Date: July 30, 2008
Location: Alexandria
Lat: 31° 11.6N Long: 029° 11.6N
Well, I have arrived in Alexandria, Egypt and it is quite an eye opener. We aren’t in Kansas anymore. The country is clearly the worst we’ve been to by far. There are a number of things that I have observed about this place that I didn’t care for too much.
First off is the trash. There is trash all over Alexandria. There is an absolutely distinctive smell that one notices immediately while walking around the streets. I can think of a few causes for this. There is an extremely large amount of trash everywhere. In addition, it’s not just rotting garbage, its rotting animals. While walking down a street we observed a decaying dog that must have been there for around three weeks. The skin was barely still on the wretch’s face and the ribs were now exposed to the air.
Another thing is that nothing is well maintained. One can see examples of machinery, such as cars falling apart everywhere. I observed the dilapidated conditions of the houses. It looks like we stepped back in time to observe tenement houses. I guess it would be hard to cope as a civilization when you peak 4,000 years ago.
Finally, I dislike the pushy nature of everyone. I understand trying to make a sell but people hound you a good distance. One can refuse several times and not get anywhere. Everyone’s trying to make a buck off you and you have absolutely no space.
Now I suppose is a good time to walkthrough my day. We cleared Alexandrian Customs around 0900 after docking at around 0600. Some friends and I decided to hit the town. Our first destination was the New Library of Alexandria. We had heard that this was one of the things to see so we headed that way.
Street crossings are a nightmare. In Italy there were painted lines indicating lanes for driving. Now people might drive aggressively and almost hit you, but one had the idea that there was some overarching principle guiding the chaos. In Egypt, all that is thrown out the window. There are no lanes at all. Street crossing is like Italy but only that much more insane. The nature of crossing pretty much works like this; one waits for an opening in traffic, after getting tired of this the person decides to walk out regardless of traffic. This usually causes the oncoming traffic to slow and then work your way further across. Hopefully you don’t get hit by a car; I don’t think they would stop. The whole process plays out like the old arcade game Frogger.
While we were heading to the library, we decided that we were hungry. The whole group had a team consensus that McDonalds was the best bet. The menu was almost identical to the one back home, however there were some alternatives. I went for my personal favorite, the McArabia. This is pretty much a sandwich made on Middle Eastern flatbread. The sandwich consists of two patties, tomatoes, and lettuce. The best part was this divine sauce that was mayonnaise based with some Arabic spices thrown in. I would eat it again, even in America. It tasted absolutely great.
Another funny scene is that one of our crew decided to stop to get ice cream. He paid for it and was walking with us talking about how this was the worst ice cream he’s ever had. The owner of the ice cream cart started to follow us for around 100 yards shouting that he had ice cream for sale. None of us were planning on taking him up on it, but he eventually stopped.
I also walked by a market where I was able to purchase some items. These were pirated DVDs, of course. I just watched The Dark Knight, the sequel to Batman Begins on my laptop. The quality wasn’t that good; obviously, it was a guy standing in a theatre with Arabic subtitles. Thankfully, people only got up like twice so the experience was still very good. I think they cut some violence out for the Arabs, but overall, it was a good movie. I also have Iron Man to watch later.
After the market, we arrived at the Library. This was a really impressive building. The building was an absolutely massive collection of books in every language. They also had some really sweet printing presses. In the basement they had a collection of artifacts. These covered all of Egypt, from the ancient Egyptians, to the Greeks and Romans, up to the Islamic period. These were pretty neat and I enjoyed them.
Next we decided to go see the Catacombs. This entailed essentially making a triangle from our current position which was essentially directly straight from the ship down to the Catacombs and then back. However, this was not to be. The map we had did not include street names. This was not a problem when we were hugging the water, but trying to make it across the city just basing it off the number of turns we made was difficult.
We were doing really well for a while, and then we ran into troubles. We were doing a good job; we arrived at the Roman Amphitheater, which was pretty much the halfway point. This was our last landmark. We took a road that seemed like the logical connector to the Catacombs. Boy we were wrong.
We first got our feeling of being off the beaten path when we started seeing more donkey carts than rusted cars. Our hunch was compounded when we saw the dead dog as previously mentioned. This was even more compounded when we saw the buildings stopped looking dilapidated and started looking condemned. Perhaps the final clincher of our suspicions was the bazaar we wandered into. Unlike the normal bazaar that sells ethnic things and tourist kitsch, this was different.
It is hard to paint an accurate picture of what I saw; a photo can’t do it as I didn’t think whipping a camera out would be prudent there. I will try though. Some of the hot items were spare auto parts; I use parts loosely as most of the items were so rusted it was doubtful they could actually work in a car. Another hot item was loose computer cases that either had plants growing out of them; the keyboards had mold or rather plan-life growing out of them too. There were also loose circuit boards all over the place too. In addition, there were people selling toilets, toilet seats, and other items. Also, there were tire dealers who were selling tires with virtually no tread on them; some were selling massive monster truck size tires. This was not a normal bazaar. People didn’t even have tables to lay their wares on; they just sat them on the sidewalk.
We picked up the pace to try to get through here and only ended up in a dockyard. These docks were both a good and bad sign. We knew we could work our way home based on keeping the water on the left side of us. However, since our group was so large, around fifteen or so, we decided to split. The majority of the group decided to take cabs to try to get out. A friend and I, we were both robbed by the cabbie in Naples, decided that we were going to leg this one out and passed up on the cab ride.
What happened next sort of reminded me of the film Black Hawk Down which depicts the US Army’s experience in Mogadishu, Somalia in 1993. There is a scene where two machine gunners get inadvertently left behind by the column of Rangers and are forced to make their way back to base on their own. That was pretty much our predicament. We had a map which we both felt was probably more detrimental than useful.
We were extremely in the back roads. We were making our way over trash and people who looked like they were at deaths door. Things clearly weren’t too good out there. I guess there isn’t too much to really describe this. We pretty much were walking in the worst area I’ve ever been in. Southeast D.C. may have a reputation, but the Alexandrian ghetto makes Southeast look good. After walking for around an hour we got back to the ship.
I decided to celebrate by taking a shower and just laying on my bed in my room. After a good bit of this, my friends and I decided to head out again. While we were eating dinner, some of our fellow shipmates had native garb of the cotton robes and the headdresses. My friends and I decided that we needed our own so we hit the bazaar right outside the ship. I was able to haggle my way to getting the whole set for just 100 Egyptian Pounds, which works out to around 20 dollars. I think it was a pretty good buy, I’m sure that will be worn at parties.
However, after this we decided to go outside the gates and enjoy some drinks at a local drinking establishment. We were first aggressively hustled by a taxi driver who was discussing that he could take us anywhere real cheap and he knew everything and he would show us everything. We declined as we knew where we wanted to go but he kept following us. Eventually, he backed off and then someone else came up to pursue us.
This guy started badmouthing the cabbies and said he could take us anywhere. He kept pushing us and following us and he asked us where we were from. One of our crew said he was from California and this guy allegedly had a brother in California so that made us all brothers. He led us to the Alexandria Bazaar all the while saying he could take us anywhere. My friend, who I had navigated back to the ship with earlier, and I were wary of where this was going to go. He led my more naive friend to his “family” business which sold pretty ratty jewelry.
He was trying to convince us that these were great and we should buy them. However, my friend didn’t cut him off and say he wasn’t interested. Instead he said he was out of money and he needed to go to an ATM. The guy then led us to one. My friend withdrew money as I stood near the ATM watching the attendants, who were in plainclothes, load pistols.
We then left the bank and we said we were going back to the ship. He kept hustling us trying to get us to go back to buy some of the jewelry but we weren’t having any of it. We kept walking and eventually he left us, which I was thankful for.
When we got back to the ship I decided that I really did not want to go back out there. Pretty much the setup of getting off the ship is like this. One first proceeds down next to where the gangway is located at; here one has to show Egyptian officials your passport. After one does this they can exit the gangway. After walking approximately 30 yards, one has to show their passport again. After one exits the initial terminal you have to walk through the first circle of sharks. These guys are running the bazaar just out of the ship where I got my native garb.
If one makes it past these landsharks, one then faces the next circle. These are the taxi drivers. These guys quote ridiculous prices and boast that they can take you to Cairo to see the pyramids in Cairo for 30 dollars each. These guys are pretty pushy.
After one gets by them, you must cross a bridge that just serves to link the dock to a bit further inland, despite the fact that the bridge is over land the whole time; it is probably a security measure. Once here one has to show their passport again to another official. This leads you to the final circle of sharks, these guys are pretty fierce too. These are another round of taxi drivers who are more local who boast of being able to take one anywhere throughout the city. Then there are the locals who boast of being able to walk one all over the city themselves. If one makes it by all these parasites without one sticking too you one is finally home free.
Toto, we’re not in Kansas anymore.
Despite all these things, I’m really looking forward to seeing the Pyramids tomorrow. I don’t think I’d be unfair to say that that’s probably the last thing to do on my list of things to see of Egypt and then I’m fine casting off from Egypt forever.
Wednesday, July 30, 2008
Tuesday, July 29, 2008
Full Steam to Alexandria, Egypt!
Date: July 29, 2008
Location: The Mediterranean Sea
Lat: 32° 37.53N Long: 029° 5.86E
Well things can sure change quickly. We are no longer headed towards Istanbul, Turkey. We are now en route to Alexandria, Egypt. I suppose I’m also getting a bit too ahead of myself.
Apparently there were some bombings in Istanbul the day before we were supposed to get there. It was a pretty professional attack. The terrorists placed a flashbang in one trashcan in a crowded pedestrian mall. After this blew up, people quickly gathered around the site of the explosion. Around ten minutes later, a much bigger bomb blew up in a trashcan approximately thirty feet away. Last I heard, approximately 20 Turks lost their lives. Clearly it is very sad.
When word of this bombing first got out, the rumor mill started full tilt. This built on earlier news about a shooting at the US Embassy in Istanbul earlier this summer. This led to a lot of theories on where we were going. A few thought we would go to Istanbul still. However, there were a lot of thoughts that we would go to Bulgaria, Crete, Ukraine, and other places like that. However, there were also some thoughts that we would be heading to Alexandria.
People speculated all day. It didn’t help that we were told early in the morning that we would have a decision at 1800 our time. This gave us plenty of time to spin all sorts of rumors. However, we were finally told later that night that we were heading to Alexandria, Egypt.
I am pretty excited about Egypt. I have an SAS trip lined up to go see the Pyramids and Cairo for one day. I am also going to go see Alexandria with some friends. There sounds like there will be plenty to do and I’m looking forward to it.
The Sea Olympics is ongoing. After they made their announcement on where we were going, we had the improvisational comedy contest. This was a lot of fun for sure. It seems like most of the jokes were about the short story “Dragon Ride” from the earlier contest or ragging on our professors. It was fun.
We’re all excited about Egypt tomorrow!
Location: The Mediterranean Sea
Lat: 32° 37.53N Long: 029° 5.86E
Well things can sure change quickly. We are no longer headed towards Istanbul, Turkey. We are now en route to Alexandria, Egypt. I suppose I’m also getting a bit too ahead of myself.
Apparently there were some bombings in Istanbul the day before we were supposed to get there. It was a pretty professional attack. The terrorists placed a flashbang in one trashcan in a crowded pedestrian mall. After this blew up, people quickly gathered around the site of the explosion. Around ten minutes later, a much bigger bomb blew up in a trashcan approximately thirty feet away. Last I heard, approximately 20 Turks lost their lives. Clearly it is very sad.
When word of this bombing first got out, the rumor mill started full tilt. This built on earlier news about a shooting at the US Embassy in Istanbul earlier this summer. This led to a lot of theories on where we were going. A few thought we would go to Istanbul still. However, there were a lot of thoughts that we would go to Bulgaria, Crete, Ukraine, and other places like that. However, there were also some thoughts that we would be heading to Alexandria.
People speculated all day. It didn’t help that we were told early in the morning that we would have a decision at 1800 our time. This gave us plenty of time to spin all sorts of rumors. However, we were finally told later that night that we were heading to Alexandria, Egypt.
I am pretty excited about Egypt. I have an SAS trip lined up to go see the Pyramids and Cairo for one day. I am also going to go see Alexandria with some friends. There sounds like there will be plenty to do and I’m looking forward to it.
The Sea Olympics is ongoing. After they made their announcement on where we were going, we had the improvisational comedy contest. This was a lot of fun for sure. It seems like most of the jokes were about the short story “Dragon Ride” from the earlier contest or ragging on our professors. It was fun.
We’re all excited about Egypt tomorrow!
Saturday, July 26, 2008
The Wonders of Italy
Date: July 26, 2008
Location: Naples, Rome, Vatican City, and Pompeii
Lat: 40° 50.3N Long: 014° 15.44E
Rome is known as Eternal City. I don’t know whether that’s because it has lasted so long, or you could spend an eternity seeing it all. I do know that two days certainly was not enough to see everything, but we made a good try.
I suppose some general comments on Italy are in order. First off, there are wild dogs everywhere. This was particularly true in Pompeii. I have a lot of great photos of dogs just walking around the ruins. Also, there were some pretty big piles of garbage around Naples as well. I guess it might have been worse before, but it is still a problem. The Italians are always hustling. While this is to be expected when one is passing through street vendors, it was particularly funny when you are walking down the street and you start getting invited into restaurants. Also, taxi drivers also hustle the hell out of you, one could say we got robbed by a taxi driver, but that comes later (this foreshadowing is what makes me an excellent writer).
We woke up pretty early and headed out for Rome. We decided to walk to the train station as we would avoid the taxis. It was around a 35 minute walk, so it wasn’t too bad. Well it wouldn’t have been except it felt like hell with each step onto my cut foot, it is better now though. When we made it to the train station we started to use the self-service ticket machines. They had an English setting so that helped a bit. However, we were not in any way home free.
This brings us to robbery number 1. While we were trying to figure the trains out, an old Italian came up on us and grabbed our tickets. He then shoved it into the machine that apparently validates the tickets. He then loudly demanded we give him money for his “services”. We had initially assumed that he was being helpful so we didn’t tell him to back off. We all gave him some money to get him to back off, I gave him a 5 Euro piece and he backed off. Some of our group gave him 7 Euro and he kept demanding more. I guess greasing the wheels is part of life in Naples.
We did make our train though and off we went. I sat next to the window next to some Italians. They were hard at work completing Sudoku and crossword puzzles so there was no cross-cultural communications. In addition, I did not feel very nice towards Italians after the stick-up a few minutes before.
We also made it to Rome. We got off our train and then started off to try and find the Coliseum. I suppose there is room for a slight aside. Rome is clearly an organic city. I mean in the nature of the streets, there is no logic to it at all. Sometimes streets curve into piazzas, other times little side streets shoot off and then rejoin the main road. Navigating Rome is by no means an easy trick.
Our first stop was the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Mayor. These churches are extremely hard to describe. One can only say that the church was beautiful so many times. However, I’ll do my best. The Basilica is situated in a piazza. The front was absolutely gorgeous; there were a series of columns that on the top had statues of saints and other holy people. There were also various angels on the balconies, all together, the front was extremely impressive.
Another fascinating thing was the confession booths. Above the entrance there were placards that stated what language the padre spoke. There were also lights stating which ones were occupied by the fathers. It was a pretty neat system and many languages were represented.
However, after one entered they witnessed the true glory. The interior is covered in gold leaf. The gold leaf surrounds paintings of the blessed Virgin, Popes, Moses, etc. There were also glorious basins for housing holy water. Also there were stained glass windows that were absolutely beautiful with the bright Italian sun shining through. I put a Euro or two in the offering, figured it couldn’t hurt to have God on my side and we were off to find ancient Rome.
The influence of Ancient Rome is clearly a huge factor in the city. For starters, all the manhole covers have SPQR printed on them. SPQR stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus, or “The Senate and People of Rome”. This is pretty much the standard phrase of Rome, representing all that is Rome. Obviously it is seen on many of the arches and Roman ruins.
We didn’t wander for too long until we found the ruins of Ancient Rome. We first saw the Coliseum. It is truly staggering to witness something you’ve read about for so long. The building is truly massive; it is hard to convey the sheer scale of it. Another thing is the depth of history in Rome. One could say that our history started with Jamestown in 1607; however, Rome has been in existence forever.
We quickly left the Coliseum because I had a tip from my roommate back at school that one should go to the Palatine Hill to get tickets. The tickets cover all of ancient Rome and clearly the Hill doesn’t have the sex appeal of the Coliseum so the line was much shorter. I don’t mean to impugn the hill, it was really impressive. The Roman forum as well as many other ancient ruins was there. It is just so stunning to see all these ancient ruins. After watching all these History Channel specials and taking all those years of Latin class, it is just so awe inspiring to see the areas where these people lived and died.
We then headed off to the Coliseum proper. We ended up getting onto a guided tour. This was a great deal for us since we had already paid for our tickets so the cost was only five Euros. Obviously the Coliseum was impressive. A very interesting thing is that there are a ton of divots in the walls. People like to claim that the damage is due to erosion, however, in actuality, scavengers pulled out metal re-bar that strengthened the building. I guess it is not surprising when something has been around that long that people try to abuse it.
It is absolutely incredible to see these things. We also walked by a museum. We didn’t go in, but there were some really neat statues. I was pretty impressed I was able to pick out some of the figures from history books. I saw a statue of the two Gracchi brothers who were key figures in Roman land reform.
After this we walked to another church, the Basilica Saint Maria delgi Angeli. Now this church was once again, impressive. The fascinating thing about this was that it was built into the Roman Baths of Diocletian. The church was an absolutely gorgeous mix of marble and statues. The altars were particularly beautiful.
Probably the neatest thing about this was the meridian line. This essentially functioned as a sundial, except it was designed to show the progress of time through the year. I guess it is hard to accurately describe, however, it was certainly impressive.
After we left the church we started heading towards the Trevi Fountain. However, I noticed a few things while we were walking there. It seems like everywhere there is some gorgeous marble building there is a Pope’s name slapped on it. For example, a Pope slapped his name on the Coliseum, not to mention the many other buildings we saw. I guess it’s the Protestant in me talking, but it started to seem like it was more about the Pope’s glory than God’s.
Another neat thing is all the obelisks in Rome. There are all these neat Egyptian obelisks with Hieroglyphs all over them. Of course since a Pope made the obelisk possible, there is cross slapped to the top of it. It sure seems a bit out of place walking through Rome and seeing a huge obelisk in a piazza.
The Trevi Fountain is also beautiful. It is kind of a common theme here. The Fountain is pretty much a testament to what human hands can do with marble and water. The Fountain depicts a couple of water horses and figures. I guess it is also a bit hard to describe, but it was equally impressive. We got some great photos in front of it. The legend is that you need to throw two coins into the fountain, the first coin is for good luck, and the second one is for safe return to Rome. I’m covered because I threw my two coins in.
We then headed out towards the Spanish Steps. They were a bit distant so we got to see some pretty neat stuff in the process. One thing we saw was the Column of Marcus Aurelius. The column is approximately 100 feet high or so. The most fascinating part is that instead of boring grooves, there is a relief that spirals up to the top. It was hard to get a good view because of the sun, but it was clearly a triumph of building. In typical style there is a statue of Jesus at the top symbolizing the superiority of God over the Romans.
Our next stop was the Basilica of Saint Ambrose and Saint Charles. There was a bit of an open area in front of the church so paradoxically there was a troop of break dancers. It sure seemed like a large contrast between the two. The Basilica was amazing, as usual. There were beautiful paintings on the ceiling and awesome statues. The neatest thing was the Relic of the Heart of Saint Charles. I wasn’t able to figure out what exactly he did, but it involves his heart somehow. It was on display, I thought it was a bit morbid, but apparently a lot of people pray to it.
We left the Basilica and then moved onto the Spanish Steps. While the steps are pretty neat; I’m not quite sure what the big deal with them is. There is a church at the top of a series of steps that wind around up to the church. I guess the steps are sort of a place to hang out at; the steps were crowded with people. They were nice.
We were going on a Pub Crawl that met up at the Spanish Steps around 10 so we had some time to kill. We decided to go and get some delicious Italian food. I had an excellent meal of pasta with olive oil and prosciutto. Prosciutto is very salty ham that has been cured for a very long time. We also got a liter of the house red and white wines. All in all, it was a very good meal.
After this we embarked on the Pub Crawl. It cost 20 Euro and you got a cool t-shirt, some pizza, and an open bar for an hour. We had a good time. It was a bit harder to get back to our hotel at night but we made it.
I suppose I should talk about our hotel for a bit. For what we paid, the hotel was excellent. We got four separate beds which was real nice. There was no AC so we just left the window open and let the sounds of Italian street life serenade us. This wasn’t bad at all and gave us a pretty good view in the morning.
The thing that wasn’t so good was the shower situation. First off, the shower was more of a fire hose. This bit me bad as I decided to turn the water on and let it warm up. This was a bad decision because the water came flying out of the shower and hit me full force soaking me, still standing in my boxers. There were some choice words uttered by me, my friends thought I had died or something bad. I persevered and carried on. However, this is compounded by the towels. If one pictures a linen placemat at a fancy restaurant that is pretty much what we had to use. I sure didn’t feel dry after using it, but it got the job done mostly despite its small size.
We decided to travel internationally that day so we headed to the Vatican City. The Vatican is absolutely incredible. We took the Rome metro to get out there. The Roman transit system is rather good, one only has to pay 1 Euro and they are free to go anywhere. This was rather convenient as we quickly got to the Vatican.
We were walking towards the tall walls of the Vatican when we were approached by a solicitor. We first brushed her off since that’s the way to get by in a country where everyone hustles. However, she wouldn’t take any guff and told us in unaccented English that we couldn’t say we weren’t interested since we did not even know what she was selling. She rattled off a quick sales pitch about the Vatican tour they were offering and we quickly got on it. Not only did it enable us to skip the massive lines, we also actually got to know what we were seeing. There is virtually no signage in the Vatican so having a guide clearly helped.
We then began to tour the Vatican Museums. The Vatican has an absolutely incredible collection. Our first stop was the Pine Cone Square. This was a neat place as it combined a massive Renaissance era bronze pine cone, two Egyptian lions that were gifts to Rome from Cleopatra, and Roman peacocks. Also there was a neat statue of a sphere inside a sphere; it looked like a large golden sphere with a large cut in it that exposed the inner sphere.
Our next stop was a gallery of glorious sculptures. It is extremely hard to accurately describe the majesty of these statues. They were absolutely gorgeous. Words can’t really describe these so I guess one will have to wait for the pictures. There were statues of gods, epic heroes, dogs, lions attacking horses, and more.
We also saw some gorgeous tapestries. These were constructed by Flemish tapestry makers. The use of color was particularly impressive. One that was particularly interesting was the Circumcision of Jesus. One sees a Rabbi reaching for Jesus to perform the ceremony and Jesus is clearly not thrilled about it and is leaning away from the priest. Another neat scene is one that depicts Jesus emerging from his tomb triumphantly carrying a banner. These were very neat.
Our next destination was the Gallery of Maps. This was a room full of very ornate maps depicting essentially all of Italy. There were something of the order of 40 maps and they were incredible to see.
After moving through some other rooms that housed glorious paintings we arrived at the Sistine Chapel. Obviously the roof is incredible. It is really mind blowing to see something as paramount as the ceiling in person. It was truly an experience. I was able to snatch a few photos despite the frequent protestations by the guards to not take photos. I wanted to really capture it. I don’t think I’m saying enough here but we all know what the ceiling looks like, it looks like the photos, just that more awe inspiring when one views the frescos up close.
We next went to Saint Peter’s Basilica. This was extremely stunning. The size and scope of the building are absolutely incredible. One neat thing is that one of the doors to the Basilica is only opened on Jubilees, so it won’t be opened until 2025. I thought it was neat.
When one enters and looks to the right they are greeted with Michelangelo’s Pietà. How does one put a statue like that into words, I don’t know, but I’ll try. The statue depicts Mary holding Jesus after he has been taken down from the cross. The look of extreme sadness on the Virgin’s face is absolutely depressing. The artist certainly captured the moment.
Saint Peter’s is absolutely massive. Its decorations are stunning. Every surface is designed to further God’s glory; I was absolutely awestruck after I entered. My entire group, even the vocal atheist, was absolutely floored by the building. The floor is extremely high, supported by beautiful columns. Every chapel in the building has a masterpiece of art in it. Typically seeing so many of the same thing would become routine, but not here, not at Saint Peter’s its absolutely stunning.
After we had walked through the building we decided to visit the tombs. There were a large number of Popes buried in the building. Most of the tombs were sort of ignored, with only a little placard discussing what the pope did. However, Pope John Paul II’s grave was certainly different. As we rounded a bend in the catacomb, we saw a large number of people behind a velvet rope looking into a recessed area. As we walked towards it we saw what had the crowd so stunned. JPII’s marble grave was gorgeous in its simplicity. I was more moved by the photos and roses laid at the grave. It was also staggering to see the large number of people crying looking at his final resting place. While I’m not a Catholic, it was very moving.
We then decided to climb up to the top of the Basilica’s cupola. This was a big haul as the Basilica’s dome is huge. We were all sweaty and out of breath when we finally made it to the top. This is kind of funny as at one point the stairs started to curve with the bend of the dome. This made us have to lean in as we went further and further.
The pain was totally worth it as the view was incredible. Rome goes on to the horizon. I wasn’t even able to pick out the Coliseum. The view of Saint Peter’s Piazza was incredible. Geeze, everything about the Vatican was stunning. It is absolutely mind boggling when one thinks of how much of the world’s money is invested in the Vatican. However, I can safely say that they didn’t waste it because the entire complex is just amazing.
Saint Peter’s Piazza was really neat too. There is a large Egyptian Obelisk in the middle. There are also two large wings that go from the base of Saint Peter’s around the square. These form the shape of two praying hands. At the tops of these were statues of saints and things. It was all very powerful and moving.
All of our walking around the Vatican made us very hungry. We found a nice sandwich shop. I got a prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich with some bruschetta. The mozzarella was clearly fresh as there was still milk coming out of it. The entire meal tasted excellent and it was pretty cheap too. The hole in the wall food places in Italy are still incredible.
We then walked back to the Spanish Steps. They are sort of central in Rome. After we made it there we moved on to the Pantheon. This huge building was very incredible. One neat feature of the city is the tendency of the Church to come in and slap some crosses on a pagan site and call it a triumph of God’s glory over the pagans. The Pantheon is a great example of this. What was originally a temple to all the Roman gods was turned into a cathedral. All the same, it was awesome seeing so much history. I wish I could have seen it before it was “christianized”. That withstanding, it was neat seeing Raphael’s grave.
We left the Pantheon and headed out to a Piazza. There were some neat shops where I got a t-shirt or two. There were some neat fountains and buildings here. We all stopped for gelato, which tasted delicious, of course.
We then headed back to the train station to get back to Naples. However, before we headed home we wisely decided to stop for liquid refreshment. One of my friends and I broke off and headed to the train-station bar. We got some Peroni, but we were thinking small-time compared to our other two friends. When they came back they quickly revealed four boxes of wine. Apparently on the weekends in Rome, stores can’t sell bottles. This is a safety precaution so drunk Italians don’t break bottles over each other’s heads. The boxes cost 1.80 Euro for a liter of wine. Clearly, we weren’t getting the finest vintage in the store. We split the cost of the boxes and everyone was feeling good.
We took our boxes with us onto the train to Naples and we were good to go. We each enjoyed our box than split the last one. We were feeling quite nice when we got back to Naples. However, this brings up the robbery number two story. As we were walking towards the exit, a taxi driver approached us and told us that he would get us back to the ship for 30 Euro. Despite being a ridiculous price as is we decided to go with it as we wanted back to the ship so we could sleep as we were extremely busy in Rome.
Our driver drove like a madman to get us back to the dock. While we were a bit offset by this, at least we were getting home. However, when we finally arrived at the dock, he pulled a fast one. Instead of going with our prearranged price, he decided to jack it up. He claimed we had agreed to 30 Euro per person, which is absolutely insane. He had the child locks on the doors on so those of us in the back couldn’t get out. However, one of our guys in the front got out and opened our doors. We gave the driver (or should I say, thief) twenty more Euro and he left.
While it was a bit of a down note for our Rome experience, it was absolutely incredible. We all quickly split up and headed to our state rooms. I needed the sleep because I had a busy day seeing Pompeii today.
I suppose there is room for an aside here. I’ve had to cross streets all over Europe and I must say that crossing the street in Italy is probably the worst. While there were crosswalks and such, no one follows them. What a person must do to cross the street is start to wander out, look for an opening and book it despite traffic coming left and right. Clearly it’s a bit hectic.
I use my cell phone as an alarm. I had it set up so I could wake up early; however, apparently during the night my phone lost power. Thankfully my roommate puttering around woke me up. I quickly got dressed and headed outside. I knew I had to get there early because I accidentally had the ticket for the tour which left yesterday. In the guidebook, both Pompeii tours were listed on the same day, however, the tour I was on was yesterday. The field programs staff realized the problem and made every accommodation to help people in my situation out. Thankfully I got on the tour.
Pompeii is an absolutely stunning site. Pompeii was a Roman town that was buried in ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. This served to preserve the town in the state it was when the volcano blew. The town is in impressive condition given its age. Most of the town has survived, obviously in ruins but it still serves as a time capsule.
We toured the majority of the city seeing many neat things. It’s kind of funny, we entered the city through the marina gate where the sea was in 79 AD, yet today the sea is extremely far away. One surprising thing is that wild dogs are absolutely everywhere. It is a funny contrast to see mangy animals wandering around Roman columns.
I guess it gets old to say we went here and there and saw some old columns, but Pompeii was so neat. The streets and stepping stones which allowed foot traffic to avoid stepping on the streets, which were used as sidewalks, was very swell. We went into the Roman baths which were incredible. There were frescos that were still intact which were very cool.
Perhaps the funniest thing was the brothels. As far as the archeologists know, there were around 25 brothels in Pompeii. We visited the best preserved one. There were stone phalluses pointing in the direction of the brothel. Once we entered there were a series of erotic frescos. The Romans sure had some crazy ideas.
After Pompeii was finished, we got some Italian Ice outside the town. The lemon flavor was real tasty after the hot day. When we made it back to the M/V Explorer, a friend and I decided to have some pizza as a last Italian meal. We first ordered an appetizer; we both thought we were ordering a bruchetta type dish. We were a bit off as what we got was a fist sized hunk of mozzarella surrounded by cut in half cherry tomatoes. However, this was also very good and I ate it happily.
I then ordered a pizza. Given the menu was in Italian, it’s a bit like playing Russian roulette. I got a pizza covered in oil, mozzarella, tomatoes, and eggplant. I was really full from my appetizer so I only ate half of it. However, it was very good and was a fitting sendoff to Italy.
I then headed back to my stateroom and took a two hour siesta. When I woke up, I attended a cookout the ship had. This was pretty tasty since there were ribs and things they don’t usually serve. The ship’s band also played so it was fun listening to my classmates play some tunes.
After that I started typing this with a few breaks here and there. I think we’re near Messina now, but I could be wrong. It’s a warm night, around 80 degrees with a nice wind that keeps the temperature down. The Mediterranean is a gorgeous sea and Italy is a gorgeous country. I had a great time there and would love to go back.
Location: Naples, Rome, Vatican City, and Pompeii
Lat: 40° 50.3N Long: 014° 15.44E
Rome is known as Eternal City. I don’t know whether that’s because it has lasted so long, or you could spend an eternity seeing it all. I do know that two days certainly was not enough to see everything, but we made a good try.
I suppose some general comments on Italy are in order. First off, there are wild dogs everywhere. This was particularly true in Pompeii. I have a lot of great photos of dogs just walking around the ruins. Also, there were some pretty big piles of garbage around Naples as well. I guess it might have been worse before, but it is still a problem. The Italians are always hustling. While this is to be expected when one is passing through street vendors, it was particularly funny when you are walking down the street and you start getting invited into restaurants. Also, taxi drivers also hustle the hell out of you, one could say we got robbed by a taxi driver, but that comes later (this foreshadowing is what makes me an excellent writer).
We woke up pretty early and headed out for Rome. We decided to walk to the train station as we would avoid the taxis. It was around a 35 minute walk, so it wasn’t too bad. Well it wouldn’t have been except it felt like hell with each step onto my cut foot, it is better now though. When we made it to the train station we started to use the self-service ticket machines. They had an English setting so that helped a bit. However, we were not in any way home free.
This brings us to robbery number 1. While we were trying to figure the trains out, an old Italian came up on us and grabbed our tickets. He then shoved it into the machine that apparently validates the tickets. He then loudly demanded we give him money for his “services”. We had initially assumed that he was being helpful so we didn’t tell him to back off. We all gave him some money to get him to back off, I gave him a 5 Euro piece and he backed off. Some of our group gave him 7 Euro and he kept demanding more. I guess greasing the wheels is part of life in Naples.
We did make our train though and off we went. I sat next to the window next to some Italians. They were hard at work completing Sudoku and crossword puzzles so there was no cross-cultural communications. In addition, I did not feel very nice towards Italians after the stick-up a few minutes before.
We also made it to Rome. We got off our train and then started off to try and find the Coliseum. I suppose there is room for a slight aside. Rome is clearly an organic city. I mean in the nature of the streets, there is no logic to it at all. Sometimes streets curve into piazzas, other times little side streets shoot off and then rejoin the main road. Navigating Rome is by no means an easy trick.
Our first stop was the Papal Basilica of Saint Mary Mayor. These churches are extremely hard to describe. One can only say that the church was beautiful so many times. However, I’ll do my best. The Basilica is situated in a piazza. The front was absolutely gorgeous; there were a series of columns that on the top had statues of saints and other holy people. There were also various angels on the balconies, all together, the front was extremely impressive.
Another fascinating thing was the confession booths. Above the entrance there were placards that stated what language the padre spoke. There were also lights stating which ones were occupied by the fathers. It was a pretty neat system and many languages were represented.
However, after one entered they witnessed the true glory. The interior is covered in gold leaf. The gold leaf surrounds paintings of the blessed Virgin, Popes, Moses, etc. There were also glorious basins for housing holy water. Also there were stained glass windows that were absolutely beautiful with the bright Italian sun shining through. I put a Euro or two in the offering, figured it couldn’t hurt to have God on my side and we were off to find ancient Rome.
The influence of Ancient Rome is clearly a huge factor in the city. For starters, all the manhole covers have SPQR printed on them. SPQR stands for Senatus Populusque Romanus, or “The Senate and People of Rome”. This is pretty much the standard phrase of Rome, representing all that is Rome. Obviously it is seen on many of the arches and Roman ruins.
We didn’t wander for too long until we found the ruins of Ancient Rome. We first saw the Coliseum. It is truly staggering to witness something you’ve read about for so long. The building is truly massive; it is hard to convey the sheer scale of it. Another thing is the depth of history in Rome. One could say that our history started with Jamestown in 1607; however, Rome has been in existence forever.
We quickly left the Coliseum because I had a tip from my roommate back at school that one should go to the Palatine Hill to get tickets. The tickets cover all of ancient Rome and clearly the Hill doesn’t have the sex appeal of the Coliseum so the line was much shorter. I don’t mean to impugn the hill, it was really impressive. The Roman forum as well as many other ancient ruins was there. It is just so stunning to see all these ancient ruins. After watching all these History Channel specials and taking all those years of Latin class, it is just so awe inspiring to see the areas where these people lived and died.
We then headed off to the Coliseum proper. We ended up getting onto a guided tour. This was a great deal for us since we had already paid for our tickets so the cost was only five Euros. Obviously the Coliseum was impressive. A very interesting thing is that there are a ton of divots in the walls. People like to claim that the damage is due to erosion, however, in actuality, scavengers pulled out metal re-bar that strengthened the building. I guess it is not surprising when something has been around that long that people try to abuse it.
It is absolutely incredible to see these things. We also walked by a museum. We didn’t go in, but there were some really neat statues. I was pretty impressed I was able to pick out some of the figures from history books. I saw a statue of the two Gracchi brothers who were key figures in Roman land reform.
After this we walked to another church, the Basilica Saint Maria delgi Angeli. Now this church was once again, impressive. The fascinating thing about this was that it was built into the Roman Baths of Diocletian. The church was an absolutely gorgeous mix of marble and statues. The altars were particularly beautiful.
Probably the neatest thing about this was the meridian line. This essentially functioned as a sundial, except it was designed to show the progress of time through the year. I guess it is hard to accurately describe, however, it was certainly impressive.
After we left the church we started heading towards the Trevi Fountain. However, I noticed a few things while we were walking there. It seems like everywhere there is some gorgeous marble building there is a Pope’s name slapped on it. For example, a Pope slapped his name on the Coliseum, not to mention the many other buildings we saw. I guess it’s the Protestant in me talking, but it started to seem like it was more about the Pope’s glory than God’s.
Another neat thing is all the obelisks in Rome. There are all these neat Egyptian obelisks with Hieroglyphs all over them. Of course since a Pope made the obelisk possible, there is cross slapped to the top of it. It sure seems a bit out of place walking through Rome and seeing a huge obelisk in a piazza.
The Trevi Fountain is also beautiful. It is kind of a common theme here. The Fountain is pretty much a testament to what human hands can do with marble and water. The Fountain depicts a couple of water horses and figures. I guess it is also a bit hard to describe, but it was equally impressive. We got some great photos in front of it. The legend is that you need to throw two coins into the fountain, the first coin is for good luck, and the second one is for safe return to Rome. I’m covered because I threw my two coins in.
We then headed out towards the Spanish Steps. They were a bit distant so we got to see some pretty neat stuff in the process. One thing we saw was the Column of Marcus Aurelius. The column is approximately 100 feet high or so. The most fascinating part is that instead of boring grooves, there is a relief that spirals up to the top. It was hard to get a good view because of the sun, but it was clearly a triumph of building. In typical style there is a statue of Jesus at the top symbolizing the superiority of God over the Romans.
Our next stop was the Basilica of Saint Ambrose and Saint Charles. There was a bit of an open area in front of the church so paradoxically there was a troop of break dancers. It sure seemed like a large contrast between the two. The Basilica was amazing, as usual. There were beautiful paintings on the ceiling and awesome statues. The neatest thing was the Relic of the Heart of Saint Charles. I wasn’t able to figure out what exactly he did, but it involves his heart somehow. It was on display, I thought it was a bit morbid, but apparently a lot of people pray to it.
We left the Basilica and then moved onto the Spanish Steps. While the steps are pretty neat; I’m not quite sure what the big deal with them is. There is a church at the top of a series of steps that wind around up to the church. I guess the steps are sort of a place to hang out at; the steps were crowded with people. They were nice.
We were going on a Pub Crawl that met up at the Spanish Steps around 10 so we had some time to kill. We decided to go and get some delicious Italian food. I had an excellent meal of pasta with olive oil and prosciutto. Prosciutto is very salty ham that has been cured for a very long time. We also got a liter of the house red and white wines. All in all, it was a very good meal.
After this we embarked on the Pub Crawl. It cost 20 Euro and you got a cool t-shirt, some pizza, and an open bar for an hour. We had a good time. It was a bit harder to get back to our hotel at night but we made it.
I suppose I should talk about our hotel for a bit. For what we paid, the hotel was excellent. We got four separate beds which was real nice. There was no AC so we just left the window open and let the sounds of Italian street life serenade us. This wasn’t bad at all and gave us a pretty good view in the morning.
The thing that wasn’t so good was the shower situation. First off, the shower was more of a fire hose. This bit me bad as I decided to turn the water on and let it warm up. This was a bad decision because the water came flying out of the shower and hit me full force soaking me, still standing in my boxers. There were some choice words uttered by me, my friends thought I had died or something bad. I persevered and carried on. However, this is compounded by the towels. If one pictures a linen placemat at a fancy restaurant that is pretty much what we had to use. I sure didn’t feel dry after using it, but it got the job done mostly despite its small size.
We decided to travel internationally that day so we headed to the Vatican City. The Vatican is absolutely incredible. We took the Rome metro to get out there. The Roman transit system is rather good, one only has to pay 1 Euro and they are free to go anywhere. This was rather convenient as we quickly got to the Vatican.
We were walking towards the tall walls of the Vatican when we were approached by a solicitor. We first brushed her off since that’s the way to get by in a country where everyone hustles. However, she wouldn’t take any guff and told us in unaccented English that we couldn’t say we weren’t interested since we did not even know what she was selling. She rattled off a quick sales pitch about the Vatican tour they were offering and we quickly got on it. Not only did it enable us to skip the massive lines, we also actually got to know what we were seeing. There is virtually no signage in the Vatican so having a guide clearly helped.
We then began to tour the Vatican Museums. The Vatican has an absolutely incredible collection. Our first stop was the Pine Cone Square. This was a neat place as it combined a massive Renaissance era bronze pine cone, two Egyptian lions that were gifts to Rome from Cleopatra, and Roman peacocks. Also there was a neat statue of a sphere inside a sphere; it looked like a large golden sphere with a large cut in it that exposed the inner sphere.
Our next stop was a gallery of glorious sculptures. It is extremely hard to accurately describe the majesty of these statues. They were absolutely gorgeous. Words can’t really describe these so I guess one will have to wait for the pictures. There were statues of gods, epic heroes, dogs, lions attacking horses, and more.
We also saw some gorgeous tapestries. These were constructed by Flemish tapestry makers. The use of color was particularly impressive. One that was particularly interesting was the Circumcision of Jesus. One sees a Rabbi reaching for Jesus to perform the ceremony and Jesus is clearly not thrilled about it and is leaning away from the priest. Another neat scene is one that depicts Jesus emerging from his tomb triumphantly carrying a banner. These were very neat.
Our next destination was the Gallery of Maps. This was a room full of very ornate maps depicting essentially all of Italy. There were something of the order of 40 maps and they were incredible to see.
After moving through some other rooms that housed glorious paintings we arrived at the Sistine Chapel. Obviously the roof is incredible. It is really mind blowing to see something as paramount as the ceiling in person. It was truly an experience. I was able to snatch a few photos despite the frequent protestations by the guards to not take photos. I wanted to really capture it. I don’t think I’m saying enough here but we all know what the ceiling looks like, it looks like the photos, just that more awe inspiring when one views the frescos up close.
We next went to Saint Peter’s Basilica. This was extremely stunning. The size and scope of the building are absolutely incredible. One neat thing is that one of the doors to the Basilica is only opened on Jubilees, so it won’t be opened until 2025. I thought it was neat.
When one enters and looks to the right they are greeted with Michelangelo’s Pietà. How does one put a statue like that into words, I don’t know, but I’ll try. The statue depicts Mary holding Jesus after he has been taken down from the cross. The look of extreme sadness on the Virgin’s face is absolutely depressing. The artist certainly captured the moment.
Saint Peter’s is absolutely massive. Its decorations are stunning. Every surface is designed to further God’s glory; I was absolutely awestruck after I entered. My entire group, even the vocal atheist, was absolutely floored by the building. The floor is extremely high, supported by beautiful columns. Every chapel in the building has a masterpiece of art in it. Typically seeing so many of the same thing would become routine, but not here, not at Saint Peter’s its absolutely stunning.
After we had walked through the building we decided to visit the tombs. There were a large number of Popes buried in the building. Most of the tombs were sort of ignored, with only a little placard discussing what the pope did. However, Pope John Paul II’s grave was certainly different. As we rounded a bend in the catacomb, we saw a large number of people behind a velvet rope looking into a recessed area. As we walked towards it we saw what had the crowd so stunned. JPII’s marble grave was gorgeous in its simplicity. I was more moved by the photos and roses laid at the grave. It was also staggering to see the large number of people crying looking at his final resting place. While I’m not a Catholic, it was very moving.
We then decided to climb up to the top of the Basilica’s cupola. This was a big haul as the Basilica’s dome is huge. We were all sweaty and out of breath when we finally made it to the top. This is kind of funny as at one point the stairs started to curve with the bend of the dome. This made us have to lean in as we went further and further.
The pain was totally worth it as the view was incredible. Rome goes on to the horizon. I wasn’t even able to pick out the Coliseum. The view of Saint Peter’s Piazza was incredible. Geeze, everything about the Vatican was stunning. It is absolutely mind boggling when one thinks of how much of the world’s money is invested in the Vatican. However, I can safely say that they didn’t waste it because the entire complex is just amazing.
Saint Peter’s Piazza was really neat too. There is a large Egyptian Obelisk in the middle. There are also two large wings that go from the base of Saint Peter’s around the square. These form the shape of two praying hands. At the tops of these were statues of saints and things. It was all very powerful and moving.
All of our walking around the Vatican made us very hungry. We found a nice sandwich shop. I got a prosciutto and mozzarella sandwich with some bruschetta. The mozzarella was clearly fresh as there was still milk coming out of it. The entire meal tasted excellent and it was pretty cheap too. The hole in the wall food places in Italy are still incredible.
We then walked back to the Spanish Steps. They are sort of central in Rome. After we made it there we moved on to the Pantheon. This huge building was very incredible. One neat feature of the city is the tendency of the Church to come in and slap some crosses on a pagan site and call it a triumph of God’s glory over the pagans. The Pantheon is a great example of this. What was originally a temple to all the Roman gods was turned into a cathedral. All the same, it was awesome seeing so much history. I wish I could have seen it before it was “christianized”. That withstanding, it was neat seeing Raphael’s grave.
We left the Pantheon and headed out to a Piazza. There were some neat shops where I got a t-shirt or two. There were some neat fountains and buildings here. We all stopped for gelato, which tasted delicious, of course.
We then headed back to the train station to get back to Naples. However, before we headed home we wisely decided to stop for liquid refreshment. One of my friends and I broke off and headed to the train-station bar. We got some Peroni, but we were thinking small-time compared to our other two friends. When they came back they quickly revealed four boxes of wine. Apparently on the weekends in Rome, stores can’t sell bottles. This is a safety precaution so drunk Italians don’t break bottles over each other’s heads. The boxes cost 1.80 Euro for a liter of wine. Clearly, we weren’t getting the finest vintage in the store. We split the cost of the boxes and everyone was feeling good.
We took our boxes with us onto the train to Naples and we were good to go. We each enjoyed our box than split the last one. We were feeling quite nice when we got back to Naples. However, this brings up the robbery number two story. As we were walking towards the exit, a taxi driver approached us and told us that he would get us back to the ship for 30 Euro. Despite being a ridiculous price as is we decided to go with it as we wanted back to the ship so we could sleep as we were extremely busy in Rome.
Our driver drove like a madman to get us back to the dock. While we were a bit offset by this, at least we were getting home. However, when we finally arrived at the dock, he pulled a fast one. Instead of going with our prearranged price, he decided to jack it up. He claimed we had agreed to 30 Euro per person, which is absolutely insane. He had the child locks on the doors on so those of us in the back couldn’t get out. However, one of our guys in the front got out and opened our doors. We gave the driver (or should I say, thief) twenty more Euro and he left.
While it was a bit of a down note for our Rome experience, it was absolutely incredible. We all quickly split up and headed to our state rooms. I needed the sleep because I had a busy day seeing Pompeii today.
I suppose there is room for an aside here. I’ve had to cross streets all over Europe and I must say that crossing the street in Italy is probably the worst. While there were crosswalks and such, no one follows them. What a person must do to cross the street is start to wander out, look for an opening and book it despite traffic coming left and right. Clearly it’s a bit hectic.
I use my cell phone as an alarm. I had it set up so I could wake up early; however, apparently during the night my phone lost power. Thankfully my roommate puttering around woke me up. I quickly got dressed and headed outside. I knew I had to get there early because I accidentally had the ticket for the tour which left yesterday. In the guidebook, both Pompeii tours were listed on the same day, however, the tour I was on was yesterday. The field programs staff realized the problem and made every accommodation to help people in my situation out. Thankfully I got on the tour.
Pompeii is an absolutely stunning site. Pompeii was a Roman town that was buried in ash after Mount Vesuvius erupted in 79 AD. This served to preserve the town in the state it was when the volcano blew. The town is in impressive condition given its age. Most of the town has survived, obviously in ruins but it still serves as a time capsule.
We toured the majority of the city seeing many neat things. It’s kind of funny, we entered the city through the marina gate where the sea was in 79 AD, yet today the sea is extremely far away. One surprising thing is that wild dogs are absolutely everywhere. It is a funny contrast to see mangy animals wandering around Roman columns.
I guess it gets old to say we went here and there and saw some old columns, but Pompeii was so neat. The streets and stepping stones which allowed foot traffic to avoid stepping on the streets, which were used as sidewalks, was very swell. We went into the Roman baths which were incredible. There were frescos that were still intact which were very cool.
Perhaps the funniest thing was the brothels. As far as the archeologists know, there were around 25 brothels in Pompeii. We visited the best preserved one. There were stone phalluses pointing in the direction of the brothel. Once we entered there were a series of erotic frescos. The Romans sure had some crazy ideas.
After Pompeii was finished, we got some Italian Ice outside the town. The lemon flavor was real tasty after the hot day. When we made it back to the M/V Explorer, a friend and I decided to have some pizza as a last Italian meal. We first ordered an appetizer; we both thought we were ordering a bruchetta type dish. We were a bit off as what we got was a fist sized hunk of mozzarella surrounded by cut in half cherry tomatoes. However, this was also very good and I ate it happily.
I then ordered a pizza. Given the menu was in Italian, it’s a bit like playing Russian roulette. I got a pizza covered in oil, mozzarella, tomatoes, and eggplant. I was really full from my appetizer so I only ate half of it. However, it was very good and was a fitting sendoff to Italy.
I then headed back to my stateroom and took a two hour siesta. When I woke up, I attended a cookout the ship had. This was pretty tasty since there were ribs and things they don’t usually serve. The ship’s band also played so it was fun listening to my classmates play some tunes.
After that I started typing this with a few breaks here and there. I think we’re near Messina now, but I could be wrong. It’s a warm night, around 80 degrees with a nice wind that keeps the temperature down. The Mediterranean is a gorgeous sea and Italy is a gorgeous country. I had a great time there and would love to go back.
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
Capri and Real Italian Pizza
Date: July 23, 2008
Location: Naples and Capri
Lat: 40° 50.3N Long: 014° 15.44E
Well, the good ship M/V Explorer has finally made it to Italia. Naples is a pretty nice place. Sure, there is still trash on the streets because the Mafia controlled garbage men went on strike after the government made a play against the organized crime, but it is still nice. Though, to be fair, I have not spent a lot of time in Naples.
After we landed, a few people and I headed out for Capri. Capri is one of the most gorgeous places on Earth. Fortunately the ferry landing out to Capri was right next to where the ship docked. This made heading to the ferry extremely easy for us. We quickly boarded it and we were on our way. It was perhaps a 45 minute ferry ride out there. Auspiciously, there was a bar on the ship which enabled us to quickly acquire some red wine. This made the ferry ride that much more fun.
Capri is absolutely stunning. The island is surrounded by the glorious Mediterranean blue that is indescribably magnificent. The island is sort of M shaped with two large plateaus on opposite sides forming a valley in the middle. This valley is where most people live. There is hardly any flat land at all on Capri; however the natives did not find this a problem. Instead, every building is carved into the cliffs at an angle. There was a reason that the Roman Emperors chose Capri as a place to get away from the duties they were already neglecting.
Mount Vesuvius’ shadow looms over the entire area. I was able to take some excellent photos of it. Hopefully it will put the ruins of Pompeii in a much better perspective when I see them in a few days.
Once we made landfall, we got some food. I ordered a glass of wine and a Margherita pizza. This is the classic Neapolitan pizza; it just has mozzarella, tomato sauce, and basil on it. This meal was excellent.
After we had these affairs settled, we quickly headed towards the beach. This is kind of bad, because while swimming in the Mediterranean was excellent; the beach isn’t nice sand, but rocks. There are some jagged rocks out in the water and as I was swimming a good ways I cut my foot on a rock. It hurts, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I am a bit gimpy, but I shrugged it off. I also managed to cut my shin, but after a little bleeding, it is fine.
After we finished swimming, we decided to head towards the town center of Capri. This took a bit out of us because the center is up on a great height. We moved out along a road that winded back and forth between houses and such things. It was a pretty tight squeeze for traffic, but these European cars are so tiny they easily fit.
Once we got to the center, we celebrated our accomplishment with some gelato. I thought it was really good. We also got some Lemoncello. This is apparently a delicacy of Capri. It is pretty much lemon-flavored hard liquor, it can be adequately described as if someone had some vodka and dropped a lemonhead in it and let it dissolve. We mixed this with some lemon slushies, it was an excellent treat after all the walking on a hot day.
We took the funicular back down the mountain. We explored the local shops for a bit and I grabbed a Capri t-shirt. We then took the ferry back to Naples. Once we made it back we decided we were all in need of a break. We took showers and relaxed for around an hour. After this we decided to set out to find “the best pizza in the world”.
The Washington Post apparently sent a correspondent out to Naples at some point. The columnist said that the Antica Pizzeria Da Michele was the best so we set out to find it. The article sort of played up Naples as some sort of Pirate Island Mecca. Naples is not that bad. If you keep your head up and play it safe, you’ll be fine. The pizza joint wasn’t exactly in the nice part of town, but it was by no means in the ghetto.
It took us some time to find it since it was a good bit off the beaten path. We had to wait for around thirty minutes, but it made the pizza that much better when we got it. The menu is extremely simple, there are four drink options (Fanta, Coke, Water, and Italian Beer, all costing the same price) and there are two pizza options, pizza with cheese and pizza without cheese. Despite this, or perhaps because of, the pizza tasted outstanding. The sauce was impeccable, and the cheese tasted exceptionally good. I don’t know if I’d declare it the best pizza in the world, but it is certainly skewing towards the upper end.
I also managed to receive an excellent tan in the process. I look quite dark and am fitting in with the locals, skin-wise anyways. After our pizza experience, we headed back to the ship. I wanted to sample the night life, but I had to make the smart play and defer to my better judgment. The game plan is to head out for Rome, the Eternal City, around 0730 tomorrow. I need to clobber together a pack for a night before I sack out. Another day and life is outstanding.
Location: Naples and Capri
Lat: 40° 50.3N Long: 014° 15.44E
Well, the good ship M/V Explorer has finally made it to Italia. Naples is a pretty nice place. Sure, there is still trash on the streets because the Mafia controlled garbage men went on strike after the government made a play against the organized crime, but it is still nice. Though, to be fair, I have not spent a lot of time in Naples.
After we landed, a few people and I headed out for Capri. Capri is one of the most gorgeous places on Earth. Fortunately the ferry landing out to Capri was right next to where the ship docked. This made heading to the ferry extremely easy for us. We quickly boarded it and we were on our way. It was perhaps a 45 minute ferry ride out there. Auspiciously, there was a bar on the ship which enabled us to quickly acquire some red wine. This made the ferry ride that much more fun.
Capri is absolutely stunning. The island is surrounded by the glorious Mediterranean blue that is indescribably magnificent. The island is sort of M shaped with two large plateaus on opposite sides forming a valley in the middle. This valley is where most people live. There is hardly any flat land at all on Capri; however the natives did not find this a problem. Instead, every building is carved into the cliffs at an angle. There was a reason that the Roman Emperors chose Capri as a place to get away from the duties they were already neglecting.
Mount Vesuvius’ shadow looms over the entire area. I was able to take some excellent photos of it. Hopefully it will put the ruins of Pompeii in a much better perspective when I see them in a few days.
Once we made landfall, we got some food. I ordered a glass of wine and a Margherita pizza. This is the classic Neapolitan pizza; it just has mozzarella, tomato sauce, and basil on it. This meal was excellent.
After we had these affairs settled, we quickly headed towards the beach. This is kind of bad, because while swimming in the Mediterranean was excellent; the beach isn’t nice sand, but rocks. There are some jagged rocks out in the water and as I was swimming a good ways I cut my foot on a rock. It hurts, but it’s nothing I can’t handle. I am a bit gimpy, but I shrugged it off. I also managed to cut my shin, but after a little bleeding, it is fine.
After we finished swimming, we decided to head towards the town center of Capri. This took a bit out of us because the center is up on a great height. We moved out along a road that winded back and forth between houses and such things. It was a pretty tight squeeze for traffic, but these European cars are so tiny they easily fit.
Once we got to the center, we celebrated our accomplishment with some gelato. I thought it was really good. We also got some Lemoncello. This is apparently a delicacy of Capri. It is pretty much lemon-flavored hard liquor, it can be adequately described as if someone had some vodka and dropped a lemonhead in it and let it dissolve. We mixed this with some lemon slushies, it was an excellent treat after all the walking on a hot day.
We took the funicular back down the mountain. We explored the local shops for a bit and I grabbed a Capri t-shirt. We then took the ferry back to Naples. Once we made it back we decided we were all in need of a break. We took showers and relaxed for around an hour. After this we decided to set out to find “the best pizza in the world”.
The Washington Post apparently sent a correspondent out to Naples at some point. The columnist said that the Antica Pizzeria Da Michele was the best so we set out to find it. The article sort of played up Naples as some sort of Pirate Island Mecca. Naples is not that bad. If you keep your head up and play it safe, you’ll be fine. The pizza joint wasn’t exactly in the nice part of town, but it was by no means in the ghetto.
It took us some time to find it since it was a good bit off the beaten path. We had to wait for around thirty minutes, but it made the pizza that much better when we got it. The menu is extremely simple, there are four drink options (Fanta, Coke, Water, and Italian Beer, all costing the same price) and there are two pizza options, pizza with cheese and pizza without cheese. Despite this, or perhaps because of, the pizza tasted outstanding. The sauce was impeccable, and the cheese tasted exceptionally good. I don’t know if I’d declare it the best pizza in the world, but it is certainly skewing towards the upper end.
I also managed to receive an excellent tan in the process. I look quite dark and am fitting in with the locals, skin-wise anyways. After our pizza experience, we headed back to the ship. I wanted to sample the night life, but I had to make the smart play and defer to my better judgment. The game plan is to head out for Rome, the Eternal City, around 0730 tomorrow. I need to clobber together a pack for a night before I sack out. Another day and life is outstanding.
Tuesday, July 22, 2008
Life is Great on the Mediterranean
Date: July 22, 2008
Location: Mediterranean Sea off Naples
Lat: 40° 12.84N Long: 012° 48.19E
Well, the days blend together when you’re at sea. I guess I can talk about a couple of things. First off I can talk about the geography. We’ve come a long way since Portugal. We passed through the Pillars of Hercules a few days ago. It’s too bad it was foggy and we weren’t able to get a good view of the Rock of Gibraltar. I still got a few snapshots of it, hopefully they’ll turn out. The African side was far more impressive, there was this tall promontory that was real impressive. We also passed Sardinia earlier today. The island was pretty impressive from the sea, a lot of impressive green mountains that dropped directly into the sea.
Shipboard life is going well too. Classes are classes, I turned in my Global Studies mid-term, now that I know what they want; the papers are not hard at all. I also have been doing well in my classes. I received a 95% on my Russian Culture midterm. I also received an A on my Russian Economic class quiz. I might be able to pull off a clean-sweep 4.0 (knock on wood, of course) which would be excellent.
Now that we’re in the Mediterranean Sea, life is great. I’ve gone to my classes in board shorts the last couple of days. Also, there is plenty of time to just lay out in the sun. Living on a ship full of women who all have bikinis isn’t a bad life at all. I figure I should have a great tan going by the time I get back to the Old Dominion. Also, there’s always a volleyball game going or maybe some hoops. Some friends and I played for a round of candy bars today. We lost so I have to pay up on that debt, oh well, we’ll get them next time. It feels like we’re all at Spring Break someplace.
Intramural sports are going well. I haven’t played a volleyball game in a while. I think our captain doesn’t have her heart in it. I suppose she never did because she lost the round-robin rock-paper-scissors tournament for it. However, our basketball team continues to pile up wins. Of course this is only when the other team doesn’t show up. We won another game by forfeit; I guess our team’s best asset is its punctuality.
There was also a talent show. This was a lot of fun. It was the standard mix of singing and piano playing and what not. It was a pretty standard show, except for one thing. One of the kids on the ship read a short story entitled “Dragon Ride”. This would be alright, except for the fact that it was more or less a hardcore tale of Human-Dragon love. It’s been the talk of the ship, probably the best remembered act of the show, though obviously not the best act. The kid who wrote them put them on the public folder on the shipboard computer network so I have them saved for posterity; they’re always worth a laugh. The best part of this was the reaction of the lifelong learners. These are generally retirees who just want to see the world. The kid had a passion; it just was not the right venue for it to say the least.
Plans for Italy have firmed up. Tomorrow some friends and I are heading to Capri. Apparently this is one of the most beautiful islands in the world and is a place where millionaires go to throw money away. I don’t know if I’ll be doing any of that, but it should be fun.
After Capri, some other friends and I will be heading to Rome. Here we plan on seeing the Vatican and Ancient Rome. We’ve also heard of a great Pub Crawl that leaves from the Coliseum, so that should be excellent. It might be being a tourist, not a world traveler, but it will certainly be fun.
After spending two days in Rome, the last day, we’re planning on seeing Pompeii. I’m really excited to see it but I’m also frustrated. I thought I got a trip that went on the last day with SAS, however, there was a problem. Instead the trip I paid for leaves the second to last day when I’ll be in Rome. The trip was like 60 Dollars, so it is not an obscene cost, I’m just mad that the mistake was made. I assumed both trips left on the same day since they were both under the last day in the program guide. Oh well, I’ll see Pompeii independently, they have plenty of tours there so it shouldn’t be a problem at all.
Italy should certainly be a blast. The typical US view of Italian food mostly is derived from southern Italy. I’m really looking forward to wine, pasta, pizza, and ancient Rome. Life is excellent.
The road goes on forever and the party never ends.
Location: Mediterranean Sea off Naples
Lat: 40° 12.84N Long: 012° 48.19E
Well, the days blend together when you’re at sea. I guess I can talk about a couple of things. First off I can talk about the geography. We’ve come a long way since Portugal. We passed through the Pillars of Hercules a few days ago. It’s too bad it was foggy and we weren’t able to get a good view of the Rock of Gibraltar. I still got a few snapshots of it, hopefully they’ll turn out. The African side was far more impressive, there was this tall promontory that was real impressive. We also passed Sardinia earlier today. The island was pretty impressive from the sea, a lot of impressive green mountains that dropped directly into the sea.
Shipboard life is going well too. Classes are classes, I turned in my Global Studies mid-term, now that I know what they want; the papers are not hard at all. I also have been doing well in my classes. I received a 95% on my Russian Culture midterm. I also received an A on my Russian Economic class quiz. I might be able to pull off a clean-sweep 4.0 (knock on wood, of course) which would be excellent.
Now that we’re in the Mediterranean Sea, life is great. I’ve gone to my classes in board shorts the last couple of days. Also, there is plenty of time to just lay out in the sun. Living on a ship full of women who all have bikinis isn’t a bad life at all. I figure I should have a great tan going by the time I get back to the Old Dominion. Also, there’s always a volleyball game going or maybe some hoops. Some friends and I played for a round of candy bars today. We lost so I have to pay up on that debt, oh well, we’ll get them next time. It feels like we’re all at Spring Break someplace.
Intramural sports are going well. I haven’t played a volleyball game in a while. I think our captain doesn’t have her heart in it. I suppose she never did because she lost the round-robin rock-paper-scissors tournament for it. However, our basketball team continues to pile up wins. Of course this is only when the other team doesn’t show up. We won another game by forfeit; I guess our team’s best asset is its punctuality.
There was also a talent show. This was a lot of fun. It was the standard mix of singing and piano playing and what not. It was a pretty standard show, except for one thing. One of the kids on the ship read a short story entitled “Dragon Ride”. This would be alright, except for the fact that it was more or less a hardcore tale of Human-Dragon love. It’s been the talk of the ship, probably the best remembered act of the show, though obviously not the best act. The kid who wrote them put them on the public folder on the shipboard computer network so I have them saved for posterity; they’re always worth a laugh. The best part of this was the reaction of the lifelong learners. These are generally retirees who just want to see the world. The kid had a passion; it just was not the right venue for it to say the least.
Plans for Italy have firmed up. Tomorrow some friends and I are heading to Capri. Apparently this is one of the most beautiful islands in the world and is a place where millionaires go to throw money away. I don’t know if I’ll be doing any of that, but it should be fun.
After Capri, some other friends and I will be heading to Rome. Here we plan on seeing the Vatican and Ancient Rome. We’ve also heard of a great Pub Crawl that leaves from the Coliseum, so that should be excellent. It might be being a tourist, not a world traveler, but it will certainly be fun.
After spending two days in Rome, the last day, we’re planning on seeing Pompeii. I’m really excited to see it but I’m also frustrated. I thought I got a trip that went on the last day with SAS, however, there was a problem. Instead the trip I paid for leaves the second to last day when I’ll be in Rome. The trip was like 60 Dollars, so it is not an obscene cost, I’m just mad that the mistake was made. I assumed both trips left on the same day since they were both under the last day in the program guide. Oh well, I’ll see Pompeii independently, they have plenty of tours there so it shouldn’t be a problem at all.
Italy should certainly be a blast. The typical US view of Italian food mostly is derived from southern Italy. I’m really looking forward to wine, pasta, pizza, and ancient Rome. Life is excellent.
The road goes on forever and the party never ends.
Saturday, July 19, 2008
On To the Mediterranean
Date: July 19, 2008
Location: Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Portugal
Lat: 39° 46.7N Long: 010° 6.68W
All is well on the M/V Explorer. We finally had a day worthy of the Mediterranean which we are rapidly steaming towards at 21 Knots. We should be in the Med after I wake up tomorrow, I guess I’ll miss the Rock of Gibraltar but I’ll see it on the way back.
Shipboard life is going well. We have a midterm that’s due in a few days. It was going to be due tomorrow, but there were some problems with the computer system so they pushed the date back. I guess it’s nice, I can spend some more time editing the paper and making it gleam. We didn’t have any class today so there was plenty of time to catch some rays. I took my laptop outside and typed my paper out with my shirt off, getting some nice sun in. I’m a bit burnt (sorry mom, I’ll put sunscreen on earlier next time) but it isn’t too bad. A little bit of red’s always a good foundation for a real solid tan anyway.
More happened today then just laying in the sun. I also had an intramural basketball game. We won another game by the usual way. The other team didn’t bring enough players, our whole lineup made it so we grabbed the big W via forfeit. The funny thing is that I was matched against some huge guys. I was matched against a big guy with maybe a hundred pounds and a half foot on me. I had to use some of my hockey skills to contain it but it was a mess. When he got winded, they brought in a guy who’s a skyscraper, around seven feet or so. Our team got whipped, the skyscraper was throwing down alley-oop dunks; it was all in fun. I made a basket though so it was pretty exciting.
After the hoops I decided to jump into the pool to cool off. I decided to go for a dive that sort of resembled a Fosburry Flop from the high jump. This went well except I overestimated the depth of the pool. It wasn’t like Greg Louganis or anything, but I conked my head so there’s a little bump.
However, that bump is nothing compared to the indignity of the college quiz bowl. The M/V Explorer’s cabins are divided into seas. The seas all compete with each other in events that comprise the sea Olympics. There are many fun events, such as a toga modeling contest where the toga can’t be made from a sheet. There is also a mashed potato sculpting contest where the contestants have to make a sculpture out of the potatoes following a common theme. The event I signed up for was the college quiz bowl.
This was essentially following the jeopardy format. This would be wonderful if it wasn’t for a huge format problem. There was no clear way to signal in. The way that was determined to be the best was to have the contestants stand up if they knew the answer. There were two judges who had no stake in the contest to judge who jumped up faster. This led to obvious problems. I stood up to try to answer questions, and I knew virtually all of them, yet I was only picked to answer one question out of perhaps 30. This was extremely frustrating when one person gets picked repeatedly when it is clearly not a runaway victory. Of course since the one guy who I was in the round with got an obscene lead and singlehandedly won the contest.
I had fun but it was just dumb how the format was. I suppose not having buzzers severely impacts the methodology of the game. I’m just annoyed at the principle of it because it seems that being selected was predicated on either height or location. The contestants were in a semicircle so the people that were more or less directly across from the judges were picked most often.
Apparently I’ve spent around 300 words on this. I’m not really mad about it or anything, it’s a stupid quiz bowl, and it just is a bit annoying on the principle of the thing. It was a fun time and it’s a bit ridiculous how fired up everyone got. It was fun.
Life is going well. Classes are going by; life at sea is far more fun without classes. I have plans coming together for Italy that I’m excited about. I’m going to Capri for a day, and then out to Rome for a night and most of a day, this is being rounded out with a visit to Pompeii on the last day. I’m looking forward to seeing all of Italy. Italian seems to be very similar to Spanish, so hopefully I can get someplace with the locals. I wish I could get up to Florence but it’s too hard given only having four days.
It’s another day on Semester at Sea: aint life grand.
Location: Atlantic Ocean, off the coast of Portugal
Lat: 39° 46.7N Long: 010° 6.68W
All is well on the M/V Explorer. We finally had a day worthy of the Mediterranean which we are rapidly steaming towards at 21 Knots. We should be in the Med after I wake up tomorrow, I guess I’ll miss the Rock of Gibraltar but I’ll see it on the way back.
Shipboard life is going well. We have a midterm that’s due in a few days. It was going to be due tomorrow, but there were some problems with the computer system so they pushed the date back. I guess it’s nice, I can spend some more time editing the paper and making it gleam. We didn’t have any class today so there was plenty of time to catch some rays. I took my laptop outside and typed my paper out with my shirt off, getting some nice sun in. I’m a bit burnt (sorry mom, I’ll put sunscreen on earlier next time) but it isn’t too bad. A little bit of red’s always a good foundation for a real solid tan anyway.
More happened today then just laying in the sun. I also had an intramural basketball game. We won another game by the usual way. The other team didn’t bring enough players, our whole lineup made it so we grabbed the big W via forfeit. The funny thing is that I was matched against some huge guys. I was matched against a big guy with maybe a hundred pounds and a half foot on me. I had to use some of my hockey skills to contain it but it was a mess. When he got winded, they brought in a guy who’s a skyscraper, around seven feet or so. Our team got whipped, the skyscraper was throwing down alley-oop dunks; it was all in fun. I made a basket though so it was pretty exciting.
After the hoops I decided to jump into the pool to cool off. I decided to go for a dive that sort of resembled a Fosburry Flop from the high jump. This went well except I overestimated the depth of the pool. It wasn’t like Greg Louganis or anything, but I conked my head so there’s a little bump.
However, that bump is nothing compared to the indignity of the college quiz bowl. The M/V Explorer’s cabins are divided into seas. The seas all compete with each other in events that comprise the sea Olympics. There are many fun events, such as a toga modeling contest where the toga can’t be made from a sheet. There is also a mashed potato sculpting contest where the contestants have to make a sculpture out of the potatoes following a common theme. The event I signed up for was the college quiz bowl.
This was essentially following the jeopardy format. This would be wonderful if it wasn’t for a huge format problem. There was no clear way to signal in. The way that was determined to be the best was to have the contestants stand up if they knew the answer. There were two judges who had no stake in the contest to judge who jumped up faster. This led to obvious problems. I stood up to try to answer questions, and I knew virtually all of them, yet I was only picked to answer one question out of perhaps 30. This was extremely frustrating when one person gets picked repeatedly when it is clearly not a runaway victory. Of course since the one guy who I was in the round with got an obscene lead and singlehandedly won the contest.
I had fun but it was just dumb how the format was. I suppose not having buzzers severely impacts the methodology of the game. I’m just annoyed at the principle of it because it seems that being selected was predicated on either height or location. The contestants were in a semicircle so the people that were more or less directly across from the judges were picked most often.
Apparently I’ve spent around 300 words on this. I’m not really mad about it or anything, it’s a stupid quiz bowl, and it just is a bit annoying on the principle of the thing. It was a fun time and it’s a bit ridiculous how fired up everyone got. It was fun.
Life is going well. Classes are going by; life at sea is far more fun without classes. I have plans coming together for Italy that I’m excited about. I’m going to Capri for a day, and then out to Rome for a night and most of a day, this is being rounded out with a visit to Pompeii on the last day. I’m looking forward to seeing all of Italy. Italian seems to be very similar to Spanish, so hopefully I can get someplace with the locals. I wish I could get up to Florence but it’s too hard given only having four days.
It’s another day on Semester at Sea: aint life grand.
Thursday, July 17, 2008
Belgian Battlefields and Night Life
Date: July 17, 2008
Location: Antwerp
Lat: 51° 13.3N Long: 004° 23.71E
Belgium does four things excellently: beer, waffles, chocolate, and frite. Frite is basically French fries, but they do it so much better. Also, mayo is the customary topping, and it tastes outstanding on frite. The beer tastes excellent, the variety is outstanding, and it tastes outstanding. The variety is staggering, plus the assortment of glasses is absolutely amazing. The waffles are also stupendous. It’s more than just a simple waffle; there are all kinds of toppings. Fruit is a good option; however, whipped cream, ice cream, and chocolate syrup are the way to go. Belgian chocolate tastes great; I skipped the chocolate mostly because I was focused on beer and frite.
I wasn’t able to fall back asleep after my late nap so I hung out for a while and then did some cardio. After I was done with this, I went on a tour of the De Koninck Brewery. This was really neat. De Koninck has strong ties with Antwerp as it’s the only brewery in the city. The beer is also very good; they brew pretty strong beers, their lightest is 5% and the strongest is 8%. The beer tastes excellent which can make the beers sneak up on you. The brewery tour was much more serious than the Alexander Keith’s tour.
The brewing process is rather fascinating. They have kept most of the older equipment intact to be able to show how it used to be brewed. They also showed the new, more advanced brewing technology. What was probably the most fascinating part of the tour was where they allowed us to walk through the bottling facility. They had a machine that brought in old bottles and cleaned and sterilized them. The bottles are mostly of a standard size here so bottles from all types of breweries were brought in and used. After the bottles were through here, they cycled over to the filling station. The bottles then spun in a big circle where they were filled; the capper also quickly put caps on after this.
After this, we were taken to a bar where we were allowed some samples. They gave us full sized glasses which were nice. I also went over to the gift shop and I got a De Koninck shirt and some glasses. The glasses have the hand of Antwerp on them, so they are more than just a beer glass.
Once the tour was over, we returned to the ship. I grabbed some food and then went to the zoo with a friend. The Antwerp Zoo is absolutely beautiful. We saw a large number of animals, such as penguins, gorillas, flamingos, lions, and they even had some fish.
An interesting thing about Belgium is it is much more diverse than the previous places we visited. There was a good number of racial diversity, which was interesting to see again after the whitewashed Scandinavian countries. I suppose part of that is due to the nature of Belgium. Belgium isn’t a nation-state in the classic sense. There is no homogenous group of people there; instead it’s a mix of Flemish, German, and Francophone speakers. I found this to be very fascinating.
While we were walking back from the zoo, I noticed that one of the major streets in Antwerp is named Franklin Roosevelt Plats. Clearly this is a tribute to the former president. I’ve heard stories of the Belgian devotion to American service graves, so naming a major street wasn’t a huge shock to me. However, it was interesting to see personally.
When we made it back to the ship we all headed out. It’s kind of funny, the night started as just having a few beers with a friend. However, eventually we ran into another group of people and joined up with them. One thing led to another and we all ended up at a Karaoke bar. This was an absolute blast as we were singing songs and having an absolute blast. I’m not sure what time we got back, but there was some dancing and songs sung.
Unfortunately, the alarm rang early. I was smart enough to set it before I headed out. I was a bit dehydrated, but besides that I felt great. I grabbed a few rolls at the dining hall and headed out to tour the Ypres battlefield. Ypres is some distance from Antwerp so I slept a bit on the bus ride over. Flanders is a beautiful area. There is rolling green fields, some wheat, and the occasional copse of trees. It’s staggering to think that such a beautiful place could endure so much suffering and bloodshed.
Our first stop was the Tyne Cot Cemetery. We went through the visitor’s center first. The set-up of the building was particularly fascinating. I’ve been to more than my fair share of Civil War Battlefields and typically the center is like a huge temple to the battle. It typically stands out. This was not the case here. The majority of the building was underground. Also it was behind a slight rise so it was not visible from the cemetery. Perhaps the most haunting thing the center did was that it showed a photo of a dead soldier and then read his name and age. It was tragic hearing how many of the fallen were my age or even younger. The center also had some quotes of the cost of war, such as: “The thought that Jock died for his country is no comfort to me. His memory is all I have left to love.” -John Low’s fiancé, January 10, 1918. Clearly, this is not a place where war is glorified.
We then walked through the graves. The cemetery is a Commonwealth Cemetery where soldiers who served for the UK and its colonies are buried. The headstones were very elaborate, they featured a huge cross, symbolizing a sword that’s been planted in the ground to symbolize the end of the battle. They also had the unit crest of the unit a soldier had served with. Tragically, there were a large number of graves with only: “a soldier of the great war known unto God”. The amount of dead in Ypres is stunning. Another interesting thing is that some headstones have interesting quotes on them, very British style quotes, such as: “the path of duty was the way to glory”.
The cemetery was also immaculate. It was very serene. The caretakers have planted flowers amongst the graves, making it almost into a garden. Another interesting feature was that three pillboxes were integrated into the cemetery. Overall, it was an extremely moving experience.
We then went to the town of Ypres. Ypres is a very fascinating town. It’s full of gorgeous cathedrals, churches, and other medieval architecture. This isn’t surprising as all of Europe has such things. However, what makes this really stunning is that the town was leveled during the war. All the fabulous, medieval architecture was built in the 1920s and 1930s. Churchill wanted to leave the town a ruin as a monument to the toughness and terror of war. However, this wasn’t realistic as the Belgians wanted their town back.
We then went to a rather fancy restaurant. One good thing about Semester at Sea trips is that they feed you real good. This was a three course meal with a tasty fried shrimp and cheese combination. Then the main course was chicken in a creamy wine sauce, and this was topped with strawberry ice cream.
After stuffing our faces, we toured the Flanders Field museum. This is about the war and the battle. This was extremely fascinating as it touched on pretty much every facet of the war. A nice personal touch was that each person is given a card with a barcode on it. This allows the visitor to follow their soldier’s story through the war. The person I got was a German soldier. He lived through the war and was taken as a prisoner of war to the Russians after World War II, which he fought in. He disappeared there and was never heard from again. Truly sad.
We then walked through the Ypres cathedral. This was also impressive. However, it was nowhere near as intriguing as Saint Georges Memorial Church. This was a church constructed through donations by the British and the members of the commonwealths. The church is very impressive as the seat cushions are all needlework regimental crests. There were also stained glass windows that were commemorating the various units. It was truly an impressive experience.
We followed this up with going to a cemetery that was the resting place of mostly Canadians. There are perhaps 5 or 6 Canadians on the tour so the guide was mugging for them. However, this wasn’t a bad thing as this cemetery has a connection with John McRae’s famous In Flanders Fields poem. McRae’s close friend, whose death inspired McRae, is buried in the cemetery.
We headed back to Antwerp after this. A friend and I decided to go bar hopping for a bit. Ultimately we ran into another group and we all headed to a Karaoke bar. Apparently Karaoke is the thing to do in Antwerp. We also went to a shop called Number 1 Frite at both the start and end of the night. Frite is an amazing thing. Mayonnaise is truly a wonderful topping to put on fries.
The Karaoke was a good time; I sang Thriller and was part of a group who sang the Backstreet Boys' I Want it That Way. It’s kind of funny, we got lost heading back. The bar was probably only 200 feet from the ship, however, we walked for around an hour trying to get back to the ship. The problem was that we walked parallel to the river, oh well; we made it back to the ship.
The following day was pretty relaxed. After waking up around 1300, we decided to go into the city for a bit. We weren’t in the mood to sample the Belgian beer, so we settled for a waffle. It tasted great. After this we grabbed our laptops and connected to the internet. Now the ship’s on its way to Italy. I’m really excited about this, it should be great. It needs to be great if it’s going to top Belgium.
Location: Antwerp
Lat: 51° 13.3N Long: 004° 23.71E
Belgium does four things excellently: beer, waffles, chocolate, and frite. Frite is basically French fries, but they do it so much better. Also, mayo is the customary topping, and it tastes outstanding on frite. The beer tastes excellent, the variety is outstanding, and it tastes outstanding. The variety is staggering, plus the assortment of glasses is absolutely amazing. The waffles are also stupendous. It’s more than just a simple waffle; there are all kinds of toppings. Fruit is a good option; however, whipped cream, ice cream, and chocolate syrup are the way to go. Belgian chocolate tastes great; I skipped the chocolate mostly because I was focused on beer and frite.
I wasn’t able to fall back asleep after my late nap so I hung out for a while and then did some cardio. After I was done with this, I went on a tour of the De Koninck Brewery. This was really neat. De Koninck has strong ties with Antwerp as it’s the only brewery in the city. The beer is also very good; they brew pretty strong beers, their lightest is 5% and the strongest is 8%. The beer tastes excellent which can make the beers sneak up on you. The brewery tour was much more serious than the Alexander Keith’s tour.
The brewing process is rather fascinating. They have kept most of the older equipment intact to be able to show how it used to be brewed. They also showed the new, more advanced brewing technology. What was probably the most fascinating part of the tour was where they allowed us to walk through the bottling facility. They had a machine that brought in old bottles and cleaned and sterilized them. The bottles are mostly of a standard size here so bottles from all types of breweries were brought in and used. After the bottles were through here, they cycled over to the filling station. The bottles then spun in a big circle where they were filled; the capper also quickly put caps on after this.
After this, we were taken to a bar where we were allowed some samples. They gave us full sized glasses which were nice. I also went over to the gift shop and I got a De Koninck shirt and some glasses. The glasses have the hand of Antwerp on them, so they are more than just a beer glass.
Once the tour was over, we returned to the ship. I grabbed some food and then went to the zoo with a friend. The Antwerp Zoo is absolutely beautiful. We saw a large number of animals, such as penguins, gorillas, flamingos, lions, and they even had some fish.
An interesting thing about Belgium is it is much more diverse than the previous places we visited. There was a good number of racial diversity, which was interesting to see again after the whitewashed Scandinavian countries. I suppose part of that is due to the nature of Belgium. Belgium isn’t a nation-state in the classic sense. There is no homogenous group of people there; instead it’s a mix of Flemish, German, and Francophone speakers. I found this to be very fascinating.
While we were walking back from the zoo, I noticed that one of the major streets in Antwerp is named Franklin Roosevelt Plats. Clearly this is a tribute to the former president. I’ve heard stories of the Belgian devotion to American service graves, so naming a major street wasn’t a huge shock to me. However, it was interesting to see personally.
When we made it back to the ship we all headed out. It’s kind of funny, the night started as just having a few beers with a friend. However, eventually we ran into another group of people and joined up with them. One thing led to another and we all ended up at a Karaoke bar. This was an absolute blast as we were singing songs and having an absolute blast. I’m not sure what time we got back, but there was some dancing and songs sung.
Unfortunately, the alarm rang early. I was smart enough to set it before I headed out. I was a bit dehydrated, but besides that I felt great. I grabbed a few rolls at the dining hall and headed out to tour the Ypres battlefield. Ypres is some distance from Antwerp so I slept a bit on the bus ride over. Flanders is a beautiful area. There is rolling green fields, some wheat, and the occasional copse of trees. It’s staggering to think that such a beautiful place could endure so much suffering and bloodshed.
Our first stop was the Tyne Cot Cemetery. We went through the visitor’s center first. The set-up of the building was particularly fascinating. I’ve been to more than my fair share of Civil War Battlefields and typically the center is like a huge temple to the battle. It typically stands out. This was not the case here. The majority of the building was underground. Also it was behind a slight rise so it was not visible from the cemetery. Perhaps the most haunting thing the center did was that it showed a photo of a dead soldier and then read his name and age. It was tragic hearing how many of the fallen were my age or even younger. The center also had some quotes of the cost of war, such as: “The thought that Jock died for his country is no comfort to me. His memory is all I have left to love.” -John Low’s fiancé, January 10, 1918. Clearly, this is not a place where war is glorified.
We then walked through the graves. The cemetery is a Commonwealth Cemetery where soldiers who served for the UK and its colonies are buried. The headstones were very elaborate, they featured a huge cross, symbolizing a sword that’s been planted in the ground to symbolize the end of the battle. They also had the unit crest of the unit a soldier had served with. Tragically, there were a large number of graves with only: “a soldier of the great war known unto God”. The amount of dead in Ypres is stunning. Another interesting thing is that some headstones have interesting quotes on them, very British style quotes, such as: “the path of duty was the way to glory”.
The cemetery was also immaculate. It was very serene. The caretakers have planted flowers amongst the graves, making it almost into a garden. Another interesting feature was that three pillboxes were integrated into the cemetery. Overall, it was an extremely moving experience.
We then went to the town of Ypres. Ypres is a very fascinating town. It’s full of gorgeous cathedrals, churches, and other medieval architecture. This isn’t surprising as all of Europe has such things. However, what makes this really stunning is that the town was leveled during the war. All the fabulous, medieval architecture was built in the 1920s and 1930s. Churchill wanted to leave the town a ruin as a monument to the toughness and terror of war. However, this wasn’t realistic as the Belgians wanted their town back.
We then went to a rather fancy restaurant. One good thing about Semester at Sea trips is that they feed you real good. This was a three course meal with a tasty fried shrimp and cheese combination. Then the main course was chicken in a creamy wine sauce, and this was topped with strawberry ice cream.
After stuffing our faces, we toured the Flanders Field museum. This is about the war and the battle. This was extremely fascinating as it touched on pretty much every facet of the war. A nice personal touch was that each person is given a card with a barcode on it. This allows the visitor to follow their soldier’s story through the war. The person I got was a German soldier. He lived through the war and was taken as a prisoner of war to the Russians after World War II, which he fought in. He disappeared there and was never heard from again. Truly sad.
We then walked through the Ypres cathedral. This was also impressive. However, it was nowhere near as intriguing as Saint Georges Memorial Church. This was a church constructed through donations by the British and the members of the commonwealths. The church is very impressive as the seat cushions are all needlework regimental crests. There were also stained glass windows that were commemorating the various units. It was truly an impressive experience.
We followed this up with going to a cemetery that was the resting place of mostly Canadians. There are perhaps 5 or 6 Canadians on the tour so the guide was mugging for them. However, this wasn’t a bad thing as this cemetery has a connection with John McRae’s famous In Flanders Fields poem. McRae’s close friend, whose death inspired McRae, is buried in the cemetery.
We headed back to Antwerp after this. A friend and I decided to go bar hopping for a bit. Ultimately we ran into another group and we all headed to a Karaoke bar. Apparently Karaoke is the thing to do in Antwerp. We also went to a shop called Number 1 Frite at both the start and end of the night. Frite is an amazing thing. Mayonnaise is truly a wonderful topping to put on fries.
The Karaoke was a good time; I sang Thriller and was part of a group who sang the Backstreet Boys' I Want it That Way. It’s kind of funny, we got lost heading back. The bar was probably only 200 feet from the ship, however, we walked for around an hour trying to get back to the ship. The problem was that we walked parallel to the river, oh well; we made it back to the ship.
The following day was pretty relaxed. After waking up around 1300, we decided to go into the city for a bit. We weren’t in the mood to sample the Belgian beer, so we settled for a waffle. It tasted great. After this we grabbed our laptops and connected to the internet. Now the ship’s on its way to Italy. I’m really excited about this, it should be great. It needs to be great if it’s going to top Belgium.
Belgian Highlights: Beer and French Fries
Date: July 14, 2008
Location: Antwerp
Lat: 51° 13.3N Long: 004° 23.71E
Well, the good ship M/V Explorer has finally made it to Antwerp, Belgium. Belgium seems like a pretty cool place. Everyone speaks English which is real convenient. We’ve also finally arrived to the first country that takes the Euro. Prices are pretty fair here. The exchange rate is around .65 or so.
The ship actually arrived in Antwerp last night. The Kiel Canal transit cut the distance to Belgium down substantially. However, this didn’t benefit us at all because we weren’t allowed to get off. The whole Kiel Canal experience is kind of a push it seems. The money we saved on fuel was used to pay the Kiel Canal Authority to allow us to transit the canal in the first place so it’s pretty much a wash.
After the ship cleared customs, a friend and I decided to wander around town. We didn’t have a map so we headed where we thought looked the best. This resulted in us wandering into Antwerp’s red-light district. The working girls of Antwerp were all dolled up at 0930; you have to admire their work ethic.
After we got out of there, we headed to the main drag. This was pretty neat; there were a ton of cool shops and things. I did not buy anything, though I did get some Euros. I suppose now is a good time to address credit cards in Europe. All the cards here, both credit and debit, have a chip imbedded in them. This can be problematic as not everyone takes cards without the chip. However, what’s actually a great idea is that credit cards have pin numbers here. This is obviously a great idea because if your card is stolen, someone can’t run around running up the bill without knowing your pin too.
All the wandering made us thirsty so we decided to head to a local drinking establishment. It was an Irish themed pub which had some great beers. The interesting thing is that every beer here has its own unique glass. We found an excellent beer, called Kasteelgard. This had 11% alcohol, but unlike the disgusting Onxa in Saint Petersburg, this beer tasted excellent. They had both a light and a dark variety which tasted excellent.
After we had wet our whistles, we decided to go after some French fries. Apparently, fries are one of Belgium’s proudest accomplishments. You can get huge plates of fries everywhere. The interesting thing is that mayo is the traditional topping in Belgium. Surprisingly enough, it tasted pretty good; however, I had been drinking so I’d take that with a grain of salt.
We started to head back to the ship, but we found another bar, which had some very good beers as well. After all this, we ran into some other people from the ship and made plans to go out for the night. We got back to the ship and I took a nap. Unfortunately, the nap which I started around 1500 hours went until midnight so I missed going out. I guess it’s for the best though. I’m touring the De Konnick brewery tomorrow and that starts kind of early.
Unfortunately, I am now fully awake at 0343. I lifted some weights earlier though. I wanted to go run for a bit, but the cardio room was being cleaned. I’ll make up for it later. As always, life is good.
Location: Antwerp
Lat: 51° 13.3N Long: 004° 23.71E
Well, the good ship M/V Explorer has finally made it to Antwerp, Belgium. Belgium seems like a pretty cool place. Everyone speaks English which is real convenient. We’ve also finally arrived to the first country that takes the Euro. Prices are pretty fair here. The exchange rate is around .65 or so.
The ship actually arrived in Antwerp last night. The Kiel Canal transit cut the distance to Belgium down substantially. However, this didn’t benefit us at all because we weren’t allowed to get off. The whole Kiel Canal experience is kind of a push it seems. The money we saved on fuel was used to pay the Kiel Canal Authority to allow us to transit the canal in the first place so it’s pretty much a wash.
After the ship cleared customs, a friend and I decided to wander around town. We didn’t have a map so we headed where we thought looked the best. This resulted in us wandering into Antwerp’s red-light district. The working girls of Antwerp were all dolled up at 0930; you have to admire their work ethic.
After we got out of there, we headed to the main drag. This was pretty neat; there were a ton of cool shops and things. I did not buy anything, though I did get some Euros. I suppose now is a good time to address credit cards in Europe. All the cards here, both credit and debit, have a chip imbedded in them. This can be problematic as not everyone takes cards without the chip. However, what’s actually a great idea is that credit cards have pin numbers here. This is obviously a great idea because if your card is stolen, someone can’t run around running up the bill without knowing your pin too.
All the wandering made us thirsty so we decided to head to a local drinking establishment. It was an Irish themed pub which had some great beers. The interesting thing is that every beer here has its own unique glass. We found an excellent beer, called Kasteelgard. This had 11% alcohol, but unlike the disgusting Onxa in Saint Petersburg, this beer tasted excellent. They had both a light and a dark variety which tasted excellent.
After we had wet our whistles, we decided to go after some French fries. Apparently, fries are one of Belgium’s proudest accomplishments. You can get huge plates of fries everywhere. The interesting thing is that mayo is the traditional topping in Belgium. Surprisingly enough, it tasted pretty good; however, I had been drinking so I’d take that with a grain of salt.
We started to head back to the ship, but we found another bar, which had some very good beers as well. After all this, we ran into some other people from the ship and made plans to go out for the night. We got back to the ship and I took a nap. Unfortunately, the nap which I started around 1500 hours went until midnight so I missed going out. I guess it’s for the best though. I’m touring the De Konnick brewery tomorrow and that starts kind of early.
Unfortunately, I am now fully awake at 0343. I lifted some weights earlier though. I wanted to go run for a bit, but the cardio room was being cleaned. I’ll make up for it later. As always, life is good.
Saturday, July 12, 2008
Germany via the Kiel Canal
Date: July 12, 2008
Location: The Kiel Canal
Lat: 53° 47.8N Long: 006° 16.36E
Today was pretty quiet. We transited the Kiel Canal. The canal directly connects the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, allowing for a much quicker movement. This was really cool because we got to see Germany. The place looked pretty nice from the ship. What surprised me was the large amount of wind turbines. I guess the Germans place a large premium on renewable energy.
I’m still feeling kind of sick. The runny nose has stopped, unfortunately the cough has not. It’s still pretty scratchy, I’ve been consistent on drinking fluids, so hopefully that will help. I’ve got a good feeling that I’ll be fine by the time I reach Belgium. I’m really excited about that, I’m going to tour the De Koninck Brewery and see a variety of World War I Battlefields. While most of the ship has decided to head for Amsterdam, I am plenty content to stay in Belgium, I figure it will be plenty entertaining in its own right.
We also had an intramural volleyball game. Our team played awfully and got destroyed. We had a lot of fun anyway; we knew we were going to get murdered after they went on a huge run early so we decided to make the best of it. We had fun. I guess there’s not much to say really, just Belgium should be real nice.
Location: The Kiel Canal
Lat: 53° 47.8N Long: 006° 16.36E
Today was pretty quiet. We transited the Kiel Canal. The canal directly connects the Baltic Sea to the North Sea, allowing for a much quicker movement. This was really cool because we got to see Germany. The place looked pretty nice from the ship. What surprised me was the large amount of wind turbines. I guess the Germans place a large premium on renewable energy.
I’m still feeling kind of sick. The runny nose has stopped, unfortunately the cough has not. It’s still pretty scratchy, I’ve been consistent on drinking fluids, so hopefully that will help. I’ve got a good feeling that I’ll be fine by the time I reach Belgium. I’m really excited about that, I’m going to tour the De Koninck Brewery and see a variety of World War I Battlefields. While most of the ship has decided to head for Amsterdam, I am plenty content to stay in Belgium, I figure it will be plenty entertaining in its own right.
We also had an intramural volleyball game. Our team played awfully and got destroyed. We had a lot of fun anyway; we knew we were going to get murdered after they went on a huge run early so we decided to make the best of it. We had fun. I guess there’s not much to say really, just Belgium should be real nice.
Denmark and Sweden (Land of my Ancestors)
Date: July 11, 2008
Location: Korsør, Copenhagen, Elsinore, and Helsingborg
Lat: 54° 49.96N Long: 012° 54.7E
Well, I’m back on the boat, and it feels great. I had an absolute blast travelling around, but it’s nice to be back on the good old M/V Explorer. I guess now’s as good a time as any for some observations about the Danes and Swedes.
I guess I can do some pretty basic ones. First off, bikes are everywhere. I believe that in Denmark there are significantly more bikes than people. This leads to bike lanes. This leads the side walk to be divided into both areas for pedestrians and for bikes, however, unlike in America, this is a huge distinction. The bike path is on street level, but there is a curb separating the bike area from the road so the bikers are very safe. Some Danes and Swedes never get cars because biking is so convenient.
Another thing, which probably should have come first, is that the people are extremely friendly and helpful. This is certainly appreciated after Russia. I can only further emphasize this point. I just got back from being out on the back of the deck and the entire town of Korsør came out to see us off. They had a band and all the Danish flags were flying. Also the motorists would drive around this big loop and honk their horns and wave at us. These people loved us, and we love them too.
Another thing, since the welfare state is so thorough, fathers are given a lot of time off to father their children. This results in frequent scenes of men pushing baby carriages, something that is not seen too often in the states.
I am still feeling pretty bad. I was feeling up for a while, but now I’m sick again. It’s not pneumonia, but it can’t be far off. I have hacking coughs and a runny nose. I try to cover my throat and wash my hands a lot, but I can’t help but feel like one of those wagons of plague victims that’s seen in cheesy films set in medieval times. I’ve been drinking water, and trying to get sleep, but so far, it’s not been working out too well.
We woke up pretty early and headed out to the train station. It was a pretty quick train ride to Copenhagen, around an hour or so. Once we got there, we decided to head to get some food. We ate at a pretty nice place, not quite a steak house, but it was good. I got a burger, which was absolutely huge, one of my friends decided to be cultural and get the pickled herring, it was a bad choice.
After handling the bill, we headed off to go find our hostel. There was some extremely poor map reading, not by me, and we set off to the wrong hostel. After I realized that something had to be wrong, I decided to stop the group and take a look at where our hostel was actually located. I then realized that there was a gross error in the map reading and I got our party headed in the right direction, hooah!
When we got to the hostel, we had to wait around for a while for the rest of our party to show up since we had split up in the morning, some to do things around Korsør others to head to Copenhagen immediately. Eventually we decided that we weren’t going to waste our day waiting for a late party to show up and we paid for the hostel individually. The hostel lifestyle is always a good time. When we got up to our room we were greeted with an empty pizza box, a half-drunk bottle of vodka, prominently featuring a mascot that may or may not have been a clam, and other assorted trash. We set our packs down and decided to explore the city.
Copenhagen is an absolutely wonderful place. There is such neat architecture and fabulous places to explore. We headed down Strøget. This is the main shopping street in Copenhagen. There were a lot of neat places, most were out of my budget, plus shopping isn’t my thing. However, what I did enjoy was the street performers. There was a guy who was playing music using the rims of wine glasses. Also there was a troop of Danish break dancers which were pretty funny to watch. Also, there are a lot of trashy exhibits out here, such as the Guinness Book of World Records museum or the Erotica Museum, we almost went in there but it was out of our price range, much to our chagrin.
We wandered here for a while, but eventually we decided to go to the Bodies exhibit at Tivoli. Bodies is an anatomical exhibit where actual human bodies are plasticized. This is where plastic is pumped into the human body, preserving muscle tissue. This allows for one to see the features of the body. This was really creepy, but also extremely fascinating. The body is absolutely amazing, and this exhibit only highlighted that. There was a funny section where they were displaying the effects of smoking on the lung. Next to this they had a clear, plastic box where you were encouraged to throw one’s cigarettes away.
After this exhibit, we moved onto the actual Tivoli Garden itself. Tivoli is much more than just an actual garden itself. It is actually an amusement park. However, unlike Disney World, which is ripe with commercialism, Tivoli is all about fun. There are a lot of great rides, such as an extremely fun roller coaster. Also there are a lot of gorgeous fountains. Tivoli became even lovelier at night; there was a lot of wonderful lighting and nice buildings. I can’t say enough, Tivoli is a wonderful place. Walt Disney tried to recreate Tivoli in America, leading to the Disney theme parks.
We stayed at Tivoli until it closed. After that, we got a few drinks and went to bed. When we woke up, we stated talking to a German from Frankfurt. We were explaining how Semester at Sea works and he was incredulous. He kept saying “I don’t understand, this makes no sense, you call this school?” He sure seemed jealous, but he was happy for us. After we checked out from the hostel we headed for Sweden.
Our first stop was Elsinore, Denmark. Elsinore is right across from Helsingborg, Sweden. Interestingly enough, Helsingborg is a sister city to Alexandria, Virginia. We boarded a ferry and I was off to the land of my ancestors. After we docked in Helsingborg, we tried to find our hotel. We had some trouble with this, so we ended up walking into a travel agency and asked for help. The travel agent quickly put us on the right path to our hotel. This was really impressive as there was no need to help us, we were never going to book a trip through these people, yet they helped us, quite impressive.
We finally made it to our hotel and as usual, European hotels, are different than US hotels. Instead of the simple swipe card we are used to, the Swedes use one, individual key that is attached to a five pound weight. I’m not sure why this is done, but that’s the way it is. Even more fun, are the showers. In the U.S., we are used to the typical bath-shower combination separating the shower from the rest of the facility. There is no such thing in Sweden. Instead, the shower, toilet, and sink all share a common floor. There was no shower curtain or anything like that; it was simply a curved piece of glass that separated the shower from the toilet. This leads to the bathroom becoming a lake when one showers.
After this, we started to walk around the town. Helsingborg is absolutely beautiful. We walked by a playground that was quite different than those in America. American parks tend to be so sterilized that children can’t get hurt, things like a reduction in swings, no fire poles, things like that. However, in Sweden there are plenty of opportunities for kids to get hurt. There was this really fun thing that was like a fire pole that you could spin and it would turn really fast making you really dizzy. They had a climbing wall and other things, I was pretty impressed.
We started walking around the shopping district. There were a ton of nice shops. I got some souvenirs for the family. Eventually we wandered over to the dock area. It seemed like the entire marina was full of gorgeous sailboats. They also had a tropical beach. This was a ton of fun; they had all these palm trees planted there. We got some great photos with them. We also went to the top of a castle and saw a great look of the entire city.
Eventually we got some food, I had some nachos. Surprisingly the Swedes did a pretty good job with them. After this we went by a 7-11 and grabbed a few drinks. It’s kind of odd, it seems like one can only buy beer that’s 3.5% alcohol in convenience stores. This is definitely a change from Denmark and especially Russia. We also watched some TV. It’s kind of funny, but it seems like ¾ of the shows on the television were from the USA. MTV Sweden was playing a lot of TV shows from a couple years ago, all trashy reality TV shows, pretty funny stuff. I guess it’s kind of a common theme, but it’s very interesting how much the world knows about our politics. I guess it pays to be number one.
Afterwards we sacked out. I had a pretty rough night’s sleep, a carpet floor and a towel isn’t a very comfortable bed. The pattern turned out to resemble 30 minutes of sleep, an hour of no sleep. I didn’t mind though, its life. We took the train back to Korsør. This went pretty smoothly. Trains are clearly the way to get around in Europe. After we arrived at the town, a friend and I decided to walk back to the ship instead of taking the bus. We saw scenic fields of rolling grain. Also there were plenty of gorgeous wild flowers. The walk was only about 4 kilometers so it wasn’t too far at all, besides, there’s nothing wrong with legging it out once in a while.
Life was pretty quiet once we got back to the ship. There was some free wireless internet in a square next to the ship; it was great to get back online without losing any of my internet minutes. I got back onboard and hung out for a bit.
I attended the town hall meeting. This is where the whole shipboard community comes together to talk about their experiences.
This was pretty interesting until it was cut short. We were told of the large gathering of the people of Korsør. They had all come out to see us off. They even had a marching band. This was kind of sad because the ship, which was originally going to leave at 2100, delayed leaving until 0400 the next day because we were going to transit the Kiel Canal. The good thing is that there is a piece of paper up in the Square where the whole ship can leave messages of thanks to the people. Kind of funny since everyone was complaining about being docked in Korsør in the first place.
Denmark and Sweden are both great places. The people are extremely friendly, they essentially all speak English, and couldn’t be more helpful. There doesn’t seem to be much crime or ill feelings here at all. There probably is some tension out in the outskirts, but we didn’t see much at all. Copenhagen felt like a home.
Location: Korsør, Copenhagen, Elsinore, and Helsingborg
Lat: 54° 49.96N Long: 012° 54.7E
Well, I’m back on the boat, and it feels great. I had an absolute blast travelling around, but it’s nice to be back on the good old M/V Explorer. I guess now’s as good a time as any for some observations about the Danes and Swedes.
I guess I can do some pretty basic ones. First off, bikes are everywhere. I believe that in Denmark there are significantly more bikes than people. This leads to bike lanes. This leads the side walk to be divided into both areas for pedestrians and for bikes, however, unlike in America, this is a huge distinction. The bike path is on street level, but there is a curb separating the bike area from the road so the bikers are very safe. Some Danes and Swedes never get cars because biking is so convenient.
Another thing, which probably should have come first, is that the people are extremely friendly and helpful. This is certainly appreciated after Russia. I can only further emphasize this point. I just got back from being out on the back of the deck and the entire town of Korsør came out to see us off. They had a band and all the Danish flags were flying. Also the motorists would drive around this big loop and honk their horns and wave at us. These people loved us, and we love them too.
Another thing, since the welfare state is so thorough, fathers are given a lot of time off to father their children. This results in frequent scenes of men pushing baby carriages, something that is not seen too often in the states.
I am still feeling pretty bad. I was feeling up for a while, but now I’m sick again. It’s not pneumonia, but it can’t be far off. I have hacking coughs and a runny nose. I try to cover my throat and wash my hands a lot, but I can’t help but feel like one of those wagons of plague victims that’s seen in cheesy films set in medieval times. I’ve been drinking water, and trying to get sleep, but so far, it’s not been working out too well.
We woke up pretty early and headed out to the train station. It was a pretty quick train ride to Copenhagen, around an hour or so. Once we got there, we decided to head to get some food. We ate at a pretty nice place, not quite a steak house, but it was good. I got a burger, which was absolutely huge, one of my friends decided to be cultural and get the pickled herring, it was a bad choice.
After handling the bill, we headed off to go find our hostel. There was some extremely poor map reading, not by me, and we set off to the wrong hostel. After I realized that something had to be wrong, I decided to stop the group and take a look at where our hostel was actually located. I then realized that there was a gross error in the map reading and I got our party headed in the right direction, hooah!
When we got to the hostel, we had to wait around for a while for the rest of our party to show up since we had split up in the morning, some to do things around Korsør others to head to Copenhagen immediately. Eventually we decided that we weren’t going to waste our day waiting for a late party to show up and we paid for the hostel individually. The hostel lifestyle is always a good time. When we got up to our room we were greeted with an empty pizza box, a half-drunk bottle of vodka, prominently featuring a mascot that may or may not have been a clam, and other assorted trash. We set our packs down and decided to explore the city.
Copenhagen is an absolutely wonderful place. There is such neat architecture and fabulous places to explore. We headed down Strøget. This is the main shopping street in Copenhagen. There were a lot of neat places, most were out of my budget, plus shopping isn’t my thing. However, what I did enjoy was the street performers. There was a guy who was playing music using the rims of wine glasses. Also there was a troop of Danish break dancers which were pretty funny to watch. Also, there are a lot of trashy exhibits out here, such as the Guinness Book of World Records museum or the Erotica Museum, we almost went in there but it was out of our price range, much to our chagrin.
We wandered here for a while, but eventually we decided to go to the Bodies exhibit at Tivoli. Bodies is an anatomical exhibit where actual human bodies are plasticized. This is where plastic is pumped into the human body, preserving muscle tissue. This allows for one to see the features of the body. This was really creepy, but also extremely fascinating. The body is absolutely amazing, and this exhibit only highlighted that. There was a funny section where they were displaying the effects of smoking on the lung. Next to this they had a clear, plastic box where you were encouraged to throw one’s cigarettes away.
After this exhibit, we moved onto the actual Tivoli Garden itself. Tivoli is much more than just an actual garden itself. It is actually an amusement park. However, unlike Disney World, which is ripe with commercialism, Tivoli is all about fun. There are a lot of great rides, such as an extremely fun roller coaster. Also there are a lot of gorgeous fountains. Tivoli became even lovelier at night; there was a lot of wonderful lighting and nice buildings. I can’t say enough, Tivoli is a wonderful place. Walt Disney tried to recreate Tivoli in America, leading to the Disney theme parks.
We stayed at Tivoli until it closed. After that, we got a few drinks and went to bed. When we woke up, we stated talking to a German from Frankfurt. We were explaining how Semester at Sea works and he was incredulous. He kept saying “I don’t understand, this makes no sense, you call this school?” He sure seemed jealous, but he was happy for us. After we checked out from the hostel we headed for Sweden.
Our first stop was Elsinore, Denmark. Elsinore is right across from Helsingborg, Sweden. Interestingly enough, Helsingborg is a sister city to Alexandria, Virginia. We boarded a ferry and I was off to the land of my ancestors. After we docked in Helsingborg, we tried to find our hotel. We had some trouble with this, so we ended up walking into a travel agency and asked for help. The travel agent quickly put us on the right path to our hotel. This was really impressive as there was no need to help us, we were never going to book a trip through these people, yet they helped us, quite impressive.
We finally made it to our hotel and as usual, European hotels, are different than US hotels. Instead of the simple swipe card we are used to, the Swedes use one, individual key that is attached to a five pound weight. I’m not sure why this is done, but that’s the way it is. Even more fun, are the showers. In the U.S., we are used to the typical bath-shower combination separating the shower from the rest of the facility. There is no such thing in Sweden. Instead, the shower, toilet, and sink all share a common floor. There was no shower curtain or anything like that; it was simply a curved piece of glass that separated the shower from the toilet. This leads to the bathroom becoming a lake when one showers.
After this, we started to walk around the town. Helsingborg is absolutely beautiful. We walked by a playground that was quite different than those in America. American parks tend to be so sterilized that children can’t get hurt, things like a reduction in swings, no fire poles, things like that. However, in Sweden there are plenty of opportunities for kids to get hurt. There was this really fun thing that was like a fire pole that you could spin and it would turn really fast making you really dizzy. They had a climbing wall and other things, I was pretty impressed.
We started walking around the shopping district. There were a ton of nice shops. I got some souvenirs for the family. Eventually we wandered over to the dock area. It seemed like the entire marina was full of gorgeous sailboats. They also had a tropical beach. This was a ton of fun; they had all these palm trees planted there. We got some great photos with them. We also went to the top of a castle and saw a great look of the entire city.
Eventually we got some food, I had some nachos. Surprisingly the Swedes did a pretty good job with them. After this we went by a 7-11 and grabbed a few drinks. It’s kind of odd, it seems like one can only buy beer that’s 3.5% alcohol in convenience stores. This is definitely a change from Denmark and especially Russia. We also watched some TV. It’s kind of funny, but it seems like ¾ of the shows on the television were from the USA. MTV Sweden was playing a lot of TV shows from a couple years ago, all trashy reality TV shows, pretty funny stuff. I guess it’s kind of a common theme, but it’s very interesting how much the world knows about our politics. I guess it pays to be number one.
Afterwards we sacked out. I had a pretty rough night’s sleep, a carpet floor and a towel isn’t a very comfortable bed. The pattern turned out to resemble 30 minutes of sleep, an hour of no sleep. I didn’t mind though, its life. We took the train back to Korsør. This went pretty smoothly. Trains are clearly the way to get around in Europe. After we arrived at the town, a friend and I decided to walk back to the ship instead of taking the bus. We saw scenic fields of rolling grain. Also there were plenty of gorgeous wild flowers. The walk was only about 4 kilometers so it wasn’t too far at all, besides, there’s nothing wrong with legging it out once in a while.
Life was pretty quiet once we got back to the ship. There was some free wireless internet in a square next to the ship; it was great to get back online without losing any of my internet minutes. I got back onboard and hung out for a bit.
I attended the town hall meeting. This is where the whole shipboard community comes together to talk about their experiences.
This was pretty interesting until it was cut short. We were told of the large gathering of the people of Korsør. They had all come out to see us off. They even had a marching band. This was kind of sad because the ship, which was originally going to leave at 2100, delayed leaving until 0400 the next day because we were going to transit the Kiel Canal. The good thing is that there is a piece of paper up in the Square where the whole ship can leave messages of thanks to the people. Kind of funny since everyone was complaining about being docked in Korsør in the first place.
Denmark and Sweden are both great places. The people are extremely friendly, they essentially all speak English, and couldn’t be more helpful. There doesn’t seem to be much crime or ill feelings here at all. There probably is some tension out in the outskirts, but we didn’t see much at all. Copenhagen felt like a home.
Tuesday, July 8, 2008
The Little Mermaid and Other Danish Icons
Date: July 8, 2008
Location: Korsør and Copenhagen
Lat: 54° 49.96N Long: 012° 54.7E
Denmark’s a pretty nice place. The people seem friendly, which is a big transition from Russia. The land is also absolutely gorgeous. It is rows and rows of gorgeous fields in the countryside and quaint buildings in the city. Also wind power is also a huge thing here. However, I feel I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.
Today, I woke up feeling pretty bad. I’ve had a runny nose the last couple of days so I guess I might have woken up a little dehydrated. I guess the best way to describe it is it was kind of like a hangover. I wanted to wake up to see a representative from the U.S. Embassy speak but after I woke up, I hit the snooze button and went back to bed. Apparently I missed out because Korsør has literally rolled out the red carpet for us. I hear there was a band that was playing when we docked, but I was sick, oh well. I had an FDP to go see Copenhagen at 11:30, so I managed to make it for that.
Korsør is a pretty good distance from Copenhagen, perhaps around 115 KMs or so. We all boarded a bus and started making our way to the city. The drive wasn’t too bad at all; Denmark is a very beautiful nation. It is a significant change from rugged Norway and industrial Russia. It’s long, flat fields are a nice change and are absolutely striking in their own way. Of course, after around 20 minutes on the bus, I fell asleep; but I liked what I saw.
After we arrived at Copenhagen, we went to the Christiansborg Castle. The name is something of a misnomer as it’s not really a castle. In fact, it’s actually the center of all three branches of the government of Denmark. Half of the tour got to tour the Parliament section of the building. My group did not, unfortunately, because the other English speaking tour guide had the day off and regulations forbid too large of a group. Instead of seeing that, we got an early start on seeing the Royal Receiving Rooms.
These rooms were absolutely lovely. They were exquisitely decorated with gold outlay and fabulous paintings or tapestries. The parquet floors were also amazing, in fact, so amazing we had to wear booties on our feet while we walked around so we wouldn’t damage it. The Danes are very proud of their Royal family. I found this interesting as the U.S. has no clear analogue to royalty, I don’t consider celebrities royals.
Copenhagen seems to be the city of green spires. The city only has three sky-scrapers. They were built in the 1960s; the building of such tall buildings was soon outlawed to preserve the sightlines of the spires. All of these oxidized, copper spires were real beautiful, as well as many green statues as well. Apparently the Dane’s like to build in copper.
After this we were given some time to wander around the waterfront. There were some neat fountains down here and an excellent view of the new opera house. The opera house is shaped like a top hat and looks pretty interesting. We also got to see the royal palaces. This is a complex of around five or six buildings. We also got to see the guards with their old style uniforms. Apparently their hats are made from Canadian black bears.
We went back on the buses and drove to see the little mermaid. The statue’s had a colorful life, it has been decapitated twice, blown off her rock twice, and has lost a few limbs. To be honest, I thought the statue was a bit underwhelming. I assumed it would be a bit more imposing. Instead it is this little mermaid sitting on a rock. The funniest thing is the huge amount of people that are elbowing their way in to get a good view of this little statue. It was a nice looking statue, but I guess I was expecting more.
We then headed back to Korsør. The drive was uneventful, but it was nice seeing the same Danish countryside. When we got back to the town, I wandered around to find an ATM to get some Danish Kroner. I also went by a grocery shop. I just picked up a few essentials, such as shampoo, toothpaste, and shaving cream. It’s good I didn’t get too much since the Danes don’t give out shopping bags. I headed back to the ship and firmed up plans on getting to Copenhagen tomorrow. It should be a busy couple of days with riding the rails to both Copenhagen and Sweden, should be a good time.
Location: Korsør and Copenhagen
Lat: 54° 49.96N Long: 012° 54.7E
Denmark’s a pretty nice place. The people seem friendly, which is a big transition from Russia. The land is also absolutely gorgeous. It is rows and rows of gorgeous fields in the countryside and quaint buildings in the city. Also wind power is also a huge thing here. However, I feel I’m getting a bit ahead of myself.
Today, I woke up feeling pretty bad. I’ve had a runny nose the last couple of days so I guess I might have woken up a little dehydrated. I guess the best way to describe it is it was kind of like a hangover. I wanted to wake up to see a representative from the U.S. Embassy speak but after I woke up, I hit the snooze button and went back to bed. Apparently I missed out because Korsør has literally rolled out the red carpet for us. I hear there was a band that was playing when we docked, but I was sick, oh well. I had an FDP to go see Copenhagen at 11:30, so I managed to make it for that.
Korsør is a pretty good distance from Copenhagen, perhaps around 115 KMs or so. We all boarded a bus and started making our way to the city. The drive wasn’t too bad at all; Denmark is a very beautiful nation. It is a significant change from rugged Norway and industrial Russia. It’s long, flat fields are a nice change and are absolutely striking in their own way. Of course, after around 20 minutes on the bus, I fell asleep; but I liked what I saw.
After we arrived at Copenhagen, we went to the Christiansborg Castle. The name is something of a misnomer as it’s not really a castle. In fact, it’s actually the center of all three branches of the government of Denmark. Half of the tour got to tour the Parliament section of the building. My group did not, unfortunately, because the other English speaking tour guide had the day off and regulations forbid too large of a group. Instead of seeing that, we got an early start on seeing the Royal Receiving Rooms.
These rooms were absolutely lovely. They were exquisitely decorated with gold outlay and fabulous paintings or tapestries. The parquet floors were also amazing, in fact, so amazing we had to wear booties on our feet while we walked around so we wouldn’t damage it. The Danes are very proud of their Royal family. I found this interesting as the U.S. has no clear analogue to royalty, I don’t consider celebrities royals.
Copenhagen seems to be the city of green spires. The city only has three sky-scrapers. They were built in the 1960s; the building of such tall buildings was soon outlawed to preserve the sightlines of the spires. All of these oxidized, copper spires were real beautiful, as well as many green statues as well. Apparently the Dane’s like to build in copper.
After this we were given some time to wander around the waterfront. There were some neat fountains down here and an excellent view of the new opera house. The opera house is shaped like a top hat and looks pretty interesting. We also got to see the royal palaces. This is a complex of around five or six buildings. We also got to see the guards with their old style uniforms. Apparently their hats are made from Canadian black bears.
We went back on the buses and drove to see the little mermaid. The statue’s had a colorful life, it has been decapitated twice, blown off her rock twice, and has lost a few limbs. To be honest, I thought the statue was a bit underwhelming. I assumed it would be a bit more imposing. Instead it is this little mermaid sitting on a rock. The funniest thing is the huge amount of people that are elbowing their way in to get a good view of this little statue. It was a nice looking statue, but I guess I was expecting more.
We then headed back to Korsør. The drive was uneventful, but it was nice seeing the same Danish countryside. When we got back to the town, I wandered around to find an ATM to get some Danish Kroner. I also went by a grocery shop. I just picked up a few essentials, such as shampoo, toothpaste, and shaving cream. It’s good I didn’t get too much since the Danes don’t give out shopping bags. I headed back to the ship and firmed up plans on getting to Copenhagen tomorrow. It should be a busy couple of days with riding the rails to both Copenhagen and Sweden, should be a good time.
Monday, July 7, 2008
Approaching Denmark
Date: July 7, 2008
Location: The Baltic Sea
Lat: 54° 49.96N Long: 012° 54.7E
Well, the system works. My dock time has been rescinded thankfully and justice has been served. I guess they probably got me mixed up with another Dan. I’m happy that I’m in the clear. I guess that’s all there is to say about it.
Well, the M/V Explorer is getting real close to Korsør, which is pretty lame. It would be so much better if we were actually docking at Copenhagen. Oh well, it is what it is. I’ve got a pretty nice itinerary lined up, I think. This was really thrown together about an hour ago. As best I can tell, this is what’s going to happen. I’m taking a Semester at Sea trip orientation of Copenhagen and Christiansborg Castle. After this, I’ll return to Korsør. The next day I’ll head back to Copenhagen with a friend, skipping an orientation of Korsør SaS trip. I’ve got a hostel there with some friends where I’ll spend the night. After that I’m going to head to Sweden for a night, then back to the M/V Explorer.
I figure I’ll have some fun here. At the very least, it should be interesting. Outside of planning for Denmark, not much happened today. I still got a good nap in and an hour tanning up on the deck; you don’t want to overwork yourself. I got an essay for the Global Studies class turned in, I think it’s pretty solid, hopefully the TAs do too.
We also had an intramural basketball game. We lost the game, but we won in the end because they technically forfeited due to a lack of players. Not exactly the way one wants to win, as we have yet to win an actual game, but hey, at least we’re 2-0 in the scorebook.
Location: The Baltic Sea
Lat: 54° 49.96N Long: 012° 54.7E
Well, the system works. My dock time has been rescinded thankfully and justice has been served. I guess they probably got me mixed up with another Dan. I’m happy that I’m in the clear. I guess that’s all there is to say about it.
Well, the M/V Explorer is getting real close to Korsør, which is pretty lame. It would be so much better if we were actually docking at Copenhagen. Oh well, it is what it is. I’ve got a pretty nice itinerary lined up, I think. This was really thrown together about an hour ago. As best I can tell, this is what’s going to happen. I’m taking a Semester at Sea trip orientation of Copenhagen and Christiansborg Castle. After this, I’ll return to Korsør. The next day I’ll head back to Copenhagen with a friend, skipping an orientation of Korsør SaS trip. I’ve got a hostel there with some friends where I’ll spend the night. After that I’m going to head to Sweden for a night, then back to the M/V Explorer.
I figure I’ll have some fun here. At the very least, it should be interesting. Outside of planning for Denmark, not much happened today. I still got a good nap in and an hour tanning up on the deck; you don’t want to overwork yourself. I got an essay for the Global Studies class turned in, I think it’s pretty solid, hopefully the TAs do too.
We also had an intramural basketball game. We lost the game, but we won in the end because they technically forfeited due to a lack of players. Not exactly the way one wants to win, as we have yet to win an actual game, but hey, at least we’re 2-0 in the scorebook.
I Fought the Law and I Won
From: Semester at sea
Sent: Mon 7/7/2008 6:35 AM
To: Daniel Tison
Subject: dock time
Hi Daniel,
I looked into the matter and it appears I was provided incorrect information regarding when you turned in your passport. You don't have dock time. Sorry for the confusion. Take care.
Assistant Director of Student Life
Sent: Mon 7/7/2008 6:35 AM
To: Daniel Tison
Subject: dock time
Hi Daniel,
I looked into the matter and it appears I was provided incorrect information regarding when you turned in your passport. You don't have dock time. Sorry for the confusion. Take care.
Assistant Director of Student Life
Sunday, July 6, 2008
Dan vs. the Man
Date: July 6, 2008
Location: The Baltic Sea
Lat: 57° 47.7N Long: 019° 43.88E
For an uneventful day, a lot sure happened. Of course class happened. I got a quiz back in my Russian Economic class; turns out I pulled down a 16/20 on a quiz. Our professor is an Aussie who grades in the Australian style so 16/20 is good enough for an A. I guess having an international faculty has some benefits.
I also took a tour of the M/V Explorer’s bridge. This was pretty neat, but nothing I haven’t seen before. I was surprised that they don’t have an actual wheel, just a sort of lever type thing. However, the navigation equipment and radar was really slick. I would’ve been impressed, but I actually helmed the USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) in my younger days. However, it seems like the ship is ably handled and all is well.
Another fun thing was we had a Hall of Fame Clown on ship with us. Mr. Barry Lubin, who’s clown persona is a grandma, entertained the whole ship. His act was absolutely hilarious. A professor, who is a close friend of Barry, teaches a class on the circus on the ship. The nature of the act was that the professor was giving a lecture on the nature of the circus and Barry was clowning around behind him. This was pretty funny as the clown also got the audience involved too, like he had some water and would pose like a fountain and spit it out. He invited one of the life-long learners up on the stage to follow along with him which was really funny. Also he invited some of the students to use a hula hoop with him. After all the fun was over, Barry took turns answering the audience’s questions. Clowning is more or less stand-up comedy in makeup and ridiculous clothes so we got a lot of funny answers. Perhaps my favorite exchange was what his kids thought of his profession. He first replied that he too was embarrassed he was a clown, poking fun at himself. Then he said that his kids thought their dad being a clown was excellent until fourth grade or so. Once they got to high school, he would threaten that he would come into school and do his act; that usually got his kids to straighten up.
I also found time to lay out on the deck for an hour and a half today. There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of a little time to catch some rays. I also managed to watch The Motorcycle Diaries. This film was about Che Guevara’s wanderings through South America with a friend. I thought it deified Che a bit too much. Che wasn’t the second coming of Jesus, he killed many to achieve his objectives, yet this is glossed over fully. All the same, it was an interesting perspective and worth seeing.
I guess the good stuff’s out of the way, time for the bad. The man’s getting me down. The way the ship makes sure everyone is on time is by when one swipes on board before the ship leaves. If one swipes in after on-ship time then they will be punished. In Russia, the system was different because our passports were distributed to us. Therefore, on-ship time was determined by a combination of both when your passport is turned in and when your id is swiped on board. The punishment for tardiness is being given dock time. This means that after the ship has cleared customs and everyone is allowed off, those with dock time are required to stay on the ship until their penance is up.
This is usually a good system and is necessary to make sure the itinerary is followed. However, good systems break down. I have been erroneously charged three hours of dock time. After my last class I found a sealed letter from the student life office on my door. I opened it up and it said that I was five minutes late to return my passport to the Purser’s Desk. My “punishment” is three hours of on ship time. I would be fine with this if it was a just punishment, however, it’s not.
On July 5, I went on the Siege of Leningrad field trip. We got back to the ship around noon. I decided to walk down to check out a market to spend some Rubles. After that, I went back to the ship and shortly returned my passport around 1300. I calmly handed my passport to the guy that was working behind the desk and asked if everything was in order and he said yes. I left thinking everything was fine. However, apparently things are not fine.
After I received the letter on my door I immediately went up to Student Life to correct this injustice. I left a note for the Assistant Director of Student Life about why my dock time is incorrect. I figure I’ll meet with him tomorrow. I don’t really mind being stuck on the ship for three hours, I’d just take a nap, however it’s the principal of the thing. I am extremely frustrated by the fact that someone else’s mistake is going to lessen my experience in Denmark. I’m sure this will get fixed, but it shouldn’t have to be. I also would be real angry if I’m labeled a troublemaker when I’ve done nothing wrong. I am going to make sure this is fixed.
Location: The Baltic Sea
Lat: 57° 47.7N Long: 019° 43.88E
For an uneventful day, a lot sure happened. Of course class happened. I got a quiz back in my Russian Economic class; turns out I pulled down a 16/20 on a quiz. Our professor is an Aussie who grades in the Australian style so 16/20 is good enough for an A. I guess having an international faculty has some benefits.
I also took a tour of the M/V Explorer’s bridge. This was pretty neat, but nothing I haven’t seen before. I was surprised that they don’t have an actual wheel, just a sort of lever type thing. However, the navigation equipment and radar was really slick. I would’ve been impressed, but I actually helmed the USS Belleau Wood (LHA-3) in my younger days. However, it seems like the ship is ably handled and all is well.
Another fun thing was we had a Hall of Fame Clown on ship with us. Mr. Barry Lubin, who’s clown persona is a grandma, entertained the whole ship. His act was absolutely hilarious. A professor, who is a close friend of Barry, teaches a class on the circus on the ship. The nature of the act was that the professor was giving a lecture on the nature of the circus and Barry was clowning around behind him. This was pretty funny as the clown also got the audience involved too, like he had some water and would pose like a fountain and spit it out. He invited one of the life-long learners up on the stage to follow along with him which was really funny. Also he invited some of the students to use a hula hoop with him. After all the fun was over, Barry took turns answering the audience’s questions. Clowning is more or less stand-up comedy in makeup and ridiculous clothes so we got a lot of funny answers. Perhaps my favorite exchange was what his kids thought of his profession. He first replied that he too was embarrassed he was a clown, poking fun at himself. Then he said that his kids thought their dad being a clown was excellent until fourth grade or so. Once they got to high school, he would threaten that he would come into school and do his act; that usually got his kids to straighten up.
I also found time to lay out on the deck for an hour and a half today. There’s nothing wrong with taking advantage of a little time to catch some rays. I also managed to watch The Motorcycle Diaries. This film was about Che Guevara’s wanderings through South America with a friend. I thought it deified Che a bit too much. Che wasn’t the second coming of Jesus, he killed many to achieve his objectives, yet this is glossed over fully. All the same, it was an interesting perspective and worth seeing.
I guess the good stuff’s out of the way, time for the bad. The man’s getting me down. The way the ship makes sure everyone is on time is by when one swipes on board before the ship leaves. If one swipes in after on-ship time then they will be punished. In Russia, the system was different because our passports were distributed to us. Therefore, on-ship time was determined by a combination of both when your passport is turned in and when your id is swiped on board. The punishment for tardiness is being given dock time. This means that after the ship has cleared customs and everyone is allowed off, those with dock time are required to stay on the ship until their penance is up.
This is usually a good system and is necessary to make sure the itinerary is followed. However, good systems break down. I have been erroneously charged three hours of dock time. After my last class I found a sealed letter from the student life office on my door. I opened it up and it said that I was five minutes late to return my passport to the Purser’s Desk. My “punishment” is three hours of on ship time. I would be fine with this if it was a just punishment, however, it’s not.
On July 5, I went on the Siege of Leningrad field trip. We got back to the ship around noon. I decided to walk down to check out a market to spend some Rubles. After that, I went back to the ship and shortly returned my passport around 1300. I calmly handed my passport to the guy that was working behind the desk and asked if everything was in order and he said yes. I left thinking everything was fine. However, apparently things are not fine.
After I received the letter on my door I immediately went up to Student Life to correct this injustice. I left a note for the Assistant Director of Student Life about why my dock time is incorrect. I figure I’ll meet with him tomorrow. I don’t really mind being stuck on the ship for three hours, I’d just take a nap, however it’s the principal of the thing. I am extremely frustrated by the fact that someone else’s mistake is going to lessen my experience in Denmark. I’m sure this will get fixed, but it shouldn’t have to be. I also would be real angry if I’m labeled a troublemaker when I’ve done nothing wrong. I am going to make sure this is fixed.
Saturday, July 5, 2008
Leaving Russia
Date: July 5, 2008
Location: The Neva River
Lat: 60° 2.17N Long: 029° 9.90E
Well, we’re finally leaving Russia. I guess it is about time. I really enjoyed my time in Russia and I got a lot out of it, however, I’m looking forward to moving on. However, today was good too. In the morning I got to see some interesting things about the siege of Leningrad.
The siege was where Hitler tried to take Leningrad as it was Russia’s second biggest city outside of Moscow and vitally important to the war. However, the defenders held out for around 900 days, the city would be declared a Hero City. Clearly this is a big part of the Russian culture and history.
It was real neat to hear the guide speak and give the Russian perspective on things. Perhaps the most blatant example of this was where he addressed talk of how winter helped the Soviets win. He said that this was absolute rubbish (he told us that rubbish wasn’t strong enough to describe the inaccuracy of this) because the winter hurt the Russians more. Their shelters and homes were destroyed and being under constant bombardment clearly would be worse than what the Germans, who were relatively safer had to deal with. He was rather vehement; I’m not sure whose side I’m on.
The debate aside, our first stop was at the State made memorial to the siege. This was something of a temple to the defenders. The layout of the monument is a bit hard to describe. On the outside there is a ring of red marble and there is a spire on one side. At the top is the dates, 1941 and 1945, when the war took place. Once one enters the monument, there are many metal displays that talk about the sacrifice and suffering the Russians endured. Communist symbolism was abundant here. There were large communist flags and many hammer and sickles around the monument.
There are also many statues. These depict both the civilian and military together fighting the Nazis. These are all very massive and intimidating; I suppose the whole thing is. Under this there is a museum. This is a heavily stylized museum that shows some of the things that were used. An exhibit that was rather surprising was they had an example of the size of the bread ration that was given. This wouldn’t even be suitable as a roll at a restaurant. They also showed the bread cards, these were used to get the bread ration. If one lost it or it was stolen, it was a death sentence.
After this we moved onto another museum. This one was far less staid. I suppose a good example of what the museum was like is one of those cheap knockoff museums you can find at Civil War Battlefields. A lot of what was there was the same; however it had a cheap kind of feel to it. I suppose this isn’t really being fair to the museum. They did have a lot of interesting specimens. I surmise it has more to do with the language. When the tour guide needs to get the bus back to the ship by 1200 for the next tour, sometimes, explanations are rather curt, or rather are not given at all. Cyrillic is still quite frustrating, at least it’s not a problem anymore.
After this we went back to the ship. I laid out in the sun and worked on my tan a little bit. The ship put on a barbeque; this was a good bit of fun. Some of the shipboard community busted out some instruments and played some songs. The live music was a ton of fun. Also eating burgers again was real tasty.
Shortly afterwards the good ship M/V Explorer headed back to sea. We’re turning our clocks back an hour tonight. Extra hours of sleep are always appreciated, on that note, I’m off to bed
Location: The Neva River
Lat: 60° 2.17N Long: 029° 9.90E
Well, we’re finally leaving Russia. I guess it is about time. I really enjoyed my time in Russia and I got a lot out of it, however, I’m looking forward to moving on. However, today was good too. In the morning I got to see some interesting things about the siege of Leningrad.
The siege was where Hitler tried to take Leningrad as it was Russia’s second biggest city outside of Moscow and vitally important to the war. However, the defenders held out for around 900 days, the city would be declared a Hero City. Clearly this is a big part of the Russian culture and history.
It was real neat to hear the guide speak and give the Russian perspective on things. Perhaps the most blatant example of this was where he addressed talk of how winter helped the Soviets win. He said that this was absolute rubbish (he told us that rubbish wasn’t strong enough to describe the inaccuracy of this) because the winter hurt the Russians more. Their shelters and homes were destroyed and being under constant bombardment clearly would be worse than what the Germans, who were relatively safer had to deal with. He was rather vehement; I’m not sure whose side I’m on.
The debate aside, our first stop was at the State made memorial to the siege. This was something of a temple to the defenders. The layout of the monument is a bit hard to describe. On the outside there is a ring of red marble and there is a spire on one side. At the top is the dates, 1941 and 1945, when the war took place. Once one enters the monument, there are many metal displays that talk about the sacrifice and suffering the Russians endured. Communist symbolism was abundant here. There were large communist flags and many hammer and sickles around the monument.
There are also many statues. These depict both the civilian and military together fighting the Nazis. These are all very massive and intimidating; I suppose the whole thing is. Under this there is a museum. This is a heavily stylized museum that shows some of the things that were used. An exhibit that was rather surprising was they had an example of the size of the bread ration that was given. This wouldn’t even be suitable as a roll at a restaurant. They also showed the bread cards, these were used to get the bread ration. If one lost it or it was stolen, it was a death sentence.
After this we moved onto another museum. This one was far less staid. I suppose a good example of what the museum was like is one of those cheap knockoff museums you can find at Civil War Battlefields. A lot of what was there was the same; however it had a cheap kind of feel to it. I suppose this isn’t really being fair to the museum. They did have a lot of interesting specimens. I surmise it has more to do with the language. When the tour guide needs to get the bus back to the ship by 1200 for the next tour, sometimes, explanations are rather curt, or rather are not given at all. Cyrillic is still quite frustrating, at least it’s not a problem anymore.
After this we went back to the ship. I laid out in the sun and worked on my tan a little bit. The ship put on a barbeque; this was a good bit of fun. Some of the shipboard community busted out some instruments and played some songs. The live music was a ton of fun. Also eating burgers again was real tasty.
Shortly afterwards the good ship M/V Explorer headed back to sea. We’re turning our clocks back an hour tonight. Extra hours of sleep are always appreciated, on that note, I’m off to bed
Russian Highlight #2: Circuses, Bars, and Gilding
Date: July 4, 2008
Location: Saint Petersburg and Moscow
Lat: 59° 55.87N Long: 030° 16.45E
Well, it's America's 232nd birthday and here I am in Russia. It sure feels weird to be here on a day like today, but oh well. I have so much to write about its ridiculous.
I guess I should start with some more general observations about Russia and its people. Russia seems like its gilded. I mean, there are so many nice cars, BMWs, Audis, etc, there are also amazingly beautiful buildings and fabulous treasures, however, despite all these things, Russia is extremely poorly maintained. One example of this is that while we are walking towards the fun part of the city we pass by a lot of other boats and ships. All these ships have chipped paint and just look like rust buckets. Another time we passed by a brick building, the interesting thing with this was that instead of cleaning the mortar off, it just was sort of tossed on all over the building. It looked terrible.
Russians are also rather stark. I can't get over how funny it is to walk by Russians taking photos of each other and instead of cracking a smile and looking like they are enjoying where they are; it's like they try to look as angry and mean as possible. Like when we were at the Moscow Circus and these kids are getting a photo taken with a monkey or snake or some other animal, which you think would make them smile, instead they just look extremely angry.
Another thing I noticed is the extreme language barrier. In a way, Norway spoiled us because everyone spoke English there. Russia is the complete opposite. Here, very few speak English. Additionally, it's not just the words, it's the alphabet. Cyrillic looks like someone ran a lawn mower over our alphabet and went with the result. I know a few things, such as "P" means "R", besides that, I'm lost. This can be real tough when one's trying to get money out of an ATM. One thing that was real funny was that we went to an ATM that had a few English words scattered here and there, however, they'd have huge blocks of text in Cyrillic. This was especially frustrating when it asked where I wanted to withdraw my money from and all the choices were in Cyrillic, I sure hope I picked checking. However, the language barrier has given me some perspective on what people who can't speak English face when they're in America. The funny thing is when the shoe is on the other foot and like the ladies at the Hair Cuttery speak in their native language while they cut my hair it drives me wild. However, all my friends and I when we're walking around the streets are chattering away in English.
I suppose it's time to address what's happened the last few days. The trip to Moscow was a fun time. Waking up wasn't much fun because I didn't sleep well the night before. This was real rough because I had to be ready to go in the Union at 0615. At least I made it.
We then boarded some busses and started off for the airport. The drive to the St. Petersburg airport went well; which is rather good in Russia where traffic laws are either non-existent or are never followed. The streets sure get real hectic with people cutting in and out every which way. Also, crossing streets can get real bad because pedestrians don't have right of way. When you get a bit of an opening you have to spring across the street. They even have signs showing people running really fast, it's pretty crazy.
The airport was kind of surprising. It was oddly small. Indianapolis' airport was much bigger than the Saint Petersburg one. This was sort of bizarre as Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. The airport was also kind of run down. However, the funniest thing was it still had a lot of Soviet imagery. I suppose this is a common theme throughout Russia. Aeroflot, Russia's national airline has a hammer and sickle in its logo.
While we were at the airport we were issued tickets. Obviously these had our flight information on them; however, they also gave us clearance to travel to Moscow. It really surprised me that there is a lack of free travel in Russia. In America, if you want you can just get up and decide to drive to California and no one can stop you, that is not the case here.
The plane we went to Moscow in was pretty rough. I think it was one of those old Tupolev planes that were converted to serve as airliners. The pilots here take their corners a bit sharp compared to America because the plane was sure rolling and moving all over the place. However, there was a nice thing about flying in Russia. They still serve meals. These are nice meals too! We were given a box which had a chicken and cheese croissant and an apple juice, juice box. This was real surprising since the airlines back home are cutting back on everything. I guess profit margins are more important than customer satisfaction.
When we finally made it to Moscow we went on a quick tour of the city. We saw a whole lot of the city. It sort of flew by so it's hard to describe that accurately. However, we eventually stopped at Red Square. It sure was a funny feeling standing in the nexus of Communism. Red Square was beautiful. Saint Basil's Cathedral is absolutely gorgeous. They've recently renovated it so all the onion domes are vibrantly colorful. We also saw the other parts of Red Square. This includes Lenin's Mausoleum. It was tragic that we couldn't go in because it has very tight hours. A few guys from our group made it there and said it was alright, but Lenin was really waxy. The State Historical Museum had a real impressive exterior, but we did not go in.
The most perplexing part of Red Square was the GUM Department Store. This place was absolutely massive. It was three stories tall and ran the whole length of Red Square. The store was packed with ritzy stores. These were all high-end like: Gucci, Armani, Christian Dior, etc. It sure seems to be a bit against the ideals of Communism where all are equal. I guess it always was like that in Russia; just they didn't talk about it like they do now.
The weather was pretty bizarre. I guess it would probably be best described as scattered showers. It was kind of funny how it worked out, there would be like 15 minutes of a torrential downpour, then it would be calm and clear for maybe thirty minutes then back to a downpour. It sure was interesting.
After we finished in Red Square we moved onto the Kremlin. There are a lot of misconceptions about it. Since the Kremlin is analogous to the White House, people assume that the Kremlin is a single building. It's not at all. The Kremlin's actually a complex of buildings and other historic things.
We were given a good tour of the complex. There was lots of interesting things. One of these was the Kremlin Arsenal. The really neat thing is that outside the front of the Kremlin Arsenal are a large number of cannons. These are mostly not in gun carriages and are just laying out stacked in an orderly fashion. It turns out that these were Napoleon's guns. Moscow and the Kremlin were occupied by the French for a sometime. After they were driven out of Moscow, the Russians put the captured French guns on display. There are probably around 100 or so cannons.
Another thing we saw was the Tsar Cannon. This is allegedly the biggest cannon in the world. It's mounted on an ornate carriage featuring a large wolf head and some ivy work. The cannon has a weight of 38 tons and has a caliber of 890 mm. However, like most things in Russia, it's initially impressive but once you think about it, it's pointless. The size is impressive, but the thing is totally impractical. It's virtually impossible to move the thing, let alone, it's doubtful to imagine actually firing the thing.
Continuing the theme, we also saw the Tsar Bell. This is an equally massive item. Empress Anna, Peter the Great's niece, tried to show that she was also great and commissioned this huge bell to be built (Peter built a city, Anna built a big bell, Peter wins this match). The bell is 216 tons, truly massive. However, it has a small flaw; an 11.5 ton chunk of the bell broke off in a fire. It seems like it would be a pretty funny story. The bell was still being cast and a fire broke out in the scaffolding around the bell. The bell began to get pretty heated and then some quick thinking Russians tried to save the bell by pouring water on it. This caused the bell to crack, ruining something that was probably pretty useless as is. Once again, all flash, little substance. I suppose Freud would have some interesting thoughts to contribute about the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell.
After seeing the bell and cannon we moved on. We then started to look at the various cathedrals' in the Kremlin. These were real impressive. We went into the Cathedral of the Archangel. This church was absolutely gorgeous. There was a whole wall of icons. These are the classic paintings of the Orthodox Church. There is a whole hierarchy of who gets placed on what level. At most there can be five levels, at the least three. These paintings were incredible. At the tops of the domes, there were paintings of Jesus beckoning to people. Perhaps the most fascinating is at the exit, there is a painting of the final judgment, this is to remind people to watch what they do as God is also watching.
After this we moved onto the Kremlin Armory. It's a bit of a misnomer as the Armory isn't an armory at all. Instead it houses the treasures of Russia. There were impressively opulent things, such as massive golden dinner sets, suits of armor, and much more. Apparently it was customary to give other royals golden plates as a show of friendship or as a way to solidify a treaty. They also had these massive gospels that had a huge amount of gold, jewels, diamonds, and other gaudy things. There were also a collection of royal carriages and dresses. Photos weren't allowed so I wasn't able to get any, so it's a bit hard to remember specifics, but it was lavish.
I almost found the Kremlin Armory too lavish. I guess a bit of Russian Communism has rubbed off on me because I looked at all these things as wasteful. I can't imagine what could have been done if some of these plates were used to help feed some of the serfs, or to improve education. I guess the commies had good cause to overthrow the Tsars.
After this we started to drive to the Moscow Bolshoi Circus. This was quite possibly the highlight of the trip. There were so many funny things. I suppose I haven't mentioned this yet, but mullet's are huge in Russia. It seems like the hairstyle never died out here. However, moving on from Russian fashion, or lack thereof, the circus was absolutely amazing.
It's hard to give a run down that would do this justice, however, I will try. The circus made great use of laser lights. They made so many amazing shapes and moving animals, like dolphins, and seals, and others. There was a neat act where these clowns had a huge bicycle. The tires were made of like large balloons so it was soft and people could bounce off it. This set up a lot of funny tricks, like clowns being run over and doing flips off the tires.
They also had an act where there were these cowboys doing trick riding. Seeing the Russian take on the American cowboy was absolutely ridiculous. They looked like something out of the village people. The guys were wearing tight jeans with vests with no shirts. However, the dancing cowgirls had equally sexy outfits, so I guess you have to take the good with the bad. The musical accompaniment was also real amusing. It was sort of an affectation of classic western hoedown fiddle music. However, the lyrics were complete nonsense.
The musical accompaniment was even funnier in other parts of the circus. There was an act where acrobats ran in these two loops that rotated around. This was an absolute blast. However, the funny thing is the music. There was like a techno beat with occasional English phrases like "I find you very attractive", "I saw you looking at me over there", and the grand finale of this music was: "will you come to bed with me". This was absolutely hysterical as it had nothing at all to do with the act.
An actually impressive act was this bunch of Kenyan acrobats. They did absolutely mindboggling stunts. Like they would jump right at each other and end up catching each other. They also had this prop that was sort of shaped like an 8. They would jump through this little hoop and do some amazing back flips. I don't think I'm doing their act justice. They also did an absolutely incredible limbo. They lit the limbo pole on fire and kept going under it. At one point there was perhaps only a seven inch clearance and they still made it through.
There were also some great animal acts. They had lions, sea lions, camels, and parrots. These were very fun to watch. Some of the hippy girls who were there complained about the treatment of the animals, but if you ask me they have a real sweet life. After they do anything they're given pieces of meat, like the sea lions would get a whole fish after clapping a few times. Plus the animals are extremely valuable, besides, this is a state run circus, this isn't like a shady Mexican circus or anything.
After this we went back to the hotel. This was where the language barrier really hit us. The hotel accommodations were surprisingly nice. The water pressure was surprisingly strong. When I turned on the water, the showerhead started to fly everywhere and totally soaked the bathroom, it was quite surprising.
We had walked around for a real long time during the day and the food at the circus was not very filling. Some friends and I decided to get a pizza. This turned into an odyssey. Obviously we can't read Cyrillic so the menu was absolutely impossible for us to make sense of it. We decide to go over to the concierge and ask her for help as she spoke a little English. Initially she refused us. This led to us wandering around the hotel and contemplating whether to eat at the hotel restaurant which did not have a single English speaker there. Clearly our options were limited. After we wandered around the hotel for 30 minutes trying to figure this out, we decided that we had to talk to the concierge or we weren't going to get our pizza. We begged and pleaded and she then ordered our pizza.
We had to wait around for an hour and our pizza finally came. We were so pumped, we made it work and our pizza was coming to satisfy our massive hunger. However, what we got was not exactly the joy we had hoped it would be. We ordered a margherita pizza, which is mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and basil, what we got was not that at all. We basically got one of the worst pizzas ever. There was no sauce, the cheese was burnt to a crisp and it was still one of the best pizzas I've eaten.
We also turned on the Russian TV. We inadvertently stumbled onto a show called "Naked and Funny". My roommate and I were sold immediately. The way the show worked is it was basically like Candid Camera but with nudity. I guess Russia isn't quite as concerned as America is with what's on TV.
When we got up we took the Moscow Metro. This was a different experience for sure. The Moscow subway stations were designed to be bomb shelters. Thusly the stations are extremely deep, like it will be a two minute escalator ride down. Once you're there, the experience is quite different from the D.C. stations. The Soviets hired the finest architects and designers to make the stations gorgeous. They are essentially temples to the Soviet Union. Pretty much every stereotype about authoritarian architecture is confirmed. Huge statues of Soviet heroes from WWII, huge hammer and sickles all over the place, these stations were extremely impressive.
After we arrived at our station we were given some free time. We ended up deciding to be tourists and go to the Hard Rock Café. I got some sweet items, like a glass and the classic t-shirt to go along with my Oslo one. I guess I'm your standard tourist, I like ridiculous things. The food was pretty solid too, always a good thing. I got some nachos, they weren't the same as America, but they were still good.
After that we wandered around a flea market area and started haggling like mad. I ended up getting a pretty sweet collection of items. I ended up picking up some gifts for back home and another nesting doll set. These are extremely awesome as they are Purdue football. It's last year's team, but I'm still excited, they have the uniforms and numbers. Like they have Curtis Painter, Dorien Bryant, Cliff Avrill, Kory Sheets, and Greg Orton, their numbers are all right and everything, this is such a sweet set.
I also purchased a ridiculous shirt. It has Lenin's face imposed over the McDonald's arches and it says McLenin's. The back is even better because it has the Hammer and Sickle in a red star breaking apart with the text "The Party is Over" written around it. I know these are so stereotypical souvenir items but I love them.
After all that we went back to Saint Petersburg. It was pretty uneventful, which I guess is a good thing for airplane flights. When we got back I hung out at a nearby bar. There's a liquor store right down the street so a lot of people enjoyed the services provided. I just stuck with the beer; of course these beers were 1.5 liters and were 8% alcohol by volume. However, I only had one beer. All in all, it was a fun time, there are a lot of fun people on the ship and it's pretty easy to find a group to hang out with for a night.
After I woke up, some friends and I decided to go check out the city. We walked over to Saint Isaac's Cathedral. This is a very European style cathedral. However, there is one large onion dome; I think one of the tours said that it was one of the largest domes in the world. I don't know if that's true or not, but it was pretty big. The cool thing was if you paid some money you could go up to near the top of the Cathedral and you could get an amazing view of the whole city. I got some excellent snapshots.
After we left Saint Isaac's we went to the Church of the Spilt Blood. This is a much more Russian style church. This was also beautiful, I suppose Saint Basil's was a bit better, but overall they were extremely similar. Near this Cathedral there was a flea market. I was able to pick up some gifts here as well; they're pretty nice looking so hopefully all will like them.
We also walked on Nevsky Prospekt. This is main shopping street of Saint Petersburg. There were some neat shops, but Moscow was far ritzier. We grabbed a few beers over here and just took it all in. It sure wasn't your typical July 4th celebration, but we enjoyed it all the same. We then walked back to the ship, which was probably around a 3 mile walk or so, nothing too bad, but it clearly took a bit out of you. We all went out that night which was pretty fun.
All in all, it was a really eventful few days. It's hard to condense so many things so fast, but it sure was a good time. I'm still not sure what I think about Russia. I guess saying its gilded is pretty accurate. Russia has some really fantastic parts, but it seems like the core has tons of faults. Alcoholism is rampant. A bottle of Vodka costs three dollars, 2 liters of beer cost four dollars, truly this place is a nation of alcohol. This is sad because there are drunks all over the place, either people passed out holding onto their bottles or just rowdy people in bars. It's sad, Russia's nice, but the place has many problems.
Location: Saint Petersburg and Moscow
Lat: 59° 55.87N Long: 030° 16.45E
Well, it's America's 232nd birthday and here I am in Russia. It sure feels weird to be here on a day like today, but oh well. I have so much to write about its ridiculous.
I guess I should start with some more general observations about Russia and its people. Russia seems like its gilded. I mean, there are so many nice cars, BMWs, Audis, etc, there are also amazingly beautiful buildings and fabulous treasures, however, despite all these things, Russia is extremely poorly maintained. One example of this is that while we are walking towards the fun part of the city we pass by a lot of other boats and ships. All these ships have chipped paint and just look like rust buckets. Another time we passed by a brick building, the interesting thing with this was that instead of cleaning the mortar off, it just was sort of tossed on all over the building. It looked terrible.
Russians are also rather stark. I can't get over how funny it is to walk by Russians taking photos of each other and instead of cracking a smile and looking like they are enjoying where they are; it's like they try to look as angry and mean as possible. Like when we were at the Moscow Circus and these kids are getting a photo taken with a monkey or snake or some other animal, which you think would make them smile, instead they just look extremely angry.
Another thing I noticed is the extreme language barrier. In a way, Norway spoiled us because everyone spoke English there. Russia is the complete opposite. Here, very few speak English. Additionally, it's not just the words, it's the alphabet. Cyrillic looks like someone ran a lawn mower over our alphabet and went with the result. I know a few things, such as "P" means "R", besides that, I'm lost. This can be real tough when one's trying to get money out of an ATM. One thing that was real funny was that we went to an ATM that had a few English words scattered here and there, however, they'd have huge blocks of text in Cyrillic. This was especially frustrating when it asked where I wanted to withdraw my money from and all the choices were in Cyrillic, I sure hope I picked checking. However, the language barrier has given me some perspective on what people who can't speak English face when they're in America. The funny thing is when the shoe is on the other foot and like the ladies at the Hair Cuttery speak in their native language while they cut my hair it drives me wild. However, all my friends and I when we're walking around the streets are chattering away in English.
I suppose it's time to address what's happened the last few days. The trip to Moscow was a fun time. Waking up wasn't much fun because I didn't sleep well the night before. This was real rough because I had to be ready to go in the Union at 0615. At least I made it.
We then boarded some busses and started off for the airport. The drive to the St. Petersburg airport went well; which is rather good in Russia where traffic laws are either non-existent or are never followed. The streets sure get real hectic with people cutting in and out every which way. Also, crossing streets can get real bad because pedestrians don't have right of way. When you get a bit of an opening you have to spring across the street. They even have signs showing people running really fast, it's pretty crazy.
The airport was kind of surprising. It was oddly small. Indianapolis' airport was much bigger than the Saint Petersburg one. This was sort of bizarre as Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia. The airport was also kind of run down. However, the funniest thing was it still had a lot of Soviet imagery. I suppose this is a common theme throughout Russia. Aeroflot, Russia's national airline has a hammer and sickle in its logo.
While we were at the airport we were issued tickets. Obviously these had our flight information on them; however, they also gave us clearance to travel to Moscow. It really surprised me that there is a lack of free travel in Russia. In America, if you want you can just get up and decide to drive to California and no one can stop you, that is not the case here.
The plane we went to Moscow in was pretty rough. I think it was one of those old Tupolev planes that were converted to serve as airliners. The pilots here take their corners a bit sharp compared to America because the plane was sure rolling and moving all over the place. However, there was a nice thing about flying in Russia. They still serve meals. These are nice meals too! We were given a box which had a chicken and cheese croissant and an apple juice, juice box. This was real surprising since the airlines back home are cutting back on everything. I guess profit margins are more important than customer satisfaction.
When we finally made it to Moscow we went on a quick tour of the city. We saw a whole lot of the city. It sort of flew by so it's hard to describe that accurately. However, we eventually stopped at Red Square. It sure was a funny feeling standing in the nexus of Communism. Red Square was beautiful. Saint Basil's Cathedral is absolutely gorgeous. They've recently renovated it so all the onion domes are vibrantly colorful. We also saw the other parts of Red Square. This includes Lenin's Mausoleum. It was tragic that we couldn't go in because it has very tight hours. A few guys from our group made it there and said it was alright, but Lenin was really waxy. The State Historical Museum had a real impressive exterior, but we did not go in.
The most perplexing part of Red Square was the GUM Department Store. This place was absolutely massive. It was three stories tall and ran the whole length of Red Square. The store was packed with ritzy stores. These were all high-end like: Gucci, Armani, Christian Dior, etc. It sure seems to be a bit against the ideals of Communism where all are equal. I guess it always was like that in Russia; just they didn't talk about it like they do now.
The weather was pretty bizarre. I guess it would probably be best described as scattered showers. It was kind of funny how it worked out, there would be like 15 minutes of a torrential downpour, then it would be calm and clear for maybe thirty minutes then back to a downpour. It sure was interesting.
After we finished in Red Square we moved onto the Kremlin. There are a lot of misconceptions about it. Since the Kremlin is analogous to the White House, people assume that the Kremlin is a single building. It's not at all. The Kremlin's actually a complex of buildings and other historic things.
We were given a good tour of the complex. There was lots of interesting things. One of these was the Kremlin Arsenal. The really neat thing is that outside the front of the Kremlin Arsenal are a large number of cannons. These are mostly not in gun carriages and are just laying out stacked in an orderly fashion. It turns out that these were Napoleon's guns. Moscow and the Kremlin were occupied by the French for a sometime. After they were driven out of Moscow, the Russians put the captured French guns on display. There are probably around 100 or so cannons.
Another thing we saw was the Tsar Cannon. This is allegedly the biggest cannon in the world. It's mounted on an ornate carriage featuring a large wolf head and some ivy work. The cannon has a weight of 38 tons and has a caliber of 890 mm. However, like most things in Russia, it's initially impressive but once you think about it, it's pointless. The size is impressive, but the thing is totally impractical. It's virtually impossible to move the thing, let alone, it's doubtful to imagine actually firing the thing.
Continuing the theme, we also saw the Tsar Bell. This is an equally massive item. Empress Anna, Peter the Great's niece, tried to show that she was also great and commissioned this huge bell to be built (Peter built a city, Anna built a big bell, Peter wins this match). The bell is 216 tons, truly massive. However, it has a small flaw; an 11.5 ton chunk of the bell broke off in a fire. It seems like it would be a pretty funny story. The bell was still being cast and a fire broke out in the scaffolding around the bell. The bell began to get pretty heated and then some quick thinking Russians tried to save the bell by pouring water on it. This caused the bell to crack, ruining something that was probably pretty useless as is. Once again, all flash, little substance. I suppose Freud would have some interesting thoughts to contribute about the Tsar Cannon and the Tsar Bell.
After seeing the bell and cannon we moved on. We then started to look at the various cathedrals' in the Kremlin. These were real impressive. We went into the Cathedral of the Archangel. This church was absolutely gorgeous. There was a whole wall of icons. These are the classic paintings of the Orthodox Church. There is a whole hierarchy of who gets placed on what level. At most there can be five levels, at the least three. These paintings were incredible. At the tops of the domes, there were paintings of Jesus beckoning to people. Perhaps the most fascinating is at the exit, there is a painting of the final judgment, this is to remind people to watch what they do as God is also watching.
After this we moved onto the Kremlin Armory. It's a bit of a misnomer as the Armory isn't an armory at all. Instead it houses the treasures of Russia. There were impressively opulent things, such as massive golden dinner sets, suits of armor, and much more. Apparently it was customary to give other royals golden plates as a show of friendship or as a way to solidify a treaty. They also had these massive gospels that had a huge amount of gold, jewels, diamonds, and other gaudy things. There were also a collection of royal carriages and dresses. Photos weren't allowed so I wasn't able to get any, so it's a bit hard to remember specifics, but it was lavish.
I almost found the Kremlin Armory too lavish. I guess a bit of Russian Communism has rubbed off on me because I looked at all these things as wasteful. I can't imagine what could have been done if some of these plates were used to help feed some of the serfs, or to improve education. I guess the commies had good cause to overthrow the Tsars.
After this we started to drive to the Moscow Bolshoi Circus. This was quite possibly the highlight of the trip. There were so many funny things. I suppose I haven't mentioned this yet, but mullet's are huge in Russia. It seems like the hairstyle never died out here. However, moving on from Russian fashion, or lack thereof, the circus was absolutely amazing.
It's hard to give a run down that would do this justice, however, I will try. The circus made great use of laser lights. They made so many amazing shapes and moving animals, like dolphins, and seals, and others. There was a neat act where these clowns had a huge bicycle. The tires were made of like large balloons so it was soft and people could bounce off it. This set up a lot of funny tricks, like clowns being run over and doing flips off the tires.
They also had an act where there were these cowboys doing trick riding. Seeing the Russian take on the American cowboy was absolutely ridiculous. They looked like something out of the village people. The guys were wearing tight jeans with vests with no shirts. However, the dancing cowgirls had equally sexy outfits, so I guess you have to take the good with the bad. The musical accompaniment was also real amusing. It was sort of an affectation of classic western hoedown fiddle music. However, the lyrics were complete nonsense.
The musical accompaniment was even funnier in other parts of the circus. There was an act where acrobats ran in these two loops that rotated around. This was an absolute blast. However, the funny thing is the music. There was like a techno beat with occasional English phrases like "I find you very attractive", "I saw you looking at me over there", and the grand finale of this music was: "will you come to bed with me". This was absolutely hysterical as it had nothing at all to do with the act.
An actually impressive act was this bunch of Kenyan acrobats. They did absolutely mindboggling stunts. Like they would jump right at each other and end up catching each other. They also had this prop that was sort of shaped like an 8. They would jump through this little hoop and do some amazing back flips. I don't think I'm doing their act justice. They also did an absolutely incredible limbo. They lit the limbo pole on fire and kept going under it. At one point there was perhaps only a seven inch clearance and they still made it through.
There were also some great animal acts. They had lions, sea lions, camels, and parrots. These were very fun to watch. Some of the hippy girls who were there complained about the treatment of the animals, but if you ask me they have a real sweet life. After they do anything they're given pieces of meat, like the sea lions would get a whole fish after clapping a few times. Plus the animals are extremely valuable, besides, this is a state run circus, this isn't like a shady Mexican circus or anything.
After this we went back to the hotel. This was where the language barrier really hit us. The hotel accommodations were surprisingly nice. The water pressure was surprisingly strong. When I turned on the water, the showerhead started to fly everywhere and totally soaked the bathroom, it was quite surprising.
We had walked around for a real long time during the day and the food at the circus was not very filling. Some friends and I decided to get a pizza. This turned into an odyssey. Obviously we can't read Cyrillic so the menu was absolutely impossible for us to make sense of it. We decide to go over to the concierge and ask her for help as she spoke a little English. Initially she refused us. This led to us wandering around the hotel and contemplating whether to eat at the hotel restaurant which did not have a single English speaker there. Clearly our options were limited. After we wandered around the hotel for 30 minutes trying to figure this out, we decided that we had to talk to the concierge or we weren't going to get our pizza. We begged and pleaded and she then ordered our pizza.
We had to wait around for an hour and our pizza finally came. We were so pumped, we made it work and our pizza was coming to satisfy our massive hunger. However, what we got was not exactly the joy we had hoped it would be. We ordered a margherita pizza, which is mozzarella cheese, tomatoes, and basil, what we got was not that at all. We basically got one of the worst pizzas ever. There was no sauce, the cheese was burnt to a crisp and it was still one of the best pizzas I've eaten.
We also turned on the Russian TV. We inadvertently stumbled onto a show called "Naked and Funny". My roommate and I were sold immediately. The way the show worked is it was basically like Candid Camera but with nudity. I guess Russia isn't quite as concerned as America is with what's on TV.
When we got up we took the Moscow Metro. This was a different experience for sure. The Moscow subway stations were designed to be bomb shelters. Thusly the stations are extremely deep, like it will be a two minute escalator ride down. Once you're there, the experience is quite different from the D.C. stations. The Soviets hired the finest architects and designers to make the stations gorgeous. They are essentially temples to the Soviet Union. Pretty much every stereotype about authoritarian architecture is confirmed. Huge statues of Soviet heroes from WWII, huge hammer and sickles all over the place, these stations were extremely impressive.
After we arrived at our station we were given some free time. We ended up deciding to be tourists and go to the Hard Rock Café. I got some sweet items, like a glass and the classic t-shirt to go along with my Oslo one. I guess I'm your standard tourist, I like ridiculous things. The food was pretty solid too, always a good thing. I got some nachos, they weren't the same as America, but they were still good.
After that we wandered around a flea market area and started haggling like mad. I ended up getting a pretty sweet collection of items. I ended up picking up some gifts for back home and another nesting doll set. These are extremely awesome as they are Purdue football. It's last year's team, but I'm still excited, they have the uniforms and numbers. Like they have Curtis Painter, Dorien Bryant, Cliff Avrill, Kory Sheets, and Greg Orton, their numbers are all right and everything, this is such a sweet set.
I also purchased a ridiculous shirt. It has Lenin's face imposed over the McDonald's arches and it says McLenin's. The back is even better because it has the Hammer and Sickle in a red star breaking apart with the text "The Party is Over" written around it. I know these are so stereotypical souvenir items but I love them.
After all that we went back to Saint Petersburg. It was pretty uneventful, which I guess is a good thing for airplane flights. When we got back I hung out at a nearby bar. There's a liquor store right down the street so a lot of people enjoyed the services provided. I just stuck with the beer; of course these beers were 1.5 liters and were 8% alcohol by volume. However, I only had one beer. All in all, it was a fun time, there are a lot of fun people on the ship and it's pretty easy to find a group to hang out with for a night.
After I woke up, some friends and I decided to go check out the city. We walked over to Saint Isaac's Cathedral. This is a very European style cathedral. However, there is one large onion dome; I think one of the tours said that it was one of the largest domes in the world. I don't know if that's true or not, but it was pretty big. The cool thing was if you paid some money you could go up to near the top of the Cathedral and you could get an amazing view of the whole city. I got some excellent snapshots.
After we left Saint Isaac's we went to the Church of the Spilt Blood. This is a much more Russian style church. This was also beautiful, I suppose Saint Basil's was a bit better, but overall they were extremely similar. Near this Cathedral there was a flea market. I was able to pick up some gifts here as well; they're pretty nice looking so hopefully all will like them.
We also walked on Nevsky Prospekt. This is main shopping street of Saint Petersburg. There were some neat shops, but Moscow was far ritzier. We grabbed a few beers over here and just took it all in. It sure wasn't your typical July 4th celebration, but we enjoyed it all the same. We then walked back to the ship, which was probably around a 3 mile walk or so, nothing too bad, but it clearly took a bit out of you. We all went out that night which was pretty fun.
All in all, it was a really eventful few days. It's hard to condense so many things so fast, but it sure was a good time. I'm still not sure what I think about Russia. I guess saying its gilded is pretty accurate. Russia has some really fantastic parts, but it seems like the core has tons of faults. Alcoholism is rampant. A bottle of Vodka costs three dollars, 2 liters of beer cost four dollars, truly this place is a nation of alcohol. This is sad because there are drunks all over the place, either people passed out holding onto their bottles or just rowdy people in bars. It's sad, Russia's nice, but the place has many problems.
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