We decided getting back to America via a cruise across the Atlantic was a good way to do it.  Our recent ancestors had made the same voyage for different reasons, under very much different conditions.

We boarded the Enchanted Princess at Southampton England for a 2-week voyage, with ports of call at Bergen, Norway; Belfast, Northern Ireland; Cork, Ireland; the Azores; (Boston was planned, but cancelled with rerouting around Hurricane Earl); and finally a bonus overnight stay at the terminus of Brooklyn NYC.
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("File Photo")

In the North Sea, a UK helicopter evacuation of someone needing emergency medical care.

St Mary's Church was built in a long church design using plans drawn up by an unknown architect. The church seats about 240 people. The construction of the church is believed to have started in the 1130s or 1140s and completed around 1180, making this church the oldest remaining building in the whole city of Bergen. There have been a few fires that burned the church, as well as several renovations and reconstructions, most recently in 2013.

After leaving Bergen, we headed to Belfast, going around north of Scotland, and down the Scottish west coast.  Our captain pointed out a rare sighting of a submarine off our port side.  It appears to be one of the following subs:

"The Astute class is the latest class of nuclear-powered fleet submarines (SSNs) in service with the Royal Navy.  The boats are being constructed by BAE Systems Submarines at Barrow-in-Furness.  Seven boats will be constructed: the first of class, Astute, was launched by Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, in 2007, commissioned in 2010, and declared fully operational in May 2014.  The Astute class is the replacement for the Trafalgar-class fleet submarines in Royal Navy service."

Corn steamed inside of the volcanic hot springs

Check out how they grow pineapples here in the Azores.  Because it is not tropical enough here, they grow all the pineapples inside greenhouses.  To make their pineapples special, they fill the greenhouses with smoke during a specific time of the growth.  This injects a special smoky flavor to the fruit when it is mature.

Brooklyn, NYC
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Now arriving under the Verrazzano-Narrows Bridge at dawn.

Scenes from Southampton:

It's now 2 September, time to board the Titanic out of Southampton - actually it was the Enchanted Princess.