its my birthday...

It's my birthday today.  I turned 65, an age that seemed so far away as a kid...  where did the time go?

This morning I got up around 8:30am...  spent ssome indulgent time in the spa (which included a little nap!)  when I came back to my cabin. I found it decorated with birthday ballons, banner and decorations. It made me sigh... and I also got a birthday cupcake and card...

 looks like some of my fellow cruisers remembered and took care of me.  what a wonderful feeling! Tonight they are takiing me out to dinner to celebrate.

it's been an interesting few days since I last wrote. The storm was too much, and dangerous for the ship to dock so we didn't get to stay at the Azores.  kind of disappointing! do that makes it a 10 day straight for sea days... sign... tomorrow we will be docking in Brest France.  I don't have an excursions planned.  Just going to wander around town doing the touristy thing.

The ship has so many activities that it's hard to not find something to do...  Every evening there's some kind of dancing venue.  Last night was country western dancing... they taught 4 lines dances... not exactly what I was looking for, but still fun... I did get to 2-step and waltz with the cruise director.  (an interesting tact, Silas (cruise director) grew up in Grants Pass, OR...

oh, and I have met 3 other people from Vancouver, WA!  I heard there are some from Camas, but I haven't connected with them.  What a small world.

well it's kind of layed back and relaxing, so no big adventures, yet.  maybe tomorrow.

until we meet again...
Kim

PS  My birthday even got better...  there were 8 of us that went out for dinner for my birthday. we went to the japanese resturaunt Teppanyaki.. What an amazing experience! here's a couple of videos of the chef as he prepared our dinner on a grill as we sat around it.

The food was outstanding!  Then, Patty (who arranged the decorating of my room) arranged to have a birthday cake made for my birthday (pictured here). and the cake was delicious! not sure how I could eat it after that huge dinner.

Afterwards we went to the 70's disco dance, which worked off all that eating at dinner...

what a wonderful celebration with 7 new friends that I only met 10 days ago.  I'm so humbled by the experience.  My special thanks to Patti! (here's a pic of Patti and myself at dinner)

until we meet again,
Kim

oh what a night... rough one that is... May 6th

I'm about 425 nautical miles from the Azores.  The Azores are part of Portugal, but its really surprising that they are so far out in the ocean from the mainland.

The weather has been awesome up till last night.  Weather in the 70's once we left Miami. I had sat in a comfy chair, curled up with a bookwith this gorgeous view. (it definitely makes you realize how small you are in comparison to the ocean.

The sun was warm, and the day almost perfect!  Actually the weather was supperb all the days since we left Miami. (though many have been sun bathing, I haven't been interested in that) Every night we have a dance party in the Spice H20, which is a big open area at the back of the ship...  including a huge screen (also used for the movies)

Each night is a different theme... we've had 70's music, 80's music, Latin music, and last night was supposed to be the "glow" party where everyone wears white and black lights are in abundance. There is so much loud music it makes me wonder if they can't see and hear it when orbiting the earth.

But things changed last night..  sigh... The winds started to pick up and the ocean got a little more rough...  THEN...  during the night the waves really picked up... tossing the ship around. (I was rolling back and forth while laying in bed)  I was reading the stats, and there are 12 foot swells.  Hoping it ends with that and doesn't get worse... also, found that it's raining... another big sigh!

Even though the weather is quite iffy, I'm having a blast! each night there is a show of some kind... I've seen singing groups, a hypnotist (now that was funny), improv and dueling pianos.  There's a huge solo group, so it's nothing to have 25-30 of us going to dinner and then a show afterwards.

Tomorrow we dock at the Azores... I have a cool excursion planned.  Lots of volcanos & caldrons that make for beautiful scenery. I'll post pics later (I should have wifi when we land.)

until we meet again...

Kim

in the middle of the atlantic ocean...

Putting aside the 4,000 passengers, and 1,800 employees, this cruise is very peaceful.. The sun is shining brightly, but a cool breeze keeps me from totally roasting!

Last night we had a solo meet & greet... you won't believe how many solos are on this trip... my guess, a minumum of 50 showed up for the get togeh
ter, but I heard there were more thank 150.... probably more.  We went to a show together, then 12 of us had a late dinner... what an eclectic group! we had several retirees, but some were just on holiday.  people from Florida, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, Boston, Melbourne Austrailia, Deleware - I think a couple more places.. and this is just with the 12....

This morning at I got up early, though it was mostly for self-preservation.  the bed killed my back and hips...  I kept waking up... struggling to turn over and get comfy... it mostly didnt happen.  The reason?  I have a memory foam mattress, the bed in my cabin is hard as a rock.  I asked the steward to put a topper on it so I could sleep a little better... hopefully he did this.

So, since I was up early, I decided to walk the deck.  There's a running track that works perfect.  Besides getting some good exercise,  I caught some beautiful sun rise (we'll a little more up thank sunrise.)


We had our Cruise Critic meet and greet this morning... it was the biggest group to date... all the officers of the ship came and were introduced to us.  Then we did a gift exchange.  Each of us brought something from home to share with others.

I just took a dance lesson... latin dance Bachata... pretty simple... it will be interested if it compare to the dance taught in Vancouver..

until we meet again...
Kim