PARTY NIGHT

The crew cleared the pool deck & put up tables for an evening B-B-Q & buffet. All the entertainers performed together for 2 hours. Captain steered the ship in a different direction to minimize the rock & roll from the ocean swell, all very good. Lovely night, even I danced - Wow!

MID ATLANTIC

Just sailing over the mid Atlantic ridge. Had a few lectures about the ocean including the tectonic plates making mountains at the ridge. Weather's warming up 25 today 27 tomorrow. Sea has been rough probably stirred up by big storm. yesterday it wasn't windy, so the the sea was smooth & glassy but it had a slow moving 4m swell, so the shipping was moving about quite a bit. Today it's windier but the swell is down to only 1m. We have been watching the flying fish, they get disturbed by the ship, leap from the water & fly perhaps 50m. Very impressive. It's very isolated here, we have run south perhaps to level of the Canaries, & we have seen nothing, no ships, no aircraft & no land for the last 3 days. 

TURMOIL AT SEA

You wouldn't think so judging by the photos, sunny, warm, calmish but the Captain came on the horn at lunchtime & told us Bermuda was cancelled & we would be calling somewhere else, yet to be negotiated. Apparently on course to Bermuda we would have encountered 5m wave following sea which would have made for slower speeds & uncomfortable sailing, so he is setting a different course further south. Apparently this ship is about Titanic size but we have only 300 passengers compared to 2500 but still have to avoid troubled waters.

Fixed my specs today, refitted the screw so can see things better now. Funnily enough as I got out the cab I saw a set of trodden smashed specs in the gutter which yielded me a spare screw to use.

We both slept like logs last, rocked to sleep like Isla.

LEAVING LISBON

Done with Lisbon, it's a very nice place. The piccies are the Belem tower, a world heritage place built to defend the harbour that was apparently not much cop. The other is the top of the lift to get you top of the other streets. The queues for it are very long. People at street junctions are very different here, on A10 in Enfield we have beggars & rose sellers( not so much now) here we have circus performers. As soon as the lights go red out pops a unicyclist, juggler, saxophonist or a singer pops out into the middle of the road, does his bit and rushes back to the pavement before he gets run over.

The auto correct on the phone is a nightmare, it changes trams to teams without a by-your-leave, trams is a real word, is it not?

WALLYTOUR

Bought ourselves a couple of "red rover" tickets for the Lisbon transport system & did our own thing. Xmas has arrived here already, lot of people, decked out road trains, street sellers everywhere. We went along the River Tagus waterfront which is pretty good with modern & clean facilities, nice promenades. We used bus, team & metro to get around the sights, all easy to use but the teams were crowded. They use old historic trams in the city centre that are so crowded, you have to queue for ages. Ended up at the Gulbenkian museum that houses his private collection. Very sumptuous. He was an Armenian oil billionaire & collected widely. He had a large Lalique collection containing none of the glass paperweights you see on bargain hunt. Beautiful gold & enamel jewellery of which the dragonfly brooch is stunning. The picture of glass tower is the lift that takes you up to the next street level - it is so hilly in places.

PASTRY FACE

Been out on private tour of Cabo de Roca, the westernmost spot on continental Europe, Cascais, the home of the rich in this area & Pena Palace in Sintra, a world heritage site. All very nice, blowy at the Cape, lovely in Cascais & very hilly at the palace. Very interesting & our guide, Alex was very knowledgeable but it was mandatory to call in at the cafes  to try the classic pastries that are very strong on egg yolks & sugar. So all in all we've had 4 pastries each today amounting to 10000 calories. Ah well, someone has to do it. Considering we were in touristy places, the prices were good, 4 Euros for 2 coffees & 2 cakes. After more food, tomorrow is a Wally tour.

SOME GOOD SOME BAD.....

in the start of our day. Bad - didn't sleep well - Michelle left for work at 8, coming running back, "the pavement's smoking, it's on fire" I wandered out in my jammies, and it was from a BT cover. Rang BT, had to send a text, reply said get back to you in 20! Dialled 999, fire brigade turned up in 3 minutes - we should get the FB to fix our telephones. Covers off, big plume of smoke, pavement cordoned off for BT to fix. Good - cab turned up, 40 minutes to Heathrow, through security & sitting in cafe 20 minutes later. Bad - put glasses through scanner, put them back on, thought I had problems with the peepers, couldn't see properly. The lens had fallen out. Couldn't find it without my glasses. Cataract free Lin spotted it, now it just remains for me to fix them. Good - breakfast was delicious, bacon on toast & porridge oats with banana & honey.

GETTING READY TO GO

Off on our travels again, first stop Lisbon, the town of a thousand steep hills. Tour to Sintra, a world heritage place & a wander around some of the sights by tram, bus & shanksy's. Pre-tour pub to get ready.