The Yankee came back from a spa program today happily pointing out how lucky we are. There’s one more stop on our cruise and then the ship returns to it’s home port. We’ll all get off, people will start making their way back home or wherever they have to go next. The cruise itself is a 11-day embarrassment of extravagance, but we all know it is coming to an end.
Some people are already thinking about, and dreading, going back to work on Monday.
But we don’t have to. We’ll be traveling home by then, but we won’t be at work.
In a related story, summer breaks are wonderful.
Since we are traveling between Athens and Naples today this is a day of shipboard activities. I went to two glass shows. I like glass shows, always have been mesmerized by them, even as a child. They have a three-person team on board, a full studio on the topside deck, all electric set up, very fancy. They talk about how it takes 10 years just to learn how to do this with any degree of competency. They talk about how you have to enjoy the process rather than the finished product, especially in those early years where you break more than you make.
And then they just whip up something like they were pulling together a few snacks. It is a great show. Over the course of the trip we’ve also seen a musical, there have been other shows, opportunities to learn a half-dozen dances, karaoke, trivia, putting challenges, bocce tournaments, lectures, bingo (they are wild about their bingo for some reason) and a Newlywed game.
We entered, but did not get picked. They call theirs the Newlywed and Not-So-Newlywed Game. They had four couples, one married two weeks, another married two months, one married 29 years and another married 51 years. Oddly enough the newest of the newlyweds won.
There was also a Liar’s Club game, which could have been better, but it made for a low-key evening performance. I mentioned the library and the spa. There’s an impressive weight room, a lawn on the top deck, a computer lab, more restaurants than I can name. There’s a basketball court and a mini soccer goal, too. The ship is ridiculous.
Tonight there was a Jersey Boys show, and a Cirque de Soleil-type performance. I took some pictures, which can be found on the cruise ship page. Breaking up the pictures turned out to be a good idea, no? I’ve so far uploaded 344 pictures — not counting a slideshow and three panoramas — from the trip. We still have another day in Rome to go and our excursion tomorrow as well. We’ll be in Naples and visiting Mt. Vesuvius and Pompeii.
We couldn’t have taken this trip right after we got married last year for a few reasons — mostly because I had to be back in school — but the wait has been well worth it given all that we’ve seen and done.
And, to top it off, we don’t even have to go back to work on Monday!
