Into the Bay of Biscay

When we woke in the morning the cabin was pitch black. The ship seemed still so I thought we must have stopped somewhere. It was around 7.30 so I drew the curtains. I was assailed by the sight of sea. Sea, sea, sea. The waves lapped as vigorously as I had imagined but the vessel was ploughing through steadily, with just the occasional gentle roll. It was a great weight off my mind, as I wondered how I could take such a continuous journey across seas and oceans without getting sea sickness. The sea was blue grey in colour with occasional ships on the horizon. No sign of land. I had never previously experienced being in the sea without any sign of land. I checked on the TV tracker and found that we were just leaving the English Channel and would soon be in the Bay of Biscay.

Albina was still decidedly unwell with her back hurting. She had barely slept at all during the night. I rubbed her spine and her shoulders and this seemed to give her some relief. I went up to the View Bar to have some breakfast. I saw this was going to be our main eating area throughout the journey. It was on Deck 8, where the pitch and roll of the ship could be felt much more than in our Cabin in Deck 6. It meant you felt a little drunk as you carried your food to the table apportioned to you by the excessively polite staff but it was pleasant enough, even amusing. I could see other guestes were enjoying it. It was a buffet menu but served up by a careful staff in about 5 different stations along the length of the buffet. I was on the port side but there was a similar line up matching it on the starboard side. The choice of food was so huge between standard English breakfast fried, Italian meats, fruit, cereal and pastry that I simply lost all appetite. I had similar experiences in the past when on holiday in places with large buffet areas the size of a mini museum. Spoilt for choice is the key word here. Cowed by this cornucopia of food I chose a yoghurt, a cranberry jiuce, and some fruit. That was it! My main concern was to get some rolls with strawberry jam down to Albina so that she could enjoy her usual morning bedside breakfast which I served her every day at home. I had insisted before the journey that she gets up each morning when on board and shares breakfast with me, but obviously not when in this pain. Albina was in bed and on my advice, which she had no reason to challenge, she stayed in bed for the rest of the morning and into the early afternoon.  

I did some more exploring on the vessel. Some of the most features of the vessel were only beginning to register with me. Yesterday's whirlwind guided tour let us largely confused as there was so much to see. There was this extraordinary sculpture/statue plonked in the centre of Deck 3, marked as Times Square on the map of the ship. This striking monument stretched up through two more floor decks above and was surrounded by an attractive wide spiral stair case. At its base was a giant rectangular box some 3 metres high with three clock faces on the shorter side and four clocks surrounding a nautival feature on the starboard side and a painted clock of the seasons showing zodiac signs on the port side.  Above it were 4 large astrolabes at each corner surronding an open middle section with what looked like 4 gold monster dolphins, surrounding in turn by classical columns, holding up an ornamental copper onion shaped dome. This in turn was supporting a large blue, more than life size, Atlas figure bearing a giant globe on his weary back. Meaning? God knows. Obviously something to do with man's ability to surmount technical difficulties to master sea travel and be able to see the world. My guess is as good as yours. 

All over the ship, but especially on Deck 4 and 5, there were wide promenade spaces interspersed with quite intimate niches of unexpected charm. On Deck 4 there was the Colours and Taste Restaurant serving Chinese food, which from the outside had the appearance of hidden cosy little private enclave of Eastern charm. This section of the deck, adjoining the auditorium, had the appearance of something very intimate, like a medieval street scene.  Above it, on the port side of Deck 5, you had a small niche room with a side entrance called the Bolette Card Room. Here they gave lectures on how to play bridge, and ran competitions playing on green baise covered tables. Beyond that was the Morning Light Pub, the site of various games, live music in the evenings and regular quiz shows. It was like a club room with deep Q Anne chairs and comfortable sofas surrounded by portraits, landscapes, and the painted silhouettes of seagoing schooners on the glass overlooking the sea. Adjoining that was the Library which served elegant and expensive teas with a wide range of mouth watering cakes and chocolates. The cakes were prepared by the ship's catering staff. They also served these delicacies by crossing the aisle leading to the other side of the deck, This wide passageway was overlooked by two oversize models of the Chinese soldiers governing the emperor's tomb in Xian. It led to the Oriental Tea Room, which consisted of two chambers. The smaller one was fitted out like an oriental tea garden with light flowery wallpaper. The other was a grand room with a gigantic wall painting of a seventeenth century sea scape full of Dutch merchant sailing ships entering a port, whilel various nautical instruments were available in display cabinets. Its nautical air was reinforced by the presence of 3 ships; officers in white uniforms drinking tea in one corner, when I visited it on this day. 

The corridors on these two  decks and on the staircases were covered with distinctive paintings in the most multifarious styles, as well as extraordinary oriental artefacts, including two Japanese samurai warriers in full armour. It is only when you see these rooms in your own time, you have a chance to enjoy the rich settings to various activities on this ship, even when not watching the sea.

Exploring and writing, I had allowed Albina to sleep and recover. Perhaps too long. By the time Ihad woken her it was past 2pm and the View Buffet Room was closed. The only place we could get a bite to eat was at the poolside where the first customers were swimming or using the hot ubs. There was only a handful of people there and we were able to order fish and chips for myself and a Santa Fe Salad for Albina. We realized we needed to familiarize ourselves with the opening times in the restaurants to be able to make full use of them. We finished the final unpacking of Albina's third suitcase. In fact, we left most of the items in the suitcase thogh she was finally able to rescue her pyjamas and her warm ankle socks which she needs to keep her arthritic feet warm at night. At home I prepare her a hot water bottle every evening but she wanted to to do without that on holiday. At one moment we had a scare beacuae one of these expensive pairs of sacks seemed to have gone missing and Albina was convinced that one of the maids must have stolen it. It was only late at night she recovered it.

Tonight was formal night which we were determined to avoid. We went to the View buffet restaurant again, knowing that our usual Aurira evening restaurant was reseved for those dressing up. To our surprise a lot of the guests at the buffer restaurant had also turned up in dinner jackets and party frocks, although most, like us, wore smart casual. Albina and I could not understand that. If you want to dress up in glad rage, then fine. But stay with your own kind, if only to live the experience and share the ambience. Ny coming into the buffet restaurant they only served to make both us and themselves uncomfortable. Hope the staff make that clear for the next formal night.

Albina retured to read some Polish magazines and I stayed uo for a quiz night in the Morning Light Pub. So many of the questions were on things like vegetables and fruit and I did not do very weel although I joined a team which came third. 

I must admoit that Albina and I spent most of the time in the cabin However, when I looked at the Daily Times newsletter sent to each cabin first thing in the morning, I was amazed how many activities on board the ship that day we had omitted. A quick summary showed 38 events taking place, all of which we had missed (except for the quiz show). There was a morning Walk-a-Mile, yoga classes, church services, Baggo games in the Ocean Bar, four excursion lectures, music, bridge and craft classes, kitchen creations from behind the curtain in the auditorium, wine lectures, golf putting, line dancing, gym introduction sessions, carpet bowls, introduction to te ukelele, dance classes with waltz and cha cha, shuffleboard, drama classes, killer darts, pilates, table tennis, all at set times, and all their to keep the passengers busy. And you have this wide side wide choice, every day, except perhaps for the some of the excursion days. As with breakfast, the choice is so vast that in the end you lose the will to enjoy any of it. I feel Albina will continiue to avoid any group activities, but I may yet set out plans for some activities for myself.

Aside from the Daily Times, we receive regular broadsheets each morning giving us the news, including politics, culture, sport and financial. So we know about Starmer's five goals, or the wavering by Sunak over the Northern Ireland protocol, or the fact that one of the rail unions has finally settled for 9%. Unfortunately we cannot pick up news bulletins on the TV. There is ostensibly a BBC channel available but for today it seems to linit itself to Doctor Who episodes. There is a movie channel with a wide choice, but otherwise you are cut off from the outside world. So we watched a couple of movies and went to bed at 1pm , much later than I had planned.