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August 22, 2008
Somewhere in the Atlantic
A few more pics here:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/rickdakan/
Day 2
Woke up this morning feeling a little woozy, like maybe I was drunk. Stumbled out of bed and realized that no, I was fine, that feeling was just the ship moving through the ocean. I had breakfast in the King's Court, which is basically four different buffet stations spread out across the center of Deck 7. Eggs and bacon and croissant, all quite tasty. It's brisk and sunny outside with calm seas. Apparently they had some wicked serious weather on the way over – Gale Force 11 or 12 depending on who you talk to. One woman at my table at dinner last night was on the crossing over to NY said it was amazing. This ship rode through it perfectly she said, like a dream and everyone gathered by the windows to watch the amazing show. I'm told the place to be in heavy weather is at the Commodore's Bar up on Deck 9, at least during the day. At night they draw blinds because the lights from the bar would shine up onto the bridge above and interfere with their vision. Seems to be a bit of a design flaw there...
Then I had my massage, which was great and kind of expensive and involved mud. I'm telling myself it helped with my back, and maybe it even did. Then I hung out in the aqua spa – a pool with all sorts of exciting water jets and bubbling thingies, a whirlpool, a sauna, an aromatic sauna, an herbal sauna, some sort of omni-directional showers, and foot massaging basins. After all that my back definitely felt better.
Lunch back in King's Court – noodles again, this time with curried chicken and peas which was nice although a little bland. Now in the library, which I love, typing and blogging and getting ready to go attend a lecture about Jack the Ripper.
The Ripper lecture was pretty interesting. Well, it was pretty well done anyway. I know enough Ripper lore that I was familiar with most of the material, but the speaker did a fine job presenting it all. If I were a better blogger I'd look up his name.
After the lecture I rested a bit more and then got ready for the first formal affair – the Black And White Ball. My friend Tara Webb made me a stunning tuxedo/frock coat affair and for the first time I put all the pieces together and I think it all came together quite smashingly. I'll have pics up somewhere eventually. So first was a little cocktail party. Well, a big cocktail party in fact in the Queen's Ballroom. I wandered in and had a glass of champagne and chatted a moment with someone I'd met earlier, but it was all a bit stuffy and crowded and, I'll be honest, sort of dull. So I went back to The Chart Room, my favorite bar on the ship, and had a drink there. Although we do pay extra for alcohol, the prices are quite affordable. Single Malt scotch for less than $7 and lesser drinks for under $4 in some cases. I chatted with a couple from upstate New York for a bit and then went in for the 8:30 seating in the Britannia Dining Room.
Dinner was better than the night before. Pate' en croute for starters, bib lettuce with duck confit for salad and then lobster and fillet with parsnip mash and real horse radish. All cooked perfectly. A marscapone, grand marnier, cinnamon and honey mousse for dessert. We had two new diners with us, a couple who're moving from Columbus, OH to the Netherlands for work. She's a neuro-scientist and he's a programmer. Afterward we went back into the Queens room where there were old people dancing. Then I did a little bar hopping and chatted with some women from Hamburg for a while.
Oooh! A pod of dolphins or porpoises just swam by, leaping in and out of the water outside the library window. Very cool...
Before turning in I wandered the deck at night, which was suitable creepy. The sky was overcast and black, the wind howling. There was nothing to see no matter which way you looked, and just a thin, waist high railing between me and the darkness. Definitely makes one feel small and alone, almost like I was on a ghost ship for that short moment.
Day 3
Lazy day today. Well, they're all kind of lazy. I got up early so I could have some shirts laundered in time for tonight's second formal dinner, then had breakfast, wandered the top decks briefly and promptly took a nap from 10:00 am to noon when the captain came on to announce we were soon passing the location where the Titanic sank. Talking to one of the other passengers later, we both agreed it's hard to imagine any icebergs in these waters, but what do we know?
Lunch in the King's Court was nice. All the food there is a little under seasoned for my tastes. The quality and flavors are there, but they tend to be subdued. A function of cooking for 2300 palates I assume.
I took in one of the shows at the planetarium this afternoon, which was interesting enough. Nothing spectacular, although, hey, a planetarium on a ship is kind of a spectacle in its own right. Then gym and a nice long soak in the various kinds of whirlpools in the spa.
It was another formal night at dinner in the Britannia. My American compatriots were a no-show, but we had a new diner at table – Tony. Tony's one of the dance companions on board. A retired, genial sort from South England, he loves his dancing and his motorcycles. There are a number of these dance companions on the QM2. Basically they get to sail for free but they have to be available to dance with women during all the events and dance classes and what have you. He'd done it a bunch in the past but had mostly stopped when he got a last minute call from the booking agency when someone else dropped out of this voyage. That's one way to see the world on a budget.
After dinner I went with two of my dinner companions, Andrew and Julie, to the Queen's Room where the ship's “rock” band was playing. They're actually quite good. Vibz is their name, I think. They played a lot of old standard wedding-band type fair – Celebrate, Twist and Shout, Under the Boardwalk, etc. During their break the social director called for eight men to volunteer and nine women. I stepped up and was part of a game of musical hugs, where the women circled us while music played and then had to run and hug one of us. Whoever didn't match up was eliminated. They then pulled one of the men and went again. In the end it was just me and this other guy, and one of the cruise directors whispered to us to turn and hug each other when the music stopped as the three old women swarmed towards us. That got a good laugh and I got a free deck of Cunard playing cards for my efforts.
Then to the nightclub where there was much, much whiskey consumed by, well, me. But the DJ was receptive to requests and I got some Clash, and Jam, and Bowie in there between all the weird brit pop. There was some song where a bunch of young Brits sat down front to back and did a sort of dance to. I shot some video of it that I'll post later because, well, what the hell was that all about?
Woke up late this morning. Every night we set our clocks forward one hour, so in effect we're having 23 hour days. So while it's not jet lag by any means, it is a little disconcerting sometimes. My phone seems confused by whatever time zone we're in and won't accept the ship's time. I bought a $15 watch in the duty free store so I wouldn't have to mess with it and well, hey, cheap watch.
This afternoon I'm going to go see Romeo and Juliet in the main theater and then, I think, more spa for me.
Posted by rdakan at August 22, 2008 09:24 AM