Barcelona et dux

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We went up to the Lido and I had a big bowl of Swiss muesli and a pecan pastry and a croissant. I looked for those hot chocolate dipped pastries I enjoyed that first morning; but, they’d evidently been replaced this morning by the pecan pastry. Sharon was having potatoes and white toast; although, she only picked through the mixed potatoes of regular, sweet and blue potatoes roasted in pieces. I began sampling some of Sharon’s discards, and the blue ones were quite good (by taste, you couldn’t tell them from the regular potatoes, a point I made but was somehow lost on Sharon). Then she pulled the “John, If you loved me you’d go get me a chocolate croissant.” I made the mistake of telling her that I’d seen them when looking for the chocolate dipped pastry. I brought one back for her, and she exclaimed, “It’s hot!” I wasn’t sure at first if that was a bad thing.



We needed to be in the Showroom just after 8 AM to depart with our tour group. Ours was the first group called headed up to Montserrat to see the monastery and the “Black Madonna”. It is just a four hour tour, and we’d heard horror stories of people who had gone there only to find a two-hour line to file in and see the Black Madonna. One couple on our tour had been here before, and their bus had gotten stuck in traffic and their group was late getting back to the ship (and they never did arrive at the Monastery)! At least the ship waited for them. We arrived early without incident. We were among the first to walk the final steps from the bus parking spaces near the top. Already cars were parking much lower and we passed many people walking towards the monastery. We took time for a WC break and I spent the time taking some pictures from a great vantage point of the eerily shrouded in mist with the sun rising through the clouds giving some other-worldly pictures. Our guide rounded us up and we headed towards the entrance of the monastery and cathedral. Through a couple of arches we found ourselves to a courtyard where our guide confronted us with a question of budgeting our limited time. This is Saturday and mass starts at 10:30 AM (about forty-five minutes from now). People aren’t permitted to enter the cathedral once services starts. The entry to see the Black Madonna up close, and to touch her hand is a separate door to the right that winds up fifty steps in a passage separate from the main cathedral; although, there are several points where you can see in and see the cathedral from above. She estimated that it would take about twenty minutes to get to see the Black Madonna up close. The alternate is to just go into the cathedral where it can be seen from below. She said that the rules say, no photography; but, that everybody takes pictures anyway. The rules aren’t enforced. Our guide said she doesn’t feel right about enforcing the published policy, when everyone around them would be taking pictures, and so she suggested, just keep the line moving and take the pictures that you want. She advised, don’t miss taking one of the cathedral from the overlook in the nook the Black Madonna is house behind a glass shield (except for the hold through which the Black Madonna is holding the world in her hand). There is a good view of the Black Madonna going up the last few steps from the side. There is only room for a couple people at the top level; then, you wind down the opposite side. Back on the ground you wind down a separate passage lined with a long row of burning candles along the wall. Candles are offered for sale for 2 Euros. I met up with Sharon back in the courtyard where she had come after going into the Cathedral. She had decided not to do the 50 steps up, and upon my return I think she instantly regretted it. The line still wasn’t bad and I said she still had time to go if she wanted to, it should just take fifteen minutes and we still had over one hour before we needed to meet the bus. She said no; but, suggested I go into the cathedral and take some pictures. She had used my phone, but wasn’t sure they’d be good enough. We still had twenty minutes before they closed the doors. We went in and took some pictures. It was a very high ceiling; but, the interior was nowhere near as impressive as some of the churches we’d recently visited in Rome and the Vatican. When we came back out of the cathedral we noticed that the line waiting for the Black Madonna had mushroomed and now was beginning to fill up and back the Disney-like attraction lines. The wait now was probably thirty minutes. As we headed back to the meeting place throngs of people were descending on the monastery and I was certain that it would stretch to two-hours before 11 AM. It was every bit of getting an early start to see the Black Madonna, and I know that it irks Sharon that I got a chance to make a prayer before touching her hand; and, she did not.



We stopped in a store and souvenir shop to look for a rosary; but, wound up buy a couple of bars of chocolate. We next went to a café and Sharon got a chocolate filled croissant and I got a Bavarian cream filled croissant. Mine was nowhere near as good as the pastry we’d gotten during our St. Tropez visit and Sharon said her chocolate croissant was quite good, better than the ones on the DAM ships, but not as good as the one we’d had in the Barcelona airport last week.



On the way back we noticed that our bus advertised Wi-Fi, and we got the password. We were able to connect, eventually; but, never were really able to do anything except logon or logoff. When we got back we went up to the Dive-In. I went to the cabin first to drop off the camera and chocolate. Sharon takes her burger back to the room. I order a Regular Coke from one of the women bar stewards using my soda card. I was snacking on some tortilla chips and salsa and guacamole as I waited for my drink and burger. About five minutes later my burger is ready and there are no drink personnel to be seen. I finish my tortilla chips waiting for my drink, and add the leftover guacamole and salsa to my burger. Still no Coke. I start eating my fries with Dive-In sauce. Still no Coke. I start eating my burger slowly. Still no Coke, no beverage people… I finally finish my burger, and then my fries. I go over to the bar and ask a beverage person who is standing there chatting with the bartender for my card back. I told her that I’ve been waiting for my drink for over twenty minutes, and now I just want my card back and want to go. It took her another few minutes to find out who had my card. I male beverage steward had my card, it had been charged with a Diet Coke. I told him that I didn’t order a Diet Coke, and I no longer need any soda, I just wanted my card back. He promised to reverse the charge. Later that night when I ordered Sharon a Sprite I noticed that the charges hadn’t been reversed. This DAM ship is feeling less and less like home; but, I guess it’s my home for the next two weeks. Sigh! The burger and fries were great, and would have been even better with something to drink. (Note after writing this part we went to breakfast and I ordered a coke (yes me John not Sharon) and the charge for the previous day’s coke had been reversed)



We went up to the Crow’s Nest and found Jim and Lucia already near our previous seats during the previous two days. Someone else had squatted in “our spot”. Oh well, maybe we will have better luck in a new place. It was just the four of us today. I was a bit bemused as our team was trying to deal with, what is the common name for dihydrogen monoxide? Perhaps it’s easier if you right it down H2-O. Sharon remembered what animal is the logo of the World Wide Wildlife Fund (a Panda). We were stumped by “What Island does Gozo Island belong to?” I guessed Japan. Not too close to Malta. And lots of people seemed to know this! I knew “Which of King Henry VIII’s wives was the mother of Queen Mary I (Bloody Mary)?” It’s Catherine of Aragon. And Sharon knew what ‘holiday’ of the Catholic Church that Halloween falls on the eve of… evidently Mike meant to say Holy Day. It is All Saints Day. Then they hit us with what is the commercial capital of Sri Lanka. Now if they’d asked me what the capital city of Sri Lanka was, well, I’m sure that I could have rolled Sri Jayewardenepura Kotte right off the tip of my tongue, so I guess that’s why he didn’t ask that. The answer he was looking for was Colombo, which a lot of other people seemed to know! Then came the movie question: “What were the first names of the two main characters in Titanic, you know, the ones played by Leonardo di Caprio and Kate Winslet?” Sharon came up with Jack but wasn’t sure on the woman so we went with Mary. We didn’t get half credit with Mike as we would have with Dave for not having Rose. I finally was able to get an Olympic question right, after doing so badly with them: “What country hosted the first Winter Games in the Olympics?” That’s the easy question! I now know that it was in 1924 after missing that question with Dave on the previous cruise! And after doing some fact checking then, I still remembered that it was in Chamonix (the city would have been the tough question) in France. I was the only one in the room that got that one right! Jim suggested “Paris” for the King of Troy during the Trojan War, but I knew he was the prince. We went with that answer anyway, and the real answer also started with a “P”: It was Priam. The three point bonus question was who co-wrote “We are the World” with Michael Jackson. We couldn’t come up with Lionel Ritchie (as most teams did). We wound up mired in the middle, well behind the four leaders who had a playoff question: How many feet of fabric are in a bolt of cloth? Sharon thought she knew the answer: 40. Well, she would have known the answer if Mike had asked in yards!



We went to Vigil Mass afterwards, getting there early because Sharon said that it would be crowded. Well, we pretty much had our choice of seats and sat near the front. The woman Sharon told me about, and whom we’d had dinner with the second night, handed out the song sheets. Evidently her room was adjacent to the trash compactor and it kept her awake all night. She evidently had what Sharon and I refer to as “meltdowns” the next morning and was ready to leave the ship. There was one empty cabin that they were able to move them too; although, here they were having trouble with the keys. Sharon’s only had two “meltdowns”… one was in the Istanbul airport flying back from the Holy Land, and she held her own sit-down protest in the middle of the main terminal building. She was upset our gate assignment wasn’t posted and there was nowhere to sit. As the lady handed Father Sebastian the multi-page music sheets, he sighed saying, “This is a 19-day cruise… We don’t need to sing these all today… do we?”



For dinner I ordered the Prosciutto and cantaloupe, something that surprised even me because I remembered having this on the Mediterranean where the American families who were living there (and who worked with my dad) had gone for Spring break to enjoy the Italian Riviera, and I didn’t like it then. But it was pretty good tonight, in a very reasonable modest serving. I asked Sharon to get the pear gazpacho with mint and jalapeño for me. She likes their cold pear soup the best, so I’m sure that she was a bit miffed that they polluted it with something spicy. I offered her a chance to try some, avoiding the spicy green stuff that had been added and were clumped in the center of the bowl; but, as always she gave me that patented answer whenever I ask her to try something new… she crossed her arms, looked down her nose smirking and said no. Erin will have to tell me if I’ve accurately described this Casey trait. My ‘second’ appetizer was the seared scallops, and when the server came to give them he was a little confused taking away the gazpacho bowl and asked if I’d had my prosciutto with melon yet. Then I had what will rank as my favorite “new dish” of the cruise (So there may be hope for the Zuiderdam yet). I can’t remember the fancy French name for the dish: It’s a vegetarian dish composed of three types of mushroom layered in a tasty and bit spicy sauce between layers of crisp potatoes. I’ll be looking for this dish again! Sharon had the pork chop and enjoyed her very thick piece of pork, which she meticulously cut into tiny chewable pieces. And on our fourth night of the cruise it is the second time that they’ve offered the banana crisp (Score another point for the Zuiderdam). I’m not sure Sharon’s as happy with their dinner time dessert selections which have been pretty much limited to Crème Brule. She was about to do that again tonight but wondered how dominate the orange flavor would be infused into the chocolate cake selection. I said she would probably not notice it… I guess I don’t know Sharon that well… just kidding. She got the cake and the orange was mostly in the whipped cream that was on the side, almost as a garnishment. Sharon did comment that she thought she tasted some of the flavoring in the cake. But I’m becoming convinced that Sharon eats with her eyes and doesn’t really ‘taste’ anything!





Tonight’s entertainment was a local dance troupe Zamba. Three woman and one man gave as lively fast stepping renditions of local Spanish and Catalan dancing, finishing with some impressive Flamenco dancing. The manner that they move and tap their feet creating their own pace, rhythm and music was not to be missed. It was standing room only in the Showroom for the entire one hour performance. Mike had introduced them, saying that from around the world, this was his favorite local dance troupe that has performed onboard while he has served as a cruise director in all seven continents. And the reason for this acclaim was apparent.

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