The Mystery of the Vanishing Arugula in St Johns, Newfoundland

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We’ve fallen into a bit of a routine, not needing to set alarms, in part because we’re travelling west, occasionally getting an extra 30 or 60-minutes to live, as Linda reminds us during her Showtime emcee responsibilities; or, also because our tours are starting later in the morning (or even early afternoon as it did yesterday). Sharon had forgotten one of the “Cardinal Rules” of cruising, namely “Late to Port, Early to Mass!” It was already past the 8AM start time when she realized that she’d be missing out on one of Father Roman’s Blessings of the Day. In the Lido is was a sight to see this massive cruise ship snake through the narrow S-turn channel into the St. John bay and marina, and once clear of the channel markers to do a reverse rotation and backup into the pier for its docking position. What struck us was how close the cliffs seemed to our 8^th-Deck vantage poolside as we ate our breakfast. Once in the marina the hillsides were covered with brightly covered homes tiered up the steep hillside. The landscape about St. John’s was that of an upside-down bowl, with steep sides rising to a plateau with grand viewing vantages.

We met in the library, and today I had the pens in my pocket. We were stuck at a table with exceptionally poor lighting and eventually Sharon threw up her hands and complained, “This is impossible.” I struggled on; but, she was right. The annotations had just overcome what the small puzzle size could reasonably support, so we called it a draw.

We had a bus tour around St. John’s, hitting some of the highlights. The tour took a loop around the St. John’s area, visiting first Signal Hill on the far side of the bay, high on the promontory overlooking the entrance to the bay and with a clear view of the ocean this commanding fortress provided both protection for St. John’s, navigational reference for those transiting these waters, a channel reference for those seeking to reach St. John’s and a means of communicating with ships at sea. This was where Marconi’s first trans-Atlantic transmission was received, and appropriately, it’s called “Signal Hill”. There was a 20-minute stop for picture taking. We viewed the Atlantic Ocean on one side. In the distance was a lighthouse, and further still Cape Spear (the eastern most point on the North American continent) which we would be visiting later. On the other side was a bird’s eye view of St. John and the Rotterdam docked at the pier. We stopped at St. John the Baptist Basilica. This massive stone building was the inspiration for what became St. Patrick’s Cathedral in New York. The cardinal of New York was present for the dedication of this imposing structure, with stained-glass windows that even impress Sharon (not many do). She judges everything by the beautiful stained-glass windows that are part of the new church for her old parish back in Ohio. The windows themselves come from the original church in Franklin which first needed to survive World War I in Germany where they were first commissioned and crafted, surviving by being buried by the maker for the duration of the war. And they are indeed magnificent, as are those in St. John’s. Two of the windows appear to have been removed, possibly for cleaning or restoration; but, which hopefully will be replaced soon. The church graciously encourages picture taking inside; but, asks to please not disturb worshippers when service is in progress. After our 30-minute stop, it was a bit of a drive out to Cape Spear. We arrived, and we were second-guessing our clothing choice for the day. We’d relied on the “When & Where” forecasting 64˚F and Sunny to choose shorts and short sleeves for me (leaving my jacket in the cabin) and a light blouse and jeans for Sharon. Water was misting on the bus windows and we stepped out into a light drizzle. One person had an umbrella, and everyone had raingear of one sort or another. We headed to the tourist center and Sharon used the WC leaving me with the threatening weather. She returned shortly to partly sunny skies and a fog-bank that had lifted from the cape. And we had new faith in the “When & Where”. We’d heard the saying, “If you don’t like the weather in Newfoundland, just wait five minutes, it will change!” We were beginning to understand. As we enjoyed the view and scenery, condition continued to improve.

We were given about 45-minutes to take pictures, explore the two lighthouses or hike some of the trails. The original lighthouse is under renovation and will offer visitors the chance to see what it would have been like for a lighthouse keeper and his family to live out on this remote and secluded point. Provisions would have needed to arrive by ship, and the lighthouse and his family would need to be self-sufficient capable of surviving what can be harsh storms off of the Atlantic. The other lighthouse provides automated protection and is continuously in operation. We walked down to the viewing platform located at the eastern most point where we could view up and down the coast from to point jutting out into the Atlantic.

Our final destination was Petty Harbor which for us was a “Drive Through See What You Can from the Bus” affair. The other busses had the opportunity to stop and take some pictures; but, our driver didn’t have traffic that allowed this for us. We were on the wrong side of the bus to take pictures of this picturesque community that has become a favorite of filmmakers. Especially since the couple across the aisle from us were using a Tablet with cover to take photos and it covered the entire window the whole time we were driving thru town.

Our tour returned us to the Rotterdam after 2PM. The Lido was effectively closed for lunch (as far as Sharon was concerned). Selective stations are open; but, Sharon’s not about to eat a pre-made sandwich made with cheese and mayonnaise or a salad. So it looked like it was the Dive-In for us; or, possibly the NY Pizza for me. I opted for the later, fudging by one day my next (and final) pizza which I am permitting myself. I headed to the stern to get my pizza. I asked Sharon to order me a Coca-Cola, and I’d return once I got my pizza. As I waited in line to place my order Jim strolled by and I thought he was there to order a pizza; but, I later concluded that he was just out for one of his walk-about strolls. I ordered the “Wall Street Pizza” and asked mushrooms and Kalamata olives to that. “I’m sorry sir; but, we’re all out of arugula!” I agreed, “Okay. No arugula!” There appeared to be five pizzas in the oven already, and the pizza maker had three that he was putting together plus the two that the guy ahead of me had just ordered. I’m thinking, “This may take a while.” I took my pager and waited. It took me twenty minutes to get my pizza, which is pretty much to be expected anyway. I had to walk my pizza the full length of the Lido Buffet and then the length of the pool area to the Dive-In. I found Sharon near the door leading to the “Front Elevator” and adjacent to The Dive-In. Sharon was there, her Ginger Ale was half gone, and my Coke was there but Sharon still had her pager. To say she was getting a bit upset would be putting it mildly. I ate my pizza quickly, while Sharon vented. It wasn’t as good without the arugula; but, I still enjoyed it immensely. “Well this service is going on my survey. It shouldn’t take forty minutes to get a plain burger! And this isn’t the only time either.” I’m thinking, “Who is this person, and what have you done to my wife?” I thought briefly that she might throw the pager into the pool, or possibly at me. Ok so maybe she wasn’t that angry but she wasn’t happy so I took it over to the Dive-In and inquired about the order for pager #222. “What was your order?” the order dispatcher asked. “Plain Burger and fries?” He poked his head in through the service window inquiring loudly, “Plain Burger, Fries?” Evidently the chef didn’t think much of this breech in protocol because the dispatcher then went around through the door and wasn’t able to find the ticket for order #222 on any of the overhead ticket holders. He came around, and stuck his head back through the window, and this time in a more congenial voice said, “Plain Burger and Fries, Please.” Ten seconds later he handed me a tray with a plain burger and fries, and I returned with that to Sharon. I probably shouldn’t have told her, “I think they lost your order.” “WHAT!” She was definitely not happy about that part of it. “It isn’t even PLAIN!” There was a tiny trace of something green that had stuck to her bun, and it looked an awful lot like a leaf of arugula, but I was sure that it couldn’t be that! She did begrudgingly conclude that there wasn’t anything sooo wrong with her burger as to render it completely inedible (like pickle juice dampening the bun or ketchup that has been scraped off the burger) so she nibbled at it in that way of hers that is determined not to enjoy it.

I’ve secured “Our Spot” up in the Crow’s Nest and Sharon comes in, evidently not having secured a chocolate chip cookie from the Exploration Café. Rose Marie shows up and I mention how I bumped into Jim while in line for pizza. “WHAT!” she demands. “He better NOT have ordered a PIZZA.” So I’m thinking that I better choose my words really carefully or Jim may be swimming to Boston. I clarified, “I was in line to get pizza, AND Jim happened to stroll by.” “Well, okay then,” Rose Marie explained, “We agreed that we wouldn’t have pizza today.” I’m thinking they must have envied me because they seemed to both have wanted pizza; but, then they had had pizza the day before. The beverage waiter was offering “May I take your Happy Hour drink?” Jim and Rose Marie have occasionally ordered a gin and tonic; but, yesterday it came with, as the server explained, “A yellow lime.” Rose Marie had questioned this. “No Ma’am, we are all out of green limes. We only have yellow limes.” She and Jim had tried the yellow limes (lemons) yesterday, and decided “Never again.” “What kind of limes do you have today?” Rose Marie wants to know. “Yellow Limes, Ma’am.” Today they ordered a glass of wine each. Tino was pinch-hitting again for Linda, and he started with a left-hook. “Salvidor Dali has a famous work commonly referred to as ‘The Melting Clocks.’ What is its actual title?” Sharon suggested something like “Out of Time”. Jim later changed it to something similar which we all thought sounded good. When I later checked the ARTS tab in my spreadsheet, this work was one of the dozen or so top or most famous pieces of art that are in my spreadsheet, along with images, and the title is “The Persistence of Memory”. “What bird can dive the deepest?” Tino clarified that he is looking for a specific bird (e.g. two words will be required for example “Eagle” would not be acceptable if the answer should be “Bald Eagle”). We’d already written down “Penguin” and so we added “Emperor” in front of that. We couldn’t be sure; but, we were indeed right! “What country exports the most green olives to the USA?” I instantly wrote down “Spain” and it’s just because of the 12-day vacation I once took in Spain, and touring around Andalusia and all I remember seeing was an awful, awful lot of olives. I had to compete with suggestions like “Greece” and “Italy”. In the end, Duncan changed the answer back to “Spain” and we got the point. Another “Mythology” question was coming our way. “In Greek mythology, what is the creature that has the upper body of a man but lower body and legs of a horse. Jim suggested “Minotaur” and I’m thinking that’s part bull; but, I couldn’t come up with the answer. I think Jim was surprised when he heard the answer was “Centaur”. He later confirmed on his phone, showing us the picture of a minotaur with the head of a bull and body of a man. The bonus question was “What was the genesis of the word ‘Muse’?” I’m scratching my head wondering “What in the world is he getting at.” I keep forgetting that Tino is from Spain, and sometimes his pronunciation morphs certain letters into the wrong sounds. Duncan complains about both him and Linda that he often can’t understand what they’re saying. Tino clarified three times, and I heard each repeated pronunciation: “Muse. Muse. NEWS.” And then I understood the question, “What was the genesis of the word ‘News’?” Duncan was still struggling with “Muse”. I wrote down “North East West South”. Jim admits, “I’d never heard that before!” We were pretty proud of our 13 out of 17 points. One team got a perfect score though, if you can believe that.

We had Pinnacle Grill reservations at 6PM, so we returned to the cabin and got ready. We dressed up and went down a wee bit early. I was getting the Jumbo Shrimp Cocktail again; but, thought that this time I would show a little restraint. I decided to only get one other appetizer: The Spinach Arugula Salad. Sharon ordered the small filet with mashed potatoes, and she wanted her steak medium plus. I ordered the large medium rare filet with Brussel sprouts, shoe-string fries with aioli and mushrooms. I also ordered a bottle of San Pellegrino with ice, and a glass of cabernet. Sharon wanted a Sprite. The brought out the amuse bouche which was a tuna tartar. I actually enjoyed both mine and Sharon’s! The brought us bread, and this time the bread was left on the table for use to select as we liked. I tried one of the crisps, and again it seemed stale and unappealing and I decided to skip them. Too bad, I’ve always enjoyed these so much on previous cruises. I ordered my Shrimp Cocktail Sauce with the side car of horseradish; but, this east-coast horseradish really is so lame. Our waiter came out and informed us, “The chef has just advised me that we have no arugula. We can use mixed greens instead.” I agreed and thought that they would replace the arugula with mixed greens. What they actually did was replace the spinach and arugula with mixed greens. It was okay; but, it really was the spinach that I wanted, and the arugula part was nice to try to see if the Rotterdam really was out of arugula. Our steaks were excellent. And I discovered that the aioli for the fries goes really well with the Brussel sprouts. We stuck to our traditional desserts, Baked Alaska for Sharon and Chocolate Lava Cake with Grand Marnier whipped cream for me. Next to us another couple had sat down and she wanted to order the Spinach Arugula Salad. She told the waiter, “I’d like to get the Spinach Arugula Salad; but, can I get mine without the arugula?” “Ma’am, today you CANNOT get it WITH arugula!” I suppose that I should have cautioned her that she may not be able to get it with spinach either!

Today’s variety show was split between two performers that gave us 20 minutes of comedy and half an hour of piano artistry previously. The comedian is staying on for the next cruise to Montreal but the Pianist will be leaving in Halifax. Bud Anderson recited a version of Snow White that he created in the way his father used to tell stories which effectively exchanges the first letter of certain word pairs in each line. For example, “Snow White” would become something that sounds like “Whow Snite”. He claims to have an R-Rated version also, and I imagine he’d insert that silent “H” following the “S”; only, it probably wouldn’t be all that silent. There was a series of verses where the extensive use of alliteration caused the revised verses to be unchanged, and he would say the verse and add, “because they can’t be changed” Some of the word combinations really were hilarious; but, you’ll need to hear it for yourself to appreciate his version of “Snow White”. Paul Papas gave a rousing and lively piano concert accompanied by the HAL band including a new Oz medley with selections from the original Wizard of Oz, the Wiz, and Wicked.

Barry from Boston had the night off and the casino was closed since we wouldn’t depart until 11 pm so with nothing else to do after the show we headed back to the cabin.

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