Fizz

 Leaving Stockholm, TSH played ABBA music.

In Tallinn, TSH and Diva took the shuttle bus into town. Apart from the extremely hot weather - 28 degrees C - they had a very pleasant walk round the old town. They saw a Scottish pub as well as the compulsory 'Mad Murphy's'. 

They met a guest wearing a T-shirt with some of the words of 'Imagine'. '....all the people, living life in peace....' Whatever would John think of the world now?

And what would Paul think of being described as 'the Beatles' bass guitarist' in a news item in 'Britain Today'.

Regular readers may remember that on a previous visit to the East meets West restaurant, TSH gave the waiter instructions on how to pour beer. Clearly this knowledge was not passed on, as the waiter this time just tipped the beer into the glass, creating copious foam. TSH was, however, shocked when opening a bottle of English sparkling wine in the suite. Even though the bottle had been resting in the fridge for many days, the cork flew off immediately, hitting the ceiling with some force. 

Two Firsts

For the first time in over 300 days cruising, TSH and Diva were invited to dine with the Captain. And for the first time, the senior maitre d’ rang their suite with a personal message from the captain (just a small change in the arrangements). At the table in La Terrazza, the captain was assisted by Christiane (HR manager) and Marco (Safety and security manager). The other four guests were also British.

Very enjoyable evening but the (Italian) Captain made the mistake of mentioning Brexit, which he was supporting. This led to awkward silences, as there were mixed views around the table and people were mostly too polite to fight in public in front of non-Brits.

TSH and Diva made a rare visit to the evening show – excellent coverage of well-known opera combined with Les Mis and Phantom. Their rendition of Abba’s ‘Winner takes it all' in Italian was an ‘interesting’ twist.