10-22-14. Very calm, foggy, warmer, --- breakfast.  The sea from 16 stories up looks very smooth, no white caps.  

Last night we heard that $40M were spent in two weeks during the dry dock reno. in Rotterdam, that might have included the dry docking it self.  The ship was all out of the water, what is called, on "blocks".  Changes included, adding cabins, relocating a couple of restaurants, some new carpets, and some dining room rearranging.  

The person or persons programming music for the various venues and restaurants has totally missed the boat, the average age on this ship is not 20, more like 50.  So what are they playing MTV stuff and rap for ?  The demographics must be available, besides tunes with lyrics are useless, they interfere with conversations and can't be understood.  What ever happened to good old Musak elevator music, show tunes or do I dare say classical or semi classical ? 

At 8am no one was here in the Windjammer cleaning up tables or serving coffee or juices !?  And what about soft rubber wheels for carts that get noisily pushed around on tile floors ?  

And have I mentioned the elevator numbers being not readable ?  

We went to see the Aqua Show tonight, it was quite impressive.  It started to drizzle a little during the show and many people left, but it soon stopped and we got better seats.  

Thu. 23rd. It continues to be very smooth sailing.  My morning routine went off flawlessly.  B'fast at the Promenade Cafe was not so good, just egg sandwiches, bagels and oatmeal, OJ and coffee.  It's just very good for lunch salads.  The Wipe Out Cafe wasn't any better.  After skipping one day, our acu. #4 was ok but I had to lie on my stomach again and that is always uncomfortable, especially with that claustrophobic headrest.  But after, we had a nice soak in the port side hot tub -- nice !  And for dinner we had Fillet Mignon, very nicely done.  

Friday the weather was perfect, well windy but sun was out and a very blue sky for the first time.  Also for the first time I found potato salad !  in the Promenade Cafe, you just have to look for it.  Now all there is left to find is pickled herring and meatloaf.  

Most people were out today, and deck chairs were hard to come by.  You see this ship is meant to cruise the Caribbean that's why the thousands of deck chairs.  We had such cold weather in the North Atlantic.  

It must be a challenge to design menus with cooked food that was never left the kitchens and must be used to create new dishes for the future ! 

My quest for finding pickled herring or rollmops on this ship has been abandoned.  

Saturday we had our last acupuncture session in the Spa area with a final special topical cream application to maintain the benefits of the treatment.  We didn't buy.  We skipped lunch but had a nice dip in the hot tub overhanging the ocean.  The weather was so-so, with some sprinkles and some sunny breaks.  Sea--calm !   We saw on freighter, also going west and one large black seabird flying high about our ship.  During the night we passed south of Bermuda and perhaps the bird lives there.  

To night is "Cats" night, the musical, at 8:30pm.  We thought we'd get thru dinner at shortly after 7, it was duck tonight, very tasty, and last formal night, and get in line, for Geneva made reservations some time ago on line in Europe.  When a performance is sold out, there are always people that line up to get in after all the resrevationers had been seated, about 15 minutes before show time.  When we got down to the theatre we were surprised to find out that the long line were people with reservation lining up to get in !  Well, the line was so long, it wound around corridors and thru other venues and we were in line for over an hour before we were able to be seated.  Ridiculous !!  I was almost ready to give up.  There were no organized lines, no security to control  line jumpers, nothing, just a great big mess.  But it was really worth it !  The cast was great, the show was great and of course the music and singing was great.  Since this was an recreation of the original full length Broadway show by Andrew Lloyd Webber, on board ship they only had one source of music and that was a guy playing his heart out on a special piano, fantastic.  

My morning routine: 6am go to deck 16 for outside weather check, down to deck 5 for coffee and a couple of slices of bradded sweet bread with Dutch butter, back to the cabin with ½ cup of coffee for Geneva and to report.  

We have one more full day to go and it was spent eating and relaxing.  I'll try to get this on the blog before we get off the ship. 

This is the last writing from the ship.  

Final from ship

Maria Alm 2

Monday, the 6th, 57° at 7:30am, a few high clouds but the promise of a nice day.  

Since we couldn't buy any provisions yesterday, we thought we'd try the in house restaurant for dinner.  I had a French onion soup and two trips to a nice salad bar (small plates), Geneva had a child's portion of her favorite, Schnitzel with French fries and she still could not finish it !!  The portions are quite big.  All this and white table cloth, for €17 or $22. (mind you, restaurant meals generally tend to be expensive here, but what food ! ).  

We ventured out mid morning to get our groceries in Saalfelden, the next large city a short drive west from here.  It was a gorgeous day.  The little settlement where RCI is, is called Hinterthal, then comes a larger town, Maria Alm, and then Saalfelden.  When we came 'home' we had a nice brunch and then I made my traditional vegetable soup that we had tonight for dinner and will last for at least a couple or three more nights for supper.  

The staff here is not especially helpful, tho friendly enough, but not very accommodating.  I bought a wrong map but she wouldn't exchange it or gave me my money back.  To wash clothes here costs 3€ for a washing load and 3€ for drying !!!  That's $7.80 total !  We hope the machines are big enough to hold a good load.  Washing at the RCI in Italy was free, just the cost of the soap.  

Every day tho, a couple of ladies come into our apartment and tidy up, make the beds, change the towels, vacuum the carpeted floor, mope the bathroom and toilet, they touch nothing in the kitchen, nice.

My daily ritual of getting fresh "Semmerln" (breakfast buns) in the morning will continue here, for its a must for most people.  Last Sunday morning we had the breakfast buffet at the in house restaurant, and while it was relatively expensive, 20€ for the both of us, we surely got our money's worth, at least I did.

This morning, Tuesday, we had a wonderful b'fast in the apartment.  I went to the nearest 'Supermarket' down the highway, about 6 miles away, picked up a few items including Semmerln, sugar and Raspberry syrup.  We had everything else to make it a fine morning meal.  

Life here in Europe, including Austria, revolves around food shopping and eating it.  I suppose it's like that everywhere, but I notice it especially here because the food tastes so much better.  And it seems to me that the portioning is different.  People go shopping for groceries almost every day, small amounts, fresh amounts, just what they need for the next couple of days.  Besides their fridges aren't as huge !  Tho portions in restaurants are generous.  And still, the obese or fat people I've seen, I can count on one hand.   

My reporting on this blog of mine is of two types, one is describing what we are doing, the action, what's happening, and the other is thoughts, the whys and observations.  

Maria Alm 1

On this trip I had three main objectives, hi points if you will, to travel on the largest cruise ship in the world and to see what that would be like --- to once again visit our dear friend Runi and family in St. Gilgen Austria, which is always a hi point --- to experience the two RCI condos in Italy and Austria.  All that stuff in between, train, car etc. was a bonus.  

75°F today, mid day and full sunshine, Sunday 9-28-14.  We spent most of the day in St. Gilgen town, the crafts fair was still going on and there were lots of people about.  Always food, always drink and always coffee with whatever.  At home we took a little nap and then had our soup with some wonderful bread.  Church bells were chiming off and on and no work type noises were heard anywhere.  It's Sunday in Austria, a very catholic country. 

Today is my birthday, September 29th. and what a wonderful day it was.  The most memorable birthday I have had.  Our friend Runi and her sister Reingart took us to a small lake nearby, Hintersee, we walked with dog for a while under blue sky and gorgeous mountain reflection in the lake, until we wound up at a little country restaurant in the middle of nowhere.  There we had a little some thing to eat, pumpkin soup, Applestrudel, some caffe, a beer, and I had to eat their special of the day, Hungarian Gulasch with a big dumpling.  It was fantastic.  

You see, here an outing, almost any outing, always includes a stop for some sort of food and drink.

In the morning our hostess at the apartment, gave me a small homemade cake with a real rose in the wrapping, Runi gave me, us, that beautiful outing to the lake, her sister have me a good portion of Appel Strudel and even the dog, Dony, gave me a cookie with a plastic dog on top.  What a wonderful day.    

Today, Tuesday, we took the car for a spin.  We visited another lake in this wonderful Salzburger lake district called Salzkammergut.  The weather was perfect.  Because of my roots, I have to call this my favorite place in the world.  

October 1.   Today, a trip into Salzburg to get our train trip arranged for the 13th. to Rotterdam, with an overnight in Frankfurt.  All taken care of, we will be rolling first class until we hit the boat. 

Oct. 2. we drove to Freilassing, Germany, just across the border from Salzburg, except there is no border, my old stomping ground where I grew up until I was 18.  There we were looking for a special gift. We had lunch there, at a small hotel beer garden.   

A lot of it has changed, more build up, newer buildings, newer streets, newer shops and so on.  I do recognize some of it still, but after all, it's been over 60 years !!!  But it was fun seeing the old place again.  The traffic was bad, like everywhere, too many cars, even tho they are relatively small.

The drive outside the city was beautiful, always is.  My love for this part of the world will never die.  

Today Friday the 3rd. We had our last outing with Runi and dog Dony, we had smoked "Saibling", (a relative to the trout), for lunch, by Fuschelsee, capping it off with coffee and Apfelstrudel, our favorite pastry, at a nearby hotel.  Tomorrow will be travel day to RCI Maria Alm.  

While I was gathering things up in the apartment, Runi took Geneva, in the morning, to a big flee market.  It was outdoors and was stocked with old stuff and new stuff.  I did not go.

We finally left St. Gilgen shortly before 1pm.

We just got to our new RCI place in Maria Alm Austria, a 1-½ hour drive south/east from St. Gilgen, which we turned into a 3 hour one.  The drive was absolutely wonderful, totally enjoyable.  High Rocky Mountains, blue sky, white clouds, a stream running beside us a good bit of the time.  We stopped at a little place called Mühlbach (Millstream) by the Hochkönig (High King) and had lunch.  Delightful.  I must say right now, this is like night and day compared to the RCI in Italy !!! 

Unfortunately the internet connection here is not very good, eventho we have to pay for it. (8€ for 20 hours).   So, for the week that we are here in Maria Alm email will be spotty at best, but receiving mail seems to work better.  Italy wins this one.  

Other than that, the place is fantastic, clean, fabulous location, Austrian style buildings, many amenities.  We had breakfast this Sunday morning in the 'in house' restaurant, with a very well stocked, all you can eat, buffet.  We did get our traditional b'fast Semmerln and much more.  This venue here seems to be quite big and popular with mainly Europeans, for there was much activity this morning with people moving out at the end of the weekend.  This RCI place is billed as a "Family and Sportshotel".  14°C or 57°F at noon, 65°F in the late afternoon.

This afternoon we went for a nice drive to Maria Alm town and beyond to a larger town called Saalfelden.  (They are easily found on Google maps).  The country side is breathtaking and every view a picture postcard.  The leaves are just turning now, they did not show any color when we first got here.  I'd say that it rivals St. Gilgen, but only just !!  Unfortunately we can not send pictures very well, the internet here can't handle it.  Later.  

Here I want to note some of the little (and not so little) mistakes we have made on this trip so far.   --The most recent one, yesterday Saturday, we did not get some basic food provisions for breakfast etc., because today is Sunday and most, if not all, stores and shops are closed !!  But plenty of restaurant are open.

(All tho we did have a nice pizza dinner at the Bistro 'in house' last night).  

--Another one is, Geneva left a jacket with a glasses holder magnet on the train on the way to Salzburg.  --The biggest one tho was not having rented the cars before we left the US.  --I did not buy the transformer/plug, 220/110, for my razor, from the guy in the Pension Stoi in Innsbruck for 5€.  (I can't find one anywhere).  --