Churches and beer!

So today, in our little town, it is "Open Church day"  All four local churches had open houses with special programs.  It was timed so that people could walk from church to church, and spend about 30-45 minutes at each.  It appeared as if at each church there was 20-30 minutes to look around at displays, sample foods, etc, then a short presentation and choral concert  (we did not participate, largely because I didn't realize it was happening until the mass of people exited one church and walked to the next while we were eating ice cream by the fountain).

I took this photo of the "Welcome" sign on the church right next to the fountain.  I just thought it was "funny" (from an American perspective) to have a welcome sign on the church that is sponsored by the local brewery.

That is all for today--but I am happy to report that the rain finally stopped this afternoon, so we hope to visit Playmobil Funpark tomorrow and then I can post a more interesting outing with photos tomorrow night or Monday.

I hope you are all having a great weekend (and West Coasters--stay cool!).

--Hadley

and keeping with a theme . . .

Blogging about grocery shopping has caused me to think about, and appreciate, just how many products are readily available now that we could not buy when we moved here.  It seems like every month something "new" shows up in the grocery stores--which is a nice treat.

Some things have always been around if we were willing to pay extremely high prices and rive to specialty shops in other cities.  Brown sugar is still not in the main stores here, but I found it locally the first month in Heidelberg--in a British shop--and the price is not bad at all--so all that requires is making an extra trip.  But there are a lot of things that were either not available at all, or only in those specialty stores in other cities at high prices, that I can now pick up at my regular stores and a typical shopping run.  Much of it is good old American junk food (and much of it we find we don't even like anymore and do not buy now that we can!), but it is fun to have it available anyway.

Here is a partial list of things I can buy fairly easily now and could not before:

Oreos
Dr Pepper
String Cheese
Ritz Crackers
Cilantro
Decent Tortilla Chips
Refried Beans
Peppridge Farm Milano Cookies
Mnt Dew


There are still hard (or impossible) to find items that we really miss though:
Ranch Dressing
Corn Tortillas
Graham Crackers
Cream Soda
Malt Powder
Sweetarts (yes, I KNOW they are crappy chemical laden things--I miss them!)
Saltines


Thankfully peanut butter was always readily available (though twice the price); I'm not sure Rio would have survived those first years without it! lol

--Hadley

Adventures in grocery shopping

A couple of months ago, when out doing other things, we happened upon a huge "newish" grocery story about thirty minutes from home.  It was a Globus--which is a brand that Dave is familiar with from his travel in northern Germany.

By "huge" I mean about the size of a Target or maybe even a "Super Target" in the US.  It is unusual to see stores that size here in Germany--especially grocery type stores (we do have some big, multi-level department stores in any city; similar to a Macy's but other brands of course).

On that day we stumbled upon it, Globus was celebrating their 1 year anniversary in that location and had cooking demos, Legos out to play with, prize wheels, etc.  It was a cold and gloomy day and we ended up hanging out in the store and "playing" for a while that afternoon.

Last Saturday, we went back.  We had plans to try our hand at making sushi with our friend, Jaochim, and figured that, being so large, it was a store that would have everything we might need.

We were pleasantly surprised to find that even on a "normal" Saturday, this store seems to be making an effort to be more than just a grocery store.

There was some very good music playing as we entered, and it sounded like it might be live.  Heading off in search, we quickly found the band set up smack dab in the middle of the wine aisles (sorry for the blurry photo):

The music was played on the sound system store wide, in case you really just wanted to shop and get out, but there was also plenty of space to just stand around and listen for a bit--and many people were.  We happily joined them :)  Throughout that section there were also several vendors set up with samples of breads, cheeses, olives, chocolates, wines.  All there for you to much and sip while you listened, no high pressure sale--it was pretty obvious what item was what and vendors seemed to be counting on the quality of the products to sell themselves.

I'm not sure, but I think in most places stateside you could not easily have the wine samples without a special license, and having to check IDs and the like.  

After a nice half hour of music and snacks, we finally did do our shopping.  They DID have everything we were looking for.  Also, the "Welde Girl" (Welde is a beer made locally and sold only in a 60 km radius) was going through the aisles with a big container of their new Radler (half soda and half beer--this was "Natur" natural lemon juice and beer).  She gave everyone a free, full sized bottle to take home and try :)  That was a nice extra little bonus.

I think we may have to trek out to Globus every month or two--it sure made shopping pleasant.

--Hadley

A Shout Out to Two Brave Souls

A thread on a chat board that I frequent has got me thinking about when we came here over four years ago and everything my kids have been through since.

Here is a photo of Marika and Rio taken in our home in New Hampshire on our very last day as residence in the US.

See those lovely smiles?  They were doing an awesome job of looking for the best in what could only be a scary and stressful situation for a child, and looking for the fun and adventure in it.  And, do you see that pile of suitcases?  That is pretty much every THING they got to bring with them.  Us adults brought some clothing that we needed, but otherwise left all the room we possibly could for Marika's dolls, Rio's Legos, board games the kids loved, etc.  Most of what did not fit in those cases got sold, some was left behind and got stored at our friend's house (THANKS Melissa and Don) or my in-laws (THANKS Hank and Jan).  Some of that has made it over bit by bit (photo albums and hardback books mostly), but most is still "gone" for all intents and purposes.

It's funny, when we talk about the move, even when it was happening, most people poo poo the idea that the  "things" would really matter at all--even to a kid.  I find it odd, that whenever a home is lost to fire--even if no one and no pet was injured, there is a great outpouring of support for the people who "lost everyTHING"  People are totally sympathetic to the real sense of loss that one would feel to not be able to cuddle up in a favourite blanket, or pull out baby photos when in a nostalgic mood.    Yet, tie that sense of loss to an overseas move, instead of a tragic fire--and, nope, sorry!, most people seem to think it is ridiculous for anyone, even a child, to care that those comforting things are not there for them.  Weird.

It is an odd mindset--especially when you add in that in an international move, not only the THINGS are missing. The people you have been friends with, the language you have relied on, the culture you know and are comfortable with, he foods you love, it's all gone.  All you have to rely on, the only familiar things in your life, are each other.

Which brings me to my kids.  My amazing, incredible, WONDERFUL kids.  

I am not sure that I have made it through a single week since we moved without hearing "it's so easy for kids" or something similar.  Sigh.  I have to say that there are days when it is really hard for me to remain gracious in the face of yet another such comment.  

Perhaps, if you are moving an infant or toddler--a child young enough that her world is pretty much her family, and whose mind is busily engaged in acquiring language and culture anyway, then it might be easy.  No doubt that a child under the age of 8 or so, whose brain still has language acquisition as an easy skill (this turns off between 8-10 for most people) and who is young enough to not miss much of consequence in school, will have a less difficult time than adult.  

However, Marika and Rio had just turned 10 and 12 when we arrived here.  They were too old to have an "easy" time of the language.  They were smack dab in those middle school years that virtually EVERYONE recalls as some of the very hardest of childhood (or of life)--when self consciousness and worry are abundant, even when you are 100% familiar with your surroundings.  

Those kids walked into 5th and 7th grades KNOWING they wouldn't understand the vast majority of what was said, that they truly did not know the culture, that they were (through absolutely no control of their own) misfits in every possible way. And they knew that if they encountered problems (with the material, or the teachers or other kids or anything) that their parents were virtually helpless to assist them as we knew just as little of the language and culture as they did.   And they had the guts to do it day after day after day.

As an adult in a foreign country, people give me the benefit of the doubt.  Most people assume I will never have the language down 100% and will always have an accent--and they are so nice and supportive of all the attempts I make.  Adults are really very forgiving of missed cultural cues--they expect it.  In fact, an interesting little tidbit is that many people with aspergers move to a new culture as adults--one theory is they are more comfortable as "foreigners" whose social oddities tend to be written off as cultural missteps.  Tweens and teens, on the other hand, tend to expect other kids to adapt fast and to fit in quickly regardless of where they come from.  AND, most adults expect that the kids will as well--back to that "it's so easy for kids" mentality.  

All of that means, that no one cut Marika and Rio much slack.  If they did not have everything, language, culture, school subjects, etc down in six months, people (young and old) tended to write them off as "not trying" or "not caring."  

Of course, as it would with ANYone, it took a lot longer than 6 months to go from "never have had any German lessons or visited Germany at all" to "fitting in well, thanks"

It took a HUGE amount of work.  Rio had to cope with a teacher who believed that since Rio was not fluent in German and has poor handwriting he was "not mentally competent" and was not worth spending time educating--one who ended up truly bullying Rio and encouraging the other kids to do so (we found out this attitude  from a note that the teacher sent home with Rio on the last day Rio was in his class).  

Thankfully, Rio now has wonderful supportive and caring teachers and with their help and his extremely hard work he has come a LONG way.  He SPEAKS German almost like a native, though he still struggles to read and write it (he struggles with reading and writing even in English and it is compounded in German and there is not nearly the help here for a learning disability that there is in the US).  He has made up for a LOT of what he missed as he floundered with a teacher who saw fit to basically exclude him from everything for close to two years--and we all have great hope that he will be "caught up" in another year or two.

It took amazing courage for Marika, who knew she relied solely on language to gauge feelings and intent to walk into rooms full of people whose language she did not fully understand.  She did not know that the rest of us picked things up from tone and body language as much as from spoken words, and we didn't know she didn't have the ability to do this to know what a disadvantage she would be at (she was diagnosed with Autism here in Germany).  She has shown remarkable strength to work with German speaking therapists to learn skills that most people come by naturally but she does not, when she was faced with losing her primary means of compensating (her remarkable understanding of the nuances of English).  

Any time that I stop to think about it, I am astounded and humbled by the courage and grace and tenacity with which my kids have handled this great adventure of ours.  In many ways, those two teenagers have dealt with more stress in the last 5 years than typical adults deal with in a lifetime--and they have come out on the other end as strong, ambitious, intelligent and confident teenagers who I am sure will succeed in building good lives for themselves.  

So, if you ever meet someone who has uprooted their kids and moved them to a whole new world, I hope that after reading this your impulse might be to say "wow, that must have been hard for the kids" instead of "well, it's so easy for kids" and maybe you can all join me in sending kudos to two people I really admire:

Marika and Rio.

A Walk in a Storybook (Rothenburg ob der Tauber)

Yesterday I picked Marika up from summer camp.  She is attending camp for three weeks, but they have to be picked up every Friday morning and returned on Sunday afternoons.  Camp Lachenwald is a Girl Scout camp that is here in Germany, primarily for scouts in military families stationed in Europe.  The camp is near the very popular among tourists, town of Rotherburg ob der Tauber.  So, after I picked Marika up we stopped by for a bit of a walk and to take some photos for the blog.

It IS a lovely town.  It looks like something straight out of a storybook.  The oldest part of town is fully enclosed by a double wall.  You can go up an walk along most of it. I had only found a one hour parking spot, so we did not go up yesterday--only through

There was a lot of renovation going on, so the main square was not all that impressive yesterday:

The town was, as always, FILLED with busloads of tour  groups, all following guides with flags--but it is fairly easy to avoid the crowds if you don't mind weaving back and forth and backtracking at times.  Even with the main square under construction, the rest of town offers some lovely views. Here are some photos; I hope you all enjoy them:

(in front of the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas decorations store--this is their main store)

As you can see, it really IS like a fairy tale.  This is the real life version of what Disney has worked so hard to recreate, and a most excellent town to visit should you ever find yourself in Bavaria.

--Hadley

Heading home via the San Bernardino tunnel

One of the really GREAT aspects of embarking and disembarking at an alternate port, was how nice and relaxed that final morning was.  On a typical cruise, every passenger must be off that same day and you have the choice of fighting the masses at the buffet (with carry on luggage in tow) or eating at an assigned breakfast table with a very rushed service (and EARLY if you have early dinner seating).

Since this was just a regular morning for 1200 of the passengers, normal breakfast, served at a normal pace, was available in the dining room, and the buffet was not any more busy than any other day.

We needed to be out of our room by 8:30 and off the ship by 9:30.  So, we planned to meet up with Marika in front of the main dining room at 8:30 and told Rio (who wanted to get one last trip to the buffet in) to meet us in the Centrum at 9:25.  We had a nice, leisurely breakfast, met up with Rio and were walking off the ship a couple of minutes before 9:30.

Marika had made friends with a German girl (Viki) in the teen club, and as luck would have it they were right behind us getting off.  We stopped to grab a quick photo of the girls and let them say goodbye, an then headed on down to pick up our luggage.

With such a small group of disembarking passengers, and being some of the last off, it was VERY easy to find out bags.  There was no customs or immigration line to go through (typical for a cruise in this area) and we were walking out of the building less than 5 minutes after we walked off the ship.  

Right there next to the door was a table set up by Park Mar (phew!).  We handed them our receipt and they gave us our key and our car was RIGHT there.  I couldn't believe how close the car was to the ship.  It was so wonderful and easy to just walk over there, no shuttles or anything, and load up to go home.  

We were on the road and driving less than 15 minutes after heading for the ship's exit--without rushing!  It was so easy and so lacking in stress that I would choose a cruise embarking in Genoa over another port if others things were more or less equal--JUST for this excellent and easy way to end.

Being the last day of Pfingstferien (a major school break in southern Germany), we expected long back ups at the Gotthard tunnel.  So, we decided to return home via the San Bernardino tunnel.  The normal route for this would then send up up near Munich, but we wanted to avoid flooding as well, so we crossed through the tunnel, then headed over to Basel and then up.  In total that adds about 45 minutes to the trip if you encounter no traffic issues.  We figure it likely saved 2-3 hours over the back ups we would have had otherwise.  AND it was gorgeous.  An even prettier drive than Gotthard--by far.  Some day I hope to drive all the way up and over the pass.  Here are a few photos for you:

(the view from the GAS STATION before we got up into the mountains)

(a really pretty place for a highway rest stop)  I was freezing in the photo though--it was about 35 F and windy)

Heading towards Basel, after the pass, we passed (too quickly for me to grab a photo) an honest to goodness goat-herder on the mountainside with several goats.  Marika commented that it was the real life Peter (if you do not know what she was referring to, please reread the classic Heidi).  Not 10 minute later we passed:

(Heidi Town!)

And, shortly thereafter came to a much needed rest stop, which really amused me to no end.  It was kitschy in the extreme but also fun and adorable.  Please forgive me all the photos that I just had to take.

All told, with stops for an excellent Italian truck stop pizza lunch, restroom breaks and a quick and cheap dinner at Burger King once back in Germany, we made it home about 8:30 p.m.  Not bad for a ay taht started off nice and slow.

Tomorrow I will be picking up Marika from Girl Scout camp.  The camp is near the popular tourist town of Rothenburg (an old walled city).  If weather and traffic cooperate we hope to explore the town a bit and then I can have a nice German blog post tomorrow night!

--Hadley

The sweet little beach town of Santa Marinella (Italy)

Saturday was our last full day of the cruise.  With 1000 people disembarking that morning, we elected to hide out away from the chaos and start our day off by having room service deliver a nice breakfast to us to eat on the balcony (the kids came up and joined us).

This put us heading out of the room around 9:30.  We enjoyed a fairly empty ship for a couple of hours, before heading out around 11:00 (just as the new cruisers began arriving).

The weather was much nicer than it had been the week before, and Dave and I decided to check out a nearby beach town we had heard of--Santa Marinella.

We were lucky enough to have a port bus arrive almost immediately, to drive us out to the gate into the city. From there, it is a short, 5 minute walk along the waterline to the train station.

Santa Marinella can be reached on any regular train heading to Rome--it is the very first stop on that line after leaving Civitavechhia.  It was late enough in the day that trains were running only every 30 minutes and we missed one while waiting in line for our tickets (the automated ticket machine would not let me buy a ticket for such a short distance).  By the time we made it through the line and had our tickets (round trip for the both of us ran 4.40 Euro) we only had about a 20 minute wait.  It is a little confusing finding the tracks (just a little) because there are tracks numbered 1 and 2 and also, to the right as you exit the station on the track side, another set of tracks labeled T-1 and T-2.  It is these T trains that you want for Rome or anything on the Rome line.

The train was already sitting there waiting to go, and it was climate controlled, so we happily climbed on board and took a seat to relax and wait.  It was a double decker train and the views alone from up top as we wound along the coast were probably worth the fare.

Arriving in Santa Marinella, we first checked on what times the trains returned so we could make sure to arrive back at the station without an overly long wait.  Next up, even though it was still too chilly to swim, we wanted to check out the town beaches for future reference.

The sand and the water looked very nice--and I am nearly always happy to pay for chairs and a shady umbrella and access to a restroom.  We looked at 3 or 4 of the different "private" areas (all of the beach from what we could tell) and all had signs in both Italian and English saying that they were private and you had to pay to use the beach--but none listed prices.  We got the clear impression that the price varies depending on the weather and the demand on any given day (and likely your negotiating skills).

We wandered through town for a bit, stopping to enjoy the rocky coastline as well:

It is a very lean and pleasant little place to wander.  After about 45 minutes, we decided to head into the small "downtown" area and find a place to get a bite to eat.  Along the way we passed a little church holding a wedding.

We decided to stop at a very pleasant looking little cafe right down the street from the church so that we could enjoy people watching when the wedding attendees left the ceremony.  This turned out to be a most excellent decision because the cafe was wonderful and the people watching was a lot of fun (it turned out there as another wedding in the other direction and we got to people watch from both--tons of people all dressed up walking all over town).  

(here's the name, in case you are ever in Santa Marinella looking for good food)

David described the bruchetta as "a religious experience" lol  It WAS amazingly good--you could smell the really wonderfully ripe and flavour tomatoes from across the room.  It is worth going out to the town just for this, I swear.

The plaza across the street.

A bunch of the wedding guests stopped for a beer at a cafe across the way--I thought it was fun to see them all in their formal wear on an Italian street corner at mid day.

After our snack, we headed down the hill into the harbor area.  Marika is a big fan of Star Trek, so we had to get some photos of this boat for her:

On the other side of the harbor we stumbled upon a local car show for Lotus owners.  We wished Rio had been with us, he would have loved it.

Dave was particularly amused by the "Lotus Royalty" in their crowns and ultra high heels.  Some had on evening gowns and others very casual clothes like cut offs with tank tops.  There was even a "Mr Photogenic"

We wanted to catch the 3:40 train back, so we headed back over the hill to the train station.  The train was running about 15 minutes late, so we had to wait a bit, but there was a shady bench so that was not an issue.

By the time we took the train, stopped at a store to buy a couple of candy bars to snack on on the drive home, took the bus back to the ship and made it to our room it was about 4:30.  I think we had half a dozen notes and messages from the kids telling us the next place they were headed and asking "are you people ever coming back?" lol

We never really had lunch, just a snack, so I wanted to grab some nachos from the afternoon snacks section that was set up every day in windjammer from 4-6.  I headed up, only to be told that they do not have snacks on "boarding day."  It wasn't a huge issue, or anything that ruined my vacation or anything, but I feel like when 1/3 of your passengers are not boarding that day, and the norm is the snacks all the days leading up to that day, that it is not the best policy to suddenly change it--it is one of those little things that makes those boarding in Genoa or Marseilles feel a little less important.  I could have had a sandwich or salad from the Park Cafe--but the lines were long and I really wanted something smaller, so I skipped it all together and just held out for dinner.  Of note, they also closed ALL ships services (every bar, everywhere to get a snack) for about 45 minutes during the muster drill for those who had embarked that day--leaving those who were from Genoa or Marseilles and just returning from a day in port, to e hungry/thirtsy for a bit.  Again, not a big deal, but they o not do that during the other two muster drills and probably ought to work out something that still leaves somewhere open for the guests "in transit"

heading back to the stateroom, I stopped with Marika and waited in line at guest services to retrieve her backpack that she had lost and realized was missing when she started to pack.  Good thing I did!  By the time I got back into the room, David was in the hall with two people and the woman was yelling at him about being in her room.  

Yep, you guessed it.  In spite of us having asked guest services TWICE if there would e any issue with us moving rooms given that we were a Genoa departure, and having confirmed with our stateroom host that we left in Genoa once we saw that everyone else in our section was leaving in Rome, there was indeed an issue.  

Apparently the couple had checked in and been given keys to the same room we were in and had gone in while we were in Santa Marinella.  They had gone to guest services to tell them the "room was a mess" (which Dave chuckled at--we keep our staterooms neat as a pin) and been told to give the host 30 minutes to clear it out and then it should be fine.  It wasn't really clear to us if they explained to Guest Services that someone else's belongings were in the stateroom.

Anyway, they had come back and let themselves in while David was working on packing to leave the next day.  I was so glad I had not gone up without stopping with Marika and had them open the door to me undressing for my shower.  I could totally understand their frustration (particularly the woman, she was very upset), but they were acting as if this was somehow our fault and yelling at David as if he was the issue and could magically resolve it for her--which was out of line in my opinion.  If anything--I thought that having once seen that someone else was IN that room, they ought to have at least knocked before letting themselves in again 30 minutes later.  

Really, it was a pretty big mistake on RCIs part to have given them keys to a room we were still occupying.  We had iPAds and nice headphones, etc in that room that could have easily walked off in such a circumstance.

None the less, nothing like that happened, and mistakes can occur, so I was not all that bothered and neither was Dave.  We actually thought the whole thing was a pretty comical sit com moment.

The woman;s adult daughter (who had the connecting room next door) was trying to calm her down and told her she saw that their luggage was outside of a different room down the hall and it could all be worked out.  Dave stayed calm and offered to go to guest services WITH them and figure out what needed to be done--meanwhile I could grab my shower.

They said okay but wanted to stop in the daughters room to grab paperwork.  Dave waited over 5 minutes in the hall and they never came back out so he gave up and came in and we figured if they cared they could go to guest services and if not, it was not our problem.  We never did hear from them again--and I noticed the room number the daughter mentioned seeing their luggage go to was a grand suite--so I am guessing that once they realized they had been upgraded, being connecting to their adult kids was no longer an big deal to them.

We went ahead and got packed up and continued with our evening.  I will comment here that we were surprised that out stateroom host, totally dropped the ball on taking care of our room that last day--something we have NEVER had happen  before.  That morning he had made the bed, but left the decorative cover balled up on the sofa, never replaced the towels or toiletries and not refilled the ice.  When we left the ship we figured he was running behind due to the change over day and would be back.  None of that was done when we returned either--and he was standing in the hallway talking to another host down the hall every time we went down it that afternoon.  I did stop and ask him to bring us some more lotion and conditioner since we were out of both--those were dropped off on our desk, but nothing else was done at that time.  Later in the evening, the bed was turned down, but towels were not replaced, no new ice, bathroom not cleaned, etc.  We DID have an envelope on the bed that could be used for extra tips though--he did not forget to do that!  

We knew when we moved up to the junior suite that suites usually have to pay a slightly higher per day tip.  Our intention was to check and be sure we were charged accordingly, and if not make up the difference to Jesus in cash.  However, this was the poorest service we have ever had, so we did NOT make up the difference after all.  It was tough filling out our survey when asked about the stateroom host because Irene, from our first half of the cruise was EXCELLENT but the Jesus was just fair.  I ended up writing a note explaining instead of filling in one of the bubbles.  

Anyway, that was not a big deal to us at all--just sort of odd.  But, we were thinking it was a good time we were not first time cruisers or first time on RCI--between the maintenance issues in the first room and then the people being given keys to our room and then the room steward falling down on the job on the last day,  I could see how a new cruiser could easily focus on those negative and have a bad experience and not return.  

For us, they were all just silly little things that we laughed off or shrugged off and didn't put a damper on our good time at all.

We headed out to the same welcome abroad show as last week, and enjoyed it again, then had a nice dinner and said goodbye to our tablemates.  We ended our cruise with a fun "Crazy Hat Game" (which we dubbed the "share your lice" game).  The cruise staff was short on volunteers and asked all 4 of us to play.

It is basically like musical chairs, except that you are taking peoples' hats, moving right or left depending on what number is called.  

Early in the game, a very short, older and very drunk Italian man struggled to understand the rules (in spite of the Italian activities host explaining it all in his native language), then got knocked out in the first round but refused to leave (he kept coming back and taking people's hats, pushing into the circle, took the mike at one point and sang a song, etc).  On the one hand it was pretty funny and he had the whole Centrum laughing a few times, on the other hand he went too far and it was uncomfortable at times.  You could clearly see the cruise staff struggling to handle it in the least disruptive and most positive way and being a bit unsure of themselves.  

Here are Rio and I, as part of the final four (started with 22):

The fourth person, who you cannot see in the photo because he had gone up to the stage to try to take his own prize, was the drunken man.  Oh my gosh.  He had made it through some rounds by literally pulling hats off of others to the point that he ripped holes in a few of them.

At that point, Rio was next to the man in the circle and the man complained and complained about how tall Rio was (he ought have had to be by Dave!).  He also started to hold onto Rio's arm during the game--which I saw but did not realize how HARD he was squeezing until later--Rio had bruises!  Poor Rio didn't know how to say something without causing a scene (and half the ship was watching this game by then), poor kid.  

Anyway, once it got own to Rio and the drunk man--the staff declared both winners.  Rio did a great job hamming up, falling over in exhaustion and getting people to laugh.  Then the man came up to shake his hand while we sat on the side, but then grabbed his arm and tried to bite it!  Seriously.  

So, yeah, we high tailed it out of there and Rio was tired enough and stressed enough to be done for the evening and kind of weepy going to bed (though he was fine the next morning--just a little bruised).  Sooo, that made for a different and memorable final evening.  Kind of funny and kind of stressful.

Next up--yes the car was fine, and a gorgeous drive home.

--Hadley