WHAT’S IN A NAME?

November 5, 2019


Shakespear said in Romeo and Juliet, “that which we call a rose, by any other name would smell as sweet.”  While that is true, we had a waiter at breakfast yesterday whose name caused me no end of amusement.  His name is Yudo.  And when I read his name tag I immediately said, in my best imitation of a green Jedi master, “Yudo.  You seek Yudo.  Away put your weapons.  I mean you no harm.”  Well, it amused me.

On to other things.

Today was a long day.  We got up at 5:30 in order to be ready to go out on our tour of Western Madeira at 7:30.  The ship was an hour late getting into port – no idea why – and so we didn’t go out until 8:30.  It was a great excursion (all 7.5 hours of it).  We went to a couple of places we had been before and a bunch of new ones.  Incredible sites.  Incredible sights.  One of the most interesting was a restaurant built on top of an ancient lava field.  We got some great pictures.

When we got back into our stateroom there was a message on the phone for me.  It seems as though there is a Holland America Line bigwig coming on and on November 10 he is going to do a 2 hour talk and bump Jim (his name is Jim – the other speaker) and me from the schedule that day.  The production manager said we would have the day off and to enjoy it.

Well, I am tired, and I have a talk tomorrow I’ve only done a few times, so I need to get rehearsing, and let the bride of my youth take over the keyboard.

TTFN

5:30 is early.....  We got up, there was no hot water and we both elected to wash our faces and brush our teeth and dress. We went to breakfast and at 7:15 headed to the theater to await our departure on tour. We knew it wasn’t going to be on time because we weren’t even docked yet. But didn’t have any place else to be. We sat patiently and waited while the young lady in charge repeated the instructions for going out over and over again and again. Boring but oh well. The lady sitting beside me complained on and on about the long time it was taking. Maybe she should have gone up and helped the Captain park the ship.

Well, finally at about 8:30 we headed to bus #2 which was to be our chariot for the rest of the day. Not getting to the bus first we wound up in row 5. Of the about 50 seats on the bus about 14 of them had a window view. The coach was made so that for every six seats in a row two rows had an obstructed view.  Very poor planning. But you could usually see.

The driver was very good and the guide was knowledgeable. She was a German lady who had married a native Maderia man in the 60's and had moved to the island. She had taken the 2 year course to be a tour guide. You had to speak at least 2 other languages beside Portugese and she spoke German and English. We got her whole life’s story beside the story of her in laws who lived on the island. Including where and how they were all buried. Her husband is dead now and she lives alone and it is very expensive. The main trade of the island is tourism. The only way you can get to the island is by plane or boat. The plane tickets are expensive and hard to get if you are a native and want to travel off the island.

Any way, we were supposed to go to the very top of the west side of the island but it was raining and foggy so we did not travel there. We still went up high though. There are very few animals on the island. She told us several times there were no snakes. People do have dogs and chickens and goats and pigs. But most of all people outside the main city of Funchal have cows. But because the island is nothing but steep hills the cows cannot be let out in pastures, there aren’t any. Instead they build a small enclosed shed with a door and put the cow in it. He or she stays there all the time except in this a time of the year when they let them out along the very narrow, steep roads to graze along side of the road. How do I know this, she told us and then proceeded to point them out as we drove by them standing or laying on the very edge of the road. 

Almost every house has a garden. On the hills the gardens are terraced. They grow yams (our guide does not like these), sweet potatoes, cabbage, pumpkins, and bananas. Just about every house has some banana plants in the yard. They do not export the bananas very much because Chiquita says they are too crooked and small.
There are also grapes vines in many yards. Maderia wine is one of there big products. It is aged in oak barrels and the older it is the better it is. Also, you don’t lay the bottle on its side, it must sit up. Now aren’t you glad you know all this. Our guide talked almost continually for 7 hours. We were off the bus about only an hour except when we stopped for a very delicious lunch which was a one and half hour stop at a restaurant right on the edge of the sea.

Lunch was: salad, pumpkin soup with vegetables, fish or pork, potatoes, rice, bread and fruit salad with vanilla ice cream. Everything was very good. There was both red and white vine and water , as much as you wanted and you could even have a coke or beer. Very nice meal included in our tour. 

After arriving back at the ship at 4:15, we headed to the cabin. The ship was leaving at 4:30 and we had supper reservations at 5:15. That gave us 30 minutes for a quick nap. Then I changed clothes and we headed for supper. Tonight he had corn flaked encrusted sea bream and I had a Brazilian shrimp salad with roasted peppers, lettuce and a lime and cilantro vinaigrette dressing. We both enjoyed a strawberry sundae for dessert.
Then, off to the show. It was a BBC earth production made especially for Holland America. The movie is accompanied by the ship’s band, strings, piano and drums. It is very impressive. We have seen it several times but always enjoy seeing it again. We are in our room and will be in bed soon. The Captain has found the same rolling weather that we had yesterday so it will be a rolling bumpy ride again tonight. I hope to be able to take a walk tomorrow on the promenade deck . We will see how rough it is.

Kids put Karen’s Frank on your prayer list for Wednesday, he is having his shoulder surgery. Extra prayer for Karen.

Love you all Mom, Granny and Bonnie