Sunday en route to Suez

We decided to sleep in this morning especially since we lost another hour overnight. We really didn’t sleep in all that late because we were awakened at 9:15 by the Commodore coming on with an announcement. It didn’t come through in our room, but nevertheless it still woke me up. I guess in reality we were awake at our normal hour if you go by the old time.

The Commodore was informing us that we were approaching the Strait of Messina which separates Calabria, Italy and Sicily. It’s only 1.9 miles across, so it is very narrow. We even had to take on a pilot to get us through. The waters have been calm as glass today even though there has been quite a steady wind. We realized that Prakasan must have come in at some point because we had our hot tea and coffee waiting on the bar. We enjoyed a fabulous breakfast of a banana, plum, potato chips and coffee – it’s the new breakfast of champions! A little later in the morning we were informed that we could see Mt. Etna.

It was a clear enough day which is unusual for this time of year. The snow covered peak was soon in view and was a very striking site. I did go up on the observation deck to get a better view and I realized how cool and windy it was. There was a woman up there who asked me about 10 different times what we were looking at as she was convinced it was just clouds. It was a conversation that went nowhere. I think I finally convinced her that it really was Mt. Etna. I had some issues with the internet this morning which was quite frustrating. We decided to head on up to lunch since I was getting hungry. We were excited to see that they had a regular hamburger on the menu, so that’s what we both ordered. It felt as though we were having an ordinary meal…that is until they brought the finger bowl! We ended up back in our room after lunch and I thought it was time to do a little laundry. They have soap in the launderette, but no fabric softener. I actually went into a Supermercato near the Pantheon yesterday and bought a small bottle of what I THINK is fabric softener. I will say the launderette is an interesting place. I experienced a showdown at the launderette between two women, one of whom had taken anothers clothing out of the dryer when it wasn’t dry. Wow, what an awkward situation. I tried to get in and out of there and fast as possible. About 2 hours later all of our laundry was washed, dried, and folded. It really is nice to have that out of the way. I’m not sure what happened to the rest of the time, but it was again time to get ready for dinner – another formal night. We ended up not getting down there until 8:15 or so and everyone on our “row” had already eaten and gone to the show. We enjoyed a very nice meal and went down to the Queen’s Room for the Big Band Ball.

I ended up dancing most of the evening which isn’t easy in 4 inch heels, but it was a lot of fun. I think I am finally getting some of the steps! I missed today’s dance lesson and Robert came to make sure that I’ll be there tomorrow for the Salsa lesson. We are now relaxing in our room and looking forward to another day at sea tomorrow and then we transit through the Suez Canal on Tuesday. Until tomorrow…