Above is a picture of Cathy in her very favorite part of the ship – the Library. Doesn’t she look at home there?
Breakfast in the Grand dining Room, where we had an opportunity to chat with Dining Room Manager Gorica (pronounced Gor eetz’ ah – she’s from Serbia). She has become a friend that we look forward to seeing every day, and we certainly do see her daily because she is everywhere doing whatever it takes to take care of her guests. Very impressive young lady in so many respects.
Steve takes a much-needed almost-3-mile walk on the fitness track while Cathy goes to the Library. We meet in Horizons and spend a couple of hours there, listening to guests compete in Baggo Bean and Golf Putting contests, and watch the large contingent of needlepoint folks create small items, the kits having been supplied by Oceania.
We have lunch at the Terrace Café because, well, it can be done quickly. We’re getting used to the place, and have learned our way around sufficiently enough to be comfortable with all the people wandering around the buffet area trying to figure out what to eat. Again, we see Gorica, and again Steve chats about seeing the Northern lights the evening before, something that has been a topic of discussion between them for several days (the subject being: “Will we ever get the chance to actually see them?”)
Lunch at the Grand Dining Room. On the menus this year are “plant-based” dishes. These are four the super health-conscious because there isn’t any meat, dairy, eggs or apparently anything that people worry about eating. In prior days, when Steve has inadvertently chosen a dessert that’s plant-based, our waitpersons suggest he has something else, saying something like “You won’t like this.”
This noon, he sees a plant-based mushroom burger on a charcoal bun. He takes the plunge, figuring that if anyone can make this stuff take good, Oceania’s phenomenal cooking staff can. Truth be told, it isn’t bad. He eats the entire thing. Probably won’t make a habit out of it, but he’s glad he tried it.
After lunch, we are heading out and the Head Waiter holds the door for us. “What activities are on your schedule?” he asks. “Cathy quickly answers with a smile: “Naps, Frank.” And so we go back to the room and get some desperately-needed sleep.
Around 3:30pm, Cathy wakes up and briefly turns on MSNBC and then Fox News. It is then that we learn that Queen Elizabeth’s doctors are expressing ‘concern’ about her physical condition. She switches to the BBC, which is also available on the ship television. Off and on for the next couple of hours, we hear from BBC reporters that the family has flown up to Balmoral where the Royal Family has their summer residence.
At 6:30, we are at the Grand Dining Room. We see Gorica once again, and she tells us the news that the Queen has died at age 96. It gives us all pause as we consider the impact she has had in the 70 years of her reign, even on us. An incredible person. This is a sad and solemn day for anyone.
Serendipity plays a role in all of our lives, and we feel fortunate to be where we are. First of all, we are in the same moment as everyone in the United Kingdom. We learn the news in real time, the same time as her millions of subjects. Secondly, we have access to the BBC, and we have the opportunity to hear the reporters share their thoughts, rather than having the indirect perspective as told to us by American media. And third, in a couple of days, we will be in the United Kingdom, the Orkney Islands and then Edinburgh, Scotland in particular. It will be a sad time, to be sure, but we will be there to witness the nation’s mourning over the death of their beloved Queen Elizabeth. We seem to be at the right place at the right time to see history being made.
