Cruise: Sept 28/29

---

Saturday:An early start, no make that a very early start, saw us @ Southampton Railway Station at 7.30am. By 7.45pm we were waving goodbye to Christine and Gyula and speeding off to NYC. From Penn Station we emerged into the maelstrom that is NYC - intimidating skyscrapers, frantic pedestrians and jousting yellow cab drivers with an addiction to horn abuse. Reverting to type, we settled for muffin and coffee in an independent coffee shop.

We found a street with traffic generally heading for the cruise terminal and hailed a taxi - and then spent much of the next twenty minutes in traffic gridlock. Our driver dropped us at 12th Ave & 55 with time to spare, and we joined the line (US euphemism for queue) - the experience reminded of us of queuing for pilates at U3A enrolment.

We set sail @ 4pm and as we left the clear blue sky afforded us magnificent views of the Manhatten skyline, Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty!! The boat (Norwegian Gem) is, as advertised, informal; our room (aka Stateroom) is spotless and has ample room for us and our luggage. A wholesome 3-course dinner and generous brandy later, the very early start caught up with us and there was no need to count sheep.

Sunday: This is the one day at sea this cruise and so it was time to chill out and avoid the temptation to join our fellow american cruisers in sampling all the restaurants in one day. JC got stuck into his holiday book and Kate managed to brave the elements (the blue skies masked a chilling cold wind) and join the jogging/walking devotees who regularly follow the jogging route that circles the ship.

Before the evening meal we took in the show - a montage of song & dance routines from around the world - the usual mix of short cameos designed not to tax the attention span of the audience. Apres grub was a different kettle of fish - in one of the bars a folk trio (Cynthia MacLeod Trio) belted out jigs, reels, etc to the delight of audience. The violinist was a bundle of energy, mixing her playing with simultaneous scottish/irish dancing. Excellent stuff!!

---