DAY 2---Sunday at Sea

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LAST EVENING

        We met Pat & Jim Bittle in the Meridian Lounge for cocktails as I mentioned in yesterday's post.  I brought some Woodford Reserve cherry bitters with me so gave it to the bartender.  He remembered me bringing the bitters on the world cruise and remembered how I liked my Manhattans.  No Makers Mark bourbon in bars so had Woodford Reserve bourbon.  Later when we returned to our suite after dinner there was a bottle of Makers Mark.  I had requested they put a couple bottles on for me.  And they did!!!

        At 7pm we adjourned to Prime 7 where we had a nice table by the windows at back of the ship.  Sorry I neglected to get a photo of the four of us.

I started with a delicious crab cake and Rebecca chose the half a wedge salad.  We each had 6 ounce filets for our entrees.  We brought some Lawry's lemon pepper with us so they brought the filets out for me to season before grilling.

                              My filet with baked potato and we had some asparagus also.

        Rebecca had her La Crema chardonnay but Jim and I enjoyed this Chilean carmenere red wine.  Very nice!

          Of course no dinner would be complete in Prime & without having a popcorn sundae.

TODAY

        We had requested room service at 8am before retiring last night.  Well, we forgot to set our alarm clocks so at 8am the phone rang saying our breakfast was on the way.  A few seconds later our door bell rang so had to get out of bed and throw a bath robe on quickly.  We slept very good last night!!

       So being Sunday there was an interdenominational church service at 9:30.  Rebecca wanted to go hit the treadmill so I showered and headed to church.

                                       Ironic that the service was being held in a lounge.

                                                                       The bulletin

        The service was led by the cocktail pianist, Geno.  It was an excellent 25 minute service and well attended by probably 30 of us sinners.

        Afterwards I went to see Hugo, the internet manager.  My phone photos were still not being backed up automatically to my Google Photos so I could see them on my laptop.  He spent 90 minutes with me trying to get it to work and ended up showing me a way to put them on using blue tooth.  Quite a complicated way so I had to write all the steps down so I would remember later.  (After lunch I noticed some photos have started backing up normally.  So we shall see.)

        Upon returning to the suite I noticed this beautiful chandelier.  So I had to have a photo and walked down two flights of stairs to get one.  I missed to bottom step of the first flight and fell.  Several crewmembers saw me fall and rushed to see if I was ok.  FORTUNATELY, only thing bruised was my ego!  Knee a little sore but nothing broken.  Glad I went to church earlier!!!  I was more concerned that my cell phone was ok.

        When I got back to the suite Rebecca had finished her workout and was showering to go to lunch.  At noon we headed to Prime 7 for lunch and was seated at a nice table looking aft.  After I had ordered (remember Rebecca does Atkins bar) Melody & David Hermann came in and sat at the table behind us so we joined them for lunch.  Great catching up with them.

        It was 2pm before we finished lunch and chatting.  This is from our tv showing our position then.  It is 61 degrees and very smooth sailing since leaving Barcelona yesterday evening.

        This afternoon we started exploring Grandeur.  So today I am featuring what is down on Deck 4 and will work my way up a deck each day.

                                           Entrance to Compass Rose, the main dining room.

                                                     As you walk into Compass Rose.

                                              Captain's table with interesting background.

                           View from very back looking forward.  Kitchen behind doors in back.

                                           Next stop mid deck 4 are the boutique shops.

                                                                         The casino

                                                     Entering the Constellation Theater.

                                                                          Stage is big.

                                                              Control booth in rear.

        Besides the nice orchid, they brought this lovely flower arrangement.  Another of our Diamond benefits.

        We received this invitation to dine with Franck, the General Manager, this evening after the Captain's Welcome Reception.  The Reception will be in the theater at 6pm and we are to meet Franck at Compass Rose at 7:15.  We have known Frank for many years.

        Will be sure to go to the show at 9:30.  It is featuring Isabel Commandeur, a very powerful Dutch singer/performer.  We have seen her show on the world cruise earlier this year.

I have wifi Blink cameras mounted the roof in Durango which I can view from the ship.  It appears we have 6 to 8 inches of snow up there.  First snow of the year a few days after we left.