January 6, 2013 (Sea day)
We had our breakfast in the dining room this morning so I wouldn’t eat too much at the buffet. That Irish oatmeal and stewed prunes just hit the spot. Mark got in a little tiff with the waiter due to the temperature of his coffee…luke warm. Next, he will be sending his salad back because it isn’t cold enough.
The weather today is warm and a bit humid as we walk the deck. Three and a half laps around the ship is one mile. We walked two miles before Kent decided he had earned an ice cream from the ice cream bar.
As we head toward the Panama Canal one lecturer onboard is Dan Ostler who lectured today on the French effort to build the Panama Canal. Ferdinand De Lessups who had built the Suez Canal makes a failed attempt to build a new canal across Panama. Over budget, significant loss of life from yellow fever, under engineered and with no similarities to the building of the Suez Canal he fails miserably. Mostly financed by shares sold to France’s middle class, the French suffer dramatically.
We met a couple of other gay couples onboard today. Fred and Ken from New York, Patrick and Stephen from Boston.
In the afternoon we attended a lecture titled “Another Op’nin’ Another Show: The Broadway Stage – Mirror of our lives” given by Jon Bailey. Mr. Bailey is a well-known conductor, composer and teacher in the field of music, art and architecture. We took a look at how what happens on the Broadway stage reflects and informs the real world we live in.
Our dinner table situation resolved itself. I spotted the couple with the 5th wheeler heading to the dining room as we were seated in the piano bar before dinner. The Mrs. and I waived to each other but by the time we arrived in the dining room they were not at our table. It appears that they asked to be moved to another table, which was just fine with us. Now we are four at our table. Claire and Gord will be great dinner table mates!
Tonight’s entertainment was a comedian by the name of Joe Yannetty, star of stage, screen and television. He was excellent at interacting with the audience and making them a part of the act. His jokes were mostly short quick stories or one-liners. Luckily we were not seated at the front of the theater or we may have been a part of the show.