Under Sail

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The date was the 18th of September, 1972 and I was nine years old at the time. The place was the France, a liner carrying my family and me to Europe for nine months while my father enjoyed his sabbatical. We were all eating lunch when Mom announced that she had a special treat for that afternoon. In the cinema, her favourite movie of all time was playing - “Gone With The Wind” and she was taking us to see it with her. It was the beginning of a love affair with the movie, the book and especially Clark Gable that continues to this day. So, you can imagine my reaction when I saw that playing in London this summer was “Gone With The Wind - The Musical”. There is only one person in the whole world that I could go to see that with, so I booked tickets for when I knew Mom would be in town.

Mom and Lynn have come over to do a two week cruise with me around the Baltic region. I made sure that they arrived in time to see the musical, and they did. The usual nonsense at Gatwick, but they arrived safely. After a lunch in the sun and a sleep, we headed down to see the show. Goodness! Our first clue that it was going to be a fun night was the fact that the agency selling the tickets had gotten the seating plan wrong. Our seats did not exist. As a result, we got to sit in the front row - and I mean the front row. We could touch the stage and the hoop skirts kept hitting me in the face as they exited stage right.

The show? It was so bad that it was great. Relatively faithful to the story, but it is a bit disconcerting when Scarlett and Rhett burst into song. The best bit? When Rhett says, “Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn” the entire audience burst into applause. The evening was great fun, although if you go, don’t expect great theatre!

We spent the next two days enjoying London. We went to the National Portrait Gallery, went shopping for hats at Harrods and enjoyed meals with friends. At last, the big day arrived.

We had hired a car as two weeks requires an enormous amount of clothes. We drove down to Southampton where we boarded the Queen Victoria for our two week cruise. The ship, the newest member of the Cunard line, is something to see. Absolutely beautiful and HUGE. Our rooms are on the starboard side and have balconies which means we can get out into the fresh air.

Once on board, we unpacked then headed up to the top deck to watch her pull out of Southampton while we drank mini bottles of champagne. After the ship got underway and it got a bit blowy, we discovered the Commodore Club, a bar right at the front of the ship where one can look out the huge windows, watch the land slip by and drink great martinis. After a couple of these, we made our way to dinner.

We have had great karma. Our table is the best in the restaurant. It is tucked away in a corner near a window, which means we are out of everyone’s way. Our table mates are an English couple who have done a lot of travelling and are great fun.

So, after a lot of wine, we decided to call it an early night as the true adventures begin tomorrow.

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Photos

On Our Way
The three of us on deck enjoying our champagne.

Clark Gable
The man himself, when he was travelling with Cunard.

Comments

[Regina]

a luxury experience
I was not sure how i would feel about a 6 day crossing..but it was wonderful, luxuries and very relaxing...with a lot to do. The queen mary 2 was wonderful