Day 8 ~ Sea Day Doings...Or Not!

“The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in its net of wonder forever.” —Jacques Cousteau

The Star is taking her leisurely time about getting to Puerto Vallarta. Our speed is about 8 knots, almost crawling, but there is no hurry, no sense of urgency. Our second "new-to-us" port will still be waiting when we get there. In the meantime, we're enjoying our little verandah space where we can go maskless, watch the waves, and eat a room service meal any time we want. 

Today we attended our first enrichment lecture about the Bayeux Tapestry. It's a huge work of embroidery designed to tell the tale of the Battle of Hastings when William the Bastard became William the Conqueror. I understand why Viking is interested in promoting this story. It's really all about Norse history. After King Edward the Confessor died, Harold Godwinson was crowned king. (If his name sounds a bit Scandinavian, that's because it was. The Northmen first raided the Brits in the late 700's and by 200 years later, were pretty entrenched in the country.) While Harold was rallying his troops against an invasion from the south where William, Duke of Normandy, who was a descendent of Rollo the Walker, a Viking so large he had trouble finding a horse that could carry him,  was amassing men and arms for a crossing of the English Channel. At the same time, Harald Hardrada, King of Norway, invaded England from the north and took York. King Harold (with an "O") marched north and killed him.  But in the meantime, William crossed the channel and invaded England unopposed. And by the time Harold's army marched back south, they were too tired to repel the invasion. 

Long story short, the Bayeux Tapestry was commission to chronicle the event on fabric for a population who couldn't read. And the kicker is that all the principals involved had Viking blood flowing in there veins.

The only other thing we did all day was spend some quality time in the thermal suite. And we read.

We're retired so I know you're wondering why uninterrupted reading time is such a big deal. Since we don't have jobs to go to, our time should be our own, right? Well, that's the theory. In practice, there are always things that need to be tended to when we're at home. While we're on the ship, we can't actually do any of those things that seem so terribly urgent at the time. We can spend hours in a book. We can listen to music without having it be the background for some other activity. We can walk at a comfortable pace because we have no destination in mind. We can do anything or nothing with equal lack of guilt. 

And now, since Gordon requested some shots of public spaces, here's photo of the Wintergarten, a lovely place to curl up with a book, or chat with friends, or partake of that oh so civilized ritual known as afternoon tea! 

  Love Scandinavian design!