World Cruise Day 27/152 - Sea Day - Born on the Bayeux

Cruise day: 27/152
Ports days: 10
Sea days: 17
Countries: 4
Continents: 1
Ports: 7

We live in the largest retirement community in the world. Do you what is in short supply in retirement communities?  Stairs.

I hate stairs.  They are evil.  They make my knees hurt. They make my hips hurt. So, what do I do?  I take a five-month cruise.  With stairs.  A lot of stairs.  Sure, I could just take the elevator, and I regularly do when traveling several floors.  But for one, two, three, and occasionally four or more floors, I take the stairs, at least when my knees aren't screaming at me. I just can't justify waiting for an elevator for a floor or two.  Certainly, there are folks with mobility issues that need to take the elevator for even one floor and I'm glad the elevators are there to assist.  But since I am more-or-less able-bodied, I've been taking stairs.  Of course, the lovely and nimble Arlona whips up and down the stairs all the time.  Her theory is that by doing so, she gets to eat more.  Hmm...

Anyway, like most cruise ships, Viking leverages the abundant wall space in the stairwells as a display venue for art.  The predominant art in the stairwells are prints of portions of the Bayeux Tapestry.  What is the Bayeux Tapestry?  Here's a snippet from The Bayeux Museum. 

The Bayeux Tapestry is an account of the medieval period in Normandy and England like no other. It provides information about civil and military architecture such as castle mounds, armour consisting of a nasal helmet, hauberk and oblong shield and seafaring in the Viking tradition.

In addition to the prints between floors, the walls at the floor level have display areas for tapestry renditions carved into dark antiqued travertine.

Here's a look at the prints and renditions from top to bottom in the aft stairwell and floor landing areas.

If you look closely under the carved edition, you can see the label along with a headphone symbol and number.  The Viking App for use onboard the ship contains an audio description of each piece of art on the ship, all accessible by the piece number.  

Here's a look at the prints from the front stairwells, again, from top to bottom.

They conduct tours of the Bayeux Tapestry prints that are curated by the Viking resident historian. Of course, as I mentioned, with a pair of earbuds and your smart device, you can listen to a description of each print at your own pace.  There is also an informative video available for viewing in the Viking Heritage Center located on Deck 2 starboard. You can also listen to a description of any of the hundreds of pieces of art on the ship right in the Viking app.

Today, we are cruising along around 16 knots or so, taking advantage of the unbelievably glassy ocean.

It is a bright overcast day with low contrast, so photos are nearly impossible today with my camera.  We did spot a few shy dolphins cresting, and what we believe were a few sea lions popping their heads out.  An occasional turtle also floated by.  But the ride is smooth and steady and it is a lovely day.

Of course, there was the usual bridge lesson and trivia.  We came close today with some raging controversy - at least among those who cared to make things controversial.  The tallest dog breed? Great Dane - but, the AKC's website lists the Irish Wolf Hound (our answer) as the tallest.  What beans are used to make baked beans?  Haricot beans. However, white beans (our answer), navy beans, and haricot beans appear to be the same thing.  So, if we had gotten credit, we would have eeked out a tie for 1st with 14/15 correct.  Oh well, the rules state that the trivia master's answer is the right answer even if it is not, so rules are rules and tomorrow is another day. The other one we missed - what country is known as the Land of White Elephants?  It's not India - our answer.  It is Thailand. Dang.

Lunch today featured poke bowls.  They aren't our thing but they sure looked pretty.

This was on display in the main serving area.

Arlona returned to art class and today, allowed me to photograph her oil painting.

Our room is starting to look like a gallery. I'm thinking of running tours to help pay for the cruise!

When I was running the stairs photographing the art, one of the hard-working crew was vacuuming the stairs.  Of course, the vacuum needs to be plugged in and that means a cord will be stretched across the floor, creating a tripping hazard.  What do you do?  This.

While that statement is certainly true, I don't think it applies in this situation.  But, you make do with what you have.  Perhaps Viking can come up with a sign that says:

Anyway, it just made me laugh.

After drinks with friends in the Explorer's Bar, we hit up the World Cafe for a dim sum, fried rice & noodle dinner.  We both grabbed several of the different potstickers and enjoyed them.  The highlight of the evening was the decadent chocolate cake with a scoop of chocolate gelato - wow, that was good.  We enjoyed good conversation with friends we have met on this cruise, and that is what is great about this cruise.

Tomorrow is sea day number two of four en route to our second stop in Puntarenas, Costa Rica.