August 07, 2004
Poolside BBQ

After working out this morning, I suggested to Al that we brave the Day at Sea crowds at the Oasis Pool and attempt another swim. He agreed, so once again I donned my pink striped bikini (it's the only suit I have that accommodates the belly), shorts, and t-shirt, and we headed up to Deck 12. (This time I brought a sports bra, so there'd be no soaking through my clothes post-swim.) We noticed that they'd set up the daily BBQ on either side of our whirlpool area (yes, it seems like "our" whirlpool area now), and that they were serving pork ribs, paella, chicken, and sausages in addition to burgers and hot dogs. The Expedia review had mentioned that the poolside BBQs were not to be missed (assuming you eat meat), so this seemed like a good time to try it out. (It'll also be our last, given that we return to New York tomorrow.)

We decided to swim first, braving the stares of other poolside denizens whose eyes seemed to be drawn magnetically (and often disapprovingly) toward my belly—were they appalled that I'd apparently had sex sometime in the past five months?—as well as a teenage boy whose whole body was drawn magnetically to Al. No matter where Al went in our little pool area, the kid would bump into him. There was one other couple in the whirlpool end, but they mostly hopped around in their own little corner, as we did. I'm glad our supply of 45 sport sunblock held out, because we ended up staying in the pool for quite a while. Floating around helped my nausea considerably, since I couldn't really feel the sway of the ship in the water. I probably could have stayed in there all day, but that would have meant missing lunch. What, me miss a meal? NEVER!

We finally got out, and I went to change while Al got a plate of pork ribs and fixins. I collected some paella, and then we went into the Garden Cafe to eat. I also got a salad, some soup, and a glass of milk to go with my paella, as well as some dessert. (I've been drinking more milk than water on this trip, oddly; between the milk and the TUMS, I shouldn't have any trouble meeting my daily calcium requirements.) Al reported that the ribs and chicken were quite good, and so was the paella in both of our opinions. Score one for the Expedia reviewers. Two, actually, if you also count the fact that they recommended the Indian vegetarian options at lunchtime.

We'll probably spend the rest of the day in a leisurely fashion: hanging out on our balcony, doing loops around the Promenade and Sports decks, hitting golf balls, watching ESPN, reading, and napping. We also plan to watch Calendar Girls at 9:00pm tonight (it's on one of the two edited-for-content movie channels available on our stateroom TV). The movie selection has been somewhat abysmal; I hadn't expected them to be showing current-run movies, but I did expect something more than Agent Cody Banks 2, several third-rate movies I'd never heard of, and two decent movies (Calendar Girls and Bend It Like Beckham) that have been on video and pay-per-view for months now. If you can't run current titles, how about at least offering some classics and other favorites of the past 20 years?

Posted by Lori at August 07, 2004 02:39 PM

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