Getting into a do-nothing rhythm was NO problem for us. With every confidence we would be on our feet, our buddies called at 10:15 to make lunch plans. Imagine the pressure on us to pretend we were awake. Yawn….stretch.

Come to find out our rooms come with access to a private dining room, so we decided to check it out for lunch. Very nice! We then adjourned to a lecture on shopping in Russia and how the quality has, in general, gone down in the years since the Iron Curtain fell. Dan and Walter slept through the entire presentation which meant they were in fine shape for cocktails, a must-attend, for our group of six. Then dinner followed by entertainment followed by a race to get to bed because we are all booked for a big day tomorrow.

A funny little sidebar: Cleone and I had arranged (read: Cleone did all the work) for 50th anniversary flowers to be in H&R’s room when we boarded. From the time we met at lunch today right through dinner we kept waiting for the ever grateful H&R to gush over our thoughtfulness. But …… no mention of our flowers. They did mention, however, a beautiful bouquet from Ari. We went to bed determined to get to the bottom of this.