Month: June 2018

Dancing the night away – 30 June 2018

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Today was the last sea day of the cruise.

It was also the last full day of the cruise and the last art class and the last salsa class. Art class was a challenging painting of two strawberries. Not real ones, but a painting from a photo as all the previous ones had been. For this last class both morning and afternoon groups were joined because there was to be an exhibition of work in the afternoon. Easa’s technique is totally different from anything I’ve used before. He works in a very detailed way. As an example, after sketching the shape of the two strawberries, our first task was to draw the individual seeds. Have you ever stopped to count the number of strawberry seeds are going into your mouth? I bet you haven’t. People laugh at me because I crunch my way through all an apple apart from the stalk. “You’ll have an apple tree growing in your stomach” I’ve heard folk say. That may be so, but do you spit out all those strawberry pips too? After painting in the seeds we had to then paint round them, not all the way round all of them because he wanted some white paper left for highlights. Then we added dark red for the shadow areas and a bit of green for the leaves. When it was finished I was quite pleased with the effect. I’m glad I was in the small morning group. I couldn’t have done with all the preening that went on from some of the afternoon group.

After lunch we joined the salsa group, but only for half a class for me because I had to go set up my paintings. Afterwards, I met back up with Scamp as the salsa class finished. We didn’t go for a swim today because the thought of packing wet swim suits was just too much. Instead we started packing, well, I started packing as Scamp had already started while I was counting strawberry seeds. It’s a sad task, packing after fourteen days, but it has to be done.

Dinner tonight was with a mixed bunch. Grumpy old woman, young couple and an older couple who were ok. The girl from the young couple was full of her own self importance. She was working for Charles Hanson the auctioneer and antiques expert. It appeared that some of his expertise had rubbed off on her as she knew everything about antiques too. Some folk just love to blow their own trumpet. I reckoned the old grumpy woman was her mother. If she was, then pity the poor bloke who married the daughter. Nothing was good enough for this battleaxe.

After dinner we went to the Tamarind club where there was to be a Salsa Hoedown with both the line dancers and the salsa dancers taking part with the whole thing being supervised by the Headliners theatre group. It was great fun. I didn’t do any of the line dancing, I forgot my cowboy hat, but I enjoyed the salsa. Scamp, of course took part in everything. It was a great end to the cruise and one that will stay in my memory.

Tomorrow we depart for our ten hour trip home.

At sea – 29 June 2018

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Today in art class we were painting a pig. Let’s face it there are plenty to choose from on this ship. There are fat pigs, male chauvinist pigs, ugly pigs and just plain porkers, but this was a happy little pig leaning on a fence. I tried to follow Easa, the teacher’s, instructions, but found it difficult to start with painting the eyes first. It goes against all the watercolour rules of leaving details to the end and also of painting light to dark. However it worked better than I thought and his colour combinations and mixing instructions worked well. I liked my little pig. It should appear soon on Flickr, but not until the blog is complete and the PoDs are in place. I’ll let you know when.

Salsa class was more turns, which give my knee gyp, and more additions to the routine. The sad thing is that this is ballroom salsa. In Cuban salsa, and even in LA as far as I can see you never dance a routine. Yes, in class, in a learning environment you dance in a circle (rueda) and all do the same moves, but not when out dancing. Then it’s freestyle, so we’d never use the kicks and flicks. Still, it’s good fun and with such a camp and fun teacher you can’t help but think it’s “FAB!”

Dinner was booked for 7pm in Sindhu, the Indian restaurant on board, but that didn’t prevent us from having some Aloo Saag and Muttar Paneer for lunch. Lovely stuff.

Later, once we’d given it a chance to be digested, we went swimming in the inside/outside pool. Later when Scamp had gone to the cabin to get ready for tonight, I did a wee sketch of the pool area. Again, it may appear on a blog posts or Flickr later TBC.

Sindhu dinner which was also the last of the formal (AKA Dress The Dolly) nights was disappointing. There was nothing really wrong with it, it was just not as good as the last time when we’d been overwhelmed by the range and quality of the food.

Afterwards we went to the show in Arena. It was a life history of Burt Bacharach (!!) We rated it as ‘poor’. Certainly not one of Headliners best performances.

On the Rock – 28 June 2018

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Today we were at Gibraltar. That little corner of a foreign land that is forever England. Not Britain, England.

Today was a short stop. We arrived at 8am and after being told for the umpteenth time not to carry anything on board “for the benefit of a stranger” (why use one word when ten would do?) we were ok to go looking for cheap booze and fags. There’s not a lot more to Gibraltar than that.

  • Well, there’s the rock, but once you’ve gone up on it and admired the view, you come back down.
  • There’s the apes, but manky beasts they are and best kept at someone else’s arms length, preferably a stranger’s.
  • There’s the hundreds of electronic and photography shops selling five year old models, slightly cheaper than Amazon and without any warranty.

Other than that, there used to be the Almeda Gardens, but the last time we went there the gardens were in a sorry state and looking the worse for wear. It used to be good fun for me watching the coming and going of the airies at the airport, especially the scary Tornados, but they’re all gone now and it’s just the occasional commercial flight that lands or takes off, so no fun today.

We got off fairly early and walked up the Main Street populated with well known UK high street shops, the aforementioned cheapo photography and computer shops and the rest are tax-free jewellery or tourist places. Scamp got a new piece for her Pandora bracelet in the shape of a dragonfly. How neat is that. She was quite taken by it and so, I must admit was I. That doesn’t mean I’m thinking about getting a Pandora bracelet any time soon.

Stopped at a street side cafe for a slice of apple pie and a coffee. I won’t tell you how much they cost, but it was extortionate. Very nice apple pie though. We bought two cards and posted them and then went back to the ship.

We went for a swim in the inside/outside pool to avoid the Great British Sailaway. One man a few nights ago was trying to get the other people at the table excited about it, telling us that “… then the bunting comes out and we have a right good singsong.” Sorry mate, allergic to bunting and don’t do singsongs. Some of these english are so easy pleased. Give them a flag and some songs their granny sang and they’re happy as a sandboy, whatever a sandboy is.

Dinner tonight was with two of the most boring couples we’ve been with. They seemed frightened to speak to us because we were obviously not english. They droned on all meal about weather, sailing and driving. Driving us away.

Highlights of the day were the flowers in the garden of the court house and the cheap booze and fags.

“I ordered up some Suzette … – 27 June 2018

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… I said could you please make that Crêpes.”
(Bob Dylan’s 115th Dream)

Painting class in the morning and today it was a pelican we were rendering on paper. It wouldn’t have been my first choice and in the end it looked a bit more like a distorted swan than the exotic fish eater. Still, as as I used to say, it’s done now. Scamp went dancing while I was struggling with a pelican and she was much more successful than me.

After that we went for a swim, walked round the ship and did a bit of dolphin spotting. However, there were other things in the sea, mostly junk. Bottles (maybe some with messages in), leaves, pieces of paper and a turtle. I thought it was a leaf at first, but then I realised that we were about ten decks up from the sea and there isn’t much to give a sense of scale. Then it moved its flippers and leaves don’t have flippers. It was a turtle. Too late I told Scamp and by that time it was a little brown smudge on the top of the water. We waited and waited and only saw one more. No photos I’m afraid, no time to get the camera focused on the little creatures and take the shot. Not when you’re travelling at 20 knots on an undulating sea. Still, we saw turtles. Also saw a pod of dolphins. No photos there either, but I did get a good shot of blue water where the dolphin had been.

Months ago we booked a meal at Epicurean, assuming that as it was the first week of the cruise, it would be menu ‘A’. It’s not as simple as that. Menus are rotated on a four or five day cycle and we got menu ‘B’ which to Scamp’s disappointment didn’t finish with a Crêpe Suzette. After what was an otherwise faultless meal we booked tonight’s dinner in the sure and certain knowledge that it would be menu ‘A’. It didn’t disappoint. We sat at the rail at the back of the ship watching the world drift by and looking out at where we’d been. Below us were the rear swimming pools and we could listen in to conversations of swimmers doing the same as us, but without the encumbrance of posh dress or heavyweight kilt, because tonight was a ‘Black & White’ dress code. National dress trumps ‘Black & White’, by the way. I’ll fill in the menu when I get a chance to check it, but what sticks in my mind were the ‘amuse bouche’, namely Bloody Mary Lollypops and Blackcurrant and White Chocolate Lollypop! Inventive.

That was about it for the day. Tomorrow it’s Gibraltar. Monkeys and cheap booze.

Alghero – 26 June 2018

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Today we were in Sardinia.  We’d been there before, but not to this port.  That meant we didn’t have to go looking for a pizza shop or an art shop we’d been to on previous years!

Spent the morning in the pool again and then decided it was time to go ashore.  Today we had to get a Tender ashore.  As usual with P&O, the organization of the disembarkation was really well done.  Issued with tickets and told to wait in one of the restaurants until our number was called.  It was only about twenty minutes of a wait before we were called, then it was all aboard the Skylark for the short trip to the harbour. 

Alghero was a lovely little place.  One of those places you take an immediate liking to.  Old houses and a few Roman ruins.  Twisty, winding streets with lots of trees and little parks.  Nothing new or brash.  Not a lot of shops and the ones that were there were small jewellery shops or touristy ones.  No big stores, not even a supermarket.  Loads of cafes too.  We stopped and had lunch in one.  I had a pizza and Scamp demolished Spaghetti with Scampi (prawns) and Tomatoes.  Both were voted very good.  The only down side was the number of flies.  Earlier we saw a fountain that would scoot water up at random intervals in the street.  We stood for a while watching kids running round and through it, almost willing the water to start an soak them, but eventually they got fed up waiting and ran away … dry.  There were really large (3m long) posters on the walls of buildings showing old people around the town.  I was really impressed with the quality of them.  They seemed to be part of an exhibition.  We didn’t linger long after our lunch and soon got the tender back to the ship.

Dinner was at a table with a strange assortment of people.  A family where the father was really obnoxious and sarcastic to his wife who hardly spoke and a daughter who seemed quite ‘normal’ by comparison.  The other person at the table ‘Barbara’ was playing the ‘little old lady’ card.  She pretended that she was a little bit lost, but managed to wangle a full bottle of wine from the wine waiter by claiming she had handed over her wine card. (When you buy a bottle of wine and don’t drink it all, you can reserve the remainder for the next day and are given a card with a number on it.  That same number is written on to the bottle label.)  I’d seen her take out the card and then slide it into a side pocket of her purse.  After that she berated the wine waiter and told him she had definitely given him her card.  The daughter of the family of the family had seen the subterfuge too, but Barbara got a full bottle to replace her half empty one they couldn’t find without the matching number.  Must try that trick some time.

Not a lot going on after dinner, so a couple of drinks and then it was time for bed, and a sea day tomorrow.

Civitavecchia – 25 June 2018

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P1050163- blogDespite all our plans and research, we decided not to go to Rome today.  Instead we’d go round Civitavecchia again.

This was definitely a bus into town day.  It’s a long walk to the town from where the ship was berthed.

As usual there was an enormous queue when we first looked, but we weren’t in a hurry.  Went for a swim in the inside/outside pool.  Finally decided to go about 11.30.  Queue by that time was minimal and we got on the bus which was just arriving.  My main task today was to get some watercolour paint.  Burnt Umber if you must know.  I had a bit left in the pan in the paintbox, but a tube bought in a holiday place always brings reminders of it on dark winter days. I remembered chancing upon a stationers shop that sold art materials the last time we were in the town and I was sure I could find it again. I did eventually find the shop, but they didn’t have any watercolour paint.  Acrylic and Oils, even some pastels and marker pens, but no watercolour.  Well, at least the shop was still there, almost where I remembered it to be.

Scamp was looking for a pizza restaurant where she remembered us having a pizza and using their WiFi the last time we were here.  Despite looking in all the places it remained elusive.  We had a beer each in a little street cafe instead and that was good enough for me.  The place hadn’t changed much, but we did find a street we hadn’t been on before and while we investigated it, I noticed the clouds were drifting in.  Scamp said she thought she’d hear a clap of distant thunder too.  Not good.  As we walked down the street, I came across an artist’s shop!  It stocked W&N paints too, but it was closed, probably for lunch.  It didn’t matter, those clouds were definitely getting blacker and closer and the thunder was coming closer too.   It was time to go back on the ship.  If I got a chance I’d come back and get the paint.  If not, then maybe tomorrow.

Just got the bus back to the ship and were inside when the rain came on, and it stayed on all afternoon.  Spent the rest of the day in the inside/outside pool swimming and soaking in the hot tubs.  I didn’t get back in to town for that paint, although the rain disappeared just before we left the port.

Dinner was in the sit down restaurant.  We had two young(ish) boys at our table.  About 18/19 years old.  Scamp and I reckoned they ‘were an item’.  It certainly seemed like it, but they were good company and didn’t seem at all fazed by talking to all these ‘oldies.’

A glass of beer and a G&T sent us off to bed.

Tomorrow it’s Alghero in Sardinia.

Memories of Civitavecchia were the thunderstorm and the new bus parking area next to the castle and the water feature that’s under construction there.  Impressive.  We didn’t even have time for a walk along the prom!

Napoli – 24 June 2018

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P1050113- blogNaples today.  28c predicted and achieved.

Yes, it was Naples today, but we weren’t in a rush.  We chose to spend most of the morning in and around the pool.  It was quietly relaxing with all the maddies off on tours round Sorrento, Capri, Pompeii and Vesuvius.  Us, we were going looking for a pizza shop.  In Naples.  It has a few pizza shops!

We never did find that pizza shop, although I was sure I knew exactly where it was … a few times.  I knew it was on a side street to the main road that was up a hill.  Scamp knew it was to the right when you left the ship.  It turned out both of us were wrong.  We wandered round some of the seediest parts of Naples and that’s where I got today’s PoD.  Some really dodgy areas near the docks.  A bit like Carbrain.  Ok to walk through in daytime, not worth risking at night.  I’d hate to have a new car in Naples.  Every one we saw today had bashes and scrapes.  Some were missing windows, nearly all had broken lights or cracks in the windscreen.  It’s when you see the traffic and when you try to cross the street, you realise how they get into that state. 

We eventually gave up on our search for the ultimate pizza shop (that’s twice in two days!) and settled for a busy pizzeria near the port.  It was all going well until I tipped over my beer and soaked the table.  It was all sorted quickly.  Table was cleared and we were moved to another one.  A fresh pint was brought at no charge and we both had our pizzas.  Mine was a bit underdone, but it wasn’t until I started to eat it that I realised it had no sugo (tomato sauce).  Another silly mistake.  Had an extra glass of wine just to be sociable and paid about half the price we’d have paid at home, so left a good tip for the entertainment and good humour of the waiters.

Going through security today was much more laid back.  I triggered the alarm going through the scanner.  The Italian polis looked at me.  I said “Shit.  Forgot my watch.” he shrugged and said “OK.”  That’s how it should be done!

Back on the ship we both decided we’d have a light dinner at Smash & Grab, and that’s what we did.  Went to a really awful Tropical Party on the pool deck which consisted of drunk punters shouting a lot.  Not my idea of fun, nor Scamp’s.  Ended up going to the posh, quiet downstairs bar for a Long Island Iced Tea for Scamp and a Jolly Olly IPA for me. 

Early bed again and more of the same tomorrow in Civitavecchia, but without the beer waterfall, hopefully.

Napoleon City–23 June 2018

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P1050080- blogToday we were in Ajacio, in Corsica.

Corsica is a little bit of France stuck in the middle of the Mediterranean, next to Italy.  It’s where Napoleon was born.  There are statues of him round every corner.  We wandered through a market and then went to a Spar shop to get tonic for the G&Ts.  I was also running low on coffee for the Oomph so I bought some Mexican coffee there.  Next to the Spar was a wee bakers.  We stopped there to share an apricot tart with our coffees which Scamp said were too strong.  She always says the coffee is too strong.  Walked through the town half looking for a restaurant we’d been in two years ago.  We didn’t find it.  Finally went back to the ship and got stopped twice at security.  Not the coffee, me.  I get fed up with all these security checks.

Went for a swim in the indoor pool which had its ceiling retracted so it was an outdoor, indoor pool today.

Dinner was in the sit down restaurant. It was also a ‘dress the dolly dinner’ (a black tie dinner.) You’ve seen ostriches?  You know how their eyes are large and sort of stuck on the sides of their head?  And they have long eyelashes?  The woman sitting next to me must have ostrich genes in her DNA (that’s probably the wrong scientific description JIC.) She really looked like an ostrich. Even worse, the bloke sitting opposite her told her she had the most beautiful eyes of anyone he’d seen on the ship.  Maybe he was an ostrich too.  I think he’ll also be a dead ostrich now after his wife deals with him.

Show tonight was about musicals, but modern ones.  The only bad one was That Bloody Lion King which I detest.  Other than that, it was great.  Headliners are a really good show company.

Tomorrow it’s Naples.  Land of the Pizza.

Rambling around La Rambla–22 June 2018

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P1050055- blogGot off the ship to the usual scramble for the free bus to take us in to Barcelona.  Asked one of the guides how long it would take to get into town and he told us abouthe t half an hour.   By the look of the snaking queue, it would take well over that to get in to town on the bus, so we walked.  And walked. And walked.  Down past three other cruise ships, past the heli-port and over the bridge to the town.  At the top of arched bridge it became quite bouncy when buses or lorries were passing.  A bit like the suspension bridge over the Clyde at The Green, but on a much bigger scale.  It took us about half an hour, just as predicted.

Walked up La Rambla and watched the ‘Human Statues’ setting up, likewise the craft stall holders.  For once we went in to the market and walked round amazed at the variety and colour of all the fruits, meats and fish that was being sold.  Had a beer in a wee square just outside the market and then continued up La Rambla.  There was a heavy police presence on the street and the now familiar army personnel carrying automatic weapons.  I’d guess with the tensions in this area with Catalan extremists, this is inevitable.  It didn’t seem to put off the hawkers and ‘lookie-lookie’ men selling fridge magnets and fans from their white bed sheets on the ground.

At the top of the street we went through the Place de Catalunia.  I hope I spelled that correctly.  Without any WiFi here that doesn’t cost an arm and a leg, it’s difficult to do the normal Google checks! Out along a street, still heading in the same direction I got today’s PoD which is an old man sketching a lovely perspective view of the street.  He was working on a full sheet of watercolour paper, drawing with a sharpened piece of bamboo cane, dipping it in to an ink bottle he held in his other hand.  He seemed to be totally engrossed in his work and although he answered my questions, only gave short answers.  Beautiful work.

I wanted to get back to La Ramba to find the famous Miro mosaic.  It was just where we’d turned off Rambla to go in to the market.  Found it and photographed it.  Just before that I’d done a 15 minute sketch of a wee church in a side street.  Not nearly as good as the old man’s sketch, not even in the park.

Crossed out of Rambla and past a flea market we’d visited when we got to the town, then Scamp found the place where we could get the bus back to the ship.  Don’t think I could have faced another walk back!

Dinner tonight was with a young couple on their honeymoon, a doctor who had broken his neck while at college and was paralysed from the neck down and his carer who we presume was also a nurse.  All great company.

Missed the show, so early bed.

Posh frock, Posh togs for posh dinner – 21 June 2018

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P1040992- blogToday we had posh dinner booked in Epicurean.

Art class in the morning, and as we were at sea today, we were painting a rose.  The view from the room on deck 18 showed only sea and sun.  Unfortunately the sun disappeared about an hour after we started.  It might have disappeared before that, but I was concentrating so much on the rose and the teacher’s method of painting the petals, I didn’t notice anything around me.  The class swot’s voice droned on, but I managed to tune it out.  That’s a skill Scamp has that I covet!  The method for the red rose was, working petal by petal:

  1. Paint on a strong wash of Cadmium Red.

  2. Using a damp brush, remove any highlights while the red wash is still wet.

  3. Allow the wash to dry slightly then add the shadow areas using Alizarin Crimson.

  4. Continue using this method until all the petals are done.

  5. With a damp brush blend the shadows were necessary.

  6. Mix a dark using Alizarin Crimson and Intense Blue and paint in the small areas of deep shadow.

With the rose successfully painted I had just enough time to catch the end of Scamp’s line dance and got a short video of it for reference later.  HER reference, not mine, I hasten to add.

After lunch we swam in the covered pool, because the sun wasn’t quite getting through the cloud cover.  Lounged in the jacuzzi for a while too and my leg felt better.  By the time we were finished, the sun was back in control.

We had booked a dinner in Epicurean and it was just as good as the last time, two years ago.  We both had Lobster Thermidore as a main after Scamp’s starter of Trio of Tomatoes and mine of Two Types of Smoked Salmon.  Pudding for Scamp was a White Chocolate Sphere with Popcorn served with Creme Brulee.  I had Banana and Peanut Canneloni.  Coffee and truffles to finish.  Amuse Bouche at the start and end Start was Mexican Surprise which was baby tomato on a bed of white guacamole.  At the end it was a delicious deconstructed G&T.  Everything was photographed, of course.  That was menu 2.  We immediately booked for next week to get a taste of menu 1.  We also went straight to Sindu to book a night there too.  Food?  It’s what we do!

Watched the sun go down over the sea!