When we woke up this morning, it was to clearer skies and calm seas, as the Queen Anne continued on her south-westerly course towards Funchal, Madeira, where we would arrive tomorrow.
Eating our breakfast in the Artisans’ Foodhall as usual, we wandered out on deck and just strolled around, looking out to sea and seeing if we could spot other ships, or even whales or dolphins; some had been seen earlier in the cruise, apparently. However, the Queen Anne was all alone in the vastness of the Atlantic ocean. 🙂
At 9.00am we made our way to the Royal Court Theatre, where engineer Andrew Roberts was giving a talk about the levadas of Madeira. As you know, the island of Madeira is very hilly and mountainous, with clusters of dwellings nestled on the sides of the hills, and many twisting and turning roads ascending and descending, and even going through tunnels cut into the hills. A levada is an especially created water ditch at the sides of the mountain paths where rainwater is collected as it runs down the hills; it is therefore channelled to wherever it needs to go so it can be used effectively, especially for agriculture.
Levadas extend for over 2000 kilometres and are popular with hikers and explorers who like to walk alongside them – “walking the levadas”. The word levada comes from the Portuguese word levar, which means “to carry”.
It was all very interesting, and we had learned something new! 🙂
Afterwards, we returned to 11046 where we decided to sit out on the balcony for a while. It was just so pleasant to listen to the sounds of the sea as the Queen Anne sailed along. We had a good view of the bridge wing from our balcony and we could see captain Inga Thorhauge moving around inside; in fact, we had never clapped eyes on the captain or any of the seniors officers around the ship so far.
Around 10.45am we returned to the theatre for the presentation at eleven o’clock; the place was already packed and we could only get a seat about six rows from the front. This is because we had a treat in store – a talk from international crime fiction writer Val McDermid. She is probably most well-known for writing Wire in the Blood, which was made into a TV series starring Robson Green. Val gave a fascinating presentation as to how she was an avid reader from an early age, and then she started writing short stories with interesting characters. After having many of her manuscripts rejected by publishers (as all famous authors do!) she eventually had her first book, Report for Murder, published in 1987, and since then has become a household name on both sides of the Pond. A very interesting lady indeed, and we enjoyed her talk a lot. I must read one of her books! 🙂
It was nearly lunchtime when we left the theatre, so we decided to return to our stateroom and crack open a chilled bottle of vintage Veuve Clicquot that we had brought with us to enjoy on our balcony. Cunard does allow you to bring your own booze on board, as long as it is only consumed in your own stateroom. You can, of course, take it into the restaurant and pay a corkage fee (which we have done in the past, as it is cheaper than paying the Cunard price for champers!) 🙂
It was just so brilliant sitting outside in the warm sunshine in our deckchairs, feet up on the glass balcony barrier while we enjoyed the scrumptious cold champagne. We each partook of a large glass before putting the bottle back in the fridge to enjoy some more later on. 🙂
We then went to the Artisans’ Foodhall for a late lunch, where I just had a plate of cold meats, salad and pickles before returning to 11046 to catch up with some of this blog and to have a power nap. Trevor decided to go to the Panorama Pool Club for the music quiz instead.
The rest of the afternoon passed in its usual pleasant way, and soon it was time to start getting ready for dinner once again. We enjoyed a delicious meal (the food has been excellent on this cruise so far) in the enjoyable company of Andy, Margaret, Eric and Christina. Once again, the waiters had to drop hints for us to leave the restaurant, and we made it into the Royal Court Theatre with minutes to spare before the show started; even after curtain up people were still coming in and causing a disturbance while they looked for free seats.
The show was called “Let’s Dance” and featured the Cunard Singers and Dancers in their first performance of this cruise. I really liked it; I love watching different types of dancing (I have often been to the ballet at home) and the costumes were colourful and elaborate, the singing exuberant. Trevor, however, was not really into it at all.
Afterwards we went to the Golden Lion for the trivia quiz. The topic tonight was the “Magic of Movies” and Trevor and I let out a collective groan; movies is just not our subject at all. We hardly go to the cinema and we never know who starred in what or who directed such-and-such a film. As such, we only scored a pathetic 9/20 and didn’t even bother passing our quiz paper over to be marked.
Once the quiz had finished, the resident singers “The Amethyst Duo” came on stage. We remembered this group from our Caribbean cruise on the Adonia in 2016. The Amethyst Duo were pretty mediocre back then, and it soon became apparent that they had not improved. The bloke was an excellent guitarist, really good, but the woman – oh dear. She really was dire; we have heard better karaoke singers.
Afterwards, we hotfooted it along to the Queen’s Room where the excellent ship’s orchestra were doing their tribute to the Big Band era. There were several ballroom dancers on the floor and Trevor and I, who attend dance classes, wanted to get up, but the other dancers were so good we didn’t dare. We really did enjoy the superb music of a live orchestra.
It was around midnight when we finished our drinks and returned to 11046 to settle down in our comfortable big bed. We were due to dock in Funchal, Madeira tomorrow morning, and stay until five o’clock on Wednesday; a good long stay. We couldn’t wait to be back on this pretty little island.
We slept very well.