[Breakfast at sea? What a nice idea! (We’re aft by the Infinity Pool.)]
[Proof of the aforementioned “aft” part.]
[Back inside in the Atrium, three floors worth from deck 1 to deck 3. Featuring, on this day, art from Cuba (I believe) on the big screen.
[And because this is a Viking endeavor, featured throughout the ship, the works of Edvard Munch, a fine Norwegian fellow. The Munch Museum in Olso now has in its permanent collection well over half of the artist’s entire production of paintings and at least one copy of all his prints. This amounts to over 1,200 paintings, 18,000 prints, six sculptures, as well as 500 plates, 2,240 books, and various other items. The museum also contains educational and conservation sections, and has facilities for the performing arts. (Wikipedia) As I recall, it’s the largest museum in the world dedicated to a single artist.]
[E.T., call home!]
[And here you have it . . . ]
[Roll out the barrel . . . ]
[Our “fireplace” in the Mamsen’s seating area . . . ]
[Our boat . . . ]
[The Super eyeballing our boat . . . ]
[Oh oh! Traffic!]
[The art displayed on each deck landing . . . ]
[The Star Theater, where all important events of the day took place from entertainment to lectures . . . ]
[This was a nice feature we’ve never had before – like cruising with senior college! Over the course of three weeks we got to know all of them – interestingly, Karen Hansen and Bill Gurstelle are married, to each other, and live in St. Paul, and we all came home on the same plane. The lectures ranged from such as the local culture of upcoming places to . . . catapults and pirates. Though there were often more than one lecture per day, the 6:00 pm lectures were a nice prelude to going to dinner . . . ]
[My personal stateroom stock . . . OK, this was the entry to The Restaurant, the main sit down and order eatery (gentlemen we required to wear long pants and a collared shirt).]
[Cruise director Heather Clancy invites us to our first stop – Cienfuegos, Cuba. Heather has a marvelous mezzo-soprano voice and has performed all over the world.]
[An example of Heather’s work . . . ]
[Oh oh! Two ships, we must be approaching land and rush hour . . . ]
Twenty years from now, you will be more disappointed by the things you didn’t do, than the things you DID do. So sail away from the safe harbor. Cast off the bow lines. Catch the tradewinds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. ~ Mark Twain
The Journey Begins
Thanks for joining me! This is the follow-up to the original, “alexandriacardinals.wordpress.com,” which overwhelmed the system’s ability to handle it any more. Thus, this is “Part 2.” As the original was initially described:
10-26-07-4
“It all began in a 5,000 watt radio station in Fresno, California” . . . wait a minute, that was Ted Baxter on the Mary Tyler Moore Show! Let’s see . . . oh yeah, it all began in 2003 when retirees, i.e., old people, in Alexandria, Minnesota, who had no desire to become snow birds, went looking for mid-winter entertainment here in the frozen tundra of West Central Minnesota. We discovered girls’ high school hockey, fell in love immediately, and it remains our favorite spectator sport to this day. Initially, and for several years, reports on these games were e-mailed to those who were actually snowbirds but wanted to keep abreast of things “back home.” It was ultimately decided a blog would be more efficient, and it evolved into a personal diary of many things that attracts tens of readers on occasion. It remains a source of personal mental therapy and has yet to elicit any lawsuits.
~ The Editor, May 9, 2014
p.s. The photo border around the blog is the Cardinal girls’ hockey team after just beating Breck for the state championship in 2008. It’s of the all-tournament team. The visible Breck player on the left is Milica McMillen, then an 8th-grader – she is now an All-American for the Gophers. The Roseau player in the stocking cap I believe is Mary Loken, who went on to play for UND; and the Cardinal player on the right, No. 3, is Abby Williams, the player we blame most for making us girls’ hockey fans who went on to play for Bemidji State.
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Photos contained herein are available for personal use. All you have to do is double click on any of the photos and they will become full screen size. You can then save them into your personal “My Pictures” file. They make lovely parting or hostess gifts, or holiday gifts for such as Uncle Ernie who wants to see how his grand niece is doing on the hockey team. If any are sold for personal profit, however, to, for example, the Audubon Society, National Geographic, Sven’s Home Workshop Monthly, Curling By The Numbers, or the World Wrestling Federation, I only request that you make a donation to the charitable organization of your choice. You have two hours and fifteen minutes. Pencils ready? Begin!
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alexandriacardinals 