Peaceful Prince Edward Island (PEI)

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This morning we returned to the “Land of Anne of Green Gables”. I made sure a spelled “Anne” with an “E” because it is “Shirley” the way that she would have wanted it; and, certainly the way that Sharon would have insisted on it. Once upon a time when she was a “Casey”, “Anne” (with an “E”) was her middle name. To this day she insists that that is the proper spelling. We didn’t rise in time to check out the magnificent red soil on the shores of Prince Edward Island. We did catch breakfast in the Lido and I settled for scrambled eggs and patty sausage because that was the quickest. I’ll have to search for the muesli when I have the time to walk all around the Lido. Sharon partook of a waffle.

Back in our cabin we actually did a HAL Sudoku challenge. Erin had found some puzzle sheets that had been left out in the Explorer’s Lounge the night before. We did Puzzle 97 waiting for the show to start the previous evening and I’m afraid Sharon came up with excuses like it’s so much harder when you have to use a pencil (she didn’t appreciate my pointing out that she was using a pen because she refuses to do them in pencil); Sharon may have edited this out from the previous day’s blog that I happened to win (or I may have forgotten to include that little bit of information). This morning we weren’t under the pressure of her sister timing her and pointing out all of the things that she was missing. Well, I won again this morning.

We met Dennis and Erin in the hallway on the way to disembark for the morning. We again went with the local HOHO for $20US/$22CAN. Many places they just do the even exchange if you pay in US dollars, so this isn’t bad. We took the short tour of town, that doesn’t drive around PEI or go out to Anne Shirley’s former residence at Green Gables, not because it took less time but because that bus was heated. For Dennis it was a “no-brainer”. Our guide and driver were both local islanders, born and raised. We drove from one end of town to the other, past many waterfront properties and building that had been built over the last three centuries. Charlottetown is where earlier settlers first met to discuss the unification of Canadian provinces back in the 1860’s. Although PEI didn’t join when Canada was first established in the 1870’s, because it was a thriving self-sufficient community and felt reasonably secure from outside threats by its isolation as an island. However, times change, and when the island nearly bankrupted its finances trying to build a railway, it was receptive to later overtures from Canada to join their union, unburdening themselves from the debt of the railway; but, insisting on and receiving certain eternal guarantees, namely representation by 4 ministers and the availability of a daily ferry service to the mainland. That last guarantee was honored until 1997 when the bridge connecting the mainland was opened for travel. When we passed the house used to provide lodging for many royal dignitaries, our guide noted that the current “Left-Tennant” governor of PEI currently resides there. Well according to our guide, that is the proper “Queen’s English” way of saying lieutenant governor, adding that his dad has been living in this house now for five - eight years. The normal term is five years, but he’d been asked to stay on, and he’s expecting that he’ll be there until the elections next year. He noted that his dad has been doing a very good job.

We all made it up to the Lido for lunch, and I again had the NY Pizza Wall Street with added mushrooms and olives. Erin got her pizza without cheese and with barbeque sauce and chicken. Dennis tried the fish and chips and Sharon got her standard plain burger and fries from the Dive-In. It seems that we’re getting into a bit of a rut; well, maybe Dennis has been changing things up a bit (or it could be he hasn’t found anything that he likes yet).

We made our way to the Crow’s Nest to go head to head with those darn ex-teachers (well we assume they’re ex-teachers since they keep getting almost perfect scores). We knew we were in trouble when Michael wanted to know the name of the national airline of Columbia, noting that it was the second oldest airline in the world after KLM. Pan American was a popular choice; but we went with the slightly subtler Columbia Air. The answer was Avianca. Then Michael asked what the letters “RCH” stand for on a license plate, and I understood that he was asking what country has the country code “RCH”. We reasoned Republic of China and so wrote down “Taiwan”. Unfortunately, as I later confirmed from my trivia spreadsheet, Taiwan’s country code is “RC”. The “Republic of Chile” uses the “RCH” designation. Other teams when with China or Switzerland. The Swiss country code is “CH” so that was too far off either. “What feline is the only cat not to have retractable claws?” We chose “Lion”. We would have done better with “Cheetah”. And we also didn’t know which airline was the first to introduce a “Frequent Flyer Program”. We went with United. Alas, it was American Airlines. Then they asked, “Question number FOURTEEN: How many ships are there in Holland America’s fleet?” Sharon quickly scribbled down how many of each class of ship there was, then subtracted two for the ones that they sold last year, adding one for the Konigsdam that came online this year and her total was fourteen. And I noted, “Well, I’m glad you came up with FOURTEEN, because he only emphasized that question number THREE times.” The bonus question was, “What does OPEC stand for?” Pretty easy and I think everyone got Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries. We hadn’t done that bad, and the winning team missed two questions this time.

Sharon and Erin went to mass, and Dennis and I met them outside the Wajang Theatre afterwards and then headed to the Dining Room. We were once again seated at a table for four. I started with a sweet tomato and mozzarella appetizer that was touted as being served with balsamic vinegar and olive oil and basil. I’m not sure, but I don’t think two decorative dots of balsamic vinegar, one thin smear of olive oil and a single basil leaf is quite what I imagined… I’m just saying. It was good; but, should have been much better. These proportions were just opposite of what they should have been: Three thick slices of tomato, two thick slabs of mozzarella. Perhaps three thin slabs, or better would be small balls of mozzarella, half a dozen thin slivers of tomato, and enough vinegar, oil and basil to enhance the taste would have been more to my liking. Don’t get me wrong, this was still good: just not great. And I had the Daily menu Caesar salad that Sharon ordered for me, and I guess I really don’t care for the two whole anchovies draped over the top of the salad. I cut them up, but that didn’t help. My beer and cheese soup was quite good as was my chicken curry in coconut milk. Erin had modified the curry dish to exclude the coconut milk. Sharon and Dennis enjoyed their Yankee Pot Roast. I had the hazelnut mouse cake for dessert, and Sharon had the crème Brule, worried that after last night’s magnificent chocolate soufflé, the Rotterdam’s pantry may have run out of chocolate for desserts.

We sort of got separated after dinner, and I knew that Sharon was headed for the Theatre to save us seats, and I made it to the MIX lounge to get better seats for team trivia. Erin had coordinated with Sharon as to where they were going, then Erin got in the elevator and went up to the Upper Promenade, while Sharon walked down the stars to the Lower Promenade, and Dennis and I followed. I told them that Erin was going up, but still they waited by the elevator for Erin to arrive and of course she never did. At this point I went back to the cabin, and I think Dennis did too, and Sharon went off to find Erin. Shortly after I got to the MIX lounge, Erin scooted on in. We picked up our third team member for trivia when a lady who sounded like she might be from Brooklyn asked a couple at the table next to us if they were here for trivia, but they were not. I said that I was. She asked me, “Are you good?” I told her, “Of course I’m Good.” Erin had to explain to her that that was my name. Andy the Show Host arrived ten minutes early for trivia, so I popped down to the lounge and found Sharon all by herself saving seats. I invited her up for trivia, and she reluctantly gave up the seats. We soon had too final players on our team. Andy wanted to know “What did they call German submarines during WWII?” I’m pretty sure everyone got that. Everyone thought they got “What Scandinavian country awards the Nobel Peace prize?” We put down Sweden. It is in fact Norway. Our teammates came up with the only dog with a better sense of smell than the Bassett Hound. That would be the Bloodhound. I knew how many tiles each player must start with in a game of Scrabble. Go ahead, pick a number from one to ten. If you chose 7, you’d be right. Fortunately, I’d played Scrabble with my mother less than one month earlier. We faltered on what piece of sport’s equipment does a “fletcher” make (though Sharon had written down arrow we didn’t see it so went with the teammates choice of stones). Our Swedish teammates (yes, the ones who let us answer Sweden for that Scandinavian country question, suggested that it had to do with the brooms that you sweep with in that umm, Olympic Sport: we went with curling. Fletchers, in fact, make arrows! Dennis showed up about now, and knew the answer to the “What are baby koalas called?” We already had six players so we were out of luck. We were conflicted between “Pup” and “Cub”; but, neither was right. The answer was the same as for a baby kangaroo! And an old question of what was the capital of New Zealand. Most of us said Auckland so Erin wrote it down in spite of Sharon writing down and insisting it was Wellington. Our teammate made some comment to her about Sharon giving them the wrong answer. Then I remembered that Sharon might be right and luckily remembered from my spreadsheet the question of what is the southernmost world capital, which is Wellington, and of course is in New Zealand, so I urged Erin to change our answer sheet. It may not have been pretty how we got there; but, at least it was a team effort. And that lady who had complained about Sharon’s answer (who had come up with Auckland in the first place), was completely clueless. At least those teachers hadn’t discovered Pub Trivia yet and we had a chance. Again, we came in second, one point short! The bonus question was the Sir Edmund Hillary question from a previous Team Trivia, needing the decade (fifties) to get the full two points.



When we arrived at the theatre it was standing room only, almost. Erin found a handicap spot for her scooter, and Sharon found a chair that she could put next to her. Dennis and I went upstairs, and found two loose chairs at the very back, stools really at the rear. I found that if I stood next to the stool that I could actually see the center of the stage. Jonathan Neal and his partner Leane were performing, a combination singing and mostly magic act, rich in audience participation. He did impressive magic with ropes and strings. Most impressive was when he had a man from the audience tie his thumbs together with a string. He then had the man hold the sword vertical, one hand on the hilt, and one hand on the tip of the blade (he had wrapped it with a handkerchief to protect his fingers). He was able to move his hands, apparently through the blade, to interlink his arms (with his thumbs still tied together and turning purple). Though at one point he asked the man to put his hand on his right shoulder and the man kept it on the left. After the show, we failed to meet up with Sharon and Erin. I wound up back in the cabin and Sharon wound up in the piano bar for Name that Tune with Barry from Boston. It was a couples thing so she didn’t play but sat with a few others just outside the Piano area where they did pretty well getting a lot of them. All the songs had a woman or girls name in the title and included Mrs Brown You’ve Got a Lovely Daughter which made Sharon happy. No one was supposed to call out the names of the songs obviously but about ½ way thru a woman came thru and started singing Hello Dolly in a loud voice not that anyone should have missed it anyway. The funniest one was on #11 after a short intermission when Barry started playing Sonny and actually sang it as he started so that was pretty much a give-me too. He was really wanting a tie so he could do the tie-breaker when they had to do the I can name that tune in x notes. The hint was pretty obvious (song from a smash broadway classic based on a Shakespeare play) but one of the woman let the other have it for 4 notes.

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