Last night we attended an an exclusive Vintage Room Dinner. The focus of the Vintage Room is on wine with food specially prepared and paired to complement specific fine wines selected for the evening. Each wine was carefully explained by Head Sommelier Tilmar Pfefferkorn. This included details such as the history of the Vineyard and characteristics of each bottle of wine. Including ourselves we had six people attending. We met with Tilmar shortly after boarding Serenity to plan the menu for this event. We did as we have done in the past. We reviewed three different menus and could choose food from any of the menus and essentially mix and match them. The difference is that this time Tilmar also brought a vegetarian menu and we chose a most amazing soup from that menu. The soup was Cappuccino of Fresh Butternut Squash. It even included some cinnamon The taste was out of this world. We've had the Chilean Sea Bass before but Tilmar recommended that it be prepared differently by adding a small egg yolk to the plate which not only brought out additional flavors of the sea bass but also of the wine. In a larger group of up to fourteen people one might go with champagne, five or six wines, plus a dessert wine as two bottles would be opened for each item chosen. With very few people only one bottle is needed per type and we decided to go with less wine choices allowing for even better wines/champagne to be served. We agreed that two white wines and two red wines would be served and left the selection to Tilmar. We chose the food items with the types of wines in mind. Tilmar came up with the idea that rather than just pairing wines to the food items we could pair wines to one another. As such, two white wines were served at once and accompanied the first few courses. This allowed all of us to compare the two chardonnay wines with each other. One was a 2013 California wine and the other was a 2004 wine from France. Differences included the amount of alcohol content, color and aroma. A few days ago Tilmar ran by us two different ideas he had about the red wines and we loved one of the idea s which was quite unique. We had two very special red wines from the same vineyard, the same grapes, the same year and everything the same except for one item. The difference was the type of barrel that was used for each wine. One wine utilized an American Oak Barrel while the other wine utilized a French Oak Barrel. This provided us with an opportunity to compare both wines and clearly the aroma and the taste varied between the two wines. These wines are very hard to obtain as very little product is produced. Tilmar spotted them on a special visit he made on behalf of Crystal Cruises to this vineyard and was able to obtain only six bottles of each wine for Serenity and the same amount for Symphony. Below you will find the dinner menu from last evening. Whenever you attend the Vintage Room the package you receive also includes a detailed writeup for each wine. We are only including the one page summary of the food and the wine. We've included photos of those in attendance, one with Tilmar and Anne Marie, a few of the items we had including that wonderful soup and a photo of Executive Chef Werner and Pastry Chef Harald. Werner and Harold were kind enough to come by the room to check up on us. This also provided us with the opportunity to thank them for overseeing this amazing meal. We slept very well as we cruised to our next port of call in Sitka, Alaska. Between the rocking of the ship and the wine (just kidding) it was easy to fall asleep. We began our morning as we do most morning's on board Crystal Serenity with an early visit to the Fitness Room by Keith, followed by Keith's a stop at the Lido Cafe for coffee. Shortly before we had breakfast we were able to do Face Time with our daughter, son in-law and grand son, Andre, and grand daughter Emma. Andre is very excited that we are taking them and our son, daughter in law, and grandson on a Crystal Serenity cruise next May. We gave them a little tour of our room and also showed him our views of Alaska. It's so nice to be able to stay in touch with family. Yesterday we did Face Time with our son and grandson. Following is a photo that Keith took of Emma and Andre while we were doing Face Time with them. We were still speaking with them when Butler Jijo came with Breakfast and it was so nice that Jijo could see Emma and Andre as well as Jennifer and that they could speak with Jijo. After breakfast we got ready for our visit to Sitka. Sitka is another area of Alaska that we have visited a few times in the past, starting in 1998. Today, the town has many of the characteristics that impressed us on our first visit. The population is less than 10,000 residents. When Alaska was purchased by the United States from the Russians the transfer ceremony was held in Sitka. Initially, Sitka was the capital of Alaska. Initially, gold mining and fish canning fueled the town's growth. By World War II, Sitka's population grew several fold as the United States navy constructed an air base on Japonski Island and 30,000 service personnel were brought to this area. Major attractions of Sitka include St Michael's Cathedral build between 1844 and 1848, the 200 year old Russian Cemetery, the Sitka National Historical Park which is Alaska's oldest national park, and the Russian Bishop's House completed in 1842 and restored in 1973. On all of our prior visits, we would anchor and a tender would take us to and from the downtown area. About three years ago a pier was opened up allowing cruise ships to dock. A complimentary shuttle was provided to take us on a five mile drive to and from town. The good news is by taking the shuttle is that it provided a nice opportunity to see areas outside the immediate town. We have taken several shore excursions on previous visits. Most recently we participated on one of Crystal Cruises Voluntourism Adventures where we volunteered at the Sitka Sound Science Center. Originally, we signed up for a Private Catamaran Cruise. Unfortunately, we learned that there was an error and that the excursion would total six people per Catamaran. Although we could have booked another excursion we had already taken all of the other ones we had an interest in taking. Instead we did take the shuttle to town and just enjoyed walking the town on our own. We walked for quite awhile. From time to time the sun came out, other times it was overcast and a couple of times it rained and drizzled. We were well prepared with our rain coats. Our walk included a visit to the Sitka National Historical Park. It is a beautiful park on 113 acres of land with winding paths offering scenic views. It also featured several totem poles. This is Alaska's oldest national park. We walked by some of the residential areas and saw many beautiful homes with colorful exteriors and lush landscape. On a portion of the walk we met a local resident who is a land surveyor. We asked him a wide ranges of questions about Sitka from its primary economic drivers to its weather. He did note that as a result of global warming the weather has changed quite a bit. He noted that they used to get several inches of snow in the winter whereas more recently they might get no to very little snow. We walked the downtown area which included several different churches and shopping. Unlike some of the other Alaskan ports, there are none of the jewelry stores such as Diamonds International commonplace in those ports that receive many more cruise ships during the summer season. The first photo is of Anne Marie with Shore Excursion Manager Daniel who is also sporting his beard in the spirit of the Northwest Passage cruise. After returning to Serenity, we had lunch at the Lido Cafe. We had our usual salad entrees. We sat by a window and noticed that it was raining quite hard and it has lasted several hours. We are fortunate that we went took the shuttle into town early in the morning.
Afterwards, we both exercises with Anne Marie going on a one hour walk followed by a short workout on the Elliptical Machine and Keith working out on the Elliptical Machine. For those of you who workout a lot this was one of those workouts that Keith was in a groove. He was able to just focus on some music and also one of the news stations and it allowed him to enjoy a very long workout. Needed to work off last nights Vintage Room dinner and drink. LOL. This evening we dine at the Crystal Dining Room and tomorrow we cruise Hubbard Glacier. On Tuesday the Northwest Adventure commences. Keith & Anne Marie Comments are closed.
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