21-AUG—Surprise Sea Day

Baltic Sea...somewhere between Denmark and Lithuania.

We were supposed to head out this morning (well, SUPPOSED to head out last night, but…) at 5:30, so a little after 6AM, we heard the commotion getting off the dock and under way.  Instead of visiting Poland, we had a bonus day at sea (anyone want $100 worth of Zloty?  Open for bids!).

We barely made breakfast, and headed to the “Wine Pairing” event to which we were invited.  We thought they were going to talk about how to pair wines with different foods, but he talked a little bit about the four wines, and then let us on our own.  The wine was good, but we were not sure what the point was.  We did have some interesting conversation with our tablemates, at least.

From there, we were off again to our puzzles for the day.  They have a little quiz you can fill out and stick in a slot.  Not sure what you can win.  They also have a crossword puzzle and a Sudoku.  We got one for each of us, and then we raced each other.  Theresa won by almost a minute.  But we continued to the ship’s Sudoku challenge, and there, Bill won again, followed by the same guy as yesterday, and Theresa in third.  (I like winning!)

After lunch, we went to the pool and hot tub.  The pool was heated and actually warmer than the hot tub.  So, we swam in the salt water soup, and then sat out to burn a little.  Then off to our afternoon trivia challenge.  Our team returned to first place after two days of 3^rd.  (We like winning!)

Unknown Naval ship.  

Before dinner, we went to the lounge for some predinner drinks (to lube the conversation).  We looked out and saw a destroyer, but weren't really sure whose it was.  Could have been US or Russia, or any other country on this sea!  For dinner, our trivia team met to eat as a group in the Italian themed restaurant.  It was our whole team plus the cruise director.  Conversations were quite diverse since our party ranged from the Shetland Islands and Scotland to Australia, to Germany, and of course the US.  We talked about travel, SALT II Treaty, and many other things.  It was enjoyable.

Good Night!