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TO: Son John, in New York City

FROM: Mother, Aboard the M.S. Renaissance

You know how your father and I love cruises! Remember the gourmet tour of the Orient aboard the S.S. President Cleveland with Alvin Kerr of Gourmet magazine? And that flower-arranging cruise aboard the S.S. Mariposa with Bea Frambach, the president of the American Institute of Floral Designers? And the Photography Cruise? And the Golf Cruise? And as you know, Dad and I love nothing better than those marvelous bridge cruises run by Charles Goren.

But absolutely none of them compare with the cruise we're taking now! We are aboard the French ship M.S. Renaissance, and it's called a Mediterranean Music Cruise, and darling, your father is in such a mood for adventure. He even sent a note to the captain saying how much he liked sailing the high C's. Isn't that funny?

Last night we reached Palma, Majorca, where the special attraction was a twelve-mile trip to the monastery at Valldemosa to eat a buffet dinner and hear a recital of Chopin's piano music by that handsome Frenchman Samson Franc,ois. The monastery was cold and damp, but those clever people from the Renaissance brought along bundles of plaid blankets to cover everybody up. Poor Chopin. He lived in the monastery for two months with his, pardon me, mistress, George Sand, and they say that he nearly died of the chill. He could have used some of those plaids.

Johnny, the first day out Pianist Wilhelm Kempff played for us in the big salon. Everybody could feel the boat rolling and swaying ever so gently. Later, he said: "Sometimes the keys elude your touch like fishes swimming away from under your fingers." What a sport! In a few days we are going to hear the soprano Elisabeth Schwarzkopf at the Ribat of Monastir, Tunisia. Then, while cruising to Dubrovnik, Yugoslavia, there will be a recital by the Amadeus Quartet and Jean-Pierre Rampal, the flutist. Then on to Catania, Naples and Cannes, where Arturo Benedetti Michelangeli will give a piano recital.

It's all so cute and comfortable! We're in first class ($4,120 for our double stateroom), and guess what they call our deck? The Allegro. There are other levels, known as Adagio, Vivace, Andante, all the way down to the water level, which is called Presto. Your father says they must call it that because the people there have to run the fastest to get to dinner. One strange thing, though. A German conductor named Karl Munchinger, who is aboard for the whole trip, keeps grumbling about the recorded music in the salons and corridors. But Daddy and I really do enjoy hearing Bach and Beethoven wherever we go. All he says is "Encores aweigh!" Have to run now. Herr Kempff is practicing Mozart, and we are all invited. Much love.

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