128 Days Around the World

February 14, 2020 - Valentine’s Day

At Sea

My day began with Sit and Stitch with all the group present. Sherita needed a ball of yarn to finish her Linus blanket so I went down with her and while she chose hers, I found yarn for my next one. Marty (in charge of the Linus Project) announced that 205 had been finished and the yarn was just about gone. He had made contact with a friend who found a wholesaler in Sydney willing to sell us yarn. Only problem was money. He was asking for donations that would be matched by an anonymous donor onboard and HAL was going to give some as well. He is hoping for 500 blankets by the end of the cruise which would be the most on any World Voyage.

All of us were present for morning trivia. We had 9 out of 15 and the winners had 11.

1.Released in 1975, “High Voltage” was the debut album by what hard rock band?

2.Valentine’s Day evolved from what ancient Roman festival?

3.How many Valentine cards are sent in a year – 500 million, 10 Billion, or 1 billion?

4.What is the “hallux” on the human body?

5.What is the Russian equivalent for the first name “John”?

After trivia I returned to my cabin to find my beds had been separated. I had requested two twins (instead of a king) when I booked. When I went to my cabin the first day, I had a king. I decided to leave it and see how I liked it. Earlier this week I decided I wanted to have the bed separated. I had two main reasons. The first was that I wanted to stand in front of the window to look out. For some reason all but the four newest HAL ships have the bed under the window in oceanview cabins. The other reason was so that I could reach my suitcases under the bed so I can put things I don’t need into them.

There was a box of candy and a rose on the bed from HAL for Valentine’s Day. I spent some time redecorating and moved one of the two night stands to the end of the bed I am not using. Now I can walk directly up to the window to look out.

I also finished all but the last six rows of my Linus blanket before heading to lunch in the Lido. As I was getting out of the elevator there was a crowd looking at the staircase. A moment later the waitstaff started down the steps with trays of food for the “Valentine’s Chocolate Surprise”. Lots of pretty pink goodies but not much chocolate.

In Arts & Crafts we made the earrings to match the lava necklace from yesterday. I left the chain off of mine since I don’t usually wear dangly earrings.

In afternoon trivia we had 12 out of 22 with the winners having 18. It was a Valentine’s Day themed trivia.

1.Which region of France is Champagne in – NE, NW, SW, or SE?

2.What is the only Shakespeare play that has “love” in its title?

3.How many different men was Elizabeth Taylor married to?

4.Pauline Collins won a Tony and was nominated for an Oscar for playing this appropriately name character.

5.Ivory Coast, Ghana, Indonesia, Nigeria and Cameroon are the five largest producers of cocoa. Which of these is #1?

I spent some time out on deck 9 while walking back to my cabin. It was a beautiful day with the sun shining and a slight breeze to keep it from getting too hot.

I finished my third Linus blanket before getting dressed for dinner. Tonight was a Gala Night with a Valentine theme. Everything was decorated with hearts.

I debated going to the show but ended up going since we get an extra hour of sleep tonight. It was called “Amour” and featured love songs performed by the Amsterdam singers and dancers.

Another sea day tomorrow.

Morning trivia

1.AC/DC

2.Lupercalia

3.1 billion

4.big toe

5.Ivan

Afternoon trivia

1.NE

2.Love’s Labour’s Lost

3.7

4.Shirley Valentine

5.Ivory Coast

The internet has been terrible for a number of days now. The Captain says it is the provider not the ship's equipment.