earendel's "North to Alaska" trip - Day 3
Posted: Tue Jul 08, 2008 6:23 am
This was an "at sea" day, meaning that there would be no landfalls and we would have to entertain ourselves to the best of our ability. Fortunately Holland-America provides its guests with a digest of the New York Times, including the crossword puzzle; this being Sunday, that meant the Sunday crossword, to which I look forward every week (it's published in our city's alternative newspaper on Wednesdays). Plus, according to the calendar of events, there would be a trivia contest. All in all it had the makings of a great day, and so it turned out to be.
The weather out on deck was delightful - a bit breezy but not too cool. I parked myself in a deck chair near the pool (which was not open) and worked my way through the crossword puzzle, finishing just before it was time to climb to the Crow's Nest for the trivia contest. I had planned on being a team of one, but the host wanted to make sure that everyone was on a team, so I ended up on a team with five college-age students. I couldn't decide whether this would be an advantage or a disadvantage; as it turned out, it was neither. They didn't know many of the answers but were wise enough to accept my answer if I was positive. There were several questions that I figured they wouldn't know the answer to - as an example, the name of the Beatles' first LP album (one of them had to ask what "LP" was). But there was at least one question that dealt with pop culture and the kids came through. In the end we handily defeated the other teams. Our prizes were modest, so modest, in fact, that I can't remember what they were, but it was the win that counted.
In the afternoon elwing did laundry, so that our clothes would be clean. By now the story of our lost luggage was circulating around the ship; people I hadn't met would come up and ask if our luggage had arrived yet. As I related earlier, elwing's sewing kit was in the luggage, so the pants she bought for me in Vancouver couldn't be hemmed, meaning that I had to wear the same ones. Hence the need for laundry. So I wrapped myself in the bathrobe provided for our cabin and switched on the TV set, catching the second "National Treasure" movie.
This was also "formal night" in the dining room, and since our formal wear (such as it was) was in the luggage that never arrived, we didn't have any. So we eschewed the opportunity to dine in the dining room and went up to the Lido Deck, where their buffet offerings are almost the same as what is being served below.
At evening's end elwing and I took a stroll on the Prominade, enjoying the twilight (even at 10PM). Afterward we went back to the cabin and watched "Enchanted", which we had wanted to see but hadn't managed to get to at the theaters back home. This was what I was hoping for when I started this vacation - a relaxing time. Maybe this experience wouldn't be so bad after all.
The weather out on deck was delightful - a bit breezy but not too cool. I parked myself in a deck chair near the pool (which was not open) and worked my way through the crossword puzzle, finishing just before it was time to climb to the Crow's Nest for the trivia contest. I had planned on being a team of one, but the host wanted to make sure that everyone was on a team, so I ended up on a team with five college-age students. I couldn't decide whether this would be an advantage or a disadvantage; as it turned out, it was neither. They didn't know many of the answers but were wise enough to accept my answer if I was positive. There were several questions that I figured they wouldn't know the answer to - as an example, the name of the Beatles' first LP album (one of them had to ask what "LP" was). But there was at least one question that dealt with pop culture and the kids came through. In the end we handily defeated the other teams. Our prizes were modest, so modest, in fact, that I can't remember what they were, but it was the win that counted.
In the afternoon elwing did laundry, so that our clothes would be clean. By now the story of our lost luggage was circulating around the ship; people I hadn't met would come up and ask if our luggage had arrived yet. As I related earlier, elwing's sewing kit was in the luggage, so the pants she bought for me in Vancouver couldn't be hemmed, meaning that I had to wear the same ones. Hence the need for laundry. So I wrapped myself in the bathrobe provided for our cabin and switched on the TV set, catching the second "National Treasure" movie.
This was also "formal night" in the dining room, and since our formal wear (such as it was) was in the luggage that never arrived, we didn't have any. So we eschewed the opportunity to dine in the dining room and went up to the Lido Deck, where their buffet offerings are almost the same as what is being served below.
At evening's end elwing and I took a stroll on the Prominade, enjoying the twilight (even at 10PM). Afterward we went back to the cabin and watched "Enchanted", which we had wanted to see but hadn't managed to get to at the theaters back home. This was what I was hoping for when I started this vacation - a relaxing time. Maybe this experience wouldn't be so bad after all.
