Trip Notes Day 12 (Sunday) Tasman Sea

Trip Notes
Day 12 (Sunday) Tasman Sea
Again, the first night at open sea made for a patchy sleep. Alas Ms Lovely didn't sleep much as the relentless ship motion kicked in and she was destined to spend the day in bed.
After sleeping in a bit I rose and showered then promenaded to force my body to stay active.
I wasn't able to find a quiet place to sit as there were people everywhere - there is after all nowhere much to go on an at-sea day - and my preferred place was overtaken by artworks placed for preview before the final sale session. The Princess line clearly has an oranised approach to art. On display in the centre of the ship is a gallery of very high quality prints. Among the channels on the in-house TV is an Art channel and we caught an explanation there of the printing method(s) used and the post-printing individualising done, often by the original artists. It's an openly factory approach but which therefore supplies a middle ground between unique original paintings and mass replication. Call me an anti-snob but I prefer mass-replication - to me the picture is an image more than it is an artefact. Still, I'm a pluralist and more options can only be good.
During our daily wanderings of the ship it became a feature to see which had sold and what changes were made to the gallery. Even the casino was worth visiting to view the wall used as more space for hanging prints. For the final review even more pictures had been brought out. I think I'll miss seeing the collection when we depart.
In mid-afternoon I went up to pool deck and witnessed various passengers determined to pretend it was really summer by sunbathing and splashing around. I was cold from the breeze in jeans and short sleeves so I presume they were in denial. It was clear and sunny but cool and breezy.
After doing eight laps of the promenade deck to warm up I was back to seeing if Lee was well enough to go to the formal dinner. As she wasn't, I dressed to pass as formal and went to the theatre for the final song&dance show. Another medley, this time nominally about dance styles. It featured a sung version of a Viennese waltz - yep it takes Las Vegas class to put words on Strauss and add slapstick. Just when I thought it was progressing through historically, without any segue it jumped into Donna Summer disco - a la Bad Girls and Hot Stuff - then back to 50s style followed by a long Latin beat bracket. Clearly the dancers are most at home with Latin and were able to show their Strictly Dancing skills.
After checking in on Lee at the cabin I then headed to the other end of the ship for a Chopin piano recital. The pianist, Monia Rosca, was quite impressive playing a full set from memory. Etudes, Preludes, a Nocturne, a suite and a Polonaise - Chopin in full flourish really. And it was a treat to hear someone play Chopin as much more than just the notes on the score. For so long, every performance of Chopin we've been to has been like hearing a machine just play all the notes.
Alas, the piano she had to use was sorely out of tune. It says something about her performance that eventually stop hearing the imperfect instrument nad just heard the sweep and swells of expression.