Groundhog Day

This morning Bill asked me, “Is it starting to feel like we're in the movie Groundhog Day?”

“Are you bored?” I asked him. “No, not a bit,” he replied. I know what he meant. Neither of us is bored, but our days have settled into sort of a routine that doesn't have much opportunity to vary. On our last transatlantic cruise, we were very interested in participating in all of the activities. I don't know if we're older or if it's more of a been there, done that thing. This time we are less inclined to attend any lectures or shows if they involve standing in a line.

I also am less interested in the lectures themselves. Last time there was a great lecture series on Hollywood stars that was nothing but fluff and fun. The lecture series this time is a much more grown up history and geography of the places we will be visiting. That should, for all intents and purposes, be interesting. I've tried a couple of the lectures, however, and the lecturer drives me crazy. He has some sort of speech impediment that causes him to pronounce his r's like w's. The womantic Wenaissance pewiod stawted in Flowence, which is neaw Wome. I feel like I'm listening to Ming Ming on Wonder Pets.

Since we didn't attend the show last night (a violinist – ho hum), we got to bed at a reasonable hour. So I was up early enough to bring coffee up to our room, enjoy a cup, and then go to morning Mass. The priest is a crabby Jesuit who appears to want us to feel sorry for him because he has this cruise ship duty. I don't.

Bill worked out early, and then we settled into our day. It involved breakfast, a short morning nap, and reading. I've been working out in the afternoon, since that seems to be a quieter time in the gym. After my workout, I always check the menu outside our dining room to see if there will be something yummy to eat for dinner. There always is. As I indicated before, the food has been very good.

Both our head waiter and his assistant are from Romania. I'm continually impressed at how good they are. They have, I think, two or three tables that they take care of for each dinner seating. This involves probably 20 to 25 people. They remember our names from the start. They pay attention to what we drink and eat. The first night Bill and I asked for ice tea. The assistant waiter brought our tea, and was taking away my first course plate. As he was doing so, I took my lemon from the plate he was removing and squeezed it into my ice tea. The next night, and every night since, he brought us tea without our asking, and mine always has two lemon wedges in it.

Similarly, Bill has taken a liking to these tiny little caraway seed rolls they serve. The first thing the assistant waiter does is bring by the tray of various, and all delicious, rolls. He immediately noticed that I like the French rolls and he always puts three of the tiny caraway rolls on Bill's plate.

When this cruise ship docks in Rome, the head waiter gets to go home to Romania for a while. He has been on the ship for six months. He told us the first night that he is engaged to be married, and Bill told him last night that every night that we get closer to Rome, he seems to smile more. He has an engaging grin, and he certainly smiled at that remark.

Tonight we watched the sun go down around 9 o'clock, and hit the sack early.