Odds and Ends

Odds and ends

I wrote a whole post and it disappeared when I went to try and upload it.  Grrrr.  I will try and remember how eloquent and interesting it was, and make a similar replacement post, but the duplicate is never as witty and brilliant as the original.....

Now on our fifth sea day, our routine is lazier and lazier.  I will never re-enter the real world in time to accomplish all that needs to be done.   Today consisted of wake up, eat breakfast, watch "The Princess Bride" out on deck on the big screen while it was lovely and sunny and warm (it is now foggy again only four hours later), write and lose the aforementioned post, eat a farewell lunch with the Cruise Critic group--many of whom we never quite got introduced to in the first place so farewell is a bit of a misnomer--rewrite the post and now it is time to read or something until dinner time.  And speaking of Cruise Critic meetings, we met a couple from north Tustin at lunch, about two miles from where Dad lives and where I went to high school. Small world.

Tonight we will again set our clocks back an hour.  Note to anyone thinking of a transatlantic--go from Europe back to the US, you get the extra hours instead of losing them on the way over.  Also, the sun is on the south side of the ship, not that we are getting a lot of that what with the fog.  But these are things to know for booking your trip.

After five days of waking up whenever the sun comes up, tomorrow we actually will set an alarm to wake up at 6 (which our bodies will think is 7) to have early breakfast, meet with US Immigration and then depart on our quick highlights of Boston tour. We'll spend a few hours at the Quincy Market and along the Freedom Trail before returning to the ship.   Departure is not until 7 pm, although we are losing quite a few passengers who chose to depart in Boston, many locals, Canadians and those with family in the area.

The jigsaw puzzle in the library is complete, and I find myself thinking the knitters onboard have spent their time far more productively.  I do have a travel embroidery box.  Next long cruise I am bringing something for those times when I want to do besides go to shops or pseudo lectures (thinly disguised sales events), although the real lectures have all been very good and well-done.  Tom is currently at one of the real ones, all about the mechanics of the ship by the ships' head engineer. We both really enjoy just sitting on the balcony, but it is better when it is not so foggy.   Something to consider for upcoming cruises.

Somewhere mid-day yesterday we crossed over an underwater bank, raising (or is it lowering?) the water depth beneath the keel to about 350 meters.  It also seemingly put us into an entirely different weather pattern.  Outside, it feels like we are in the Caribbean.  After weeks of maximum 63 degree temps we are tossed into the middle of 70's and 80's.  People have removed their jackets and sweaters and have begun to dig to the bottom of the drawers for the tee shirts.  A few have even ventured out onto the open decks where yesterday morning it was blowing cold most and today it is balmy.  Even if it is foggy, it is balmy fog.