Wednesday, Feb 20th - Melbourne

Very early wake-up call this morning....the call was loud sounds and vibrations (the warnings we had read on CC were for real!!) in the Aft part of the ship.  I had ordered breakfast via room service so our 2nd wake-up call was the one that told us breakfast was on the way.  Art enjoyed his bagels with Lox and cream cheese and I had my usual juice and cereal.  We noted that it was raining lightly and that the temperature was in the 50s to low 60s....quite a change from the 90s that we had heard that Melbourne experienced the day before.

Before we headed off ship, I went down to the Rendezvous lounge, where I've been getting good Internet connections, and uploaded another blog post.

Shortly after breakfast, I had an upset stomach and was really concerned that I wouldn't be able to go ashore.  Must have been something I ate yesterday because, after a couple of doses of Pepto , I was feeling fine and off we went.  Met Johanna and Carl in the lobby by Guest Relations and we left to find our way to the tram to the city.  Carl and Johanna were so sweet - insisting on paying for our tram tickets since I had done the planning for the trip.   We found the tram, figured out how to put the ticket into the onboard machine and, in good order, got off at the correct station and found the Visitor's Centre which has a wonderful Volunteer greeters program. Volunteers takes 1-4 people on a tour of city spots that might not be on the typical tourists list.  We were early for our 11 AM appt. so went for a cup of coffee (Tea for me) and then met Peter, our tour guide at 11 AM.

The challenge was the weather but our new waterproof jackets, Chanukah gifts from our son's family, did the trick and the ship's umbrellas (packed in my backpack) came in handy.  We visited Indigenous Art of the Aborigines at the Museum of Victoria and then walked in the rain to the other section of the Museum (International to see the largest stained glass ceiling in the world. We were fortunate to hear an orchestra playing in the room with the beautiful ceiling. After we left the Museum, we wandered through the city's arcades, saw the lovely Victorian metal work and architecture...stopped to have a light lunch, then visited the original city library with a room for historical books about Australia.

By this time, we were cold, wet, and tired so said our thanks and good-byes to Peter and took the tram back to the ship.  Warmer clothes and warm drinks were the order of the day. 

Since the show (a hypnotist) was scheduled before dinner tonight, we actually made it through the show in which Art was a participant.  What fun to watch him lead an orchestra, play drums and be a guitarist during the show.  So sorry that I didn't have my camera with me - could have blackmailed him with those pictures! Then we were off to share our day with our dinner partners.

Tried to eat light this evening due to my problems earlier in the day but did succumb to the Cheesecake our table had requested the night before.  Not quite real NY Cheesecake but we were appreciative of the positive response to our request (and I've put in my request for Key Lime Pie later on the cruise.

Tonight was the raffle in the Casino - our whole table went together and make quite a spectacle of ourselves, booing and applauding - the only winner in our group was ART who won a High Roller shirt (not really his style :)), Bingo cards, free drinks, etc.  Lots of fun - we made so much noise that we told Damien he owed us free drink coupons and he, nice guy that he is, complied...so tomorrow the drinks are on the Casino!  And off to bed as the ship rocked and rolled on the way to Tasmania.