Day 109 - Sunday April 16

Easter photos
position at 8:45am: N39 10.38 latitude E0 42.00 longitude
(about 388 miles NE of Malaga, Spain)
temperature: 61F, mostly sunny
distance since FLL: 34,812 miles
HAPPY EASTER!
Clay did 35 laps this morning and it was nice about 60 degrees F and not too windy. He and one other walker had the place to themselves. Debbie seriously slept in this morning and we just made it down to Compass Rose at 9:15am before their 9:30am closing. Clay had blueberry pancakes. Debbie had raspberries and chocolate croissant followed by a single order of swedish pancakes. We skipped the offered Sunday-morning-at-sea special, which is Eggs Benedict topped with caviar and champagne. Captain Dag said in his 9am Vords of Visdom that we are going slowly otherwise we would arrive in Malaga about midnight and that there is no point in that. We'd like to get there sooner than later, but as long as we are on time we'll be happy.
Clay told Debbie there was a giant Easter Bunny lying in the Main Atrium. Should she rush to go see him? No, he will probably be there later. So, after breakfast we strolled that direction. Visible from the front door to Compass Rose, there were big brown feet sticking up off a white cloth-covered table and the table was surrounded. What is this? A wake? The Easter Bunny was lying in state! More than one person was reminded of the recent death and lying in state of Pope John Paul II. The feet were the same, one foot drifting off... It was very sad and depressing. We all wanted to see the Easter Bunny at least propped up! There were dyed hard-boiled eggs and loose and wrapped candies all over and around the dead bread Easter Bunny. Debbie wanted some of the chocolate, but they were having an unadvertised Easter Egg hunt in the Main Atrium for the children and she did not know what the bounds were. But, some grown people were standing around the table noshing on the Easter decoration candies. She saw Lars standing off to one side and went over and asked him if we were allowed to take chocolates off the display. He sternly told her NO, she got her candies delivered to her suite last night. Didn't she? Debbie told him, a big dark green hard-boiled egg and a few candies. Lars, told her, well that is what you get then, no more. Debbie looked disappointed and Lars patted her shoulder and told her he was joking and of course she should help herself to the candies. Debbie went overa picked up 5 foil-wrapped chocolates and put them in her sweater pockets. Lars asked her what she thought of it and well, if he can dish it out then she hoped he could take it. She told him it looked like the Easter Bunny was lying there dead and we were holding a wake. The Easter Bunny lies in state. Lars looked over and just bowed and shook his head. Apparently, he had not seen it that way until now. Debbie told him, this is just too sad and depressing, rest in peace Easter Bunny. Lars just cracked up with laughter. He told Debbie that when you bake a 4-foot bread bunny it has to lie down, there is no way for it to stand up unless you give it a skeleton. Debbie told him, there you go, problem solved, next year you should give it a skeleton and stand it up or at least prop it up. So, next year it will be an impressive and happy sight and not a state funeral. He said he would share the information. Let's hope. Debbie walked back over and put Bob on the table and looked up at Clay. Hand motions. Move some candy, move Bob. A voice behind Debbie said, "Debbie, I'm laughing at you." Debbie turned and Peggy (xrvlcruiser) had caught Debbie and Bob in action!
That reminds us. Yesterday Capt. Dag was very excited about a ship docked aft-to-aft with Voyager. The ship was Black Watch and it was smaller than us, but very attractive as Debbie had commented. It turns out that the ship is from the former Royal Viking Line and now owned by Fred Olsen Lines. Capt. Dag said he had gotten an invitation to go over and tour it. He was very enthusiastic about this anticipated ship's tour and was telling us about how special it was and beautifully designed with wonderful artwork and he hoped it would be more or less the same as his fond memories of it. He greeted us later at the Special WC'ers dinner and Debbie asked him how his Black Watch visit went. He was very pleased with it and said that the ship was even better than he remembered it. We'll keep that in mind.
So far Easter, which is Debbie's favorite holiday, was not living up to her expectations and she was really feeling homesick and sad. What is up with this? Some kid won a big chocolate foil-wrapped bunny as a prize for the Easter Egg hunt. His Mom asked him if he had seen the big Easter Bunny, he looked around and she pointed to the lying bread bunny. He went to the table and stood on his tiptops, turned up his nose and asked, "That's an Easter Bunny?"! Unless you were homesick for German Easter candies, you were probably disappointed today. Where are the Peeps?!? Where are the Cadbury Eggs, Reese's Eggs, the PEEPS? Speaking of which, the number of children aboard has probably more than doubled since Rome! (We heard that 290 passengers left in Rome, but have not heard how many new passengers came on for this segment.) But, there might be a bright spot ahead. Compass Rose did not have anything special in its menus for Easter, but the Passages newsletter had this, "Easter Lunch Buffet Please come join us for a special Easter Lunch Buffet in LaVeranda noon to 2pm. OK! We took Bob and the camera and headed up to LaVeranda about 12:30pm. It was the same buffet as always! Therre was a leg of lamb at the carving station, but that is not too special! Big disappoinment. We went down to Compass Rose. Debbie did not want any of the dishes that were being served in CR or LaVeranda (except no leg of lamb at CR) and just wanted a sandwich instead. She got a turkey sandwich and a bowl of chilled cream of fig and mint soup, that she really liked. Clay had the rigatoni in braised oxtail tomato sauce and really liked it. (He said it was very good, but different from the Friia family sauce because it was "not as ethnic," by which he meant there were no bones.) Clay had ice cream for dessert and Debbie had chocolate creme brulee, a bright spot in her day.
We spent most of the day going through Debbie's research for our planned drive tomorrow and visit to the town of Ronda in the rental car we have reserved. Keeping our fingers crossed that all goes well here. It will be a nice day no matter what. Just to get in a car and drive on our own again. Remind us a little of what life is back in the real world!
Tonight we have our dinner invitation with Jamie and Dana. We have seen them a couple of times since we received the invitation and they were reassured that we were coming. Tonight is Informal.
We have had very smooth sailing lately and don't think that we don't appreciate it. We really appreciate it and are thankful! We hope for it to continue past the Straits of Gibralter.
So, dinner with the Cruise Director, Jamie Logan and the Assistant Cruise Director, Jamie's wife, Dana. Also, at our table were our next door neighbors in 750, Rudy and Shirley, and newlyweds, Tom and Lillian. It turns out that we sailed with Tom on our first long cruise in 2001 on Crown Odyssey and we were on opposite ends of the same hallway, then! And, Tom's daughter, Bonnie has been reading this blog from the very first entry (still not sure how she found it!) and had told us to try to find her Dad to put his photo here on the website. Well, guess what Bonnie?!? Check the pictures! We finally, at long last, met your Dad and his charming and beautiful new wife, Lillian. We had a very fun evening. It was very much a small world experience as we tried to explain to Jamie and Dana how we could possibly "know" someone we had never met. It is hard to explain and more than a little strange. But, since this kind of thing just keeps happening, we are getting used to it. Hopefully, we will fade back into anonymity when we return home. If it wasn't out before, our trip journal is definitely "out" to Voyager staff after tonight. So, gosh, the big event tonight was conversation and we'll try to report what we ate. Debbie had an iceberg lettuce salad with sundried tomato viniagrette and tortilla strips, followed by farfalle amatriciana, white wine & basil sherbet and chicken parmagiana. For dessert, she had dulce de leche ice cream with chocolate sauce. Clay sat at the other end of the table, from Debbie and he had the iceberg lettuce salad and the pasta and then thynme-marinated lamb loin. For dessert, he had the ice coupe "Mona Lisa," diet vanilla ice cream with warm blueberries. The pasta amatriciana sauce was very, very spicy tonight. Debbie was happy for the sherbet to cool her palate. (Oh, Dana, after we all had a mental block 'blog' is short for web log.) Rudy & Shirley, it was great to spend more time with you at dinner tonight. Thanks to Dana & Jamie for getting us all together!
When Jamie heard that Debbie doesn't really like cruising and why, he asked her to post it here, so here it is. Jamie thought that other people needed to hear this, it may have been said before, but if not, he goes. Debbie gets seasick. Debbie really likes doing her own laundry and grocery shopping and cooking. She misses doing all those things on a ship and feels like a big slug just eating and eating without ever expending the calories to earn a meal. Thus all the exercise classes and stairs. So, this very long cruise has been particularly painful on this front between Debbie's broken toe and Clay's sprained ankle, and the respiratory illnesses and Debbie's pneumonia. This cruise was always going to be the hardest for us just because of the length of time continuously enclosed in this small space, but both of us being temporarilyimmobilized for stretches at a time has made it really difficult. Clay likes working and Debbie likes her chores and we miss those simple things along with all the freedom of not being passengers on a ship. That is not to say that we have not had an amazing journey, because it has been fantastic and amazing, but it has also been a test of character. There is a small globe that we bought in the Getty Musuem in LA. It comes in its own little round box and is called Traveller's World Globe in a Box. It has been sitting on the shelf above this desk for 109 days now. It has a unattributed quote on the outside that has become more and more meaningful. "A passage is one way travel -- A voyage is a round trip." This has been an amazing journey! It has another quote from Augustine. "The world is a great book of which they who never stir from home read only one page." This has become more and more meaningful as well. What an experience we have had.
In other news, Signatures has a new menu. We never eat there so we can't add anything other than this piece of news from the Daily Passages. Tonight is the first night of the new Spanish Bodega in Latitudes. We have reservations for Tues. night, so we'll add more on that later. Also, in Latitudes for the Spanish Bodega we have heard that they extended Amapola, the singer, through Ft. Lauderdale to perform in there with Frankie Holiday, the guitarist who has been onboard for a while now. And, Frankie's daughter, Aisha, has boarded to perform as a belly dancer. We have had a new puzzle for a few days now and don't know if we mentioned that it is a 3-D. It sat untouched for a few days until the 2 Spanish boys on board found it. Building is a boy thing. They have made a lot of progress on it. It is hard to make the jump from flat puzzles to 3-D but they will have it finished before long.
So, we have an early day tomorrow and we have to move the clocks back an hour tomorrow night, so it will be a very looong day tomorrow. We need to close and see if we can get this posted.
Easter photos