Kauai - The Garden Island

I love waking up early and going out on the balcony to see how close to land we are.  Around 6:00 there were lights in the distance and then by 7:00 we were entering the harbor of Kauai and were greeted by a beautiful, lush green uninhabited mountain.  As we started to snuggle in to the dock we were serenaded by three ukulele players and a hula dancer.  It was beautiful.

After a leisurely breakfast we disembarked and decided to walk the 1/2 mile to the beach.  Kauai apparently has the fewest tourists visiting it, and I think it's because  there aren't as many beaches.  Most of the coastline is very steep, but near the harbor is a lovely beach.

 We decided to get on an on-and-off bus to tour the island and get a sense of the lay of the land.  We were told to take a public bus to a certain shopping mall and get our tour bus from there.  However, along the way, someone was getting off at the Kauai museum, so we got off to check it out, and we ended up staying there for over an hour.

We met Jim Jung right away and when he found out we were from San Francisco, he said, "I have a San Francisco story for you."  Jim had been a layer in Boston and came out to San Francisco to work with Melvin Belli.  Melvin was known as the King of Torts.  One day, Melvin met up with Carol Doda, a lady of renown known for her topless attire.  For a long time there was a likeness of her in neon lights flashing along Broadway near North Beach.  Carol poured Melvin a drink and raised her glass and said, "To the King of Torts from the Queen of Tarts!"

Jim ushered us in to a small room where he was giving a lecture on the Hawaiian migration and how the islanders got from Micronesia around 1100.  He had a replica of a canoe that was used, and it was really fun for me to hear all about the early settlers because I had just finished reading about that time in my James Michener book, Hawaii.  Jim was quite the storyteller.  Another memorable phrase he quoted was from Christopher Columbus who said, "You can never cross the ocean until you have the courage to lose sight of land."  And these early Islanders certainly had a lot of courage.  Another interesting fact I learned is that the Hawaiian Islands are the most isolated land mass on this earth.

By the time we had finished looking around the museum, it was much to late to take the on/off bus, so we asked the gal in the gift shop if she could recommend a nice place for us to have lunch.  When she said, Duke's Barefoot Bar and Grill, I knew that was where I wanted to go, so we got back on the bus and went over to the harbor where we found this great place.  It was right on the beach and we sat outside under thatched umbrellas.  I ordered car and macadamia nut won tons and a man tai, and Luke couldn't resist the Hula pie which was the biggest thing I'd ever seen!

We came back to the room and took a short snooze.  When we woke up, the ship was just leaving.  A tug boat was following along side, and we saw some beautiful condos, a golf course and two very picturesque light houses as we glided out of the harbor.

 We really loved Kauai.  It resembled our idea of what Hawaii should be - more than Hilo or Honolulu.  We really didn't get very far, but what we saw was lovely.  I'd like to go back sometime and explore some more.  It's on to Maui tomorrow.

Honolulu

It is such fun waking up and going out on our balcony to see lights of the next island twinkling ahead.  The city of Honolulu is vastly different from Hilo with its hi-rise buildings.  There were other ships in the harbor, but none the size of this mammoth thing that we're on!

We had to be aware of the time this morning as our tour for Pearl Harbor left at 8:00.  There must have been over 25 different tour groups going to various places and the ship had it down pat.  We were issued a sticker, ushered into groups and led to our particular van.  We were first driven to the Pearl Harbor National Memorial where we got a head set and walked around to the various exhibits while Jaimie Lee Curtis led us on a tour.  Her father, Tony Curtis, was on the USS Missouri when the peace treaty was signed with the Japanese.  Afterwards we went in to a theater and saw a film about the fateful day of December 7th.

             

The Tree of Life -
a symbol that is prevalent all around Pearl Harbor

USS Missouri where the peace treaty was signed

Then we got on a launch and were ferried over to the USS Arizona by two Navy sailors.  The Arizona was one of only a few of the battleships bombed on December 7th that were not raised and repaired and brought back in to battle.  When the Arizona was bombed it ignited the fuel tanks onboard and the explosion destroyed the ship.  They have erected a very beautiful memorial over the wreckage, some of which can still be seen from the surface.  The men that went down with her are still buried below and many of the crew who survived have chosen to be buried with their fellow sailors after they die.

We were then given the choice of touring the USS Missouri or going to the Air Museum.  We had just seen the movie, Midway before coming Ono ur trip, so we chose to go to the Air Museum.

A quotation from Eleanor Roosevelt

Seeing those planes up close gave you a sense of just how primitive and dangerous it was compared to war today.  I can't imagine dive-bombing enemy ships in these flimsy planes with open cockpits as the enemy guns are shooting at me.   It was a long day, from 8:00-2:30 and we were very glad we went, but all in all I was under-whelmed with Pearl Harbor.   I think I was expecting to be more emotionally moved and I wasn't.  

We came back to our room and had a short turn-around time before we were to meet Luke's college friend, Phil, who lives in Honolulu with his wife, Liz.  We met them at Nico's restaurant and had a wonderful dinner with non-stop conversation as the two men caught up after many years.  Liz was born in Honolulu and remembers Pearl Harbor.  She lived in what she called the Pineapple Camps, and the Japanese flew over and strafed her village with a barrage of bullets.  Her family was Korean and they had no love for the Japanese, and she remembers her mother and father cursing the planes as they flew overhead.  Phil and Liz drove us back to our waiting ship and we were both asleep before the Grand Princess left port.  Kaua'i is next, we'll be pulling in to Nawiliwili around 8:00 in the morning.   Aloha.

                                                          

                                

Land Ahoy!

I was so excited to see how we would come in to port that I was awake from 4:00 on!  We have had to put our clocks back two hours since we left San Francisco.  I talk to my sister in Florida every day and now there is a five hour difference- that's hard to fathom!  It turns out that we weren't due into Hilo until 8:00, so I needn't have worried about missing it.  Around 5:00 am I could see lights in the distance.

It was a very overcast, humid morning and around 6:00 it started to downpour.  A large tug boat appeared off of our Portside balcony and we turned in towards the harbor.  This ship is enormous, and she just slowly snuggled up to the dock as people on the land caught the ropes.  There is quite an orchestrated dance that began after we were tied up.  Two gang planks emerged with signs and awnings.  The dock began to get peopled with tour agents and photographers and the disembarkation began.

We hadn't signed up for any tour, so we went back up to have some breakfast.  Once again our system worked.  We were joined by a couple from Oregon- Craig and Laurel.  Once again they offered a lot of information about themselves:  They have been on 27 cruises-Mexico, Panama Canal, Tahiti, Dubai, Bombay...etc, etc., etc.  She has macular-degeneration and has been getting shots in both eyes for ten years with a drug that was affective for cancer but found to deter macular degeneration.  They have very good insurance and only pay $20 each time she gets the shots which is every 5 weeks.  They have one daughter, and just days after they retired, her daughter announced she was getting married.  That put Mom into overdrive and she made all the bridesmaids' dresses from scratch.  Then her daughter, who never liked kids, had a son, but the daughter wanted to go back to work, so Mom took care of the baby.  Then the daughter announced she was having triplets!  Needless to say, that upped the ante and the mother moved in with the daughter.

I asked the how they ever had time to take 27 cruises and they said that Laurel's best friend got breast cancer 30 years ago and was dead in 3 weeks.  At that point, Laurel vowed she wouldn't wait until they retired to travel and have fun, so their cruise adventures go back a ways.  Then,  whenever her daughter could get vacation time, Mom and Dad went on a cruise.

We got all this, and guess what?  They never even asked us where we were from!  Luke thinks maybe we're not very interesting people so no one needs to ask...  I think there are many people who are just interested in themselves.

Craig and Laurel left and we were shortly joined again by a mother and her daughter from Lake Placid.  The daughter had been on about 8 cruises with her husband, but she left him home this time and she brought her mother on her very first cruise.  The mother, who must have been in her 70's, was having a great time, although yesterday she fell coming down the marble staircase in the Piazzo.  she was alright, and later in the day she received a beautiful, large bouquet of flowers from the ship with a card saying, "Hope you are feeling better."
While we were having breakfast, the clouds cleared and it looked like it was going to be a lovely day, but when we got back to our room, it was raining again.  Since we weren't in any hurry, we read for a while.

Around 11:00 the sky was clear again so we decided to venture forth.  We found a free shuttle that took us to the Farmer's Market in downtown Hilo.  We had been told that this side of the island is the "poor" side and the other side is where the volcano National Park is with luxury condos and hotels.  The Farmer's Market was full of Hawaiian things like jewelry, t-shirts, dresses, flowers and shawls.  There was also a section with just food and we saw some very exotic fruits we had never seen before.

We went into a Ukulele store and asked if they carried Kamaka Ukes- this was the kind that Luke had been given from his co-workers when he retired and we were told it was one of the best ever made.  They said they didn't have any Kamaka's in the store- They had ordered some, but they wouldn't be there for three months.  Luke asked if they were indeed the best made and the woman told us that they were the oldest man-made company, but until recently when they re-toooled their design, her husband couldn't play one because the neck was too small.    

We were going to go to the botanical gardens which sounded quite lovely, but the clouds rolled in again and we got back to the ship just before another heavy downpour which lasted for most of the rest of the afternoon.  It was actually quite nice to go back to the room and read and relax.

We ran in to Sheri and Jon as we were leaving breakfast and made a date to meet them in the piazza at 6:30 and have dinner with them.  I don't think I mentioned that Sheri is writing a book.  She has a fascinating history- her father was a Grand Sergeant in a Motorcycle gang before both he and Sheri's Mom became born again believers- so needless to sa she had an interesting childhood.  Then she trained to be an investigator, so she has a background in the crime world.  She's writing a book called The Deliverer and she had the first 20 or so chapters bound and gave us a copy for us to read and give her some feedback.  It is really very good- a kind of Criminal Minds combined with what reminds me of an English crime series.  The evil in it is very deep and the main character is Kate who is a detective and we discover her mother had been brutally killed.  It was really fun for us to be let in on the beginnings of Sheri's adventure and she is going to send us installments as she finishes them so we can see the story unfold- so long as we continue to give her feedback.

We had told Sheri and Jon that it was my birthday yesterday, so when we met up with them they told us they had made reservations at the fancy Crown Grill and wanted to take us there for my birthday.  I should have revealed right then that it really wasn't my birthday, but I didn't think about it because I really feel this whole cruise IS my birthday.  This is my birthday present and I'm still celebrating.

At any rate, we had a wonderful dinner, and I will be thinking of our conversation for a long time to come.  Sheri and Jon run an educational training service for businesses and I can understand why they are successful.  Sheri has a wonderful way of turning a topic of conversation into a lesson learned while telling a wonderful story.  For instance, he talked about three levels of relationships;  she mentions we have 22 states of emotions;  and she said curiosity is the basis of love. There is so much of this dinner conversation that I want to revisit.  And guess what?  They were interested in our lives as well, so we felt a lovely two-way street of sharing.  At the end of dinner, the waiters showed up with two cakes for Sheri and me and they sang Happy Birthday in harmony!  It was so much fun.

                  

  

Tomorrow we arrive in Honolulu which will be a very busy day for us.  We have signed up for the tour of Pearl Harbor and we are also going out for dinner with Luke's college friend, Phil who lives here with his wife.  Aloha for now.

Last Sea Day Before We Reach Hilo

I'm not sure that I'm looking forward to landing in Hilo tomorrow.  Of course I am, but I haven't tired of being on this ship, and there's a part of me that just wants to stay on board and never get off.

But today is going to be a fun day.  Before we set sail, Princess asked if there was anyone celebrating a special occasion.  Since this whole trip was Luke's birthday present to me, we decided to say it was my birthday.  We had to pick a day that we wanted to celebrate and we picked today.  So as I was leaving to go get our morning coffee, I found a birthday card under the door and a big poster stuck on to the door wishing me a happy birthday.   Very nice!

We have developed a little routine for breakfast.  We like a seat by the window, so we walk along the aisle looking for an empty table, and then wait for a couple to ask if they could sit with us.  This morning we were joined by Nancy and Randy, a couple from Oregon.  They have just become Elite Princess Passengers having gone on 17 cruises.  Luke asked what they got for their new status and they said their refrigerator in their room was stocked with wine, beer and champagne and they got free laundry service!!

We learned a lot about Nancy and Randy.  They have two daughters.  Randy used to ????? but then when his grandson was born with six fingers and six toes on each hand and no separation between his heart, he was so taken with the care that he received that he decided to train to become a pediatric pulmonary technician so he could make a difference.  The smaller premie he saved was Joshua, who weighed 12 grams at birth.  Joshua is now 20 years old and has seizures and is partially blind, but other than that he's doing okay.  Randy also has lost 130 pounds since March.  He had the gastric by-pass surgery and can only eat one cup of food at a time.  A side effect of that kind of surgery can be that your gallbladder fails, and just before coming on the cruise he had his gallbladder removed because it was looking cloudy.  He also has a pinched nerve in his neck and he went to an acupuncture class that was given by the spa here on the ship and they told him that pinched nerves respond very well to acupuncture.  The course of treatment costs $1,400 and he's doing it daily and his pain is much less.  His wife, Nancy, said, it is very expensive, but so worth it if it will take the pain away.

I am sharing all this information with you because Luke and I have noticed that for the most part, the people we have met are real talkers, but they mostly talk about themselves.  Very few have been interested in us or asked us questions about our lives.

After breakfast I went to the line dance class.  That is so much fun.  We learned two dances, one to a Megan Trainer Song and the other to Footloose.  It's a great workout and everyone is having a great time.




I came back to the room to collect Luke and found another birthday card and an elephant, created out of towels that Roberto, our cabin boy had made for me for my birthday.  We say him later in the hallway and thanked him so much.  We asked if he went to towel folding school to learn how to do that and he laughed.  Luke asked him how long it took to make the elephant and Roberto said only 15 minutes!  Amazing.




We hadn't been to a restaurant for lunch yet- instead -picking up a slice of pizza or sandwich at an outdoor kiosk.  Today, Luke wanted to try our breakfast routine on the lunch crowd.  We have both affirmed that the most fun on this cruise are the people, so we left for the dining room in search of some new characters.  This time we didn't find an empty table so we had to shake up our routine a bit and invite ourselves to join another couple.  Ceci and Carl were from Arizona and they were a really fun couple.  When we said we were from San Francisco, Carl said, "I've been reading about your city and seeing it on the news, and it's not good."

When I asked him what he had been hearing. he cited the homeless problem with waste in the streets and used needles on the sidewalks.  It's really too bad, because we have to own up to those issues, but the press makes it sound like the whole  city has gone to seed.  Homelessness is a huge problem, and I don't know the answer to it, but SF is still an amazing city and we feel very lucky to be able to live there.

Then Ceci asked, "Isn't Nancy Pelosi helping the homeless?"  I really didn't know what to say to that question!!!

After lunch I went to my Pop Chorus rehearsal.  It went very well and we're doing much better.  Our Director says we are ready for our big public concert this afternoon.  We are all to wear tropical, colorful dress.  The lady next to me said she didn't have any tropical clothes.  I asked her if she had anything with flowers on it.  "No, I'm not a flowery person."  So I said, "Just wear your brightest color."  She was dressed in a brown/olive green dress and I can't wait to see what she shows up in for the concert!

...  The concert was a smash hit!!

Our Director, Jonny, from South Africa, got the crowd going, and our first song, The Eye of the Tiger got rousing applause.  Our next to last song was Sweet Caroline, but Johnny said it was our last.  So then the crowd started yelling, "More, More, More!!"  and then we sang The Love Boat!!-  It was so much fun.  We were given pins that say, "Princess Pop choir" on them, and were treated to champagne and mimosas in an adjoining bar.  They are going to have another choir on the sea days on our way back.  I'm definitely going to join and I'm going to try to get Luke to come too.  By the way, the drably dressed lady is the one sitting in the walker in the front row on the right.  I told her she looked lovely in her flower dress, "but I thought you didn't have any flowered clothing."  

"Oh, she said, I bought this in the shop so I could look tropical."  I told her she looked lovely and should wear more flowers!  This might be the start of a new life for her!

We decided to celebrate the success of the concert and went up to the top deck and had a caipirinha and a margarita-  the real thing.  We had been drinking "Mock cocktails" up to this point, and I have to say I think I like the mock ones better!!

We went to the DaVinci restaurant for dinner, and Luke presented the waiter with a card saying that it was my birthday.  Our waiter was very attentive and made me a turtle and a samurai out of dinner napkins!  They also brought a beautiful chocolate cake with a candle and five waiters came to sing to me.  It was all very fun, and I love that my birthday celebration continues from July-  It's been quite a celebration.

Looking forward to our first adventure in the islands of Hawaii tomorrow.  Stay tuned...

Getting Our Sea Legs

We're getting our sea legs, finding our way around this mammoth city, and are trying to figure out the demographics of this sailing.  It is mostly older folks with a smattering of younger people and not many children.  There are a lot of canes and walkers and we even saw a service dog when we were boarding.  The people come in all sizes, but the women win the prize for being the largest.  And it is a pretty white crowd with very few African Americans.  They seem to come from all over the United States, but so far we have only met Americans, and many of those we have talked with are from the Bay Area.

So yesterday our internet went down, so I am writing this on Thursday morning.  Yesterday we went for our breakfast and again found a table for four by the window.  It wasn't long before two sisters asked if they could join us.  Phyllis, the older, was from Nashville, TN and G.R. lived in South Carolina.  Just the night before Luke had commented about how few African Americans there were, and here we were joined by two African American women for breakfast!  G.R. was quite a talker, and

 she had a lot to say.  She had worked for the U.S. Postal service, spoke four different languages (English, Spanish, French and Portuguese) and had traveled all over the world.  She held about every job you could hold in the Post Office and worked her way up to management where she was just beneath the Post Master General.  Now she was living on OPM - Other People's Money!!  She said the Post Office was a wonderful place to work and has incredible benefits for their employees.  When she got in to management, she had her choice of going to Stanford or MIT for one year to get her MBA.  She chose Stanford- and her tuition and room and board were paid for by the US Postal Service.

Phyllis was quieter.  She started working for the IRS and became very good with computers and eventually ended up in private industry in the IT department.  G.R.'s husband had just died three months before and it was really nice to see the two sisters obviously supporting each other and having a good time.  G.R. was going up to the spa to have a hot rock massage, and her eyes lit up when she mentioned it!

We have so enjoyed our conversations with other people and it has been fun to run in to them throughout the day and greet each other as if we were old friends.

There weren't  as many activities that drew us in as there were on the first day, but I joined a chorus which was a blast.  They had met the day before, but that conflicted with my ukulele lesson, but they allowed me to join up even though I had missed the first rehearsal.  We are practicing six songs that we are going to perform on the Piazza on Friday afternoon.  Today we practiced The Eye of the Tiger from the Rocky movie and It's Not Unusual.  We will have two more rehearsals before the concert where we'll go over Sweet Caroline, Isn't She Lovely and The Love Boat (which I don't know!). Stay tuned- I'll let you know how it goes.

Luke went off to a hula class lesson where he learned how to tell a story with his hands.  In Hulu, the men move their hands very differently than the women.  He said it was fun, but he wanted a little more hip action.

We went up on the foredeck of Deck 14 to get a piece of pizza and play banangrams.  There was an outdoor film showing with Angela Lansbury and Elvis Presley- It was quite a scene with people lying in their deck chairs around a beautiful pool watching an outdoor movie.

Last night was the first of three formal evenings, and the big event was a reception with the Captain and a champagne tower with free champagne for everyone.

There's a longer story for another time, but Luke was prepared for formal evenings.

He had bought himself an evening jacket like no other that he spied one day while walking down Market Street.  He dresses up quite well, and he was the hit of the evening.  Every where we went people would say, "Love that jacket", "Nice jacket", "You look terrific!"  It was definitely a chick magnet- women were coming up and stoking it and petting him.  I think it got a little much for the humble, shy guy from Iowa - he doesn't like the spot light drawn to him.  But he WAS the spotlight and I told him if he was going to what something like that he had to get used to all the attention!  It was really fun seeing all the women in their finest, and there was a lot of bling going around- but Luke definitely won the prize!

We had dinner at the daVinci restaurant and it was lovely.  Everyone in the restaurant was dressed up - that was a requirement if you wanted to eat in certain places.  After dinner, we went to the evening show in the beautiful theater where the Princess orchestra and the Stardust singers and dancers regaled us with "Memories," old songs that everyone knew.  The performers were very professional and it was a delightful evening.  

We went back to the room to change - I think Luke needed a respite from his attention-getting jacket! We turned on the debates for just a little bit before we planned to go dancing to close out the evening.  The next thing I know, Luke is waking me up saying, "I guess we'll go dancing another night!"  

THURSDAY

We just finished a long breakfast with Tess and Peter, two Brits who are only on the cruise in order to get to Hawaii.  They are quite tired of the sail and are looking forward to getting to Honolulu where they will go to the Pearl Harbor museum- their main reason for coming to Hawaii.  I asked if they didn't like cruising, why didn't they fly to Hawaii, and they said they flew non-stop from London to San Francisco, and are using the cruise to adjust to the time change!!

Peter was so very British.  He and Tess are "leavers" and think the EU is corrupt and taking from England.  "What would happen to a U.S. company who hadn't had an audit for 20 years?" he asked us.  Well that is the EU.  Britain will be much better off on their own, controlling their own borders.

Peter and Tess are from Durberville-  (Tess of the Durbervilles!!). They live near the house were Thomas Hardy wrote his novels.  Just down the road from them is Julian Fellows, the author of Downton Abbey, who they say is a delightful fellow.  Peter says Camilla is the most misunderstood duchess and she is brilliant.  Tess is dubious about Meghan Markel, but Peter is a big fan.  They both are a little hard on Harry, saying he's a troublemaker.  Tess really liked Diana;  Peter thinks Charles should have married Camilla right from the start and never should have had anything to do with Diana.

It was really fun listening to these two talk in their very proper English about primigenesis, the House of Lords, the Queen-whom they adore, and Peter's volunteer work with the Society of Something or Other of Dorset County.  Very proper folk these two.

Because of our long breakfast conversations, we tend to miss some of the activities we had originally planned to attend.  We didn't make it to a lecture about Kauai, and we missed a Ballroom Blitz class on the Cha Cha.  So we went to the aft deck to read for a while.  It has gotten considerably warmer and we both found ourselves dozing off a bit in our lounge chairs- ...oops! We missed the line dance class.  I did make it to my Pop Choir Rehearsal where we went over all the songs we are going to sing in our concert tomorrow afternoon.  Then I got back to the room to find Luke sitting out on our balcony having a high noon glass of wine!  We went down to the piazza where we split a margarita pizza and listened to a wonderful mariachi band.  Then, since the weather was nice, we decided to walk the entire length of the promenade.  The ocean was a gorgeous cobalt blue, and it was really lovely to be out for our deck stroll.  


We were invited to dinner by Alice and Chet from San Jose whom we had met on the first night.  They have a reserved table every night in the same restaurant.  They are also seasoned Princess travelers and get the full alcohol package free and all gratuities free, so they very generously treated us to wine with our dinner.  We have chosen the "Eat Anywhere/Anytime" plan because we thought we'd like to go to different places and meet different people and not be locked in to just one restaurant.  The advantage of the plan that Alice and Chet have is that their waiter becomes their personal friend/assistant.  Renaldo knew the wine they liked, and was very friendly and attentive to us. 

 Before I close, I just want to put a shout-out to my friend, Shirley.  Whence found out we were going on our cruise, she called to tell me that she had a slew of clothes that she'd love for me to borrow.  At first I didn't take her seriously, but when she reminded me that she had older brothers and no sisters and she really wanted to have a dress-up-try-on time with a "sister" I took her up on it.  I went to her house in Walnut Creek for a very fun afternoon trying on all sorts of things.  It was so much fun because Shirley and Charlie travel quite a bit and she had all sorts of outfits that were beautiful but you could wad them up in a ball and they would stay wrinkle-free!  The great part was that Shirley and I are the same size!  I came home with about four different mis and match outfits, and I have to say I'm having so much fun deciding what to wear each night.  

After dinner we had a little time before we were planning on going to the Country-Western dance.  Needless to say, we lay down on the bed and this time Luke was the one snoring first.  I think the free wine at dinner had something to do with it!  We're going to have to either resign ourselves to missing out on the late night happenings, or find some better system for staying awake.

Aloha, for now.

Unbelievable

We go from tattooed Jon with his love story painted on his body to another unbelievable story over breakfast this morning.  We found a table by the window and were quickly joined by Ryan and Peggy- a lovely couple from Portland.  We chatted for a while, and then they had things to do.  When they left, we were just getting started on looking at the detailed, minute-by-minute calendar of the day's events to plan our day, when another couple asked if they could join us.  We charted our day and then turned to them and asked, "Where are you from?"  

"Now, Lafayette, but originally from Iran."  They were a very attractive couple and we immediately got to talking.  They have been on many cruises and have travelled the world.  They asked what we had decided to do today and we listed hula lessons, ukulele lessons, bingo, black jack strategies, line dancing, and then we told them about a very interesting movie called Red Joan with Judy Dench.  We had see the trailer on our TV that told about the day's events and we both said, let's go to that.  It turns out they are big movie buffs and they said they will be there also.

After some interesting conversation, Luke asked them about their country Iran- and that's when the amazing history lesson began.  Mitra's sister had been shot by the Red Guard which was the end of Iran for her family.  It was so devastating.  Mitra is a Muslim because anyone born to a Muslim father is Muslim.  But no one in her family embraces Islam.  As a matter of fact, she despises the Islamic religion.  Back centuries ago, Iran was invaded by the Islams, forbidden to follow their Zorastrian beliefs and subjugated.  Mitra and her husband, Fred (Feodoro) grew up in a beautiful country, rich in natural resources and beauty, run by the Shah of Iran, Reza Pahlavi who had established a Constitutional Monarchy and replaced Islamic laws with Western ones.  He also forbade the wearing of traditional Islamic clothing, separation of the sexes and veiling of women's faces.  When it became clear that Prime Minister Mohammad Mosaddegh was corrupt and wanted to establish Shia law, Pahlavi fired him.  That influenced Mosaddegh to begin the coup-de-etat that eventually ousted the Shah and brought in the Islamic rule of  Ayatollah Khomeini. 

Both Mitra and Fred have been in daily contact with friends and family in Iran and they are very hopeful that the demonstrations that have been happening over the past four days will result in the overthrow of this horrible, despotic regime.  And here is the interesting thing for me - they both say that Trump has done the right thing.  Trump, by withdrawing from the nuclear ban treaty with Iran and thus imposing new and stronger sanctions on the country has weakened the regime.  

But wasn't it a bad thing to withdraw from the disarmament agreement?  No, they said.  Europe and the US had dropped the sanctions of Iran, thus giving this regime a lot of wealth. Fred said, "Iran is the head of the snake."  He said all the Islamic terrorists are funded by Iran.  Iran runs an incredible drug trade of opium and heroin through South America into the USA and Canada.  But our sanctions are weakening this regime and bringing it to its knees so that the people uprising might have some power.  He further added that Europe wants to lift the sanctions because Europe has nothing- they have no natural resources and depend on Iran for many resources.  Europe has a lot of money tied to Iran, so they want a more robust Iran to exist.

It was so fascinating talking to this couple, and I hope we'll see them again.  To think an Iranian woman despises Islam and thinks the Trump is doing the right thing... OMG!  I'm going to doubt everything I've ever believed.  The world is topsy-turvy and so am I!

By the time we had finished our conversation with Mitra and Fred, Luke had missed his blackjack lesson and I had missed my line dancing, but I think they will be repeated again.  Loren went off to play Bingo and I went to my ukulele lesson.  

There were probably 100 people at the ukulele lesson and they had big bins filled with ukuleles for us to select.  Brian and his wife Rowena taught us four chords and then we played two songs.  Because of my previous lessons and practice, I knew all the cords, but there were a lot of people there who had never picked up a ukulele before and it was so much fun to hear 100 ukuleles playing together.  I'd like to go back tomorrow, but it conflicts with a Pop Choir which I also want to check out!!   

It turns out that there was a $35.00 charge just to play Bingo, so Luke bailed on that, but he did go to the Hulu Dance Class.  He just watched - which I'm sure is why he went, but he says he's going tomorrow and will participate!  Then we went to the theater, an amazing venue, where we watched the British movie, Red Joan, starring Judy Dench.  It was a great WWII movie based on a true story- a great one to see if you haven't already.  

After a short lie-down, we changed our clothes and were off once again for some pre-dinner dancing at the Wheelhouse Bar where the Pacific Trio was playing music with a Mexican singer.  We sat next to a couple who introduced themselves as Miriam and Joe.  Miriam, from Cuba, was in her mid to late seventies (maybe older).  She had long, dyed Jayne Mansfield the hair, false eyelashes, painted eye brows, and a diamond rock on her finger that made me think maybe the Poor diamond had been transferred to her.  Joe looked Phillipino and was covered with gold: necklaces, rings, and a gold watch that looked like it weighed at least ten pounds.  They were wearing matching outfits.  Joe was in white pants with a white shirt with a blue flower pattern.  Miriam was in a white dress with a panel that matched Joe's shirt.  She was also wearing white spiked high heeled shoes.  And they were very good dancers!  

The dance floor was crowded, mostly with couples over seventy, and there were some pretty swift and professional looking people - light on their feet and having a good time.

Then we went to dinner where we shared a table with two other couples.  Tom and Margot were from Tampa, Florida and Sandy and Sal were from Sparks, Nevada.  Sal still works, but his wife, Sandy, gambles.  Sparks is just a town away from Reno, and Sandy bets on the slots whenever she gets bored, which I gather is quite a few days a week.  If you win over $1199.00, you have to report it and the casinos won't let you leave with your money unless you can show a driver's license and a social security card.  Sandy wins big so much, that she reported her social security card missing so she could have an extra one to carry with her at all times.  Ten years ago she won $14,000, and last year she won $11,000).  $600 - $1,000 is a typical day!  Luke of course was very interested in how Sandy did this, and Sandy gave him some helpful hints.  Hopefully our dinner conversation will pay off because Luke didn't fair well in the Casino when he strolled through this afternoon!!


Right after dinner we meandered up to the theater to see the show.  Jennifer Singer did a concert singing songs from Carole King, Barbra Streisand, and Tina Turner among others.  I thought she was very good and really enjoyed her, but at one point I looked over and Luke was sound asleep!!



From some of the pictures you should be getting an idea of some of the spaces on this ship.  I truly is remarkable.  Here are some more views:

In the piazza lounge 

One of six pools on board

The view directly below our balcony

 





So far the weather has been quite cold so we haven't been able to sit out on the balcony much.  I'm hoping, as we get closer to Hawaii, it will begin to warm up.

The seas have also been a tad rough, so that I'm looking a bit drunk every time I try to walk somewhere.

This was only our first full day at sea and it was very interesting and a lot of fun.  I am fascinated with all the different people, and look forward to peeking into the lives of many more to come.

Aloha