Last evening we did not go to the Crystal Cove as we got ready for dinner a little later since we were in Melbourne in the afternoon. We dined at the Prego Italian Specialty Restaurant. Our waiter was Marija. We both started with the additional pasta entree as our starter. It was pasta with shrimp and tomato. For the entree Keith had Striped Bass and Anne Marie had the Chicken. As usual it was just fantastic.
This is the additional pasta entree which we had as an appetizer. The photo does not do it justice. The pasta was absolutely delicious as was the shrimp with the very tasty sauce that accompanied this item.
This is the Striped Bass that Keith had. He always enjoys it.
Anne Marie had the Chicken Stew for the second time since it was added to the Menu a few weeks ago.
Prego was fairly quiet last night and while the popular times for this cruise tend to be 6:00 PM and 7:00 PM with people arriving every 15 minutes it does not overwhelm the staff. There was time for us to speak with Specialty Restaurant Maitre d' Antonio a few times, Head Waiter Mario, Marija and Jiri the Sommelier.
We plan to return to Prego two more times on this segment since Marija will be going on a well deserved holiday at the end of this segment and we have loved having her as our waiter. It looks like she will be back for our last segment before we get off from Lisbon to Rome. Costa who we have had for many years as a waiter came back a couple of weeks ago so we hope to sit in his section after Marija goes on Holiday. Head Waiter Mario will be going home at the end of this segments and also returning in Lisbon and Slavko will return when Mario goes home. When Slavko and Antonio are on board together Slavko is Head Waiter and when it is Slavko and Mario Slavko swings to being the Specialty Restaurant Maitre d'.
After dinner we went to the Variety Show. The show featured Jonathan and Sarah who each sang and Gary Hunter who performed in his role as the Comedy Ventriloquist. As there was one show for the evening, it was fully packed.
Although we were not at sea, we both slept very well. Keith needed some extra sleep so he didn't try to go up to the Fitness Center in the morning.
He went to the Lido Cafe regular time and there were some guests there a short while later as there was at least one early tour leaving at 6:15 AM with an expected return of around 5:00 PM. We have some friends on that tour and look forward to hearing all about it. One of the friends came up to where Keith was sitting and said "I know I must be up early because I am here when Keith is still here." LOL, but so very true.
Anne Marie woke up earlier than usual, and then Keith went up to the Fitness Center for a partial workout before we had an early breakfast in our room.
Afterwards, we went back into Melborne.
We decided to walk into the city again. There are other forms of transportation such as these plus taxis. We like to walk so for us this works great. We wore jackets. There was a 30 to 40 percent chance of rain in the morning but thankfully no rain.
It was windy but that actually cooled us off so that was nice.
Once we arrived downtown we took in the sites and walked along the river.
We wanted to walk over to the Victoria Market where there are hundreds of areas selling a variety of items.
We then made our way back on a similar route in which we came. After crossing the river the winds kicked up to around 30 to 35 miles per hour.
The Melbourne Arts Centre
While downtown we picked up some gifts for the Stewardess and Assistant Stewardess for Easter.
On our way back we ran into some familiar guests and crew. This included one of the photographers
Cesar and also Darko who cuts our hair.
Cesar
Darko
As we got closer to the pier we saw the beautiful Serenity.
Today was also a team effort. The Crystal Dining Room was closed so that many of the waitstaff along with some other personnel could place new furniture on each of the verandahs for all verandahs with the exception of the Penthouses who previously received the furniture. They essentially had an assembly line and they were passing from left to right the furniture.
Our own Senior Waiter Ayhan with the bag in hand.
All in all we walked 11.5 miles and had a wonderful time.
One observation to contrast New Zealand with Australia. The drivers in New Zealand both in the large city of Auckland and in the smaller towns were much more courteous than the drivers in Australia. This is something we noticed on previous visits too. The drivers in Melbourne are probably more like the drivers in the states, as they are more aggressive and often were not yielding to us and to other pedestrians.
We enjoyed the ship the rest of the day. For lunch we each had a salad entree.
Anne Marie continued to work on one of her knitting projects and Keith got together with dear friend Bob.
We understand that it will get quite windy a couple of hours after we leave port this night. In fact, earlier today our Stewardess, Longhar, came by the room to take in the cushions from the outdoor furniture.
This evening we will be dining at Silk Road with a special guest and will post about that tomorrow.
TODAY'S THOUGHT FOR THE DAY.....
"When
overseas you learn more about your own country, than you do the place you're
visiting." - Clint
Borgen
Keith & Anne Marie
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