It was the birthday of one of our tablemates today so we’d arranged to meet them for Mimosas at breakfast, which was a first as we haven’t seen them at breakfast so far on the cruise, mind you we haven’t seen our tablemates on the other side either so it’s not so unusual, to paraphrase a Welsh bloke. Jane had bought her a birthday card whilst in Heraklion so we were prepared, she’d even checked that the name was spelled correctly. It was a very pleasant start to the day, a glass of orangy fizz and some devilled kidneys could be considered the breakfast of champions.
After a leisurely breakfast we sat on the balcony praying for a little sun, our prayers weren’t answered as while it was warm enough, there was very little sun to be had through the leaden skys. Even so it was nice just to chill there for a while, I’d managed to miss the first lecture because we’d spent too long chatting at breakfast, Professor Paul Sanders would have to forgo my attendance, luckily for me I’d already seen the lecture he was about to give on our Norway cruise last year. I spent the morning carrying out housekeeping and doing general geekery for my blog etc.
It was spaghetti Carbonara day for lunch, so that was one of the must haves for us, lovely rich Carbonara with crispy bacon and a bowl cleaned out with a freshly buttered roll was a heavenly delight. While we were eating lunch we could see that the sun was starting to break through, The courtyard was bathed in sunshine which meant the Grills terrace with its comfy sun loungers was calling my name, so we headed up there armed with kindles, some earbuds and phones to get some well needed sun on my pasty skin. It would have helped if I hadn’t forgotten my hat and not been sent down to the room to get it. There was an announcement by the captain that dolphins had been spotted on the starboard side of the ship, the crewman that rushed over to the port side to look made it easier for me to stroll over to the starboard side to have a look. The crew deck on deck 5 forward was opened for passenger access for the Dardenelle’s cruise by, and there was supposed to be a commentary across the open decks including the last post, but I never heard it on the Grills Terrace unlike to dolphin announcement.
At about 4:30 Jane went for a shower to get rid of the lotion from her skin as she had the second of her 4 hair appointments scheduled, I was instructed to meet her in the Grills lounge at 5 for a drink, but it took a while to get served there so we decamped to the Commodore Club where Jane tested Ankit’s assertion that they could supply any cocktail asked for by requesting a Hemmingway Daiquiri. He lived up to his promise and the cocktail was duly delivered, I had a Doombar, surprise surprise.
Jane headed off to get her Barnett sorted and I headed back to the room for a shower and rest after a hard day’s sunbathing. It was the Masquerade Gala evening and there were many, many Venetian masks in evidence there was also a couple fully decked out in French Regency costume looking very Louis XVI which was a bit odd, but each to their own. Dinner was excellent with a starter of Ballotine of Quail and main of Veal and mash and Crepes Suzette, lovely!
