Sea day #2
High Thin Clouds, Noon Temp 63
Sunrise 5:33, Sunset 8:40
At the appointed hour this morning my phone started playing music.
That’s our signal that it’s time to get up and get the day started.
Or…snuggle up and stay warm and cozy while the music plays on.
Today was the latter.
In our defense it was a sea day. There were no excursions today. And our first lecture wasn’t until 9:30.
So we decreed that exercise could come later.
Life is GOOD!
For a change we had breakfast in the dining room. Being a sea day it was pretty busy, but the food was delish!
The first lecture today was by our resident historian.
Records show that Viking presence extended far beyond Scandinavia. 
Not only raiders, Vikings were also settlers. 
Fitzsimonds also talked about runes, found throughout the areas of their influence. He referred to them as ‘often graffiti’ – and known for particularly coarse language. 
Their legacy lives on thru current national borders and universal communications.
The next event was a presentation by the Future Cruise Consultant on Viking’s Expedition itineraries (Antarctica, The Arctic, The Great Lakes).
More on that later.
Lunch found us off the coast of Newfoundland.
Today’s lunch was a Canadian influenced menu.
By the way, If you saw the Day 3 report before 10:00 am Mtn Time Thursday morning, there are a couple of additions (a ‘can’t miss’ video and an after-dinner report)
Check it out.
After lunch Cheryl hit the weights and I hit the walking deck – payback for this morning’s slovenliness.
We also had time for a brief nap / reading before:
Lots of people died.
Fortunes were lost.
Basically we had to wait for global warming to make it passible.
We stayed in the theatre and read until the port talk on tomorrow’s destination:
The last lecture of the day was given by Gail Lee – Russell’s wife and a certified genealogist.
Then it was dinner and back to the room to plan tomorrow, read, blog, sleep.
Miscellaneous notes:
I was wrong about the reason behind the half-hour time change. Turns out that Newfoundland and Labrador are 1/2 hour off from the rest of the world. It’s a long history that ties somehow to British rule in the 17th – 18th century.
Newfoundland is also famous for the international airport in Gander – and the musical Come from Away.
On 9/11 all planes were ordered to land at the nearest airport so several transatlantic flights were forced to land at Gander. The community took the passengers in and kept them fed and housed until they could continue their journies.
So that’s today.
Tomorrow we get to visit the site of the earliest known European settlement in the Americas.
Till then,
R