September 23, 2014

The ship was already docked in Constanta, Romania when we awoke to a dark cloudy sky, wind and only 16 C for the temperature. Went for breakfast to the Dining Room, and sat with an Irish woman living in the US, a Canadian woman and Joan and Graham from England. After breakfast we went to the Celebrity Theater to get our excursion stickers and discovered that Joan and Graham are taking the same excursion.  We went off the ship and on to the tour bus on time at 8:30 a.m.  Our first stop is the Constanta Archaeological Museum, in the old city section of Constanta at the Ovid Square, named after the famous Roman poet, Ovid, who was exiled there by the Roman Emperor in 8 A.D. It is one of the richest museums in the country, with collections of prehistoric, Greek, Roman, Byzantine, Medieval archaeology where we saw glass bottles and bowls recovered when a new city hall foundation was being excavated in the 1960s.   Our guide, Eremis, explained the origin of the Caesarian section operation in old Roman times.  An ointment of snake venom, olive oil, herbs and other ingredients was rubbed on the pregnant woman’s abdomen to numb the area and then an incision was made. The cut was no more painful than the rubbing and the baby was delivered and then the incision was closed by golden pins, since gold does not oxidize and therefore infection was less likely to occur. Plus there were rooms with artifacts from Greek, Roman and Byzantine epochs. Also nearby, are Roman ruins with restored original walls and some of the floor mosaics still intact. Next, we  went to Eforie Nord, a popular resort on the Romanian Black Sea Coast bound for the Nunta Zamfirei Restaurant (Zamfira’s Wedding). There, we had  a traditional Romanian snack with wine tasting of four local wines and watched a Romanian folk show that represents a typical Romanian wedding, with all its traditions. Unfortunately, there was no menu to explain the wines or the food.  The dancers wore several different costumes in their dances which included audience members participating in a dance around the room.  We were back on the bus at noon returning to the ship in a light rain with wind. 

Back on the ship we put away our jackets and took the 143 steps from deck 2 to deck 10 for some ice cream from the cafeteria ice cream kiosk. After we went back to the stateroom to get our jackets for walking on deck 11, since the rain had stopped, but there was a cool wind and we needed to walk at least 6,000 more steps to reach our daily goal of at least 10,000 steps each day.  There were no swimmers or sunbathers around the outdoor pool today and both the bars by the pool were closed. The casino and ship’s shops are closed while the ship is in port so when the rain started again, we walked down to deck 5 to walk inside and made a route through decks 4 and 5.  When we finished the walk, we stopped at the Café al Bacio for cappuccinos, then returned to the stateroom to write the blog, download today’s photos and choose some photos to insert into the blog.

Dress code for tonight is smart casual. Our choices for dinner tonight were Crab Cakes for the appetizer, then Cream of Broccoli soup, followed by the entrée choice of Roasted Pork Loin or grilled Drum Fish. To finish the dessert choices were Olive Oil Cremeux (a custard) and Apple Tart Tatin. After dinner, we watched the last few minutes of the Celebrity Theatre 7 p.m. show, featuring singer, guitarist and pianist, Ben Mills, a contestant who placed third on the 2006 on X-factor. Then we returned to the Rendez-vous Lounge in time to dance the last dance of the set. Then we returned to the stateroom to see if ordering of the discounted Internet package was fixed to work for registering. Finally, we successfully logged on with our new package.  When checking email we were saddened to learn that Betty has been hospitalized with an aneurism that is quite serious.

The TV stations onboard and the daily news bulletin have been keeping us informed on the ISIS in Syria situation and American & Arabian military actions.

After leaving Constanta and heading east for the next day and a half, the seas are gently rocking the ship this evening. Dancing is only a slight challenge. The forecast for Wednesday’s seas is 5 meter high waves and wind for the first Formal night. We are glad that our stateroom is low and close to mid-ship, so that motion sickness is less likely on Wednesday.