Our sail-in this morning was through the Thames Barrier gates. The Viking ocean ships are the largest cruise ship that can fit between the gates, and we had just 5 feet of clearance on either side!

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Seeing all the familiar landmarks along the Thames brought back all kinds of wonderful memories of Greenwich.

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In true cheeky London form, a group of young men in a flat along the Thames decided to “greet” our ship.

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We docked not against the shore, where the tide rising and falling twice a day by up to 7 m (24 ft) would leave us stranded on mud at times, but instead anchored in the river beside a floating pontoon from which we boarded a Thames Clipper for the very short transfer to shore.

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We adore this borough of London, having first visited in 2017, and then chosen to live here for the month of September 2022 (beginning at Episode 321), so we had no “must-do” plans here before flying back to Canada tomorrow. 

Instead, we had a delightful breakfast with Judy and Bill, friends from our last world cruise, and Karla and Fred, friends from both our Viking world cruises. Judy and Bill are boarding the Sky here to experience the British Isles, Viking Homelands, Iceland, Greenland, and east coast Canada before reaching New York City mid June. Today is our only intersecting opportunity.

We met at a pub in Greenwich called, appropriately, Bill’s.

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After breakfast there was time enough for a walk through Greenwich Vintage Market (where I picked up a souvenir for son #2) and the wonderful Greenwich Market (where I picked up a reversible Indian recycled sari silk skirt for myself) before completing our final packing. Suitcases needed to be outside our door by 8:00 p.m.

Today is the Monday of a long weekend celebrating the 85th anniversary of VE (Victory in Europe) Day, which actually falls on Thursday, May 8th. The 80th could not be celebrated because of the pandemic, so this year was all the more important. I was interested to learn that in Germany, events are also held on 8 May to commemorate those who fought against Nazism and died in World War II. In so e German states it is referred to as “Freedom from Nazism Day”.

At 1:45 p.m. a fly-by was scheduled to pass Buckingham Palace, where the King would be watching. The skies over London were dramatically cloudy, but from deck 8 we managed to catch a distant glimpse of the Red Arrows, releasing red, white, and blue smoke in the colours of the Union Jack.

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Tonight we had our last dinner with cruise friends: the amazing Andrea (she of the fabulous cruise facebook group that connected all of us) and her charming hubby Chet, plus the indomitable Don and magnificent Katherine from our previous world cruise.

After packing our last bits and bobs, Ted and I went up to spend one more evening listening to and chatting with Alan, who has added so much joy to our time on board.

We vacate our cabin by 8:00 a.m. tomorrow to allow the cabin stewards enough time to turn over 300+cabins by 11:00 a.m. It’s a daunting task.

By tomorrow night we’ll be back in Vancouver, and after just 3 short weeks of reconnecting with family, I’ll be on my way to a new adventure…

… but first I’ll need some time to reflect on this one.

It has been more than excellent.