Sunday morning

I never should have mentioned that I hadn’t seen a cloud.  This morning when I awoke it was completely cloudy which makes the sea look more like you would expect the Atlantic to look: grey and ominous.  Still, there are only slight seas so pretty much the same gentle rocking motion.  I kept my balcony door open last night so I could hear the waves generated by the ship.  The sound was great and also provided some fresh air into the room. 

My exercise yesterday was walking for ½ an hour on the jogging track.  There are walkers most of the time there and I think running would make them feel uneasy, always having to watch for someone running behind them.  The walk was nice anyway with the sun and the nice views.   Today instead I went to the fitness centre and started out on the treadmill.  One thing you should be able to count on when using a treadmill: it doesn’t move.  With the pitching of the ship it made for a very strange experience.  One stride would seem fine but the next would send me forward and I’d brace myself on the front control panel.  I felt quite stupid (as well as a little afraid of doing some damage) so I shifted to the elliptical trainer.  Better.  The fitness centre is very nice, at the front of the ship with large windows giving lots of light.

As I finished up the sun made an appearance but it doesn’t look like it will last.

Some thoughts about the people on board.  It’s a very unpretentious group, very easy to start up a conversation with anyone.  I didn’t mention that on Friday evening, in the lounge before dinner, I met a couple, Wayne and Joanne from Virginia and ended up having dinner with them.  He’s a retired Army Colonel and they have a sun working in Paris, just happens to be named Rob.  It was a great dinner.  Last night, the ship put on a dinner for solo travelers, hosted by the cruise director Tony.  I attended that too and it worked out great.  There were 11 of us there, five men, six women, and mainly around my age.  Tony is a funny guy, a Brit who has been working on ships for 30 years and, not surprisingly, met his wife on board.  She was supposed to attend but ended up helping out at one of the other events on the ship.

Today there is a Sunday "Jazz Brunch".  Probably should have spent more time in the gym!