Ahoy Mateys! We are back where we belong on the North Atlantic, with the British National Symphony Orchestra and Philipino men selling us foot insoles. We caught the ship in Hamburg with F and a friend from his master’s program- a very English fellow who studied Math before he met Frederick at Imperial. Needless to say we had lots of not boring conversations and blessedly none of them involved Trump. We love this kid- a brilliant combination of brains and a deep seated love for his soccer team (Leeds) and pub life and long walks. By his account on this trip he experienced for the first time: evening turn down service; caviar; amuse bouche, a fish knife, (declared it suboptimal when needed for broccoli); and that silver thing they use to take the crumbs off the table. He also seemed to relish the night life, such as it is, on the ship. Anyway it was really sad after they left…although we did get an upgrade to a table for two by the window.
The big news is Cunard was bought by some large American conglomerate and so many things have gotten worse- the food for one. Already with Harper the portion sizes were laughably small…But they don’t know whom they are dealing with in Thomas and me. Actually Thomas’ IQ has been of zero help and rather it is my single mined focus on nourishment that has made this whole trip work. FOR EXAMPLE the lunch menu was so sad in our fancy dining room that I took the drastic step of getting a nice large salad in the cafeteria where all are welcome and marching in the the Queens dining room stocked with tuna and chickpeas and greens. We also order three main dishes at dinner: two regular and one vegan so we can get more than an asparagus stalk with the meal. Add some wine and the chocolate we have in the room and you have enough energy to cross the Atlantic. It really is a bit sad…But we still have Mama Ocean and many English people with posh accents that apologize for everything and chirp greetings at all times; and these small signs of civilization and beauty make me grateful.
Thomas noticed that guests when they speak to another table can’t really turn their heads (due to the arthritis) so there is this “Queen Mary Lean” he sees …old people bending over to hear better. Photo below is Thomas practicing looking right to prepare for old age.
Today was a yoga class that annoyingly had both the yoga music and some soft rock playing at the same time…something that would never have happened under the old management…of course the group was too polite to say anything. Later is lunch (BYOSalad) and acupuncture and a spin class. (My foot hurts form a summer of walking and running and tennis and almost zero stretching).
There were many half finished blog entries from the summer that I will post. The highlight of course was going to Spain with F and Will K to see the eclipse. If you ever see a total one, and you should, see it in Spain where the people are so joyful. When it happened the assembled cheered or cried or toasted the moon with red wine and ham. Frederick remarked how moving it was moving to see us humans clap for no reason, for a moon that doesn’t hear us.
But he is a silly boy; because of course it does.
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| Frederick (on the left) and his friend swimming in English channel while on stop from Hamburg to South Hampton |
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| Beach at Le Havre France where QM2 stopped for a day |
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| Our present position- tiny dot near England |
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| Leaving Hamburg at night |
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| Eclipse crew in España |
