I have consumed an enormous amount of food during this cruise. All of us are joking about having forgotten what it feels like to be hungry. My favorite joke is that it only takes 3 cruises to reach the size of most of the people on board… and how can it be helped when you walk in to sushi, and then move on to veal stew, lasagna, and made-to-order Mongolian noodles? Even Bella who is normally very careful about what she eats has developed an obsession of trying every dessert offered in the evenings (after eating two plates of grilled veggies).
We have taken to stopping in at the buffet in the Windjammer when it opens at 6:30pm to feed the kids dinner…and then going directly to our dinner seating in the fancier sit-down restaurant, My Fair Lady, at 8 pm. No joke!
Our family has the same table and same servers every evening, which is nice. Perhaps what it might be like to have a personal chef and butler. They know my brother-in-law is going to want a cold beer as soon as he sits down, and that my dad always wants a sourdough roll from the fresh-baked selection. They know my mom wants hot tea, and that my brother likes to order three starters and skip the main meal. Our seating is late which is why we’ve been feeding the kids early – but the regular dinner seating (it’s even printed on our seapass) is a nice way to relax and check in with the rest of the family.
We’re presently docked in Halifax, Nova Scotia for the day. We’re not meeting the rest of the family for another two hours (at the top of the old star-shaped citadel fortress in the center of town) so we’ve stopped for our daily dose of internet in a rooftop garden above the indoor farmer’s market. Internet service on board is $35/hour, so we reserve our travel research and email checks for when we are on shore and drinking tea at Starbuck’s. We’ve been craving internet more since we’ve reached Canada as I’ve put my phone on plane mode to avoid international charges.
We’re also planning on walking through the historic area and the public gardens so Christian can have a good run around. Although there is a 50% of thunderstorms today; if it rains we’ll duck into the Maritime Museum which has actual artifacts from the Titanic (frozen bodies floated ashore and were buried here in Halifax).
We’re a little regretful not to spend more time in the wild part of Nova Scotia; we’ve been told it’s some of the most beautiful coast and country in the world! But in the nature of the cruise, we’re only one day in each port, and there is plenty to do within walking distance from the boat. Nobody in the family has ever visited Halifax before. I didn’t imagine it would be a bustling little city (375,000), but I do like all the red brick and old buildings. The northern east coast is all about history, and buildings and parks often date back to the 1700 and 1800’s.
I’ll pics when I get back to the ship tonight. It’s been hard to find the time to turn on the computer – so much EATING TO DO.
P.S. Loving my self-assigned cruise reading, Skippy Dies, by Paul Murray. Chad’s already finished it and now Joss is halfway through too. Fantastic read about boyhood adolescence.