You know how it is after a series of early starts?  Even though you know there’s no need to get up early, you still wake at some ungodly hour?  I was wide awake at 5.30 am and though I tried hard not to wake my hero, the tip-tapping of the laptop keyboard woke him half an hour or so later.

With nothing to do, nowhere to go and not much to see, it was going to be a quiet day.   Or so we thought.  We went and had breakfast, pottered about a little and noted there was a talk at 10.30 which we fancied hearing.  For some reason, we chose to take the lift (we normally walk down the stairs) and looked closely at the other couple – good grief, can it really be Mike and Sue who we met a couple of years ago?  Seeing them peering at us, we knew that we were correct.  How lovely to meet again, how strange to find them next door but one to us too(previously they were our next door neighbours on the ship).

We went on down to the theatre to listen to the lecture.  Of course, they knew Allan and Jane too – maybe we have a Trivia team here?!

The lecture was interesting but nothing new, and it was fun to sit with a Belgian couple for lunch and to speak German with them, though they really wanted to practise their English  Good conversation, much laughter and a little fun with Maurice, our waiter from last night, who remembered my penchant for ice cream

From time to time we spotted a fishing boat – really, that’s all the news from today!

This afternoon, there was another lecture but I’m ashamed to say I found it hard to stay awake.  Most of those around me didn’t!

Then it was time for Trivia.  We didn’t think we’d done too badly but slipped up on a couple.  We’d dithered over the maximum width for the baseline in a tennis court, wondering whether it was 3 or 4 inches and finally plumping for 3 when the correct answer turned out to be 4.  Rats!  Neither did we correctly guess the colour of the second “o” in Google..it was yellow when we guessed blue.  We’d never have guessed when Heinz tomato ketchup was first produced and we were wrong in thinking that Cuba was the closest foreign country to the USA without actually sharing a border (it was Russia), so we were rather surprised to find ourselves in a tie breaker with three other teams. 

Actually, none of us got the tie breaker (Steven Spielberg’s first Oscar winning film?) so we all got the points.  Hurrah!!

This evening, we dressed up and joined our friends for supper in Signatures, the French restaurant, where we came across another pair of old friends from previous travels.

The food here is reliably good, the service extraordinary.   So it was no surprise that we had a really great evening.

My lobster starter was delicious with just the right amount of star anise.

I really enjoyed the veal tenderloin with gnocchi and a few vegetables.

My hero chose his own favourite Tournedos Rossini.

And none of us had room for dessert.  No matter, because the little petits fours were sufficient!

We rounded the evening off with a nightcap and a few tunes from Broadway in the theatre and called it a day.  After all, we have a city to explore tomorrow.

It’s really lovely being on board Voyager; we are happy to come across old friends here and there and to share one or two memories with them.  Tomorrow we’ll wake up in Taiwan, so we’d better get some sleep!

Goodnight x