This was a day of hotel living. Ever read “The Man from Moscow” by Alexander Towles? This was the life. Upstairs, downstairs, the roof, the door, and then escape! After breakfast, we were tested again. This was the official test by Viking to ensure that all passengers are worthy for entry (think crossing the moat in Monty Python.) We took our test, then back to our rooms. The plan was to stay put for the whole day, but I remembered my self-stick, the one I bought at the Louvre to the great embarrassment of Katie on our trip in 2015. I had packed it with me for all the pictures of John and I together on the continent, ice floes, or undersea in the submersible. So I pulled it out to give it a try. Oops. It had an attachment for my former phone and did not adapt for my new iPhone! I needed a new one quickly. Surely a tourist spot like this would have some kind of market nearby. Indeed, they did, but it was Sunday and the only place open was the pharmacy and the market. Donning masks, we dashed out and up the street. Though it felt like were escaping prison, we were not. We had been advised that if we went out, we needed to keep our masks on and not stay indoors for extended periods of time. The quick looks into the pharmacy (no good) and the market (just food) brought us right back to the hotel where we were again confined to trips upstairs, downstairs, to the roof where the swimming pool and several city views were, and back down to the restaurants.
Happily, in the recent literature was a suggested app— the Cornell Bird app—for us to download. Since our first venture to sea will be through the Beagle Passage, there will be chances for extensive bird watching. The Cornell app offers identification keys for “bird” in your geographical area. They hope that by doing this, people record their sightings and extend the Cornell database. We dutifully downloaded the app and started pushing buttons. My favorite was the “sound” button. For quite some time afterward, I subjected John to the call of an albatross, skua, and petrel. But of course, each species of each has a slightly different call. The chirping continued for some time.
Having little else to do, we also looked out the huge window quite a bit. While the windows on the ground floor offered views of girl groups practicing their dances, our upstairs views were of the skyline. So, I tried my new bionic ultra. Terrific! That’s just about when John thumped his head with the realization that with because of the fast exit from home, he’d forgotten his! This is quite an irony because I bought mine (exactly like his) on eBay last week specifically so I wouldn’t have to share his. Now it looks like I’ll be sharing mine. Ha ha!
We had a small lunch of empanadas but stayed for more than an hour because the central bar in the gorgeous hotel, was a sports bar. We watched a bit of horse jumping before finding the Golf Channel. Oh yes, the rest of the day was in Golf Heaven, watching the American Express tournament at PGA West. Hudson Stafford won by two strokes. Sorry, if that ruins it for you.
Dinner was delivered to our rooms at 6 pm. Our luggage had to be outside the door at 8 pm. We were in bed by 10–preparing for a very early morning tomorrow.
