APRIL 3, 2008 – SAFAGA

I think we are now very sensitive to the ship’s movements. I woke about 4:10 and the ship was not moving. About 4:40 am (Ed was awake too) I looked outside and you could see a line of lights along the shore on the starboard side. I believe this is the East Bank of the Red Sea; not surprisingly, Ed thinks it’s the harbor lights as we go into the harbor.
Ed had a chance to call Mike and share information that is difficult to convey in emails. We will not always have a phone signal on this trip but we have packed our charger for the Treos just in case. I think folks are used to not having us around by now. No emails, no messages. Boo Hoo.
I took my shower and did my hair; it’s hard to maintain my hair on tours so this will probably be the last time I try to make it look decent. If I’m lucky, the wind will be blowing every time a camera is around. Ha. Otherwise, it will risk mechanical malfunction.
It is so much nicer when we have enough time before our tour leaves to take our time and be at the meeting place on time. Usually you’re better off to get there a little early so you don’t wind up bringing up the rear.

APRIL 2, 2008 – SAFAGA TOMORROW AND OVERLAND

It was hard to get out of bed this morning; the book club meets today to discuss the book Into the Wild, which was made into a movie as well. So I stayed up til midnight finishing it. I don’t know if I’d want to see the movie. I guess I’d want to hear others talk about it before I could decide. This is a true story and so sad and unnecessary is that young man’s death.
So Ed went to breakfast and I finished my morning “getting ready” tasks. Then I went to see what was on sale in the atrium today and to the library to see if Amber was there so I could return the book; she is busy preparing for the exercise this morning. I walked outside on the running track and the ocean was so gorgeous, a deep blue, and the wind was so brisk. The sun is shining with clear skies. So I went to the Cabaret Lounge and hope Ed figures out that I’m already there for the
PASSENGER AND CREW EMERGENCY DRILLS: We were to assemble in our muster station with our life jackets for this drill. They have this well organized with various folks having their titles on their baseball caps of different colors, which themselves denote a job.
But they did something different today. 150 of us were to participate in a mock “abandon ship” exercise; Ed and I were among the last to be directed to join the “crockadile line” to the portside promenade deck for an abandon ship routine. We didn’t really step into the lifeboats because we are going too fast and the sea is higher than is safe. The astronaut Rusty Schweikert was right behind Ed and I. I had my camera with us and started taking some photos; the staff in front of us took the camera and snapped our photo. Then others asked me to take theirs, and eventually Chuck and Marianna asked to have their photo with Schweikert. So I downloaded those photos and put them on a flash drive to give to folks so they could have their own copies. I’ll try to upload the silly photo of Ed and I in our lifejackets.
TRIVIA: The group dynamics are getting better though there are kinks now and then. I came up with Kuwait as the answer to: what country has borders with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. I stuck to my guns on this one. Another one I should have hung in there for was the site of the first hominids astra something or other. It sounded like Australian and so some in our group hung in there for Australia. It was wrong of course; it’s Africa. Anyway, there were others like this; we all have those experiences now and then.
Well, you won’t believe it: we tied with 3 other groups. So their was a tie breaker: According to a survey, how many times a day does the average American open the refrigerator door? Several of us said 20; Ed had 21 and on the theory that perhaps the number closest to the correct one would win, we opted for 21. The guesses from all the groups were: 21, 22, 40, and 80. the staff member is from Argentina and she remarked that the 40 and 80 guesses reflected Americans eating habits. The correct answer was 22! So, can you believe it, again we’re # 2. It was Father’s group who won: officially called the “nice people”, but as he tells us, among themselves, they are the “geniuses.” The prizes were water bottles. Well you know we’ve all determined that they leak. Father offered me one and I tried to gracefully decline without discouraging future offers. This set off a funny discussion among us. I told the staff member that our group should at least get a consolation prize for coming so close. She said she’d give me a hug and I told her that was even better. These kids are so much fun.
LUNCH: I went to lunch with Ed. The waiter misunderstood him and put us at a table by ourselves. I don’t mind this but Ed definitely wants to be around other people. The food was good as usual; I had vegetable paella which was especially tasty.
Before the next event in the Lounge, I struck up a conversation with a lady while we were waiting for sodas at the bar. She asked about the dynamics in the groups. It seems her group has at least one “problem” member and at least one other whose sense of others is very lacking. Our group is getting better at least.
SEND IN THE ELEPHANTS: The opera impresario regaled us with stories about Verdi and Aida; we are after all, soon to be in the Suez Canal and Aida was composed for the opening of the Cairo Opera House which was built to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. He’s funny, irreverent, and yet sets up the clips so that you enjoy them no matter what you think of the opera.
BOOK CLUB: I promised Amber I’d drop in for a few minutes at least; this club meets from 2-4 and we always have great speakers at this time. There were 20 or more folks in attendance; many had run up from the opera lecture and would be leaving early to get to the next lecture. The observations and remarks were all interesting except for one man who sees the world in black and whites. The filter he used for his analysis was the “rotten parents” prism; he has taken in foster children and obviously still nurses scars from his own childhood. No amount of very polite remarks could get through to him. He KNOWS he’s right. This was a great opportunity for many of us quietly leave and return for the next lecture.
The next book is The Grapes of Wrath. I think I’ve read it in years past, so I’ll finish Rashi’s daughters: Miriam and I think I’ll give it to a Jewish lady on board who would enjoy it. She had never heard of Maggie Anton and this series until we discussed it. She lives in Thousand Oaks coincidentally. This way I will have a slight bit less weight going back.
PORT TALK: SUEZ CANAL: This was again given by the young fellow I mentioned yesterday. He is a very talented presenter; again he used google earth and he must have found a way to store the files on his hard drive because the download time on this ship is too slow for him to do what he does in these lectures. He was very skilled in avoiding the land mines in the discussion of the politics around the building of the Canal and the subsequent politics of it. We left early to get to Trivia whose location was changed for this afternoon since there was a bridge building contest in the usual location.
TRIVIA: One of the men didn’t show up, so we were only 5. Still we came in…I know I don’t need to tell you again. Ed was the scribe this time. There was at least one question where we didn’t have a clue as to the correct answer but on some others the correct answer had been suggested and rejected. Oh well. But for that little hitch, we would have won the….can covers.
Sid was as good as his word (well, we did tease him into it): he brought a chilled bottle of champagne and had made arrangements with one of the wait staff to bring chilled champagne glasses so we could all enjoy a glass. Well it turned out to be at least one and a half to two glasses per person. It was fun just to visit and laugh about nonconsequential things. After Sid and Elizabeth left, we visited with Mary for a while. While discussing the drill this morning, we mentioned that we knew one couple who were plotting to avoid it; apparently this is their modus operandi. We had heard from someone earlier today that on one ship this happened, and there was a knock on their door and it was the Captain bringing them to the exercise. Today the Captain sent someone out to the pool area to round up the lounge lizards up there to show up for the drill. Right on I say. These folks would be the ones holding up the rest of us who know what we’re supposed to do.
By the way, I mentioned the crockadile walk but I didn’t tell you what it is. On the back of your life jacket is a loop; the person behind you is to hold onto this loop and follow you out. Likewise the person behind them. Every 13th person, a staff member is inserted into the line with a numbered paddle for you to follow. Pretty neat actually except when there’s a great disparity in height between two people.
ANOTHER HOUR! Hallelujah! And we’ll surely use it because our tour leaves at 6:40 am. Yeech. The buffet opens at 5 am we were told. 300 people are leaving the ship between 6 and 7 in the morning. 53 of that number are us folks on the overland trip.
DINNER: Dave and Twyla ate in the buffet this evening as they had an invitation to an event at 6:30 pm. So it was Ed, Lea, Bill and I. Most of the discussion was about the appalling conditions in India and plans for the overland. They are going privately but apparently their tour is exactly like ours. I don’t know if they will be joined by others but I do know their arrangements were made by another fellow.
PACKING: Yuk! To avoid unpleasant beginnings to journeys, I simply put out my clothing and let Ed pack however he wants. He suggested two check on bags in addition to our backpacks. I firmly but quietly said (Hell) no. It’s only 4 days and 3 nights for gods sake. You’d think we were provisioning for the outback of Australia…..alone.

APRIL 7, 2008 – TO PIREAS (ATHENS) GREECE

I will write about our marvelous overland experience as I have time. We are entering a period where we are off the ship for several days at a time so I may be tardy in finishing a day’s blog. I have several photos from our Egyptian overland which I hope I remember to post.
As soon as we left Port Said last night, the boatbegan rocking like we haven’t experienced since the Pacific. Lots of folks are looking a little peaked and it means you have to hang onto something when you’re in motion. The sea outside doesn’t look that menacing but I walked the open upper deck this morning, and the wind was so fierce I thought I might be blown down before I reached the sanctuary of the other side. Needless to say, none of the tanning lounge lizards were out. Oh and some folks are complaining that it’s too cold; it’s in the upper 60s and I’m delighted!
LAUNDRY: I knew I’d have to confront this when we returned from the overland but that doesn’t make it any more palatable. I set the alarm for 6:30 am and groaned when it rang. We will be sleep deprived for a long while now; you’ll see why when you get the blog from the overland. Finally, I got my act together and got to the laundry room about 7:30 am (thank goodness I had sorted out the laundry last evening!). I managed to get a washer after a little while; by then Ed had brought up the rest of the laundry and other washers were opening up. So I had l 3 washers going about 10-15 min. apart. And then managed to get two dryers. So I put the heavy clothes together in one, and two loads of permanent press heat in another. This latter one had to be separated later so that a 3rd dryer was called into action and Ed took out his almost dry shirts to iron.
So finally, it was all done. Ed and I had taken our showers last night so it didn’t take that long to get ready. Ed had breakfast while I monitored the laundry room progress. Later, he came down and we were both busy folding, ironing, or lugging the stuff back to our room. I had done some hand laundry last night from the overland: my compression sleeves and bras, cold wash black T-shirts; these are still hung all over the room to dry after a night in the shower in the room.
US DIPLOMACY: WHAT DO AMBASSADORS DO ANYWAY? I spoke with Fritts before his talk. While we were away, he did a talk on US immigration policy and I was very sorry I missed it. I have not seen it listed as being shown on the TV in our room. (And speaking of TV, we STILL cannot get the BBC News.) He listed many of the functions of the embassies and consulates and their personnel. There are actually very few people in our foreign service; I don’t recall the numbers but it’s shocking small and this is even after Colin Powell managed to get the force increased almost 2 fold. One bit of trivia: All of these places have caskets for those times when US citizen die abroad. And he discussed the ethical dilemmas they encounter which was fascinating.
TRIVIA: Elizabeth wasn’t here so Jason replaced her. I had to leave early (next entry) so I didn’t see the result though when I got back to the room and didn’t see any prizes I knew r wwe hadn’t won. The questions were fair but not easy. I don’t know our ranking among the groups.
FACIAL WORKSHOP: This was actually a good thing after all the dry air and sand we’ve been breathing and ingesting the past few days, coupled with our sleep deprivation. We all sat in chairs and the “teacher” gave us globs of creams and such and directed us in doing our own facials, all the while telling us of the “amazing” results we’d see with these products. Even with that, I didn’t consider it a hard sell. It was fun to do it with other women and we left with one of the products: a full sized container mind you. All of this for only $33. There’s one for men this evening too as I recall. And they will schedule another one before we end the cruise. Since I didn’t feel any pressure to purchase, I may do it again.
AN INTERVIEW WITH SCIENTIST/ASTRONAUT RUSTY SCHWEICKART: He was gracious and stayed for about 10 minutes, but he’s been suffering with sea sickness and had to leave as he wasn’t feeling well. JJ pulled a fellow passenger from the audience who had worked on the Hubble Telescope and other interesting projects and this old fellow was gracious and equally as interesting.
PORT TALK: PIREUS AND ATHENS: We apparently now have a permanent port speaker until the end of the cruise. He’s a young fellow from New Jersey but seems to be sufficiently informed to provide the information we want along with photos that illustrate what we’ll see and such. We had to leave a little early for
TRIVIA: We were in the same room but they made us move to another area in that room. It meant that our group got separated. Ed, Bill, Mary and I were working together; poor Sid was alone in our regular area (the same one we were shooed away from!) and I don’t know what happened to Elizabeth. We worked well togther though we didn’t win and I can’t tell you if we came in #2. This trivia was done by a fellow passenger whom I like very much. But you know how I feel about fellow passengers doing this: always a bad idea and today was no different. The staff person who was scheduled to do it was present; it’s the same one some of the groups complained about and sent a contingent to give their “rules”. I don’t blame that person for agreeing to have another passenger do it under the circumstances.
PHOTO CONTEST: Tonite is the deadline. It’s so hard to choose and so eventually, I just picked two from the overland and turned them in. We are # 46 and 47, so that’ll tell you how many entries there are. Since we on the overland had a chance to see the pyramids before the hamseem (that’ll be in the blog; in So. Cal. It’s known as the “Santa Ana” winds) obliterated everything, perhaps there’ll be some who are interested. And these are photos we will enjoy living with.
DINNER TONITE: We are both sleepy and tired but we agreed to have supper with the ship’s doctor and his wife. Mentally I’m looking forward to this experience. I’ll write about it in the next scheduled blog entry. In the meantime, I want to get this uploaded so you’ll know our ship escaped the pirates in the Red Sea. Ha.

APRIL 3, 2008 – SAFAGA

I think we are now very sensitive to the ship’s movements. I woke about 4:10 and the ship was not moving. About 4:40 am (Ed was awake too) I looked outside and you could see a line of lights along the shore on the starboard side. I believe this is the East Bank of the Red Sea; not surprisingly, Ed thinks it’s the harbor lights as we go into the harbor.
Ed had a chance to call Mike and share information that is difficult to convey in emails. We will not always have a phone signal on this trip but we have packed our charger for the Treos just in case. I think folks are used to not having us around by now. No emails, no messages. Boo Hoo.
I took my shower and did my hair; it’s hard to maintain my hair on tours so this will probably be the last time I try to make it look decent. If I’m lucky, the wind will be blowing every time a camera is around. Ha. Otherwise, it will risk mechanical malfunction.
It is so much nicer when we have enough time before our tour leaves to take our time and be at the meeting place on time. Usually you’re better off to get there a little early so you don’t wind up bringing up the rear.

APRIL 2, 2008 – SAFAGA TOMORROW AND OVERLAND

It was hard to get out of bed this morning; the book club meets today to discuss the book Into the Wild, which was made into a movie as well. So I stayed up til midnight finishing it. I don’t know if I’d want to see the movie. I guess I’d want to hear others talk about it before I could decide. This is a true story and so sad and unnecessary is that young man’s death.
So Ed went to breakfast and I finished my morning “getting ready” tasks. Then I went to see what was on sale in the atrium today and to the library to see if Amber was there so I could return the book; she is busy preparing for the exercise this morning. I walked outside on the running track and the ocean was so gorgeous, a deep blue, and the wind was so brisk. The sun is shining with clear skies. So I went to the Cabaret Lounge and hope Ed figures out that I’m already there for the
PASSENGER AND CREW EMERGENCY DRILLS: We were to assemble in our muster station with our life jackets for this drill. They have this well organized with various folks having their titles on their baseball caps of different colors, which themselves denote a job.
But they did something different today. 150 of us were to participate in a mock “abandon ship” exercise; Ed and I were among the last to be directed to join the “crockadile line” to the portside promenade deck for an abandon ship routine. We didn’t really step into the lifeboats because we are going too fast and the sea is higher than is safe. The astronaut Rusty Schweikert was right behind Ed and I. I had my camera with us and started taking some photos; the staff in front of us took the camera and snapped our photo. Then others asked me to take theirs, and eventually Chuck and Marianna asked to have their photo with Schweikert. So I downloaded those photos and put them on a flash drive to give to folks so they could have their own copies. I’ll try to upload the silly photo of Ed and I in our lifejackets.
TRIVIA: The group dynamics are getting better though there are kinks now and then. I came up with Kuwait as the answer to: what country has borders with Saudi Arabia and Iraq. I stuck to my guns on this one. Another one I should have hung in there for was the site of the first hominids astra something or other. It sounded like Australian and so some in our group hung in there for Australia. It was wrong of course; it’s Africa. Anyway, there were others like this; we all have those experiences now and then.
Well, you won’t believe it: we tied with 3 other groups. So their was a tie breaker: According to a survey, how many times a day does the average American open the refrigerator door? Several of us said 20; Ed had 21 and on the theory that perhaps the number closest to the correct one would win, we opted for 21. The guesses from all the groups were: 21, 22, 40, and 80. the staff member is from Argentina and she remarked that the 40 and 80 guesses reflected Americans eating habits. The correct answer was 22! So, can you believe it, again we’re # 2. It was Father’s group who won: officially called the “nice people”, but as he tells us, among themselves, they are the “geniuses.” The prizes were water bottles. Well you know we’ve all determined that they leak. Father offered me one and I tried to gracefully decline without discouraging future offers. This set off a funny discussion among us. I told the staff member that our group should at least get a consolation prize for coming so close. She said she’d give me a hug and I told her that was even better. These kids are so much fun.
LUNCH: I went to lunch with Ed. The waiter misunderstood him and put us at a table by ourselves. I don’t mind this but Ed definitely wants to be around other people. The food was good as usual; I had vegetable paella which was especially tasty.
Before the next event in the Lounge, I struck up a conversation with a lady while we were waiting for sodas at the bar. She asked about the dynamics in the groups. It seems her group has at least one “problem” member and at least one other whose sense of others is very lacking. Our group is getting better at least.
SEND IN THE ELEPHANTS: The opera impresario regaled us with stories about Verdi and Aida; we are after all, soon to be in the Suez Canal and Aida was composed for the opening of the Cairo Opera House which was built to celebrate the opening of the Suez Canal. He’s funny, irreverent, and yet sets up the clips so that you enjoy them no matter what you think of the opera.
BOOK CLUB: I promised Amber I’d drop in for a few minutes at least; this club meets from 2-4 and we always have great speakers at this time. There were 20 or more folks in attendance; many had run up from the opera lecture and would be leaving early to get to the next lecture. The observations and remarks were all interesting except for one man who sees the world in black and whites. The filter he used for his analysis was the “rotten parents” prism; he has taken in foster children and obviously still nurses scars from his own childhood. No amount of very polite remarks could get through to him. He KNOWS he’s right. This was a great opportunity for many of us quietly leave and return for the next lecture.
The next book is The Grapes of Wrath. I think I’ve read it in years past, so I’ll finish Rashi’s daughters: Miriam and I think I’ll give it to a Jewish lady on board who would enjoy it. She had never heard of Maggie Anton and this series until we discussed it. She lives in Thousand Oaks coincidentally. This way I will have a slight bit less weight going back.
PORT TALK: SUEZ CANAL: This was again given by the young fellow I mentioned yesterday. He is a very talented presenter; again he used google earth and he must have found a way to store the files on his hard drive because the download time on this ship is too slow for him to do what he does in these lectures. He was very skilled in avoiding the land mines in the discussion of the politics around the building of the Canal and the subsequent politics of it. We left early to get to Trivia whose location was changed for this afternoon since there was a bridge building contest in the usual location.
TRIVIA: One of the men didn’t show up, so we were only 5. Still we came in…I know I don’t need to tell you again. Ed was the scribe this time. There was at least one question where we didn’t have a clue as to the correct answer but on some others the correct answer had been suggested and rejected. Oh well. But for that little hitch, we would have won the….can covers.
Sid was as good as his word (well, we did tease him into it): he brought a chilled bottle of champagne and had made arrangements with one of the wait staff to bring chilled champagne glasses so we could all enjoy a glass. Well it turned out to be at least one and a half to two glasses per person. It was fun just to visit and laugh about nonconsequential things. After Sid and Elizabeth left, we visited with Mary for a while. While discussing the drill this morning, we mentioned that we knew one couple who were plotting to avoid it; apparently this is their modus operandi. We had heard from someone earlier today that on one ship this happened, and there was a knock on their door and it was the Captain bringing them to the exercise. Today the Captain sent someone out to the pool area to round up the lounge lizards up there to show up for the drill. Right on I say. These folks would be the ones holding up the rest of us who know what we’re supposed to do.
By the way, I mentioned the crockadile walk but I didn’t tell you what it is. On the back of your life jacket is a loop; the person behind you is to hold onto this loop and follow you out. Likewise the person behind them. Every 13th person, a staff member is inserted into the line with a numbered paddle for you to follow. Pretty neat actually except when there’s a great disparity in height between two people.
ANOTHER HOUR! Hallelujah! And we’ll surely use it because our tour leaves at 6:40 am. Yeech. The buffet opens at 5 am we were told. 300 people are leaving the ship between 6 and 7 in the morning. 53 of that number are us folks on the overland trip.
DINNER: Dave and Twyla ate in the buffet this evening as they had an invitation to an event at 6:30 pm. So it was Ed, Lea, Bill and I. Most of the discussion was about the appalling conditions in India and plans for the overland. They are going privately but apparently their tour is exactly like ours. I don’t know if they will be joined by others but I do know their arrangements were made by another fellow.
PACKING: Yuk! To avoid unpleasant beginnings to journeys, I simply put out my clothing and let Ed pack however he wants. He suggested two check on bags in addition to our backpacks. I firmly but quietly said (Hell) no. It’s only 4 days and 3 nights for gods sake. You’d think we were provisioning for the outback of Australia…..alone.

APRIL 1, 2008 – HAPPY BIRTHDAY, DANIELLE! You’re growing up much too fast!

PASSPORTS: We had to pick up our passports for Egypt this morning. They start right on time and work quickly. I can’t imagine where any more stamps can be put in my passport but we’ll see how it goes.
PORT TALK: SAFAGA: This speaker Maged, is obviously Middle Eastern but it wouldn’t surpise me if I learned that he had studied in the US. This was probably the most professionally done port talk I’ve ever heard. He used Google Earth to zoom in on the various sites we would be visiting on the tours while giving all the pertinent information. Sprinkled here and there were old photos to give you background to better appreciate the history and where things are today.
TRIVIA: Would you believe it? #2 again. It’s really quite amazing and we pretty much laugh about it and now congratulate ourselves that we didn’t garner another can cover. And I didn’t know the Spanish word this time though I had been exposed to it at one time. The group dynamics are somewhat improved but some of the more powerful personalities are still a little disgruntled now and then.
One of the questions asked who the 3 Wise Men were. I immediately put down (don’t hold me to the spelling): Shadrach, Neeshack, and Abednigo so I could get them out of my mind; I knew they weren’t the right names. So I both Melchior right away, eventually someone came up with Baththasaur, but we could never dredge up Kaspar from our “little grey cells”. As a consequence, we got no credit for that answer. Father Austin told me a funny version of the 3 Wise Men but I couldn’t retain it long enough to get out the door. Our brains ache each time.b
LUNCH: Ed went to the dining room and I went to the Buffet and got rabbit food and fruits. I sat with Phyllis and Ralph again and we talked about dining table dynamics and other non-hurtful ship gossip.
PHOTO CONTEST: This time it’s architecture and we have until after we get back from the overland in Egypt. But there are already some fantastic photos. There’s one that I still can’t figure out how it represents the category; perhaps the person just thought it was a pretty photo.
While there, I ran into the Capt. and we talked about the blogs on the ship. One of them has a lot of photos and I discussed the difficulties of uploading photos with this slow baud rate. I’ll have to check out that sponsor when I get home to see what that site offers. On the other hand, one lady is interested in blogstream because folks can choose to be notified when there’s another entry on the blog.
There was another officer with the Captain; his mother plays trivia. He made a comment that he thought the trivia was easy. I shared this remark with his mother and she made an appropriate observation about the arrogance of youth (my phraseology, not hers: I’m paraphrasing.
COOKING AROUND THE WORLD: Commandatore was in good form today. He cooked a dish from a recipe submitted by a passenger. It looked very doable and she got a bottle of champagne in recognition and acknowledgement in his handout for today’s lesson. These demonstrations are very well attended.
TOUR OF THE GALLEY: It was offered again but we didn’t go as we had gone earlier in the cruise. When I get home, remind me and I’ll tell you a backstory to the first tour of the galley.
THE TERRORS OF SCURVY AND THE SPANISH TREASURE GALLEONS: This was a most interesting lecture about scurvy and other diseases common to sailors on long voyages in earlier times. Fresh water was also a problem and the Spanish hung clay pots from the sails and their path was between 30 degrees north latitude and about 35 degrees where they were sure to get lots of rain to replenish their supplies. The Captain who gives these lectures has done a fantastic job of pulling together data and writing it in an interesting manner, but it is so hard to keep awake. They turn down the house lights, there is one, usually rather dark, slide on the screen, and he reads in an almost quiet voice. He is a good reader and has a pleasant voice, but it is all very soporific.
TRIVIA: This was a tough one. We didn’t even come close to #2 never mind winning. Can covers again. We had to rush to dress for the penguin display (formal night).
CAPTAIN’S COCKTAIL PARTY: This was a way to recognition frequent sailors. Then they drew the names of 3 folks from a bucket to give them a bottle of champagne. One of the winners was Sid from our trivia group. So I told him he had to bring it to trivia tomorrow, we’d sip and if we won, he’d have to bring a bottle for each trivia episode. It turns out this was the 2nd bottle of champagne he’d won today. The other one was for golf. (don’t ask, I don’t know because there isn’t a patch of green anywhere here.
FORMAL NIGHT: DINNER: All of us were present. We had a lot of fun. We talked about how folks from other tables are bored to tears with the conversation at their tables and are approaching various ones of us to see if they can get to sit at our table. There has been a lot of shuffling of table companions on this cruise and as you know from these blogs, ours isn’t always free flying.
ENTERTAINMENT: RHYTHMS OF THE CITY: Fantastic, high energy show again. These kids have more energy than I can imagine. They must each 10 K Calories each day but none of them is skinny. Nice to see well rounded bodies.
HE’S AT IT AGAIN: Ed and I changed to “more comfortable” clothes before going to the show and he picked seats on the front row. You know he doesn’t do this often as he doesn’t want to be picked out of the audience to do something in the show. At least that’s what he says but just between you and me, it’s hard to miss his Tiger shirt! Lauren picked him out of the audience to dance and he did a very nice jitter bug with her.
OUR OVERLAND: We got the directions today. I won’t include details of where we’ll be staying as you can contact the ship if necessary and they will know. We have to meet in the Casino Bar at 6:40 AM to leave. Our first destination is Luxor and we stay overnight in this area. We will see the sound and light show at Karnak that evening. The next day, Friday, we have another early call, we have to leave for the airport at 6:15 am. We fly to Aswan and we stay overnight in that area. Saturday, we have to leave for the airport at 7:30 am to go to Abu Simbel. In the afternoon, we again fly, this time to Cairo; we have a lunch box on the plane. We stay overnight in Cairo, go to the pyramids and Sphinx on Sunday and wind up back at the ship in Port Said about 7 pm. I’m looking forward to this trip.
PIRATES AND SUCH: Someone asked the Captain about pirates and he reassured them that we were out of pirate territory. Knew you’d want to know. Clearly we are traveling at a good clip and the seas are a little higher than we’ve had in a god while.
I’ll try to post a blog tomorrow before we go to bed but I won’t post again until sometime next Monday. Our schedule will begin to get more hectic now bcause the number of sea days is very few in the next few weeks; we have several days in a row where we’re in a different port everyday with early tour calls. Good news, bad news situation.

MARCH 31, 2008—CONTINUED

They were having a 50% off sale and among the items were the world cruise ladies tops; the designs are embroidered onto the fabric and Ed has been after me to get some each time they were displayed. I told him I didn’t want to pay what they were asking ($26 USD), and that I was sure they’d be on sale before the end of the cruise since they are unique to a world cruise. So today I relented.
TRIVIA: We sat in a different place this morning because the Pacific Lounge is full of the art and paintings for the auction later today. It is a cooler spot and with a little more space between our group and the next closest group. I can’t even tell what our score was because one of the groups, as it turns out the one we graded, got a perfect score. They got luggage tags. Just for future reference: Kiki Dee is the singer who sang a song (whose name I’ve now lost) with Elton John years ago, and Clarence Birdseye was the first person to freeze things in plastic bags (I had written Birds Eye Green Giant since I knew that this company had done that with peas, but I never knew that Birdseye was the name of the owner/inventor).
The group dynamics were a little less intense this morning; we have one of the men who is doing the scribe task now and he “suggested” some procedures we should use to get our answers. Hallelujah! We are doing better and I’ve noticed we do much better if the women are at one end and the men at the other; might not mean anything, but you never know. We’ll check it out again this afternoon.
LUNCH: Mary was at Sabatino’s last night as well and like Ed, she said she ate too much, that there was too much food. I didn’t stuff myself but I think the panna cotta put me well over my calorie intake for a long while, so I decided to eat fruits until supper. Ed went down by himself. He feels he does better with his diet in the dining room; I do better with mine at the Panorama Buffet. And Mary has another commitment tonite that takes her back there. Her job will be to report the changes in the menu if any.
TERRORISM REVISITED – HAVE WE BEEN HERE BEFORE? Ambassador Fritts talked about the Barbary pirates and the history of the US’s capitulation to terrorists by paying ransoms etc. during history. He focused on how many years it took for these situations to resolve and how many presidential terms were involved before a resolution, often via military intervention. The pattern, assuming one believcs this is a pattern, is for the time lines to increase and the number of Presidents involved to increase. It does give you much to talk about but no real answers. I’ll be fascinated to see what others “heard” of this presentation.
CALLAS: LIFE AND LEGEND: I learned so much from this even though I had to leave before the finish to get to trivia. For example, she was Greek, she had lived in the US a good part of her life, she died at 53. I do recall when she died but not why she died, and of course her relationship with Aristotle Onassis made her front page news. She did have a wonderful voice but apparently even that fact is argued. Since I claim no real knowledge of opera, it’s Ok for me to simply enjoy listening to her artistry.
TRIVIA: Ok, again, we were #2! Our dynamics were slightly better this time but I had to stand my ground with someone near me that Costa Rica is not the southern most country in Central America. And the final question was a Spanish question (the staffer from Argentina always ends with a Spanish question): what is the Spanish word for Moustache? I didn’t have a clue and when she gave the answer, I had never heard it. But we have an agreement that we never leave an answer blank so I gave them carapelo. It didn’t have a chance but it was an interesting thinking process. Ed tells me that bags were the prizes today. Darn it: I still want one of their bags; they are reversible black to blue and while we have lots of tote bags, we don’t have this one.
And speaking of tote bag, water was spilled into the bag I carry all my stuff in so I had to take out the scrap paper, camera, crossword puzzle book, and more and they are now laying out to dry.
I saw Hank and Erna in the hallway and got them to promise to come for dessert at least this evening.
DINNER: Hank and Erna did come but only for dessert. The rest of us were there too. We talked about relatively innocuous topics: plants (Hank is a botanist), recipes for various things, Arkansas trivia (Dave and Twyla are from Ark. And Lea was born in Little Rock and she still has relatives there.
Other folks who are bored with their dinner conversation have commented that we look like we have fun at our table and they may simply move sometime when there are empty seats. Of course, Rod has to watch out for flying arms and hands when we’re all at the table because we all talk passionately and always with our arms and hands. Food would go flying all over if he didn’t take defensive action as he puts our plates before us.
MORE ON OPERA: I asked Phyllis today what her career was since we hadn’t really gotten into it last night. I turns out that she sang with the opera in New Orleans and she did a performance with Placido Domingo when he came there, his first performance in the US. He doesn’t list it on his resume however. Chemo for cancer and not using her voice for a long while, has resulted in the loss of her lovely singing voice, but she still gives private lessons to a few students.
TONITE’S ENTERTAINMENT: Annette Yeo: musical star, direct from London’s West End. She did a selection of classical and Broadway musical type pieces. I liked her classical voice better than the others as she was screaming the Broadway pieces.