Aug 22 – Second Sea Day

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NOTE – There was a problem with the Shipboard Server and the Blog could not be posted last night.



This morning Janet had made an appointment in the Spa to have a manicure at 8:00, so she had to get up kind of early after having watched the movie last night. She got up and dressed, and headed to the buffet for breakfast, and then on to the Spa to have her fingernails painted. Now they are a dark red and very shiny. The Spa also included a hot stone and ice hand massage.



After the Spa, she went on to the Adagio Bar to meet with her Knitters & Natters group, where she worked on some knitting. Apparently she does it differently than the others in her group and they were all marveling at her technique. She uses both hands for the garter stitch, most people use only one. She took the shawl that her friend Barb had made for her using the Wingspan pattern. One of the other people there was working on the same pattern but was crocheting it. For crocheting, the pattern is called hitch a ride. But they all admired Barb’s work. Janet plans to wear it tomorrow night for the formal dinner.



David slept in this morning before going off to breakfast about 8:30. He did some work to finish up and publish the blog about yesterday’s events, and then went for a little walk around the ship. In case anyone is having trouble finding the “Where’s Janet” picture, the story wasn’t as long as the number of pictures, so you have to scroll down a little further and see it at the very bottom of the page.



We met in the cabin about 11:00 and then went off to hear the 11:30 Lecture on St Petersburg. Those days sound like they are going to be very busy, complicated by the fact that there will be 5 cruise ships in port at the same time. We’ve been warned to expect long lines wherever we go. Anyway, we saw photos of some of the things we will see in person and heard about the process which we will have to follow to get into Russia. Apparently they are pretty strict with all their rules (they don’t slap your wrists but instead haul you off to jail for breaking rules), so we will have to be very careful to obey all of them. But we are still looking forward to that port call, which we expect will be the highlight of the cruise.



After the lecture we went up to the Pool Deck Grill and had Jumbo Hot Dogs and Hamburgers with Fries (not Belgian). Somehow they make them taste better than at home. Then we got some desserts from the buffet and had a nice filling lunch.



Next we went to the lecture on Mediterranean, Northern Europe, and Holy Land cruises. We already have plans for the next couple of years, but thought it would be interesting to hear about some of the other offerings for further in the future. Who knows, maybe someday it will feel safe to go visit the Middle East – but that sure is NOT now.



After that we went back to the cabin where Janet settled down for an afternoon nap. David went down to the Q&A session with the St Pete lecturer to find out more about a photography fee which he had mentioned during the lecture. It turns out that our tour package is one of the all-inclusive tours and the fee is not supposed to be paid again. The Excursion Desk printed out a copy of the web page that specifies what is included, in case there is any issue once we get to the bus. Anyway, all that is a few days in the future and nothing to be worried about now. So we had a quiet couple of hours until it was time to get ready for dinner – Janet slept and David read more of his book.



We have heard from Elizabeth that everything is fine at home, and we heard from Janel that Rebecca has not had her baby yet, but we hope it won’t be much longer.



Most of our remaining 6 ports of call are approximately the same distance north (latitude?) We have been told it is roughly equivalent to Southern Greenland, so we better plan of wearing our jackets and not wearing shorts. The temperature today wasn’t too bad, but there was a fairly strong wind as we were hustling to get to Stockholm tomorrow. Anyway, it made it too windy for David to sit on the balcony to read this afternoon.



It was not a “formal dress” evening in the dinning room, so we had time to sit and relax with a glass of wine in the cabin before we went to dinner. For dinner, we both had the Shrimp Cocktail appetizer. Janet had Caesar Salad and David had a soup he could not pronounce (much less spell) but was basically a spicy Mexican vegetable soup with small meatballs – sounds strange but it was tasty. For her entrée Janet had Veal Scaloppini and David had an Austrian Pot Roast. For dessert we both had Cherries Jubilee. Diane & Bill had previewed the menu (she needs to avoid gluttons) and decided to eat elsewhere tonight. Victor & Sandra were sitting beside us, and we compared stories about some of our favorite cruise locations (we picked the Panama Canal and they picked Jamaica).



We then went to the theater for the 8:00 show. Tonight the act was a singer/comedian, who was able to impersonate various other famous singers. It was pretty entertaining although it is a little hard to describe properly. We get to the theater in time to get good seats but have a little time to spend before the show. Tonight Janet was able to finish the Sudoku puzzle which had been classified as “fiendish” – she was quite pleased with that.



After the show we adjourned to the room to get a good night’s sleep and be ready to arrive tomorrow in Stockholm. Apparently the sailing in process takes several hours but is supposed to be very picturesque, so maybe we will see part of that. Anyway, that’s about all for today.

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