Cafe de Paris

Our first relaxing day at sea
Today the seas were relatively calm - about 2.5 m swell and a very cloudy morning - gradually warming up as we moved north - almost immediately that we had crossed the Queensland/NSW border the sun broke through and it was a very pleasant afternoon.

Welcome to the Cafe de Paris

We had a very relaxed day, the highlight was probably a visit to the special lunch buffet. On sea days, the food and beverage department put on a themed lunch. This is in addition to the usual fare available at the Horizon court. I think it is an opportunity for the chefs to showcase their talents.
The theme today was Cafe de Paris, featuring many of the best aspects of french cuisine (according to the information). The photos which follow don't really do justice to the spread.
Set up were four stations - bread, featuring almost every concievable shape and flavour of bread, an amazing array of pates and terrines, a fabulous selection of authentic french cheeses and then... drum roll.... the dessert buffet crafted by the patisserie chefs.
These masters are able to take flour, eggs, butter, milk, flavourings - buckets of cream and lashings of chocolate, chocolate, chocolate ... did I mention the chocolate.... and the cream..... and turn out a magnificent spectacle.... YUUUUMMMM!!! Pastries, Eclairs, Profiteroles, Tortes, Gateaux, Cheescakes, a Meringue Cake (Pavlova in disguise??) looked delicious!!!

Meringue cake - Pavlova in disguise?

In line with my decision NOT to become 'cargo', we toured around,appreciated the talents of these artisans,  took photos and then decided to stick to the salad selection - never fear - their work was not in vain - there were lots of takers piling their plates sky high - I don't know where they put it all!!!

Pate or terrine anyone??

We had a Crazy Cruisers get together in the morning and met the Captain for the first time.. Todd Mc Bain from Canada. If first impressions count, we have been very impressed with him so far. He has a philosophy of keeping passengers informed about everything that concerns the passengers - good and bad. I like his attitude and he seems to be very approachable, personable and friendly.

We enjoy the trivia competition and intend to take part every afternoon on sea days. There was a group of 18 Crazy Cruisers who turned up so we formed 3 teams of 6 players with a bit of friendly ribbing and banter along the way. We had a good laugh that despite the rivalry, each team ended up with the same score - 14 out of 20. Lots of fun.

I am struggling with the extremely slow internet connection here to post photos so will try to work out a way to solve it over the next few days otherwise I will catch up with more photos in Darwin.