After an unusually long lie-in which caused me to miss even the latest of breakfasts, I had somewhat of an uneventful day, achieving very little. Perhaps this lethargy is due in part to the humid conditions of being so close to the Equator. At night, it is still lovely and warm. I had lunch in the Britannia Restaurant. This is generally much better than the “musical chairs” chaos of the otherwise excellent Kings Court on deck 7. After lunch, I attended a classical concert of music by Mozart, Beethoven, Vidor, Elgar and Vivaldi as well as a fine piece composed by the pianist for piano and flute. Perhaps I was under the weather. There is no doubt that the music adapted for piano and flute was superb. However, I don’t think the Royal Court Theatre was the most suitable venue for what I felt was a delicate concert. It was good to hear music by familiar composers for the first time. And I do wish those who choose to attend a performance who discover they don’t like it after all, refrained from leaving the theatre while either the music is being performed, or the artiste is explaining the following work to the audience.
I tried a little deck walking after the concert; it was far too humid. I decided to tidy my stateroom in the hopes of finding items which I have mislaid during the voyage. A computer lead and other stuff remain “vanished” and I will make a further concerted effort later in the cruise. I stayed far too long in my cabin this afternoon and decided I really ought to photograph tonight’s sunset.
I could not believe my eyes as I ventured to the open deck 14. The sun had just disappeared into the horizon leaving the sky several shades of pink, grey, blue, orange and yellow. All this would change rapidly as the light from the sun faded quickly. Then there was all this spectacular land in the near distance. We got to see Bali after all albeit from some distance away. The island looked like a very inviting paradise with its sharp volcanic peaks silhouetted against a magnificent tropical sky. Yet again, I was late for dinner, but I did want to savour this fabulous sky-scape for as long as possible.
Two very pleasant ladies have joined our table for, I believe, the rest of the voyage back to Southampton, Joyce and Josephine. Both are extensively well travelled and are excellent company.
Sadly, we still cannot call at Bali tomorrow morning. Seeing the island from a distance, I now feel disappointed. However, a late afternoon approach to Singapore should partly negate this disappointment.
Tonight in the Royal Court Theatre, with the exception of the pop group “Purple Haze”, all the ship’s musicians combined to form a 22 piece orchestra for a second performance of “Songs from the Shows”. As ever, this event was “to perfection”. Four singers were backed by not only the Royal Court and Queens Room orchestras, but also the string quartet who perform daily in different parts of the ship, and the harpist who does the same.
I dumped my jacket in my room and came down to deck 7 to try to complete my walking target for the day. It’s still extremely humid and I took a break to pen this blog. I shall post this now, followed by a couple of subset pictures taken near the isle of Bali.
Thanks for reading, and best wishes,
David. 01.25hrs (less a further hour at 2am)
David's Cruise 