Day 101: Supreme Court, National History Museum, and Nighttime Monuments (10/21/2010)

Today I got up at 9:15am. I went down to the continental breakfast and brought a pile of stuff back to our room. Then I went back to bed until 10am. We had breakfast, and I worked on the blog until noon. We weren’t in a huge hurry to get into town today because we planned to stay late to visit all the monuments lit up at night. We left the hotel around 12:30pm and walked to the metro because the shuttle wasn’t at the hotel at the moment. It took us about twenty minutes to walk. We were on the metro and on our way around 1:15pm, and in town by 2pm. We took the metro to a different station today: Capitol South.


We walked from the metro to the Supreme Court building. We arrived just in time to join the 2:30pm talk in the court room. It was interesting to learn the history of such an amazing building. The architecture and design of the building is truly amazing. I loved the Supreme Court building. It seems like a fitting place for the highest court of the land to work. I simply felt inspired by being in the court room with its marble pillars and four sculpted reliefs.


Next we walked to the National Archive. We went inside and browsed some old documents from our nation’s history. We decided to skip the viewing of the Constitution because there was a 20 minute long line.

We went to the Smithsonian Natural History Museum instead. We arrived at 4:30pm and had one hour to look around before it closed. We perused the dinosaur fossil section, and the ancient sea fossil section. It is a vast museum with many interesting things to see, so we plan to go back tomorrow to see more. At ten to closing, we were rudely ushered towards the nearest exit. We weren’t allowed to even finish reading the sign we were on at the time! The security guards probably really hate tourists, hehehe.




We made our way back to the WW2 memorial. I actually really like this memorial. I think it has a nice, contemplative design, and like it’s historical reference to both theaters of the war: Pacific and Atlantic. We waited at the monument for the free 6pm Ranger talk about the ‘Battle for Moscow’. It was very interesting, and our two rangers were very amiable. It would have sucked to be in either Hitler’s or Stalin’s armies.

It was dark when the talk was over. My plan for sightseeing until dark worked perfectly! The only downside was that it was very cold, so we were now freezing our asses off! It was very nice to see the Washington monument lit up, and the Lincoln memorial. The WW2 memorial was also very nice in the dark. I took pictures of them all.



Next, we walked to the FDR memorial. It was very different from the others. It is just an expansive area fashioned out of natural rocks and with lots of waterfalls. The other memorials are very Greek in style. We enjoyed it’s uniqueness. Then we continued to walk around the lake to Jefferson’s memorial. It is in the Greek style of the other impressive memorial and buildings in the Mall area. It was a nice memorial, very large, very impressive.




Our nighttime tour of the monuments over with, we headed for the metro. We took the metro back to Franconia-Springfield. We arrived there about 9pm. Then we walked back to the mall that we had passed on our walk this morning. We stopped in Target to buy train ride supplies: Dr. Pepper and chips. From there we walked to the nearby Silver Diner. It was a bit pricey but all of the food was locally grown or produced. I like old fashioned Diner type restaurants. I had a turkey cheeseburger, and Davin had a regular cheeseburger. We split a chocolate shake. It always amazes me that when you split a shake you get two full sized glasses. How one person could essentially drink two shakes is beyond me!

It was a short walk the rest of the way to the hotel. It was damn cold outside so we high tailed it back as fast as we could. We got back to our room around 10:30pm. Then I worked on my blog until bed at 12:30am.

Day 100: A Monumental Tour of Washington D.C. (10/20/2010)

We slept in until 10:30am today and missed out on our hotel’s complimentary breakfast. Then I worked on uploading to my blog until noon. We were being pretty relaxed about getting in to town because we are both sick. We ate leftover Chinese food for breakfast.

We left the hotel around 12:30pm via the hotel’s courtesy shuttle. It dropped us at the metro station and we took the metro into town. Looking at a subway map we figured a shorter way to get to our destination by changing trains a couple times. It seemed like the fewer stops would make up for the time spent changing trains. So at the Pentagon station we changed to the yellow line, and at L’enfant plaze we changed back to blue. One stop later we arrived at the Smithsonian metro station.

It was a short walk to 14th street and C where we found the Bureau of Engraving and Printing. We did the twenty minute free tour. It was very interesting to watch the paper money being made. We learned that parts of the security systems are actually made into the paper which is then delivered to the BEP for printing. And we saw the machines that scan the bills for consistency, as well as the machines which cut the 34 bill sheets down to single stacks of 100 bills. (The BEP, btw, is only responsible for making paper money and not coins. Coins are made at the U.S. Mint.)



Next we went to check out the Smithsonian museums. First, we walked to the Smithsonian of American history. We walked through the museum, but very little caught our attention. We aren’t that interested in American history, and Davin was simply not in a museum mood. So we decided to walk to the Capitol building instead.


We stopped for lunch at an overpriced National Park refreshment stand, and bought a couple of hot dogs and drinks. We didn’t mind paying too much for the food since all the museums and monuments are free. I noticed that there were D.C. killer squirrels everywhere. When I was here last time, I made the mistake of feeding a squirrel and it assaulted me. It jumped right on me and tried to take my sandwich! It scared the crap out of me at the time... Anyway, take it from me, DO NOT FEED THE SQUIRRELS!!



When we arrived at the Capitol, Davin got the idea of walking the length of the entire National Mall, from the Capitol all the way to the Lincoln memorial. I didn’t really realize how far that was, so I readily agreed. We recorded bits and pieces of our walk as we went. We past all the Smithsonian museums, finally past the Washington monument, then the WW2 memorial, and walked past the algae filled Reflecting pool until we finally arrived at the base of the Lincoln memorial. In all it took us about an hour to walk the Mall. We were walking pretty slow for us though. We took pictures of all the memorials and monuments we past.



Next, we walked past the Vietnam memorial, which I personally don’t think was designed particularly well. We stopped for a look at the White House, and then we walked back towards the Washington monument. This time we past in and continued south for the FDR and Jefferson memorials. We didn’t go a particularly good way though, so we aborted when we came near the BEP again. We headed back to the subway and arrived shortly after 7pm.


Then we made several subway blunders. First, we jumped on a Green line train cause Davin assumed it went the same place as the Yellow and it didn’t. We arrived back at L’enfant just as the train we needed was on the other side. I wanted to run for it, but D said we’d never make it. It turned out we got there right as the door shut, so just a little running and we’d have made it. Then he decided the wait for the Yellow was too long so we took the Orange back in the direction we’d come from in the first place. Only when we arrived did we realize why that was a mistake. Anyway, I was fed up with following Davin’s lead and refused to go back to L’enfant station AGAIN. So we just waited the 10 minutes for the Blue subway to take us straight to our destination without any changes. We finally got underway at 7:30pm and arrived at Franconia-Springfield at 8:15pm.

We called for the shuttle to take us to the hotel. There I ordered more Chinese food. We ate our leftover Kung Po chicken along with our fresh General Tso’s chicken. Meanwhile, I worked on my blog, and Davin surfed the internet and took a bath. We went to bed around midnight.

Day 99: A Sickening Train Day (10/19/2010)

Sleeping on the train last night was horrible. I apparently developed a fever. I was overheating but shivering for hours. Finally it occurred to me to take acetaminophen to break the fever. After that I slept fitfully. Anyway, when morning rolled around I just kept on sleeping. I finally got up around 10am.

I spent the morning watching 2 Voyagers, and then I took a short nap. Davin worked on his RPG. Around 1pm we went to lunch. I wasn’t hungry but I picked at my food and ice cream.

Back in our room, I napped another hour until we had to pack up and get ready to get off the train. At 3pm, we arrived in D.C. I really wasn’t feeling well, and didn’t look forward to the long ride on the metro.

It took us about an hour to navigate the metro from Union Station to Franconia-Springfield. Then we called the hotel and waited to get picked up by the shuttle. After we checked in, I immediately climbed into bed in our hotel room. Davin decided to take a bath. After resting for an hour, I got out my computer and messed around online and chatted with friends until 8pm. Then I ordered Chinese food. It was delivered to the hotel around 9:30pm. I only had some hot and sour soup, and then went to bed at 10pm. Davin had a complete meal of Kung Po chicken and stayed up until midnight surfing the internet.

Day 98: A Little Congo River Golf Before We Head North (10/18/2010)

We got up at 9am today. I was feeling sicker than yesterday. I didn’t want to sleep anymore though because my throat prevented me from sleeping well. We decided to go eat at a breakfast place, but when we got there we decided it was too crowded. So we went to eat at Taco Bell instead. Taco Bell wasn’t open yet though. We arrived at 9:45am and it opens at 10am. So we planned to come back a little after it opened.

Back at the hotel we worked on packing our bags. We put things we needed in one bag, and everything else in the other. The stuff we didn’t need didn’t all fit into one suitcase so we went dumpster diving for a box in the recyclable dumpster out in the hotel parking lot.

At 10:30am we returned to Taco Bell and got some breakfast. Davin was ‘underwhelmed’ and said that he hadn’t been to Taco Bell in a decade, and he wouldn’t be going back for another decade. Then we finished packing, and checked out of the room at noon. We stayed a bit longer in the lobby to use the internet to find a nearby UPS for our bag and box, and to get the bus info we needed to get from the airport to the Amtrak station.

Then we took the luggage and box to UPS to be shipped. It cost us about $110. We couldn’t gotten a better deal elsewhere but decided it was worth the convenience and getting the stuff off our hands.

Next we went to have lunch at the Waffle House. It was our first Waffle House experience which please our waiter. He gave us advice on how to order and he was please that we followed his directions on how to get more for less money.



Then we went to Congo River Golf and played two courses of mini golf for $29. It was pricey, but fun. It was super hot outside and there was little shade. I didn’t like that very much, and I started feeling even worse than I already did. It took us about two hours to play the two courses. There were some pretty neat holes. So I really enjoyed it even though I was fading fast at the end. I really should’ve been in bed, not playing 36 holes of golf at midday in Florida... Oh well.



Around 3pm we headed for the airport to return the car. On the way we stopped at Wendy’s for dinner. We picked up 6 99Cent chicken sandwiches to eat on the train later. We also stopped at Walmart for chips and salsa. We were happy to find what we needed.

We returned the car at 4:30pm, and then caught bus 11 towards downtown Orlando. The bus driver kindly told us when to get off (although she almost forgot, and had the pull the bus over when she remembered a half a block after she past our stop!). Then it was a short walk to the Amtrak station with all our bags. We are much happier with our load now. The number of bags we have now is how many we should’ve had (maximum) the whole time...

Our train arrived at the station early, so we were able to board the train at 6pm (only about 15 minutes after we arrived at the station). We settled into our car, and built up Davin’s computer. Then we went to dinner aboard the train, but we only got dessert because we had the chicken sandwiches to eat. I watched 2 Voyagers and then went to bed at 10pm because I was tired, and, unbeknownst to me, getting even sicker.

Day 97: KSC (Part 2), Gatorland, and Laundry!!! (10/17/2010)

Davin and I got up at 12:30pm our time (7:30am Florida time). We quickly got ready to go and jumped in the car to head back to the Kennedy Space Center. We were on the road a little after 8am and arrived at the KSC around 9:20am. We took a little bit longer route to avoid one of the toll booths, so we only paid $2.50 this time.

At the KSC, we watched the two IMAX films. They were really cool, especially in 3D. This is the first time I’ve seen a documentary type film in 3D. Usually it’s cartoons that are made 3D. When it’s a film with real people doing real things and it’s in 3D it really seems like you are in the room experiencing events first hand. I thought that was really neat. They should make more real people films in 3D.


Next, we went to the have to the Shuttle Launch Experience. It’s flight simulator of a shuttle launch. You get tipped up into a vertical position and then the whole thing shakes when the rockets ignite. It supposed to be a fairly accurate simulation of take off. It was a fun and interesting experience. I definitely wouldn’t want to do it for real though! Strapping myself to that much rocket fuel is not my idea of fun!



We left KSC around 1pm, and drove back to Kissimmee, Florida. There we visited Gatorland. We had fun looking at the different kinds of alligators and crocodiles.


We saw alligators jump out of the water to eat whole, store bought chickens, and we saw a show about different kinds of snakes found in Florida, as well as one called ‘Gator Wrestling’. It wasn’t really gator wrestling though, it was just a close encounter with an alligator and we learned some really interesting things about them. We also filmed all the shows we saw, so we can see them again.


I also enjoyed seeing the leucistic alligators. They were very pretty with their white skin and blue eyes. The water birds that liked to sit on the backs of floating alligators were funny. It just seemed so incongruous, but I guess most of the time the alligators are pretty laid back, and the birds have fast reaction times.


We walked through the swamp path and admired the habitat, and then walked by the breeding marsh where lots of alligators have a nice lake to live in. It’s nice that Gatorland works to protect giant alligators that would otherwise have to be destroyed for terrorizing human settlements.


A couple hours of Gators was enough for us. We headed home and stopped at Pita Oven for a gyros dinner. We also stopped at Kmart for some necessary train supplies: Dr. Pepper and chips and salsa! Sadly, we didn’t find any chips or salsa suited to our needs (no hot salsas).


At the hotel, we ate our gyros, and then we prepared to FINALLY do our laundry. Our clothes were last laundered by our Stepmom before we left Germany. We decided not to do it our last night in London, then never found time or a laundromat open in the evening of our two week Great Britain tour, then we decided we could do it on the Norwegian Sun (because QM2 provides free laundry areas on all decks of the ship), then we found out the Norwegian Sun only has paid $25 a bag laundry services..., and finally in Florida we ended up at our resort hotel which conveniently has coin operated laundry services.


We got our clothes going in the washer, and returned to our room. Davin spent over an hour talking to Mom on my telephone. His cell phone has gone missing. We had it this morning, and now it’s gone. Who knows what happened to it. Meanwhile, I worked on blog updates. We had to dry the clothes twice. In fact, the second time we split the load and ran two different driers. In the end, we were happy to have all clean clothes again!


While we were waiting for the laundry, I started getting a sore throat. It only got worse, and I became quite irritable. Also, the internet in our room was very bad and basically didn’t work. So, after we got the laundry back to our room, I took a quick bath and went to bed. We had the yoghurt from the QM2 for dinner. I just wasn’t up for going out again, and Davin didn’t want to go by himself.

Day 96: Welcome to Orlando, Florida (10/16/2010)

We woke up at 11:30am our time (6:30am ship time). The ship had arrived at Port Canaveral while we were sleeping. We slowly woke up while listening to the ship announce which decks should report to the US customs check. When they called for us, we got up and headed down to deck 6 aft. We brought our customs form and were checked off the list of guests that had completed the mandatory check. Noone would be allowed to disembark until all guests had been through customs.

Next, we headed upstairs to breakfast. I had cinnamon rolls like usual. D had bacon and scrambled eggs. We took some hashbrowns and yoghurt back to our room to snack on around lunch time. Then we finished packing our things and headed downstairs for the ‘Easy Walk Off’. It was scheduled to begin around 8am, but that time came and went as announcements continued to call the few stragglers to customs. For some reason these thirteen or so people didn’t report and the several hundred people waiting in the lobby to disembark paid the price. People were getting really upset as the announcements continued and they began to boo and jeer. Finally at 8:45am, all people reported and disembarkation could commence.

At this point, the mash of people surged towards the one exit. It was pretty much chaos. There were no lines, or any attempt whatsoever at bringing order to chaos. The mash of people just slowly squeezed towards the exit, there was no rhyme or reason to who got off first. People who had been waiting the longest weren’t necessarily the first ones off. People came down the elevators and skipped to the front of the line. It was annoying, but interesting to see the difference between this and the QM2. People booed and jeered the announcer again when he referred to the ‘Easy Walk Off’ program. Definitely a lot of unhappy people waiting in the lobby.


I got into a conversation with a middle aged man, and asked him if this was typical of Norwegian cruises. (Most people on cruise ships seem to usually have several cruises under their belts already.) He said that the customs on the day of disembarkation was usual, but this was the most chaotic disembarkation he’d seen. However, I heard another guy say that this was the same old thing. The experience made me appreciate QM2's customs check that occurs in the afternoon while the ship is enroute (not the morning of arrival), as well as their attempt to order disembarkation by forming lines to channel the herd of people. It seemed to us and many other people that the Norwegian cruise line no longer cared about its guests comfort or convenience as soon as they were leaving the ship. However, I don’t think it’s a very good marketing strategy to leave their guests with a final negative impression.

We made it off the ship fine, through a second customs screening, and out to the parking lot. There we waited with another horde of people to catch the shuttle to Thrifty rental car. The first shuttle arrived, and a swarm of people descended upon it. The car could only hold eight people however... Davin and I positioned ourselves strategically at the end of the loading area so we could be the first to practically jump in front of the next shuttle and claim two of the precious seats, and luggage area aboard. It worked, and we were one of the few chosen ones to be on our way to our rental car.

At the rental car office, we waited in a long line to rent our car. We had a reservation but it seemed like we got one of the last cars on the Thrifty lot. It turns out that our car was not properly serviced since the last customer had it, but we didn’t notice right away, and kind of doubted that there were any other cars available anyway. The car had obviously not been washed, there were GPS water (or spit?) Circles on the inside windshield, and shortly after we started going we saw a warning light on. A quick flip through the manual revealed that the tire air pressure was dangerously low.


We were on our way to the Kennedy Space Center, and when we arrived we checked out the tires. One of them did look pretty damn low. We didn’t have time to deal with it right then though. So we went into the KSC, and hoped we wouldn’t have a flat tire when we came back out!



The KSC is a bit expensive ($42/person), but we think it was worth the money. There is so much to see that the free second day of admission (within 7 days of purchase) is worth taking advantage of. We had a tight schedule and a possible car problem, so we didn’t want to stay too long. We walked around the Rocket Garden and read the signs about the history of the various rockets that have helped propel people and objects into space. Then we went on the two hour bus tour. It took us to a viewing platform of the orbital shuttle launch pad. It was pretty tiny in the distance, but it was cool to see since there was actually a shuttle at the pad waiting to be launched November 1.


Our next stop was the Apollo/Saturn 5 staging center. There we saw a video about various Apollo missions, watched a re-enactment of the last three minutes to launch of the Apollo 8 mission from the actual control room from that time, saw a huge (we’re talking extremely massive!) Saturn 5 rocket which was the rocket used to propel most (all?) of the Apollo missions into space, and watched a video re-enactment of the final moments of the Apollo 11? mission that landed the first men on the moon.


Then we caught the bus back to the main visitor center complex. It was about 3:30pm when we made it back. We decided it was time for us to leave for today. We would have to come back tomorrow to see the two 45 minute 3D IMAX films and do the Shuttle Launch Experience. It’s annoying to have to drive back again, but worth doing. At the car, it looked like the tire pressure of the low tire was remaining steady. A little ways down the road we found a gas station and filled the tire back up (it was below 20PSI out of 44PSI max), we also topped off the other three. A little ways into our long drive, we were relieved to note the warning light had turned off.

A little over an hour, and $4 of tolls later, we arrived at the Maple Leaf Inn in Kissimmee, Florida. There we picked up our Arabian Nights tickets for tonight. It was about 5pm, and Davin and I were really hungry by now. We hadn’t eaten anything since breakfast, but we were going to try to go to the 6pm show instead of the 8pm show, so we would be eating soon(ish). Arabian Nights was just four miles up the road from the place we bought our tickets from. We arrived around 5:30pm. It was perfect timing because only a few minutes later we were allowed to file into the arena and take our seats. We also had good seats in the front row. A nice bit of luck! We filled our glasses with soda to tide us over until food arrived.



We enjoyed the show very much. Who wouldn’t love to see people perform back flips while standing on the back of a galloping horse! Or jumping through a flaming ring and landing back on the horse. There were also several choreographed group ‘dances’ in various themes: Western, Native American, Spanish etc. The gypsy theme with the above mentioned back flips and other crazy horseback acrobatics was definitely my favorite part. I love gypsies, even fake ones! The food was mediocre. I think Medieval Times has better food, and even that isn’t the greatest. Also, the crowd didn’t get into the show as much as they do at Medieval Times. Davin said that there is nothing like a bit of good old fashioned competition to get a crowd interested. Medieval Times’ colored Knights do the trick. Medieval Times is also more of a story show than Arabian Nights. Arabian Nights has a weak storyline that serves to tie the different horse dances together, but otherwise serves little purpose and doesn’t really fuel the imagination.



After the show, we headed to our hotel which was a little bit further West down the same highway that the ticket office and Arabian Nights are located on. It is a big resort style Best Western. Nicer than a small cruise ship room, so we are satisfied with it. The internet doesn’t really work in our room though. We dumped our stuff in the room, and went in search of more food.

Davin was in the mood for pizza so we bought a large pineapple and tomato pizza from Pizza Hut. We also bought a 2L Dr. Pepper. Then we went back to our hotel to eat. It was about 8:30pm by then. We ate dinner, and I called Scott and chatted with him for about 30 minutes. Davin watched the news on TV. Around 3am our time (10pm Florida time) we went to bed.

Day 95: Cruise Wrap Up (10/15/2010)

Today we woke up at 11:00am (6:00am). We went up to the breakfast buffet and grabbed our usual fare. We brought it back to the room and watched a Voyager while we ate.

Then I went up on deck to read the rest of my backlogged investment links. I came back to the room 2.5 hours later to pick up Davin for lunch. Davin spent the morning working on his RPG and started to play Stranglehold.

For lunch we had pizza and it was really mediocre. We ate in the shade out on the aft deck. Then we returned to the room.

I finished reading my investment papers, and D played more Stranglehold. Then I played Riddick for the rest of the day. Davin eventually switched to working on his RPG.

We went to the sit down dinner at 11pm our time. We had more mediocre food. Only my warm coconut souffle was good.


On the way back upstairs, we picked up our confiscated items at service desk. It was midnight our time when we started packing up all our things. We played a Voayager episode in the background while we worked. When it ended, we packed up Davin’s computer as well. We kept all the bags in our room so we can do the ‘easy walk off’ tomorrow. I quickly bullet pointed the last two days worth of updates. Then we went to bed at 2am.

Day 94: A Successful Escape from Butcher Bay, Davin Has a Monkey Moment, and I Have a Blond One! (10/14/2010)

We got up at 11:30am today (7:30am ship time). We had a quick breakfast up at the buffet. We ate the usual, cinnamon rolls for me, and an omelet for Davin. We sat out on the deck to eat.

Back in the room, I wrote the update for yesterday. Then I played Riddick: Escape from Buther Bay. I beat it in the afternoon. I estimate that it took me about 14 hours. It really wasn’t difficult at all. I even double checked to make sure I was playing on hard just to make sure! It’s a pretty fun game. Davin continues to work on his RPG. He tried to start Riddick but the sound is bugged. It keeps cutting out, or isn’t synched with the action (in cut scenes). So he will put off playing the game until later.

For lunch we grabbed some food from the buffet and brought it back to our room. Then we watched a Voyager while we ate.

Next, we went for our walk around the ship. We stuck to brisk walking because Davin is worried about overdoing it and hurting ourselves. He says it would be pretty stupid to end up incapacitated when we still have a lot of walking and sightseeing to do. We discussed Riddick and the other computer games we’ve been playing lately.

When we returned to our room, I started playing Riddick: Assault on Dark Athena. I’m enjoying it so far. It seems a little more challenging than Butcher Bay. Davin continued to work on his RPG.

For dinner we went to the buffet and had spaghetti marinara. We ate and discussed more at a table looking out over the vast open sea. Then we walked up to deck 12 and looked around. When we returned to our room, Davin took the elevator, and I took the stairs. I went down one flight and waited for D’s elevator to arrive. It said it arrived at deck 10, but the doors never opened. I waited, and waited, and waited, all the while wondering what was wrong with the elevator. It was a very blond moment. I’m sure all my readers have already noticed that 12 minus 1 is NOT 10. Imagine my chagrin when an embarrassing several minutes goes by and my eye caught a glimpse of the gigantic 11 next to the elevator doors. ‘Oh, yea.’ I thought to myself, ‘We were on deck 12, not 11!’ OOPS! No wonder the elevator on deck 10 never opened here! I ran down one more flight of stairs, and found Davin headed back to the room. When I never showed up, he figured I’d gone ahead of him back to the room. Anyway, only worth sharing because it’s funny how stupid I was. Hehehe.

I played some more Riddick, and D worked some more on his RPG. Then we watched one Voyager, and went to bed at 1:30am. The ship’s time changed one last time, so we actually went to bed at 8:30pm.

Day 93: Our Ship is Captained by a Borg!!! (10/13/2010)

Today we got up at 11:30am (8:30am ship’s time). We went upstairs and grabbed a quick breakfast at the buffet. Then we walked around the ship for awhile to delay long enough for our purser’s to clean our room.

Back in the room, I wrote two blog updates. That took me a ridiculously long time, because I insisted on writing about random things that probably weren’t important enough to discuss! Davin continued to fine tune his lock hacking system for his RPG.

When I finished writing the updates, Davin and I went to grab lunch. We were both very hungry at this point. It was a little after 4pm our time. We had chicken and rice for lunch. I also had a little stir fry, and Davin added Indian food to his plate. We brought our food back to our room and watched a special two hour long Voyager. It was a borg episode, and that alone made it a good one!


Next, Davin and I went for our walk around the ship. We didn’t run today to give ourselves a little rest, but we walked briskly around the ship 4 or 5 times. I brought my camera and took pictures of us walking. Then I took a picture of Captain Ronnie Borg’s picture. He is Swedish, and anyone who remembers a certain line from Star Trek: First Contact knows why that is funny! Also, what are the odds that our cruise ship would be piloted by a Borg? When we get home, Davin plans to make a STO character whose captain is named Ronnie Borg (and who will be a reclaimed borg) and he will captains the U.S.S. Norwegian Sun!


Back in our room, I set about assassinating people only to find that my Assassin’s Creed install is bugged so the game always crashes at a certain point. Luckily, that point is at the very beginning of the game. So, I had to change my gaming plans again! I went back to Riddick. I realized my previous frustrations were largely due to own idiocy. I totally forgot that you could shoot and destroy wall turrets, as well as the ceiling lights. Of course, once it’s dark Riddick is the one with the advantage. Also, my FPS skills have seriously atrophied. It’s the thanks I get for taking college seriously! (and barely playing computer games for four whole years.) Anyway, my skills are already on the mend, so taking down the guards with a few shots to the head is keeping me alive much longer. I played Riddick for the rest of the evening.

Ronnie Borg came on the speaker to give us an update on our progress. As of today, we have traveled 2644 miles, and have 1228 miles left to go. Our current cruising speed is 21mph.


We went to dinner around 11pm our time. At first we planned to go to the restaurant, but a quick look in the buffet revealed that they were serving the same thing we were planning to eat in the restaurant: Tandoori Chicken. We ate that along with other Chinese meal options. After a few bites, the food really didn’t appeal to me anymore. It didn’t really taste bad, but the thought of eating anymore made me feel sick. So I trashed almost my entire plate, and simply ate some fruit instead. A banana, cantelope, and chilled strawberry soup. The buffet always serves a chilled soup, which is most often fruit based, and they make very good desserts. It’s harder to imagine eating the chilled soups as you would eat a normal hot soup with your main meal. Yesterday we tried a chilled potato soup. It was kind of good, but kind of strange. It certainly tasted like potatoes!

After dinner, we returned to our room. I played Riddick for another hour while Davin showered. Finally, (at 12:30am) we started a Voyager. When it finished, we went to bed at 1:30am. Ship time changed one hour, so it was really 8:30pm.