Next Week: Prague and Me in Prison
Ah! Life on a Cruise Ship!
Wealthy People (not us😔), Great Food
( part two of four)
A memoir By Robert R. Schwarz
Mary Alice and I were among 91 passengers who proceeded to our room on one of two decks; ours was on the upper deck near the lounge , bar and small entertainment platform . Above was the sun deck and captain's bridge , and below us were 14 passenger rooms and the dinning room. Our room, for a river cruise boat, was typica though adequately and tastefully furnished. It had a queen-size bed, bathroom with shower, a closet, and television , which we never watched.
Feeling like a child at an amusement park , I opened our veranda door and surveyed the Elbe River and its shores a few hundred yards away. "Mary Alice, " I said, wanting to impress her with some homework I had done, " You know this river here runs from the Czech Republic through Germany to the North Sea ? " No, she didn't know this but informed me that the Elbe was not a deep river and , because of a recent dry spell , Viking Cruises had warned us that we might have to switch boats to one which could navigate a shallow river.
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| Dramatizing a romance from Martin Luther's life... |
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That first night on board, two actresses in medieval costumes entertained us with a dramatization about the soon-to-be wife of Martin Luther; she had been invited in 1525 to her first ball and was stressed not knowing what to wear. Soon after the performers' well- earned applause, the Beyla's whistle blew, and 32 crew members from 12 different countries went to work as we cruised ahead at nine miles per hour..
One
morning while sailing through a part of Germany known as "
Saxon Switzerland" for its sweeping vistas of towering
rocks and dramatic lookout points, I took my voice recorder to
the sundeck for an interview with a gregarious and retired octogenarian banker from Malta .
Anthony ( Tony ) R. Curmi is one of 800 members of a church run by the Augustinian fathers in Malta's 52 Catholic parishes . He is a former treasurer of the Caritas Internationalis, a confederation of 165 social service organizations operating in over 200 countries and territories worldwide. It is headquartered in the Vatican, where Tony periodically visited for eight years, meeting once with Pope Benedict XVI.
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| Tony Curmi and wife Joyce ... |
I asked him what role his religion had in his banking career. He didn't answer until he had cited some facts: " The church in Malta was the first [ after the Vatican II Council of 1959 ] to set up old peoples' homes and orphanages," he began. "In the early eighties, the church was the first to recognize that Malta had a drug problem, and that it was coming from tourism. We set up a drug rehab program . We also realized that the church in Malta couldn't interfere in everything the state wanted to do . "
He paused to introduce me to his wife , Joyce, who strolled by us to take a nearby chair . "The Malta constitution accepts all religions, " he continued. "Catholicism in Malta is more conservative, but whatever we are, we certainly make it a point of going to church on Sunday. "
We talked about the defining moments in his life— there was a string of them.
"I was born in the war years, in 1941 or 1942, when the Nazis bombed out Malta," he began. "Dad had to look after his two aged spinster aunts plus feed our immediate family of thirteen. That was no joke. I'm sure my parents deprived themselves of food to feed us . So that was transforming. "
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| Cruising on the Elpe through "Saxon Switzerland" ... |
Tony's father's sole income at the time was his salary as a senior clerk in the government's education department . His father died at age 56 , and his " heart-broken" mother passed a year later. " She had disintegrated from all the hardships ," he said. "At age 23, I found myself head of a family of seven. Thank God, I never lost faith. "
Tony wanted his own family some day and decided to make banking his career. At age 16, he recalled, he started as an ordinary bank clerk, giving more than 90 per cent of my salary to my father because he needed it."
Nowadays two things give him pleasure: long walks and, when he can, "serving others." He is saddened by so many people who are suffering in a world where " peace doesn't exist anymore." He closed our interview with: " I hope the Lord appreciates what I've done and hope He forgives me for what I haven't done or should have done or done badly. "
A Most Unusual Farewell Dinner…Our farewell dinner this night had more that its usual gourmet delights. The executive chef , a man of Asian descent, appeared and announced he had prepared a special dinner to celebrate what would be our "wonderful memories of newfound friends. "
Mary Alice and I were sitting next to two of them: Barbara and Aeneid, with whom we had laughed much during our last four days on the boat. Both were widows , good friends, and hailed from the northeast of England where for eight years they had sung together in a community choir. This was their fifth Viking cruise. Barbara said she was 37, but with the disclaimer that she also was dyslectic with numbers ." Aeneid claimed to be 85 , but her gift of humor belied her age by minus 20 years. Barbara was prim and proper, an epitome of good manners . Often when she spoke to us, her British-toned voice demanded our attention now matter what she said. In an equally endearing manner , Aeneid was a polar opposite , scanning every face around her before quickly deciding which one she might tease with her candid humor. She was wont to suddenly and playfully wrap an arm around a man—but only if his spouse was at his side—and speak flirtatious words. Laughter always followed.
Yes, it was a special dinner. Every one dressed as Viking had described as country club smart . Many passengers kept this style all day long. The men tonight wore a variety of collared shirts , slacks , and sport jackets; during the day it was short pants and polo shirts like those seen in the National Geographic Christmas gift catalog. One woman's jewelry on this particular night drew this comment from Mary Alice: " Did you see her ring, Bob? Maybe three karats ? " She also remarked about the lady on whose fingers a different jeweled ring appeared every day , and there was the dowager with a ruby necklace and matching earrings , etc., etc. We share with them their joie de vivre.
Our dinner, like all our meals, was palatial in appearance and service. Appetizer choices were salmon tartar with baby greens and a honey mustard dip ; Tandooru chicken with Parmesan foam; roasted forest mushroom Velouteʹ and pumpkin mousse ravioli with lamb loin with sweet chili sauce . Entrees were surf and turf or sautéed prawns and saffron Beurre Blanc . Dessert was a traditional apple strudel. A cheese plate with apricot chutney followed . ( Amen ! )
Barbara let me put my voice recorder near her ; Aeneid just wanted to listen .
Me: What joy are you getting out of this night ?
Barbara:. Friendship.
Me: And the highlight of this cruise for you ?
Barbara: My birthday. ( the waiters had sung "Happy Birthday" to her the other day. )
M. And the big moment in your life ?
B. I suppose meeting my husband . We had been married almost 40 years . We had two children.
M. Tell me about what makes you happy .
B. Well, some say the glass in half empty, the others half full. I'm a half-full person. I
think I inherited my father's sense of humor, and that keeps me going.
M. And sad ?
B. (she suddenly began to weep ) The first baby I had, died. And then my husband died of cancer at age 66. We were just looking forward to retirement.
( I paused and held her hand . )
M. What do you believe causes so may ills in the world today ?
B. There are two causes I see in my country: one is selfishness, the other , laziness.
M. What can we do about it ?
B. Raise our children not to be that way.
M. What would you like people to say about when you are gone?
B. What a colleague of mine told me with flowers in his hand on the day I retired from my secretarial work: " I shall always remember you as the lady of love and laughter. "
***
After dinner we walked—slower than usual—up to the lounge. Thanks in part to all the complimentary wine served at dinner, the lounge immediately resounded and merry conversation and small yet sincere expressions of spousal love, all enhanced by a temperate imbibing of after-dinner drinks and a piano player tickling out decades of favorite melodies.
Mary Alice and I sat around at a small glass table with Aeneid and Barbara , who revealed she was an atheist and believed Jesus was only a human being ; yet she attended an Anglican church and believed in the Ten Commandments and in the existence of a devil or Satan. I needed to say , " Aeneid, whenever I want to head off a debate about religion, especially with a friend, I give my personal summary of it… [ I felt my wife's knee bump my leg] …like Jesus said , it's all about loving God with all your might and your neighbor as yourself. " [ another bump , but Aeneid's face said my words made sense to her ] A little later, I suggested she read the book of John in the Bible . She said she would , and several days later informed me that she had come across a Bible in the lower dresser drawer in her room..
After a few more minutes of the evening's merriment, my thoughts began churning about my so-called mission ,what I had wished to accomplish with my camera, voice recorder, and notepad. I had been busy with all three yet I had yet to see what benefit my effort so far could beyond that of producing just another travelogue .
Aeneid sprang to her feet. Wearing a red dress—by coincidence— she paced to the floor and began an improvised dance in harmony with the music and then behaved like a stripper introducing her act. We loved it, and even more so when another woman passenger dressed in red strolled out to partner with Aeneid .Then Aeneid playfully and seductively went up to the piano player and wrapped an arm around him as he struggled valiantly to continue playing. Giving gave a long leash to its decorum, our small audience howled .
It was nearing 11 p.m. and I saw a few yawns . All of us need to hear from a different era of music. I thought of an oldie that mother used to play on her Kimball spinet in the living room. So I rose and called out to the man at the keyboard, " Play Alexander's Ragtime Band ! " I wasn't sure of the pianist—he was not an American—nor the Brits would even remember this song. But after searching for the melody on the ivories, the pianist finally struck the right chords, and within seconds everyone was wrestling with the melody and often guessing at the lyrics..
Aeneid and Barbara returned to their cabins and Mary Alice and I went to bed.
End
of Part Two.
Part Three will
appear
next week.
All comments are welcome.
rrschwarz71@comcast.net
© 2022 Robert R. Schwarz
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