We’re going back…way, way back….!!!

Day 5/138 2022/2023 Viking Neptune World Cruise

After a rather late evening trying to publish the blog last night and a rough start to yesterday, it was time to get back to the gym this morning!

The views from the gym are really quite amazing when we are at sea. I’ve never before experienced the rocking and rolling of a ship from a stationary bike before! It’s quite an experience if you have never tried it actually. I wasn’t sick at all while biking, but it did make for some interesting scenery.

I really like the summary at the end of the exercise session. It’s like accomplishing a goal and getting a check mark on a job well done! After cycling I went and used the light weights and did some upper body work. Richard made it to the gym today too!

We enjoyed some time in the Living Room this morning where Richard had an amazing almond croissant. One of my most favourite French pastries!

Viking’s pastry chefs are incredible! They say that on a usual 7 day cruise passengers gain 1 pound a day. There is no way on a 138 day cruise we can afford to gain weight in that proportion, so we have made a dedicated effort to get to the gym on a regular basis and so have many other Viking cruisers, since the gym is a very busy place in the morning!

One of the beautiful rooms in the Living Room on the Viking Neptune. The artwork you see in the photograph (above) is on an LCD screen, so while sitting in the Living Room its delightful to watch different artwork on change on the tv display.

While we were in the Living Room we met someone new and found out that she was a published author who was working on editing her next book.

Richard speaking to the author we met today.

And if you would like to read one of the author’s books she publishes under the name Dorothy Dunbar and her first novel was called “Eastwood”.

I was also given a great book recommendation for anyone looking for a good book to read (not written by Dorothy) called ”West with Giraffes” by Lynda Rutledge.

Having read 72 books already this year, I’m always looking for good book recommendations and a recommendation from a published author works for me! I’ll be putting “West with Giraffes” on my virtual reading list on my Kindle for 2023! It is a long cruise after all! We definitely meet the most interesting people on this Viking cruise ship!

Our team trivia today was fairly easy except for the question: “Name all of the Andrew’s sisters?” I am sorry but this question is not from my generation, we would have needed to go way, way back to my grandparent’s generation. None of my teammates knew the sister’s names, either, so we had to guess at the names, and we were completely wrong.

Team ‘R&R’ today. The winning team’s score was 15/17.

During team trivia the seas got quite rough and while I was ok, Richard started to turn green and had to leave to head back to our cabin. Sea sick bands, and behind the ear patches were on order for his lunch today!

Richard either pondering the trivia questions or thinking about his exit plan to get back to our cabin for sea sick bands and patches.

We were given the opportunity this afternoon to sign up for a very interesting, fun activity which will take place over the next few weeks on sea days. The activity we will be doing takes me back…way, way back to my childhood. We are doing something I have not done in probably 45 years, but growing up in Canada we definitely all participated in this winter activity. Any guesses what we will be doing?

In the Wintergarden, Bruce our Cruise Director was introducing the upcoming challenge.

The Viking Neptune Snowman Building Competition!

I paired up with 3 other ladies to complete the challenge and we strategized after the rules of the competition were outlined to us, to determine what our approach to this competition would be, as well as what supplies we would likely need to pick up to build our snowman, while we were out on upcoming shore excursions. We want to ’nail’ this challenge (No pun intended)! Viking will deliver something to each of the challenge participant’s rooms to use as the base material for the challenge and the rest is up to us. Stay tuned for more details on how we progress in this challenge because I think it is going to be a lot of fun, get our creative juices flowing, and building (again no pun intended) some new friendships!

And speaking of winter activities…the Town that we live in, in Canada is called Fort Erie, located in the Province of Ontario. From our house on Lake Erie, we can look across the Lake and see Buffalo, New York.

Lake Erie on a calm evening this past summer with Buffalo directly across the water.

And a close up of Buffalo from June 2021 when the U.S. Navy Blue Angels came to the Buffalo air show over Lake Erie. This photo was taken by me, on our back deck

I digress, because I wanted to show you a photo of the effects of the recent storm that occurred from December 23-25, 2022 in Fort Erie, Ontario. Our home was not damaged, but 15 minutes past us in Crystal Beach, Fort Erie, on Lake Erie, they really have a disaster going on with a State of Emergency in effect, power outages, and. wind and storm surge. Take a look.

Very expensive, vinyl siding homes which are located directly on Lake Erie, where the old Crystal Beach Amusement Park was located. I cannot imagine the damage that will occur inside these homes as well, since there is no power in this community either. Devastating.

I explored the pool deck for a few minutes today in between a busy sea day of activities. The windows slide down from the top to provide a beautiful sea breeze on the deck but a window close by was open and unfortunately it started to rain, and the rain was blowing through the window at me, while I was trying to relax. Relaxing didn’t last long, but for me it usually doesn’t!

Speaking of not relaxing, next on my agenda was a 3pm guided tour of the BAYEUX TAPESTRIES with Viking Resident Historian Dr. Michael Fuller. The replicas of the Bayeux tapestries are throughout the Viking ships on the two internal staircases and tell the story dating back to 1066, led by William, Duke of Normandy challenging Harold II, King of England, and culminating in the Battle of Hastings. Now that is definitely way back…way, way back.

Dr Michael Fuller explaining a section of the Bayeux Tapestry in one of the stair wells.

I will save the rest of the story of the Bayeaux Tapestries for another day since it will be a long trip and I’m always looking for good blog material on ”slower” sea days!

We went back in time a few times today…way back…and then way, way back with an amazing history lesson. It’s nice sometimes to get a blast from the past, but not the weather blast from winter’s past. In the Niagara Peninsula in Fort Erie, Ontario, people still talk about the blizzard of ‘77 as the worst blizzard that ever hit our Town. I believe people who remember are saying that this blizzard in 2022, is much worse than the one from ‘77. I hope the power comes on soon, and that everyone back home stays safe, and warm.

Tomorrow we dock in Cartagena. Columbia. We are doing a walking tour at 9am, so today’s blog will be finished early so I can get a good night’s sleep to get my walking shoes on first thing in the morning!

Happy Boxing Day everyone!