We all love sea days and squandered this one away by sleeping late, eating basically nonstop, attending a lecture on future cruises, and dinner. The seas were rough this afternoon for a few hours, so we took no chances and found the Dramamine right after lunch. Things calmed down half way through dinner.

Walter outdid himself with the seating arrangement this evening. Working off a Snow White theme he placed a card at each seat and asked us to choose the character that was meant for each of us. Since tonight was a surprise birthday celebration for Dan,  he was meant to sit at the place with the Prince Charming card. As the prince’s special someone I was obviously Snow White. Hettie, the only one in the group with a PhD, was obviously Doc; Ronnie falls asleep literally at the drop of a hat, so he was Sleepy; Walter chose Grumpy for himself which left an unhappy Cleone to sit at the place marked Witch. Walter, what WERE you thinking?

Everyone ate light tonight except me. I started with squash soup, moved onto veal cheeks and polenta (both amazing) and ended with a dessert of ginger bread ice cream and creme brûlée in the shape of an egg sitting on a ginger cookie with a swoosh of meringue and four tiny gelatin cubes decorating the plate. We were anticipating a surprise dessert with a candle and some singing for Dan, but that didn’t materialize, so we assumed the celebration was moved to tomorrow night. As it turned out the dessert part of the celebration had been moved alright, but our butler had not gotten the word, so we came back to a room decorated with balloons, two elephants made out of towels, a card, and a bottle of wine. We’ll find out in time if Dan’s dessert materializes.

Tonight’s conversation cards read as follows:

1) If you owned a boat, what would you name it?
2) Would you choose to be the worst player on a winning team or the best player on a losing team?
3) Which is more important: the respect of your children or the respect of your parents?
4) Is it more important to be book-smart or street-smart?
5) Is science or art more essential to humanity?
6) Who would you like to change places with for one month?
7) What’s the most fun party you ever attended?
8) Are you mentally of physically tougher?
9) Which language would you like to speak fluently?
10) Have you ever bought anything from a TV infomercial?
11) What are the most important qualities in a friend?
12) What’s the secret to staying young?

We continued our 460 nautical mile journey through the night. The seas were calm.

…MORE TRIVIA…

Dolly, the world’s first cloned mammal, was created in 1996 in Edinburgh. She survived six years and is now on display at the National Museum of Scotland.

Driving on the left entered Scottish law in 1772, more than 60 years
before England and Wales adopted it.

Peter Pan was created by Scottish novelist and playwright J. M. Barrie and is based on the author’s older brother, who died at the age of 13.

George Cleghorn, an 18th-century doctor, discovered that quinine could cure malaria. Quinine was typically drunk in tonic water, but it was so bitter
that gin was added to make it more palatable.
Bottoms up!

Eighteenth-century watchmaker Alexander Cummings was the first to patent a design for the flush toilet. In 1775 he also invented the S-trap which uses standing water
to prevent nasty smells backing up out of the sewer.