March 18, 2015


We booked some shore excursions today.  The first for Madeira, Portugal, next Wednesday.  It is a bus tour of “Panoramic Island Landscapes.”  Mostly riding around, looking at the sites, but several chances to get out and take some pictures.  And for Friday, a week from now, a bus ride into Seville, Spain where we will explore on our own for 5 hours, or until we are worn out, whichever comes first.  The other two stops, we will walk into town and do our own things.

This is the first of three formal nights of this cruise, and a chance to meet the Captain.

We did a tour of the Galley today.  Saw the places where they prepare 12,000 meals a day (yes, 12K – lots of groceries).  Most impressive.

We ate lunch late today, because we set our clocks ahead at noon one hour (a whole lot better than setting it ahead at bed time – this way we have the rest of the day and when we go to bed we won’t think we are being cheated).  There is a restaurant on board which makes hot dogs and hamburgers to order.  I had a hamburger covered in fried onion, lettuce, tomato and a special sauce (no pickles or a sesame seed bun).  Very good.  Because it was so late eating, with the time change, I did not go to High Tea today.  No scones.  No Earl Gray.  But tomorrow, Scarlet, is another day.  Bonnie
had tacos and cheese dip and a waffle ice cream cone.

We did not get our March Madness picks entered before we sailed.  Would the director of the contest please email to advise if it is too late to do so, and to send the address again, if it is not too late?

There is a daily newspaper on board.  It is reprinted (8 pages, tabloid size – think old Macedonia Church Bulletin) from the New York Times.  All the left-wing commie pinko news that’s fit to print.  They were snorting today about how bad it was that Benjamin Netyenyahoo (or however he speels it) had won the Israeli elections.

Two of our table mates for breakfast were Carlos and Pauline, natives of Rome, who are on their way back to visit with children.  They’ve been in America for decades, calling Williamsburg, VA home now, but they make a crossing every so often to visit family.  They were quite engaging.  The other pair was Donna and Herb from New Orleans.  They lost 9 rental houses in Katrina, but were heavily insured, so they made out quite nice, thank you very much.

Well, that’s it for today.  I’ll report on the Captain’s Toast and the evening Show tomorrow.

TTFN!