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We decided to sleep in to recuperate from a very active week, so we ordered the breakfast in the room. While not a friend of in-room service, everything (muesli, wheat meal, blueberry pancakes, cheese omelette, smoked salmon bagel, fresh pineapple) was perfect. The restaurant schedules are very “American”, with breakfast served until 10:00am, lunch until 1:30pm, and dinner only until 9:30pm!

We spent the whole day at sea, cruising North through the Inside Passage. Perfect for some relax time and concentration, so I took the opportunity to read. Since I have gotten tired of “versions” and “interpretations” of major works, I’ve decided to go back to the original texts of the authors I am interested in (or those I want to decide if I am interested in or not). Today I tackled some “not-that-easy-to-read”: Martin Heidegger’s “Nietzsche’s Overturning of Platonism” and “The Origin of the Work of Art”, and Jacques Lacan’s (know thy enemies) “The Mirror Stage as Formative of the Function of the I” and “Of the Gaze as Object Petit a”. Given that psychoanalysis is a bourgeois pastime (or trap), when better to read about it than on a cruise? 😉

Although the gentle wave rocking made you want to go back to sleep, Heidegger and Lacan prevented me from doing so; interestingly, I know a number of people who would have experienced the complete opposite effect.

We finally made it out of the suite in time for early dinner, which included caviar, cheese soufflé, and lobster. You can tell a large number of cruisers are quite old when the restaurant has a large case of reading glasses to borrow (to read the menu).

We attended a televised lecture on the native tribes of Alaska by onboard anthropologist Terry Breen.

The orange-chocolate treat from the turn-down service had a quote on it that I liked:

One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things

Henry Miller.

So, off to bed early. Tomorrow is a very exciting day!