Liverpool and Wales

Today we docked in Liverpool after a rather eventful morning. About 5:10 this morning, I felt the ship lean to one side a little, then some more, then more yet! I'm not quite sure how far we listed, but it sure created quite a mess on board. In our cabin, I first heard some batteries roll around on the desk, then Mary's purse slid off the table and crashed to the floor. We did not have anything damages, but I know of one other passenger whose camera fell on the floor and suffered minor damage. Also the Horizon Buffet (which was supposed to open at 6:00) was still closed at 6:30 and they would not let us even walk through to the Caribe Cafe (we later heard due to broken glass). With 2000+ people up early for excursions, the Caribe was overflowing. But, as we got in line, they opened one side of the Horizon buffet so we did get our breakfast on time. I'm sure some junior officer is not doing so well today...
After that start we did head out on our excursion. Apparently there are no ferries operating any more so we took a tunnel under the Mersey River and headed to Wales. At our first stop there were wild sheep grazing on open range. After days of trying to get pictures of sheep from the bus, here they were, just a few feet in front of us. Scotland has about 7.5 million sheep for 5.5 million people and the ratio is even higher in Wales - 3.5 mission sheep and about 1.5 million people. So yes, we saw a lot of sheep.
After a steam train ride, our next stop was Chirk Castle, a refurbished home that looked like a castle. They had some people dressed up in costume and the home was very nicely decorated with a beautiful gardensurrounding it. It was very pleasant and relaxing to walk the grounds of this home.