A meetup on a weeknight for a change

 

Lately, there haven't been that many dining meetups held on weeknights.  Since I am booked most weekends, it's been a long while since I've been out to eat with any of my groups.  So, tonight was a refreshing change of pace.

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Since RQS had stayed over until Tuesday morning, I decided to cancel attending Monday night's meetup with this group.  So I figured that I should get off my butt to attend tonight's gathering.  Only one problem - I was tired, and could have used another couple of hours napping on the couch.  But I made myself get up then got showered, made up and dressed to go out around 5:30.

Luckily, the meetup was in a restaurant 20 minutes from home.  Although parking wasn't hard to find, it wasn't as close to the restaurant as I'd have liked - the lot is shared with commuters, and they don't start clearing out until 6:30 pm.  So I had to walk a little more than I wanted to get inside.

As one can see from the picture above, there is a caboose on the left and an old coach car on the right.  The former Valhalla railroad station between them is the main body of the restaurant, with both non-mobile pieces of rolling stock now being used as dining areas.  Once inside, I looked to the left and saw my meetup group inside.  It was nice to be wearing a dress to dinner, as it will soon be too cold to dress as feminine as I'd like.

After greeting my fellow diners, I perused the menu to see if there was something interesting I'd like to eat.  There was, but I made a mistake in choosing it.  It's October, and the restaurant had Oktoberfest specials to choose from, and I selected the Wiener-schnitzel with a side Caesar salad.  I should have gone for the cheeseburger instead.When the Wiener-schnitzel arrived, the server didn't even know what it was, much less how to pronounce the name of the dish.  So the dish ended going back and forth between our table and the kitchen until someone realized that the waitress didn't know what the specials were.  I should have gone for the cheeseburger.  Not only was the schnitzel leathery and overcooked, but the potato pancakes served with it were devoid of moisture and flavor.  I should have gone for the cheeseburger!  But the Cookies and Cream ice cream truffle was pleasant.  Too bad I didn't go for the cheeseburger first....

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Once done with dinner, it was off to the supermarket to do some shopping.  While on the way, I chatted with my brother, confirming a visit to the Norman Rockwell Museum this weekend.  It'll be nice to spend the day with him, although it would have been nicer for me to spend the day with RQS visiting a few Open House NY sites.  Well, maybe next year....

Bahamas Cruise - Day 2 (Sea Day)

 

I woke up early. only to fall asleep again.  By the time I was fully awake, it was lunch time.  This is typical for me when I'm on a cruise - such as going out in my female presentation.

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This was the slow boat to Charleston, and yet, it was already warm enough outside for some people to take a dip in the hot tubs on the Lido Deck.  I figured that I was going to get at least one or two days use out of my swimsuit this trip - and planned accordingly for it.

When I got back to my room, I noticed that my TV wasn't displaying my account status.  (I like knowing what charges are being applied to my account in real time.)  So I went down to the main desk and asked for help.  Too bad this may have caused a minor headache for my room steward, as the person at the desk had English as a second language and could not pick up the nuance in how I was describing the problem.  Eventually, I caught up with the steward, and he found out that the problem was with the remote control and not with the upstream software.  (I'll be sure to give him a good review when I participate in the after-cruise survey.)

 

As became my routine, I decided to eat in the Grand Pacific (main) dining room.  It was strange to see this many staff members waiting to direct guests to available tables.  When I had the opportunity to talk with the woman in charge of the dining room, I found out that the room has been this way since the Gem started sailing earlier this year.  This ship has been operating below 50% capacity for weeks, and there is no sign that things will change anytime soon.

I finally had the chance to do my nails.  No, the polishing wasn't so great.  But it did get me through the week with minimal touch-ups.  If I had thought about it and had the time before the cruise,  I'd have gotten a mani-pedi.  Yet, it's nice to have nails on which I could leave painted for a while.

As would be expected, I forgot something at home - my jewelry.  So I used the few items I brought with me when I went to the photographers on later nights....