Sunday, Day 3

We had a leisurely morning before Charlie dutifully headed to the gym.  I opted to skip exercise to finish the blog post for yesterday. (You’re welcome.). At 10:00 we returned to the Carinthia Lounge for Morning Trivia, again joining Al and Carol.  They told us they were both retired middle school teachers, bless them.  And their granddaughter is also in a biomedical engineering masters program, at Georgia Tech!  We didn’t do as well today, and we wished we could have phoned Rob for the name of the tenth Doctor.  

Just before noon (and another time change), the captain announced we’ve traveled 550 nautical miles with about 2200 to go. He also noted that we’ll pass the resting place of the Titanic at 10:30 p.m. tonight, while assuring us that we’re staying well south of any icebergs. 

For lunch in the Princess Grill, I started with a vegetable antipasti that included some really good mozzarella, with mushrooms, olives, and peppers.

Charlie had sweet potato-chickpea patties that he enjoyed.

For our entrees, I chose a tagliatelle with chicken and walnut pesto, and Charlie opted for the salmon.

For dessert, we both had the affogato. Yum!

With the daily time change, it’s been after 2:00 when we finish lunch. At 3:00, I went to the Carinthia Lounge to find just two other needlecrafters, a Miami woman making a large needlepoint alphabet for a grandchild, and an Australian woman doing counted cross-stitch. It was interesting to chat with them as I worked on a pair of socks, as both are Cunard veterans, with many cruises on the four ships. Charlie napped and went to the casino.  

Charlie braved sitting on our balcony, wrapped up in one of the blankets provided, but came in for hot tea afterwards. 

After drinks in the Grills Lounge (which was packed!), we had dinner, again in the Princess Grill. For anyone wondering, there are three levels of accommodation, which determine where you have meals. The top category is the Queen’s Grill, then the Princess Grill, then the Britannia group.  The menus differ along with the accommodations.  The Grills Lounge is open to the Queen’s and Princess groups.

Here’s what we chose from the dinner menu:

Shaved pear, fennel, and celeriac salad 

Shrimp cocktail 

Seafood pie

White chocolate and mascarpone mousse with Amareno cherries, dark chocolate creméux, and coconut ice

Peanut butter semifreddo, chocolate brownie, banana ganache, and hot chocolate sauce 

Everything was delicious, though we were disappointed that the otherwise excellent seafood pie was about half salmon— not shellfish.  I think the pastry chef is a genius, as the desserts have all been amazing. 

After dinner we went to the Queen’s Room to watch passengers “Dancing through the Decades.”  One couple in particular, who appeared to be in their 80s, danced every dance - tango, foxtrot, waltz, quick-step, etc.  She wore a glittery cocktail dress and he wore a white dinner jacket.  There are a few professional ballroom dancers who invite passengers to dance, but this couple seemed to be passengers. We were impressed!  For the benefit of Mankind, Charlie and I confine our (very infrequent) dancing to the kitchen.  

That’s it for Sunday.