Sunday, Jan 27 - Day 7 of holiday and Day 5 on board Island Princess

Happy Birthday Pokey!

I started my day with my morning access to the Internet and a hot chocolate.  The seat I sit in faces to the SE and the early morning sun and the view of the swells is a nice way to start the day.  This part of the ship is quiet until about 8:30 when some early and enthusiastic card players show up and make it a happy but loud place.  I then move on.....

We enjoyed a breakfast in  the Horizon which was followed by a third round of mini-putt.  What has my life become????  I am currently up two out of three but I suspect that will change today as I have seen Freddi pantomiming the perfect golf swing when she is standing still.  I am worried about my status.

We sat in the sun for a brief period partially because we got too much sun the other day and partly because the wind was blowing like fury and shoes, sunglasses and even lounge chairs were tumbling down the walkway.  Freddi suggested that this was an ideal time for retail therapy, funny that eh, and we went to the "outlet sale".  I put that in quotes as it is a stretch in any language.  There was a collection of old trinkets and clothes from other cruises and stretch pants for men.  We could have purchased a nice windbreaker from the Alaska cruise if we were XL as every one of the jackets was XL.  Oddly enough there was a long line at the cash as people held their price reduced items close to their chests as they waited to pay.  As we left without anything an old guy sitting at the door said "You guys are the winners - you purchased nothing".  I think his wife was in the line.

After that exhausting activity we retired to the inside pool to watch the sea, read and perhaps to nap.

We then had lunch in Horizon and I am short on words about that event.  For the first time I felt I was trough feeding as a learned response.  Crap that only took 4 days at sea. 

We went to theatre to listen to a lecture about Cartagena and it was both interesting and insightful.  That city has taken a pounding over the years and a ton of money has been invested in building fortresses and protection for the city.  It also was the centre of all riches for many years as the Spanish and others of course became pirates in attempts to get their hands on the gold and silver.  We also learned that there are many parts of Cartagena where tourists should not walk alone.  The merchants  are aggressive and in some cases there is a criminal element that runs there.  Who would have guessed that as it is Columbia after all.  It is a beautiful city that has been built on reclaimed land and the photos show it to be very progressive.  I am looking forward to our tour there sometime later in the week.

In the afternoon I wrote a bit and listened to some music as Freddi napped.  We went to the theatre to watch Looper (a movie) before dinner and after a couple of hours we both left feeling that we would never get those two hours back and questioning why they would make such a movie.  It was just plain weird and so unnecessary.  Oh well I am sure there are folks out there that will enjoy it.

At dinner we were seated in the Provence Dining Room (fixed time and seating dining) as they had availability and we were stuck in a  corner by the window.  The view was great as it was dark and we could only see the white splashing of the ships wake as we steamed ever farther south.  It turned out to be the corner that Mario, the Sommelier, worked out of and he stopped to chat with us more than once.  We enjoyed our discussions and he advised us that the Melchor wine that I was enjoying was selling out quickly.  He put one aside for us later in the cruise as he knew that I enjoyed it so much.  Our dinner was a little different as I enjoyed a watermelon and Mascarpone cheese sauce served in a martini glass (think about that mmmm) followed by a nice veal marsala with yummy veggies.  Freddi had an asparagus appie and the veal also.  Did you hear that - Freddi ate veal!  Our desserts were just plain decadent in that they were both chocolate and high in calories an d sugar.  Go figgur'

We then walked down to the theatre again to watch the comedian go at people again.  He was very funny and we enjoyed his 45 minute stint.  We then walked from the aft to our stateroom which is almost the full length of the ship.  It was time to call this lazy day.