April 14, 2022

#myvikingstory

After several intense excursion days in a row, we spent today lazing, chatting with staff, taking in the entertainment, going to lectures, and having dinner with friends.

We thoroughly enjoyed the pre-lunch talk by Dr. Kathy Stearne’s entitled “Crusaders: Heroes or Villains?” It made us wonder who Richard the Lion Hearted’s public relations firm was. He bankrupted England, attacked Christian Sicily to get even more money, and didn’t even actually make it to Jerusalem on his Crusade, yet he’s the hero and his younger brother King John, left behind to deal with the fiscal mess, was the “bad guy” in all the Robin Hood legends.

After lunch, Captain Olav generously gave interested folks a sneak peek at the log book he’s been keeping for this cruise. In addition to things like wind and weather, and even a few photos of engine oil testing blots, his log contains all our names, and pictures he has taken at every port of call. Sometimes they’re photos taken from the bridge; other times he has taken them from his bicycle, which he rides for an hour or two whenever he can get off the ship.

Mid afternoon we were treated to “Swing While You’re Sailing”, a wonderful selection of swing songs performed in the atrium by our entertainment team, all dressed in appropriate swing-era sparkles!

We also took in Caroline Holmes’ lecture about imagery in Christian art, which made us realize why Dan Brown found it so easy to use hidden symbols as a basis for his novels.

Silly me. I then went upstairs for Cruise Director Kate’s Celtic Celidgh dance class, which confirmed that in or out of flipflops, I still can’t dance the Gay Gordon.

Dinner tonight with Allan and Karin was a brand new Chef’s Table menu centred on Indonesian cuisine, created by our very own Chef de Cuisine, Wayan. While we waited for our amuse bouche, we snacked on shrimp chips and a spicy dip similar in taste to a peanut satay sauce.

Need I say it? Even when we’re just cruising, every day is wonderful.