I'm Thirty One!

-DAY 6, Thessaloniki, Greece-

9.10.16 Saturday

My birthday!

Last night we had a rough night, we went to bed early, wanted to read for a bit but both of us were so exhausted we could barely even get ready for bed. I woke up at 145a struggling, couldn't breathe out of my nose, and then I woke EP up blowing it like a trumpet. Luckily she put on her headphones and was able to fall back asleep eventually.

We woke up early to get a fancier breakfast at Edwlweiss, our dinner restaurant. Personally I wasn't impressed and prefer the Windjammer although our omelets were good. I did have a mimosa and we were sat with a couple from Maine who had a friend that was a doctor and attended to President Reagan when he was shot, a couple from North Carolina (the wife worked as a nurse), and two couples from southern England. It was nice meeting new people but I still like the Windjammer. 😛

Also, I don't know if I mentioned the dogs here, it's nuts! They are literally everywhere just laying around.. in Athens I saw a water dish for them and most of them have collars but they just lay there, it's so weird. Sometimes we see a cat or two but mostly dogs.

Anyway, after breakfast we turned in our shore excursions- we want to do one tomorrow in Turkey and one in Rhodes. Then we headed off the ship to explore the shops of Thessaloniki.

We weren't impressed, I wish we would've met up with Rachel & Sarah or David and Andrew. We weren't really feeling anything so we just walked the streets. It's not really a tourist area and they function well on their own accord. Not as hazy and not as much graffiti as Athens, definitely interesting the way the streets are set up here. Nice to look through the corridors and alleys and see the plants above on balconies and rooftops and such. I bought some Sudafed, it's called Nurofen but it has Ibuprofen and Pseudoephedrine in it so close enough. I've taken two doses so far and it has gotten rid of the congestion in my head but not my nose.

For sightseeing we only walked to the White Tower, it was probably more than a mile from the ship. It's also known as "Eastern Walls" or "Rampart" according to the pamphlet I was given. Inside is the city museum but it was closed today so we just took a selfie and walked back to the ship- our exercise for the day.

When we got back we threw on our suits and my new cover up I bought from H&M (lol) and got some sun on the deck. We were bothered by bugs and the sun kept hiding but I did get some reading done and we dipped in the pool a couple times.

Trivia at 5 was on our schedule so we had drinks with our favorite Turkish bartender Danis and there's a Brazilian bartender we like too but we don't remember her name. She's hilarious! David & Andrew came as well as Lucas (he's the 24yo Brazilian here with his family). So the trivia was "Who in the World Am I?" and EP and I knew like two of them.. one of whom was Larry Bird! 😂😂😂 We all chatted a while after and this time I didn't spill my drink.

Following trivia we got ready for dinner and then headed back up to round two of trivia.. "Disney Songs". Lucas joined us and we ended up with 14 out of 17, missing only songs from Bambi, Dumbo, and Fantasia- which Erica knew but was second guessing herself.

Dinner was great, EP told everyone it was my birthday because she's a great friend and she knows how much I love my birthday!!! The hostess at the restaurant, Adrianna, is from Brazil and she's so nice to us every time we make a reservation, we love her! So we had our usual wait staff, Nikolas and Tetiana. Tetiana is from the Ukraine and today we learned she has a parrot! Food was okay, appetizers were DELICIOUS! And for dessert Tetiana brought me a birthday brownie with a candle and they sang to me and she hugged me! EP got the greatest photos! I love her too. ♡

After dinner we caught the tail end of the country show. It was good but a little too Broadway for me since it wasn't Broadway; I like my country songs country! One of the girls was great though, definitely her niche. The ship was rocking A LOT so it was throwing us off a bit.

Back to Schooner Bar for another drink and a water before karaoke challenge semi finals. I asked another bartender, Jesus from Mexico, to make me a drink and I ended up with a shot of kahlua & jose cuervo. 😣

On to Shall We Dance Lounge where David and Andrew were waiting to cheer us on! I got one last birthday drink, a Bailey's to calm my nerves. David and Andrew are SO NICE!! We love them too. And then Rachel and Sarah showed up! We were so happy. Lucas was there too so all of our cruise friends came to support us. They are so nice! And so fun!!! EP and Sarah exchanged numbers in case we ever lose each other again. EP and I decided to sing Don't Stop Believin'. There were six competitors but one of the guys was missing and in his place was Rosario, an Italian woman with really long legs and a big fan club. We went second and SURPRISE! EP told JP and everybody sang Happy Birthday to me 😍 She da bomb. Who else would tell everyone ALL DAY that it was my birthday?!?!

Anyway, I thought we did well, if not better than the first time we sang it. Our family feud friend Olga (not Sylvia.. oops) sang Telephone and she was great! We thought it would be us, her, and this Asian lady from Chicago who sang Tammy Wynette in the tonight. Unfortunately for us, Rosaria made it and we (probably more so me) are pretty effing salty about it!!! So as a consolation prize we got RC Bingo t-shirts.. we're just going to tell ourselves that people complained that JP was favoring us because he knows our names and stuff (only because we go to trivia all the time and he hosts it...). Whatever!

So these sore losers are going to bed. We are so grateful for the support of our amazing new cruise friends who we enjoy so much!!!

I'm gonna down some more Sudafed and get to sleep. Goodnight people! Thank you for all of the birthday wishes!!! 💗