A day of overcast and frequently wet weather but with so many inside activities to attend I hardly noticed what was going on outside.

First breakfast was a coffee and yogurt in the Garden Cafe – but I realized that the adjacent restaurant is open for extra buffet seating during breakfast and lunch, so for now it’s a quiet nook of tranquility until it’s more generally discovered.

Second breakfast was a lovely smoked salmon and bagel plate in the main dining room, Tsar’s. There’s something decadent about being served your morning meal, I feel. However I didn’t have much time to linger as I had a 9am lecture to attend!

Today was another interesting talk: Tropical Dress, The Evolution of Unique Clothing For Living In Polynesia. Basically on what the natives wore before discovery (cloth from beaten mulberry tree fibers), and the transition to more Western styles based on the trade with Europeans and the new availability of fabrics like cotton; and later, the influence of the missionaries.

Then another Trivia session; some time in the library; a talk with ship’s staff on what it takes to run a cruise ship with a 1000 staff. Then lunch in the buffet; more reading in the library; a talk on some of our upcoming ports from a fellow passenger who’s a former tour agent/naturalist/cruise ship employee/native Hawaiian who was highly entertaining and informative. That was followed by a infomercial talk on upcoming cruise itineraries; afternoon tea, and a lecture on Astronomy. I’m afraid this last talk was a bit too advanced for my aging brain cells (the topic was Visible Light and how we use it and other invisible lights such as infrared and gamma rays to measure size, distance, and speed of stars based on wavelengths, magnitudes, blah blah blah).

By 6pm when the final talk finished, the last thing I wanted to do was dress for dinner and be social with the Solos for a few hours. So I took my book up to the buffet for a quick pasta dinner and made an early night of it.