No pictures, please

 So far on this voyage, the waters have been smooth but the weather cold and sometimes rainy. Patches of snow are visible on the hills surrounding the fjords. Another guest was unsure what a fjord is and thought it might refer to one of the many waterfalls.

TSH went on an excursion alone in Vik, experiencing even more snow as the bus went higher into the hinterland. He used a (clean) tissue attached to the seat in front to help him find his place after the photostops. No problem that cannot be solved with the use of tissues!! Diva worked on her U3A AI presentation which is due to be delivered later in the year. 

In the Arts Cafe aboard the Silver Spirit, another guest recorded a video, including pointing his camera directly at TSH and Diva. She pointed out that it was illegal to film people without consent.  Another woman supported her. The cameraman glared at Diva and said she had also caused trouble in the theatre that morning. As she had not been in the theatre that morning, she concluded that he had upset at least 3 women that day.

Some of the coat hangers have been taken away. 

An age thing?

 When TSH and Diva started sailing with Silversea 20 years ago, they were among the younger guests on board. 

In the lift on the way to dinner, other guests assured TSH and Diva that they looked 'spiffy'. They were pleased with this, as both take pride in their appearance. They are often complemented. But is this  because they are now among the older guests, from whom little elegance is expected?

Later, Diva wondered if she had misheard. Had they said 'spivvy'? Or 'squiffy'?

Immediate Danger

Stavanger was extremely wet - TSH and Diva both needed a change of clothes on return from their short walk. Rosendal looked very pretty from the ship, so TSH and Diva decided to stay on board, especially since it was a tender transfer.

TSH's hearing aid is bluetoothed to his phone and he is quite accustomed to the sound of notifications coming directly into his ear. But this morning the sound was different - longer, louder and almost painful. He looked at the phone and saw a message in (to him) incomprehensible Norwegian, headed 'Immediate Danger'. In red. Not a good moment. But Page 2 was in English and explained that it was a Norwegian authority test of their emergency alert system. Relief. 

Diva counted 14 surplus coat hangers and decided to move them to the shelf with the life jackets.

A waiter said that she would not like to live in a tiny Norwegian settlement because she needed 'more drama'. Diva assured her that it was possible to create your own drama.

Norway via the North Sea

 The first leg of TSH and Diva's voyage is finished, many guests have left the Silver Spirit and many more have embarked - this leg will be slightly fuller than the previous one. 

They happened to be sitting in the Panorama lounge when the towel folding demonstration started and they were too polite to leave whilst members of the Housekeeping Department constructed 'towel art', including a rabbit, an elephant and a crocodile.  Far too complicated for Diva. 

TSH and Diva make good use of the complementary laundry service, so each afternoon 3 or 4 clean garments, each on a wooden hanger, are delivered to their suite. So the number of coat hangers in their walk-in wardrobe is increasing fast. As usual on a Silversea ship, they leave surplus hangers on the bed to be taken away but on this voyage the butler has decided they might need extra hangers and he returns them to the wardrobe.  So TSH's hanging space is reducing and his clothes are crammed together. They have explained the problem to their butler but with limited success.

One of the waiters now introduces TSH and Diva as his parents.

Bloody Mary for breakfast

 Despite being held hostage on the ship, the brilliant MacDonald brothers performed again, including an excellent version of 'Sunshine on Leith'.

The original plan was that TSH and Diva would have pizza in the outdoor restaurant in the protected mooring at Newhaven, before the scheduled late night departure. They went ahead with the plan, even though by dinner time they were in the middle of the North Sea. Fortunately the sea was calm and the heaters were effective. Best pizza in the world.

They must have missed a memo. Approaching La Terrazza for their usual buffet breakfast, they were accosted by waiters trying to thrust Bloody Mary cocktails into their hands. There was a special brunch, including an extensive sea food buffet, decorated with carved fruit and a huge ice sculpture. Rumour amongst the guests was that Silversea were trying to improve the mood after the disappointment of missing Edinburgh yesterday. Many of the crew had been up most of the night preparing the feast.

When they returned to the brunch at 12:00, some of the dishes had changed but TSH was able to construct an amazing meal including hash browns with Marie Rose sauce.

The clocks have changed to Netherlands time but the clocks around the ship are still wrong.

TSH and Diva do not drink Bloody Marys at breakfast.

Photoblog

 

Portland lighthouse

Bridges over Forth from Silver Spirit

Panorama Lounge on Silver Spirit

Lerwick - Shetland

Butt of Lewis

Liverpool

Hillsborough Castle

Inverness Castle

Another altered itinerary

It is never good news when the captain makes early morning announcements directly into all the suites. The Silver Spirit was anchored at Newhaven for a tender ride to Leith followed by a bus ride to Edinburgh. But the water was too choppy for safe tender operation, so the visit was cancelled and the ship headed directly to Amsterdam. TSH and Diva always intended to stay aboard so they were not personally inconvenienced except for all the people who stayed on what should have been an almost empty ship. But think of the chefs. 400 extra people for lunch!!

Bean bag tossing is now being arranged to keep people amused. The good news is that the MacDonald brothers are still on board and will perform again. Basically, they were unable to disembark as planned and are being taking against their will to the Netherlands. With all their instruments and stage props!!

In the SALT (local dishes) restaurant, TSH ate his most unusual salad ever - Taybank salad. It contained roasted brussels sprouts, beetroot and raspberries. His main course was lamb and skirlie. At breakfast time he had a dish of porridge and picked up what he thought was a jar of honey. It turned out to be strawberry jam, but he poured it on and decided that the combination worked very well.