Saturday, at sea
The Skywalker’s Lounge is a peaceful place this afternoon. I’m sitting all the way aft and am doing some typing after doing a bit of dozing. I wandered in here with Karl in hopes of finding a good place to sit and we were quite fortunate to find two comfortable chairs on either side of a small table facing the windows. The bench in front of us could have been additional seating but we (like many others in similar seats) made good use of it as a foot rest.
I took a break from (re-)reading Dragon Ship to rest my eyes. I guess I rested them fairly competently, because Karl gently roused me enough to suggest I secure my electronics, as he was leaving to go to a session of foot and leg pain and I was clearly not paying attention to them!
It’s interesting how quiet this lounge is–almost as if, by agreement, talking is limited and done primarily in whispers. A few voices have just picked up, but it seems as if there are only two conversations going on, even though the lounge is reasonably populated. Most people are dozing or reading (some books, some e-readers). The lady next to me has a small electronic item in her hands–might be a camera, might be a game.
Stan and I have signed up to do a wine tasting this afternoon. I went to two different whiskey experiences on this trip (and now am sure that, given my choice of beverages, I probably won’t choose Irish Whiskey or Scotch), and so he is accompanying me to a wine tasting. I’ve done a lot of wine [i]sampling[/i] but I’ve never been to a tasting, so I’m looking forward to it.
It does occur to me that I’ll have to [i]find[/i] Stan–he went off to lunch as I was resting in the cabin and we haven’t found each other since–not that he would know to look for me here–all the way at the top of the ship and all the way aft.
I got up much earlier than Stan this morning, even after staying up later to get all of the laundry done. I suspected today would see a lot of activity in the self-serve laundromat, so I dealt with that by doing laundry at midnight. I didn’t have to wait for machines and no one was waiting for me to finish!
After breakfast, I was drawn by impulse to the gold by the inch display, where I acquired a necklace (19″) and was given a free matching bracelet. It’s a nice medium weight gold chain (18k gold plate) and will be a nice useful length. I don’t usually wear bracelets but this one isn’t bothering me right now, so that’s a good thing–and it looks nice. I do like the look of bracelets so maybe it would do me good to get used to them!
Wine tasting
We’d hoped to catch up with Carl and Karmela for the wine tasting, but it was jammed and we didn’t see them. We ran into Linda in line and Marie and Megan saw us and waved us to their table. It was definitely more amusing than a standard stodgy wine tasting, but I was hoping to learn more about wine than I did. The large group was a factor, as well as the choice of the head waiter to be funny (and he was) rather than strictly educational. I liked both of the white wines–I’d forgotten how much I like the Mosel Rieslings. Much to my surprise, I enjoyed the Pinot Noir more than the Cabernet Sauvignon, which is something I often drink. I think my next bottle of wine for dinner will be a Pinot Noir. When the red wines was poured, it was clear that Stan had more substantial servings than I, so I compared his glasses to mine, and returned the more lightly filled ones to him. He did me the kindness of finishing my various incomplete whiskey glasses, so it seemed only fitting that I return the favor with regards to the wine.
There’s a second (more expensive) wine tasting on our next sea day–I’m not sure yet if we’ll be going. I’m tempted, but really only want to go if it’s an educational one and not a comedic one. I [b]did[/b] enjoy the comedic one–the head waiter was very funny and the other two presenters were as well (if not quite [i]as[/i] funny), but I’d really like to learn more about wine the way we learned so much abut whiskey.
Hanging around
I’m now going to back up to previous days–Stan is resting (cough and a chest cold–and I hope it goes away quickly!) and I’m back in the Skywalker’s Lounge, which is just as quiet as it was this morning. I claimed an empty aft seat and the woman to the right moved her purse (which was claiming all of the table I’m now typing on) and the man to the left moved his Patter–there’s a tendency to sit “every other seat” in public areas of the ship, but I really wanted to face aft.
Internet access on We
| Minutes | Cost | Per minute |
| 120 | 72.95 | $0.61 |
| 240 | 102.95 | $0.43 |
| 460 | 162.95 | $0.35 |
| 680 | 202.95 | $0.30 |
| 1100 | 252.95 | $0.23 |