shared interests) cigar smokers. We got to know each other during the cruise and kept in touch. In late 2024, Todd reached out and mentioned that they had booked a 2025 Norwegian Fjords cruise on the (by now) familiar old Celebrity Apex. At that time, it had been announced that 2025 would be the last year larger ships would be allow to sail into the fjords - though that has now been extendedThink it might be our last opportunity, he suggested we might want to join them. Of course, we did. 😎 We had a couple zoom meetings and lots of back and forth planning the trip and by the time we reached London (Heather and Todd arrived the morning after Rob and Carol left) we had a pretty full agenda, including some busy days in London. Todd had spent some time in London during his college days and they have visited there a couple times, so between us, we had experienced a few things.

Camden Market - Camden Town, London
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OUR "SIGHTSEEING" this time was a little different than the usual trips to see Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, the top of The Shard, The London Eye, Tower of London, Tower Bridge, and such. We had all done that on our other trips.

Camden Market - Camden Town - London
(I actually own a pair of the shoes pictured here - anybody guess which ones? 😏)
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INSTEAD, WE visited the eclectic Camden, did a tour of Churchill's War Rooms and a walking tour around the area, seeing MI6 headquarters, and the Horseguards; and made a brief shopping stop at Covent Garden. We also ate and drank, sampling some of London's best. For me, though, probably the highlight of the trip was our long-planned Pub Crawl in London. What a great day. We started about mid-morning near St. Paul's Cathedral and hit probably about 8 famous London Pubs.

The Old Bell - London, England - The first of our many Pub Crawl stops that day
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ON MONDAY morning, our driver met us outside our hotel and drove us on down to Southampton and the cruise port. The luggage drop off area was kind of a mess, but once we got that "sorted" (as they say in England), our boarding process was smooth and efficient. Very shortly, we were sitting in The Magic Carpet Bar on the edge of the now familiar Celebrity Apex. A couple of us picked up one of the ubiquitous cold viruses, and I first began feeling the effects that afternoon and evening. We had our first stop the next day in Zeebruge,Belgium, just a short distance to the very cool mediaeval town of Bruges. It was only a 1/2 day stop, and I had seen it pretty thoroughly a few years back. I thought it might be a good time to stay on board and perhaps try to sleep off the effects of the cold. The others went and enjoyed it (neither Todd nor Heather had been there and I was glad they got a chance to see it).

Aksla Mountain - Alesund, Norway
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WE HAD a day at sea next, so by the time we reached the northern part of Norway and our first Norwegian port - Alesund - I was feeling back among the living. We had a difficult time finding private (our preferred) excursions on this cruise. All of our ports were quite small (a couple of their populations numbering in the single digit thousands), which may have been part of the issue. We had read a couple of things about Alesund. First, there was a local "train" (not really a train, but a tractor driven trolley) that for a reasonable cost would take us around for an overview of the city. Second, there was a high vantage point which gave panoramic views of the city and surrounding countryside: Aksla Mountain (418 steps up a rustic cement stairway beginning in a park in the city up to the top. I actually briefly considered that I might do that when planning the stop, but learned that the trolley took us up there. When I actually saw it I realized it would have been extremely challenging for an old fart like me to walk it 😌). Third, the city had a canal and some striking Art Noveau buildings.

Alesund, Norway
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IN MY regular blog posts, I often try to include an amusing anecdote or story. We had lots of laughs with Heather and Todd. But this one tickled me. Just before we left the U.S. Todd felt compelled to let us know that he is not a fan of fish 'n chips. We were going to be in London and they were bound to be on every menu everywhere, but I guess he was just give us some guardrails for him when choosing eating establishments 😊. On our first day (with Rob and Carol), we ate at a somewhat famous tavern on the Thames, just near the Borough Market. Of course I had the fish and chips and of course I sent Todd a photo. No big deal. Not the part that tickled me. Every restaurant serves "our famous fish and chips: guaranteed to be the best in the area." So this sign above in Alesund just really grabbed me. Probably!

Alesund, Norway
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ALESUND WAS a nice city, but having seen so much of the world, not really remarkable. But it was sunny and warm and the city was clean. We enjoyed our day there.

The Celebrity Apex docked at Flam, Norway
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OUR NEXT stop? Very remarkable. Of the ports we stopped at, I would say Flam is the one most representative of a fjord cruise. It is tiny, tucked into impressively beautiful natural surroundings, and just felt . . .  well, like we were in the Norwegian Fjords. The highlight of Flam for cruise ship tourists is the Flamsbana, (the Flam Railway), a narrow gauge train that takes you 12 miles up the steep mountains, through some of the longest railway tunnels in the world, to Myrdal, where you can change to other lines and travel around Norway. The tourist piece is just up and back and takes a little over an hour, with two very brief stops. The surrounding countryside (both natural and man made elements) are quintessential Norway.

Flam, Norway
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AS I have lamented frequently, cruises are not conducive to great photography. Stops are short and often getting to the viewpoint difficult. In Flam, I knew I would only have opportunities through the glass window of a moving train. Still, I was pretty pleased with a couple of the shots I was able to make. Heather had the foresight to book reservations in one of the two restaurants in Flam - a good thing, because the tiny shore area was bulging with cruise ship passengers. We were the only ship that day and I couldn't help but wonder what happens when more than one come it at the same time.

Tromso, Norway
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TROMSO WAS our next stop, and also one of only two planned excursions. This one was through Celebrity, and was a visit to one of the farms where they raise sledding dogs. It was a very interesting day. The dogs were surprisingly very friendly. The were also very active (the energy, I suppose, a requisite to what they do). The conditions seemed reasonably clean and they seemed happy and well cared for. Perhaps my highlight of the day was the gorgeous early morning sunlight as we entered the harbor. I spent quite a while up on the deck looking for good photos. I got a few I liked. We had a couple "at sea" days between stops up here, where we crossed the Arctic Circle - twice.

Nordkap, Norway (disclaimer: I don't have a clue who this guy is)
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HONNINGSVAG, OUR next stop, was about as far north as you can get in this part of the world. Our second excursion (really basically only a bus ride) was in Honningsvag, where we were scheduled to travel up to the furthest point in Europe that can be reached by a wheeled vehicle: Nordkap (The North Cape). Nordkap is just under 20 miles north of Honningsvag, making Honningsvag itself pretty much a northern outpost. There is a large touristy visitor center at Nordkap with a theatre, gift shop, and cafeteria style kitchen. All very small. Outside, you can walk out to the cliffs over the Norwegian Sea to the west and the Barents Sea to the east. That was pretty cool. The rest was, in my opinion, kind of "hokey." The literature advertised a stop to visit an authentic indigenous farming family and reindeer. The stop was roadside, with a somewhat modern house on one side, and a souvenir tent on the other. When the bus stopped, a guy came walking down the driveway and crossed the road, clad in what I suppose was authentic old Norwegian dress, and stood by a chained up reindeer, posing for selfies. Did I say hokey? Still, I did like the fact that we got so far north, and can say I did that.

Fishing Boats - Nordkap, Norway
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ALSO ADVERTISED was an "authentic fishing village." The bus basically turned around in the parking area for a harbor just outside Honningsvag. No stop for photos or anything. I got one out the window. The little town of Honningsvag was kind of cool. This may start to sound repetitive, but our probable highlight of the town was a tiny little local brewpub, where we sampled some of their locally brewed beer. I got one of my favorite photos outside the pub (the colored boots).

Honningsvag, Norway
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REALLY, ALL of our stops were good and we thoroughly enjoyed Heather and Todd's company (in fact, enough that we have another extended cruise booked with them in 2027). In terms of beautiful, that would be Flam, hands down. In terms of fun and cool, I would have to give the honors to our final stop: Trondheim.

Celebrity Apex docked at Trondheim, Norway
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PROBABLY THE only real "city," we visited (with a population approaching 220,000), it is the third largest city in Norway. Trondheim is the primary site of one of Norway's major universities: The Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU). The largest (by enrollment) university in Norway, NTNU has regional campuses in Alesund and Gjovik. The marine presence of the Institute of Technology is immediately observable from the cruise ship berth, with various research vessels in the inner harbor.

Old Town Bridge (Bryggekka) - Trondheim, Norway
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ONE OF the oldest cities in Norway, Trondheim is known as The Viking Capital of Norway. We had no plan other than a general feel for the city layout and a couple areas we wanted to see. We walked off the ship, with a plan to walk along one of the main residential avenues, along the Nidelva River (often mistaken for a canal). One one side of the river is The Bakklandet, a supposed historical Viking settlement area. There was significant road construction on the other side of The Old Town Bridge, a pedistrian bridge that is the entree to this district. We walked over there, but just weren't "feeling" it. Maybe at night? The bridge was kind of cool though.

Nidaros Cathedral - Trondheim, Norway
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THE PERHAPS unexpected architectural "jewel" though, has got to be The Nidaros Cathedral (today, the main head of the Church of Norway, formerly the Catholic Diocese of Norway). The church is built over the burial site of Norway's patron saint: King Olaf II. It is a striking gothic designed exterior. But the star of the show is inside. Over the past several years we have had the privilege of seeing the inside of some pretty remarkable churches and cathedral. None has impressed me as much as this one.

Nidaros Cathedral - Trondheim, Norway
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TO COMPLETE our day, we sought the main city square: Trondheim Torg. A pedestrian only area, its wide-open center is ringed with mostly restaurants and bars, but also some retail shops. We found a local gastropub with local foods being served, and sat outside in the pleasant warm sunshine. I discovered an interesting thing that I was unaware of. The Norwegians (and for all I know, other Scandinavian cultures) serve their sandwiches open faced. No matter what kind of sandwich you order. We had a delightful meal and would certainly recommend this place (Phoenix Gastropub). As we headed back to the ship for an afternoon cigar and a drink, we walked through another popular retail shopping area: Thomas Angells Gate, known for its (now pretty much universal) colorful hanging umbrellas.

Thomas Angells Gate - Trondheim, Norway
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THERE ARE many more images from this memorable trip to London and subsequent cruise in the Norwegian Fjords. For those wondering why there is no link to previous blogs here, I haven't published any of them yet. If you didn't already know this, I began publishing a separate blog dedicated to our cruising experiences back in late 2022 and have been slowly posting blogs of our cruises, but am still a few years behind. I will come back here and post links as they become available. In the meantime, you can see many more images of these great spots on my LightCentricPhotography Website, here; and here.

Little did I know that they had a shop just for guys like me - right on Thomas Angells Gate in Trondheim

THE NORWEGIAN cruise was a great success with lots of fun. But the best part of it was definitely the company. We can't wait to see Todd and Heather again soon!

A rarely caught image: Yours Truly photographing The Fleury Maple Barn - Richford, Vermont
Copyright Richard Ennis 2025 - All Rights Reserved

JUST A month later, I was on a plane, bound for Boston, to spend 10 days in Vermont, photographing fall foliage scenes (a trip that I have been making every 2-3 years since 2005). This time, I would make my second trip to Vermont's Northeast Kingdom to stay with my friend and fellow photographer, Rich Ennis at his wonderful home up there. It was a bit of an odd year for foliage progression, coming a week to 10 days earlier that is has for many years. Despite some hand-wringing and worry among a number of the people I know who were making the visit to Vermont this year, we had some good success and I made a few nice photographs, including finding some new scenes. What a great trip. And what a great host! Thank you Rich, and I look forward to seeing you again in the not too distant future. I just finished my series of 5 parts describing this trip in some detail  beginning here. If you haven't, I hope you will take a moment to check them out.

Nassau, Bahamas
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USUALLY BY now, things are winding down for us, with the holidays punctuating the end of the year. But this year we had one more cruise. We signed on to a short, 5-day cruise on one of Celebrity's older ships, The Celebrity Solstice. This one was a quick turnaround out of Fort Lauderdale to the Bahamas and back. A day at sea, then 2 back to back stops and another day at sea. It was a last-minute (for us) booking in response to an invitation from some friends. When we finally retired, one of our thoughts was that we wanted to be flexible enough to do that. We departed Ft. Lauderdale on the Saturday after Thanksgiving and returned the following Thursday.

The new Nassau Cruise Port from the deck of our cruise ship - Nassau, Bahamas
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BEFORE DEPARTING on our cruise, we had the pleasure of our daughter visiting us in Florida for the week of Thanksgiving. Because we live on completely opposite sides of the U.S., we don't see each other as often as we would like and it was nice to have her here! She flew home on Friday evening and we took off for Ft. Lauderdale early Saturday morning.

Multiple Ships berthed in the Nassau Cruise Port - Nassau, Bahamas
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I HAD no real expectations for this cruise. 3 of us were confirmed cigar smokers and I knew we would spend some time doing that. That was fine. We were in warm weather, and as it turns out, the smallish Solstice had surprisingly good accomodations for cigar smokers. Our stops were nothing I would write home to mom about. We had been to Nassau one other time. It was basically nothing more than a tourist area on shore. One of the largest cruise ports in the world and certainly the largest in "Caribbean" waters (not technically in the Caribbean, but usually part of the mix), they have completely redone the cruise port since we were there in 2022). There were 6 or 7 ships in port the day we were there.

The tourist area in Bimini, Bahamas
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OUR SECOND stop was Bimini, a tiny, narrow strip of land just 50 miles off the Florida Coast. Bimini has a tiny, old tourist area that is accessible across a long bridge from the ship berths. Thought it is possible to walk, most take the complimentary shuttle to the tourist area. There cannot be more than about a dozen shops and bars down one narrow pedestrian street. The rest of the island is very poor and - by most of our standards - run down. We rented a golf cart and drove down the one main road to the end of North Bimini Island. There is a nearly equally sized, but relatively unpopulated Southern Bimini island across a narrow cut of just over 1/10th of a mile betwen the two. It requires a ferry ride to get across. The northern tip of the South Island is narrow enough that you can walk across the land and see the Atlantic on either side. The islands form a large bay (Bimini Bay) and if you look to the east from the road, you see that the bay narrows before turning back out into the Atlantic, giving some views of land just across the way. On the other side, you can only see water, but if you could see 50 miles, you would see Miami. 😀 What we saw, instead, was a private resort-owned cruise ship anchored out a ways, and the rusted remains of The Gallant Lady, a very small freighter that was driven to the shore and wrecked during a large hurricane in 2026.

Trying to make some close up compositions from the deck of our cruise ship in the port of Nassau, Bahamas
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THOSE WHO read here may recall that this year I made the decision to change up my travel photography gear, trading in all the Olympus equipment I have been carrying on these trips for 3 or 4 years. My newest "full frame" Sony camera is only very nominally larger than the smallest Sony and in my mind it no longer made sense to have two different sets of gear (particularly since they were different brands and therefore handled quite differently. So this was my first cruise in 4 years where I carried the Sony, and a new wide-range zoom lens. Even though I didn't have high expectations for photography, I was interested in testing it out. I was happy with the results, both physically and photographically. I had used the camera itself for 10 days in Vermont recently and have really been pleased with it.

Trying to make some close up compositions from the deck of our cruise ship in the port of Nassau, Bahamas
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THE BAHAMAS cruise ended our year in travel and photography. Time now to regroup, catch up on writing, and begin to plan 2026, which promises to be another full year. We have cruises scheduled in March and then again in April, both down into the Eastern Caribbean. Then in July another first for us: back-to-back River Cruises on Viking, beginning in the south of France (Avignon) and up the Rhone to Lyon and then a transfer to another Viking ship in Paris and up to Normandy and back on the Seine. It is pretty likely that we will book some kind of trip in the fall. Looking forward already to 2026!

As I said above, we have so much to be thankful for. As we step into the next year - and the unknown - I want to wish all a

Happy and prosperous New Year!