Blogging vs The Olympics

I mean first, there is the WiFi, and the number of devices that we can use at one time. In the evenings, one of those devices is streaming Olympics via Peacock. Thank you streaming! ;) The second issue is that this blogger has a deep and wide love of the Olympics and is finding it hard to concentrate on all the other things. :) But isn't that what vacation is for? Just to veg and do the things that you want to do?

On Sunday we sailed out of Cape Liberty, NJ (near Newark) and on our way out to the Atlantic got to see the Statue of Liberty.  It was pretty magical. I don't know how, in a busy harbor, but we were able to do a "donut" as the captain said, so everyone had a view. It was overcast to begin with, and that actually made it more awesome because the torch and her green color stood out much more. I'm not much of a big city girl, but this view was special!

And because I have personally helped build the Brooklyn Bridge during my recovery this summer by watching the Gilded Age (HBO Max), here she is.

Since then, we've just been cruising! That looks a lot like napping, massages, going to the gym, doing everything next to a window, and drinking copious amounts of artisan coffees at the cafe.  We quietly schooled a table at their drunken game of spelling bee today, but that's probably a blog for a later time. 

Tomorrow we arrive in Bermuda and start looking for pink sand and rum swizzles. 😃

We're Going on Vacation!!!

You may have thought that there wouldn't be a Thelma and Louise adventure this summer because of my surgery. And maybe that sounds like the rational approach to recovery. But what about Thelma and Louisa reads rational? HA! 

In all fairness we booked this trip back when my surgery was scheduled in May. Basically I want to say "don't ask" about the reschedule,  but I will say that it was rescheduled twice, and I just about lost my mind over it. But as sometimes happens, this surgery date couldn't have been more perfect. Everything just fell in line. There's probably a blog in there somewhere. 😊 ANYWAY, when we booked this trip, I would have been roughly eleven weeks out of surgery, and we knew that I would be ready. This puts me at seven weeks out. I think it will be fine with probably some difficult moments, but the doctor was giddy with excitement for me, and said that my surgery was "textbook perfect" and my recovery the same. There's gonna be another blog about that, because how can one pass up more moments to talk about being "perfect"? 

Currently one of us is drugged up in first class stretching and doing ankle pumps, and the other is just behind in row six, having the most personal time she's had in about, oh...7 weeks. 😂 The first working title for this blog was "Vanilla Ice and Socks". My mom has the patience of Job. Only in her "book" the trials and tribulations all have one name: E R I C A. She rarely hits the fence, but recently three things have pushed her right over the edge. The first is Vanilla Ice.  It was about 10 days into recovery when I actually realized I could sing, text etc "Ice Ice Baby" as a request for ice packs. I found it hilarious! I mean, maybe it's not one of the greatest songs of all time, but what could be more appropriate for us than, "Stop! Collaborate and Listen?" So yeah, she's over that. (Sidebar, a writer did reference it in the NY Times last week, so I'm running with that as helping with cultural relevance. lol). 

The second thing she's done with are socks. To be more specific, my socks. Several years ago I had a student who would often take his shoes and socks off about half way through the day. The stitching on the toe box just got to him, and it was sensory overload. He was happy as a clam after taking them off. I think we all experience that a little when the stitching is right on top of your toe and rubs on your shoes, or somehow the entire sock gets turned around. Anyway, these common issues are not my main ones. I have a very specific way I like my socks to look. Yup - look, not feel. 🙄 I like the stitching in the toe box to go across my foot, but just right under my toenails, so there is a nice straight line, and there is plenty of sock above the sewing line. It really bothers me if it's not straight, or if it's too far north to the toes.  Obviously mismatched socks are a hard pass. 😄Add to that taking on and off ice packs and compressions sleeves, with your sock slipping off every time, and you've driven your mom clear to the edge with socks. Oops.

And the last thing is really not my fault at all. Forks have a balance problem and fly off of plates when you are just trying to walk them to the kitchen. Well, it could be partly my fault, because gravity IS strong around me. 

As you can see, Thelma and Louise both desperately need a vacation. Currently we are enroute to Newark, where we will climb aboard a cruise to Bermuda in the morning. We love Bermuda, and it's been at least 30 years since we were last there. You may have read my mom's post the other day about what I learned from VersusLaw. It was in Bermuda where I learned the party etiquette of drinks in your left hand. Nobody wants a wet and cold handshake. Also, that was a stressful evening because I remember really trying to concentrate on NOT falling into the pool as I was schmoozing around. 

We love cruising, we love traveling together. and even after seven weeks of constant face time, we love being together so much!! 💕 Summer vacation here we come!! 

Le Petit Chef

**Importante! Please read the following in your best French accent. If you are unwilling or unable to do so, I urge you to just click through. I apologize profusiamente that I cannot be in all of your living rooms to do this for you. Merci.**

Do you remember that adorable chef, Alfredo Linguini, from Ratoutille? The kind hearted, bumbling maker of award winning cuisine with the help of Remy the rat? He made our dinner the other night! Well, maybe it was his French counterpart, but still! The ship has two dining choices that you might classify as under the all inclusive part of cruising - the main dining room and the Oceanview Cafe. Some Celebrity boats work differently, but this one has an additional 4-5 restaurants that you can make reservations at. We made reservations at Qsine, with Le Petit Chef. 

Le Petit Chef is a tiny, animated, French chef who makes your dinner right in front of you! Like Alfredo Linguini, he is a little comical, and encounters some setbacks along the way, and is downright fun to watch. 

Before our very eyes he grew and and harvested a garden, battled a mole, and made us burrata salads. I don't think I can get videos to load on ship wifi, so you will have to use your imagination and the stills I took. Below you can see on the left where he is under the inside fork, and a butterfly has landed on the plate. 

Course number two was bouillabaisse. The chef went fishing off our plates before briefly becoming entangled with an octopus. He cut off the tentacles of said octopus to save himself, and those tentacles were in our soup! Well, let's get real, they were in Louise's soup. Thelma obviously wasn't going to eat bouillabaisse! 

It's masterful coding and animation projected onto a white table. The coasters for beverages are rather fixed to the table, and you have to make sure your plate aligns with the projected circle. 

The "show" was so fun, but it was also amazing how much the animation matched the dish that you were given! The menu is fixed to fit the animation. You can order something else, like I did for course number two, but it's not as awesome because it doesn't fit the show you just watched. For the main course our little chef went on a submarine adventure to find a lobster. He ended up having to wrangle it like a cowboy to get it on the plate. And boy was it delicious!

For the final course, our tables turned to a snowy scene where ice cream was rolled up like snowmen, and the whipped cream was shot out of a snow plow. Little chocolate footprints were the final mark of this Little Chef. 

We hear there are other animation sequences, so we are excited to see Le Petit Chef on a future cruise! 

 Next up: Curacao! 

😁

4 x 4 Adventure in Aruba

Our second stop was in Aruba. Aruba is one of the six island countries that are part of the Dutch Caribbean, and thus under Netherlands rule. I mean, that sounds slightly more stringent than I mean. They are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, sort of like a territory or a commonwealth, with their own government, elections, and independence, but citizens still hold a Dutch passport. They call the islands the ABC islands and the SSS islands. A: Aruba, B: Bonaire, C: Curacao, S: Sint Maarten, S: Sint Eustatius, S: Saba. We had a VERY informative tour guide today, otherwise how would we come up with this stuff? ;)

We chose to go on a jeep off-road adventure! Yippee!! 

One thing you might not think about the Caribbean is the word "desert".Yeah,  I know - it's not a desert, it's an "arid climate". Whatever! You're not here! It's H-O-T, dry, and there are cactus everywhere! We piled into some "jeeps" and our guides told us we were going to the "dry side". All I was thinking was: Where are we now? Ha!

Thelma and Louise have driven some rough roads in our journeys. Lanai comes to mind. Or that road in Montana where we switched drivers because I was sure I'd high centered the car. Or the old railroad I had to back out of. The difference on this adventure was that we weren't the drivers! We lumbered through town in our rigs, and then set off on some back roads. We didn't get to sit together, so here is our selfie in two shots.

I'm not sure you can appreciate the quality of the road. The rocks were huge, and the dips were significant valleys of several feet in places. I tend to get a little car sick, and so I was so lucky to get a front seat next to the driver. I had the best view by far, but that meant that I also saw exactly what we were driving over. I shouted helpful comments that can be categorized as cheerful hysteria. Luckily, if you're laughing and smiling, sarcasm is interpreted positively. It was fun in that unhinged sort of way.

Our first stop was a natural bridge area in Arikok Natural Park. They lost a large natural bridge in 2005, but  the small one we stopped at was nice too!  It was a short walk downhill on gravel, so I skipped that part, but mom went on this short adventure!

That's Darvin, possibly one of the happiest people on Earth. He and his partner, Jason, were fabulous. Darvin drove our "jeep" and Jason did most of the talking. One of the things we learned that was fascinating was about the languages spoken in Aruba. The two official languages are  Dutch and Papiamento, a local language with Portuguese, Spanish, Dutch and Creole influences. They also all speak English, and most speak at least one other language. As language learning does not come easily for me, I am in awe of those that are multilingual. 

On the way out of the park, still on some questionable roads, Darvin all of a sudden said, "SH_T". And in his hand came the gear shift. Like out of car. Loose. Free forming in the front seat with me. As we came to a stop next to the other car, he honked the horn and Jason got out of his car: "Damn!" I'm nothing if not helpful, so I added while pointing at Darvin, "He used a different word," which got me laugh. ;) They jammed that thing back in, muttered some encouragement to it, and we were on our way. A replacement "jeep" (they were not Jeeps!) met us at our next stop. 

Our last stop was at an old gold mine. Honest to goodness, Jason told us a lot of good info, but I was hot, and keeping my eye on a lizard, so I lost the finer points. But took some good photos! I shoot in black and white when I'm hot....

I will leave you with this last picture.  That's me on this chic Caribbean vacation with a giant smudge of dirt on my forehead. I found that HOURS later. Honestly Louise! 

🤣

At Sea

You know what's great about "at sea" days? There's both NOTHING to do, and EVERYTHING to do! Our cruise director, Angela, is adorbs, and has like 1,000 things to do every day. Which is great, but you also don't have to do anything! And you literally can't leave the boat, so they are nice days to just relax.

I've really leaned in to drinking coffee out of a martini glass. I mean, what's not to like? This is a cafe shakerato with coconut. We like to post up at Cafe al Bacio for a couple hours, caffeinating, reading etc. It has an art deco vibe - yellow and black, with tall wing back chairs. The other feature of this cafe is that on the opposite side of the coffee bar is the Gelateria. Mom has had cinnamon and coffee (so far!). 

Also, these little baby bear beds are somehow amazing. I am the pickiest person about sleeping, pillows, covers, temperature - everything. Maybe they are lowering the oxygen level in our cabins so I just pass out. I barely move at night, and I'm giving napping a real chance. ;) Mom has broken in the veranda with sketching, photography and the like. 

Cruise ships are like casinos, only it's a little easier to figure out if it's day or night. They are HUGE, and you can get lost easily, but they also try and make spaces seem small and intimate. Our room number is 1231, but you cannot find that on the 12th floor. I know, because we've tried! We haven't made that mistake in a couple of days! Ha! Actually, our room is right outside of the library, so we've done a pretty good job of finding our room (given that we are on the correct floor!). 

On the second day that we came back to our room, there was a cloche and two forks!

My immediate reaction was: Danger! Obviously I'm reading too many mysteries where a poisoned cucumber sandwich has been placed in the room, or a scorpion lashes out when the cloche is lifted. Mom spun around in a circle thinking we must have got ourselves in the wrong room! But, as it turns out, we were upgraded to a "concierge" class, and little afternoon apertifs are brought to our room everyday. They are so cute!

I mean, there were more, but...sometimes you're so hungry that it disappears fast! We mostly go to the Oceanview Cafe which is a glorified way of saying "buffet". The Caesar salad is amazing, I'm quite fond of the pina colada, and they have those little mini desserts like they had at Todai back in the day. Last night, in an ode to my aunt, we played cards until bedtime. 😊

🤍🤍