The Crossing - Day 1 - Woman in Cold

September 5

This was one of those travel days, even though we only had to go about 2 miles. It took up a good part of the day and a lot of energy.

We walked around the corner to a convenience store and got some coffee and food for our breakfast and a 12-pack of bottled water and some wine to drink on the ship. Back at the hotel we picnicked on our food and packed our bags. We checked out at 11:30 and got a cab to Mayflower Cruise Terminal. I wonder how it got its name. Perhaps this is where the Pilgrims sailed from.

We were able to get from the taxi to our cabin in under 30 minutes. The boarding process was extremely well organized and we just zipped through. As soon as we got on board we saw friends from Chicago. We had cruised with them three or four times previously, by coincidence. Some people just have very similar tastes.

On our cruise in June of this year we had the same captain, Captain Pomata. Everybody wondered if he was even on board the ship then. He never made any announcements and did not cone to the Captain's Circle party. There were no announcements at all when we left a port. Theree were no announcements when we passed something interesting, such as the North Cape, or whales.

I think a lot of people made comments about that on their end-of-cruise surveys. The captain-who-wasn't-there in June was definitely here in September. He made at least 4 announcements on the first day. One of the announcements informed us that we would be leaving two hours late due to incoming traffic in the narrow channel.

We had signed up for a tour in Reykjavik that included the Blue Lagoon. You may know that the Blue Lagoon is the number one sight to see in Reykjavik. So, we had a letter in our room telling us that for "operational reasons" the Blue Lagoon would not be included in the tour. Instead we would get to visit the Salt Fish Museum. Really? I do actually know one person who would actually enjoy that, but I know 1,000 who would consider it a punishment. Fortunately we ahd a back-up plan, so we cancelled that tour and we WILL get to see the Blue Lagoon.

After dinner we went to MUTS - Movies Under the Stars. Thhis is an outdoor movie by one of the pools. They serve popcorn and give you blankets and you watch a movie on the big jumbotron screen. Tonight it was pretty cold, so I put on almost every piece of clothing I had excpet for my formal clothes. Well, that's an exaggeration, but I did put on a base layer plus fleece jacket, hood, and gloves. And it's a good thing, because there weren't any blankets. They did offer a lot of pool towels, but it's just not the same.

The movie was "Woman in Gold, about the famous painting by Gustav Klimt. It was a very good movie and seemed to fit in with our visit to central Europe.

Sorry, no photos today.