The final furlong

So here we are cruising through the Bay of Biscay which once again is as calm as a millpond, yesterday we did have a moderate swell but today there are no whitecaps or signs of disturbance on the water, in fact if the sea wasn’t that grey colour you would think that we were in the Caribbean – well that and the temperature outside is about 15C (60F.)  We finished our packing this morning and put the suitcases outside ready for collection and it seems that we were amongst the first to do so – now everything that is left will have to fit into the carry-out bags, but the good news is that this time we don’t have to carry the bloody elephants!

Our first port of call this morning was to go to the Peninsula Restaurant for breakfast where I could indulge in my favourite kippers, mushrooms and tomatoes with toast.  I will be well wired for the day as I also had two cups of full strength unleaded coffee but it did keep me awake for Terry Rockall’s last fingerprint lecture.  This was short today and mostly consisted of little anecdotes about some of the crime scenes he had witnessed but was followed by everyone in the audience having their thumbprint taken and analysed – I am a whorl while Hilary is a loop.  Those will go into the scrapbook along with many of the photos and postcards that we have bought.  We have thoroughly enjoyed his series of lectures, not the most fluent of speakers but very welcoming and with an engaging way of presenting his subject.

At this very moment we are back in the Crow’s Nest as it is too cold to sit outside for us, that and plus the fact that I have packed all my sweaters.  We picked a seat by the window and close to the Cyberstudy so that I could get a signal to use up the last of my internet minutes but it has a drawback as we have suddenly become surrounded by a group of people and a lecturer who is talking about Metabolism and how to lose weight.  It has become hard to concentrate on typing when someone is yakking on about kilocalories and how important they are and I shan’t be sorry when his little talk is over.  Part of the reason for sitting in this particular part of the Crow’s Nest is that it is so that I can connect to the internet and this guy is cramping my space, so I will concentrate on yesterday’s tour of the kitchens by Hilary.

All of the pictures were taken by Hilary as she passed the displays and I believe that she also sampled some of them (hopefully not a whole dolphin though)!  It was also the Chef’s special dinner last night and we got the full catering crew marching through the restaurant to the strains of Simply the Best.  All four of us on our table chose the shrimps to start, then the asparagus soup followed by the grilled salmon with all its different sauces and our waiter Suvin insisted on adding two small bowls of chips!  With a raspberry soufflé and ice cream dessert it was a very bloated foursome that made our way back to our cabins ready to pack our suitcases.

So has our cruise been a success – you betcha life it has – we have both thoroughly enjoyed it, we have seen some places that we have not been to before and we feel thoroughly relaxed, perhaps too much in my case as I could sleep all day given a chance.  It’s only 11.30am at the moment but I am going to post this, I may post again this afternoon or even after the final Headliner’s show tonight but don’t count on it.