Another Sea Day

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Sharon went to mass while I got caught up on the blog. We went to the Vista Dining Room where we were seated across from each other at a table for six with two other couples. I had French Toast, link sausage, potato cakes and Swiss muesli. The steward did a double-take on “potato cakes” and then corrected me as “…oh, hash browns.” Well okay; but, they really are tiny round hockey puck-like potato cakes. They just don’t call them that on Holland America. Sharon had scrambled eggs and potatoes.



We went up to the Crow’s Nest to do our Sudoku challenge, and I brought the sheets from yesterday that we hadn’t had a chance to do yet. We found the Crow’s Nest nearly deserted and sat down at a table. I’d beaten Sharon on both of yesterday’s puzzles when someone came over to let us know that they were closing the Crow’s Nest for a private event. We went down to our cabin to finish our challenge; but, today’s puzzle also required little if any annotation and so I sailed through it as well as Sharon was trying to record all of the possible solutions. I keep telling her, you don’t need to find all of the possible solutions (usually), just the right one!



At 11 AM we went to the Showroom to listen to a retired British history professor give a talk on Barcelona and Catatonia (this region of Spain). Catatonia is a pseudo-autonomous region of Spain and there are internal movements that would like to separate from Spain. They were heartened by the recent referendum in Scotland to become an independent country (although they voted it down); and, are pushing for such a referendum for Catatonia to separate from Spain. This region has not suffered the unemployment or hardships that have plagued most of Spain, in this busy port and industrial city, and home to the cathedral designed by Gaudi. Barcelona also hosted the 1992 Olympics. The speaker was quite entertaining and humorous and will be giving a total of nine talks (on sea days) during the cruise which we are looking forward to.



I had the Dive-In burger and French fries covered with Dive-In sauce. I added guacamole, salsa and jalapeños from the adjacent taco bar to my burger and ate on the pool-side Lido deck with Sharon who had gotten roast turkey and mashed potatoes.



We went back to our cabin and donned our “We Don’t Need Google…” shirts and went up to a near empty Crow’s Nest. We sat in the same place and it wasn’t long before Jim and Lucia found us. Our other two teammates didn’t make it today; so, another couple joined us. We’ve been getting a lot of questions that we haven’t had before, and Michael seems to know exactly what he’s going to ask in advance. On the previous cruise, Dave seemed to pick his on the fly, and sometime needed help if he’d already asked a certain question during a previous challenge. Michael doesn’t seem to break the ice with a couple “easy ones” as Dave did. Today he started with “What was the occupation of William James Morrison, the man who invented the cotton candy machine?” Now this question comes right out of left field, and no, that isn’t a clue for him being a baseball player! But you see where I’m going with this? There must be some possibly humorous reason for him asking this question… The man was a dentist! We couldn’t come up with that. Who is buried under the pseudonym Maria Maggie in a Milan cemetery? We didn’t guess Eva Peron, whose tomb we visited in Buenos Aires under the name Eva Peron! What apparatus due the athletes who use it refer to as “The Pig”? Sharon came up with pommel horse and we got a point for that! What does adagio mean (in music)? I looked at Sharon… it either means play louder or softer. We went with softer and got credit for that as well. What is the only essential vitamin that you won’t get in a white potato? Almost everyone went with Vitamin-C… That was just two letters too far into the alphabet. Mike asked, “How old was Marilyn Monroe when she died?” I heard teammates think it was 42 or 38 or probably 40… I just wrote down 36 and said I was sure of this answer. Sharon asked how I would know that and I did a hand gesture of an association I made when I first heard how old she was when she died that I’ve never forgotten: that being 36-24-36. It must be a guy thing by the look Sharon gave me. And Sharon also came up with a great guess as to what gets sized by a Brannock Device? Do people still use those when buying shoes? I instantly wrote down “penguins” as the answer to what animal swims at 20 MPH but likes to toboggan on its belly. Our teammates pushed for “sea lion” complaining “Well, it ‘could’ be sea lions.” So we went with “sea lions” and everyone else in the room knew it was penguins. In case you haven’t guessed, the answer was “penguins”. I’m not bitter… I think Sharon is still sore at me for that Marilyn Monroe answer. It looked like it might come down to the 3-point bonus question. “What does LASER stand for?” Well we didn’t know! I think everyone got “Light” correct. Too bad we didn’t follow that with “Amplification by Stimulated Emission Radiation”. We were in fourth place. Two teams were tied for first and the tie breaker was “How many watts in one horsepower?” One team said 350 and the other said 1,001. The answer was 746 and they guy playing by himself at the bar won.



We played bingo at 4 PM. We didn’t come close in the first regular bingo game. And then we played a 4-corners game… I hope he doesn’t play the same games as they did last cruise. Sharon got to stand, or would have gotten to stand; but, someone called bingo. The third game was a small picture frame. I was so happy he didn’t chose the Small-X again, the way they did day-after-day on the Nieuw Amsterdam. The Small-Picture-Frame is a longer game, needing 8 numbers instead of just 4; and with “I”, “N” and “G” calls instead of just “I” and “G”. Sharon started out fast, and got to stand along with many others. I would have gotten to stand with the final call; but, someone shouted “Bingo” before I could get out of my seat. One of my cards showed a lot of promise 15 calls prior to the cutoff for winning the $5,000 bonus jackpot that you can win if you get Bingo with just 46 calls (or less). At that point I got six numbers in a row and reduced by missing numbers to just six with nine calls yet to go. Then something went woefully wrong. Ten calls later I still needed six numbers and the qualifying cutoff had been passed. Even Sharon needed less numbers than me! Someone else called Bingo. We’ll just console ourselves with the fact that not many people were playing and the prizes were about the smallest that we’ve seen.



It was gala night so gentlemen are supposed to wear a suit and tie… I was wearing my tuxedo and Sharon her aqua formal attire. I ordered the jumbo shrimp with “American style cocktail sauce”. I asked for it on the side (which turns out how it was served anyways). I also asked for some fresh horseradish and they brought me plenty. I had to use most of the horseradish that they brought, and even then I thought the result was only mildly potent (nothing that would knock my socks of anyway). I once had half a drop of some Chinese wasabi oil and it literally took my breath away… I think they call it pulmonary arrest. The shrimp wasn’t completely fresh, and was a little bit limp, unlike the first night I’d had the jumbo shrimp on the Nieuw Amsterdam out of Venice. I had an excellent mushroom soup next; and, Sharon had the cold sour cherry soup which she must enjoy because this is the second time she’s ordered this soup. I ordered the chile releno which was excellent and a little spicy. Sharon ordered the “Sea and Land”, two grilled prawns and a filet. I enjoyed her “Sea” part and the filet was delicious as well. I had the chocolate cake with coconut filling and Sharon was disappointed by no chocolate soufflé for the first gala evening, and was stuck with the crème Brule (which evidently is the everyday dessert in the Mediterranean along with the tiramisu.



The show featured “The Fly Boys”, a multi-dimensional quartet adding their brand of jazz incorporating modern tunes and thus blending generations. Each performer is from the UK and has an impressive resume outside of the recently formed group. They certainly can belt out a tune at full volume!

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