A Day in the Western Mediterranean

Today is a day at sea in the calm waters of the Mediterranean on our way to Valencia. We popped up and had coffee just in time to get to an introductory Bridge (cards) lesson. What we learned is that if we want to continue to learn and play it will take quite a bit of practice. We are glad to have had the introduction. 



After the lesson we hurried to the theater to catch the second talk of world adventurer Adrian Hayes.  Hayes has scaled the highest mountains of the Himalayas. Today’s talk was about his adventures traversing the polar ice caps. We ended up buying a signed copy of his book. 



Since we hadn’t eaten we were keen on getting up to the buffet. On our way there the captain came on the PA to announce we would be slowing down to conduct “helicopter operations.”  In cruise ship speak that means a passenger was being evacuated from the ship for medical reasons. Interestingly, this is the second cruise we’ve been on that this happened; the first was 12 years ago off the coast of Canada on our way home from Alaska. Today everyone was required to go inside, off the outside deck spaces, so we just carried on with our breakfast/lunch and luckily sat on the correct side to get a good view of the helicopter. All went well and we soon got underway again. 



At lunch we sat with a lovely, young-ish, retired couple. We had some great conversation. They are English but live in Ireland. They gave us their contact info and an open invitation to call on them for sight seeing if-when we visit Ireland. 



After lunch we headed to the Queen's Room to play cards and listen to a live musical presentation of the history of the Cunard cruise line.  Maybe you know, the Queen Mary, permanently docked in Long Beach, was a Cunard ship. The company has a long — 180 years — and interesting history. Its fleet was a main transport of troops in WWII — many of its ships were torpedoed and sunk by the Germans. The Carpathia was the only ship to respond to the Titanic's distress call and rescued the survivors. 

Also in the Queen’s Room at 3:00 it was time to enjoy a live harpist during afternoon tea. This was our first served tea time — we had previously served ourselves in the buffet. It was quite posh. 







After tea, Kristi opted for a nap and Jim found a quiet spot to read the book purchased earlier.  All of the entertainment on the ship is quite good; many live performances by musicians and singers in different areas of the ship. Where Jim was reading, a string trio performed for a while. It was lovely, but their first song was surely the same tune that the quartet played on deck as the Titanic sank (in the movie) … 😳



Tonight was another formal night: red and gold. 



We have been trying to eat things we might not have the opportunity to eat normally. Almost every night provides that opportunity. Tonight one choice was breast of goose, which if you like duck or pork, was phenomenal. 



After dinner we went to the show and then turned in. We arrive in Valencia tomorrow at 8:00am. 

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