Towel Art on the Rotterdam

 squid? scorpion? lobster? what are you?

Aside from being trained in housekeeping, cabin stewards on cruise ships also learn the "art" of towel folding. Each evening, a towel animal is left on the bed together with a couple of chocolates and the newsletter for the next day.

At first, I completely forgot all about them because they only started appearing on the third night. If the kids were with us, I know they would've been wondering where their little towel friends were. These animals here are from a recent Baltic cruise on Holland America's Rotterdam, in order of their appearance.

Bathers' Pavilion in Mosman, Sydney

Bathers' Pavilion is another beautifully located restaurant we visited.  The restaurant is housed in a historical building right on Balmoral Beach, in Mosman, an upscale residential suburb of Sydney. There are two sides to the restaurant. The left side is a little more formal.

Icebergs, Bondi Beach

One of the nice things about having a sister who's a chef in Sydney is that we can quickly shortlist the good places to eat. And while we are dining, she can amuse us to no end with the stories of things that go on in the kitchen. Lita's first job right out of the Sydney Cordon Bleu was here at Icebergs. This was a few years ago and I don't remember many of the 'characters' in her stories. 

Collecting Teacups

 

I saw these Harlequin Collection teacups by Wedgewood at the David Jones department store in Brisbane. This is the first time I've seen teacups sold in an assorted set, making them look as if they were collected one by one.  I love how all of them are perfectly uncoordinated and look truly like a collection--but in terms of "collecting", isn't that cheating?