We are leaving the St. Laurence today, passed by Quebec City last night at dinner. There was a hot air balloon over the city, what a beautiful sight, the Chateau Frontenac with the balloon in the sky. I did take a photo but wifi is too slow to post it, may add it later.
We are headed to Corner Brook, Newfoundland and will arrive tomorrow.

On the topic of time, we had to move our clocks one hour ahead before Montreal, then move them back two days later. Then last night, we moved them ahead one hour again. Here’s the surprise to me… Tonight, we move them ahead just 1/2 hour!  Then, before we arrive in Greenland, we move ahead another 1/2 hour. Good thing I have my dual time face watch, I could get very confused.

On the topic of the age of the passengers, we thought that almost all the passengers would be in our age range or older, especially the world cruise travelers who we assumed would need to be retired. Well, most of the passengers are in our age range, but on the first segment, there were several families with young children, one from Mexico that included grandparents, parents and grandchildren, one family from Belgium with the most beautiful children, they could have been models and several other young families. There was a French family with twin sons of about 20. One of them won the Texas hold ’em tournament, he was GOOD! I met his father playing blackjack. Then we found out that the oldest passenger was a man of 101, soon to be 102. A bit hard of hearing but very delightful. Also several honeymoon couples and a young (probably 35ish) couple who is on the world cruise!

There are a lot of new passengers who got on in Montreal and we haven’t seen enough of them to determine the demographic yet. Last night the entertainer at the show asked about years of marriage and there was a couple who had been married 60 years, so we can guess!

A new artist came on for this segment and I will take some of her classes. She brought a friend along as her assistant in the artist’s studio. We had dinner with them last night. Suzanne Stohl, the artist, is a corporate trainer whose first love is art. She is a potter and a painter. Interesting!

So today, I may join Norm in the bridge lessons, we will see if I have the patience for it. Seems that he is spending time studying notes between classes, which are only held on sea days, so I will keep you posted on my enthusiasm for THAT!

Even though we are here for 6 months, every time a new segment starts, we get the amenities again, so a new bottle of champagne was delivered. We haven’t even drunk the first one yet. They keep our room refrigerator filled with sodas, beer and water, all included, and now we have 2 bottles of champagne. They also allow you to bring liquor on from the ports, so Norm bought wine in Montreal. This is mostly for cocktail hour in our room or on the balcony, we are buying wine for dinner which they keep until the next time you want it when you don’t finish the bottle. This segment we bought a wine package. Tonight we have the Captains cocktail party again, where the officers are introduced. Of course, it is a repeat for us, but the cocktails and canapés are worth the repeat trip..also meeting new passengers.

On the topic of food, I posted some menus earlier, and the food continues to be amazing. We have never gone to the dining room for breakfast or lunch, we prefer the Terrace, where they have everything to choose from. Norm has an egg white omelet with vegetables every morning, usually accompanied by salmon or herring, and I stay pretty much with my Greek yogurt and fruit. Yesterday at lunch they had a Mexican theme,so I added the freshly made chips and guacamole to my usual salad. We love the variety in the dining room at dinner. They bake all the bread on board, make all the delicious ice cream and all of the pasta. What a treat!

We did go to Polo, the steak house, and had dinner with a couple from Georgia who just got on in Montreal that day. He is a retired United pilot and she is a retired Delta flight attendant who met later in life at an airline ski club in Switzerland. In port yesterday we met a couple who were on this ship when it had the engine fire in St. Lucia. We were in St. Lucia 2 days after that and saw the ship there before it was towed to Puerto Rico! So you can see that our conversations are interesting.

So those are some observations about shipboard life on this sea day. Stay tuned for Newfoundland.