Oh what a night...I wasn't going to blog(for lack of anything to say!) but tonight was a funny, blog-worthy night spent in Linz, Austria, the home of Hitler's childhood.
(Well..I guess that part's not funny)
So here it is, Saturday night, and it's just Jim and Betty and I for dinner. Other passengers must think she's the Mom or Aunt of one of us. We like her, we really do, and admire her spunky eighty year old self, but we really wanted to mix it up just a tad.
Dinner was over early: the night was young. I suggested to Jim(and Betty) that we head toward the coffee lounge at the back of the ship, maybe round of a few people for a round of charades or something that passengers from all over the country could play on an equal playing field.
We never made it to the coffee house.
We got back to the stateroom and Jim sees a text from Marian, the woman who knows our friends Faith and Harvey. Marian and her husband Steve are here with another couple that they travel with quite often, Michael and Shelley.
So as exhausted as I was, going out on the town with them seemed a little bit more fun than just sorting laundry on a Saturday night. Not that I begrudge anyone who does.
They invited us for linzer torts, something I'm not sure I've ever had before but Marian assured me I most likely have.
The cruise director told us all the cafes were closed in the town square, that only the bars were open, but we managed to find an open cafe and hilarity ensued.
Michael is hilarious..he in his P-a-r-x Casino sweatshirt. (For you non-Philadelphians, it's a busy casino that attracts a motley crew)
He notices right away that there are only three linzer torts on display..the cook went home and the server seemed like he wanted to follow suit.
A random employee walks by our table(I think he was a busboy?) and I guess he picked up some regional accents and asked: "New York?" We nod in unison and he replies: "Istanbul" and walks away.
Marian decides she wanted some Ovaltine which was on the menu..I don't think any of us had had it in years.
The waiter didn't understand us..and didn't know that linzer tarts come in multiple flavors.
(Who knew?)
But I swear, I don't think I ever heard the word "Ovaltine" mentioned as many times as it was tonight. Jim and the rest of our entourage didn't believe me when I said it was from a "Guys and Dolls" song, "Marry the Man Today" and the devices come out and the proof is in the pudding..Adelaide and Sarah DID talk about Ovaltine..which was not even available at the cafe after all that..
Jim orders the tea and it came with a wooden box that contained three different sand timers. (For seeping purposes, I guess?)
We all thought this was the strangest thing..multi-colored sand timers with different seeping speeds, when all of a sudden, Marian and Shelley felt a need to time the timers. They took out their devices, and there we are, in a deserted cafe in Hitler's boyhood town, eating dessert and timing the accuracy of tea timers.
This reads unfunny, I know.
But I guess you had to be there...
We decide to share with our friends some interesting things that happened on past cruises, 'though I can't imagine anything would be as funny or as blog-worthy as the overuse of Ovaltine.
We told them that we befriended at the kooky daughter of a famed Hollywood actor last year, and the crowd got really revved up..and guessed Charles Bronson really quickly.
Jim showed Michael the photo he had on his phone of Suzanne Bronson--and Michael agreed she was a dead ringer.
Sometimes, you just need to be silly and laugh about tea timers and Ovaltine and Istanbul, and we managed to do it all in our last night in Austria.
Next up: Vilshofen-Passau, Germany!
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