Overcast and cold (42F). Some waves – 4-5’…a bit of motion, but not much. Lots and lots of sea birds: auks, petrels, glaucus or Icelandic gulls, shearwaters…but mostly fulmars, who put on quite a performance, pirouetting on the surface in search of food. We passed Bear Island this morning – anyone remember Alistair McLean’s novel of the same name (and the really bad movie)???
I am posting some photos from last night’s “sunset” and the midnight buffet. Also a self-explanatory posting on the TV -take a careful look.
We are well into the Arctic Sea heading for Svalbard, an archipelago of which Spitsbergen is one island. You’ll have to move well northwest of Norway toward the North Pole in order to find it on the map.
Went to two lectures this morning: Peter Quartermaine, a terrific maritime historian whom I have heard on previous voyages, spoke about “The Box Ships” – the history of containers, container ships and container ports. Containers, invented by an American hauler have revolutionized the international movement of goods and have brought about profound economic, human and architectural changes in our time. (N.B., He borrowed heavily from the book, “Container Ports I have Known and Loved: by M. Heslop) His talk was fascinating and accompanied by wonderful slides.
The next talk was by Jane Davey, who is an expert on Norway and who has been with us from day one. I have not been able to get to all her lectures, but caught up on the TV where they are broadcast on a loop. Today, she spoke on “Svalbard: Gateway to the North Pole”. Not only was it informative, but it was also extremely funny. She is better than a passel of comedians. She had us in stitches.
After lunch, I went topside to try to identify the birds – it was cold and windy. I came inside, went to the library, got a book on birds and stationed myself in a very comfy armchair in front of a picture window. What a sight! But, more importantly, the very nice gentleman next to me had fantastic field glasses and knew his birds – so he id-ed them for me!!!
Then it was time for another cocktail party – this time hosted by the Cunard Sales Dept. (as in, book now, we want your money!!!) Seriously though it was lovely as usual. Yoyo sends her best to you Paul and Amy….prices for QE 1011 will be released in a few days.
Then time for dinner…a scotch in the Commodore Club…then ABBA night in Illuminations (nightclub). We sang and danced ourselves silly until 1 a
Heureuse de lire que tu te plais...et les photos sont magnifiques. Je t'envoie quelques degres pour te rechauffer (39C aujourd'hui-moins chaud que la semaine derniere)- Il ne nous reste plus qu'a gagner a la loterie et nous pourrons sign up for QE2011!Bonne continuation.
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Hallo, Elaine, Wow, the photos of the midnight buffet are nifty. Those desserts look sinful! So glad you loved our photo. The weather here today was finally pretty nice. We packed a picnic and rode our bikes into Bristol. Tonight we are going to SS. Dion for din-din; actually celebrating having survived our closing which happened this afternoon...my god, what a cottage industry the closing process is! Happily that is now behind us. N.F. gate codes change this Thursday. That's it from here. Looking forward to your next blog. Glad you're having such fun.
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what a magnificent adventure. sounds as if the planets are lining up very nicely. all is well in Massachusetts...very excited for the swiss and their phenom, roger federer.
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mark and ellen