We had another sea day, which we were thrilled about, and decided to go back to the brunch in the dining room because it was so delicious, but as we were reading the little newspaper for the ship before we went, we realized that there was going to be a cognac tasting at noon and that sounded different and interesting so we thought why not! we’ll go in there after we have breakfast. We went and hilariously, it ended up being just the two of us and this very lovely young man from Brazil named Yuri. We had texted Rich and Ginny to see if they wanted to come and before long Ginny came walking in so then it was the three of us . I asked Yuri where he was from in Brazil and he said São Paulo and I said I have been. He asked me if I liked it and I said I absolutely loved it and I bet that when I was there he wasn’t born yet so he said well when were you there? I said I was there in 1993 and 1994 and he said I was born in 94 and I said amazing — I was in São Paulo present for your birth in 1994 !!! and now here we are today tasting cognac together in the Mediterranean! What a life!
I’m trying to do some more laundry and this is quite the event as I said the other day. So all day on our sea day, I kept getting all of my laundry and walking all the way down the hall only to find all the washers full. So finally, I went down a floor and then another floor and then I went up a floor and then I went all the way up to 17 because those people up there get free laundry but even there the washing machine was full so I gave up came back to the room hand washed two sweaters, all of jason’s socks and all of our underwear and we got all of that hanging up in our shower. I will tell you I’m writing this three days later and my sweaters are still wet, which is a shame because today it is chilly and exceedingly windy and I do not have a sweater to wear.
That said, the morning before we went ashore in Kusadasi, I was able to get a washing machine. So we were able to catch up on all of the laundry, and when I put it in the dryer, I threw all the rest of our underwear and socks in there to finally get dry. Unfortunately, my sweaters can’t go in the dryer so they are still hanging up. Moments like this are frustrating, but it does make you appreciate how easy it is to simply clean your clothes when you’re at home. Also, I met a lady in the laundry room who was waiting for my washer who lives in Gilroy, California, which is just two hours up the road from us on the 101. Small world.
Anyway… We went back to Kusadasi, where in 2022 we last toured Ephesus and enjoyed all of the history and oddly saw 18 million cats, but this time we just wandered into town, looked around, ate some amazing seafood— definitely the best octopus I’ve ever had in my life, drank a great bottle of local white and enjoyed a lazy day in the port.
We had a five course wine pairing dinner that Rich and Ginny went to with us that night. The sommeliers were back in action though sometimes in those things even though they use a microphone, it’s hard to hear so I’m not entirely sure what all we drank, but I did like it. The food was mostly good, although there was a little bit of a strange first course. It was beautiful looking but a little bit odd. But, for my main course, I selected the fish and it was hands-down the best fish I’ve ever had in my entire life— truly unbelievable.
After that, we wandered around and went back to try to hear a little more live music. This is something we always like doing, but the ship is so crowded. It’s just a little bit unfortunate. We also were trying to find the lovely lady that had served us a drink earlier when we had run out of small bills and we weren’t able to tip her. Most people on the ship do not tip. They certainly don’t tip for every drink or service. But we try to even if it’s just a dollar or so we know it really makes a difference to the workers and the huge big smiles they get are rewarding for us, too. A couple cruises ago during the Covid times when the crew was constantly scrubbing and sanitizing every surface, Jason started tipping those workers who were definitely not used to getting a tip and holy cow!! Their whole face would light up when he would walk up and say thanks for the hard work you’re doing and give them a tip. So we’re still doing that. We saw a guy on his hands and his knees with a toothbrush, scrubbing the baseboards, and Jason gave him a tip. And then we saw a lady down on her hands and knees, scrubbing the floors, same thing. We’re thankful that we’re able to do so and we’re having a nicer vacation because of the work that they do.
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