May 17 – Portland England

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Happy Birthday to Patterson and Melody! Fourteen years ago, was a pretty busy day. And many of the days since have been packed with interesting things. Thanks for keeping us all entertained.

I just noticed the dates have been in error for the last couple of posts. I don’t know if I can correct that, but I will try.

We had another night of smooth sailing and we both got a pretty good night sleep. We aren’t completely over our colds, but they are considerably better – the symptoms seem to be clearing almost as quickly as they came.

We are in Portland, England. Never heard of it before - that’s understandable because there isn’t much here. This is a sheltered harbor which was a jumping off point for the invasion on D-Day. Otherwise, it is basically a small industrial port with a couple of British Navy ships and some military installations. There is a beach here, but it is pretty chilly and not even the locals were using it. There is a 25-minute shuttle journey to a larger town with shops and things, but the big attraction there is a botanical garden which would involve a lot of walking after the bus ride. The other excursion offering is 2-hour ride to Stonehenge. We saw it a few years ago and it probably hasn’t changed. So here we are with a port-day and nothing much to see.

We got up early and hustled down to the laundromat to try to get clothes clean again. It took a couple of hours because of the high demand and low availability, but we have clean clothes again. Then we had a late breakfast at the buffet. All through the morning they were running “crew drills” on the ship. Maybe they thought everyone had gone somewhere, but we kept hearing the announcements and alarms. You will the happy to know that the fire on Deck-6 was handled promptly, and that the emergency evacuation went smoothly. Of course, it was all simulated and did not involve any passengers.

This afternoon was just another quiet day around the ship. We did some more reading, stitching, and resting while we watched TV. David did take a few pictures of the “scenery”, as seen from the upper deck, but it wasn’t very impressive.

We had dinner reservations in the Palm Dining Room at 5:20. Tonight’s meal was delicious, partly because we happened to skip lunch. Janet had a Caesar Salad and then Pork Tenderloin. David had Shrimp Cocktail and Twice Cooked Goat Cheese Souffle, followed by Beef Tenderloin. For dessert Janet had Chocoholic Cheesecake with Hazelnut and David had Sea-salted Carmel Pot de Crème.

We forgot to mention in yesterday’s blog that we were sitting across from where they had the “chef’s table”. Those folks didn’t show up until just before we were finished, but they all paraded in and had pictures taken around a very fancy table. The executive chef was there, and we guess he stayed for the meal. Apparently, they had a completely different menu than the rest of us, complete with appropriate wines. How do you get invited to the chef’s table? You spend $150 per person. It probably was good for those folks, but we are not likely to have that experience.

That is about all for today. We lose another hour tonight since tomorrow we will be in France. Good night.

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