Mmmmm.... open ocean with nothing to do. Perfect.
At 10:30 we had a reservation for brunch at the fancy pants restaurant on the back of the ship called Palo. I sported the yellow pants and a blue gingham blazer in true G Man fashion. The food and service was exceptional. It was worth the up charge for sure. We tried everything from king crab to caviar to ahi tuna to veal. I can't remember all the different foods I ate, but everything was great.
Cindy showing us the marvelous choices for brunch.
After eating at Palo, we walked the deck and saw this volcano in the distance. We were coming up soon to the Straits of Messina. This is where the boot toe of Italy is separated from the island of Sicily. The water gets pretty turbulent at times and many ships can't handle the passage. Ours didn't have a problem.
In the afternoon we went to a martini tasting session at the Irish pub called O'Gills at the front of the ship. This was a great place to chill, believe me. We learned about the history of the martini and the different ways to make and order martins. Of course, we also sampled 4 different types of martins too.
Here is a picture of our party in O'Gills. Everyone behaved themselves.... well, somewhat.
The Straits of Messina get very tight at places. This shot was taken as the strait became wider and was not as dramatic. It is still cool though.
This was also the formal night of the cruise. Before dinner, there was a reception with the capitan. Since we were all dressed up, we had our photo taken with him and even chatted for a few minutes. I told him my only request was for him to keep the ship above water. Even though most people were not dressed in true formal wear (including us,) almost everyone was dressed up in their best digs. A few people were dressed in their tuxedos, and few others didn't get the message, but I was surprised that almost every one was dressed nicer than usual. It made for an enjoyable evening.
Before dinner, we all headed to the Buena Vista theater to see another live musical show. This time the show was called Twice Charmed. It was a retelling of Cinderella. We enjoyed this show more than Villains Tonight, as it had a solid plot. After the show we spent a couple minutes in Keys again, listening to Tim play the piano. Soon it was time to head to Lumiere's for dinner.
That's my "I'm stuffing my face" look. Nailed it!
That night at dinner, Agus, our head server, helped out my dad a bit with his camera. He showed us a wonderful portfolio on his phone. He is a great photographer specializing in surreal shots of models. He takes a lot of photos for the employees on board that want publicity photos of themselves. I can't wait to get home on a real computer to check his stuff out.
Our formal night dinner was another treat. We had a sample platter as an appetizer. It included smoked duck breast on duck confit with pickled red onions, mozzarella with basil and cherry tomatoes and dill-marinated lobster and shrimp with tomato mayonnaise and a horseradish cream. For my main course, I had lamb medallions with grilled red peppers, yellow squash and zucchini on a polenta cake with lamb jus. The lamb was good, but not as sweet tasting as the lamb I had the other night. Katherine had roasted portobello mushroom triangoli pasta topped with sour cream and pesto swirl and a butternut squash sauce. We both had some extra room for dessert and had the banana bread pudding. We were stuffed.
The evening ended with us stopping by Fathoms nightclub to see a flamenco guitar trio variety act called Lost Locos Ole! They were full of excitement and made fun of the audience. I would have felt bad if we missed these guys. Plus, the nightclub has a really nice vibe.
Tomorrow's another sea day. I can definitely get used to this.
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