Day 6, October 9, 2014, Symphony Crossing – Fourth day of cruising

We got up a bit before 7am and went out to exercise.  It was dark and the moon was up.  As we walked around the deck, we got to see the sunrise, which was breathtaking. 

An exercise machine:

Another one of the exercise machines, what a view!!!

Sunrise:

New sunlight hitting the front of the ship on deck 7:

A view of the elliptical machine on deck 7 from deck 8:

A leg press machine on deck 8:

A view aft:

After another hour long session, we got ready and went to breakfast in the Lido where we had our usual omelets and fruit.   We then headed for a lecture by Robert Schrire on “Why Tyrants Survive”.  It was a fascinating account of tyrants and an analysis of the ones that survive and why.  He even presented a play book of the rules that tyrants should follow to be successful.

After lunch, we relaxed for a bit and then went to team trivia.  It was again a huge number of teams (30) and we again were middle of the pack.  The questions are very obscure, some of which we can reason out, but most of them are pure guesses.  They are facts that none of us even had a clue about as compared with the questions that you knew the answer at one time and were trying to recall it. 

We did lunch up in the Trident Grill area.  Bob had a hamburger with no bun and Julie had a salmon burger no bun.  After lunch, we relaxed and then went to a 2:30 movie called Chef.  It was excellent except we missed the last 30 minutes of it.  A few minutes before 4pm, Julie looked at her watch and said that we had Magic Castle at Sea tickets for a 5pm show that we completely forgot about.  So, Bob hustled back to get the tickets and Julie went to the show.  We barely made it.

We had seen the magic show on the Serenity and this one was terrific as well.  It lasted about 25 minutes where the magician did close up magic of almost all card tricks and slight of hand.  They keep the group small so it is a very personal experience – there were about 20 people in the audience.  The magician was excellent.  One cool thing is that the ticket can be used for entrance to the Magic Castle private club in LA if we ever get in that area. 

We then got ready for dinner (the dress was resort casual), went to the Crystal Cove for a pre-dinner cocktail and listened to the pianist Bruce Johnson.  Dinner again was in the dining room at 6:15.  For appetizers, Julie had the King Crab, Lump and Dungeness Crabmeat on Avocado Mousse and Bob had the Warm Sun-Dried Tomato Basic, and Ricotta Cheesecake.  We both had the Butternut Squash Bisque for our second course.  For the entrée Julie had the Charred Norwegian Line Cod, while Bob had the Sous Vide Angus Beef Striploin, both from the modern menu.  For dessert, Julie had a Mint Chocolate Chunk sundae and Bob had Cherries Jubilee.  Another amazing meal!!!!

The vegetable cheesecake:

The bisque:

The striploin:

The cod:

Cherries Jubilee:

Sundae:

After dinner, we went to the show by musical humorist Dale Gonyea.  He played the piano and made jokes using projected pictures of people and places on the ship that he had taken during the cruise.  It was a really good show, very entertaining.