ancient crazy amazing athens

Athens day one:  We sadly left our big boat, and we were offered to share a taxi with a wily spaniard named Juan and his lovely wife Maribel.  He knew the angles - don't wait in the endless taxi queue, go up this short ramp, and negotiate a good price with the first taxi illegally parked.  We met up with Christos, and the wily spaniard got us a good price.  All the way to the hotel, Christos was convincing us to hire him for 40 euros each for him to tour-guide us to Sounion, the Temple of Poseidon, apparently the place to watch beautiful flawless sunsets bathe ancient ruins in golden light.

He was right, we were convinced, and Christos drove us 70 kilometers to Sounion.  He has been a driver for twenty five years, and is somewhat lackadaisical in his profession.  Lanes were merely a suggestion, speed limits for the other guy.  Why watch the road going around hairpin curves when one could point out the glorious vistas?  A sharp correction moments before sure death always seems to do the trick.  White knuckled and clutching the handle, I still managed to laugh at the banter of the small precise funny spanish man and the boisterious laughing greek taxi driver.  Whose taxes are higher?  Who has less money?  "I will cry for you!"

The pictures, they speak to the glory.

Athens day two:  had breakfast in the hotel, washed some clothes to dry quickly in the Athens heat, and headed out for the day.  We purchased our tickets for the Acropolis complex, which includes six different sites.  All are in various states of restoration, but all are amazing.  We climbed the Acropolis and gazed over the city, we walked the ancient agora where Socrates walked, we touched stones that were set in place in 500 BC.

it was a gloriously hot and brilliantly sunny day.  athens is a raucous and crazy city, one of the most dense I've seen.  It stretches on forever without relenting or easing.  It is white and hot and noisy and relentless.  They yell into cell phones and each other's faces and wave their arms.  They drive on sideways and scatter pedestrians.  They eat and drink and talk and smoke.  I  want to stay, and pick up drinking and smoking and talking with arms waving until 2 am on Tuesday nights.

The new Acropolis museum is a treasure beyond belief.  It is built over ruins being excavated, with clear acrylic floors looking down onto an ancient roman neighborhood with rooms, mosaics, water systems, walls.  Sometimes we were floating above ruins three stories down. It was brilliantly designed.  It must be seen.  Archeologist wander around to answer any questions, yes we had a few.

I had lamb souvlaki and greek salad for lunch at Taverna Xani.  For dinner I had zucchini stuffed with spiced meat and covered in lemon dill egg sauce. (not a good picture, sorry.) We had a carafe of greek table wine, oil cured olives, herbed butter on dense greek bread.  Yummy, yummy, all yummy.

We tumble into bed with sore feet and full stomaches.  And tomorrow?  Tommorow we visit the Greek archeologist musuem and ride the funicular up to the Lykavittos Hill.

Thank you for reading.

A Maltese Adventure

It's our last day at sea, a gray and almost-stormy day.  We're sitting in our cozy cabin reading and watching our trip progress on the bridge cam.  we both are on the edge of sore throats and colds, so it's a good day to rest.  Maybe we will leave our cabin before dinner...maybe not. :)

I was a little wary about what Malta would have for us after our visit to Tunis.  We sailed into the harbor just as the sun was rising, passing for the first time, very closely, tiny little fishing boats, which rocked and bobbed in our not insignificant wake.  The bay was so beautiful, forts and limestone dwellings and colorful boats.  The Maltese language is an interesting hybrid of arabic, italian, and other languages.

The international strongman competition was being held on Malta the day we were there.  We've all seen this competition - it was the same men we've seen on cable tv sports channels. One was pulling a semi along the harbor.

We had decided to take the hop on, hop off tourist bus.  In all our years of travel, we've been avoiding those double-decker, open air buses that seemed filled with tourists snapping photos from the air, trailing obnoxious commentary from too-loud speakers.  But, it is our goal to experience as much as possible, and we knew the distances were more than walkable. Plus, a maltese man on the cruise told us the north route was the best way to see the island.

We located our bus, paid our 15 euro fare, were given some earphones, and climbed to the top.  We noted the bus had definitely seen better days.  The day was heating up quickly, and we were dismayed by how long we sat waiting to begin.  The time of scheduled departure came and went, and still we sat.  Finally, after a few false starts, the bus's engine cranked over,and we sat for a few more minutes, this time bathed in deisel fumes.  After much honking and swearing, we eased into the chaos of the Valletta streets, narrowly avoiding a horse drawn tourist buggy and some scooters.  We took a fifteen minute tour of downtown Valletta, then creaked and groaned back to the same spot we started from!  I was starting to get a serious grump going on.  We sat for several minutes longer, and I stewed, looking at the schedule and realizing that it was a three hour tour around the island, and that if we actually hopped off at one of the many stops, it would be a dubious proposition that another bus would actually be following behind to pick us up.  Any pictures I took would feature the heads of my bus-mates.  Humph, I humphed. A wasted day?

We started up again, and lumbered through town through streets barely wide enough for the bus.  Our open air seats were level with the second story residences above the stores.  We passed through a poor section of town, then headed out to open roads near factories and warehouses.  We were buffeted by strong winds, burnt to a crisp in the 90 degree heat, our fillings were rattled out by bad roads and worse shocks...but once I got over my damn self, I realized what a fantastic time I was having!  We had three hours of open air vistas of this phenomenal island nation state.  We saw small farms, charming villages, and rich tourist areas.  We crept down steep hills and hoped for proper brake maintenance and climbed up again, all laughing that we would need to get out to push.  We navigated roads by ravines so narrow we hoped not to tumble over the sides.  We barrelled around corners, honking to warn the oncomers of our overwhelming road presence.  We passed through tiny narrow streets that we had to back up to make the corner.  We got stuck in a traffic jam that included a donkey cart.  We passed by a harbor with thousands of boats worth millions of dollars.  Both Maltese and tourists alike waved to us from second story balconies or sidewalk cafes.  Yes, a lot of my photos have tops of heads in them.  But it was a gloriously, spectacularly fun, fun day.  May you all have...

Our island circumnavigation completed, We soon were in search of some Maltese food.  We walked through pedestrian-only streets and scouted the sidewalk cafes for arancini, a local Maltese dish - a fried ball of rice stuffed with a variety of spiced meats.  We found the dish at Cafe Mateo, and along with a Maltese beer and some local wine, we had ourselves a nice afternoon treat.  The arancini was as good as I thought it might be.  Yummy.

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering, went to the war museum and the Upper Barakka gardens for a panoramic view of the harbor and the city.


On the way back to the ship, we saw a boy with a suspicious looking "O" on his backpack.  Yes, he was from Oregon.  But not only that:  He grew up in Portland, graduated from the U of O, plays trumpet in the ship's orchestra, but strangest of all: He lives less than a half mile from us in Eugene, just around the corner from the Albertson's on 30th.  And yes, we meet him on a tiny little island in the Mediterranean.

Grazzi Haffa for your hospitality, Malta.  Our last port at sea was another great experience.  A bit hard to believe that it's the last.

Greece is beckoning, on to Athens. Thanks for reading.

Tunisa is in Africa

And so, Africa has come and gone.

We sailed into port late, which meant we could be on deck for the first glimpse of Tunisia.  I looked out our cabin window, and there on dock were camels.  So yes, of course I rode the camel.  Who wouldn't?  It's a camel!  It's Africa!

This is a country of 10 million people, and 3 million live in the Tunisian area. Since 1957, women have legislated equality.  Polygamy was outlawed, and women were given the right to vote, earn wages, own property, and divorce.  they hold office in the government.  Education is free, compulsary, and not segregated.  Tunisia has separation between state and religion, and the government is secular.  Alcohol is allowed to be consumed, and they make wine and brandy in this country.  The currency is the Dinar, which you cannot bring in or take out of the country.  Every business deals in dollars and euros.  We bought a few things in the souks, and had to bargain for our goods.  Negotiating the price makes me uncomfortable, and I'm not good at it.  I'd prefer just to pay, but that is their culture.

It was very dirty, much garbage strewn everywhere.  Don't look too closely into the bay of Tunis, as it looked to be the major repository for trash.  Quite sad.  And although equality is codifed into law, women were not very present.  It was mostly men in the streets, all men in the shops, and only half or so of the younger women were not wearing some sort of veil or hair covering.  There were several female Tunisain police officers, however.

We took a ship's tour, as our command of arabic is limited to shukran.  We boarded a bus with our very nice Tunisian tour guide named Nudine.  He was well-traveled, including a trip fifteen years ago in which he took a greyhound from New York to Seattle.  The drive to the marketplace in central Tunis was fascinating - right away the poverty was apparent, from the barely functioning vehicles to the old men at the roadside, the half-finished dwellings, and ever-present mounds of trash.  We spent some time in the covered markets and then took the coach to Carthage.  Was there no where the Romans weren't?  We have seen Roman ruins in the UK, Paris, Rome, Africa...over thousands of miles.  And what they built in their conquering travels seems impossible, as they had only sailboats, animal-powered means of transportation, and slaves.  What's left of Carthage was beautiful, large remains of a bathhouse perched on the shores of the deepest blue Mediterranean.  The area around  Carthage was where the millionares live, and the presidential palace overlooks the roman ruins.

We drove back to the ship, and we saw a man herding his goats down the railroad tracks, and camels grazing in the traffic island between two major highways.  It was a quick tour, and quite fascinating, but we felt a little removed from it all.  I'm glad we went, and don't know what we would have done differently, but the visit seems somehow incomplete.

thanks to all those answering my sunrise questions. It makes logical sense, but still seems just...wrong.  We have now changed times twice, and will once again beforse disembarking in Athens.  Time of sunrise continues to vary up and back by at least twenty minutes a day, and the sun is now setting before 7:00 pm.  That'll mess with your head, let me tell you.  :)

Tomorrow to Malta.

I'm keeping the hair.

updates on tunis and malta have been written, pictures readied.  I'm out of internet time on the ship, and don't want to buy more.  So, I'll post from Greece if our hotel has internet!

Sadly, leaving our ship tomorrow morning.  It's been marvelous.

Malaga, on the Costa del Sol, what a enchanting city.  I took many pictures, but not many seem to have captured the beauty. the sun was not fully risen until almost 9:00 am.  I am so confused by this.  And now they tell us that sunrise will be at 6:49 tomorrow am.  We are progressing due east.  Did I sleep through this part of science class?

The day began warm, with a soft breeze, then progressed to a lovely Meditteranean hot, with the same soft ocean breeze and no humidity.  We first visited the Alcazaba Palace, an 11th century residence of Arabian Kings built half way up a hill.  The preservation is impressive, the restoration is elegant and amazing.  the fort surrounding the palace winds it's way up a hill near the harbor.  there are castle walls to walk atop, and hidden gardens, and inner rooms so cool and refreshing.  The views of the City became grander as we climbed.

A steep slate path climbs it's way further to the hill top, the Gibralfaro Castle, an ancient Moorish fortress.  The views were vast, to distant mountains, the endless ocean, and olive-groved terraced hills.  We basked in the sun and beauty.

As we searched for the birthplace of Picasso, we took a wrong turn.  We ended up on a walk through a part of this city with no tourists. Our last Spanish port,la Coruna, has adopted the supermarket, Malaga still has local stores: the fish market, the bakery, the produce shop.  We are further enchanted.  it's a large, busy City, but very walkable with small serene parks in the many plazas and elegant hidden alleys.  There are many pedestrian-only streets, with a myriad of brasseries, and tapas cafes.  the Policia del Barrio patrol on large scooters.

We stopped in a little place called Lechuga for tapas and spanish red wine.  It was very busy with spaniards, and we sat at a table outside.  Again, more wonderful food: a pastry with roasted vegetables, cheese, nuts and honey, rollado - a thin spanish meat (like proscuitto) wrapped around an herbed cream cheese, and a crepe filled with gruyere, spices and serrano ham.  Maybe not traditional tapas, but so yummy.  And the spanish table wine, it is always good, like italian table wine and french table wine.  If only, in the states...

another day at sea tomorrow...We have sailed 2640 nautical miles since Copenhagen.  We may encounter our first bad weather

soon.  It is raining  heavily east of us in the Meditteranean, and Tunisia is experiencing flooding due to heavy rainfall.  I don't know which ways storms travel in this ocean, so we may be lucky yet again and bypass the monsoon.

I took no pictures as we sailed away from Malaga.  It was too beautiful.  The ocean was like glass, and the city faded to small villages dotting the shoreline and the hills below the mountains.

As we left the port, as the sunlight dappled and the sea sparkled, as the mountains disappeared into the mist, a small, quiet thought.  For this, and for this only, maybe I would give up my apartment in Paris.

Languid in the Meditteranean

We have just departed La Coruna, Espana. The ship's dock was right in town, and it was by far the prettiest docking of all.  So, of course, I didn't take a single photo of it.  La idiota, as I'm known in Spain.

We off-loaded our tired selves to the streets of La Coruna about 9:30 am.  It is a large City, maybe the size of Portand?  There has been a massive civic project to build a walkway and bicycle causeway all around the pensinsula, beginning at the ship's dock.  We walked a great portion of it. Our weather was the best yet.  It got up to 80 degrees today, bright sunshine and sparkling water.  Many many spaniards out walking their dogs.

We are certainly not in northern Europe anymore.  We have gone from 90% or more of the population fluent in English, to oh, I'd say...zero?  No one speaks English.  I wrangled up from the deep memories of twenty years ago the abilty to speak a childish, pantomimed spanish, enough to usually be understood.  However, I've lost much of the ability to comprehend.  I could ask a question, and sit there stunned at my inabilty to understand the majority of what was said back.  oh well.  It was fun to realize how much I remembered.

The people in La Coruna are some of the shortest people I've seen in the world.  They are tiny.  Roger was a giant, Sage would be a beautiful freak!

After our day in La Coruna, we returned to the ship fairly early. We poured our tired selves on a couple of upper level deck chairs like lizards on a hot stone. We failed to move for two hours, except the extreme exertion of turning from back to front to back again.  This travel, my dear readers, is not for the weak.

We have gone from a the very brisk, bracing, refreshing, northern fall air to a tropical, warm, sultry, caressing air.  It has changed the whole aura on the ship.  People walk slower, spend more time sitting, drink more, eat more, relax more.  We are languid.

I am very confused by the fact that as we sail further south, sunrise is later every day by 20 to 30 minutes.  In Copenhagen, sunrise was 6:30.  Now, a week later, sunrise is almost 8:30.  Wow, that late, really?  It's so crazy! In winter, the days get shorter in the north, but sunrise is so much earlier. who can google that for me and find out why?

We continue to be embarrassingly pampered. They clean our room twice a day (twice!), and they bring us fabulous food, whereever and whenever and however much we want. No matter how amazing it is, some of these f*ckers on this boat cannot be pleased. There are several nasty people that, if it were possible, should be given a sharp elbow over the side and left to

sink or float. The world would be a happier place.

today, we had a day at sea.  We slept in, went to the gym. (I had a great run - ran five miles and only stopped because it was time.  could have run further!)  We ate lunch, stopped back at the room for a few minutes, and promptly fell asleep for most of the afternoon.  We woke in time for dinner (shrimp cocktail in a spicy romanov sauce and pork medallions in a shiraz reduction, followed by white chocolate mousse cheesecake.)  Wandered the decks and watched the sun set over the Atlantic Ocean.  The Captain informs us that we will have to cruise at maximum cruising speed to be at our next port in time...tomorrow, we awake in the warm, blue Meditteranean and traipse through Malaga.

Thanks for reading, and thanks all for your comments!  We miss you all!  :)

Portugal is off the port side

Our internet has been down, so here are some updates of the last few days.  Hope all of you are well.  The trip goes along wonderfully.


We are (were...) steaming through the Bay of Biscayne.  Our captain was pleased to announce that it is the calmest he has ever seen it.  We are still rolling from side to side, causing us all to weave down hallways.  "It is suggested that all guests use the handrails, and that the ladies avoid wearing high heels."  It's a good thing that I'm no lady.

two days ago, we got up early as always. and suddenly we were in Belgium.  We took the train from Blankenberge to Bruges.  We sat with Kinchici on the train.  He is an African, a Dutch citizen born in the Congo.  He is a retired pediatician who did his medical studies in Brussels, then worked for a mining company in the Congo.  He is retired, has six childen and 12 grandchildren.  Most grandchildren live in Belgium, but one daughter lives in the Congo with children so he travels there regularly to visit.  A cheerful and helpful gentleman with a booming laugh who speaks five languages and assures us that things are improving in his native country.

Bruges.  Around every corner is beauty.  and then more beauty.  and again, beauty.  canals, gabled houses, boats, horse drawn carriages.  A charming place.  We climbed up, and then down the clock tower (366 steps, they tell us) and then, overwhelmed by beauty, we had to sit in a cafe in the square and have strong, strong belgium beer.  We decided to have chips and eel, as we were told that eel is a belgium specialty.  And so, there is a reason why I have waited almost 45 years to try eel.  I am glad to be done with it for the next 45. (We sat for a while in this main square In Bruges and looked for irish hitmen and midgets. I think I saw voldemort. No one was thrown from the clock tower.)

Back to the ship, another fabulous dinner, another stroll around the deck, another departure for foreign lands.  We ended the evening in our favorite bar with Millica from Serbia, Paolo and Vanessa from Brazil, and Hilda ("the crazy one") from the Phillipines.  Poor Millica longs to see the Eiffel Tower, but France (and Sweden) does not allow Serbians to enter their country.  Really, France? A sweet Serbian girl can't go to Paris?

There are over 75 nations represented in the employeees on this ship.  Nepal, lots of Brazilians. Indonesions, Indians, Africans.  I even spied one lone american.  They work so hard and are away from their families and homeland for seven months at a time.  We are very appreciative of all they do for us.

Up again early yesterday, this time for our first ship tour.  We decided to take a coach tour to Bayeaux and Normandie. It's quite far away, and if you take a ship tour they have to wait for you should things go awry and you can't get back in time.  It was a good decision.  Michelle from La Havre was our tour guide, and she was great.   Her commentary was inciteful, funny and complete. I learned lots of interesting information, that I will write and send to Sage.  I have three pages worth of information for you, lucky girl!  ;)

We thought of you, Jeannie and Dan, walking through Bayeaux and how lucky you were to have stayed here.  What a charming village.  The tapestry was fascinating!  The ship tour arranged lunch for us.  We thought it would be generic tourist lunch, oh mais non!  lunch was served in the Lion D'Or. First we were served an aperitif of wine and black current syrup "to get the digestion started," then a  lovely puff pastry with mussels and creme fraiche.  we had our choice of red or white wine with this.  Happy and content after lunch...but wait!  That wasn't lunch, that was merely the first course!  The second course was chicken, with an herbed sauce, roasted potatoes and a spiced baked apple.  More wine, then dessert, followed by one of the most heavenly beverages on earth, that lovely demitasse of strong, black french espresso.  Thank you, France, for your food and wine and coffee.  I am eternally grateful.

It is amazing how present World War II still is in Europe.  It is not as if it happened almost 70 years ago.  It is like it was yesterday.  Our tour guide told us her family stories from the occupation in Burgundy.  The remains of the artificial harbor, the landing beaches, the gun emplacements, the graves.  Most buildings, homes and landmarks were bombed to oblivion, but were rebuilt using the rubble, so still appear quite old.  The little community around Omaha beach is a sweet little beach town now, a mixture of vacation cottages and well-tended homes.  And german gun emplacements.

Driving through the north french country-side was like driving to Monroe.  Farms, farm houses, fields, cattle and the occaisonal large chateau.  The french love to camp.  Who knew?

We got up this morning, which is September 20th and quite possibly Sunday? and went to the gym.  I ran another three miles on the treadmill, still quite slowly but a little faster.  With the rolling of the ship it was like going up and down little hills, over and over.  Roger, as usual, outworked and outlifted everyone.

We now rest, relax, eat, sleep and read, for tomorrow we stroll through the northern coastal Spanish town of La Coruna. (this was written a few days ago, and Coruna has been strolled.)  :)

Thanks for reading.

Amsterdam.

Two night ago I had lobster bisque and roast duck with black current sauce for dinner.  Tonight was a heavenly cream of garlic soup and pasta specially prepared by my brazillian pasta chef.  yummy.

We have breakfast in cabin delivered each morning.

pictures are slow to load and slow means expensive, so less of them...these next few days are at sea so not uch time to write.  I know my fans, my people, you will be disappointed. I am sorry, I will try to be worthy.

we sleep with the curtains to our wonderful window open.  today roger woke me at 4:00 am "wake up, wake up - look! we are going through the locks!"  The north sea channel to Amsterdam is controlled by a lock
about the size of the Panama Canal.  We dozed and occaisonally peered out our window from 4 to 6, trying grasp a few hours more  of sleep but still wanting to see some of the 17 miles of channel from the North Sea to the City.

we docked in Amsterdam early.  We'd found an informal self-guided walk through amsterdam that suggested an hour long canal ride first, which was so beautiful and charming.  A view from water is infinitely different than a view from street levelI am pleased that we did both.

Our walk was long, and we saw many things old and new.  It was a perfect day, except this:  the sunless, narrow alleys that open onto the  windows of the working ladies of the Red Light district.  Bitter and sordid, they broke my heart in a hundred different ways.  The Africans - large, somber women with angry glares and hard lined faces.  The east european sex workers, blond and beautiful and fragile, some with jutting hipbones so sharp they hurt to look at. I want the world to stop this.

but enough of that.  coffee shops:  that scent, it didn't waft, it billowed.  it followed and lifted us through our morning.  People strolled and smiled and were mellow.

Around every corner, more charm and beauty than the last.  lunch at a little canal side pub, with dutch beer and open face sandwiches.  Churches and monuments and a few statues, but mostly buildings and architecture and water.

the Rijksmuseum: I fell in love with 17th century dutch masters years ago, and it didn't disappoint again.  however much I love the impressionists, the realism and symbolism of these 350 year old paintings have remained my favorites.

We met Stephan and Barry, two dutch firefighters, on our walk back to the ship.  They were great.  Barry is a kite surfer, and planning a trip to Hood River soon. We talked the job, and the union, and the benefits, and the retirement, and how much their union sold them out.  haha!  it is international!  :)

back on board, walked the decks from side to side as we traversed back through the canal to the North sea. After miles through the dutch countryside, we entered the locks barely wide enough for our massive ship.  It was a fascinating three hour journey.

For some reason, I have less words to describe this most perfect day.  In my travels, this day ranks among the very best.  It was perfectly unplanned and stress-free.  It was unhurried and leisurely and lovely, it was filled with beauty and charm. We saw so much. May everyone someday, somewhere, have a day like this.

We are now back in the north sea, being gently rocked by waves in this ship that I enjoy more each day,
and anticipating our day tomorrow in Bruges, Belgium.  Thanks for reading.

the ocean is vast, the world is tiny...first day at sea

We walked from our hotel and boarded the ship yesterday afternoon.  It was smooth and effortless. The amount of people hired to ensure non-chaos was stunning.  The lines for waiting were minimal, and because we'd checked in online there was no paperwork.  A quick walk through a metal detector, a glance at our papers and passports (Paper, papers, please!) were given our cruiseship card, had a security quick picture snapped and we were aboard.  Rooms weren't ready, so we did what Jeannie suggested, made our way to the top of the ship then walked through all ten decks learning where things were.  The ship inlcuding our room,  is decorated with a teal-colored theme, a teal never seen in wilderness and certainly not since the 90s.

things I like: lots of open decks, a large gym, a comfy spongy running track - 3 1/2 times around for a mile.
The buffet restaurant is forward, with floor to ceiling windows - Can see where you are going. I love our cabin!  It has much more space than we expected, our stuff fits in drawers and closets with room left over.  We have this HUGE window, this amazing window that takes up the whole of the back wall.  We are about 30-35 feet above the water, I've spent a signficant amount of time looking out the window at ships, sometimes land, always waves and clouds and sun. I don't need much else than that.

Things I don't like so much: hard to get away from the smokers, even though it's considered a non-smoking ship. There's a great lot of broad, polyester-swathed bottoms, slow moving and trailing clouds of perfume and cologne.  People are on this ship going amazing places, and yet can be found in the windowless casino at 9 am with a drink and a cigarette.  Other than that, the service is amazingly friendly and overwhelmingly nice and competant, the food is varied, vast and unending and quite tasty.

Steve and Sheila from Indiana tell us that it's their sixth cruise and the fewest people  from the States they've seen on a ship. They also tell us the important fact they've never had a bottle of wine confiscated that they've smuggled on board from a port. (filed for future reference.)  There's a couple just down the hall from us from Reedsport.  Yes, Reedsport, Oregon.  He owns  that little chainsaw carving gallery on Highway 101, she
works for Lane County.  They were easily recognizable with their silly orange Beaver gear. Gail from Ohio lives a few miles  from my sister in Cincinatti.

I told you all - seriously bad hair.  :)

Had lunch next to a hilarious couple in their late 70s from Scotland, Len and Patty.  He was a boisterous retired Longshoreman,(aye,lassie yes! of course I was union!)  and she was a cheeky lass.  They go on many cruises and usually never leave the ship.  They've been all over the world, and have decided that the cruise ship offers them everything they want and need on a vacation.  We saw them laterdancing a very saucy rhumba in the main area of the ship.  They were having a ball.

Our best times, though have been with the people working on the ship.  Paolo and Carlos from Brazil, Millica from Serbia, Aril from Indonesia., Pablo from Dominica, and the crazy girl from the Phillipines.

Today we had room service breakfast delivered, lounged about and watched the waves, then went to the gym.  I ran three miles, but slowly, because I am on vacation after all.  Roger lifted his weights, and we returned to the cabin, read some books, watched some more waves, and wandered up for lunch.  We listened to a little talk on Amsterdam and Copenhagen, then walked around the windy decks.  Then we read some more, walked a bit, watched the waves...

It's astonishing to be on a big ship moving very fast through deep, cold waters.