We’re currently sailing through the Kiel Canal on our way to Denmark.  The sea is calm; the sky overhead is overcast with bits of blue peeking through here and there.

This is truly a vacation.  No appearances; no talks; no signings.  We’ve strolled through Ghent; gotten lost in Amsterdam; and did a wonderful wine tasting in Bremen.  Being lost in Amsterdam was great for steps.  Going eight kilometers in the WRONG DIRECTION!!! meant that we were exceedingly grateful to take a taxi back to the ship, and we both ended up with well over our daily step quota.

We are staying up late for the on-board shows and sleeping in before having breakfast delivered to our suite.  In other words, this is just what the doctor ordered.  And the fact that we’re on the Silver Whisper, the same ship we sailed on for our ill-fated cruise four years ago, is a wonderful way of having things come full circle.

Much has changed in the intervening years.  The wifi connection is much better.  On Sunday afternoon after the Formula 1 race in Monaco, we were able to stream the entire race on Bill’s iPad.  In the dining rooms, all orders are taken on iPad minis where, as soon as the server has our suite number, he or she also has our photos at the top of his or her screen.

I’ve finished reading one book and am halfway through the next one.  Since I was a girl, that’s what I’ve always done on vacations—read—for fun!!!  And that’s what I’m doing this time, too.

And now that I mentioned it?  It’s time to cut this blog short and go back to reading.  As for sending photos?  Don’t hold your breath.  After all, we know where we’ve been.  Besides, no photo could possibly replicate the soothing aroma of centuries of wooden barrels resting in the wine cellar of the Rathskeller in Bremen.

Sometimes no picture is worth a thousand words.