ON THE ROAD AGAIN TO ST. HELENA - DAY THREE OF THREE DAYS AT SEA Bob glad you are enjoying the posts. Thank you. Football is a tougher one. We (Keith) like a few teams of today so won't mention them all. In the past liked Jets (back with Joe Namath) and we were both big Washington Redskin Fans during the first Joe Gibbs era with them and also San Francisco 49er fans when Joe Montana and Steve Young were there along with Coaches Bill Walsh and George Seifert. Gilly, thank you for your comments and we hope to see St. Helena assuming the weather and seas cooperate as they did in 2007 and the tender service runs. We arrive there tomorrow. We began last evening with a pre-dinner drink at the Avenue Saloon. We enjoyed a nice conversation with one of the bartenders who returned from Holiday in Cape Town. She was on board for the Holiday Cruise and the seven day January cruise. When we first met her a few years ago she worked in the lounges serving drinks and like many members of Crystal Cruises she has moved into higher positions. These are the dinner menus from Waterside where we ate. We dined at Waterside for the second consecutive night. We wanted to mention the wine. We began with a White Chardonnay recently brought on board from the Sellenbosh region of South Africa. This one was not only unoaked but also unfiltered. While the majority of winemakers filter wine to make it clearer and more stable some do not as they think it strips the wine of some of its flavors and aroma. The wine was unique. We might not have identified it as a Chardonnay. We enjoyed it. Keith also had the Red 4 Vina Robles, Red wine. He enjoys this wine as he also enjoyed the Vina Robles Cabernet wine and we get the latter wine at home as well after discovering it on a few years ago on-board Crystal Serenity. We have enjoyed many of the inclusive wines and that local wines have been brought on-board in places such as Australia, New Zealand and most recently in South Africa. We began with appetizers; Tuna Tartare for Keith and from the modern menu Seared Scallops for Anne Marie. Both were delicious. Our next course was a starter salad. We forgot to get a photo of the salad. This one was very creative as in addition to the mixed greens and egg it also was accompanied with a small Monte Cristo Sandwich. We both had the Pan-Fried Sea Bass Fillet for our entrée which was delicious. The fish was cooked to perfection and the sauce that accompanied it, beet beurre blanc, was very tasty and enhanced the overall flavor of the entree. We have found the food at Waterside to be some of the best food we have ever had. We also had a similar experience on Crystal Symphony last May after they converted the former Crystal Dining Room to Waterside. We find the food to be moist, hot, tasty and to have very creative presentations. We do think that the food benefits from the move to open dining where food comes from the galley and in very short order is placed on the table and the efficiencies that come from the Senior Waiters taking the orders via iPads where they are electronically sent back to the galley. The featured entertainment included two performances given by Concert Pianist Rusten Hayroundinoff and two showings of the Rock & Pop-A-Mainia Show featuring the Crystal Ensemble of Singers & Dancers and the Crytal Showband. As usual there was live music in several of the lounges. There was also two showings in the Hollywood Theatre of the motion picture Leave No Trace. The overall quality, diversity and the quantity of the evening entertainment offerings has been amazing. We slept well as we are sailing to St. Helena. We began the day as we normally do with an early morning workout for Keith followed by coffee and breakfast in our room. While Keith had personal training, Anne Marie walked inside the ship. Keith also had a second massage in two days to work on his muscles. Anne Marie had an appointment to have her hair cut at the Salon. There was lots on today's program including several wonderful lectures. Robert Cassie spoke about St Helena. Eugene Robinson spoke about Donald Trump and what contributed to his election and a future view of the electorate. We watched Eugene Robinson's talk on the Television in the afternoon. He was very informative and left a lot to think about. He did note that every fifty years there has been some major changes in politics. An example was African Americans supporting the Republican Party at the turn of the Century and by the 1960's who that reversed with them aligning with the Democratic Party. Fast forward to the 2016 election and he spoke about Donald Trump getting the nomination and Bernie Sanders almost getting the nomination and how unexpected that was and that it might be what the future holds for awhile. Specifically, that many of the electorate are looking for non-traditional candidates. As they say time will tell. He covered many other items. He is a very good speaker. Other highlights include a tour of the galley in the afternoon and this evening stargazing with the Chief Electrical Engineer. I did this a few years ago with him and a former Astronaut and it was an amazing experience. We saw the space station, the Hubble Telescope, two planets and the Southern Cross. We enjoyed lunch at Marketplace and after lunch Keith played Paddle Tennis for over two hours and Anne Marie walked. We watched the lecture given by Eugene Robinson and as I post this we are enjoying the rest of the day on Serenity. We have some special events over the next three consecutive nights starting this evening. This will include a late evening for us between a later than usual dinner at Prego and an event that we will be attending late tonight. Below is a copy of the daily Reflections Program. Cheers, Anne Marie & Keith
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