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Silversea Water Cooler: Welcome! Part Five

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By CCHelp ,
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TakingFlight

TakingFlight

Posted
Posted
1 hour ago, QueSeraSera said:

Not sure of your scriptural reference here - 3 wise men connected to the slaughter of the innocents?

Matthew chapter 2. The wise men came to Jerusalem and were asking where to find the newborn king of the Jews. Naturally this upset Herod, the current king who then issued an edict to kill all the infant boys in Bethlehem. A sad tale indeed.

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jpalbny "Live from...." Rare

jpalbny

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Posted (edited)
2 hours ago, QueSeraSera said:

Not sure of your scriptural reference here - 3 wise men connected to the slaughter of the innocents?

 

Yes.

 

The Magi went to Jerusalem first, looking for Jesus ("asking for directions"); thus alerting Herod to the birth of a potential rival. This led to the slaughter of the innocents. Obviously asking for directions is a big mistake.

Edited by jpalbny
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Host Jazzbeau Great Review Rare

Host Jazzbeau

Posted
Posted
53 minutes ago, jpalbny said:

Yes.

 

The Magi went to Jerusalem first, looking for Jesus ("asking for directions"); thus alerting Herod to the birth of a potential rival. This led to the slaughter of the innocents. Obviously asking for directions is a big mistake.

Sadly, my wife doesn't see this logic as clearly as you and I do!

 

But that just goes to prove the truth of Ogden Nash's poetic observation: 

     Just as I know that there are two Hagens, Walter and Copen, 

     I know that marriage is a legal and religious alliance entered into by a 

       man who can't sleep with the window shut and a woman who can't 

       sleep with the window open.

     [From I Do, I Will, I Have: http://www.aenet.org/poems/ognash8.htm]

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Host Jazzbeau Great Review Rare

Host Jazzbeau

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In retrospect, I realize that my edit above may be more confusing that enlightening to all you CC members too young to remember Walter Hagen (or Ogden Nash, for that matter), so here is the entire poem with a footnote by the website editor.  Somehow ON failed to note a third Hagen, Uta – but maybe he had already been through too many options with his poem about Lamas (also quoted below).

 

I Do, I Will, I Have 

I am about to volunteer a definition of marriage. 
Just as I know that there are two Hagens, Walter and Copen, 
I know that marriage is a legal and religious alliance entered into by a 
  man who can't sleep with the window shut and a woman who can't 
  sleep with the window open. 
Moreover, just as I am unsure of the difference between flora and fauna 
  and flotsam and jetsam, 
I am quite sure that marriage is the alliance of two people one of whom 
  never remembers birthdays and the other never forgetsam, 
And he refuses to believe there is a leak in the water pipe or the gas pipe 
  and she is convinced she is about to asphyxiate or drown, 
And she says Quick get up and get my hairbrushes off the windowsill, 
  it's raining in, and he replies Oh they're all right, it's only raining 
  straight down. 
That is why marriage is so much more interesting than divorce, 
Because it's the only known example of the happy meeting of the 
  immovable object and the irresistible force. 
So I hope husbands and wives will continue to debate and combat over 
  everything debatable and combatable, 
Because I believe a little incompatibility is the spice of life, particulary if 
  he has income and she is pattable.

  • Note: Walter Hagen was golf's first superstar during the 1920's and 30's. Copen Hagen? The capital of Denmark.

 

The one-l lama,
He’s a priest.
The two-l llama,
He’s a beast.
And I will bet
A silk pajama
There isn’t any
Three-l lllama.*

 

*The author’s attention has been called to a type of conflagration known as a three-alarmer. Pooh.”

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dawntrdr

dawntrdr

Posted
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1 hour ago, QueSeraSera said:

he Magi went to Jerusalem first, looking for Jesus ("asking for directions");

The wise women wouldn't have gone to the king to find out where the new baby is.  Any other woman in Bethlehem could have told them who just had a baby and where to find it.

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mysty "Live from...." Rare

mysty

Posted
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3 hours ago, zqtchas said:

Finally made it to Valparaiso to board the Whisper.  The port is so screwed up the

bus driver got lost and it took an hour longer getting from the Ritz to the ship.

David Bilsland boarded here too.

 

Have a glorious time folks!  Sing and dance and laugh and frolic!  🥰

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QueSeraSera

QueSeraSera

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Spent Thanksgiving outside Chicago with middle daughter's family.  Saturday night was dinner and a show downtown with wife, daughter, and eldest granddaughter (picture below).  Dinner at Trivoli Tavern was fantastic, and the Goodman Theater did a great job with "A Christmas Carol"

 

image.thumb.png.d94b9e59d9f0fa7e3915e1b24928b42a.png

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jpalbny "Live from...." Rare

jpalbny

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Well, we've done it!

 

Christmas is a Sunday this year so Monday 12/26 is a holiday. That gives us a 3-day weekend. So for the last few weeks, I've been looking for places to go. So far I'd only found an itinerary to Paris which would be challenging, so over the past few days I've been spending lots of time searching for something else that would work.

 

Tonight I found a nice itinerary from Boston to London leaving Friday night and returning Monday afternoon. It's booked. Now to find a hotel and plan what to do for a few days there! Looking forward to it - we have not been to London in 4 years. Christmas there should be fun!

Edited by jpalbny
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Stumblefoot

Stumblefoot

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Posted
4 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Christmas is a Sunday this year so Monday 12/26 is a holiday. That gives us a 3-day weekend.

 

Tonight I found a nice itinerary from Boston to London leaving Friday night and returning Monday afternoon.

You exhaust me. All I want to do from that Friday night to Monday afternoon is to stay planted in one place and relax with family by my side.

 

With that said, enjoy yourselves!  It’ll be interesting to read your posts to see what you find open during your visit.  

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mysty "Live from...." Rare

mysty

Posted
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10 hours ago, jpalbny said:

Well, we've done it!

 

Christmas is a Sunday this year so Monday 12/26 is a holiday. That gives us a 3-day weekend. So for the last few weeks, I've been looking for places to go. So far I'd only found an itinerary to Paris which would be challenging, so over the past few days I've been spending lots of time searching for something else that would work.

 

Tonight I found a nice itinerary from Boston to London leaving Friday night and returning Monday afternoon. It's booked. Now to find a hotel and plan what to do for a few days there! Looking forward to it - we have not been to London in 4 years. Christmas there should be fun!

 

Awesome plan!  @jpalbny you and Chris are excellent role models for the "grab life by the throat and shake it" approach to life.    Enjoy!

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jpalbny "Live from...." Rare

jpalbny

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8 hours ago, Stumblefoot said:

You exhaust me. All I want to do from that Friday night to Monday afternoon is to stay planted in one place and relax with family by my side.

 

With that said, enjoy yourselves!  It’ll be interesting to read your posts to see what you find open during your visit.  

 

Long weekends in Europe are a ton of fun! We only do them when we can leave Friday and come back Monday, and only to places where it's a direct flight so we don't waste half of the time traveling, and only if we can find reasonable business-class tickets. If we don't get some sleep on the plane then we'd be dead in the water for the whole trip. But a couple of hours will be enough.

 

This should be very relaxing. We can leave work at noon on Friday and drive to the Massport parking facility in Framingham; from there the Logan Express will take us directly to the airport. So it's only about 2h from home to there; once we arrive at the garage the vacation officially starts.

 

In terminal E we can hang at the Virgin Atlantic clubhouse which has always been a great way to start a trip. The flight to London is only 6h and it's only a 5h time change so jetlag should not be a real issue. Plus you never get fully adjusted to the time change on such a short trip so coming home won't be a big issue.

 

We get in at 7AM Saturday so we'll head right to the hotel, dump our (small carry-on) bags, and hit the ground running.  We are staying at the NoMad Hotel in Covent Garden. Looks like there are two great Christmas Markets; one in Covent Garden and one on the South Bank just across from where we are. They are open even past Christmas, unlike most of the continental markets which close on 12/23 or maybe 12/24. And they sound like they will have tons of great food stalls to try. So we may not need to worry about finding a place to have a full dinner. A day of grazing sounds wonderful.

 

On Christmas Day, the NoMad is having a special prix-fixe lunch menu that sounds great. Just snagged one of the last reservations for 3:45 so it will be a late lunch/early dinner, then we can spend the evening walking around enjoying the lights, and not worry about what's open.

 

On Monday we don't leave until 4PM so we can sleep in and/or enjoy a last run through more markets. Then we'll head back to LHR to use the Virgin Upper Class Wing which is such fun. The drive home from the garage won't be the highlight of the trip but oh well.

 

In case you can't tell, I'm really excited about this!

 

 

7 hours ago, lincslady said:

jp - you are what used to be known as a glutton for punishment!   But I would love to have  one tenth of your energy.

 

Lola

 

Lola, we will pay for it the next week at work. We're both on call for 7 days straight starting Tuesday, but life is short and there is much fun to be had.

 

We did similar trips for Christmas in 2014, 15, and 16 but then for the next few years, Christmas was midweek so no long weekend, and so there was no way to make it work out. In 2020 we were super excited because Christmas was a Friday, so we could resume this tradition, but we all know what happened then and again in 2021. So we were NOT going to miss out this year!

 

3 hours ago, mysty said:

 

Awesome plan!  @jpalbny you and Chris are excellent role models for the "grab life by the throat and shake it" approach to life.    Enjoy!

 

We certainly will! We have been really wanting to go back to London for some time now. Excited that it will finally happen!

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