Dinner in the dining room is always casual on the first evening aboard, so we didn't dress. We found our four dinner table companions were all Canadians so this time nobody quizzed our thoughts about US President George Bush as our U.S. tablemates Laura and Don did on our last trip. The dining room maitre de' seems to try to arrange table mates for congeniality. One couple, Francoises and Dan were from Hull, Quebec. He's a retired government scientist who worked in food purity. A round and lively 82 year old, he has a fund of interesting stories, many about past hunting adventures, and tells lots of jokes. Between Dan and I wekept everybody at the table included and happily conversing.
Dan's wife is a French Canadian woman of "pure line" (as we subsequently learnedfrom her husband's description of his Separatist brother-in-law.) She's a small, sturdy, woman with short dark, slightly silvering hair and soft dark eyes that beamed warmly on her husband. She always looks pleasant and gentle. She doesn't talk much, and when she does it is with a slight Quebecois accent. She sews
almost all her own clothes and I could see that she is very skilled.
"Pure line" means that her ancestors came to Quebec very early. Some were probably at the Battle of the Plains of Abraham against the English on September 13,
1759. It was the battle for a continent. The British under Gen. James Wolfe defeated the French under Gen. Louis Montcalm in a decisive battle of the French and Indian Wars. The victory led to British supremacy in Canada. One of my greatgreat grandfathers was killed in the French and Indian Wars at a place known asBloody Pond in Upper New York State, in what became the U.S.A., and because theBritish won Canada there was a refuge for my family in Canada during the American Revolution when they were on the losing side in the USA. So that's why I'm a
Canadian today. Of course I didn't say anything about that. It's still hot
stuff in Quebec, to this day!
Unlike her brother, she doesn't seem to have thorny Quebec separation political
opinions. Or maybe she and her husband do, and just courteously didn't mention
them at table, either.
The second couple, Vera and Bill from Vancouver Island seemed a much simpler pair. He is lean and pleasant. Usually smiling slightly. A willing talker, but
usually not an initiator of topics. He's a retired forestry man. His wife is an interested talker on introduced topics. She wears glasses and has permanent-waved, mid-length soft silvery hair, and dark eyebrows. She laughs quite a lot but her laughing expression quickly vanishes as though it were shut off. I don'tremember knowing anybody else like that. They live in a condominium apartment
with an ocean view, near BC's provincial capital of Victoria, on Vancouver
Island.
Ben found later that evening that his digestive system was a little upset. In two days he was completely fine, and neither of us had any other health troubles during the trip. After dinner we had naps in our cabin. We slept longer than either of us expected. After our rest we walked around the ship. There is an upper deck that overlooks a central atrium that is two decks tall. Both decks are
far larger than the atrium area, but in the cenre part you look down into a formal area below where the front desk staff are always present. There is a huge stone sculpture of a water dragon coiled around a boat which is filled with water
. I think it was a fountain. The top of this rather magnificent thing is at
eye level from the higher deck. Around the opening of this atrium on the upper
level are a casino, shops, restaurants, a movie theatre called the Wajang Theatre on each ship, and piano lounges with different kinds of live music and mixed drinks available for listeners. In some of them there are dance floors with a few dancers.
There is a large, comfortable and quite good library filled with a wide variety
of recent, top quality reading material on all kinds of subjects, as well as theusual latest fiction in hard cover editions. If you want to read "pot-boilers"
you can buy paperbacks at the tobacco and liquor story. There are all kinds of
sumptuous leather couches and chairs, and desks supplied with stationary and pens. Sculptures, reference books, all kinds of good magazines. Just one of my favourite places.
Then there is a games room with New York Times daily crossword puzzles and 1000
piece jigsaw puzzles, playing cards, scrabble boards and other board games. There are thousands of movies from all the movie years. They can be borrowed and watched in your stateroom. Every room now has a dvd player. There are excellent
headphones to listen to any kind of music while you recline in one of the luscious leather chairs. It really is a little bit of heaven. :-)
The duty-free shops are always closed when the ship is in port. Now we were at
sea so I was able to buy a long sleep-shirt with beautiful tulips on the front.
It's wrapped in clear, crisp cellophane tied with a pretty ribbon, just like a
fresh bouquet of rose and green tulips. For the rest of the evening I enjoyed carrying it like a bouquet of summer tulips. It's so pretty I still haven't opened it. Ben bought me a hat. I usually buy a shady summer hat that will stay onsecurely. Then I have it at home for the next summer and plenty of good memories attached. This one is a loosely woven fibre fedora. I look good in it. :-))
There was a "Sailaway Party" on the outdoor swimming pool deck as the harbour pilot guided the ship to sea. A band played, there were drinks and things to eat
, as people watched the unmooring and the San Diego skyline recede. Tonight we were advised to put our clocks forward one hour. Ben and I went to a much higherdeck near the front of the ship and watched from there. We aren't much for drinks and crowds and we could still hear the music while we enjoyed the view, the
breeze and the privacy.
Bottled water, a container for ice and cans of soft drinks are ready in our cabin on a tray on the dresser, and there is a basket with a selection of fresh fruit and a knife, and silverware wrapped in the ship's dark blue cloth dinner napkins on our little table. The fruit is included, but bottled or canned drinks usedare recorded by your cabin steward and charged to the credit card account you registered with the ship before embarkation. To pay for anything while aboard yousimply mention your name and stateroom number. It's a cashless society. Ben and I didn't use the drinks. We each prefer a glass of water for the night. Water from the bathroom taps is potable but smells of chlorine, so we generally don
'
t drink it. Bed covers had been turned back by T. our room steward, and a gilt-wrapped Dutch chocolate impressed with the ship's emblem lay on our pillows each
evening. A printed note of welcome from the Captain was there together with a colourful little daily ship's paper about the ship, its crew and the next day's activities. By 12:30 am we were asleep on a calm sea.
Post three will come.
