Lisbon – Monday 5th January 2009

We’ve just got back onboard after walking round the streets of Lisbon for a few hours. Our mission to visit a Museum or Art Gallery was spectacularly unsuccessful, partly because the maps provided by P&O are virtually useless, and those handed out on the quayside by the local Tourist Office also seem to be reluctant to mark the names of the streets. Hence we spent an hour looking for the Modern Art Gallery, which, when we found it, was closed Mondays. Never give up... so after a coffee and a traditional Lisbon custard tart in a small cafe, we decided instead to find the National Art Gallery. This looked an easy task, as it was marked on the map, on the main road just opposite where the ship was berthed. Pity maps aren’t in 3D, as when we reached the spot, it was high above us, up several long flights of steps. Never give up... so we climbed, and climbed... and the very nice lady on reception explained to us that ALL museums and galleries are closed on Mondays. Give up!

Anyway, the day hasn’t been entirely wasted, as we’ve had some exercise and Dave is now sitting contentedly on the balcony, reading today’s D**** M***, (printed in Spain).

We’ve not taken advantage of much of the entertainment on offer this cruise. The theatre shows have had two different singers, a classical pianist, a comedian, a magician and The Bachelors, as well as the onboard team of young entertainers. The ‘magician’ was truly dire. It probably didn’t help that we’d seen him on a previous cruise. Dave’s attention was held for a while by the two ‘beautiful’ assistants who seemed to have forgotten to put the bottom half of their outfits on, and did a lot of bending over. Van Buren, as he is called, has a Northern accent (maybe Van Buren means ‘from Bury’?) and told us that he had learnt his trade from his parents who had passed on the family act to him. Remember the good old days when variety was king? Good clean family entertainment? Don’t we all just love it? Unicycling, juggling, plate-spinning? Van Buren keeps the tradition alive. Oh per-leeeaze... someone wake me up when he’s finished!

On a more positive front, the Headliners Theatre Company, the young talented singers and dancers, are excellent, and gave a brilliant show the other night devoted to the music of Queen. They made a belting job of Bohemian Rhapsody and Barcelona, plus many of the other more well known Queen numbers. They’re on again tonight, this time with an Abba tribute show.

We’ve also seen two films in the onboard cinema, ‘Ghost Town’ with Ricky Gervais – surprisingly good, and the latest Indiana Jones, which was OK too. And last night Dave and I watched a Blankety Blank take-off. Probably the less said about that the better!

So, the last formal night tonight, and then we have to start to think about packing and getting the winter clothes back on. Off to the future tours desk later to see what availability there is on the New Year 2009/10 cruise... watch this space Jools!

Love
Janet
xx