I had awakened at one point early last night and we were still at dock in Barcelona, and the next time I looked out we were at sea, but I never heard a sound when we sailed. I opened my eyes around 7am (after about 10 hours of sleep!) and it was still pitch dark outside, so I fell back sleep. I love being on the western edge of a time zone! I finally saw some pinky dawn about 7:45am and got up and quietly showered and went to the Panorama Buffet, just in time for the official sunrise at 8:10am. I had coffee and went to grab a piece of six grain toast for peanut butter, when what did I see? Stollen!! Yep, it's stollen time again. I have happily spent weeks on the ship without so much as touching a breakfast pastry but I am a sucker for stollen and added a slice of it to my plate. Marlene and Paul joined me and we all sat contentedly chatting and relishing the fact that we had no where to go and nothing to do (except play bridge. Marlene plays bridge) and watching the east coast of Spain in the distance.
I walked by the pool and hot tubs on my way back to the cabin and spotted my husband already soaking in one. He followed me back to the cabin where he showered and I then followed him back to the Panorama Buffet while he ate. Just so I could say I accomplished something today, I then joined many fellow passengers walking on Deck 10. The day was sunny and calm and around 60 degrees, a perfect day at sea!
At noon, we went to lunch in the Club Restaurant. I had just a chicken Caesar salad and peach crumble for dessert (obviously, this was a day when I really, really wanted dessert with lunch), and by 12:30pm G and I were (are you ready for this?) sitting in loungers on the sunny side of the Promenade Deck, me listening to an audiobook (which actually had me napping in about 15 minutes). It was that nice today, just a smidge chilly in the shade but comfortable in the sun. G bounced up to attend the 1pm lecture on the history of food (which put him to sleep), but woke me up when he returned to the lounger next to me. By 3pm I needed another Sudafed (I'm still grappling with the remnants of this URI) and we both returned to our cabin where we read Tom's Port Guides for Gibraltar and semi-planned our day tomorrow.
Captain D, in his noon navigational update, gave us a lesson in winter storms in the North Atlantic, implying that we could expect a storm to roll off the US eastern seaboard about every three to four days. He started dropping hints, in that way that he does so well, that Ponta Delgada in the Azores might be a miss but said he'd know more tomorrow. At any rate, our scheduled visit to Ponta Delgada is only six hours (I think), so we aren't going to put a lot of effort into planning our day there...yet.
A day at sea with no commitments means the PES Lounge and dinner take on new importance. I mean, the only way to end the decadence of doing nothing all day is to work hard at eating and drinking. ;-) We were in the Pacific Lounge at 5pm for shrimp fountain night (always well attended) and for dinner I had a salad and salmon...plus two scoops of pineapple sorbet (because there's always room for sorbet). I am listening to music in the Pacific Lounge as I type this, and will publish it before the 8:15pm performance by mentalist Sean Alexander followed by Ye Olde Pub Night with the production show cast and the cruise staff. If we have any energy left after all that, we'll spend some time listening to piano entertainer Jere Ring. I saw him in the Panorama Buffet earlier today and teased him about deserving the night off he had last night. "After all, you've worked 16 hours in four days!" Having Jere on board is like having a sibling to tease, and he gives as good as he gets.
It's nice to be home. :-)
