A Festive Evening

Friday May 9,
A festive evening—




After our tour of Rhodes we rested and then went to supper. The meal had been designated as ITALIAN NIGHT and the wait staff were decked out w/ bow ties of red and green. At a certain point toward the end of the meal, extremely loud Italian music came on some that we knew and some we didn’t. During this music waiters and waitresses danced with the patrons, ending with a chain dance with lots of folks hands on the sholders of the person ahead dancing around the room. Just as many people were up and in the middle of the room, several members of the wait staff- put on a lip sinc-ing show on the upper level. Very energetic and appreciated by all. These young people who wait tables work very hard and seem tireless. They also each bring a quirk to their service. Our waiter, Jerry, has a tossing trick with grated cheese for pasta. And he never seems to spill it.

After supper we decided we’d take in the “In Concert” show with the 2 singers and 11 dancers. All sang and all danced, but there were two featured singers and 2 featured dancers and then the chorus. The show began well and was very energetic. Set change technology was top notch, costumes, altho’ skimpy were creative. The choreography seemed inventive for the most part, but “robotic” for some numbers. My guess is that the beginning was done for the guests (Elvis, Frank Sinatra, Liza Minnelli, Aretha Franklin music and imitators), then the dancers and singers chose some more “modern” stuff to please themselves. The imitation of the Rolling Stones was awful, in my opinion. Needless to say, some of the music was in French, Spanish, Italian—don’t remember any German—and one number featured belly dancers- kinda’ modernized. But the majority of the music was American. I guess that is the one area of our culture that is embraced by most of the world. An interesting show, lasting about 45-50 min.

Came back to the room knowing that we don’t HAVE to get up any special time in the morning, since we are AT SEA.
I woke up at 8- guess I needed the sleep.
Showered and went up to the internet café where I spent about 16 minutes catching up on e-mail. I learned that B is painting the baby’s room—not sure what color and that the baby’s name is still under consideration, with several possibilities being mentioned.

Came back down to the cabin and N was up and showering. We had a leisurely breakfast and explored the ship a little. Went out on deck, but didn’t stay long because the wind was blowing really hard. Found several places we’d been wondering about. I shopped a little for amber jewelry which is 10 and 20% off today. Didn’t buy anything, but I did see some really pretty things.

Different areas of the ship







That’s all I have to share for now. Nick is planning his “bathroom essay” so it will probably be next. Bon Jour