TC1 Days 6 & 7: At sea

The sun returned for Day 6 (Sunday) which proved to be the most sedate day yet. We seem to be falling behind the clocks, which advanced another hour (3 hours in total now). We rose too late to make the Sunday brunch in the dining room, which began at 11:30 am. Instead we had our usual coffee (black Americano for me, cappuccino with a shot of espresso for Jett) and lounged on deck, in or near the sun for most of the afternoon. I spent only an hour on the current puzzle and did not visit the casino at all, instead investing some time in the less expensive pursuit of reading.

Due to the time change, our 8 pm dinner started during the most spectacular sunset yet. The photos I took were through glass, which dulled them a bit and introduced some reflection of dining room lights, but they captured the beauty nevertheless.

Dinner was not all that interesting, which is surprising given that this was an evening when the Holland America “culinary council” exhibited their favorite recipes. I had a potato soup which was okay, but not hot enough, a jumbo shrimp salad which seemed more like an appetizer than an entree, and a pear crepe which was very tasty and very small. I left the dining room feeling less than full and, for the first time, ate something at the late night buffet. I was planning on just taking some dessert to the cabin, but we passed the pasta station and the garlic reeled me in. I ate a small plate of ziti topped with a custom marinara sauce with capers and pesto. Delicious!

We then played Hand, Knee and Foot in our room, while Season 3 of Downton Abbey played on the TV. We finished the game (which I won, coming from behind) at 2:30 am, further evidence of our bodies falling behind the clocks.

Day 7 (Monday) was another bright, sunny, cool day with rolling seas. I engaged in the usual activities: jigsaw, casino (another $20 loss – down $65 now), some reading, some hanging out in the smoking area on the Lido Deck Aft. I also spent some time on our balcony, taking advantage of the sun. The big event was the team trivia contest. My team – 5 people, including 2 retired physicians – got 14 right out of 16 questions, just one behind the two winning teams. But the annoying aspect of that is that one of the questions we missed was a medical question – what is the medical name for heartburn. Both physicians had never heard of the term so one has to wonder where the question came from.

We also watched more of Downton Abbey, completing Season 3 (poor Matthew!) and watched The Greatest Showman before bed. It was good enough to keep us both awake to the end, which for us is high praise.

Jett had steak at dinner while my entree was a cornflake-crusted haddock which was pretty tasty. The real star of the dinner for me, though, was dessert: banana tatin which looked like a scoop of vanilla ice cream atop a honey bun. But the “bun” was a baked half banana, curled into a circle and covered in a caramel glaze, resting on a thin biscuit. Yum!