At sea again

Wednesday was another at sea day and it was bright, with scattered clouds and finally, it was warm. One of the advantages of sailing south! The on deck pool is open, folks are wearing shorts, tattoos are showing and thongs are visible. Thongs that are worn on the foot. No passenger on this ship would look right in the other thong.

This was one of those days that are filled with classes, demonstrations and the final art auction. Co started the day at the spa for a facial, very nice. Later Wednesday morning we were at a culinary class during which John took a short nap and learned nothing. We cruised through the preview of the art auction and asked about a piece of art that had caught our eyes earlier. It is too large for our home and the framing is all wrong. It is by a Russian expatriate living in the USA who is well thought of. Of course, anything that is sold on the ship is well thought of, a bargain, a steal, rare, the last one in existence and so forth. You get the picture. The artists name is Martiros Manoukian and the piece is largely red and is of an icon of the Madonna and child and has a border of smaller icons around the edges. Even being ‘patrons of the arts with a good sense of value’, (the quote is from the auctioneer) we were still surprised that the art was valued at $42,000.00, but that the opening bid was only going to be $30,000.00. Good grief, we could add a room to the house for that, take a photo of it and hang it on the wall!