The perfect day at sea
A perfect day at sea doesn't necessarily begin that way. Losing an hour's sleep due to a time change can make all the difference, but a good breakfast in delightful company soon puts things back on an even keel. We'd had some rough seas yesterday, causing us to stagger around the ship as if drunk, though in such conditions, more alcohol is the last thing needed!
Having been rocked to sleep, I was nevertheless glad to wake in calmer waters this morning..
I’ve written before about our favourite breakfast and the lovely people who make it special. We've been on the ship for a month now and it never fails to surprise me that Roselyn remembers how I like my toast and that even before I have put a couple of spoonfuls of Birchermuesli in a bowl, Jobert is standing there with a small bowl of blueberries he's retrieved from a fridge somewhere, ready to tip them on top. Every day they serve more than a couple of hundred people and yet they remember these small details and are there with a smile to greet us by name every time.
Over coffee, we give today's Mensa puzzle page some thought. It's good warm up for the next activity which will surely get the little grey cells working!
Bill's lecture for today brings together his previous presentations, reaching the conclusion of “The Theory of Everything”. We're eager to listen and learn, following his route of the development of physics from Copernicus to Newton and fully understanding his discussion about the development of the Newtonian telescope. I learned how Newtonian physics had been used to bring the Apollo 13 spacecraft back to earth safely and was quite happy progressing from there to Einsteinian physics too, thanks to his earlier talks.
But then…
He lost me. In spite of his reassurance, “don't worry, this is just an explanation”, I'm afraid the brain fog crept in and I left it at Einstein. Anyway, it was lunchtime and we had a date with Head Sommelier iNyoman and some friends.
The Conoisseur Wine Lunch was about to begin!
Chef Pascal arrived to take us through the dishes he'd planned for today's menu and as we sipped our Kir Royales, he whetted our appetite with details of tuna and avocado poke and Barbary duck breast.
A glass of champagne set the first course off nicely.
The tuna was delicious and the hint of sesame right up my street.
Next, there came a white viognier from France, which needed a little encouragement from the scallops and chorizo beside it.
The Italian Amarone della Valpolicella needed no such coaxing and suddenly, Balinese iNyoman became fluent in Italian, to everyone's amusement!
The Barbary duck and the piquant cherry and mustard sauce gave it a bit of a run for its money however.
Well into our stride now, we were ready for the Napa Valley Cabernet Sauvignon which had been chosen to accompany our beef.
though we didn't quite “get” the green mash in the small pot alongside it, nor did we detect any hint of wasabi as had been claimed. One of us was thankful for that!
Finally, finally a glass of the most delicious Canadian Ice wine from the Niagara Peninsula. So yummy!
Yes, the dessert was tasty and fresh, but the wine! The wine was extraordinarily good!
You know, as my Hero went off to hear another lecture this afternoon and I returned to our suite to catch up on my blog, I am pretty sure that both of us could have explained that physics expression from earlier in the morning now. If only we'd had a few glasses of wine beforehand, eh? 🤣
No sooner had I done that than it was time for Trivia. Firstly checking the solution to today's Mensa puzzles and then joining our team for fifteen general knowledge questions. It being St Patricks Day, many were wearing the green and the first eight questions had an Irish flavour to them. We don't usually mark St Patricks Day at all, being English and living in England, but our dear friend Terry had thought ahead and came prepared with “Kiss me I'm Irish” lei for my Hero and I 🍀 We came in third today, dropping points on the name of the owner of the place where Fred Flintstone worked (Mr Slate), the currency of Colombia (the Colombian Peso) and the letters scoring 10 points in Scrabble (we got Z but not Q).
This evening, we joined a table of eight and chatted our way through a couple of hours. Interesting conversation with just a few delicious bites and a glass of two of Italian white. We'd not met any of our dining companions previously but had the most fascinating evening and left with six new friends. A really great way to end the day.
Tomorrow we arrive in New Zealand and we're currently reflecting on the health advisory we've been given “for travel outside New Zealand”. Do they really mean “outside IN New Zealand” do we think? We’ve just spent four weeks on the most remote islands in the South Pacific and suddenly all kinds of dangers present themselves when we reach what we've always felt to be a civilised and safe country. What?!
Hmmm. Wish us luck!!
