DAY 49 LIMA & DAY 41 CRYSTAL SERENITY

Just before we went for a pre-dinner drink last evening, we viewed the art work that was on display at the Crystal Plaza from the Odyssey at Sea Art Class.  Art classes are offered on each Crystal Cruises voyage throughout the year.  The type of art class offered will vary by voyage.  For this voyage, it was a combination of sculpture and water colors.  The art work was truly amazing and shows the talents of the guests.  We viewed the work of dear friend Glo and also of good friend Mike.

As the Knitting Program is also part of the Odyssey at Sea Art Class some women displayed their knitting projects (we didn't get a photo of that) and Anne Marie was asked if she wanted to display the purses she made but since she used her own kits from home rather than using the on board kits she passed on displaying the purses.  Maybe next time.

Afterwards, we enjoyed a pre-dinner drink at the Crystal Cove as we listened to John Mentis perform on the piano.  We sat with dear friends John and Linda.

At 5:45 PM, the World Cruise Choir sang two songs.  The choir is found only on the World Cruises and is comprised of guests along with some of the enrichment personnel including reverend Ed and his wife Ruth and a couple of the entertainers.  Some members of the Galaxy Orchestra accompanied the choir along with Assistant Cruise Director Scott Mitchel on the piano.  Cruise Director Gary Hunter introduced the Choir.

Afterwards, we dined at the Crystal Dining Room after being away for two nights at Tastes and then Prego.  It was nice to be back at the dining room.


We enjoyed two nice wines that were provided by our Sommelier, Ivana.

Our Senior Waiter, Ayhan, took excellent care of us.

We began our meal with salads. Keith had his standing order salad and Anne Marie enjoyed a Spinach Salad.

Four our Main Course, Keith had from the Modern Cuisine Menu a Ginger & Black Pepper-Crusted Salmon entree which included Celeriac Puree, Snap Peas & Merlot Red Wine.  He found it to be very tasty and the presentation was fabulous.

Anne Marie had the Seared Sea Scallops from the Crystal Classic menu which was accompanied with Tagliatelle with Vegetables, Mushrooms & Alfredo Sauce.  This is a new recipe that has been recently introduced to the Dining Room and Anne Marie enjoyed it and shared a few of the Scallops with Keith.  Ayaan had ordered some additional Scallops for us.

For dessert, it was a sugar free Swan Dessert for Anne Marie which she also let Keith try.

Keith enjoyed a bowl of delicious Strawberries.

We had mentioned that Anne Marie was knitting a square which will be part of a blanket for an orphanage in South Africa and Anne Marie finished the square by late yesterday afternoon.

When we returned to our room there was a Certificate in the room for Keith for one of the indoor cycling classes he took during the transit of the Panama Canal.

We slept well as we sailed to our next port of call in Lima, Peru.

Keith was up early and back to the Fitness Center for his daily morning workout.  Afterwards, he read and wrote at the Lido Cafe while enjoying some coffee.  With a full day tour planned for today, Anne Marie woke earlier than normal and took a partial morning walk around the ship before we had breakfast in our room. We then got ready to explore Lima.

We have had the opportunity to visit Lima, Peru on several previous voyages, including World Cruise 2013.  Each time we have been in port for one or more overnights.  This time around we have one overnight which is this evening.

We have taken advantage of the time to do full day tours of Lima and that is precisely what we did again today.

Keith had made the arrangements for this private tour many months ago.  We were met outside the security gates of the port, by our tour guide Rodrigo as well as by our driver Juan.  

Our tour guide was Rodrigo who is married with a six month old girl and who is 34.  He looked much younger than that.  He was very mature and he spoke English very well.  In addition to speaking Spanish and English he also speaks Portuguese and plans to learn Italian.  His command of his subject matter was amazing. 

Our driver was Juan.  Our tour guide first said John as in John Lennon to keep it simple for us.  He did a great job driving and was able to navigate the streets in a lot of traffic.

We were driven to Lima which took around forty five minutes.  Our tour took us to a few familiar locations but many of the places we visited we had not seen on any of our previous visits.

We are having some problems posting photos so we will continue with our tour when we post tomorrow.

This evening we will dine in our room. We will also post about this tomorrow.

TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY........

“In a moment of decision the best thing you can do is the right thing.  The worst think you can do is nothing.” - Theodore Roosevelt 

Keith & Anne Marie