The adventure begins with a nice lunch at the Yankee Pier after doing a little book shopping. Got a book on the wine industry in California as reading material will probably pass it on the Jimmie when Im done with itsaw one on Tiki Culture in the US, but thought Id get that one on the way back through dont think its much of a page turner, more a reference work.
Lunch was a glass of the Bogle Old Vines Zinfandel, half a dozen Malpeque (crassostrea virginica) oysters on the half shell (actually seven), and some lightly fried clam strips on a bed of lettuce. More that I really wanted to spend, but Im on holiday and deserve a little reward for whipping that bathroom into shape (and the rest of the house) in three days.
Already have met another couple headed for the same cruise. At least I think they are a couple both male, 5-10 years older than I am, talked about their dog. I see some other folks in the waiting area with Viking River Cruises bag tags some of them look a little skelator.
Talked to Mark Pucci last night he had a recommendation for a jazz gig in Shanghai. Apparently a good buddy of his is a piano player. They are playing at the Shanghai Ritz-Carlson. Think the trio is led by Dennis Day (not sure of last name).The piano player is Billy Marcus. Well see if I can make it they play six nights a week just not sure which six.
Picked up two bottles of MacCallan Elegancia 12-year-old single malt scotch at duty-free. Second bottle was 30% off. My favorite brand, and on sale! The limit of duty free into China is 2 bottles of booze and two cartons of cigarettes.
Seated in Economy Plus on our 747-400. Means extra leg room, but Im not in an exit or bulkhead my favorites but when I checked in, the seat next to me was still open. We will pray. All the China flights are configured 3-4-3 seating for ten across rather than the more comfortable 2-5-2 seating for nine across.
Flight across the water was eleven and a half hours, with three meal services, dinner, snack half way through, and more like a lunch service. The usual of scotch before dinner, wine with dinner, cognac afterwards and then back to scotch probably had half a dozen scotches over the course of the flight. With the last service they only had one bottle of wine left that they couldnt get the cap off of. Mind you these are the small bottles. My seatmate finally got it off for me but the flight attendants felt bad so they brought me two glasses of wine from business class much better. Saw three movies: Something New, something else, and Seabiscut (which I had already seen.)
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