DAY 22 - AT SEA - NEXT STOP MONTEVIDEO, URUGUAY

-A GRAND FEAST IN THE GRAND SALON
-ChAMPAGNE & CAVIER!
-VIOLIN VIRTUOSO, RAFAEL

Let's just put it out there that Michael and I are not exactly the formal dining room types. It's just a tad fussy for us and although we enjoy good food and conversation most of the time we would simply prefer that it be without much fanfare. With that said, we learned today that all of the Quest's restaurants would be closed at lunch and guests would be served a Galley Market Lunch in the formal dining room. Not giving it any thought we headed down to the restaurant at noon.
There was a great deal of activity happening as we arrived and took our seats near the window. In our minds it the picture of culinary chaos so we did what any hot blooded American couple would do. We ordered a nice red wine while we figured out a plan of attack.
The Executive Chef, Rafael Peterkovic had orchestrated an amazing selection of food. Set up in the middle of the main dining room were long banquet tables. On one table was an unimaginable number of appetizers. Seafood being at center stage. There was also bruschetta, cheeses, breads, crackers and other usual suspects like salad, etc.
We took a bit of food and scurried back to our seats to consume the goodness. A brief discussion with our waiter illuminated us about what to do next. The Galley (A big hint was the Galley Market Lunch announcement earlier) had been opened for guests and inside food stations were set up so that we could walk through choosing bites or entrees to our heart's content. The bonus was the opportunity to see where our food had been prepared during our trip. It was like walking through a clean freak/foodie's stainless steel dream - slow, ethereal, shiny. The galley was as massive as one might expect and the cooks had been turned into servers as guests filed by one by one. Those poor introverts seemed friendly but uncomfortable...kind of like how it felt the first time you had your mother-in-law over for dinner!
After the entrée we walked over to the dessert table and man-oh-man were we impressed. They had managed to have a Baked Alaska, every kind of cake, tart, fruit and gelato you could imagine. We had small slivers of several things and now waddled back to our table to continue to decimate any half-hearted attempt to keep weight off during this trip!
My single regret was that both of us left our cameras in our room. It wasn't like we couldn't go back and get them easily but we didn't want to hold our special piece of real estate by the window in case someone else wanted to sit and enjoy their feast with a perfect view. After lunch we considered our options and decided to go back to our room to read and nap! We came, we saw, we ate, it kicked our ass! Great job, Seabourn. Very impressive.
As an aside...that evening we were getting ready for dinner and as I was putting on lipstick in the other room Michael asked me what I was doing. I told him that I was decorating the sausage. It has become a "thing" between us now. Maybe you had to be there.
After a very light dinner, we decided to take in a show: the Violin Virtuoso, Rafael was performing in the Grand Salon late in the evening. He was very talented and his show was excellent. It was a lovely evening with our new friend, Edith.