Karl’s Korner

Good afternoon, my freinds and family,
Yes, here we are in that town that starts with a V and ends in stock, which is so hard to pronounce.
We got off the ship early, about 9 a.m., and attempted to walk through town, but after an hour and a half of stumbling over broken curbs and cracked sidwalks with many out of alignment grates, manhole covers, etc., it was too much for Carol to navigate with her poor eyesight, so we came back to the ship, did a little shopping just outside the gate and then spent the rest of the morning and afternoon just relaxing on our balcony or looking at an overview of the city from the top of the ship.
The town seems fairly modern, lots of highrises, but it is dirty and the smog hangs over the horizon like a dirty blanket. They have a long ways to go to meet any “greenhouse” emissions standards.
We have had a ball with our little doll. She tried on Russian hats, said “Hello” to her Russian cousins (the many faceted dolls they make here), and even got to see the statue of Lenin in the park. We now have more than 50 pictures of her, and a few of us, but we have so many scrapbooks of pictures, this should be fun to make up a storybook of pictures of the doll.
Carol is doing find on the trip, but is cold all the time - What’s new??? LOL We think the food on board leaves much to be desired compared to other past cruises, but that’s just our opinion. We have only eaten in the dining room a few times, spend most of our dining time in the Lido buffet.
Another sea day tomorrow and then into Pusan, S. Korea.
Our book signing did not go well, and we think maybe our plans were not smart after all, as they have such a large library on board and most passengers bring their own books, but they do read. It seems everyone is reading during the day and evenings when there is nothing else to do.
It is very warm here this afternoon, so we may sit out on the deck and see if we can catch some rays.
The ship is practically deserted, as most are off on tours, but we decided not to do that here.
Dennis, if you see Steve, tell him I bought him some “rubles” for his coin collection.
Hope all is well with everyone back home and all over the country. We are getting hits from several countries while we are gone.
Hope you are enjoying our tales of our travels and our doll’s.
Come back often. We’ll let you know what Pusan looks like in a few days. The time is passing by fairly fast.
Until next time,
Via con Dias, my friends,
Karl & Carol