At Sea

Slept in, sort of, some flag or something is knocking on the deck above us and is very irritating!, Then I forget it’s there until I suddenly hear it again ... exasperating.

I splurged this morning on French Toast...excellent, but not as good as waffles. Then down to hear the Explorations Club director talk about our upcoming ports. A new-to-me option in the Canal Zone is to be offloaded in Gatun Lake for a tour then wait at the port terminal in Colon until the ship exits the Canal. Ugh, NO! Especially after she stated that after a multiple hours train or bus ride said wait can be from 2-4 hours and “sightseeing” in Colon is not allowed. B and I are staying aboard.

Grabbed a sandwich from Lido Market for lunch. On to America’s Test Kitchen to learn about Asian Dumplings. Spencer is charming, knowledgeable and efficient. he’s been doing this for 3.5 years with Holland America and has quite a groupie following among the older ladies, if I am to believe their chatter while waiting for him to appear. I enjoyed this learning activity and will probably attend another one. Perhaps tomorrow for tapas and margaritas. I might have to buy a steamer. 

B went to the session on transitting the Canal. She is thrilled to be going there as her grandfather was a worker on it back in the 20’s. She is more than happy to stay aboard but is excited about choosing a deck from which to experience the locks. As I’ve experienced canal transits several times in various countries, I’m electing to sit on our balcony and wave at the watchers. (Actually, B’s very pleased today as she discovered the camera shop sold the memory card she needed for her camera!) 

HOLY CRAP!!! Notre Dame Cathedral is burning!!! Watching the news broadcasts took up a big portion of our afternoon. We were horrified and saddened. B, especially, as she had never been to Norte Dame and had just recently experienced the devastation of the Brazilian History Museum fire. I did appreciate BBC’s interview with Ken Follett as an authority on the cathedral. I thoroughly enjoyed The Pillars of the Earth when I read it. I was also bemused by a comment from a Catholic historian who, when asked about any Papal response, noted, “I’ve studied the Church for years. While money flows into Rome; it rarely flows out.” We went to bed somewhat cheered by the news that the cathedral was not utterly demolished. I feel for the people of France and hope it was a complete accident and not the fault of some poor workman on the restoration project. 

Notre Dame burning heightened my awareness of how dependent I have become on the instant information access of the internet. Since my cheapness (frugality?) kept me from paying for it, I have not missed the internet until just this moment when we were trying to remember the art and relics housed in the cathedral that were now endangered. It irked me but not enough to pay the money.

One thing this ship does have is potato chips! Every lunch they are baskets of bags of fresh chips available. I am not the only person who takes two and saves one for later! Sheila would be tickled.

I am so glad I brought the Kindle I got from Janet. Barbara has been reading books on it for a day or so. She meant to download more works on her IPad but got sidetracked. I just wish I’d checked the Kindle earlier so I would have known which books were still available. I forgot when I looked at the “downloaded” list that Janet borrows from the Broward County Library. My pre-cruise checklist keeps getting longer every trip I take. At least, I seldom forget the same item twice. 

I meant to go be entertained by B.B. King’s Allstars, but fell asleep. It MUST be the gentle rolling of the ship, the susurration of the water along the hull and the salt air, but I can hardly keep my eyes open. Probably, the heat adds to it as well. We are very near the equator.  We elected to watch the two documentaries about the Panama Canal. B decided her grandfather must have worked on the Canal after its initial phase. Now she is determined to connect some of her family on Ancestry to delve more into the project of discovering about her relative’s adventures working in the Canal Zone. I shared the picture I took in 2012 when Mom and I sailed into the Canal aboard Victoria. I wonder if Holland America will gift us with Canal Visitor documents like Cunard did? Mine is framed and hangs next to my Middle Earth map. 

Random thought for this day: How does one differentiate between handsome and good-looking?