Honey

As you know, one of the fascinating neighbor's I have on The World is an Arab Sheik. He often shares his mid-eastern delicacies with us, and this AM was no exception. Delivered to our table was a sumptuous, drippy piece of honeycomb. Shortly thereafter, he came over and explained that this was the finest honey in the world, which came from Yemen. This honey, he told us sells for 1,000 dollars a tin, but is usually unavailable because the entire output is sold to "big wigs" throughout the Mid East. They feed it to their prize camels just before they race to increase their energy levels. Evidently, the winner's stake is so high that they don't mind this expense. So like the prized camels, at my friend's urging, I cut off a chunk of the oozing honeycomb and chewed it until all of the delicious honey had been extracted. They also swallow the waxy residue, but I decided against doing that! Another fascinating experience on The World

Off to Greenwich

So, what is happening in my world on The World?  We are currently at sea on our way to Greenwich, England.  I watched the disappointing results of the men's semi-finals at the French Open at Roland Garros on TV last evening.  Having been lucky enough to have been there in person for a couple of days last week, I find myself personally invested in the outcome!  Oh, well.........We had a wonderful dinner party for 12 of our onboard friends (from New York, Arizona, UK, Sweden, Africa and Australia!) and it was great fun!  We all ate and drank too much and nobody wanted to leave.....After working out on the dreaded Elyptical machine for only a few minutes this AM we went to breakfast at Tides, one of four of our ship's great restaurants.  The view of the water is phenominal and I was able to get a great look at the only windmill farm I have ever seen in the water.  The next thing to come into view were The White Cliffs of Dover.  I assumed, (never assume) that they are made of white stone, only to discover that they are in fact white chalk.  I was also told that in a nearby field there exists a huge, perfectly formed horse made of chalk that has been there for hundreds of years and can be clearly seen only by air.  Hm.....so how and by whom was this done? We are now heading up the Thames River on our way to our anchorage at Greenwich and the greatly anticipated arrival of my granddaughter Bayley and my son-in-law Spencer who will be joining us on our "London" stay.  As you will remember Greenwich is the location where time begins (Greenwich MeanTime).  We will visit the famous clock, which never looses time and is accurate to the second.  So, I wonder, if I stand where the clock is, will I never get older?  Or better yet, if I walk backwards from that point, can I turn back time? (Just kidding!)  More on that later.  After making sure that the family is comfortably onboard, Wilf and I head into London,( about 30 min. away), to take some other New York friends to dinner at the prestigious and private Mark's Club, one of our favorite London eateries.  It is a very blessed and wonderful life that The World makes possible.  The only thing that would make it perfect is if all of the rest of our family members could be here with us......miss all of you.  xoxo

Falmouth, England

The World is currently in Falmouth, England, located at the "mouth" of the Fal River where it meets the sea. The weather is overcast and cool. We have had 2 dinners off the ship while here, one was belonging to highly tauted chef, Rick Stein, and we will not make that mistake again. We have been served Winkles, Whelks and Sea Snails, all critters from the local waters. None touched my lips, it was a bit embarrassing. However, Wilf enjoyed his meat pasty (what we in the US would call a turnover). We took a car and driver to a very quaint little seaport 1 hour away, named Fowey (pronounced Foy). I remembered it from a past trip. There is a wonderful little womens clothing boutique there called Ocean 1 where I had some fun.....we discovered it last time around. Our driver told us that this area of Cornwall is very proud of it's Celtic heritage, even wearing kilts to weddings, etc. They have been trying to break free from England and establish their own government for 500 years. They even have their own, rarely spoken language. The area used to be very successful in mining high quality tin, but the cost to get it out of the ground has become prohibitive. It is rumored that China may have interest in purchasing the mines. The Cornish flag has a black field, signifying the dark mines, and a white cross signifying the veins of tin. The miners would each take a pasty into the mine in the morning. Each pasty would have both the main course of meat and vegies and in the same shell, a little further along, was a dessert of some sort. They didn't eat the actual pasty which was full of arsenic from the tin on their hands. They were told to throw the pastry shells on the mine floor for the fairies to eat, who would then guide them to good tin veins. The very southernmost tip of England is called "Land's End", now also the name of a successful US company. People here are apt to call you "lovey" and many sentences either begin or end with the phrase "ya know"....very sweet, really.