Pre-Icelandic Sea Day

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Today is one of our “Catch-Up” Sea Days; but, it seams that we are pretty much on schedule posting blogs for the previous day. We sort of slept in; since, even though it is a Sea Day, Sharon doesn’t need to rush off to mass on this Saturday morning. She’ll be going to the Vigil Mass at 5:00PM and she won’t need to go tomorrow; and, that’s a good thing because tomorrow is a very busy day for us, with an All-Day tour. We’ll be in Reykjavik and we’ll be staying overnight. We barely made it to the Rotterdam Dining Room before they stopped serving breakfast at 9:30AM.

Another couple was already seated by the window at our table for four. And evidently, they’d already ordered as well. I ordered Eggs Benedict (again) with hashed browns and sausage (again) and Sharon ordered the Texas French Toast. We’re getting so predictable. I guess that it is just difficult to try something new from a menu that hasn’t changed since I started sailing on HAL about eight years ago. Sharon was just a little crest-fallen that there were no chocolate croissants but she survived.

I rushed off to attend the 10AM lecture by Stephen Sloan on the Transformation of the International Arena. His background is quite interesting beginning with academia and leading to becoming one of the Beltway Bandits (his words, not mine) providing input for addressing real-time crisis from a series on non-state actors (his words for terrorism). He pointed out that THIS lecture is not addressing to world today; but, looking at the past and projecting to the future. And his purpose is not to get embroiled in the polarized politics that seems to be infecting all of us today in America. His point is that you need to talk to those that you disagree with; and, not just shout at them. The Showroom was about 60% full and some people left during the lecture. Stephen stood at the podium on the right side of the stage and gave a very measured lecture. His slides tended to be a series of bullet points on the topics he was speaking.

Sharon went to the Cruise Director’s coffee chat with the Emperors of Soul who had entertained 2 nights on the cruise so far. They are all actually from London though they use American Accents during their shows since they are performing songs from the Motown era. They all have experience in the London Theater and there are a few alternate members that trade in and out as one of them gets a “real” job. They answered many questions and had some funny stories about things that have happened to them over the past few years as they travel with their show. The group was started when one of them had an idea for a play about the Temptations but wasn’t having any luck getting funding. Someone told him to start a group to get exposure with their music and hence the group was born several years ago. They appeared on a UK Reality show and did quite well but didn’t win. One of the stories told was from a recent cruise assignment that was leaving out of England so they thought they’d take the early train get to the port about noon with plenty of time before the ship sailed at 4. Well the group leader forgot his passport so had quite an afternoon trying to get ahold of a friend to bring the passport to him but he did get it barely.

Sharon went to the Question and Answer session with the Greenland Pilots that followed in the Showroom. The two pilots had gotten on in Cornerbrook and will be with us until Reykjavik. The work in alternating 12-Hour shifts. They had signed off as of 6 am that morning so had some time to answer questions. The need for Greenland pilots started a couple of years ago when the rules for Arctic and Antarctic travel changed mostly due to safety. They are both Danish and have experience with the freighters that travel to the villages in Greenland to deliver oil etc including the small village in Prince Christian Sound. They seem to enjoy this new job especially since it only requires them to work in the summer. One’s answer for what they do the remainder of the year is nothing. Though he actually is sailing his boat around the world leaving the boat for a job and returning to it when it’s over.

I picked up our Sudoku sheets and decided to play some games on my phone as I sat in the Front Desk Lobby waiting for the cleanup of our cabin to be finished. I set the Sudoku aside on the adjacent end table and took my turn on several games of “Words With Friends”. I decided to return to my cabin after about 20 minutes and walked a few steps to the elevator, pushed the button and remembered that I’d left my Sudoku Sheets on the table. I walked the few steps back to retrieve them only to see that a woman had already swooped in, sat down where I’d been sitting, and was already holding my two sheets. I was looking at the empty spot where the sheets had been, which she obviously thought was the last of a pile that they’d been distributed from; because, she offered me ONE of the sheets. I thanked her and walked the few steps over to the desk and got two more puzzle sheets.

Sharon returned after the Q&A and we went up for a noon-time lunch in the Lido. Today they had both a meat lasagna and cannelloni, two of my favorites. I’d planned to just get a salad; but, I got the lasagna as well, and it was quite good and proportionally a good lunch serving size. Sharon tried their meatloaf and said it was pretty good since it didn’t have any tomatoes on it. We headed up to the Crow’s Nest to do our Sudoku and wait for our Trivia Teammates. I messed something up in the tiny squares of the puzzle, so Sharon wanted to make sure that I noted that she has now won two days in a row!

A full contingent showed up for trivia. In fact, the Crow’s Nest was packed with Trivia Teams looking out at the foggy sea conditions. Conditions worsened, and we heard the foghorn. Duncan muttered something about not being able to get away from that blasted horn. Linda was again being very niggardly passing out answer sheets, and I had to go up and get an additional one to record the questions on for my spreadsheet; because, she limited what she had given Jim who came back with materials for the group. The CD Linda asked a Shakespeare question and Duncan immediately answered “FALSE”. The question was, “Were Romeo and Juliet married?” I’ve read a few of Shakespeare’s plays recently, because questions on King Lear, MacBeth and Othello have been showing up as trivia questions; but, I’d read Romeo & Juliet years ago and all they ever seem to ask about that has to do with who’s a Montague and who’s a Capulet. All you need to remember is the rhyme, “Juliet is a Capulet”. I wonder if that is why Shakespeare named her so! I suggested to the team, “I think they were secretly married,” but I wasn’t certain. They were! And we hadn’t a clue about, “In 2016 Mats Valk set a World Record at 4.74 seconds doing what?” We’re thinking, 2016, that was the Seoul Olympics. Sharon suggested the 100m dash, and that would be some record. After the “Beer Bonus” yesterday, Duncan suggested “Drank a Liter of Beer.” The answer: “Solved a Rubik’s Cube.” Are people still doing that? Our Canadian teammates (Jim and Pam again) knew where the Athabasca Oil Sands were, and it’s probably a good thing or their neighbor’s might not allow them home. It was looking bleak, and we were wondering if we’d even make 50%. You know that it’s bad when you know that you’re not in contention. We did manage to get the one asking for the former lead singer for Genesis who later won an academy award for the Disney Movie Tarzan. We had no idea but just before the bonus question Sharon quickly wrote down Phil Collins and said she wasn’t sure but at least it was an answer and we didn’t have one. She was probably the most surprised when it turned out to be true. Previously, at least, we thought that we were competitive, even though we weren’t. It all came down to the bonus question (for three points). “Name the three countries that have coastlines that border the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean.” The obvious one is “Spain”. And I knew the African side is “Morocco” because I once stood at a point in Tangiers and looked out on both bodies of water at the same time. So yes Sharon, the 3 hours that I spent on that day-tour to Africa does count to give me all of the continents. She hates when I do that! But, she did manage to come up with “France” before the rest of us did. We managed 11 out of 18 points. The winners had 13 in a 3-way tie. Today Linda gave teams a tie-break question. “’CROUTON’ is an anagram for only one other word. What is that word?” We were rearranging the letters in our minds, when one of the teams shouted out “CONTOUR”.

The showroom was already filling up for Stuart Sutherland’s talk on “Iceland, The Backbone of the World.” The first thing that Stuart does when giving a lecture is walk over the left side of the screen and started giving his presentation, with his visual aides presented on the large screen behind him and to his left. He was speaking without notes or a prompter, except for a timer that he’d put at the front of the stage that he could see; but, that we barely noticed. I’d learned years ago, that this is the preferred position to be speaking from when addressing western audiences. Ironically, it’s best to speak from the right side when addressing eastern audiences. It has to do with our unconscious and social training. In the west we read from left to right; while, many eastern cultures do the opposite. This is why on TV the news anchor will always appear on the left of the screen, and the visual aides to the right (as we look at the screen). Stuart showed how the North American Plate and the European Plate pass through Iceland and are moving apart; and, it’s one of the reasons Iceland is so geologically interesting. Iceland is essentially tethered to the center of the earth, lying along the Atlantic Rift. Stuart captivated everyone in the Showroom, and fielded a number of questions at the end.

Sharon went off to her Vigil Mass; while, I went back to the cabin to finish capture notes for today’s blog, and to get ready for dinner. I wore a dress shirt and slacks for dinner in the Pinnacle Grill where we are participating in the Cellar Master’s Dinner. For this dinner, a number of courses have been set by HAL Corporate, and the ship’s master sommelier is chartered with paring each course with a wine. The meal started promptly at 6PM when we were allowed to enter and be seated. We were handed a glass of sparkling wine to which some Grand Marnier had been added. As Barry From Boston would say, “It was REFRESHING.” Which if you follow his lingo means tasty but not a lot of alcohol. We perused the menu and really only had one choice: the cheese torte or the beef dish. I got the cheese dish and Sharon of course went with the beef. The first course was a starter consisting of caviar, foie gras, and a quail egg; which, appears to mean sliced duck meat with everything present in the shape of an egg. Sharon sent her appetizer away with a wave of her hand. She’d already declined all the wine. I didn’t care much for the dollop of caviar atop the foie gras; but, the duck and remainder of the course were tasty and seem to be complimented by the brut champagne that was served with the course. Then came the artichoke soup with chicken dumplings. Sharon made an attempt at this one, nibbled at the dumplings; but, didn’t care for the deep brown creamy soup. I thought it was good enough to help Sharon finish her bowl. Originally, this dish was to have been paired with a pinot noir; which, would have been okay with me, since I prefer red wines over white wines in general. The sommelier decided to use instead a blend of five white wines, including chardonnay, white sauvignon and Muscat. His thinking was that the pinot noir would overwhelm this complex soup. I will say; while, I would have enjoyed having at least one red wine during my meal, I really did like this wine pairing. Next came the lobster salad and Sharon was ready to wave off her dish before it even approached the table. This dish presented a small lobster tail with shell removed on a small bed of greens, and again, I liked this dish. A white sauvignon was selected for this dish. My entree was a vegetarian dish consisting of the Brie and Spinach Tart served with ratatouille. Sharon had the Tenderloin Beef with Caramelized Sweetbreads. Sharon avoided the sweetbreads; and, I didn’t help her with them either. She ate most of her beef but would have loved to have some potatoes with it. My dish was good and went well with the Chardonnay… another white wine. We both enjoyed the Chocolat Pot au Crème. It appeared to be a nice chocolate mousse; but, I could have done without the tiny marshmallows being sprinkled on top. Unfortunately, I managed to eat one before I realized what they were. I guess I should have read the menu a little bit better. This dish was paired with a “Late Harvest” Riesling from Chile. I love the Auslese or Spatlese Rieslings from Germany, and that is pretty much what this was. They were pretty careful not to give you too much of this dessert wine, being served in the smallest glass yet. As the Cellar Master said, the wine needs to be sweeter than the dessert that it is paired with; and, it certainly was. The final course was a cheese plate, which Sharon was too quick to wave away, because they were only bringing out a single plate for us to share. I waved him back for “MY” cheese plate of artisan cheeses, dried fruit, nuts and crackers. The wine pairing was a very nice Sherry. I think that I might have preferred port.

Afterwards, I was ready to return to the cabin and do more work on the blog. Sharon had the hopes of hearing a buffalo stampede. The floor person offered Sharon a drink. He couldn’t get her to bite as she was about ready to leave since the buffalo were not stampeding this night.

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