Monday, September 20th - Mykonos
Turns out we didn't sail from Athens last night until 4am -- but we never heard the engines start or the screws turn. Great night's sleep.
Up for mandatory lifevest/evacuation drill at 10:15a and then pool time (and food time) until we boarded the tender for transport to Mykonos. Curiously, this life-vest drill didn't include putting them on and marching to the lifeboat deck as we've done on previous cruises. Instead, they just had the crew show us how to put them on (kinda like on an airplane take-off demo) and we were out of there.
Over on the left is soon-to-be new friend Phyllis Gifford; you'll be seeing more of her!
Of course one must make time for a Bloody Mary on the pool deck:
..and the "pre-lunch" treats were tempting:
This lovely couple had a pre-cruise misfortune on a Segway tour of Athens. These cool transporters are easy to ride but one cannot drive off a curb without injury. If I'd known this tour was available, I might have signed up -- and ended up looking like Mike here. He said it was really a motorcycle accident because he was getting out of the way of a sidewalk-operated motorcycle when he went off the curb. Sounds more manly than a "Segway accident".
We were supposed to queue up for tender tickets at 1:45p (Mykonos doesn't have a dock so cruise ships use ship's tenders to ferry guests ashore). When we got to the showoom (on time) to swap our reservation tickets for tour tickets, we ended up in Group #11; apparently they started early. Took the tender 500 meters or so to quay-side and met with our tour leader for Group #11:
Her English and the size of the crowd made it difficult to follow everything she was saying, but we got it (mostly). Then we walked through the town of Mykonos which is a blend of historical references and shopping.
These are new friends Tom and Kathy Cooper from Tyler, TX
Above and below are examples of the famous windmills of Mykonos. They used to be used for grinding grain as gusty winds blow constantly here. None are in operation now (hence no fabric on the vanes).
Above, tenders en passante.
After about four hours we took the tender back to the ship.
A bit of computer work and off to dinner in the Compass Rose Restaurant. We'd made no plans to meet anyone for dinner but Bill and Phyllis Gifford from Carlsbad CA (whom we met on a bus earlier) were there at the same time so we made it a delightful foursome.
After dinner we enjoyed the show in the Constellation Theater, "Just Swing" with excellent singers and dancers. And so to bed (8am call tomorrow...)
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