orange is the new black...

Day 3 Arrived and we are now well over the Bay of Biscay and the temperature is considerably warmer. We did our usual laps of the boat In order to stay fit and earn our breakfast. We continued to chat with a lot of the guests.. they are mostly a friendly lot..

In the afternoon Dr Fred had his first talk in the big theatre...there were upwards of 200 people in attendance and it seemed to be very well received. The boy did good and lots of people came up with questions.. Afterwards we went in the coffee bar and more people actually stopped him to compliment him on his talk. One person said it was the best talk they'd heard so far!! It's good to get that feedback so early on...

I decided I would go learn how to Cha Cha Chaa. It was hilarious fun I don't think I will ever make Strictly but it certainly meant I got my steps in today... And it was a fun crowd and actually I do have the basics of the steps for the Cha Cha Cha. Tomorrow It's a waltz. I did threaten you all I would come back a ballroom dancing Champion I don't think that's going to happen because you need a partner and Dr Fred wont partner me so I have to make do with a lovely lady I met who's husband also wont partner her either.

When I got back From my Cha Cha Cha It turned out Dr Fred had a note about having a cabin upgrade! So to cut a long story short we went to look at the new offered cabin which was loads on nicer (only didn't have a porthole) It has a big window So we ended up moving cabins. We don't quite know why but all the speakers have been upgraded It felt like a bit of a faff but in fact it was worth the effort.

In the late evening Fred did his first stargazing session which was meant to be for 20 people but at least another 10 snuck in... once again it went very well.. cloudy of course... but some gaps and we felt people got something from the session...

Another full day at sea.... we have been over 72 hours at sea now... its considerably warmer - we are spotting familiar faces and realise there are several that NEVER leave the card room.... Bridge must be like a drug... we will steer clear.

We tried to catch a talk about moroccan architecture but the theatre technology was down and the poor speaker was driven to distraction trying to sort it had to give up - lesson there - to have back up plan!!

Dr Fred hosted a lunch.. it was very interesting... guests had paid to have this 'private' time and the chance to pick his brains. Being held in the posh posh restraurant we were served sunday dinner -tasty but meagre by my standards - a bit mastercheffy... the conversation was quite academic- very friendly persons who obviously had more than a passing interest in astronomy.. more about physics than stars. Poor Dr Fred hardly got chance to eat his dinner 🤣🤣🤣..

We spent the afternoon being proper cruise people walking round and round the deck spotting dolphins. There was an announcment about whales being spotted but we couldnt see them. Its quite mild now and nice to be outside in the very very pleasant sunshine - also an escape from the seemingly never ending pub quizzes.. now we got the upgrade we can catch the news from Blighty and somehow dont feel too bad to be out of the way of storm Isha😄

The whole ship is quite a busy little community - there are places you can escape for quiet times but generally theres always someone playing a cover version or a quiz happening so its hard not to drawn in. Staff are incredibly attentive but also trying to sell the next (paid) activity... champagne and chocolate tasting... rare teas!!!! Its about keeping everyone occupied while at sea. At lunch yesterday we sat with a couple of chaps who spent as much time as the could cruising - this was their 13th cruise in 4 years and they didnt have the excuse of being guest speakers!!!!!

Whats lovely about this experience is the curious interest of everyone we speak to when we explain Dr Fred is the stargazing chap... it opens so many interesting conversations.

Scotland part 2

The second half of the week continued in much the same vein. We had one rainy afternoon which was actually quite nice to be holed up in the house with the rain lashing the windows. It probably wasn't quite so nice for the two visitors that came on their bikes but they're tough cookies - and its only water- but I did feel sorry for them having to cycle six miles back down the track in the wind and rain, but given Scotland, it wasn't as bad as it could be. The big quest for the 2nd half of the week was to find some deer antiers! The chap that owned the house dropped in to visit - he was a very friendly fella and was chatting about how this was the time of year when all the Stags lost their antlers (he collected them and sold them) so after that we were on the serious lookout. It's always been Fred's mission to find some dropped antlers.... The Monro baggers continued with the mission to bag the remaining three Monros... there is discussion as whet...

Vigo

We left the ship to explore Vigo. Its a much larger place then we expected... although tbh I hadn't given ut a lot of thought. Its a real mish mash of old and new and having got a map from tourist info we decided to follow the walking trail to the Monte Castro... the highest point of the town. Most of the town was pretty much as everywhere else... lots of traffic... lots of people... one or two interesting buildings and a lot of shopping. We headed to the art gallery - this has been a year of gallery visits so we we seen o reason to change now. The Museo de Marco is housed in the towns ex prison building and its very grand. In fact, I think that on this occaision the building might have been more interesting than the art.... Although the visiting exhibition by Susanne S D Themlitz was strangely compelling. It was a huge varied collection of eclectic items... found, salavaged, manipulated and arranged in lots of ways - weirdly inspiring - and mostly enjoyable to look at...

Funchal

So after three days at sea we finally hit Funchal in Madeira. An escape from the ship, and I have to say it was very pleasant indeed. First of all the weather is really splendid. Especially when you know that everybody else in the UK is suffering grim storms and vile winds.. Over here it is between 22 and 25 degrees is really quite warm. Funchal is a pretty city. It's built on a hill it with lots of lovely white houses with stunning red roofs. In order to get the best of it we walked along the sea front until we got to the cable car and we took it up the hill. It was a really good ride much longer than we imagined and it's quite weird because it goes right through the town - completely over everybody's house... So not only do you get a lovely vista of the bay but you can view the beautiful rooftops and get to look in everybody's gardens and to look at their picnic sets.. clean washing nice plants... scratty b...

Planet Ruby Starrs

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