Seventeen thousand words . . . or the equivalent thereof . . .

Behold, I give you the photos that should have accompanied yesterday's post, but didn't because I am lazy.

First, a last photograph of our old apartment in Albuquerque. Here you can see the wonderful water slide I fashioned for the water dripping happily from our ceiling. We are so glad that we no longer live there!


I didn't take many photographs of our cross-country drive, but snapped this photograph of New York as our ship left the port.


After the embarkation party, we wandered down to our room, where we found this lovely bottle of champagne awaiting our discriminating tastes.


Each night, while we enjoyed a scrumptious dinner in the main dining room, our steward would enter our room to turn down the sheets, rearrange the pillows, and turn on the lamps. You can also see, at the foot of the bed, our abbreviated newspapers, the schedule for the following day, the room service breakfast menu, and two small chocolates.


We spent a great deal of time on the deck of the ship. This is a view of the wake the ship left behind herself.


Our ship had a lovely theatre and gave the interested public a tour on one of the last mornings.


Isaac decided to try his hand at a table tennis competition.


Afternoon tea was held in this lovely room every afternoon, and accompanied by a variety of skilled musicians. Below that photo is a close-up of a chandelier, secured, quite practically indeed, by four guy wires.



One of the most amazing parts of our cruise was the wonderful, wonderful food. In the first photo is a seafood plate I assembled at one of the four buffets during one lunchtime. Below that is mango panna cotta, a dessert Isaac particularly enjoyed, from one of the other buffets. The lovely ice sculpture is one lone example of the beautiful decorations the buffets used for their culinary displays (most of the other decorations were created entirely out of food).



Finally, a photograph of Isaac at dinner on our last formal night. He is in the process of selecting a wine for the evening and has a plate of lobster and shrimp before him (I chose duck instead).


The sunset was beautiful during our last night aboard, but my photo doesn't do it justice.


Here's a photo of Isaac trying to look bright-eyed and bushy-tailed before our 6.30 a.m. breakfast shortly after the boat docked in Southampton.


From our time in London:

Above, a set of buskers play at the Covent Garden Market. Note that the cellists have their instruments hooked onto their shoulders! Below, the view of London from the cafe at the top of the Tate Modern art museum, where Isaac and I had afternoon tea.