Returning to Amsterdam

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I decided to splurge on breakfast and had fried eggs and sausage Sharon had scrambled eggs and toast , again eating in the Lido because the dining room wasn’t open that early. It was a beautiful day on the North Sea, and in the distance we could see and endless array of oil rigs at sea that just seemed to follow us south.

It was pretty early in the morning for Team Trivia, especially for a non-scenic-viewing sea day! What’s with this 9:00AM anyway. Then Christina told us that people often ask for Trivia on the last sea day but her schedule is so full she can only do it a 9. There was only one other team present. Christina wanted to know “Who painted ‘The Scream’”? The answer was Munch. And Steve knew who the eternal president of North Korea was despite his death in 1994: Kim il Sung. Christina asked “If the last thing is ultimate, and the next to last is penultimate, what comes next?” We hadn’t a clue. It’s antepenultimate. Our teammates knew what the sport was that’s played with a badminton net, ping pong paddles and a whiffle ball. Pickle Ball. We had trouble with the bonus question, “Who were King Lear’s three daughters?” Joan suggested “Beth, Jo and Amy” from an earlier Trivia Bonus Question. Our opponents got two of the three, so we might have been a bit worried. They are Regan, Goneril and Cordelia. We had a few points to spare.

We popped into the Mariner’s Reception, I think, just because we could. I was only going to have 1 glass of red wine but wound up with a second. I tried each of the three different appetizers that they brought around, including the salmon tartar which was served on a fancy tray/spoon which you used just to slide the tiny morsel into your mouth. I’d probably not taken it if I’d heard the “tartar” part before I’d taken it; but, I’m glad I did. Not that I thought it was great; for my first impression was a smoky taste before the “this might be raw fish” sensation hit. But I was fine. Another new culinary experience.

We left the reception shortly after the medals had been awarded. Two of the three couples getting bronze medals were present, and there was one couple receiving their silver medal. We headed up to the Lido for an altogether different culinary experience. I opted for the Cannonball and the Dog Paddle. And Sharon got another plain hamburger. She’s been taking advantage of her Coca-Cola Freestyle, the machine that dispenses a variety of Coke products with additional flavorings such as cherry or vanilla. Sharon likes the Ginger Ale with Cherry Syrup. Her only complaint is that the two machines are not always operational, or sometimes they’re out of ice. She got the Free-style Package which costs $8 per day. Prior to the cruise she thought that both people in the cabin needed to get this in order to be part of this program; but, onboard she found out that she can take advantage of this new service while I do not also need to get it. She’s been getting her value from this package. At dinners in the dinning room, a green sticker on her card lets the staff know that she can get “Free” sodas in the dinning room; although not her cherry ginger ales.

On this day with a Saturday afternoon vigil mass they decided to hold the two at the same time. So Sharon went to mass, along with many other Catholic travelers. You’d have thought that with all those potential bingo players off getting the Eucharist that there’d be nobody left to play bingo. But this was not the case. This was the largest bingo crowd yet. I decided that I’d better buy the $35 6-pack to stand a chance in a crowd this size (instead of the $25 3-pack). It didn’t matter though. Juep calls a very fast paced game and you need to be on your A-Game poking and folding the number tabs in your game sheets. I never got to stand, and although I thought that I was doing well on the $25,000 jackpot game prior to the call of the 46th ball (you need to call bingo by that point to get the jackpot), I didn’t get closer than needing 4 numbers on that final game (although I was within four calls on four of my six cards). The game took a long time, in part due to them also choosing the “Win A Cruise” lottery. Sharon was already back in the cabin when I returned for dinner.

We sat at a round table for eight. I tomato and feta dish, which was also served with orange slices. I went with the 5-onion cream soup; although, many at our table were going with French Onion Soup. Mine was clearly the best choice. And I ordered the curry vegetable cutlet, which is just a wee bit heavy; although tasty. I was unable to finish everything. Sharon had the lamb chops and she seemed to eat everything. Tonight we both had the chocolate lava cake; but, it paled by comparison to the flourless chocolate cake from the night before, which we both agreed was superb.

The full contingent of players and cheering section showed up in a crowded Crow’s Nest for Evening Trivia with Becka. I’d brought up a plate of chocolate covered strawberries on the final trivia on this leg of the cruise. They were a gift from the casino so actually cost me much more than they should have. Before we began Joan said, “Well I hope that we can score 8 points today, so that at least we can show some improvement.” Most of us will be continuing on for the Baltic portion of our 21-day Collector’s Cruise. Becka started with “What synthetic fabric was developed in the 1970’s from Teflon.” At first we guessed Kevlar; but, settled on Gortex, which turned out to be right. And we also got what Aristotle thought was the main purpose for the human brain. That was cooling. Both answers were courtesy of Steve or teammate. Becka was awarding one point to the team that guessed closest to what the average life time for a toilet is (and she wasn’t talking flushes). We guessed 25 years. Three teams correctly guessed 50 years. We did get “What was the childhood nickname of Leslie Hornby who grew up to become the model and actress Twiggy?” It was “Stick”. We went with “Taps” for Tom Cruise’s first movie. Becka was looking for “Endless Love”. Joan and Jackie both knew where the Metropolitan Opera House is located: Lincoln Center, so we got the two points for the bonus. Becka started with one point, for people to cheer and clap if they got at least that many points. She got up to seven and just two teams were still clapping. And the same for eight, where we had to finally stop when the other team won with 9-points. Evidently a team recruited the “Peacock People” for their team who proved quite dominating at “Where in the World”. So we’ve finally bitten the dust in the Evening Edition of Team Trivia.

Sharon went to see the guest piano player Filip Wojciechowski in the Showroom, which she said was very good, and then to country night at Dueling Pianos. I went back to the cabin and tried to get caught up on the blog but fell asleep long before Sharon got in.

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