Every night before bed I check the mailbox outside of our room where they leave the next day’s itinerary as well as random flyers and announcements. Today is a sea day, and the weather is supposed to be sunny and a high of 18C (64F) Also there is another time change tonight.
Then I fling open the curtains and go out on the balcony to see what there is to see. On a sea day you see the sea. 😊. Today we are travelling through the Norwegian Sea.
I will entertain you with random facts that come to mind today, one being that Icelandic children start to learn English in elementary school, generally 5th Grade. Then they also start to learn Danish in High school, as well as a 4th language; either German, French or Spanish. The result is that most adults in Iceland can fluently speak four languages.
We had earlier found a small restaurant just outside the buffet, though a set of doors that looked like they went out to the deck. It only had about 8 tables and a small buffet of its own. It was a great find, and there was always a table available. We had our breakfast there, and they (“surprise”) served the same bitter coffee. I think it comes from a giant vat that is somewhere in the engine room.
Lots going on today, dance classes (today was learning the cha-cha!), sushi making, scavenger hunt, beer tasting, bingo, Deal or No Deal game show, and so much more. We passed on all of these and went to the art auction. We always go to these on every cruise on a sea day, they are so much more fun than you would think! They start with mimosas, which are always a good thing, and the auctioneer is always a bit of a comedian. They art itself is really good, they always have one of the masters (an original)(this cruise had a Rembrandt) as well as a lot of well known more modern artists (Banksey, Warhol) and many others whom I did not recognize. I’m not really knowledgeable in the art world, but there were hundreds of beautiful paintings ranging in price from $800 to $37,000. If one was interested in the Rembrandt, it was dealt with privately, so I have no idea what it was worth. I can’t see buying something like that on a cruise ship, but who knows?
Anyhow, the auctioneer goes super fast, each painting was done with within 45 seconds or so, so there was something new to see every minute. And there were raffles and draws throughout as well. We got a nice print which I’ll frame at some time, sort of a fun souvenir.
The auction house is Park West Gallery, so they’re a reputable company and they put on a fun and informative show. We enjoyed it a lot.
The waters are pretty rough in this part of the world, so we bounced our way up to The Vibe Club to visit our lonely bartenders and to have a hot tub. I never dreamed that I would ever be in an infinity hot tub, in the middle of the Norwegian Sea, being served fruit water by a waiter.
Tonight was Italian Night at the buffet, and then the comedian/magician/ventriloquist Christian Miró was the performer at the theatre. He teaches at the only university in Europe that has an official degree in magic, and has performed on NCL during his off times for the last 26 years. He was very good. After that one of the smaller venues (Improv at Sea) had a comedian, Alex Boardman, who was also very good. He has two shows a night, one family oriented and the other an 18+, which was the one we saw, although we didn’t find his show overly “adults only’, but it was funny nonetheless.
We checked out the casino again, and did not win another jackpot.
Tomorrow we wake up somewhere new!
No comments:
Post a Comment