Today is June 5th, and it is a very sad day for me. It’s not sad because it’s the last day on the ship, but today is the last day for Eilis at kindergarten. I am missing her end of the year The Cheese Stands Alone production, and I am missing the reception to celebrate their graduation from kindergarten. I have felt homesick the whole trip, and missed Jim and the girls since we left Philly, but today, I really feel physically sick to my stomach. If I could have gotten on a plane in Monaco and headed home to be there for this, I would have 🙁
Brighid and I are still up way too eary, so we head up to the buffet for breakfast. We change into our bathing suits afterwards and spend about 1/2 an hour in the Aqua Spa hydro-therapy pool. It’s heated and bubbly, and feels so good to sit in it, but the air is quite chilly, since the ship is moving so quickly. We laid in the sun for a little while, wrapped like mummies in towels, and then went back to the cabin to dry off and get dressed.
There was a cook-off demonstration – similar to Iron Chef – and Brighid was hoping the French chef she liked from the last cooking demonstration was there. He was! This was the highlight of her morning. The other chef was Hungarian, and when they asked him how he felt about his chances, he said, “He’s French – he’ll win!” They actually both made a similar dish – a seafood risotto – but when they asked for volunteers to come and judge, no one wanted to go. I kept nudging Brighid, but she stayed put, and finally, a man walked up and offered to be the taste tester. He declared it a tie, so no one had hurt feelings and even the Hungarian chef went back to his kitchen happy.
It was getting to be just about lunch time, and we were meeting Dot and Russ for lunch. It was quite cold on the ship, so Brighid and I ran up and changed – well, at least partially. I took my sandals off and put socks and sneakers on, and Brighid switched to long sleeves. We met at the dining room. The food today was just so-so – definitely not the best meal we’ve had on board. After the meal, we wandered up to the photo shop to pick up the photos from the formal night portrait we had done. We then headed out to see Jennifer’s shopping talk about Barcelona.
She’s a talker, that Jennifer, and it was nearly 3 by the time she was finished. We figured we would head back to the cabin and start packing, since everything had to be outside the cabin tonight.
Dinner tonight was casual, and the shrimp dish I ate completely hated me. I ended up in pain, skipped dessert, and headed back up to the cabin. The show tonight was acrobats, and I enjoyed them the other night, but not quite enough to head back to see them, especially with still a little packing to do. Brighid decided to skip the show as well and she was soon at the cabin helping with the last little bit of packing. There are no weight restrictions getting off of the ship, or on the bus in Barcelona, so we are cramming stuff wherever it will fit. Our bags are outside in plenty of time and we are soon tucked in, watching a little TV, and enjoying our last sleep on the ship.