Quick update from the WAVEers on this lovely sea day.

Maria - The guide service we used in Santander for Santillana del Mar & Santander was euroadventures: www.euroadventures.net . The two guys there with whom I dealt were Mike and Sean O'Rourke (traditional Spanish names, no??). Our charming guide, who works full-time at the Altamira caves and was on her day off, was Maria (last name unknown).

Yesterday while docked at Bordeaux, we used the highly recommended (by Marcie, Anne, and Claudia), and quite justifiably so, services of Jean-Denis Coulon: jdcoulon@bordeaux-map.com . We had the good fortune to have Alain as our guide, as did the aforementioned ladies. Our day in St. Emilion was marvelous, including lunch at a cafe built into the rocks, a visit to the underground church (which should be 15 minutes instead of 45 - enough talk from the guide about the monks who built the place is enough!!), and two good visits to wineries. It was a long, but delightful day. St. Emilion is one of the most beautiful towns we've ever visited.

Tonight is the second formal night (we will follow the dress code despite my firm belief that neckties are symbols of corporate oppression). Tomorrow night we will have a cocktail party and dinner at Signatures for the Cordon Bleu class. It will be a special menu designed by the instructor and Michael, the chef at Signatures. (I am sure that it will be quite light and heart-healthy...)

On the dancing note, I hope to be dancing on MUSH. Shortly into this cruise, I managed to cause major damage to both my achilles tendons (which had already suffered an insult when I was jogging in Monte Carlo while watching Voyager dock and stepped quite badly off of a curb on that nice walkway along the port). Despite my stressed tendons, I danced for a couple of hours one night (amazing how a few bottles of wine can make one less cautious about health matters, isn't it), with the result that I have been limping around doing a rather pathetic imitation of Grampa McCoy and popping ibuprofen like M&M's (where is Rush Limbaugh and his bottomless supply of oxycontin when one needs him??) In any event, sweet Helene Golden and I will not be repeating our rather stupendous (not to mention stupid from a podiatric viewpoint) interpretation of flamenco dancing on this cruise. Nothing like 15 minutes of major stomping to really blow out a weakened achilles tendon. Oh well, with luck I will be back in good drunken dancing form by the end of August.

Ngaire, I will let Franck Galzy know that you are looking forward to his care on BLISS.

Tomorrow, lovely little Honfleur.

I must now close and go practice shallow breathing in order to not hyperventilate when I have to wrap that silk noose around my neck tonight.

Cheers, Fred