Sydney and at Sea

We finished our day in Sydney yesterday. I must say it was nice to get back

on land after being on the ocean. However being there was a bit of like being at sea in that in rained really hard for most our our walkabout! We headed to the Tim Horton's for a cup of coffee and a tea and just wandered for the rest of the day. The rain came down sideways and the only way out of it was to duck into stores and overhangs. We were totally soaked by the time we returned to the ship. Despite the fact that it rained most of the time, I tried to take pictures of the old houses and buildings. The computer may be able to enhance them a bit. However I think that I did get the second really nice picture of the trip. The first was in Bergen, this one was in a church where the colours were unexpected in that you could not see the tones when you looked at them. It may be a submittable one.

Today is another day of line dancing followed by a talk on polar explorers and finally another pub lunch. Today was prawns and french fries. We are going to a wine tasting and then the we have been invited to the wine and cheese reception in the art gallery. I think we get invited because we are in the system having won some free art in the past!
I should mention that the guitar player last night was a lot of fun. He was a comedian that took popular songs and changed the words. Even after a pasta meal he kept me awake. Last night it was rocking and rolling pretty good. We are on the tenth deck and the spray was going past the balcony. It has settled down now. Time for tea and watching the waves. Temperatures still in the low teens.

3 Days at Sea

We are sailing in the Gulf of St Lawrence at the moment after transiting from Iceland. The night we left Iceland was the same day that they had the line dancing night. Our waitress who had been really fast was really slow so we did not make it to the night except at for the last few minutes. They play a silly game and I was one of the 2 finalists. Oh Boy - Champagne. Unfortunately with the cut backs the prizes were hats. OK I can always use another one.
The crossing was rocking because of a few pressure systems that had developed. The first night I decided to head to bed after dinner and had a 12 hour sleep. I slept like a baby! Since that night with pot holes in the ocean as the captain likes to remind us were a bit like Windsor roads but things are going great. He took a course that was more towards Greenland and by this morning we entered the Straits of Belle Isle. That was not the planned route but we did see the Labrador shore early this morning. Right now we are on our way to the last port of Sydney . That is where we will be by tomorrow. Our days have been spent listening to the same person talk about ocean liners. The sinking of the Normandy was quite a good lecture. Today he talked about the Arctic. We also had another Art auction and did some line dancing and and the waltz in the ballroom class.
   Last night was also a formal night with the Captain's Circle party. There are almost 2000 members on board and we are one of 384 Elite members. We keep kidding Eli and Bill that we are Elite and anything that happens is because we are Elite. The casino has been a little better as we are still playing on our 'investment' from a week ago. Tomorrow is Sydney and we are just going to wander and maybe take a bus to one of the museum. Definitely a Tim Horton's somewhere along the way. Oh I should mention that now that we are in Canada, the sun has come out but the temperatures are about the same as the whole trip. We did meet a couple that we have talked to on 2 previous cruises! Tim for a rest before ballroom practice and cocktails!

Ashore in Reykjavik

Yesterday we had a sea day and it was a time to do very little except eat which is the only thing that we seem to be doing these days. We did go to another lecture by the same person who talked about the Titanic. This time it was on the liners that came after the Titanic disaster and included some of the improvements that were made in ship construction. Again his story telling was terrific! He talked about what it was like to be a passenger on the cruise liners before World War 2. A hour went by in a flash. We also tried Salsa dancing and in slow time it is doable but when the real Salsa starts we are lost. We tried and have to admit we were not too successful. We also went to the Elite cocktail party and had big shrimp (giant ones! - really giant!). No wonder I was not too hungry for dinner! We also took in a production show.
   Today was Reykjavik Iceland touring day.

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From he Church Tower

Since we had toured to the hot springs the other day we had decided to stay in town and discover this place. I can only think of what it must have looked like when Roy was here about 40 (sic) years ago. In any case we spent the whole day walking around. The first stop was the church which was built a few years ago with the hugh spire. It is on a hill and can be seen from anywhere in town. We took the lift to the top - the stairs were not open and besides it was up 11 stories - and got some great shots

A Local Beer

of the city. Now if I had a really good camera they might have been better but I may have a few that shows the colours of the buildings and roofs. The inside of the church was very modern looking in contrast to the churches of Europe. After a bit of a walk the next stop was the national museum where we met up with 3 tours from the ship. Anyway we spent some time there looking at the dis plays of the development of Iceland from a human point of view. No volcanic history here

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. After a bit we walked back into town and finally found an open pub where we enjoyed a pint of the local beer. As everything else it in Iceland it was very expensive. I did manage a few more photos of all the building that have been here for a few years. Then it was back to the ship.
    We are ready to sail in about an hour. After that it is 3 days on the Atlantic before we get to Sydney around noon for a brief stop. Then 3 more days to Florida. We hope that the weather will get out of the 50's (or 10-14) as it has been. We have not spent much time outside on deck on this trip. More Later.