Tuesday, July 12, 2022
Dinner was an excellent gala meal. Lobster was on the menu. Yay!
In the past, you could always count on having lobster on one of the gala nights. However, now the surf of the surf and turf might be shrimp instead. So, tonight was a very nice surprise.
We ate dinner with another couple and two sisters traveling together. The service was slower tonight as the waiter was trying to fill wine orders as well as food orders. But the time passed with lively conversation.
After dinner, we went to see the BBC presentation: Seven Continents – Seven Worlds. The HAL musicians provided the music to the nature film. Stunning footage. I admire the expertise and the dedication of professional nature photographers. I can’t even get a decent picture of a bird in flight.
We ended the night listening to the last set of the Ocean Bar band. The music was good but not easy to dance. Came back to the room and a towel animal was waiting for us.
We just made it to the Lido before it closed. Soon the crew safety drill started. Guests didn’t have to do anything but all the crew had to participate so all services were closed for 30 minutes. The guests just had to put up with the very shrill alarms.
We had to set our clocks forward 30 minutes. Who does that? So weird. Took me forever this morning to get my Fitbit correct.
I went to today’s lecture at 11:00 on “The eruption of EYJAFJALLAJOKULL” by our lecturer Jon. It was about the 2010 Iceland volcano eruption that disrupted airports around the world and caused 17,000 flights to be cancelled in a couple of days time because of the heavy ash in the air.
However, to Icelanders, it was just a spectacular event to go visit. His photographs were stunning because he and another person hiked up to see the lava flow and all the fissures open up. They were not the only ones to do it. Apparently, there are no restrictions to getting close to the top of a volcano. You are just supposed to use “common sense” to not get hurt. My common sense says stay away from the volcano. Currently there are 5 Icelandic volcanos that are on the “watch list” and should blow “any day now.” Whoopee.
Another lunch in the Lido and then a while editing some photos, I was ready to go play Bunko. We used to play it at Christmas when we would get together with extended family, but I haven’t played the dice game in years. However, it didn’t take long to remember how to play. About 30 people had signed up but only 12 showed up. I think it was because it was scheduled opposite of another of Jon’s presentations. No matter. You only need 12 to play.
It was a lot of fun, but I didn’t win any of the prize money. There will be another set on the way back to Boston so maybe my luck will change. Since that game took up most of the afternoon, I was surprised to see that it was almost time for dinner. Meals certainly come around frequently on a ship.
Fondest Travel Memories 