Xmas Cruise 2017 - A Coruña Page

Up at 8 again, as we came in to A Coruña. It was cold at first but warmed up later, with largely blue skies (in A Coruña?). We got off the ship at about 09:40 & walked to the Picasso Museum but it did not open until 11, so we walked up to the front, which was nothing like my memories of it, stopped at a café for coffees, served with a tiny cup-cake & only €2.20 for 2!

Back to the museum (left below), it was basically, an art shop, with rather mediocre modern stuff in it. One of the ‘artists’ turned up & fortunately, spoke English. She directed us to a door next door & rang the bell. The curator let us in by door-phone & we had to slog up two steep staircases to the Ruiz flat. She spoke little English badly but did explain the flat & I took a lot of photos. It was quite small & so were the rooms. Picasso lived there from 1891-5.

We walked back to the sea on this sandy side & then, back to the ship through the town. Lunch was at 12:30 this time, so no queue. After, Avis retired to the Lido Lounge while I went into the Old City, meeting Adrian, the music lecturer on the way, who had been the escort for the tour round the town. I did the Old Town & went back to the ship, finding Avis sharing a table with Adrian, the music lecturer & his wife. Adrian & I talked music lecturer shop.

Sunday 24th December 2017 - day at sea

A sea day, so variously worked on my talks and tried to walk round the deck, frustrated by the guys working still. On the top deck, it was breezy & a bit colder than one would expect off Portugal. We went to Adrian’s talk about nationalism in Music. Superficially like one of mine, with slide changes during the music, he did a couple of ‘death by powerpoint’ slides and talked too much, playing too little. Not in my league. I lost Avis but eventually found her after dinner had started. The show was the Aviva Duo we have seen before & are quite entertaining. We sat next to Ron & Linda we have rather chummed up with. He is 6’ 5”, now the worse for wear but ex-Coldstream Guards.

Mounday 25th December 2017 - Xmas Day is always a day at sea

The hour went back last night, so up at GMT 08:12. It is now warmer but still a bit breezy. At 10:30, there was a party of the quarter-deck of deck 7 (Lounge Deck) with mulled wine, egg-nog & mince pies. The Show Team, who were worked very hard today, were running about as elves & Father Xmas & the Grinch (why) were parading around. After consuming goodies, I went for a walk round the deck. Usual lunch & work on the talks. We had a snooze instead of the guitar concert. I had gathered that he was pissed off that Aviva had done some of his tunes but there is no way to liaise before a cruise. It would be best to stick to stuff not well known. Usual Xmas dinner but before, the Show Team did a 15 minute show while we ate nibbles & free booze. They had a full-size show after, called 21st Century Swing but nothing like a previous show of the same name & neither swung but they were good as usual.