Sunrise pics were difficult this morning, since it was rather overcast. This is the best one, although the sun was up, it wasn’t yet visible, but I do like the colors it produced:
Then I went back to our room (I’ve been taking the sunrise photos from deck 5 promenade) and was able to get this photo of the sun hitting the west horizon clouds a little later in the morning:
Note also that there was a storm on the horizon in the bottom right. I love the colors of this pic and how the clouds are sweeping over the sea landscape.
We had our Cruise Critic meeting this morning to discuss Bay of Islands and Auckland. We have several members who have been to each and were able to offer helpful advice on what to do and where to go in each port.
We won at trivia this morning with 15 out of 20, then won the tiebreaker over three other teams. This is the first time we’ve won a tiebreaker. We’ve done one other tiebreaker where we answered the first question correctly and they just declared a tie, but never won a tiebreaker outright. The first tiebreaker question was: Where did the first modern Olympics take place and in what year? Athens, 1896 (three teams, including ours, got this correct). Next question was: How many Coca-colas would it take to equal the same amount of caffeine as a standard cup of coffee? 4 (we put 3, we were closest). Some of the other questions: Who wrote the musical Blood Brothers? Willy Russell (we put Andrew Lloyd Webber). What is the speed limit in the Nutbush, according to Tina Turner? 25 (we put 110, giddyup Tina!). Which is hotter, red or green chilies? Green (we got that right, about half of the teams put red). What does p.m. mean with regard to time? Post Meridian (we got that right). What movie first featured the song Rock Around the Clock? Blackboard Jungle (we got that right). What is the outer layer of human skin called? Epidermis (we got that right). What script is used for the Russian alphabet? Cyrillic (we got that right). Who wrote in an essay, “The remedy is worse than the disease.”? Sir Francis Bacon (we put Plato).
We ate lunch today in the Club Restaurant (the main dining room restaurant) for the first time this cruise, other than Sunday Brunch and our Cruise Critic Luncheon on the first segment. We had a very enjoyable time talking with Curt and Cindy Cornell, who are on their second world cruise.
Krissie is painting again today, here is her latest creation, her first oil painting:
You need to be aware that I lose a lot of the colors when I take a pic, then compress it for the blog. For example, the color of the sun in her painting is much more vibrant than what I was able to pic up with my camera. I love how she is able to do the paintings and change up her style ever so slightly to give a new and different effect. She’s having fun doing them. Oil paintings dry slowly, she was wondering if people do something to spray their oil paintings to help them dry faster?
We found out today that Sergio and Noemi Peschard, who are on the full world cruise, will also be on the 49-day South America cruise on the Grand Princess with us in January 2013. We are really excited that we will be together on that cruise! They are very independent travelers and like using local transportation and immersing in local culture. You may recall that Sergio and Noemi helped to organize our tour in Cartagena and they are both excellent photographers. I often meet Sergio when we are both looking for that elusive sunrise and sunset photo. What a joy to be spending time with them on that cruise as well!
We lost at trivia in the afternoon, we got 12 out of 20, winning team got 16 out of 20. Although I got the tiebreaker question (there were three teams tied at 16) exactly right: How many expressions can a dog make? 100 (I guess it exactly). Other tough questions: What is the name given to a portion of Central Park dedicated to the memory of John Lennon? Strawberry Fields (we got that one). Who, according to Greek legend, first gave fire to human beings? Prometheus (we put Zeus). What philosopher, born in 1844, said, “What doesn’t kill us makes us stronger.”? Nietzsche (we put Karl Marx). What animated series was created by Tray Parker and Matt Stowe? South Park (we put The Jetsons). What 2000 George Clooney film was based on Homer’s Odyssey? My Brother, Where Art Thou? (we got that one).
Susie, they do not supply the magnets, we bought some and I won some in trivia onboard (the ones with the clip).
We were late leaving for the evening show because we were watching the sunset. It just kept getting better and better:
Krissie wishes she would have stayed back to paint the scene, but I was glad we went to the show. The evening entertainment was Kevin Spiritas, whom we also saw a few nights ago as well. He was excellent, great pipes, I could see him performing on Broadway.
Tomorrow is Bay of Islands. We don’t know yet exactly what we are doing, we will figure it out once we get into town. The ship is docked from 8a to 5p, then on to Auckland.
That second sunrise pic, with the storm looming, is incredible! And, the sunset pic ... no wonder you stayed to enjoy it!
ReplyDeleteMy friend uses oils to paint with and she says they do take a while to dry. I asked if there was anything to use to speed it up, and she said you could bake them in the oven (not on board a cruise ship, tho) or mixing in some stuff called Liquin to the oils. It helps speed up the drying process, but she says not by much. Good luck!
Patti
From your last sunset pic above I can very well see why K would have liked to have stayed to start on a new oil painting. Glorious & inspirational! She would have had to work quite quickly (but could have finished off later). After that I think the stage-show would have been (not matter how good) 'anti-climactic.'
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