She's Home, she's HOME!!! My Dorothy is HOME! I'm happier than a dog with two tails!!!
This is not the actual homecoming, but below I will demonstrate the proper way to welcome home your person (for all dogs reading this post). BTW, this is the only piece of furniture I'm allowed up on, so ignore the ugly cover.
Here's what she had to say about her return home:
The race to the bottom in airline service continues. We had a flight attendant who would have done well as a prison warden.
Seat-backs incline a generous 1 1/2" - so what's the use? It will take two days for your back and neck to recover from the enforced captivity. I was in agony the first night on the ship - and yes, I've tried the neck cushions, the travel pillow, rolling up my jacket in addition to the neck cushion and pillow. The fact of the matter is that I'm a lousy sleeper even when I'm horizontal and I'm a non-sleeper sitting up. I thought about upgrading to the Delta "Economy Comfort" class, only a few dollars more depending on length of flight, which has 3" - 4" more leg room, but their seat backs don't incline any further. I'm short, I don't need the leg room, I need to recline. Am thinking of buying a gravity inversion system to un-kink my back. I did not sleep for nearly 24 hours - from getting up at 6 AM London time to getting home at midnight, Eastern Daylight Savings time. It was a l-o-n-g day. Sounds like I need some cheese to go with this whine, huh?
This would be enough to deter some people from traveling. It will not deter me.
The transatlantic flights have lots of in-flight entertainment on personal screens mounted on the back of the seat in front of you to help pass the time & keep passengers sedated (video games, movies, TV shows, trivia, crosswords, etc.). They're available in multiple languages. For those, like me, who can't find the switch for the overhead lights, it's on the video screen, no longer on the arm-rest. I guess the entertainment is a favorable point for the airlines. I imagine it was part of a settlement agreement with the Flight Attendants' union. (My, how cynical of me.)
They are very good about offering water and other beverages frequently and I was lucky enough to have good seatmates both ways. The beverages are a point in their favor, the seatmates were luck, not a point in the airlines' favor.
They did not lose my luggage - another point in their favor.
People watching in airports can be very interesting. There was an older woman who was yelling and being VERY nasty to her husband and so he quietly took his roll-aboard suitcase and walked away. Later she was sitting in the waiting area sobbing heart-brokenly and so another woman (who hadn't been there for the yelling earlier) came over to try to help her. I heard her crying that her husband had left her, after she raised his three children, and she was all alone and couldn't walk, and so on. Then she asked this Good Samaritan to watch her bags while she went somewhere (you just don't do that in an airport). The GS was not comfortable with this (understandably) and so the older woman went off in a huff pulling her carry-ons and walking with a cane. The husband came back when embarkation was called and I did feel sorry for him. There seems to be some mental illness there, but it has to be hard to cope with. On the other end of the flight she was all smiles and light to the porter who met her with a wheelchair. And I heard her promising to tip him heavily (as he piled up her four enormous Hartmann suitcases, pushed her wheelchair and gave her the undivided attention she seemed to crave). I hope this doesn't sound hard hearted of me and I hope she gets the help she needs. It was an interesting drama to watch though.
Thank goodness I don't have to dress up for dinner tonight. I can eat in my bathing suit, which I just might do after I give Sailor a bath. Here's one of the dress-up photos. I think I look fat, but I did my 45-minutes in the gym every day. Some day someone will develop a camera with a tall/thin lens, and women everywhere will be happier. Denial is okay.
I promised to look for before and after photos of the damage to the Catherine or Peterhof palaces after WWII and the reconstruction. Not easy to find, but I think these two photos give an idea of it. They've been working on the restorations for over 50 years now, and open one or two more rooms each year. I think the interior restorations are even more impressive, but I couldn't find before & after photos of them.
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| Catherine Palace Post WWII |
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| Catherine Palace, as it Looks Today . |
There was really nothing left at all but a shell of the outside, everything inside was destroyed. Fortunately many of the treasures were evacuated prior to the war, although not all. For this reason many of the rooms that you visit have little or no furniture in them. The German Army was ordered to demolish everything, and treasures were removed before furniture.
Thank goodness I checked e-mail fairly regularly while I was gone, it makes the return to my desk a bit easier. There's still mail piled up and things I promised to do after I got back, but if I had taken a real vacation, and not checked e-mail, it would be brutal.
Some day I hope to take a sabbatical...no e-mail, no phones, no texting. Unfortunately I'm afraid that would result in no bookings, no revenue, no money in the bank. C'est la vie.
Stay calm & sail on. By the way, it's time to book your holiday sailings NOW, give me a call!
It has been forever (well almost) since Dorothy posted a blog. Unfortunately she can no longer write from Sailor's point of view as our beloved Sailor crossed the rainbow bridge just before Christmas. But this and all blogs are written in his memory. He was the world's greatest dog and would lie patiently watching me as I worked every day. 
