Sunday 4 April 2010

Biscaya Biscuits

The upcoming sea day dreaded by many due to the rough experiences of the previous days, we headed towards the Bay of Biscay during the night. This stretch of ocean has a reputation for being nasty sometimes, so everybody was surprised and relieved when we woke up to a milky yet blueish sky and comparably mild seas. And the weather kept getting better and better, finally it left people with two options: Being awake while attending the numerous lectures downstairs, or falling asleep in the deckchairs that were spread out at lofty 18 meters above the sea. Some mixed it up and fell asleep in the lectures...well, everything goes if you’re on holiday, right?
Since it is considerably more difficult to keep people busy and happy on a sea day than on a port day, Karin and Else-Kristine come up with a simple, but effective plan: Catch them with delicacies. And so in the afternoon everybody, regardless on which deck, lifts their head, sniffing. Ouuuh, this is a nice smell! Edgar the Wafflemaker, is performing his art in the observation lounge, luring people in droves to the source of that olfactory number one treat. Everybody is relishing and quiet, so the splendid music of Bjørn, the ships pianist, remains undisturbed. What a nice afternoon!
After nightfall, the officials on board are to be seen from a completely different angle – during the fashion show: Officers, crew and staff alike promenade the catwalk in the board shop’s garments, be it nice Norwegian sweaters or, well, unique swimsuits. The subsequent „Easter bonnet competition“ was supposed to have three categories: prettiest hat, most creative hat, most embarassing one. Since these were two categories more than participants, the bronze, silver and gold medal ended up in the hands of one single passenger.
So, now we are cruising through the night to wake up in Bordeaux!