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Day 2 Friday, October 28, 2011- attire Formal
At Sea: Partly cloudy High 68 Low 55
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Sunrise 6:50 Sunset 6:20
Breakfast -Lox and Danish (pear) canned apricots prunes, and figs
Morning broke with a string of clouds headed East- We are headed South west. Ship hours lose another hour tonight.
At 6 am I was in the internet cafe to get the latest update from Natalie, the house overseer. Paul (doing the cat and mail thing) left the front door unlocked but Natalie closed it and locked it within 10 minutes of his leaving. Natalie was headed over to him to remind Paul about it after he arrived home from school.
I sent emails to our daughters this am. As frequent travelers on Princess, (Platinum level) we get 250 minutes of internet time free. I bought another 500 minutes for 67 dollars. This should be enough. Its a one time offer that has to be done the first day that you are on the ship.
I had cappuccino service in the Piazza (the center of the ship on the deck 5. It was nice to have the card so that I didn't have to sign a slip to be added at the end with all of the others documenting our purchases.
2 Retired H.S Secretaries
As I looked for an easy chair to pass some time 2 retired High School secretaries couldn't seem to leave the active life alone. "Just because I am retiring this year doesn't mean that I am going to sluff off my duties," One of them stated.
Then there surfaced Angst expressed over a summer typed "purchased order... "I wasn't the one that typed that purchase order... It wasn't hers."I would have known not to use maintenance funds.
New personnel was taking over their jobs. And a new principal.. only 28. How could he think he could do the job? The counselors are coming back to schedule summer school with no knowledge of what they did in the spring.
"I told them they had the best staff of any High School could have. So he didn't talk to me the first 3 weeks just before school started, I pointed it out." He said that he was sorry, what can I do to make it better, he said. Just ask me when you need help. I will do it she said. Then there was the keys. Many teachers had lost their keys.. and round up.
So much angst so hard to let it go.
Looking out to Sea
See you are in the middle of the sea
No land to see for days
Would you look out the window to see?
Or find pattern in the waves?
If a tree were to fall in the sea
would there be anyone there to see?
Looking for the slightest breeze
To cap the waves and lighten the sea
Push on ship of wonder ship of the sea
Pat's book in hand.
Everyday in Tuscany-Seasons of an Italian life by Frances Mays (author of Under the Tuscan Sun)
Much of it is a quest for viewing paintings by Signorelli. I believe that he was the painter that we saw in Orvieto..an Umbrian hill town in Italy.
Canadian Bakers
At lunch Sue was helped through the buffet line by a Princess employee. She held the tray and Sue pointed out what she wanted. At the end she found a partially occupied table nearby. The Princess employee asked the couple if we could join them. No problem.
He was a retired bakery owner in Winnepeg. His company made thousands of cakes each day to be shipped out to Canadian safeways among other places. He said that they imported the flour for the cakes from the US as well as the fat. He preferred the soya fat over the only one made in Canada, canola. I asked him what he thought of the cake boss on T.V. He said that he likes watching the techniques but felt there was way too much drama in it. He watches it with the volume off.
In the afternoon I sat in the start of a movie in the Princess Theater. I realized that it was the same as the one I had seen the night before up on the Stars outdoor big screen.
In the meantime the workman had fixed the Neptune pool, probably why the workmen were drilling something in our hall the first night. 100 or so passengers were waiting to watch the test screen that said, MLB.
It was the 7th game of the World Series between the Texas Rangers and the St. Louis Cardinals. Each group had it own cheering section as movies under the stars screen was bright enough to broadcast the game to the cheering audience in their swimming suits and buckets of beer. Nearby was the free hot dogs, hamburgers and pizza.. order up and enjoy. After the fourth inning the crowd slowly disappeared to get ready for the first fancy dress night on the ship for the 6 o'clock seating. A few passengers were enjoying the free soft serve ice cream (served until 11pm each night). Since our dinner was at 8 I was able to see the last of the game from St. Louis.
Dinner:
Sue: Grapefruit and Kiwi slices
Caesar salad
Pan flashed Shrimp
Chocolate Mousse
Pat: Slices of smoked Duck breast with salad greens
Yogurt Tamarind cold soup
New York Steak with veggies (asparagus and green beans)
Pear browned on Puff pastry
Even though we loved our table from yesterday with our Disney Imagineer Exec, Sue felt uncomfortable having everyone move as she passed by to get to our table especially on the way out. Sue always likes to leave a little earlier than most people at the table. We talked to the matre de, and in Italian fashion he tried not to take blame for the original seat. We of course absolved him of intent and he found us an outstanding table.
This table had thee people from Philly and one couple from Santa Monica. The Philly people were involved with the power grid and safety one of them retired form Eslon. The Santa Monica people took care of rich people's money the official title... Financial Advisor. They are a lively conversationalist interested in sports and personal experience. They were mostly sympathetic to a more liberal brand of politics.. good.
Tonight was "formal night". Just a few tuxes were out there. Men mostly wore sport jackets and ties. Women got out their sparkly dresses.
Earlier in the day, the red hat ladies posed for a photo . Two pro photographers were there as they "posed on the curved railings." These were all ladies were over 50 years old. They just met up when they got to the ship. When they were all set and standing sideways (there were about 40) one of them yelled out "Say Sex!"Huge giggles emanated from the assembled crowd.
Also on the Piazza was a "street performer" His last name was Rossi. He came in dressed like a chef with a tall white hat. Then he walked or jumped on one hand across the plaza on one hand (a moving one hand handstand) Then he did the same dribbling a basketball.
There was a demo and a sushi station at lunch. People descended on the sushi but they kept up with the demand. There were even a couple of big trays left over after lunch.
It was a pretty great day even if it didn't turn out exactly like we had planned.
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