Wednesday 28 October 2009

THE LAST FEW DAYS OF OUR CRUISE

Day 12 –

Just coming in to port at Gibraltar as I type. Mike gone up on Deck and time for me to shower.

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Will report on today later…………………………..

What a disappointment, the prices were much as they are at home and definitely dearer than the boat for spirits, jewellery, watches etc.

I did fall in love with this Gibraltar crystal but left it on the shelves as it was very expensive.

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Dragged our weary feet back to the boat after about 3 hours completely forgetting the famous rock and Mike’s cousins who inhabit it! Hey ho, another time perhaps.

We have just set sail running parallel with the southern coasts of Spain & Portugal & then on into the Atlantic to turn North into the wind & rain. Just hope it isn’t too rough. Just 1200 + miles to Southampton.A bat in our cabin tonight!

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Day 13

Homeward bound and the seas are calm but the temperature is dropping. Some hardy folks stripped off and braved the wind but we found a comfy sofa, looking out to sea and marvelled how vast the oceans are and wonder what lies beneath.

I did manage to take some photos of the wonderful artwork around the boat – here is selection

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My favourite was this - "After Magritte"  by Devorah Sperber utilizes 20,800 spools of thread to make a mosaic inspired by the Belgian surrealist Rene Magritte

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Larry Kirkland's "Kylix" dominates the Main Centrum and is based on the design of an ancient Greek drinking cup.

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A glass mosaic "Tigers in the Jungle" recalls the work of post-impressionist Henri Rousseau.

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And this amazing glass bridge was SOOOOOO pretty -

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The last formal dinner tonight so I wore my new long orange and brown dress with my brown silk shirt as a jacket. I also fought my way into an M&S “corset” guaranteed to lose inches but it just pushed them up and out!I did look a bit slimmer but that was more probably the high heeled shoes. O how I love the feeling of high heels, nothing quite so elegant and attractive and I never expected to wear them again. This time I wore (very unglamorous) pop socks so the shoes were more comfortable and I managed to keep them on.

OK, just one photo, the only one of me which somehow got on to my camera – Mike looks great in his DJ.

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After Airbrushing! Just for fun.

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Another lovely dinner and tonight all the chefs paraded for us – they certainly work very hard and are extremely talented.

Here are just a few who we were able to applaud.

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Here is the smoked salmon starter arranged as a rose.

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Did not fancy the after dinner show tonight so a drink in our favourite bar and bye byes.

Day 14.

More than a little excitement on board today. At breakfast the captain (aptly named Captain Remo!) announced that there was a medical emergency and a helicopter had been sent for to take the patient to France. Of course, everyone went to the bow to watch it land on the helipad and a coastguard plane circled over head. Needless to say, the crew had to move most people back to a place of safety so visibility was not good.

The helicopter eventually arrived but it was too big to land so it lowered the stretcher and then flew around the ship for ages. Eventually, it returned and the patient and medics etc were hoisted aboard and it was lucky that the sea was very calm unusual to say the least for the notorious Bay of Biscay. We actually watched it from the gym and had a brilliant view so after, I did a couple of laps on the treadmill which I really enjoyed and left determined to do it some more when we get home. Lynne, please note!

Unfortunately, no camera on me when all this excitement happened so no pics.

We are now packed as the cases will be collected this evening so all that remains is our final dinner tonight and the final show.

Here is the captain giving his farewell speech and Mike looking bored!

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Would we do it again – definitely yes but on a smaller ship. This really is too big and has too many passengers.

Over all an experience not to be missed and very enjoyable.

JJ

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