Report #6 Sept 24-At Sea

The MS Amsterdam's Three-story Astronomical Clock

 

Sept 24 - At Sea.  The seas are much calmer today.  Hardly any motion at all.  We are sailing just south of the Aleutian Island Archipelago.  They like to go north of them as it's shorter but there's a storm brewing in the Bearing Sea so we're staying south to use them as protection against the wave action the storm generates.  We're currently between two storms, just finished passing through one that's weakening and sailing toward another that building.  It looks like there's more bumping along in our future tonight and tomorrow.  It really has been very mild but with the average age of the passengers at about 75-77 there are many mobility challenged folks with us.

 

Had a wine tasting in the main dining room at 11AM today.  They had us sample four selections.  They were all OK but I did like the Robert Mondavi Riesling.  Diana's allergic to wines that have been 'oaked' so most reds are out and many chardonnays.  Riesling, Pinot Grigio and Sauvignon Blanc are safe as none that I know of are aged in oak barrels. 

 

I usually don't eat desert on the ship unless it's a really good one that's 'knock your socks off' chocolate.  Mostly I get a cheese plate to top off dinner.  They have a cheese named Old Amsterdam onboard.  It a Dutch Edam that's aged for quite a long time in this special cave where a unique bacteria lives.  It has a very firm consistency and the husk that forms during the ageing is almost one-half inch thick.  The flavor is very nutty and the consistency is very creamy except for the husk, which is delicious in it's own right even though it's hard and dry. 

 

Vintner's Note:  I asked the wine manager which of the wines on board would be a good pair for it and he suggested Goenok Cabernet for red and Robert Mondavi Sauvignon Blanc for white.  (These are the type of notes I put in so I can refer to them later when my memory fails.

 

At dinner the first night they gave all the ladies a rose and Diana's has opened nicely. 

 

The ship's atrium has a large Astrological Clock with four faces, World Time, Astrolabe, Celestial Mechanics and Planetarium.  It has a bright blue sun path with constellations chart on the ceiling above it and a carillon at its base.  It's "skeletonized" so you can see the gears both inside the clock and the ones at the base that control the bells. 

 

Chris Michaels performed this evening.  As Monty Python used to say, "And now something very different."  He played 8 different instruments, banjo, guitar, harmonica, saw, bones, turkey baster, his hands (squeezing them to make squeaky notes) and the bagpipes.  The latter he played wearing a flowered lea and grass skirt over his tuxedo and boots.  He said that people complained because he had no costume changes in his act, thus the lea and skirt.  All this interspersed with comic banter, often at his own expense.  Like I said it was different but very enjoyable.

 

Clocks back another hour tonight so the consecutive 25-hour day count is now five.  And there's a distinct possibility that I'll be awake by 3AM.  Ship's moving around a bit tonight but just enough to rock you to sleep.