Monday January 16, 2023
Another beautiful day in the Mediterranean hugging the North African Coast past Algeria and Tunisia as we head to the Greek Island of Crete. At breakfast, who should we run into but out old friends Katia (Ekaterina) as she and Nikolai are both still working the grills and spent the pandemic working in the Vineyards in France.
Today we skipped the morning regular lectures and attended a Port Lecture by the resident lecturer on all ports – Ruth Clamp – about the Safaga, Egypt Port in the Red Sea where we will be after we pass through the Suez Canal. This will be our jumping off point for the much anticipated tour to Luxor, Karnak and the Valley of the Kings and Queens. This was the first tour we booked as both of us had been to Northern Egypt – Cairo, Alexandria and the Great Pyramids, but we had both always wanted to visit Luxor and that area of Egypt so rich in Archaeological History. We are greatly looking forward to this in a week or so.
The next talk was by the co-owner of the “St. Petersburg Collection” corporation, which is the Theo Faberge (grandson of the famous Russian jeweler that made the 50 Imperial Faberge jeweled eggs for the Tzar and Czarina of Russia and was then exiled to England. The Company is now English and all eggs and Jewelry are manufactured in England. Why England you ask – because the Royal family has the largest collection of Faberge items (1,000 pieces) in the world. King Charles III recently bought a piece, one assumes for his Queen Consort. Philip Birkenstein, is the partner of the late (10 years since his death) Theo Faberge. The particular interest is that we have a small collection of the eggs, mostly of Theo’s granddaughter, but one of his.
We did go to the always interesting talk about the law and Medical malpractice by the Doctor / Lawyer Chris Martin. He discussed many of his cased that relate to criminal negligence.
There was a mix up at dinner as we have an assigned table for the entire 4 months trip. However a new Maitre D’ started to place a couple of ladies who were on the “open seating” plan in our seats. Anne soon sorted this out as Roger was a bit late in arriving. Two other “world guest couples” were also affected. Not to happen again!!! The evening performance was a bit of a medley with part of the show being performed by the Cunard Singers and Dancers – A Tale of Two Cities – London / New York – medley. The second half was the violinist E. Sarah Carter.
Sunset over the Mediterranean.
Roger & Anne Travels 