The summer has dwindled to a close. As you read this, today is the first day of my academic year. We have this week for meetings, prep, and freshmen orientation, with the students arriving on the 25th.
In some ways, we saved the best for last by taking a two-week cruise at the end of July. Deb and her knitting compatriots started discussing and then planning this Viking trip about 18 months ago. It started with a few discussing it, and more asked to come, so we wound up with 14 people, five couples, two best friends, and one mother/daughter pair.
This proved to be a first in several ways: first group vacation, first two-week cruise, and first experience aboard a Viking vessel. Thankfully, it worked out wonderfully. Everyone got along, and the pair was welcomed in and got along famously. The Saturn is a two-year-old ship, so everything was in excellent condition; the food was nicely varied and uniformly excellent, as was the service.
We flew to Bergen, Norway, and departed from there to visit Geiringer, Lofoten, Tromsø, and Honningsvåg. We were taken to see the sights from up a mountain and saw small towns. At one point, I went to see a recreation of a Viking long house near a dig where artifacts from their era were on display. We capped this segment off with visiting foggy North Cape, the most northern part of the trip, the closest I am likely to get to the actual North Pole (sorry, Santa).
After two days at sea, we arrived at Lerwick on the Shetland Islands, where I took another solo jaunt to visit more ruins and remains.
At Kirkwall, on the Orkney Isles, we went to see the Ring of Brodgar, which features impressive standing stones. We also got to tour the small town, which was rather charming.
In Rosyth (Edinburgh), we walked the Royal Mile and toured the impressive Holyrood. Similar to our last visit here, it coincided with both the Fringe Fest and the Tattoo, but time didn’t allow us to indulge in either (although my fellow teacher was coincidentally there at the same moment, and she got to see shows, making me jealous).
We got to spend one day wandering Greenwich, which was warm and packed with locals enjoying the rare hot day. The morning started with a tour of the Globe Theatre recreation, which I felt duty-bound to visit. We then visited the small market and walked to the Royal Observatory (mobbed for its 350th anniversary), then visited the gallery at the Queen’s House.
While at sea, I indulged in many hours just reading books, although I participated in group trivia games and attended a few of the interesting cultural lectures. If there was a downside to the trip, it was the lackluster evening entertainment. I was vexed enough to discuss it with the Cruise Director, who gave me the name of the company Viking hired to write and choreograph the shows. I wrote to them with my complaints and await a reply. There was, though, an amazing acoustic guitarist with a deep repertoire, who never failed to enthrall us.
Last Monday, we got up early, flew all day, and walked in the house at 9:20. We expected Harley to hear us and come charging down the stairs, but instead, he remained glued to my sister-in-law Christine’s side.
That day-long sojourn seemed to help us quickly reset our body clocks, so I was able to spend the remainder of the week getting things settled and begin preparing for my return to the classroom. On Friday, I even went in for a few hours to reassemble my classroom after the floors were waxed (which always leaves things in a jumble).
So no, I didn’t complete the original novel outline, much to my chagrin. But I managed lots of other things, both around the house and in my freelance life. It was mostly unlike any other summer break over the last decade or so.
What We’re Watching
We had little time to watch anything this week, although we did manage to binge our way through the final three episodes of The Gilded Age, to see what the dramatic fuss was all about in the media. We then completed watching Grantchester, which is as close to a cozy mystery as I am likely to get. On my own, I caught up with Strange New Worlds, which continues an uneven and vexing season. The Hot Spock romances send the character in directions that fail to set up the Vulcan we met in the original series; similarly, the same is true for Chapel. The Captain Batel hosting baby Gorn thread was overly dragged out, and I hope it’s finally over.
What I’m Reading
I was very pleased to read four books while away. Just before departing, I read and mostly enjoyed Sarah Kay’s recent book of poetry, A little Daylight Left: Poems. I love her spoken poetry and was curious to see how she worked in print. It was fine, with an over-reliance on ampersands.
On the flight over, I read the always entertaining Taylor Jenkins Reid’s Carrie Soto is Back. While on the ship, I enjoyed the mammoth Hollywood: The Oral History as Jeanine Basinger and Sam Wasson reviewed thousands of hours of interviews with filmmakers to compile a chronological history, with fascinating opinions and insights. I also fairly devoured Karen Russell’s The Antidote, a Dust Bowl era story with a heavy dose of magical realism. I liked the quirky digital short story, “Cut and Thrust ” by Margaret Atwood, and then read The Matzah Ball, by Jean Meltzer, which had been recommended and was interesting, but not for me.
I’ve now begun Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi, for the Faculty Book Club, and Rebecca Yarros’ Onyx Storm.
#Tags: Allen Levi, Carrie Soto is Back, Geiringer, Globe Theatre, Grantchester, Holyrood, Honningsvåg, Jean Meltzer, Karen Russell, Lofoten, North Cape, Orkney Islands, Rebecca Yarros, Ring of Brodgar, Royal Mile, Sarah Kay, Shetland Islands, Taylor Jenkins Reid, The Antidote, The Gilded Age, Tony K. Irving, Tromsø, Viking Saturn