Description
Three blasts of the horn, and the harbor at Marseille slides away behind the stern. On the top deck, a former schoolteacher named Odette unpins her hat so the wind can have her hair. She has saved for this voyage for eleven years, and she intends to taste every pastry on board and wave at every passing fishing boat between here and Santorini. By the second evening the captain knows her by name, and the pianist in the lounge has learned her favorite Piaf song.
This porcelain liner holds that same salty, holiday-bright feeling. Stretching nearly five inches from bow to stern, it looks splendid along a windowsill where real light can play on its painted portholes. It is a lovely way to mark a milestone cruise, a retirement voyage or the anniversary trip a couple finally took after years of planning it over kitchen-table maps.
The details
- A sleek cruise ship rendered in fine painted detail, from hull to upper decks
- A little life buoy adds a jaunty nautical touch
- About 4.75 inches long, 1.25 inches wide and 1.5 inches tall
- Its interior keeps a cabin key charm or a seashell from the shore
- Limoges porcelain, decorated by hand in France
- Made by Rochard
Give it with a handwritten list of ports still to visit, and the next adventure is already underway. Long after the tan fades, the little liner keeps the horizon in view.
