Champagne for Breakfast

Sunday,    22nd January 2017

Fred Olsen doesn't give away much free alcohol, let alone champagne, so I was more than a bit surprised when a waiter appeared during breakfast offering me (not Barbara) a glass of champagne. Having checked it was free, I gratefully accepted it (and shared it with Barbara). It was quite an interesting mix: kedgeree, eggs Benedict and champagne! 

Probably the same day, the relevant chef produced another stunning fruit carving display at lunchtime, which I just had to share. Another work of great art in my book. 

Another aside, during our morning constitutional (five laps of the Promenade Deck), we nearly trod on what appeared to be a small twig. On closer examination we discovered it was actually a very large moth. It was lucky not to have been squashed by any of the many walkers at that hour of the morning, but was stuck to the deck by the seawater used to swab the decks down at dawn. 

Not wishing to see this lovely specimen hurt, I removed it from the deck in a coffee cup, which it filled, and took it back to the cabin where it was offered a little fresh water and sugar-water (the nearest I could figure to nectar). 

 In due course it looked a bit healthier so it was returned to a safer part of the deck in the hope it could fly back to South America somewhere, which was reasonably close, and where it had presumably come from.

Oh yes, the Captain's Cocktail Party.  So, we all got dressed up in our finest bib & tuckers and went down to the Neptune Lounge to be greeted by Captain Matteson and his senior crew. Kath and Norman (I think) joined Jim, Christine, Barbara and myself for drinks. Just one we expected but, to our surprise, the waiters & waitresses kept refilling our glasses with any amount of wine, sparkling or other, as we emptied them. 

So we were pleasantly mellow by the time we sat down to eat, and be served for nearly the last time by Sanit and Frank (the tall one), both of them very friendly & helpful, and they usually brought the right orders :-) 

Some of the sumptuous sweets we had that evening (can't remember the glorious names):

And here's the four of us on our table, good friends now (though I don't think Jim & Christine have forgiven me for my beginner's luck at RummiCub), nearly ready to say our goodbyes.