After our lovely day in Bergen, Norway we had the "gift" of a day at sea as we cruised back toward England. These are some of our favorite days when cruising - days to relax and just soak up the fun of being cared for and just 'hanging loose'. This last day was an especially busy one as there was much we wanted to do on the ship's schedule.
Following a leisurely breakfast, we attended a culinary demonstration by the Maitre d/hotel on our ship as well as the Corporate Executive Chef of Princess who just happened to be sailing with us on this trip. After demonstrating how to make several different dishes along with trading jokes and side notes, all of us in attendance were given a tour of the Ocean Princess galley. That is always a treat seeing where all that wonderful comes from and getting a peak at what is being prepared for our upcoming lunch.
Immediately following that the we participated in a "On Deck for the Cure" 5 K walk on the running track of the ship that we dedicated to my mother, aunt and grandmother all of whom had breast cancer and three friends who are fighting the good fight right now: Emma Jean Cook, Nancy Kerr, and Carolyn Jouret.
The walk had us out of doors in a misty fog and doing a mighty fast walk for us - especially fast because we were eager to be done and get to the last enrichment lecture of the trip which actually started as we were walking. The lecturer has presented a whole fascinating series on forensics. This particular one was about The Search for the Unknown Titanic Child and how through DNA testing just recently it has been established who the child is in the unknown child tomb in Halifax where many of the victims were buried. It was just amazing to learn what scientists now are able to discern from even a tiny fragment of bone (in this case about the size of a broken toothpick).
After our last lunch aboard the ship, I went to a book club meeting to discuss the book that had been selected for passengers on this trip to read and discuss. It was called The Painted Girls by Cathy Marie Buchanan. It was a fascinating historical fiction based around real characters who lived in Paris, France in a very poor area in the late 1800s.. One of them was selected by the painter Edgar Degas to be the model for several of his paintings and one famous statue - Little Dancer. She was only about 14 at the time and living off a very tiny stipend she received while attending Paris Opera, a ballet school. Her older sister had been in the school and on stage some and the younger one was just starting the school.
This was followed by a passenger talent show in the Cabaret Lounge. Usually we don't choose to attend these but I was especially intrigued to see what might be shared especially since we had such a diverse group of people on board representing 29 different countries. Among the participants was a teen ager from Russia who played a couple of pieces by Edvard Grieg whose homeland we had just visited (Bergen) and a fellow from China who sang Some Enchanted Evening beautifully and in almost perfectly pronounced English. Impressive!
Once that was over, Ken and I had to face the fact that all good things must come to an end which meant we had to get our suitcase packed as it had to be outside our stateroom door before our 6:00 dinner hour. So we tackled the job and chatted about all the wonderful memories we'd made on this trip.
Dinner ended with a parade of baked Alaskas carried by the waiters and led by all the chefs as we waved napkins and shouted our thanks for a great cruise. They no longer use real lit candles but battery ones but the affect is still wonderful with the lights turned low.
The entertainment after dinner was provided by an outstanding violinist Greg Scott who could produce some amazing varieties of music on the instrument. He was followed by a comedian we didn't much care for so we just went out on the deck to enjoy one last beautiful sunset before calling it a night as we had to up very early the following morning.
Sunday, July 20
We were up at 4:30 this morning. The ship had docked in Dover earlier in the morning so we were greeted with a view of the beautiful white cliffs of Dover once again. Then we were off for a quick breakfast as we had to report to disembark at 6:00 a.m.!!!!! Mighty early for sure!
Our bus took us to Heathrow Airport where we had to find things to do as our plane was not due till 12:30 and weren't due to fly out til a little after 1:00. People watching, chats with others from the ship also waiting, walking, and reading filled our time. The flight itself was due to get into Detroit at 4:30 p.m. which was 9:30 England time so it was getting mighty tired out by the time we arrived. There was the usual round up your luggage and long wait to get through customs before Beth could pick us up and take us back to her home where Dean had a meal ready which was really welcomed by us. It was fun to chat with them for a bit but the tireds took over and we were off to bed not long afterwards because we had to then get up early and head out for our home in Pennsylvania in the morning. By the time we were back there at 2:30 in the afternoon all we could think of was a good nap :-)
So all the travel came to an end but oh what wonderful memories we have of this fantastic cruise to areas just south of the Arctic Circle.
No comments:
Post a Comment