melcreada | Dec. 13th, 2005

I have never seen him afraid of anything, so it's kinda funny to see him skulking away from the tree...

I have been totally silly and mindlessly cheerful since I have returned from vacation. This is in no small part due to the fact that next week I am on vacation AGAIN. Because I worked like a dog all year to take three weeks off during the holidays. Huzzah!

ANYWAY, a little about the cruise: the ship was huge but it didn't look large from the inside. All the rooms were well-proportioned and nothing was exceptionally grandiose. The best thing about this ship carrying some 2000 passengers? With the exception of waiting to get off and on, we never waited for anything. Often we would walk out on deck and find no one around. No. One. Completely deserted. We were whisked in and out of dining rooms and always sat in the front of the theater. It rocked.

You know what else rocked? Not getting seasick. Even JP admitted that the first and last days at sea were rougher than what he was used to. The only time I was nauseous was after I had been in the hot tub. I loved being close to the water at all times. I enjoyed being able to walk everywhere. I was deeply impressed with the activities they planned for us, including champagne auctions and wine tastings. There were the cheesy events and silly games, but there was also classy entertainment, an onboard library and internet cafe, and plenty of lounges where one could listen to a pianist while sipping a raspberry mojito (yum).

We attended all the art auctions, mainly because I thought it was so cool that they had actual pieces from artists like Picasso, Chagall, Erte, and Dali. For auction. Certified and everything. And you could walk right up to the art - there was no security, no kind of snooty "hands off!" attitudes. Just a bunch of art-lovers drooling over the goods. JP and I caught the fever and wound up buying a piece from the artist Galina Datloof (picture under the cut). I feel so upper crust. Except for, you know, not having any crust. LOL!

Okay, enough yammering for now 'cause I am tired.

( Here be more pictures! )

G'night!