At our first sip and savor, we ran into Rod (whom we sat with at the first wine tasting) and his wife, Louise/ We sat with them and enjoyed talking about their lives and sharing about ours/ They are from Montreal and have 4 grown children, one of whom just got married and was in Las Vegas during the shooting last week – they took a very eerie photo just outside the music festival prior to its start/ incredible the vast reach of things like that – that we could be in the South Pacific talking with a couple from another country and hearing that their only son was there/ Agonizing / Jason got to share about the urban farm, which continues to be a fascinating topic for literally everyone we’ve met/
Later that night, the ship crossed over the equator and we woke up to official certificates proving we have made it to the southern hemisphere! I’ve been trying to recall whether anything like that happened when I went to Brazil either time, but I don’t think so/ We also finally ventured into another time zone and lost another hour/ Because our phones are in constant airplane mode, they aren’t adjusting to the time/ Highly entertaining around here trying to figure out what time it is, or what day it is/ The good news is, who cares?
Yesterday, we enjoyed a cooking class on various types of chili peppers/ The America’s Test Kitchen on board is really quite fun/ It is always packed, so we had to stand/ We also worked in 2 separate walks around the outside deck on 3/ 3 times around = 1 mile/ I tell you, the miles feel longer than they do at home Not sure why/ But anyway, we continue to ensure we’re not gaining weight with all this delicious food and wine! The stairs are helping, too/ We’re on deck 5 – bars are on 2 – dining room on 3 – gym on 9—buffet and pools on 9 / Makes for a lot of up and down/ Sore legs prove it’s helping!
We had a couples massage yesterday morning, too/ Oh, the bliss! My masseuse, Nora, is from Zimbabwe/ Beautiful, talented lady! Was very happy to be in her studio/
So, then after the cooking class, we had our first sommelier tasting/ JoJo was back to impart his incredible knowledge and share some fabulous wines from the belly of the ship/ We began with 2 sauvignon blancs—the first is widely considered to be the best in the world and is regularly named as such/ New Zealand’s Cloudy Bay Sauv Blanc/ I loved it/ Jason isn’t typically a SB fan but enjoyed it in the moment/
We also experienced something totally new! JoJo pointed out on our small bites pairing plate that we had a lemon wedge/ He said – you know how to drink tequila, right? (hilariously, all the “old” people immediately said oh yes!) And so we tasted the sauvignon blanc again after a quick suck on the lemon wedge/ UNBELIEVABLE! Completely changed the taste—almost turned a sauv blanc into a chard! Have to try it to believe it/ We then moved into a cab franc and 2 cab sauvs. We enjoyed them all but particularly the Caymus Cab Sauv from Napa/ Our food pairing bites were quite delicious, as well/ We had one yummy chocolate truffle, a little ball of goat cheese, filet mignon bites, a scallop/ All small – just a bite/ Perfect!
We were seated with a nice couple who turned out live in Keller, Texas – mere miles from us back home/ We enjoyed talking with them/ They had been cattle ranchers post retirement but just sold off their 150 acres to some Californian dude who wanted to have bison So, then they moved back to the metroplex to be near their kids/ Small world/
After that awesomeness, we realized we should probably take another walk so out to deck 3 we went to get another mile in/
Around 5:30, I was wanting to get out to watch the sunset, which happens on the starboard side – so we can’t see it from our balcony/ We got ready for dinner and headed to the Ocean bar for a glass of champagne/ The boat is really in need of a stop because we’re running out of wine;) Every thing we tried to order was gone! These old people are pounding the wine! Anyway, we skipped the sip and savor because of the wine tasting so we missed any normal build up to dinner and just enjoyed the sunset out on the deck/ The ocean bar band had the place packed again with lots of dancing going on when we went back inside/
Dinner was interesting in that Jason was ridiculously uncomfortable the entire time/ They seated us in what should have been a lovely little private corner nook, but it was unbearably hot! Even I was hot and I am never hot! Jason was sweating profusely/ In retrospect, we should have just asked to be reseated and waited for another table/ Unfortunately, for the first time ever, the service was also quite slow – which made it worse/ Poor Jason probably lost 5 pounds in sweat during the hour we were there/ Afterward, we had to go back to the cabin so he could change and cool off/ We decided to stay in and watch a movie!
I forgot to mention the other day we went into the casino and won some money! That is to say, we only lost $13! Fun to see the new Aristocrat slots on the ship (Australian gaming company I worked for prior to PayPal) They make it quite easy to begin losing your money – we used our room key as a player’s card and in seconds we were off
In addition, we get several smaller versions of newspapers each morning/ I've been reading the New York Times, something british and something Australian/ As of yesterday, I've now crossed over into the world that is people who do the crossword puzzle/ You know this is a different world and you are either in or you are out/ I'm in! And I suck! But, today is day 2 and Jason is pretty good at it so as a team, we might finally get through one by the end/ However, today's has several periodic table references, which is incredibly rude and uncalled for/ This morning I felt quite intercontinental as I dined on the European cold breakfast plate (boiled egg, pickled herring, roasted beet, ham, swiss) and read several different country's newspapers/ Like a boss!
Tomorrow we will get off the ship for the first time since boarding last Thursday, October 5/ We’ll be in American Somoa/ I’m looking forward to it very much, although I skipped the presentation on what the island is like so we’re just going to find out when we get there/ Hoping for a short visit to a lovely beach bar/restaurant with wifi to have more of a chance to check in and a pharmacy to buy some more just in case dramamine/ Haven’t had any other issues, but they don’t sell it on the boat so gotta stock up while we can// they sell this homeopathic liquid that you dab behind your ears and then smell of frankincense and myrr , which isn’t altogether bad and hey, maybe it works/ It’s either that or I got my sea legs/ Hard to know which/
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