Scheduled Sea Day

We  set our wake-up call for 5:45 AM (I know, sounds crazy), but we were scheduled to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar at 6:30 and figured we’d get coffee to face the cold morning breezes.  Unfortunately, it was also pitch black outside.  We could see the lights of Morocco and of Gibraltar with a tiny light at the top of the ROCK.  Guess we’ll have to come back in the daytime.  It was exciting to pass through the Straits and to see both Europe and Africa at the same time.  We got a few early sunrise pictures and went to breakfast to warm up.  Met a lovely couple from Ottawa and spent about two hours sharing travel stories and drinking coffee.  The joys of cruising for us is as much the people we meet as the sights we see (or both together).  Back to the cabin to change from our ‘winter’ clothes to lighter ones…it’s a beautiful sunny day and we really enjoyed time on our balcony for the first time. 

Spent a couple of hours at the indoor pool; ate lunch at the AquaSpa again and got a bit educated at a lecture by a Smithsonian Historian who spoke about  Art Nouveau (buildings, furniture and art in general).  Art left for a nap and I left half way through to go to a cooking demonstration by the head chefs of the 3 specialty restaurants.  Good combination of eclectic learning for the day.  Back to the cabin to post the last three days.  Tried to post last night but the Internet Satellite link was down.  It’s wonderful to be able to write offline and publish to the Web quickly when it’s available.  At 56 cents a minute (the discounted rate for the Elite level of captain’s club) it’s good to keep connect time to a minimum.  I do miss our free unlimited connection in Tuscany – so spoiled :)

Off to our early evening cocktail party…once again meeting up with friends from former cruises; then dinner (traditional turkey dinner tonight – don’t know why but I always choose it…getting ready for T Day, I guess.  Toasted Eric and Beth on their 19th wedding anniversary and have no idea where the years have gone!  Big one next year! 

Tonight’s entertainment was a variety show – I don’t  know when we’ve enjoyed cruiseline entertainment so much…so much talent and music that we really like.  Off to bed early (early wake-up this morning has made me sooo sleepy) with the added bonus of moving the clock back an hour.  One of the fun things about doing a westerly crossing of the Atlantic is that we have 6 - 25 hour days as we cross to get us back on US time; much better than jet lag when we return home.  And an additional bonus was that Italy had already moved their clocks back before we arrived and the US moved clocks back while we were away so no time change at home this year. Takes so little to make me happy :)