Pictures?

I have been attempting to post some pictures, but although the message says they are uploaded, i DON'T KNOW WHERE THEY GO, BUT THEY ARE NOT ON MY BLOG! tOMORROW IS vALENTINE'S dAY, i ANd I will be visiting a Zulu Village outside of Durban. ONCE MORE, i will try to upload some pictures!

Our Dining Partners

We also have an Ambassador Host at our table, but he wasn't with us for the Sushi Party. Pictured here are Ruth, Marlyse, Jane and Dick. We really enjoy being together each evening!

Marlyse and Victor, her paddle tennis teacher. Both Victor and Barb, her bridge teacher have spoken to me about how talented she is! This is the third year I have taken the World Cruise, but Marlyse already knows many more people on board than I do.

Sushi Party

Blog Jan. 19th

It’s more and more difficult to know what day of the week it is! And sadly, there is only a week left for Marlyse to be with me. It has been a fantastic time for her, and as she said to me, she has been having her cake, and eating it, too!

I have been trying to get 15 minutes of sunshine every day, which I never managed to do last year. My usual schedule on sea days is Yoga at 08:00, sometimes free at 09:00 (otherwise Rap with the Rabbi); intermediate bridge lessons at 10, and advanced at 11. Then, R&R up at the pool, before meeting Marlyse for lunch, and my next class is Spanish at 15:00. Today, I sat out on our balcony, until Marlyse returned from her date from Paddle Tennis, followed by her art class, and then we both went up to the pool, where she swam laps and I went into the Jacusi. When we returned to the room there was a platter of crudities with a cream dip awaiting us, and now she is reading on her bed, and I am seated here at the computer.

Tonight, after dinner we promised to go to the piano recital at 10:30 given by a young man that had dinner with us last night, and then treated us to a private concert in one of the lounges, on stage, behind the curtain. It was very special. In fact, the whole evening, yesterday was quite special: all the people from our dining table had decided to go to The Silk Road, a Nobu Japanese restaurant, here on the Serenity, and so I had suggested that everyone come here beforehand for some champagne and hors-d’oeuvres, which proved to be quite agreeable. Then, the pianist, having been invited by our male dinner companion, joined our table, and we had an absolute banquet of Japanese specialties for the six of us.

On entering the restaurant, the officer in charge of Food and Beverages, who had previously noticed Marlyse, invited her for a game of paddle tennis, for this afternoon.

Now, it’s time to dress for dinner, so I will attempt to upload some of the pictures from our party, yesterday, and sign off for another day.

From Yokohama to Petropavlovsk

so I will close for now.
I am totally frustrated! After writing for 1 1/2 hours, and uploading 9 picutures, the whole blog disappeared except for the one line above! I'm sorry, but i HAVE NO MORE PATIENCE TO DO IT ALL OVER AGAIN.
aT THIS POINT, ALL i CAN DO IS IDENTIFY THE PICTURES from Petropavlovsk: a statue of Lenin said to be the largest in Russia, entertainers at a hotel luncheon, and various scenes of the remaining snow along the road, all covered in black (the color of the sand around here, mostly on account of the many volcanoes), etc. The entertainmnetn was a disappointment to me, since they were more like Eskimo dancers, than Russian, and the "music" was also very strange. What was really sweet, though, was the number of young children in the troupe.
The pictures at the top were taken in Yokohama; the flowers were a gift from the Crystal Society, and unfortunately, I copied the same picture twice of the new walkway built at the dock. When the whole thing is visible, it is in the shape of a ship, and quite popular with the locals, especially during lunch hour, with benches, etc.

Nagasaki

We visited the Nagasaki Atomic Bomb Museum and the Peace Park connected with it. Each country has contributed a statue dedicated to peace, and they are all lovely. The huge bronze statue (30 ft.) The outlines of what was a police station (before the bombing) are pictured, and hopefully you can read the explanation on the sign.

Pictures from Kyoto and Shimizu, 14&15..4.09

It poured all day when we went from Osaka to Kyoto, and it was cold. Pictured here us the Kinkaku-ji (Golden Pavilion and garden) and the Heian Jingu Shrine. It is customary for the believers to wash before entering. Pictured here, one man not only washed his hands, but drank from the cup, also.
The garden at the Golden Pavilion is beautiful!
We were very fortunate to be able to see Mt. Fuji very clearly, even from the ship, while we were in Shimizu, and there was local entertainment on the pier.
During the entire time that we were in Japanese territorial waters, there was a complete blackout on all electronic equipment, such that we were without use of computers and telephones from -April 11 to 17! If I meant to write more, I have long since forgotten; sorry.

Pictured from Gulangyu Island

Since I was able to upload pictures from Shanghai, I thought I would try again with some from Gulangyu:

Shanghai

Shanghai is a beautiful, vibrant, modern city! Actually, I saw it mostly from a bus, as I cannot walk great distances. I need to check on my left hip, once I am back in Zürich. In any case, it is a huge complex with exciting architecture, and no two buildings alike. In the nightime, the lights make the buildings even more exciting. I took dozens of pictures of the various buildings.
I took the shuttle bus into the center in the morning, and ended up buying myself a Chinese Jacket (in bright red! ) although I had not intended to buy anything. While I was in the Silk Building, I saw a demonstration of how slik quilts are made, starting with the ball of silk threads that surround the silk worm, itself. They are opened so the worm is removed, and the ball of fiber is quickly rinsed in clear waqter, then stretched over a small form, and when there are three or four such layers, they are removed, rinsed, and stretched over a larger form. Then they are next stretche d over a large bed size table with 4 or 5 ladies each pulling at it, and finally they are piled together, and fit into a colorful cover, and Voilà! a beautiful silk quilt.
The sunset was a huge ball of orange in the sky.
Then, in the evening, I attended an acrobatic show which was fantastic! Some of the acts were absolutely spectacular! Unfortunately, it was forbidden to take pictures during the performance, and anyway I don't know how to use my camera for night scenes.
Tomorrow, we enter Japanese territorial waters, and no internet electronic equipment (including cell phones) will be able to function until we leave on the 19th. This cruise is really racing to a conclusion. There is also a complicated formality for every guest in order to clear Japanese immigration rules, including temperature, finger prints, etc., and apparently it is madatory for everyone on the cruise, even if they don't intend to go ashore!

Try Again

I am just back from a quick trip into Shanghai, and ended up buying myself a jacket, which I had NOT intended to do! More about Shanghai at a later date.Right now, I really want to go up to the pool area while the sun is still shining. The question is whether I can upload the pictures that couldn't be sent yesterday:
It timed out again! I'll try once more. Sorry, it keeps timing out.

Attention Everyone!

From Saturday, April 11 until Sunday, April 19 it will be impossible for us to use either the internet or the cell phone. The Japanese have restricted the use of C-Band communication service while we are in Japanese territorial waters.
These photos were all taken yesterday while in Xiamen and Gulangyu Island. Unfortunately, the electric car went much too fast, for me to focus, and I couldn't get a decent photo of the statues that appeared all over the Island. The tall statue on the promontory is supposed to be the tallest in China. On the left , is the puppet Theatre, and a Chinese street cleqaner on the right (in the rain).
I keep getting interrupted while trying to upload more photos; I'll have to try some other time.

Xiamen/Gulangyu Island

Unfortunately, if I don't write every day, I seem to forget what came in between. However, I know all of us were quite annoyed in Hong Kong because there was satellite interference, and we were without the internet for a few days. When it finally came on, I had 36 messages, and the very first one was using up about 9 megabytes of space, and after 2 hours, it had still NOT completely downloaded, and then it went dead, which meant starting all over again! I thought I had requested a long time ago that no one send me such long emails. Anyway, I finally cleared it off my screen by getting up at 04:30h and trying again (while no one else on the ship would be using email) and this time, within 10 minutes the offensive email cleared, and the rest of the messages downloaded. It was a bunch of photos which I still haven't looked at! Fortunately, I signed up at the beginning of the cruise for maximum time on the internet, so the 2 hours didn't actually cost me any extra.
After the cooking course in Hong Kong, I didn't go ashore anymore, although we remained in port for two more full days. I have great difficulties in walking any distances, due to pain in my left hip. I will check it out when I get home.
Yesterday, we were in Xiamen, and the weather was miserable, but I took a tour of Gulangyu Island which was quite interesting in spite of the rain. The only traffic on the island is by electric cart, and there are statues all over that I would have liked to photograph, but the cart didn't stop for anything, and it went so fast that I had no time to focus, and therefore ended up discarding many of the photos I did take. The highpoint of the tour was a Chinese Puppet Show at the University Art School, and that was fantastic! My other problem was that there was a great deal more walking required than had been announced, and I was very uncomfortable (and wet!).
In the evening, I had dinner with Pat Laster and her son, at the Silk Road and that was quite enjoyable and very good (as always). Pat is my Yoga teacher.
The night before was the Captain's Welcome Cocktain Party, and I joined the "Swiss contingency", Werner and Beber, both of whom live in Zürich! 0ops! I'm going to be late for Bridge lessons: Have a good day, everyone. I will post my pictures, separately, later.

Cooking Tour in Hong Kong

Yesterday was quite interesting, as a small group of us signed up for a cooking tour that included a visit to a small market, mostly featuring fresh fish, plus a nine course luncheon in a busy restaurant, and then an actual cooking course demonstation in the Home Management Center.
We were given the recipes, and carefully followed the preparation of Sweet and Sour Pork, Crabmeat with Broccoli, and Chicken with Walnuts, and last, but not least, we received a pair of chopsticks as a souvenir along with a Diploma for the one day course. The demonstration was quite interesting, including how to hack apart a live crab.
On the return trip to the ship, we noted various stages of construction along the way, and the interesting thing there was the use of bamboo scaffolding (instead of steel!). As Hong Kong is densely populated, there is no green space between the apt. buildings, which are narrow, adjacent high risers, although the old ones were only constructed to the 7th floor, as there was no elevator in them, and there is no greenery anywhere in sight .
Today is Dis-and Embarcation Day on the ship, and we are still in HK, preparing to go to Yokahama. It is one of the only days where I have no particular program, having already passed my segment exam for the computer course, so I slept late, and plan to (finally) play bridge this afternoon!