Day 8 At Sea

We got an extra hour of sleep last night as the clocks got set back. Well, in theory we got an extra hour, but Guy's iPhone didn't update to the time change and our alarm went off at 8 am like it was supposed to, but it was actually 7. I didn't go to bed until after 1am and I couldn't figure out why I was so tired. We both had an activity we were going to do at 10:30 and it wasn't until then did we realize we were up an hour too early. Gah! It's vacation, people. Getting up early when you don't have to breaks all laws of nature. Sigh... So for the next hour I tried to figure out why my photos didn't upload and my battery in my iPad was going down not up. Frustrating morning. Apparently the wifi is so bad I can't upload images. My mom and I were chatting on What's App last night and we got cut off. So we knew then it was sketchy at best. So now I'll just have to upload images from my phone while at the ports. No big deal really, I'm just type A and like my images to be up when the blog is up. Relax, Beth. It's vacation.

So at the REAL 10:30 Guy went down to the dining area to take a tour of the Galley (the ship's kitchens) and I went to the Art Auction. The plan after our activities was to meet back in the room for a nap. Good plan. Guy said his adventure was interesting to see the behind the scenes of such a huge operation, but the best part was the staff answering everyone's questions. The executive chef was Jamaican and apparently quite the character. He said they were all funny. My art auction was the opposite. No one really laughing, it was more serious and people spending big money. This is pretty expensive art and their most expensive piece was an original painting that was available for a mere $45,000. There was one piece I had my eye on. I inquired about the price and it was about $1,400. Um, no thank you. But it was lovely and I was envious of some of the buyers today. The largest bid was several thousand dollars while the lowest bid was around $350. Apparently it was a pretty good deal the gallery was offering. I'm not an art collector because I have a talented aunt whose beautiful paintings I will never take down. But the experience was fun and I've always been curious about the ship's art collections and auctions.

Napped - 2 hours - oh, yeah....

About 2pm we got up to grab some lunch and move around. It is a foggy day on the English Channel and you really couldn't see out very far.  Supposedly on a clear day you could see both the English coast and the French coast. Not today my friends. The same goes for tonight. You can't really see out at all. It's creepy but I know the ship has radar, so no worries. Guy spent his afternoon reading a book outside in a deck chair and I spent my time in the Apple Store with a gal trying to help me upload pictures and figure out why my iPad isn't charging. Technology hiccups filled my afternoon. No uploading of pictures and no downloading of books. Lots of people are complaining about the Internet. It is what it is until we get to the next port. At least my What's App works well for texting/talking and surfing the web is fine, too. So not all is lost in bad wifi land. The reason I was trying to download a book was because my sweet friend Amanda Hickman had recommended the book: The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society several years ago, which I read. However, we are actually going to be in Guernsey tomorrow and I wanted to re-read the story just for fun. But alas...the download froze at 95% and never moved again.

We got ready for dinner and it was fancy night in the dining room. We didn't really bring things for super dressy dress up, but we had a couple of outfit options that were good enough to get by. When Guy got out of the shower I was already ready and he said "You look nice, I like your tiara". Dear readers, please understand I do love a good tiara, but this was just a sparkly headband and is not quite the same. However, I had a good laugh about it and did receive the title of "Princess". Before dinner we went to the 7pm show because our reservations were for 8pm. It worked out perfectly as the show was 50 minutes long and we were right on time for our reservation. The show was like a musical and some of the singers were really really good. Guy had a couple next to him that talked the entire time. It was a bit frustrating. When we got to the restaurant for dinner the hostess told us she had us saved the table for two by the rail like we had requested (that overlooks the downstairs dining) but someone saw it was open and "jumped in it". So apparently they didn't ask them to move. I told Guy if it was our non-compliant neighbor I was gonna have words. That would have been so funny! But it wasn't and we just sat at the table next to them. They looked like they were enjoying the spot. Maybe we will get it tomorrow night! Dinner was really delicious again tonight. Starters were salads, Guy with the traditional Caesar and mine was a watermelon and tomato concoction with feta cucumbers, red onions and a vinaigrette. I'm going to try to recreate that at home! Our second plate was fried frog legs and they were tasty! For our entrees Guy had beef medallions and I had a zucchini and goat cheese somethin' somethin' and it was quite amazing. For dessert we went with Ileana's suggestion of apple crisp and she was correct. Superb.

Well that was about it today. Nothing too adventurous except ... Drum roll ... my ride in the all glass elevator. It wasn't bad at all because I could see out and the doors open immediately. Not sure I care to ride it by myself, but maybe!! Baby steps....