Day 51 ~ Malta Mix-Up

March 1, 2022

67 degrees, wallowing seas...ugh! (My phone thinks I've climbed 11 flights of stairs just lurching around the ship!

NAUTICAL TERM OF THE DAY ~ Rummage Sale

"Rummage" comes from "arrimage," the French word for ship's cargo. Damaged cargo was sold at a "rummage sale." 

We spent the morning trying to satisfy some faceless bureaucracy in Malta, which we'll visit in a few days, that it's safe for them to allow us to enter their country. Because the DH and I had our Covid shot boosters before November 1, 2021, we had to jump through some administrivial hoops. We were hampered by the s-l-o-w WiFi and our attempts to log in the data requested got us tossed off multiple times. On the plus side, in the end, we got the QR code that will allow us to access EU countries. And we got to work with the Viking staff around this lovely table that's made from a long slice of one broad tree trunk in Manfredi's private dining room. (Notice the white three tentacled Wifi repeater in the upper left of this photo. At this point, I view it as more a decorative choice than a functional piece of equipment, but at least we were in closer proximity to it than in our stateroom. The nearest one to our cabin is down the hall by the elevators.)

After digital honor was served, we joined Kristy & Dave (who got their booster shots after November 1st and didn't have to prove anything to anyone!) for an Austrian brunch in The Restaurant. After a hearty goulash soup, I had smoked salmon & scrambled eggs, while the DH enjoyed fat sausages, chicken and veal. Then after everyone was groaning under the heavy meal, Alex and Azwi (our regular evening head waiter) rolled out an incredible dessert trolley. I limited myself to one of the little tubular-shaped pastries stuffed with butter cream and dipped in chocolate. It was light and flaky and a little piece of heaven on a plate! 

The waves have been hitting the Star side-on pretty much all day. I'm okay with riding the nose of the dolphin up and down, but it wears me out to be wallowing back and forth side to side, so we called it a night after supper. (Yes, even after such a bountiful lunch, we made our way to Table 137 to don the feedbags once more.) 

I'm seriously looking forward to our walking tour of Cadiz tomorrow. It'll give me a chance to walk off a little on fairly level, non-heaving ground! Plus Cadiz is the port where our WiFi antennae is supposed to be replaced/repaired!

More soon...