The flights, and the transfer in Frankfurt, were uneventful.  United have improved their service, a lot.  We got more food than we knew how to eat, and it was free, because it was an international flight.  It was even edible, just amazing.  Add to that the fact that I could plug my computer the whole time, and even access the Internet, and I was a pretty happy camper.  It cost me twenty bucks and many hours of sleep, but I was happy.

We checked in to the Hilton Doubletree Centraal Station, while it was still light, Everyone was very nice, and the hot cookies were delicious.  Unfortunately, our key did not work.  Neither did the bellman’s master.  The duty manager, and a maintenance man, got involved.  While we were waiting for him, out in our hall, I asked the manager where I could buy a bottle of wine, to eat with our leftover United and Lufthansa sandwiches.  We were too tired to go out to eat.  She immediately had a bottle of wine sent up to compensate us for the wait.  Good on the Hilton, too.  It wasn’t great wine, nor were they great sandwiches, but they were just what we wanted, and we enjoyed them by our window, with its river view.

We woke up at ten the next morning, Wednesday, August 3^rd, much refreshed, and proceeded to have a lovely shower together, followed by some bath time for me.  Then we went to Starbucks, downstairs, for yoghurt, muffins and tea.  Pat Harrold and Paul Hart checked in by text message, and we both downloaded WhatsApp, for free calls.  My new ASUS Zenfone 2 is working a treat.  There are still things I don’t understand about it, but it’s performing, and the quality is high.

Elvon and I worked out at the hotel’s fitness center, while Pat and Paul went to the Rijksmuseum, to see the Dutch masters.  It’s fabulous.  We saw it years ago.  I could go again, but I have quite a bit to do, and what I didn’t do much of last time was walk the streets.  So, I set out for my walk.  I needed to fill a prescription for Elvon, as our derm had called me at SFO to tell me that a culture had shown that the infection in Elvon’s navel was not cancerous (good) but also not what she had prescribed for.  So, I needed a pharmacy, as well as a depanneur (what all Montrealers will always call a convenience store).  The concierge told me both could be found in the train station next door, on my way back.   He suggested a nice city walk to Dam square, right through the red light district.  It was great fun.  This is what you get for a jewelry store:

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Yes, I saw a lady in a window, too, but she wasn’t much.  She was built just like me.

The pharmacy in the station turned out to be just a drug store, and what I wanted was prescription medicine.  Onne, the concierge, called a real pharmacy, but they insisted on a doctor’s prescription.  This wasn’t a problem for Onne.  He has a doctor on call.  This doc is 93 years old, quite famous, still very smart, and only 70 euros.  We didn’t have much choice, so I had Onne bring him on.

The doc arrived, accompanied by Luke, the manager on duty.  He was there as translator, and general factorum.  He also sorted out the uncleaned room in a hurry, got us two more wine glasses, advised on a restaurant and provided a wheelchair to get Elvon there.  Onne bicycled off with a prescription for amoxycicilin-clavulin .  The doc didn’t like our Napa derm’s advice to use Aquaphor to keep E’s belly-button juicy, so it would not close over, as it had been doing for months.  He prescribed baby powder to keep it dry.  I wrote to Drs Duncan in Napa, and Sissons in Montreal, but I started on Dr. Lassen’s regime.  I was pretty sure the antibiotic was a god idea, and Elvon tolerates such things just fine.

Pat and Paul were there by now, and we started in on our Chateau Depanneur Sauvignon Blanc, with cheese and bread sticks.  I had bought Kaas and Zout flavors.  It turned out Kaas was cheese and Zout was salt.  Google translate on my phone would have told me this, had I been smart enough to look.  The depanneur had four kinds of cheese, but they were all Gouda.  I bought the one with the red cellophane, and it was very good.

The restaurant was Ganesha, named after my favorite Hindu god.  It was excellent, but not very accessible.  Once we got Elvon up the four steps, with no railing, short treads, and high risers, we found out the bathroom was in the basement, down a whole flight of stairs, with even shorter treads and higher risers.  Three of us had large Kingfishers.  Elvon had a little one.  He lasted long enough, so that when he had to go, Paul just whisked him away, while Pat and I stayed to pay the bill.  The food was wonderful, and we do recommend the place, but only to the able-bodied and able-bladdered.

On Thursday, the 4^th, we pretty much repeated the day, only we were up a lot earlier, and I got most of the computer work done for our hosting assignment.  Our Montreal dermatologist, Wendy Sissons, had weighed in with the suggestion that we use rubbing alcohol to cleanse and dry out Elvon’s belly-button.  I didn’t know whether to add the talc or not, so I did.  About mid-afternoon, Pat and Paul came over and we stuffed and folded for an hour or so… Then they went back to their B & B, as it was very close to where we were having dinner.  I went out for a walk to Dam square looking for golf shirts for Elvon and nail polish for me.  In other words, trying to buy that which I had forgotten to pack.  No luck, but it was a fun walk.

I got back to the room, freshened up, mustered Elvon, and we took a taxi to Restaurant MAX, Herenstraat 14, Jordaan area.  That’s the up market area Pat & Paul’s B & B is in.  It’s Dutch cuisine with Indonesian specialties, as Indonesia was once a Dutch colony.  We had the tasting menu, which was delicious and a lot of fun.  The rice chips were addictive, as was GrisBlanc, a rosé from the Languedoc.  We had three bottles.

Pat’s ex, Steve Harrold, has never met Paul, and Pat and Paul have been together for thirty-five years.  Steve refuses to believe Paul even exists.  He has never believed me before.  Maybe he will now.  Herewith, evidence, at MAX:

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On Friday, the 5^th, it was Starbucks, gym, computer, pack and go for a walk.  I was now treating Elvon’s belly-button with white vinegar, on the advice of Dr. Karyn Duncan, our Napa derm.  It gets those gram-negative rods, you see.  So I was shopping for vinegar, along with golf shirts and nail polish.  I didn’t get any of it, but it was fun.  There’s a Pride weekend just starting up, and the red light district was all in rainbow balloons, street vendors, and such.  I wished Elvon could walk, as it looked like a fun evening on the street was just about to start.

Pat and Paul had late Van Gogh Museum tickets, and a plan to crash not long after, so we made our own fun.  We still had half a baby Gouda and a bottle of Lindemans’ Chardonnay, from the depanneur run.  I added a fresh baguette and ordered one lasagna, and a side of white vinegar, from room service, and got a couple of free Hilton cookies from the desk.  By the time we had gone through that lot, the sun was just going down, so we rode the elevator to our rooftop SkyLounge, where there was a lovely view of sunset and city.  We only stayed for one glass of wine, as it was a tad chilly, but we were very happy we had gone up.

In 2017, we have two assignments on Holland America’s 647 passenger, ms Prinsendam, January 3, 2017, it’s a 67-Day Grand South America & Antarctica Voyage. There’s a 37-day segment, too.
and next summer, it’s the ms Prinsendam again, August 18, 20-day Iceland, Greenland & Scottish Explorer. We would love for you to come along. Just shoot me an email and I’ll get you a quote. 

Britain is leaving the common market.  That’ll teach the voters that a vote is not a toy.  You have to vote the way you want it to come out, just in case a lot of other people think just like you.  This is a lesson America needs to learn, and in a hurry.  If we had learned it sooner, we might have a better choice of candidates.

Anyway, it works for us.  We hope to pick up some bespoke clothing at bargain prices  We got rid of 70% of what we had.  Most of it was out of style anyway.  I had been keeping things because they had labels, and were expensive, but shoulder pads, double breasted, really?  Thanks Ritzie, for helping me be ruthless.  We did such a good job that there’s even room in the downsized closets for a couple of nice new pieces.

Speaking of the new digs.  They are fabulous..  We have a vista from our balcony.  The food is spectacular, and the people are terrific.  There’s not a rotten apple in the barrel, and that’s a lot to say for an old folks’ home,  You’d swear it was a cruise ship, and I do know what those are like.  If you don’t have our new address, it’s Fountaingrove Lodge, 4210 Thomas Lake Harris Dr. # 117, Santa Rosa, CA 95403.  My cell phone stays the same, and it now has free texting all over the word, where T-Mobile has service.  I can even call you back for 20 cents a minute, if it’s urgent.  I expect to save $1,000 a year over Verizon.  Stay tuned.  I’ll report glitches here, if any.

Since we got back to Napa on May 5, an awful lot has happened.  We sold the house and a lot of its contents, gave away the rest, and moved on June 10.  Thanks, Susan, Ruth and Kim. We lived in boxes for a couple of weeks, which were sheer hell.  We still don’t have much furniture, but there’s a lot on order and more will be soon.  Thanks Deborah and Val.  But we are having a lot of fun.  Thanks, Pat.  We have dinner in this gourmet restaurant every night.  There’s no corkage, of course, and that’s a good thing, because we have to drink up our cellar, as it will age a lot faster at 65 degrees, than at 55.  We eat with different people most every night and they are all delightful.  Dinner is often followed by a movie, with popcorn, no less.  On Sunday afternoons, there’s live music, with sweet treats.  There have been a couple of parties out on our “lanai”, with the best view in the place.  The last one was a fund raiser, and it had a wonderful danceable band.  I thought I had forgotten how, but my new neighbor brought out the dancing fool in me.

Then there are the outings.  We haven’t had much time to participate, but we will.  I can’t wait.  But now, we are on a plane, bound for Amsterdam, where we will stay a few days before boarding Celebrity’s Silhouette to go around the British Isles, with stops in Guernsey, Liverpool, Dublin, Cork, Belfast, Edinburgh, Inverness, etc.  On August 20, we’ll fly to Montreal to hang with our dear friends and relatives there for a bit.

In 2017, we have two assignments on Holland America’s 647 passenger, ms Prinsendam, January 3, 2017, it’s a 67-Day Grand South America & Antarctica Voyage. There’s a 37-day segment, too.
and next summer, it’s the ms Prinsendam again, August 18, 20-day Iceland, Greenland & Scottish Explorer. We would love for you to come along. Just shoot me an email and I’ll get you a quote.

April 25 was a busy day.  They get that way on the crossing home.  The ship schedules all kinds of parties, among which are three Mariners’ lunches, and ours falls today.  I schedule a couple of events, myself, to make sure the guests remember what we do for them, when they fill out their Comment Cards.  Tonight, 24 or so of us will be eating at Canaletto, all for the special 4*+ price of $5.  I will be pouring wine I bought on our Livorno wine tasting, and it should be very pleasant.

The guest talent show was today, too.  Harvey Cohen was in it, dancing to L’il Darling.  He used to dance on American Bandstand, back when we were all young.  The star of the show turned out to be a neighbor of ours on Deck 3.  She recited a very long poem, that she had written 20 years ago, when she took her first world cruise.  It was good, and she was better.  She still had it memorized, and it likely ran to three pages.  I’ll have to re-commit “The Raven” to memory.  I used to recite those three pages, but have lost most of them over the years.

Dinner at Canaletto was a lot of fun.  We drank twelve bottles of wine.  That always helps.  The entertainment was good, too, Island Magic, a steel band from Trinidad.   We’re on our way to the Caribbean, you see.  We had this nice pic of ourselves taken, while waiting for our guests to arrive.

On April 26, I did a bunch of paperwork, and even more packing.  It was the last Gala night, so we went back to our regular table to say goodbye to those very nice people.  May we meet again.  We skipped the Masked Ball.  There’s no point taking Elvon to such things and I had a big day on the morrow.

The next day, I went to the Pinnacle around 11:15 am  to meet with Tristan, the wine steward.  I only had about seven bottles of wine left, but with four from Michael and one from Alan and Lynn, I figured we would have enough.  Then the Healings arrived, God bless them.  They had each purchased a wine by the glass package and had about 125 glasses left between them.  That would do our whole lunch and then some, and it made life really easy on Tristan.  God bless you, Healings, we will think of you as we drink our own wine down, over the next couple of days.

“Show and Tech” went well enough, but only about four people spoke up. Next time I do this, we’re back to “Show and Tail.”  Everybody buys something animal-related and has a story to go with it.  It was still a delicious lunch and it’s always nice to see how well the group has bonded.

After lunch I went straight back to my desk and took more boarding pass information down.  Then I finalized and printed my letters, collated them with a comment card each, watched the Filipino Crew show, and delivered them.

Now that I had the last pictures, from the lunch, I started making screen savers on the USB drives Gene had given to me.  It took 5 minutes each, and 20 minutes for the special one for Norm Petersen, with all Dees fish on it.  I was popping USB drives in and out of my computer as I cycled through the shower, and got dressed for dinner.  I took a bunch of them out with me, and gave one to every DV passenger I met.  The rest will be picking them up at the desk, when they bring in their Comment Cards, or whenever I see them.  I will always have a few on me.

Chris Spano, the Librarian, and Mike Holt came to dinner, and we had a lot of laughs.   It was the last all-singing, all-dancing production show, and it was called The Midnight Hour.  It was their best.

April 28, two days before we were due to disembark, I was still making screen savers through morning ablutions and in-room breakfast, and I had enough to stock my desk with, by the time the time came.  There was a note in my door from Marcia, beginning what we called “The Case of the Squealing Pig”.  A bottle of wine had gone missing in the dining room last night.  Dan was having a party at a bigger table, beside his usual one.  His table is already DV people heavy, with Alan and Lynn and Bobbie at it.  He had added Michael and Marcia.  Marcia had given him a bottle of wine called “Squealing Pig”.  She had bought it at Matua, one of the wineries our tour went to in New Zealand.

Dan said he had brought it to the dining room, with his place cards, in the middle of the afternoon.  Come dinnertime, no one could find it.  I called both Marcia nad Dan for more info and took the case to Jacques, the Cellarmaster.  It was going to be trouble, because it spanned jurisdictions.  When Dan went to the dining room, there were no wine stewards on duty, so he had given it to a couple of dining stewards.  He did not know their names.  Jacques admonished me to interrogate Tom, the dining room manager, when I saw him at dinner, but allowed that he would make good on the bottle.

The desk was a madhouse, with many, many DV cruisers coming in with their evaluations, for a hug and a screen saver.  The evaluations are beautiful, by the way.

I met Jacques in the gym, and he was happy to report that he now knew where the Squealing Pig was.  The dining steward had taken it to his room for safekeeping and would be calling me to ask what to do with it.  I called Marcia and told her.  Then Dan called.  He had found the bottle in his cabin.  He must never have taken it to the dining room, when he took in the name tags.  He was pretty embarrassed, but, bless his heart, he had already called Jacques and owned up to it.  Case closed.  We’ll never know where the bottle in the Dining Room Steward’s room came from.  You can be pretty sure he didn’t steal it, as these guys are almost all Muslim, and they don’t drink.

The Yetkes and Healings hosted a small party in the Healings’ suite at 7:00 pm, and we were delighted to be invited.  It was nice and laid-back, full of martinis and left over wine, and the fabulous hors d’oeuvres that are there for the asking, when you live in a Neptune Suite.  We went on to have dinner at one of the two Yetke tables, and had more nice face-time with the Wescotts and Healings.  Terry Davies provided an excellent Piano Man show, with the music of Elton John and Billy Joel.

April 29, one day left. I was up bright and early and into my walking shoes for “On Deck for a Cause”.  Sadly, I have enough of my own people to walk for these days, and I had joined the Yetke, Wescott, Healing table group to walk for Roz Bricknell, an Australian lady, who has been at their table for years, and likely won’t be next year.  Cancer is so nasty.  I did a lot of the walk with Nicola, the IT Manager.  I like him a lot.  After about four rounds, I expected him to leave me in the dust, but he didn’t, he just left me to get to work.  I did another round with Rebecca, from Shorex.  Then she went to work, too.  I managed seven rounds, which is one more than I usually do, before I went to work.  Unlike the crew, I had done all I could, anyway.

I added a couple more boarding passes to my list accessed the Internet and went into business.   Won’t bore you with it, but it took most of the day.  I had a two hour break at one point, so I took Elvon to the gym, and finished packing.  I went back to the desk around five and did the late ones.

Once again, it was a wonderful experience and we finished it off with three days at Willie and Isabel Gray’s house, where the hospitality is always warm.  We got up at 5:20 am on May 4, crossed Alligator Alley in the fog, returned the rental car, shuttled to the airport and got there in time to catch the flight before the one we were booked on.  Good thing, than, because our 11:42 am flight wasn’t leaving until 1:20 pm, and would certainly miss its connection in Houston.  So we flew to Newark in the two middle seats of the second last row, and Newark to San Francisco, together in the very last row, where the seats do not recline at all, at all.

Susan met us and took us to Burlingame, where she had just traded my car for hers, I got into mine and we had a delightful dinner in a Burmese restaurant.  To keep our house clean for sale, we spent five days at Ruth’s.  At that point, she had other house guests coming in and we needed to clear out and all I wanted to do was get Elvon home to familiar surroundings he could function in.  So, we’re home.  It’s for sale.  We live very clean and leave whenever there is an Open House or a sowing.  The market is hot in our area, so we don’t expect this to take very long.  We are moving to Fountaingrove Lodge in Santa Rosa, and are both looking forward to it.  Another chapter opens.  Stay tuned.

If you are looking for a quick overview or our cruise around the world, Dee Wescott gave me what she uses for wallpaper when she’s out there:

Aprl 19 was the only sea day before our tour in Cadiz and I have concerns about it.  It’s a short bus ride, a long walking tour with cobblestoned streets, and a flamenco show, with drinks and tapas.  It sounds nice, but I have a lot of handicapped people who can’t do the walking.  I promised them all taxis to get past that part, but there are 9 of them, plus caregivers.  It will take 5 or 6 taxis into the narrow streets of the old town.  I hope they have that many.  Rebecca of Shorex knows, and she has alerted the tour operator, but it’s not an ideal situation, by any means.

I divided the buses up so all the handicapped folk would be on Bus 1 with me, wrote and delivered a letter, the bus list and tour description.   Then I prepared the tipping envelopes and delivered theirs to Michael and Gail, for Bus 2.

Norm Petersen returned their tickets.  It looked like too much for Annie.  He also gave me 250 Internet minutes, as he had about 500 left.  Anne had not used hers at all.  Carol Martis gave me another hundred, so I’ll be fine for boarding passes and anything else I might need.  Such is the Internet pricing plan that people buy 1000 on day one for 25 cents a minute, rather than 500 for 50 cents a minute.  People who have sailed with me before, tip me their excess.  I figure I can gratefully accept that tip, because they would only go to waste.  I promised Norm that his USB screen saver would be extra good, as I would put all of Dee’s beautiful fish and coral on it for him.  Another couple canceled out, too, just because the husband doesn’t like organized tours.

They had a local Flamenco Show for entertainment, and I think they were good enough, but it’s not obvious from the back of the Queen’s lounge, since all the action is at feet level.

On April 20, the day of the tour in Cadiz, Spain, I woke up around 5:30 am, still worrying about the taxi situation and wondering if I could have Bus 1 made into a panoramic tour, to keep all my handicapped people with me, and not have to worry if we would have enough taxis.  While I was dressing and having breakfast, two more couples called to cancel.  Now I was down to 36 people and the panoramic bus idea would work, if Shorex and the Tour Operator would give it to me.

I hustled myself to the Queen’s Lounge and found Rebecca.  I ran the idea by her and she called Nyron, who was outside at the buses, with the Tour Operator.  To my delight, they agreed.  This took the stress off me, and all the handicapped people and care givers.

Everyone was delighted, and off went Bus 1, with delightful tour guide Ini.  Ini was Dutch, of all things.  She came to visit Cadiz eleven years ago, and stayed, because she just loved the place and the people.  It is a very old town, once on the Roman supply route, as it is a strategic port.  It has been in existence since 1100 BC.  The Romans were here from 200 BC to 400 AD.  It connects easily enough to Rome.  There was ship building here at one time, and trading in all sorts of goods.

Cadiz has three beaches.  We saw the Women’s Beach, where it’s Ok to go topless, and the Men’s Beach, where it isn’t.  Surf and sand are lovely at both.  The Arabs took over what was left of Cadiz in 800 AD.  They stayed until 1200 AD, until the English and Dutch ran them off, to gain control of the strategic location.  Columbus left here on his second and fourth voyages.  In 1596 Cadiz was badly plundered and the House of Seville took over, so they became part of Spain.  In 1717 the Accounting House was moved here and started rebuilding the city.

Slowly, all Cadiz’ industries faded away.  The people get poorer and poorer, but they are famously joyful and good humoured.  They like to celebrate and will do it at the drop of a hat, often on the beautiful beaches.  The more difficult life gets, the more they laugh and cope.  A couple of years ago, the city issued a rolling plastic garbage can to every household.  About three weeks later, all sorts of people started showing up at City Hall, asking for another one, claiming theirs had disappeared.  The city eventually noticed what was happening.  The nice clean garbage cans were painted many colors, and entrepreneurs were filling them with ice and selling ice cream and cold drinks from them on the beach.  Bless the city’s heart.  It decided to look the other way.

Ini had the bus take us to the outskirts of the old city and took the time to show us a typical Nobleman or Rich Trader’s house, of old.  Most of them are now apartment buildings.  Each one is a square that occupies a city block, with a courtyard in the middle.  There are five stories, plus a rooftop terrace.  There is a wrought iron door on the courtyard side and a big wooden door to the street, wide enough for a horse and carriage.  The wooden door is open during the day and the air flows through to the courtyard.  The ground floor is for storage of goods for sale.  The first floor is offices for trading. The second floor has higher ceilings and balconies and is comprised of family apartments.  The third floor is more modest and houses the servants for the extended family.  On the 5^th floor, they hung clothes, looked out to sea for arriving ships, and defended the place, if necessary.

We got off the bus for 10 minutes of walking and Ini took us to our Flamenco Show, via the 1812 Memorial park.  The memorial is quite beautiful, and Ini described each of the statues.  The last one was Perseverance, a lady on a horse, with the inevitable pigeon on her head, and the white streaks, streaming down her face.  Standing there since 1812 is my idea of perseverance, all right.

It was a short walk up a very narrow cobblestoned street to the taberna, where the Flamenco Show would be held.  Ini explained that the streets were so narrow, because Cadiz enjoys so much sunshine, that they needed their shade.  We had sangria, or wine, and excellent tapas, with our Flamenco Show, and everyone pronounced it much better than the ship’s last night.  This is probably because it was done the way it was supposed to be done.  We sat on three sides of a stage, raised up about three feet, so we were at eye level with the dancer’s feet.  They were very good, as were the singer and guitarist.  When we got out, Ini pointed out that you could see the ship from the taberna.  We dismissed Bus 2 and only seven people took Bus 1 back.  Two of those were Joanne Ward, who had a Bridge Tour, and me.  Even many of the handicapped elected to walk to see a bit of the town.

I checked in with Elvon, took him to the gym, and was back out on the street by 2:30 pm.  I did a little poking around, and quite a bit of shopping.  The euro is down and the prices are good in Spain.  On the way back to the ship, is a lovely square, with a church on one side and a bunch of bar/restaurants on the other.  One had a signboard offering Churros and Chocolate.  That looked good to me, but I didn’t want to eat alone.  I was in luck.  There were Bob and Sheila Gan.  Bob is the Rabbi on board, this year.  They took me in and we had a lovely half-hour in the sun, with our decadent snack.  I can still taste the chocolate.  It was that dense.

Back on the ship, we went to sailaway, and I got wonderful comments on the tour, from handicapped and able-bodied, alike.  No one had any complaints on this one, except those who did not come.  But, it was their not coming that brought the numbers down to where I could effectively make two tours out of it.  I’ll be watching for this opportunity in the future and try to precipitate it out, where applicable.

The entertainment was virtuoso Flutist, Steven Clark, with his golden flute.

Back at sea on it’s winding down.  I have had good demand for my screen saver, with pictures of everyone on it, as well as a lot of Dee Wescott’s gorgeous fish and coral.  She takes professional equipment into the deep and does a professional job.  They’re fun, because we were all in the same places, even if we did stay above the water.  I went to Cruise Director Gene and offered him my entire bank of Grand Dollars, if he would give me enough USB thumb drives to give every cabin one.  He did and I am now in business, making the things.

It was Gene’s Birthday, and I made him a card, with a picture of him on stage in Skip Bardsley’s gorilla suit, donated on the 2013 Grand Asia. Events Manager Mark Beasley came to dinner with Michael Innis and Gail Hanson, and we invited Jim Wirtz over again.  It was a very nice group.  Jim is particularly fond of the Bridge teachers.  He came on board never having played tha game, and by the time Gail got off, they were winning consistently.  He has a new interest and he is delighted with it.

The entertainment was Rock Star Juggler, Mike Price, and we did enjoy him.

In April 22, we docked in Funchal, Portugal.It was our last port before Fort Lauderdale.  Elvon and I had our usual port pig-out breakfast in the Lido.  I took care of a few items of business, photoshopped a bunch of pictures, and all I saw of the town was as far as I could walk in the half-hour before boarding.  I did spot a nice looking yacht club, that will make a good Internet hot spot some year.  This year, I have enough Internet minutes now, that I just used the ship’s and saved myself the bother.

We had Doc Gisela and SOB Chas for dinner again.  They live in Halifax, so now we have two couples to visit there, once I get a Canada New England gig.  The show was ABBA Fab and we just love that music.  I’ll never forget us and the Harrolds standing on the seats at Mama Mia in San Francisco.

On April 23, I found out that, as usual, the ship scheduled three Mariners’ Lunches for this week, and, also as usual, one of them fell on our Pinnacle lunch.  So, I went to the Front Desk, found out who was in charge and got the usual special dispensation for my people, who had the conflicting date, to come to the DV Lunch and the Mariners’ Lunch of their choice.  I wrote and delivered another letter.

It’s Passover, which causes a problem for our Canaletto Dinner and Pinnacle Lunch.  I checked with the powers that be and was pleased to report back that all could be accommodated, as these restaurants cook to order.  Jan Yetke came to say she had not used up all their President’s Club Pinnacle Dinners, and had negotiated that she could use them to host at our DV Lunch.  Another donation in kind, gratefully accepted by yours truly, who spends a lot of her own money hosting these things.

Judy Carmichael, who plays the piano and sings, entertained us in fine style.  It was another very nice evening.

The next day, I was back at the desk, taking orders for boarding passes, dispensing Grand Dollars, and generally taking care of business. Two of the three Jewish couples just canceled out of lubch, sadly. It’s just too hard during Passover. Molly Wallace wants a wheelchair at the Port Terminal in Fort Lauderdale and the Front Desk is giving her trouble.  I saw Christel and got her one, but it will only go to the elevator and she is not to take more carry on than she can manage, as the wheelchair will not cross the hall to customs with her.  It’s about union rules in Fort Lauderdale.  That doesn’t exactly endear them to me.

We had Norm and Ann Petersen for dinner, which was lovely, and comedian, Buzz Sutherland, for entertainment.  He was excellent.

Since we were not going to the YCG for lunch, on April 12, in Piraeus (Athens), Greece, we had the usual port morning, and I went walking out, with my computer on my back, around noon.  There was a pamphlet in the terminal about an Archeological Museum, which looked nice, and was a ten minute walk away.  After I had walked for twenty, maybe thirty, minutes, I realized we must be at a different terminal, probably the one I was now across the street from.  I didn’t know if I had another ten minutes in me, before the computer did real damage to my neck, so I found a cab.

The museum was small, but very nice, as were its keepers.  They minded my computer bag, while I toured it.  I enjoyed the tour, but they didn’t have a coffee shop, nor Internet.  They did know where there was a good hotel within easy walking, and I soon found myself in the Hotel Savoy lobby, sipping a Coke and enjoying decent Internet.  The table I chose was right beside the half wall of the office.  This turned out to be handy, as I had two faxes to send and the ship doesn’t do that anymore.  They just attach to email like everybody else.  Interestingly, one of the faxes was to HAL, but I wasn’t questioning that.  The nice gentleman in the office offered me a glass of wine.  I said I couldn’t take that, as I was working, but could he possibly send the faxes for me, and he did!

I took a taxi back to the ship, at the last minute, enjoyed sailaway, and a nap before dinner.  The entertainment was Rita Rudner and she is always a hoot.

It’s nice being places you have been before, as there’s no obligation to see the Acropolis, or the Olympic Stadium, or whatever.  You can just enjoy the little town.  On April 13, that was Katakolon. Before I went out I tried to enlist Christel’s help in getting an upgrade for the Harrolds, who would be boarding the Koningsdam on April 15 in Civitavecchia.  I was having trouble reaching my BDM (Business Development Manager), who had been sailing on the Koningsdam, herself.  Koningsdam is Holland America’s newest ship, and she just launched.  Christel wasn’t very encouraging.  One of our President’s Club people had left this ship to join the Koningsdam, also paid more than the sale price, and Christel had not been able to upgrade her.  She did take Patrick Spencer’s driver’s and car license down, to give to the Port agent, so Patrick could get in the gate at Livorno.

I did a little more travel work and walked out about one o’clock.  I was only going shopping.  That’s all you do in Katakolon: have a nice fishy lunch, eat ice cream, and shop.  I got a lovely new dress, a few other bits, and a nice ice cream cone.  I was well pleased.  Sailaway was very nice, and we had Nicola, the IT Manager and his girlfriend, Louisa, for diner.  They are a truly delightful young couple, and we wish them very well.   The Lomax Brothers did the Ferranti and Teicher bit, not as well, but still fun.  I think our own Connor and Michael do it better.

At sea on April 14, there was just a little traffic at the desk, which was a good thing because I had a letter to write and deliver.  It was time to get serious about Cadiz and Flamenco.

We had dinner with Marketing Manager Noelle Kiswiny, and three of my people.  The entertainment was Ruben Vilagrad, mime, magic, etc.  Good enough.

I got up really early on April 15, as Steve and Tricia Harold were coming to breakfast on the Amsterdam, before boarding the Koningsdam, in Civitavecchia.  Their upgrade had come through last night.  I had accepted it on their behalf and wanted to print the confirmation, which would surely be on my email.  By 7:00 am (don’t faint), I was at my desk, with my computer attached to its printer.  I pulled my email and it wasn’t fun.  My BDM had not put through the upgrade, without confirmation the clients really wanted it.  It was to a verandah on the Sun Deck, a significant upgrade, but it would take them farther away from the dining room.  As if that matters, I mean.

If that wasn’t bad enough, the Port Agent in Livorno had asked for a picture of Patrick’s passport and he had just snapped one with his iPhone and emailed it.  Everyone, please note:  Do not do this to people who are stuck with ship’s Internet.  Those phones take enormous pictures.  The thing took 57 minutes to download, a huge waste of time and money.  But I needed it for the next day, to get Patrick through the gate to pick up Elvon, so I had to suck it up.

Luckily, the Harrolds were resourceful, and we had cell phone texting.  They got through security and came to my desk, just as I was finishing up.  I had to PhotoShop the passport photo down to one tenth its size, to email to Christel, to email to the port agent.  And I had to print the email for the Harrold’s upgrade to walk over to the Koningsdam.  It was too late to deal with Seattle any more.  The Koningsdam was here.  We were docked stern to stern.

Hugs all around.  We went back to our cabin to drop Steve’s computer bag and pick up Elvon.  Then it was up to the Lido, for our favorite breakfast, this time with some of our favorite friends.  The Lido did not disappoint and we filled our boot.  Then I gave them my Amsterdam tour and left them the run of the ship, while I ran over next berth, for their upgrade.

Everyone on the Amsterdam, who had asked for one, was issued a pass to board the lovely new Koningsdam, but there was a catch.  There were organized tours.  I neither wanted, nor needed, an organized tour.  I needed to be free to get to Judy Becker, Christel’s counterpart on the Koningsdam, and make the upgrade, which I had in my hot little hand, take.

I got off the Amsterdam, ignored the waiting shuttle and walked over to the Koningsdam.  There I met our Hotel Director, Henk Mensink, and explained my mission.  He walked me over to Koningsdam Security, talked me through, as a single, and told me to go to the Front Desk to find Judy.  A few quick inquiries got me there.  Lo and behold, there was Christel, assisting a wheelchair passenger, until her care giver got back.  I showed her my email and she was delighted.  The care giver returned and Christel and I approached the Front Desk.  She saw her counterpart disappearing into her office and said “Wait right here”.  I did.  Who wouldn’t when the stars were aligning like that?  After about five minutes, she came back, “All done.”  So, the Harrolds can put their new cabin number on their luggage and just check in.  Their luggage, of course, is in Shiv’s office because it would not fit on our cabin.  Tagging it would be easy.

For my present to the Harrolds, I bought a wine-blending package, figuring that would have some appeal.  I knew it would, because I checked over breakfast.  They will disembark, with their own blend, with their own label on it.  I decided not to tour any more of the Koningsdam, than I could see getting off by taking the stairs and poking around a bit.  She’s a floating luxury hotel, where the Amsterdam is a real ship, but she looks like a lot of fun.  BB King’s Blues Club particularly appeals.

Back on the Amsterdam, we had a pizza lunch by the pool, with the Harrolds, and they collected their luggage and went off to board.

I texted the Wescotts that I was ready and thought I found out where they were.  I was wrong.  Consequently, I took the shuttle too far and it cost me a bomb in taxi fare to pick up Wells and go to what was purportedly the best hotel in town.  I don’t know what the rooms were like, but it had no bar, nor anywhere else one could use the Internet, and the one person on duty was particularly surly.  We went back to an ice cream shop Wells had spotted, back near the Port Gate.  It wasn’t ideal, but it did work for our purposes.  I was able to activate his copy of MSOffice with one of my codes, and he’s all set.  We worked away at our email for a while and went back to the ship to do sailaway and happy hour.  I had called it for Friday, as there was no way I wanted to do Happy Hour, after a day of wine tasting on Saturday.

We had dinner with Connie Fischer and Jim Detwiler, previous DV guests.  The entertainment was a Beatles tribute, by a married couple, a bit odd, but good enough

On April 16, in Livorno, the untour got started around 8:30 am, as it was supposed to.  Our car held Patrick Spencer, Mike Holt, and ourselves.  Patrick was our guide for the day.  He is the manager of the Villa we rented in Montebenichi, last year.  We never got to go but have been seeing him every year, as we pass by.  This is the third time.  The two rental cars assembled one containing Paul Kerr and his partner, Sharon, Chef Peter and Trevor, from HAL head office in Seattle, the other Michael Innis, Gail Hanson, Alan Laurin and Lynn Blair.  Off we went, bound for Bolgheri, and a day of tasting Super Tuscans.

I was never clear on exactly what a Super Tuscan was, but I am now.  Net, to the bottom line:  A Super Tuscan is a wine grown, crushed, and bottled in Italy, made of mostly French grapes, mostly the ones in the Bordeaux blend, processed pretty much exactly the way we do it in the New World.  Don’t you feel smarter now?  I know I do.  Mind you, I always feel smarter after I drink wine.

Bolgheri is one of the cute little castle towns of Tuscany, complete with wineries and cafes, and shops of all kinds.  Getting Elvon into our winery “Castello di Bolgheri”, www.castellodibolgheri.eu,  looked like a major challenge, until they opened the back door, which only had one step, and a bit of a ditch.  Our guys lined up to make a human banister.  It sure is easy when you are traveling with seven able bodied men, most of them under 40.

The lovely Sylvia showed us through the winery, tanks, barrels, and all, and sat us down for some serious tasting.  The wines were good.  Just like home, the better one, CS, Merlot, CF) is not for drinking right now, but the cheaper one “Varvara” was lovely.  It’s Merlot, Shiraz and Petit Verdot.  I bought six bottles to fuel my parties, and they gave me one, for bringing the group.  Lunch was just next door at Ristorante Enoteca Tognoni”, www.enotecatognoni.it.  It was exceptionally good and a lot of fun.  They were serving Sassicaia wine, a bottle for every three people, and they, too, gave me a bottle to take back to the ship.

After lunch, we continued on to “Tenuta Argentiera”,  www.argentiera.com , where the lovely Isabelle Benedetti, whom I could have sworn was French, by her accent, treated us to a major tasting, with wine and salumi.  Since we seem to drink a lot of white on board, I bought 12 bottles of Poggio Al Ginepri, (IGT Toscanna Blanca) which is a blend of Vermentino, Viognier and Sauvignon Blanc, which we liked a lot.  This time the gift was a bottle of Poggio Al Ginepri, (DOC Bolgheri Rosato)  I would not have bought it.  It’s training wheels for wine.  But everyone’s doing that now.

It was a perfectly wonderful day.  Thank you Patrick, from the bottom of my heart.  We never got to the show.  Bed looked very good.

In Monte Carlo, Monaco, on April 17, we ate a very light breakfast and went to the gym.  At 11:30 am, we mustered at my desk for lunch at the Yacht Club de Monaco. It was the Wescotts, Yetkes, Dan Samaniego, Joan Harrison and us.  As luck would have it, the skies opened just as we got to the gangway.  To make it worse, the gangway was steep and not covered.  Elvon took one look at it and refused to go.  Ten minutes later, it had cleared, but everything was still wet, and no one could move him.  He went back to the cabin and the seven of us continued on.

The YC was just across the harbor, but since we don’t walk on water, we took a couple of taxis.  Oo-la-la, what a place it is.  It’s not the one we went to in 1998, where Elvon and Ernie waited in the consort’s lounge.  It’s way, way nicer than that very nice place.  It opened in 2014 and is a Norman Foster design.  Norman Foster is a very famous architect.  He designed the Hearst Tower in NYC, the Hongkong Bank building in HK,  Millennium Bridge, London, UK,  Hong Kong International Airport, Chek Lap Kok, and a whole bunch of prestigious buildings all around the world.  Here’s the list: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_works_by_Norman_Foster

YCM looks like a huge ship in a harbor of fabulous yachts.  It’s an experience in itself.  We were booked to eat in the more casual, but amazing setting on the roof.  But, it had just rained.  So, all the members were down in the Main Dining Room, which was set up for Sunday Brunch.  There were no free tables, but they offered to set up a private dining room for us.  In places like this, if you have to ask the price, you can’t afford it, so we just said “yes”.

The room was gorgeous.  The food was fabulous and beyond delicious.  It cost 90 euros each, and no one minded.  It was one of those bucket list items you might never get to check off, unless you know the likes of me.  I keep the RHKYC and RStLYC memberships going for just this.  Purrr. And, yes, I did eat six desserts.  They were very small.

Tom Mullen came to dinner.  He’s always a treat.  He has been doing my job for Cruise Specialists for about 30 years.  To top off a perfect day, we had Rita Rudner again.

Docked in Barcelona, Spain, on April 17, we had the usual Lido pig-out and gym time, when I am planning to go ashore alone.  I thought I would walk, as my goal was the Monte Carlo Hotel, with a nearby shoe shop, around the middle of La Rambla. Somehow, I managed to turn myself around, and, after a twenty minute walk I was at Pier C, when we had docked at Pier A.  Now Pier A is closer to town and Pier C is, well, out to sea.  I didn’t feature another twenty minute walk, with a computer on my back, to get back where I started.  So, I took an expensive taxi to the Monte Carlo.

La Rambla is a walking street, so we approached it from a side street, and it happened to be the one the shoe shop was on.  I got out and went looking for the Fluchos Elvon wears.  These shoes are so good and so consistent, that I can buy them for him, while he relaxes on the Promenade Deck.  But this year, they didn’t have a model that I thought would work.  On to the Monte Carlo.

We always stayed at the Monte Carlo in Barcelona, thanks to my cousin, Rosemary.  The location can’t be beat.  It’s right in the middle of La Rambla, yet still clean and reasonable.  At least it was.  Its steel doors were rolled almost to the ground.  I rang the handicapped bell and introduced myself as a past guest.  The guy who answered the door didn’t have much English, but managed to tell me the place was “close ed”, accent on the last “ed”.  I asked when it would re-open and he reiterated “close ed”, and repeated:  “close ed”, “close ed”.  I got it.  I didn’t want to, but I did.  Luckily, there’s now a Citadines next door, so we still have a great place to stay in Barcelona.

Since I wouldn’t be using the Internet at the Monte Carlo, I continued on to Corte Ingles, the big department store, where we had bought the first Fluchos.  Sure enough, they had something Elvon would wear.  Things were looking up.  I added a belt, and a couple of pairs of great quality socks, and he was done.

Next stop: RCNB, Real Club Nautico de Barcelona, for lunch and Internet.  It was Monday, so the restaurant was closed, but, once again, I was welcomed graciously and had peace, quiet, and good Internet in the library.

Sail away was good and I don’t remember what else we did.  There were a lot of ports in a row and we were pretty done in.

On April 5, we were still on the way to Al’Aqabah.  It was another busy sea day, with lots of paperwork on my new bookings, as well as talking to people at the desk.  I went to the front desk to advise them that we would be in Israel overnight and to have them email the Port agent so that Aviva could get her car in as close as possible.  We are really looking forward to spending a little time with her.  Harvey Schneider’s wife has become my very good friend.

We had dinner with Paul Kerr and Sharon, and Alan Laurin and Lynn Blair.  It was good fun.  The entertainment was a variety show of last week’s entertainers, Donna Groom, Bernie Fields and David Kidd.  It was very good.

April 6, in Al’Aqabah, Jordan, was going to be an Internet day, and I knew just where to go.  We had breakfast in the Lido with the Yetkes.  We started with one Eggs Benedict each and a cheese and fresh blueberry crèpe.  Is that ever good.  Good thing we waited until the last month to start that habit.  Then we went to the gym, and I left Elvon in a deck chair, while the  Yetkes and I got on the shuttle.  For a small tip, we got the driver to take us a couple of blocks more and drop us right at the door of the Kempinsky.

It’s a beautiful hotel, and where I spent my day last year.  The Internet is fast and safe and the people are very nice.  Jan and I sat at the bar doing lots and lots of business.  When we stretched, we took a look at the beach and I observed that there were less hijab-clad ladies this year.  Either the novelty of the hotel has worn off for locals and they aren’t coming anymore, or the women are defying the men and getting comfortable.  I hope it’s the latter, but fear it’s not.

When I got back to the ship, I took Elvon for Pizza and ice cream, which didn’t stop us from having dinner at eight and going to sailaway after.  We left Al’Aqabah at 11:00pm, on a perfect night.  It was good to be outside with the city lights receeding.

On April 7,  we were on our way to the Suez Canal.  Otherwise, it’s a normal sea day.  After office hours and gym time, Elvon and I went to the Queen’s Lounge for the belly demonstration and show.  Two of our DV people had taken the classes and were up there on stage.  It was fun.  I made a very expensive call to HAL, on behalf of my clients, who had paid more than their sailing was now being offered for.  I got them $400 each in the form of a future cruise credit, but I am not done.  I am still working on an upgrade.  It’s unrealistic to expect the cruise line to give you your money back, just because they put your cabin on sale within a month of sailing.  You can, however, expect a good travel agent to get it back in kind, and that’s the plan.  A nice upgrade will make them whole.

Stan and Marilyn had a party, for us table mates, in their suite before dinner.  You should have seen the food the ship gives you for seven people.  It was a tad obscene, but it was delicious.  We ate all we could and donated the rest to the crew mess.  The Casablanca Steps, a male quartet, put on a good show.

We were the second ship to enter the Suez Canal on April 8.  The first one was a French destroyer.  I suspect the last one was military, too.  The world’s ships are cooperating in patrolling the canal, to keep it safe for passenger traffic and shipping.  The Amsterdam moved slowly through the canal, while our travel guide, Barbara Heanni, provided interesting narration.  Elvon spent a lot of time out on deck, as did almost everyone else.

I had the electrical connection in my desk fixed and made plans to go out in Civitavecchia with Wells Wescott to activate the copy on MS Office that I had loaded on his computer when mine was in trouble.  I had a spare license, now that I only have one computer myself, and had over-bought a number of years ago.

I have a table of my own in the dining room, now, and I have to keep them appraised of where I will be and who, of the crew, is coming to mine.  So I documented all that and emailed it to Tom, the DR Manager.  Then I worked on our buses for Cadiz.  I put all the handicapped people on Bus 1, so I could arrange taxis for them, instead of the long walking tour.   Then I wrote and delivered the weekly letter.

It’s another day of nightmare Internet, but I managed to do most of what I had to.  We had Chief Housekeeper, Shiv Charan, for dinner, at our big table upstairs, as he had long been promised to our original table mates.  Everyone loves Shiv, and his team has kept us all healthy this year, with its vigilance.

On April 9, we docked in Haifa.  Aviva picked us up at the ship, around 10:00 am.  We were delighted to see her.  She had a lovely day planned for us.  First she took us into the Carmel mountains, not far from Haifa.  I can see why our Carmel Highlands were named after this gorgeous place.  On the way I asked her about the status of Palestine.  One of our guests had been chuffed to purchase handmade souvenirs in Al’Aqabah, marked “Made in Palestine”, because as far as we know, there is no such place.  Aviva says that conquered territory could have gone back, but Jordan didn’t want it, like Eqypt didn’t want the Gaza strip.  Israel has basically adopted these places, just so it can keep the peace.

We visited EnHod, an Arab village, which has turned into an artist’s colony.  The artists are mostly Isreali, and the art is very good.  The houses are pretty upscale for starving artists.  It looks like richer people actually live in them and the artists rent studio space on the ground floor, until they become famous and rich enough to live there.  There is sculpture all over the place, much of it humorous, and a proper museum and event space.  Only residents and the handicapped can drive around in there, and it’s easy to see why.  It would become a very odd shaped, hilly parking lot in short order.  So they cleared a real parking lot and everyone, but us, walks in.  We can thank Elvon for our nice inside tour of EnHod.

We went up the hill to Ayn Hawd for lunch.  This is where the Arabs relocated.  It’s called an “unrecognized Arab town”.  Believe it or not, there is actually a Council of Unrecognized Settlements”.  It lobbies the government to get basic services, like power, water, roads and telecommunications, that we take for granted.  About ten years ago, an enterprising Arab lady, who was the secretary of the council, set up a restaurant in her house to feed them.  They all loved her food, and encouraged her to go commercial.  It started in the living room.  It squeezed them out of the existing space and they added rooms.  Eventually, they gave up and built a new building, hanging over the side of the hill.  You can just imagine the views.  They are almost at the top.  They moved the old living room furniture in for atmosphere.  Aviva has used it for family celebrations, so they know her.

There is no menu.  They just start bringing food out, and then they bring more, and more.  It’s all delicious.  I even ended up eating eggplant and cabbage rolls.  There were a lot of meat dishes, chicken and chicken livers, mutton and veal, tahini, veal by itself, stuffed peppers, relishes, spices, halvale, woof.  We were stuffed and happy.  The name of the restaurant is “Albeet” and it means My Home”.  You’re served by the owner and a large number of family members.  There are a few hired staff now, and you can tell them from the family, who all look alike.  The town is also known as “Ein Hud”.  It has an Arab name and an Israeli name.

Well fed, we moseyed along to Jerusalem, where Aviva had us staying around the corner from the Dan Panorama, at the Prima Royale (formerly The Windmill) on Mendale Street.  When we got there, it was still Saturday (Shabbat), just coming on sundown.  There had been a wedding party, but no one could leave as observant Jews do not drive before sundown on Shabbat.  So they were all waiting around that and the kids were running wild in the lobby.  Mose managed to check us in, though, and cautioned us on which elevator to use.  The other one was set to stop on every floor, so the observant Jews would not be operating something mechanical.  It’s an interesting way to make the old laws fit a modern world.  We holed up in the room, until well after sundown.

We wanted a nice dinner and more face time with the wonderful Aviva, so we used our hotel down time to figure out where to go for dinner.  We hit on sushi as a good bet.  It’s light, but you still feel like you are eating out.  We found a nearby sushi restaurant and went there.  It was a beautiful night and the place had a number of outdoor tables, so we asked for one.  Aviva went to find a parking space, while Elvon and I got settled.  Before she got back, we felt a drop, then another, and another, and another, and another.  We decided to move indoors.  It was a good thing, too, as Aviva had no sooner arrived when the deluge hit.  It came down in buckets.

The restaurant filled up, and it was mostly young people.  We brought the average up a good bit.  Israeli army soldiers carry their weapons with them when they are on leave, so there were a good few arms in the place.  You feel very safe here.  Every public place can defend itself.  The food was good, even if there were no shrimp, clams or scallops to be found.  The tuna and salmon items were yummy, as was the Israeli Sauvignon Blanc.  It was a very good day.  Thanks, Aviva.

We woke up in Jerusalem on April 10.  Sunday is a work day in Israel, and so Aviva dutifully reported to her job with the Antiquities Authority, at the Israel Museum.  She’s the English Editor for their publications.  We got up and ate the buffet breakfast offered by the hotel.  It was lavish, but odd to us.  No bacon or port sausage, of course, a lot of cold cuts, humus, cheese, vegetables, etc.  It wasn’t exactly my cup of tea, but I always find enough to eat.

We are in the middle of applying for a place in Fountaingrove Lodge, in Santa Rosa, where we can have our own apartment, but I can still get some good help caring for Elvon.  Susan, bless her heart, did all the ground work and had sent us a couple of documents to finish filling out, sign and return.  We had done all that on the ship and wanted to upload them from Jerusalem, with good Internet.  Aviva had taken the 79 pages in to work this fine Sunday morning, and I was planning to meet her around lunch time to get them, and my USB stick, back.

I set off on foot, but soon got myself a taxi.  A half hour walk is easy for me, but this one was all uphill and the air was thick with dust.  The cars were all filthy, as last night’s five minute downpour had just served to make mud on every car in town.  The taxi driver I got said he had washed his, early in the morning, but that there had been another five minute downpour, just after he finished.  I had a cup of tea with Aviva, got my papers back and a big hug to boot.  Back at the hotel, I uploaded them, used the Internet as long as I could, checked out and took another taxi, back to the ship.

We sailed away at 5:30 pm and got back into ship’s routine.  We had dinner at eight and were entertained by Francisco Yglesia, harpist, former member of “Los Paraguayos”.

After having all my Pinnacle dinners oversubscribed, I came to the end and had to scramble a bit to fill the one on April 11.  I took a few repeaters, and it worked out fine, in the end.

I went to see Christel for tips on Amsterdam, and she promised them.  They will be back on board by the time we get to Holland, so we won’t be able to get together, but she has her ideas somewhere in her computer and will send them along.

I made up a few birthday cards and corresponded more with the yacht clubs of Greece and Monaco.  I cancelled Greece, because it’s tomorrow and I only had the Yetkes, who had been before, and one other.  Elvon would still be recovering from Jerusalem, and the Yetkes came with us in 2014.  I had a talk with Jan and we decided to focus on Monaco, instead.  It wasn’t more than a few days away.

We had a good time at the Pinnacle, where I served 7 bottles of wine to 13 people, all repeaters, except for the one couple.  This may have been one dinner too many, but, it’ only money, and they are still fun.  We finished in time to see the 10:00 pm show.  It was a production show:  Jazz, Blues and Rock ‘n’ Roll.  Our dancers are amazing.

March 29, was our first day back at sea, after Dubai.  I had a few things to do before desk hours and another Distinctive Voyages lunch in the dining room.  Tom, the Dining Room Manager, likes to do things for us, but these lunches are hard to manage.  The people tell me whom they want to sit with and then don’t show up on time, or at all.  I had not done them before this year and am not planning to do them again.  It was delicious, but the stress factor was off the charts, for what it delivered.

I emailed the yacht clubs of Greece and Monaco, to see what could be done there in the way of lunches, and I photoshopped a bunch of pictures.   The entertainment was a one-man show, Hamlet, cut to the bone.  The fellow couldn’t wear a microphone, because he kept switching costume suggestions at a great rate of knots.  He kept changing voices, too, and I don’t think anyone beyond the fifth row heard it all.  I knew the play, so I got enough, but the audience dribbled away, until there were only four of us at the end.  It was a shame.

On March 30, we docked in Muscat, Oman, in the same place as last year.  After breakfast and gym time with Elvon, I headed out.  On the shuttle ride in to the center of town, I saw the little outdoor restaurant, where I did my Internet stuff last year, but I also saw a Hop On Hop Off bus, and thought I would try that.  First, I did a little damage in the souk, more than I had planned, but the quality was good and the prices, right.  Note to self:  Don’t spend so much in Singapore, just because you aren’t going to India.  A lot of the same stuff is in this souk, almost as good quality, and a third the price.

I got off at the stop near the Intercontinental Hotel and walked there.  It’s beautiful.  In the middle of it’s lobby is a very elegant tent with a desk in it and a sign that it’s for Club Member check-in.  I went in and met Khamers AlMazrim, the Lobby Ambassador.  I fleshed my card and told my story, and he was delightful.  He fixed me up with an Internet password and guided me to rest rooms and restaurant.  There, I had a plate of hot mezze and signed on.  I was able to get some business done, but AOL could not be persuaded to send email.  I had to work on its site, which is not efficient when you have all your messages ready to go.  Oh well, the setting was lovely and the mezze were delicious, there were two of each of six different kinds.  I ate a whopping eleven of them.  I only needed one spinach tart.  The kibbeh, melted cheese pasties, etc. were all lovely, and actually delicious, with what I recognized as Thai dipping sauce.

I got back on the HOHO bus, with just enough time to ride it the rest of the way around, and still make the last shuttle to the ship.  The roads were good, and the buildings were very nice, mostly new.  Sailaway was wonderful, complete with belly dancer, but I couldn’t touch another Middle Eastern hors d’oeuvre.

Back at sea on March 31, Elvon went to the Queen’s Lounge to hear about pirate treasure and Shakespearean skulls.  I went to the desk.  Barbara Zion came to book her four into dinners at the Pinnacle and Canaletto.  Our Pinnacle dinner coincides with Jacob’s birthday and she thought he would like a party.  She will pay for the Abecassises and organize a cake.  Wendell Kasprick came to sign up for the Pinnacle, too.  He went to Wells Wescott’s birthday party, and thinks that back room I always use is a great place.  He’s right.  It’s just like home, if you live in a mansion. I made a bunch of birthday cards and a plan to go out Internet seeking with Michael Holt, tomorrow.  Then I got another Pinnacle dinner date from Tina, as the current one is over-subscribed.

On April Fool’s Day, we were in Salalah, Oman.  We  had breakfast in the Lido with the Yetkes, did our number in the gym and I met Michael around 10:30 am.  We could have had a taxi into town for $60, where there were a number of nice chain hotels for our Internet, but I told Michael about the Sailors’ Club I had used last year and that sounded good to him.  He liked the idea of the beach we would pass and the club sounded good, too, even with the concern that its Internet might get stressed, if a lot of people from the ship found it.

We set out to climb the hill, past the beach to the Oasis Club.  It wasn’t hard to talk ourselves in and the barman and staff could not have been friendlier.  They gave us the password and a couple of sodas, and we sat down.  Since we were almost alone in the place, it was great.  The problem with AOL sending/receiving was still there, but I was working around it as best I could, updating my applications, downloading confirmations for clients, etc.  After about three-quarters of an hour, I heard Michael, who was facing the Club entrance, say “oh-oh”.  It wasn’t good, a full bus load of people, who turned out to be part of the Korean Navy, was unloading, with their devices in hand.  It didn’t take long before the Internet speed really sucked.  I asked our friendly bartender how long they would be staying and was not remotely reassured, when I found out it would be a couple of days.  So, we folded up our computers and went to the beach.  There I took some pictures of my best tech buddy, one of them a handstand, but that was on his camera.  You’ll have to be satisfied with this. It’s a gorgeous little beach.

Back at sea on April 2, it was time to touch bases with Tina in the Pinnacle and Ron in Canaletto, and write another newsletter, as Israel and Greece would be fast upon us.  It was also Saturday, and it’s good to put a letter into their hands, to remind them of happy hour. Dee Westcott brought in some more amazing fish pictures.  She and Donna Kasprick, and Joanne Gardner, the Future Cruise Consultant, had had another dive adventure in Oman.  At a couple of points, there weren’t sure they would ever come back, but, did she ever get some good ones.  I intersperse them with people in my screen saver, which I will give to anyone that wants it, on the last day.  With any luck, Gene will give me USB drives for the purpose.  It makes a nice going away gift.

Happy Hour was lively.  Dee Westcott brought her iPad full of fish pictures, and the doc and her husband, who are always good company.  The Yetkes, Healings, Laurins, and Dan Samaniego were there, too.  We had Hotel Director, Henk Mensink, as a guest at our table for dinner, and the Westcotts had Gisela and Chas.   Henk is always fun, and he does such a good job.  The entertainment was Bernie Fields, a harmonica player from Montreal, who has played with symphony orchestras all over the world.

On April 3, the desk was busy, and we had a Pinnacle Dinner for 14, always fun.

April 4, was uneventful.  Tomorrow we will be in AlAqaba, the port for Petra and that was the day’s hot topic.  We had been there in 2010, so I was able to address that handily.  Sadly, I had to discourage some of the less able-bodied.  It truly is not for them.  Go while you can still walk a couple of miles.  We had Culinary Operations Manager, Paul Kerr, and his wife, Sharon, for dinner, with the Laurins, and Dan Samaniego.  It was a good night.

March 22 was our second day in Colombo, Sri Lanka, and we were spending it with our table mates, Marilyn Goldblatt and Stan Haidl. Our taxi driver, who was delightful, and whose name was Mangela, picked the four of us up at the ship, at 10:30 am.  We were on Marilyn & Stan’s program to visit Pettah Market before lunch, which we stopped and reserved, on the way.  It was a religious holiday, and we didn’t know what to expect.  It turned out to be the best of all worlds.  Some of the stalls were closed, but most were open, and the place was nearly deserted.  We got everything we wanted, at the price we wanted to pay.  I regretted having paid Singapore’s high prices, although I still think the quality there was better.

We got to The Galle Face Hotel, before noon, and the buffet was set to open at 12:30 pm.  So, we went to the bar, sat outside this time, and had fresh pressed juice drinks with fast, free Internet.  It was warm, but there were fans, and it was really nice.  We saw a lot of friends from the ship, most of whom were my people.  When we moved over for lunch, we were soon joined by more.  The food was wonderful.  Of course, Indian food lends itself well to buffets, but they had a lot of wonderful fresh items, too, and a carvery, and grill, on which they were doing scallops and calamari, as well as chicken and fish.  It was an absolutely first rate buffet, at a fabulous price.  Including the before dinner drinks, it came in at $130 for four people!  It’s going to be hard to get us to go to the glitzy new places, after that.

Elvon and Marilyn were done for the day, so our driver took us back to the ship, and I rehired Mangela to take me straight back.  It took me about ten minutes to get Elvon back to the room, and off I went with Mangela.  Now that there were only two of us in the car, I got his story, and it’s sad.  He wasn’t always a taxi driver.  He was a production manager in a textile factory.  His wife worked there, too, until she died of heart failure, at the age of thirty-nine.  It was from all the fibers in the air.  They put too much of a load on lungs and heart.  He had two small children at the time and they needed at least one parent, so he quit, before the job took him, too.  They are teenagers, now, and doing well in school.  He hopes to send them both to college, a doctor and an engineer.  We wish him well.

When I got back to The Galle Face’s bar, Joanne Gardiner, the Future Cruise Consultant was happily ensconced, another one of the people I had recommended the place to.  I had another hour and a half of good Internet, and Mangela took us back to the ship, feeling very productive, for a change.

The Fly Rights, a Motown group from London, sang and danced us to bed.  They were terrific.

March 23 was the first of four sea days.  I got to the desk early to meet with Paul and Jacques, to discuss what to do about Livorno.  We decided that Elvon and I would keep to the plan, using Patrick’s car.  My source, you see, was, Patrick Spencer, our Tuscany villa manager.  Paul and Jacques will rent a car and follow us, and so can anyone else who wants to.  I know Michael Innis and Gail Hanson will.  Office hours were uneventful, with Michael Holt coming to meet and pay Lynn Blair and Alan Laurin, for half a wine package.  Marsha Rankin was by for a chat, and Harvey Cohen, too.  We went to the gym, I did a little catching up with logs and blogs, had a massage and dressed for formal night.  The production show was all about British Pop Stars and was very good.

The next day, the desk was quiet, so   I started work on a letter to go out tomorrow and worked on my travel business.  We had Events Manager Mark Beasley for dinner, and he was good fun, as always.  The show was good, too, Tony Pace.

March 25 was another sea day.  I tried to figure out how I could help Bobbie Reilley-Schmidt get the AOL Desktop in Dubai, and we hatched a plot that involved the HOHO bus on the second day.  A few people stopped by for chat and candy, but mostly, I wrote and delivered my newsletter.  The show was Grafitti Classics, again.

March 26, was our last day at sea, before Dubai.  The desk was busier, as it always is the day after I deliver a letter.  People actually sign up for things.  Lynn and Alan are going to share a car for Livorno, with Michael and Gail, and follow us.  Dolly stopped by to chat.  She’s funny.  She is homeless, and just has a container of stuff in Seattle.  It’s mostly full of the presents HAL gives us.

I solved a few easy problems and stopped by Christel’s office, with a question.  Christel has a new stripe.  She’s now Guest Relations Director.  There are no more dollars associated with it, just more responsibility.

It was a Saturday and Doc Gisella Schlosser and her SOB, Chas Stutz, were coming to dinner, so we invited them to Happy Hour, too.  For once we could talk, with just the Healings, who are lovely, adding themselves.  On to dinner:  We has asked Tom Grindlay, Dining Room Manager, for a larger table as our table for eight is comfortable for seven, tight at eight, and downright cosy at nine. We ended up at a table downstairs, which is generous for twelve.  We think Tom is playing with us.  The dining room is half empty, but there are politics there, that even he does not like to engage in.  We had a very nice time, but it was weird and uncomfortable.  Marilyn and Stan said they would just go to Canaletto when we had more than one guest.  I decided,enough, I was asking for a separate table to use for my DV people and crew guests, whom I wanted to introduce, anyway.  Our table is very good this year, but I have a larger agenda.

The Fly Rights were back on stage with an all new show, and just as good as the last one.

March 27, we docked in Dubai, UAE,  at 8:00 am.  Elvon and I were more than ready for a good Lido breakfast of eggs Benedict.  Before we left the cabin, the phone rang.  One of my guests had a cap come off a tooth and he needed a dentist to glue it on.  He didn’t want to pay $95 to have the doc take care of the referral.  I don’t know anyone particular in Dubai, but I do know it is a center for all things medical, and there would be no problem finding a dentist.  I told him to just take the shuttle to the mall and ask the helpful people at the information desk there.  I think they work on Sundays, but, in any event, we are here for two days, and they will certainly work on Monday.  His tooth picked a good place to surrender its cap.

The eggs Benedict were yummy, and we had our gym time.  I wanted Elvon to just ride the hop-on, hop off bus for one complete circuit to see all the development in Dubai, as it is staggering.  He would not do it.  He was afraid to fall getting through the terminal.  He had a point, as the floors were polished marble, but how did he know that?  It’s time we got a light wheel chair.  So, I figured I would just go use the Internet in the Mall today, and go out with Bobbie, tomorrow.  So I put my computer in my back pack and made off to catch a shuttle.

The shuttle takes you to the Dubai Mall, part of the Burg Khalifa complex.  It’s the tallest building in the world and one of the glitziest malls.  The biggest difference from last year, is that there were a lot fewer women in full Arab cover, gabayah.  Whether there was just a higher proportion of tourists, now that the novelty has worn off, or the local women were more insubordinate, I do not know.  I fervently hope it’s the latter.  My plan was to pick a good restaurant around the fountain, work for an hour or two, and order a substantial snack, while enjoying the fountain.  My plan did not coincide with the restaurants’ plans.  I found a good Chinese one “Le Feu”, part of the Paradise chain.  It had decent Internet that you could use in the bar area, but not at the outdoor tables around the fountain.

I sat down in the bar and got to work.  The Internet was pretty good, but there was no way the AOL Desktop was signing in.  I fought it for a while, did what I could, and ordered a very yummy Szechuan shrimp conpoy.  I packed up and went to the same yoghurt place in the mall, where I had accessed the Internet last year.  It just used the Dubai Mall’s Internet, and, the later it got, the more congested the network.  It worked, to an extent, but would not let the AOL Desktop sign on, either.  Neither would the very good Internet in the terminal, when I got back, and Jan couldn’t get on in the Marriott, either.  I checked last year’s diary, where I found the same report.  It seems to be a funny form of censorship, either the UAE’s or AOL’s.  I am not sure.  What’s App and its brethren didn’t work, either.  Note to self, next time try Armani Hotel attached to the mall.

Elvon and I went to dinner, at the table, and the Dubai Traditional Music & Dance show, complete with whirling dervish and belly dancers.  It was very good.

Around 8:00 am, the next morning, Bobbie called to say she wasn’t feeling at all well, and wouldn’t be on the HOHO bus today.  She wanted me to have her ticket and accompany her friend, Kathleen.  I was sorry she wasn’t feeling well, but somewhat relieved that I wouldn’t have to produce a functioning AOL Desktop for her, because this wasn’t the place.  I acquiesced readily.

Elvon and I had our lovely breakfast and gym time.  I hustled him into a deck chair, and met with Bobbie and Kathleen at 10:30.  Bobbie introduced us, gave me what I needed and went back to bed, poor thing.  Kathleen and I headed off for the Big Bus.  The bus advertized WiFi on board, so I figured I would get some work out of the way on the way to the Mall, where we would board a touring version.  The WiFi was useless, it made the ship’s look good.  After about five minutes, I gave up, choosing to save my battery for a decent connection.

Kathleen and Bobbie had done the old town route the day before, so she wanted to do the beach route this time.  I had done all four routes last year, so it didn’t matter to me.  The one we chose went through Jumierah, the medical settlement, cum upscale townhouse development, to the beach, past the World Islands, the Burg AlArab, where Sandy and I had the overpriced lunch, and the Palm Atlantis.  One of these years, I will just get off at the Palm Atlantis, but you have to have a couple-three hours to allot to it.  It’s that big.  But it has interesting attractions, like swimming with the fish and sea mammals.  Kathleen had her heart set on seeing the ski slope at the Mall of the Emirates, so we continued on.  Another idea for next time is the Dr. Fish in Wild Wadi, at the same stop as the Bugh Al’Arab.  See some interesting animals; get your toes nibbled, ahhhhh.

We got off at the Mall of the Emirates and followed the signs to the Ski Slope.  We were stopped in our tracks by the admission booth.  Of course, you would have to pay.  How silly of us not to have foreseen this.  Kathleen took some pictures for the grandkids.  About half-way back towards the entrance, I got the bright idea that we should have taken the escalators up.  There might have been a view of the slope form the third floor.  But the stuffing was all out of Kathleen.  She just wanted to go back and rest.  We had a very expensive, very delicious, fancy French gelato, and called it a mall.  Back at the Dubai Mall hub, Kathleen took the shuttle back to the ship and I got on the red line that went to the old city and the souk.

At the souk stop, I found the Blue Barjeel, a riverside restaurant, where I spent a couple of hours with a coke, a plate of deep-fried kibbeh, and good Internet.  The AOL Desktop still could not log on, but I got quite a bit done, and I needed that.  By the time I was done, the sun was starting to set, so I skipped the souk and got back on the HOHO.  I was rewarded with this nice picture:

It turned out it was the last bus, and it ended one stop short of the Mall of Dubai.  The taxi back to the ship cost me three times what it would have cost from the souk, another note for next time.  Enjoy the expensive picture.

We weren’t sailing until 11:00 pm, so, after dinner, Elvon and I went up to the Sea View Bar, aft on deck 8, where there would be good reception.  There I was able to speak to our bankers and text with Susan, because it was morning in California.  We also enjoyed a very beautiful sail away.  Dubai is pretty at night and the weather was perfect.

March 15 was our second day in Singapore.  I  let Elvon sleep a very long time, as going out in Little India, had turned out to be quite an expedition for him.  Today was to be a easy day, consisting of not much more than a half-hour at Kandu VC, Singapore’s Dr. Fish.  I ordered breakfast from Room Service and let him sleep for 12 hours.  We then went to the gym and worked out.  But when it came time to leave the ship, he wouldn’t budge.  I do wish he was more adventurous, but I set him up in a deck chair and set off with my computer in tow.

There is an ASUS store right next door to the fish spa, and I wanted them to test my power supply.  They couldn’t do it.  They didn’t have a plug adapter.  I did browse the Transformer Books, though, and one of those will tide me over, while ASUS in the states, checks the computer out.  It’s behaving beautifully, with its amazing kludgey power supply, but I want to be sure it’s OK, and I want a more compact power supply, at a minimum.

Before I got my feet in the water at the fish spa, I met a delightful lady named Carol Farber.  We are sure we have met before on some ship or other, and we likely will again. The fish were voracious and my feet came out just beautiful.  I had a neck and shoulder massage, while I was there, used their Internet for an hour, and went back to the ship.  The entertainment was Filip Wojciechowski, a concert pianist gone commercial.  He was very good.

Back at sea and at my desk on the16th, it was business as usual.  Michael Holt came by with the interesting news that Stein Kreuse’s son, Alexander was having a birthday party tonight in the King’s Room.  He had wanted the back room in the Pinnacle, but I had it reserved for a thank you party, for all who had helped my computer back to health after its software and hardware problems.  Lucky Michael was invited to both, but he’s sticking with his first invitation, which would be mine.

We were eating in the Pinnacle and “The Best Dam Tech Team”  party went very well.  The 14 of us drank 9 bottles of wine.  I want to recognize everyone that helped me, for the record:  Nicola Smiljovic, HAL IT Manager, who was my sounding board and advisor, when Windows crashed, and my consultant, when I was considering a new machine;  Michael Holt, who gave me a day of his life in Picton, NZ, downloading, installing, rebuilding Windows, MS Office, Outlook, etc.;  Kristen O’Shea, HAL’s Digital Workshop Manager, who helped me take an Image backup, when we thought the newly rebuilt computer might never run again, as we couldn’t charge it, and helped me load MS Office on Wells’ computer;  Wells Westcott, who lent me his spare computer, until I found a power supply that worked;  Connie Fischer, cruise of ’14, who lent me said power supply, until I found one in Cairns;  Jack Parker, who lent me a plug adapter that worked some of the time, when the one they sold me in Cairns, wouldn’t fit the desk, which had lips over the outlet;  Michael Innis, Bridge Instructor and Bus 2 Monitor, who lent me a three way plug, that worked better, to extend the plug adapter they sold me in Cairns out over the lips.  SOTs, Spouses of Techs, included, mine, Kristen’s, Dee Westcott, Maggie Parker, and Gail Hanson.  Jim Detwiler wasn’t well.

We all had a wonderful time.  All these very nice, very smart, people liked each other, a lot.  The computer came too, and showed its slide show all night.

It was St. Patrick’s Day, in Thailand, and nowhere on earth is it more ignored.  You wouldn’t think there were that many places to dock in Phuket, but this was at least the third for me.  It was hot and the market on the pier was under low tents, which made it very close to insufferable.  I made a quick reconnoitering pass at it, and took off on foot.  I probably should have hired a taxi.  The only place within walking distance in that heat was a SevenEleven.  At least it had very cold bottled water.  That helped on the way back.  I bought some clothing on the dock and called it a day.  It was getting near sail away, anyway, I had not started very early.

I put on the Paddy green top I had acquired in Singapore and went to sailaway and dinner.  The entertainment was Joe West, who sings, tap dances and plays a bunch of wind instruments.  He was pretty good.

March 18 was a sea day, and I worked on Internet minutes back for one of my people, signing them up for various things, and giving what shore advice I could.  Our next port, Hambantota, however, I did not have a clue about.  Not very many cruise ships have stopped there, ever. I finished and delivered a newsletter.  When I was delivering Shorex’s copy, I found out that HAL’s tour supplier was happy to take over our wine tour, but with its own bus and guide.  I didn’t think that was exactly nice of them, after my guy had done all the work of organizing and pricing it, and I had put it in presentation format and handed it to them on a plate.  Oh, well. Far be it from me.

Happy Hour was well attended, dinner was nice and the entertainment was Grafitti Classics, a dancing violin quartet.  It’s a formula act, and last year’s troop was better.  It was still fun, though.

 Still at sea, on March 19, we had a kitchen tour at 10:00 am.  Twenty-three people attended.  It was shorter than it has been in the past and they didn’t give us a crumb, while the smell of the bakery made our mouths water.  I went back to my desk, sorted out a bunch of things and tipped her staff for the Tech Party.

We had 20 people attending the Murder Mystery, and it was a lot of fun.  Michael and I won 200 Grand Dollars each fr guessing who did it.  We are putting them, with the $2 that Elvon has collected, into a bank to help anyone in the group reach a prize he or she wants.

On March 20, we docked at a very new port, Hambantota, Sri Lanka.  As usual, by the time we had had a big breakfast, been to the gym, and I had done some work, I was late getting out.  I took the shuttle to the gate, with just a couple of crew members.  It was 7 miles to town, and I had no one to share a taxi with.  It was not that expensive, but I was a little afraid of setting out alone in a tax.  I suppose it’s silly, but the older I get, the more of a chicken I become.  I hung around the gate for a couple more buses, but no partner appeared.  The people who had gone out early were coming back.  I did find out that there was a National Park, where they saw a lot of elephants and had a wonderful time, with a $60 taxi.

It was a sad little day for me.  It did have a bright spot, though.  I got back to a recorded message from the Front Desk, that my passenger had been refunded 228 Internet minutes, when I had requested 109.  Noelle had actually gone back through her sign ons and offs, and identified more waste.  Good for her.  I like Noelle.

Sailaway was nice, and the entertainment was a half dose of Joe West and a half of Michael Bell.  We had missed him on Murder Mystery night.  He was very, very good.

The next day, March 21, was our first in           Colombo, Sri Lanka.  While Elvon was showering and dressing I put the “On Location” channel on the stateroom TV.  Barbara was waxing poetic about the Galle Face Hotel, very near the ship.  It had had a face lift since we were here last year and she could not wait to see it.  It is Colombo’s Grande Dame Hotel and I always like those.  I did some work on my computer, while it was plugged in, and took off with it on my back around one PM.  There was no rush. We were here for two days.  I considered walking, but succumbed to a $5 tuk tuk.  Good thing I did, too, as I was pointed in the wrong direction.  It’s odd.  You see a thing from the ship, but by the time you are on the ground and walking, you can’t see it anymore and I got turned around.  The tuk tuk dropped me off, five minutes later, and I entered the very beautiful Galle Face.

It’s right on the beach, of course, and all marble and dark wood.  They showed me to the bar, where there were pictures on the walls of famous writers and actors who had stayed there.  You know, Somerset Maugham and his lot.  That man went everywhere.  I chose to sit inside, where it was cool and the tables looked more conducive to working, but the patio outside has wonderful rattan furniture and is right on the sea.  I noted the lunch area, and made a mental note to bring Elvon here tomorrow.

I got a lot of work done in that quiet bar, with its excellent Internet.  It’s not the only good place, either.  Colombo is in the middle of a growth spurt, and now has a Taj and a Hilton, too, and there’s an enormous hotel, mall, apartment, office, etc. complex going up, just across the road from the waterfront.  The anchor hotel is a Shangri La.  It’s Chinese money and they are doing what worked in Hong Kong, when we were there, 25 years ago.

On my tuk tuk ride back to the ship, we witnessed a typical Colombo accident, of the kind described by Barbara.  We had stopped so my driver could explain the parliament building to me, and right in front of us a motor scooter just fell over.  The driver and passenger, both girls in their twenties, got up, brushed themselves off, and laughed when they saw that their rear wheel was all bent and hanging by a thread.  These things happen all the time, apparently.  I’m just happy no one was hurt.

When I got back, I called Marilyn and Stan and invited them to lunch at the Galle Face Hotel.  We still owe them from Club 57 in Singaopre in 2012, and this looked like a good way to pay back.  They already had a car and driver booked to go to the market and lunch at the Taj, which no one had seen yet.  We were amenable to lunch there, too, but it wasn’t on the beach.  Marilyn and Stan decided to go with our idea.