Catchup post: 5 Days at Sea

The days are running together a bit. I really have no idea what day it is, only that our trip is drawing to a close as we make our way across the Atlantic. The air is getting warmer and the seas are getting calmer, thus the sleeping is better. The side to side roll is more lulling us to sleep now than keeping me up. It was also great during a hot stone massage, where I am quite sure I fell asleep at least once, until the masseuse got to my lower back and the pain brought me out of it. That was short lived, as she worked out the kinks and I once again relaxed. Rough life, huh?

We have availed ourselves of the time to utterly relax, read, play scrabble, and try not to eat too many cookies (Vitamin C- its good for you) or any other of the vast amounts of truly awful for you food on this ship. We are having varying degrees of success. The fries we have mostly resisted, but the deserts are just too good. Whoever is baking on this ship knows their stuff. Rough life, huh?

We have also availed ourselves of the Casino, actually recovered the cash that was stolen in Lisbon at the Three Card Poker table, lost it the next day at the Let It Ride table and are looking to bring it back up again tonight. The Casino is pretty relaxed, and we have managed to learn a few new games. I did play Craps the first few nights (up, down, up, half down) but for the most part the craps table has seemed to be very low energy, and we have been having more fun with cards. Rough life, huh?

Word that we were pick pocketed has gotten around the ship. We did tell the story that first night at dinner, but apparently some of those folks met up with some other folks who has met us, and they were talking about those honeymooners from Denver, and did you hear they were robbed in Lisbon? People we have barely met have asked if we are those honeymooners from Denver who were robbed, and isn’t it awful and they are so sorry that we had that happen. It is kind of funny and really rather sweet that we are being gossiped about, in addition to being sympathized with. It is like having a ship full of grandmothers clucking their tongues in sympathy, and grandfathers telling us next time to leave the passports on the ship, and to be careful in the metro. Yes Pop…

The scenery has been fairly repetitive, but the sea has offered some things worth seeing. The first full day, when the wind was high and seas was rough, you could see at least four distinct textures or scales of waves, from tiny ripples across the surface which made the whole thing seem pixilated, to large wave forms that were 100 feet across. In effect you had a dimple 100 feet across and 5 feet deep, with 2 foot high waves running through it, that were in turn dimpled with 6 inch deep pockets and tiny ripples running over that. I suppose that makes me a geek, but it was pretty cool. Also, I woke up early this morning, and saw that the sun was just starting to think about lighting up the sky to the east. I went outside on the deck (with robe, you never know who will be up) and found that I could still see a whole bunch of stars, Jupiter brighter than I have ever seen, as well as two meteors and a satellite, in polar orbit no less. Needless to say it was quite clear and very spectacular. There were clouds on the horizon, and they looked great as the sky continued to light up. At this point, I really wish that I had a camera.

About the only thing that hasn’t been particularly stellar has been the entertainment. Yesterday we tried going to the matinee of the previous night’s production show “Boogie Shoes,” a “contemporary” rock show about shoes. OK…but we will give it a shot. It was horrible, and this was the show they were touting as the big one. We left after the 5th number, because I didn’t think that they could possibly do any better than the gay cowboys on stripper poles. I think they were trying to be provocative, but it was really just silly. So we will stick to the movies under the stars, the casino, and the various comic acts that make their way in an out. Rough life, huh.