Belgium!
7/13/08
We docked in Antwerp, Belgium last night, 8 hours before scheduled because of passing through the Kiel Canal.. It was pretty cool. I went out on the deck to watch and take pictures! I am having a hard time, though, because I am supposed to go to Amsterdam with some friends, but I feel like it would be too expensive. So, I finally decided not to go, still had to pay for the hostel, but felt like I needed to be in Belgium. I finally went to sleep and we had to wake up early for breakfast and preport. We got cleared and Aimee and I went out exploring. No one from the town was really awake at the time because it was like 9 am. It is a cute little town with many beautiful buildings and side streets. We walked around for about 3 ½ hours and got some Belgian chocolates. They were sooooo goood. We ate lunch on the ship and met Marissa and Heather to go out and explore more. We went to get a waffle with whipped cream and chocolate sauce. Amazing! So exciting. We sat there for a while and then walked around more and got some fries. Holy crap, they give you A LOT. They were good. They are served with mayonnaise on it, but I got them without. After some more walking and shopping, we headed to the castle that was right by the ship. We headed back to the ship to rest and whatnot. I decided to get some veggies, so I ate and then did 3 miles in 21 minutes on the elliptical and then another mile on the treadmill! Go me! When I came back to my room, I called Marissa and Aimee and figured that they left without me, so I called Marie. I went out with Marie, Stacey, Paul, Christine, Melissa, Norah, and Erica. We had fun. We went to a little restaurant/outside café and I got one glass of cherry flavored beer called Kriek. It was soo good. I don’t like beer, but it was a sweeter taste and a rosy color. We talked to some local Belgians about life and what chocolate was the best, and they suggested to get it from the grocery store. That is the best. After that, we headed to an Irish Pub where I got a glass of hard cider. That was pretty good as well! I managed to only spend 20 Euro or $30 today! Yay! Anyway, tomorrow I am going to Brussels –the capital of Belgium, with Aimee and meeting Marissa there so that should be exciting.
7/14
Aimee and I, after breakfast, walked Paul to the train station to meet up with his boyfriend from Paris, David (Da – veeed). He was really nice, but spoke little English. We got some coffee and went back to the boat to get ready for Brussels. We headed back to the train station and took the 10 am train to Brussels to meet Marissa. We decided we were going to meet in this one park and that required us to get off at the Brussels-Noord station. Well, we walked around for about an hour and a half and got nowhere.. we got a hold of Marissa and decided to meet at the grand place (pla-ce). We got back on the train – maybe the metro – and headed to the grand place. Around 1 we finally found Marissa and decided we needed foood. We looked for a sandwich that had chicken, fries and mayonnaise on it, it was apparently legendary. We finally found it and it sucked. After that, we decided to walk around and got some chocolate and decided to look for mannequin pis. It was soo hard to find, we walked around for a while asking people. It was funny because Aimee kept making gestures of what the statue looked like to get people to understand. They laughed, we laughed, it was all good. We got some waffles with chocolate along the way and finally found the statue. It was about as big as my foot – sooooo small, almost not worth it. We waited in the grand place for it to light up, but it didn’t happen, so we decided to try to find train station – it took at least an hour even though we were close cause we couldn’t find it. We basically walked all over the city. Finally we found it, got on, sat in 1st class by accident and got yelled at cause we were supposed to be in 2nd. Then we got scared we missed our stop, so we asked the guy by us and he said we didn’t so we were okay. We finally got back to boat after being gone for 10 and a half hours, and I was hungry and upset, so I got a protein bar from ship and then worked out, and went to bed.
7/16/08
This morning, we slept in because we were tied. Aimee, Marissa, and I decided to walk around and go to the museums. We tried to go to the diamond museum, but it was closed, so we decided to get waffles and ice cream instead. It was so good, again. We walked around until we got to the fashion museum. It was pretty neat in there! They had a collection of some fashions that was only in there for a bit, but it was neat to see how it was set up. We decided to go back and take a nap, but I didn’t end up napping, I went to work out instead. We ate dinner on the boat and then Amber, Tanya and I went out with Heather, Raphael, Lindsey, and Alaina. While we were sitting at this little bar, we saw Aimee, Paul, and Marissa so they sat down with us. We stayed out for a little bit and then decided to go to bed!!!
7/17/08
Woke up and Aimee and I went to zoo with Iain Campbell on an FDP for class. It was sweet. We got to the snake house and hold a snake then we went to the reptile house and saw so many cool lizards and turtles. We then went to the aquarium and got a behind the scenes tour of the aquarium and it was pretty sweet to see the tanks from above. After, Aimee and I broke off and went to see the SEALS! We also saw camels, monkeys, chimps, lions, tigers, jaguars, and elephants! It was soo cool to see some of the animals.
After the zoo, we got to go to the diamond museum! It was pretty sweet to see the kind of history of the diamond and how they are formed and whatnot. Antwerp is so famous for their diamonds!! We weren’t allowed to take pictures, which sucked, but it was still neat.
After, we hit up Panos, which is the subway of Belgium. It is sandwiches on a baguette with whatever meat, hard boiled egg, tomato, lettuce, carrots and onions. It was SOOO good. After that, we hit up a waffle stand to get one last waffle in before leaving!! It was amazing and so sad to know I wont be having another one again, or at least for a while!!
We then got some post cards, hit up the post office and sent them out! Yay!
Finally, we hit up the chocolate stores!! YUMMO! I got like $20 of chocolates – yay truffles! SOO FREAKIN GOOD. I ate like 3 pieces of it when I Got back.
We came back to the ship and I conked out for like an hour and a half then went to dinner. Then we had our lifeboat drill which sucked but went faster than the first. Now I have to go study for my circus midterm. Yippee.
Friday, July 25, 2008
Denmark!!
DENMARK!!!
Day 1:
First of all, the night before docking was hell. We were to be docking in Korsor. Korsor is a tiny town that does not have a whole lot to offer, so most people’s plans included going to Copenhagen, as was ours. Well, we were supposed to have a hostel since Copenhagen is an hour from Korsor. By the time we booked, they were pretty much all filled. There were 9 of us all together. So we went through many hassles to get somewhere to stay and came up empty handed. I had bought a “Let’s Go: Europe on a Budget” book before I left, so decided to give it one more shot. I found a hostel in the bottom of a hotel just outside the heart of the city. I emailed them and they had a room available for the 9 of us. It would be a private room, which was nice. It cost us 300 Danish Kr or $60 for the 2 nights which was a good price. So, we took it. So in the morning, we ate breakfast and lunch on board the ship. Finally around 12 we got off the boat and headed for the 45 minute walk to the train station with our luggage. It was a long walk. So after a long morning, we finally get to rainy old Denmark around 2. It took us about 45 minutes to find our way to the hostel, but we made it and all was good. I bought a lock to lock up my stuff while in the hostel, because I do not trust them at all. I locked up my stuff and my friends Lindsey, Marie, and I headed out on our own – 9 is a big group to travel with. We just decided to wander around and see whatever we saw since it was rainy outside. We made our way to the round tower that was(/still is?) used as an astronomy observatory. It was a windy path up, but we finally made it. It was a gorgeous view of the whole city. Well worth it! On our way down, we stopped at an art gallery that was being presented on the side. They were serving wine, hummus, and bread, so we got a glass of wine, some bread and some hummus as we looked at the art. It was a nice little stop. (My dad would be pleased to know, I enjoyed the hummus).
After the tower, we headed out for some dinner and along the way found a lot of musicians playing music on the street. It was the week of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival! We found a cute little sandwich shop and got a sandwich to go so we could watch some jazz bands play. We sat down at a little café place, but we had to buy something to drink to sit there, so we shared a mini bottle of wine. It was a very cute evening. We had some fresh gelato and I also got a crepe with Nutella! Yuuuum! After we walked around some more, we met up with some other SASers and headed to an amusement park called Tivoli Gardens. We mainly went for the night laser show, and it was spectacular. It cost $18 just to get in and at least $12 to ride one ride, so we didn’t ride anything, just looked around. It was so pretty there! After, we headed back to the hostel and went to bed! It was a looong day!
Day 2:
It was so hot and uncomfortable in the hostel, so, I did not get a good nights rest. Two of the girls and I woke up at 6:45 so we could eat breakfast at 7 and head out for the day So after breakfast, we got some free bikes from the city and rode all around town. We went to Christiana, which is a hippie community that has a separate government from Copenhagen, but it still is in Copenhagen. They are apparently allowed to smoke pot there, but luckily we went there early in the morning, so everyone who lived there was still sleeping off the night before and we didn’t run into any of the inhabitants. It was actually really pretty there! After Lindsey made us go to Christiana, I made the girls go to see the statue of the Little Mermaid. It was small, but quite cool to see! I took a few pictures with her! We walked around after returning the bikes, got a smoothie and a scone, did some window shopping and then headed to the botanical gardens (which was not as cool as I would have thunk). There were many street performers, it was pretty cool; there was a guy ‘juggling’ crystal balls (look up Moschen), a man pretending to be a statue, a circus performer, and a guy playing crystal glasses like on Miss Congeniality. That was pretty much it, it didn’t really sound like a lot, but we did a lot of people watching and city touring. It was a lot of fun!!
Day 3:
Marie had gone home on the train last night with Marissa because they had a trip today, so today was just Lindsay and I. We had to check out of the hostel by 10, so we woke up at 9, got breakfast, and checked out. We walked around the city for a while, looking for a Jazz Festival shirt for Lindsey and then I got a crepe for lunch. We headed back to the train around 12 and accidentally sat on the quiet car. Ooops! We were not allowed to talk at all. That was okay though because it gave me time to think about all the things we did and just have me time. When we got back to the ship, I did some laundry in the sink, had some alone time, and then met Heather and Emily for dinner. After dinner, we walked to the grocery store to get some snacks for the ship, but they did not accept our credit cards, so we got nothing. On our way back, we saw a little girl, no older than 9, on the sidewalk with 2 puppies on a leash and crying. We asked her what was wrong and if she needed help, but she didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Danish, so she just kind of stood there for a moment before walking away. It was the saddest thing to see a little kid crying and not being able to help. So after that, we just went back to the ship and hung out before hitting the sac.
Day 4:
Emily, Heather, Marissa, and I ate breakfast on the ship before going out on the town in Korsor to explore where we were docked. First, we headed to the library to get some free internet, which was pretty exciting to catch up on pictures and whatnot. Anyway, Korsor is a very small city, so there wasn’t a whole lot to do. We just went around and looked in shops and got some soft ice. We went to a few places before stumbling upon an ALDI’S!! It was really strange! It was set up exactly like ours at home, but I couldn’t get anything because they did not accept my credit card and I was out of Danish Kroner. We had to get back to the ship so that I could work on my paper for biology and also global studies, so we went back, ate dinner, and did homework. Boo!! That was the end to a fun time in Denmark!
It is a pretty cool place to go. I just wish I could have explored a little more, maybe in the future. They get around pretty much everywhere by biking, as its relatively flat. This is why they have the free bikes for anyone to ride. Well its not exactly free, you have to put in 20 cents of DKroner (which is $4) but you get it back when you return the bikes. I really enjoyed that and wish we had stuff like that in America, but I feel like that would never work.
July 12, 2008
So, we left Denmark yesterday, but today we were able to experience a little bit of Germany! Captain Jeremy brought us through The Kiel Canal. We started going through around 8:30 in the morning, so my lovely bio professor - Iain Campell (a Scottish professor from Pitt who doesn’t really like PSU at all) let us out of class early so that we could watch our approach to the canal. It was really quite spectacular to see!
Some facts about the Kiel Canal:
• We saved 286 Nautical Miles by going through it as opposed to going around Denmark to get to Belgium
• We are about the largest ship that is allowed to pass through!
• It took 11 hours total to pass through
• It cost 15000 Euro to go through
• It was dug by hand and during WWI was expanded to let German warships through.
• Nationalized in 1930 by Hitler, not enemy or Jewish ships were allowed through
• Connects the Baltic and North Seas
Tonight, I also got to meet the ‘uncle’ of my sea family. Tom finally came on board in Denmark and will be sailing with us until Italy. He is very nice and so is the rest of my family!!
Day 1:
First of all, the night before docking was hell. We were to be docking in Korsor. Korsor is a tiny town that does not have a whole lot to offer, so most people’s plans included going to Copenhagen, as was ours. Well, we were supposed to have a hostel since Copenhagen is an hour from Korsor. By the time we booked, they were pretty much all filled. There were 9 of us all together. So we went through many hassles to get somewhere to stay and came up empty handed. I had bought a “Let’s Go: Europe on a Budget” book before I left, so decided to give it one more shot. I found a hostel in the bottom of a hotel just outside the heart of the city. I emailed them and they had a room available for the 9 of us. It would be a private room, which was nice. It cost us 300 Danish Kr or $60 for the 2 nights which was a good price. So, we took it. So in the morning, we ate breakfast and lunch on board the ship. Finally around 12 we got off the boat and headed for the 45 minute walk to the train station with our luggage. It was a long walk. So after a long morning, we finally get to rainy old Denmark around 2. It took us about 45 minutes to find our way to the hostel, but we made it and all was good. I bought a lock to lock up my stuff while in the hostel, because I do not trust them at all. I locked up my stuff and my friends Lindsey, Marie, and I headed out on our own – 9 is a big group to travel with. We just decided to wander around and see whatever we saw since it was rainy outside. We made our way to the round tower that was(/still is?) used as an astronomy observatory. It was a windy path up, but we finally made it. It was a gorgeous view of the whole city. Well worth it! On our way down, we stopped at an art gallery that was being presented on the side. They were serving wine, hummus, and bread, so we got a glass of wine, some bread and some hummus as we looked at the art. It was a nice little stop. (My dad would be pleased to know, I enjoyed the hummus).
After the tower, we headed out for some dinner and along the way found a lot of musicians playing music on the street. It was the week of the Copenhagen Jazz Festival! We found a cute little sandwich shop and got a sandwich to go so we could watch some jazz bands play. We sat down at a little café place, but we had to buy something to drink to sit there, so we shared a mini bottle of wine. It was a very cute evening. We had some fresh gelato and I also got a crepe with Nutella! Yuuuum! After we walked around some more, we met up with some other SASers and headed to an amusement park called Tivoli Gardens. We mainly went for the night laser show, and it was spectacular. It cost $18 just to get in and at least $12 to ride one ride, so we didn’t ride anything, just looked around. It was so pretty there! After, we headed back to the hostel and went to bed! It was a looong day!
Day 2:
It was so hot and uncomfortable in the hostel, so, I did not get a good nights rest. Two of the girls and I woke up at 6:45 so we could eat breakfast at 7 and head out for the day So after breakfast, we got some free bikes from the city and rode all around town. We went to Christiana, which is a hippie community that has a separate government from Copenhagen, but it still is in Copenhagen. They are apparently allowed to smoke pot there, but luckily we went there early in the morning, so everyone who lived there was still sleeping off the night before and we didn’t run into any of the inhabitants. It was actually really pretty there! After Lindsey made us go to Christiana, I made the girls go to see the statue of the Little Mermaid. It was small, but quite cool to see! I took a few pictures with her! We walked around after returning the bikes, got a smoothie and a scone, did some window shopping and then headed to the botanical gardens (which was not as cool as I would have thunk). There were many street performers, it was pretty cool; there was a guy ‘juggling’ crystal balls (look up Moschen), a man pretending to be a statue, a circus performer, and a guy playing crystal glasses like on Miss Congeniality. That was pretty much it, it didn’t really sound like a lot, but we did a lot of people watching and city touring. It was a lot of fun!!
Day 3:
Marie had gone home on the train last night with Marissa because they had a trip today, so today was just Lindsay and I. We had to check out of the hostel by 10, so we woke up at 9, got breakfast, and checked out. We walked around the city for a while, looking for a Jazz Festival shirt for Lindsey and then I got a crepe for lunch. We headed back to the train around 12 and accidentally sat on the quiet car. Ooops! We were not allowed to talk at all. That was okay though because it gave me time to think about all the things we did and just have me time. When we got back to the ship, I did some laundry in the sink, had some alone time, and then met Heather and Emily for dinner. After dinner, we walked to the grocery store to get some snacks for the ship, but they did not accept our credit cards, so we got nothing. On our way back, we saw a little girl, no older than 9, on the sidewalk with 2 puppies on a leash and crying. We asked her what was wrong and if she needed help, but she didn’t speak English and we didn’t speak Danish, so she just kind of stood there for a moment before walking away. It was the saddest thing to see a little kid crying and not being able to help. So after that, we just went back to the ship and hung out before hitting the sac.
Day 4:
Emily, Heather, Marissa, and I ate breakfast on the ship before going out on the town in Korsor to explore where we were docked. First, we headed to the library to get some free internet, which was pretty exciting to catch up on pictures and whatnot. Anyway, Korsor is a very small city, so there wasn’t a whole lot to do. We just went around and looked in shops and got some soft ice. We went to a few places before stumbling upon an ALDI’S!! It was really strange! It was set up exactly like ours at home, but I couldn’t get anything because they did not accept my credit card and I was out of Danish Kroner. We had to get back to the ship so that I could work on my paper for biology and also global studies, so we went back, ate dinner, and did homework. Boo!! That was the end to a fun time in Denmark!
It is a pretty cool place to go. I just wish I could have explored a little more, maybe in the future. They get around pretty much everywhere by biking, as its relatively flat. This is why they have the free bikes for anyone to ride. Well its not exactly free, you have to put in 20 cents of DKroner (which is $4) but you get it back when you return the bikes. I really enjoyed that and wish we had stuff like that in America, but I feel like that would never work.
July 12, 2008
So, we left Denmark yesterday, but today we were able to experience a little bit of Germany! Captain Jeremy brought us through The Kiel Canal. We started going through around 8:30 in the morning, so my lovely bio professor - Iain Campell (a Scottish professor from Pitt who doesn’t really like PSU at all) let us out of class early so that we could watch our approach to the canal. It was really quite spectacular to see!
Some facts about the Kiel Canal:
• We saved 286 Nautical Miles by going through it as opposed to going around Denmark to get to Belgium
• We are about the largest ship that is allowed to pass through!
• It took 11 hours total to pass through
• It cost 15000 Euro to go through
• It was dug by hand and during WWI was expanded to let German warships through.
• Nationalized in 1930 by Hitler, not enemy or Jewish ships were allowed through
• Connects the Baltic and North Seas
Tonight, I also got to meet the ‘uncle’ of my sea family. Tom finally came on board in Denmark and will be sailing with us until Italy. He is very nice and so is the rest of my family!!
Friday, July 11, 2008
Roosyia!
Hey everyone! Sorry this is a little bit late, but better late than never right?
Anyway, Russia was great, definitely not what I expected. My roommate and I woke up at 5:30 to watch us pull into port. It wasn’t too exciting. It was very industrial. We had to get our passports before they would let us off the boat. This was because we had to go through emigration every time we wanted to get on and off the boat. Also, the police have the right to stop you at any time and ask for your passport to make sure you are there legally. It was scary carrying them around everywhere because pick pocketing is so prevalent. Luckily, it didn’t happen to me there. We got off the ship, but just to get to an ATM. We all had trips to do in the early afternoon so there wasn’t enough time to go anywhere.
My first trip of Russia was a home visit. I was nervous about this trip, but it turned out to be a really really good trip. The couple that we visited did not speak English. Their names were Oleg and Helena. Oleg was in his early 70s and Helena was in her late 50s. They were very nice and made us tea and we had many many different kinds of Russian cookies. It was interesting to hear all their stories, one in particular was kind of crazy. Oleg was on a ship that was bringing missiles for the Cuban Missile Crisis.
After the home visit, we rushed back and I took a shower to get ready for the RUSSIAN BALLET!! It was soo cool, we saw Swan Lake. We didn’t get to to the big theater, but the theater that we went to was nice. We had kinda crappy seats, it was a box seat up high and in the back and was a little hard to see from. I had fun though. It was not really what I expected. When I think of the Russian ballet, I think of dedication that rivals Julliard dancing. It was a little off at times and not quite on. It was definitely a once in a lifetime experience. After the ballet, my friend Marissa and I had to hurry and get to sleep for our 4 am wake up call for Moscow the next morning!They provided a small breakfast for us in the lobby while we were waiting to get to the airport. We left around 8 and got there a little before 9:30. I slept most of the way because I was dead tired. When we got to Moscow, we loaded the bus and headed to the Kremlin. This is the central government located in Moscow. It as pretty cool, it was mostly a museum inside, at least the building we went in. There were a lot of old garments and dresses and thrones. We quickly were getting bored because it was around 11 or 12 and we had not eaten in a while and we were very hungry. After the Kremlin, we drove past Saint Basil’s Cathedral but they wouldn’t let us out to look for a few minutes because there were 90 of us. I was a little mad because it is such a huge landmark for Moscow. So around 2 or 3, they FINALLY took us to lunch. It was at a pretty neat Russian restaurant that looked like a paradise. When we walked in, there was a weird ham and potato salad waiting for us on the table. I tried it, but it was not very good. It was smothered in some kind of weird creamy sauce. The next portion of lunch was soup. I got really excited in anticipation for the soup, until I realize what it was. Borscht. Ew. I did try it, staying true to trying new foods in each port, and I didn’t really like it. It was not terrible, but it was not enjoyable. For the main course, we had something that I previously thought was a German dish – beef stroganoff. Apparently it is a Russian dish, and thank God it was good. After eating lunch, we headed out to the Red Square which was named after all the red brick that it took to construct the buildings and the road. We were so excited to see that St. Basil’s was located just behind the square!! Marissa and I took like a billion pictures here! I took a sweet jumping picture in front of it which some of you have had the pleasure of seeing. It was so cool to see in person. After, we went to the airport and got on a teeny tiny airplane with no room, which was a huge contrast to the very spatious and comfortable plane we took to Russia. We got back to the boat around 1 am – just shy of missing the bridge. The bridges are low to the water in Russia and at 1:30 every night, the bridges go up to allow boats to pass through. If you get stuck on the wrong side, you are basically stuck until 6ish in the morning!!
Day 3 in Russia was pretty filled as well. In the morning, I had the ‘Russian Cuisine’ class. It was not really what I had in mind. I was thinking that we would walk into a place and it would be more like a home-ec set up to learn how to make food. Instead, we walked into a restaurant and all 70 of us sat down. There was a table for 10 people to learn how to make our dinner. So only 10 could go up at a time. Basically all we did, to make Pelmeny (which was in fact really good) was get a small piece of dough, roll it out, stuff it with meat and seal it up. It wasn’t much of a cooking lesson as much as follow the leader. It was really neat to make it though. Obviously after, we got to eat it! After the cooking lesson, my friend and I went to a Chinese restaurant for lunch. It was a really neat place to eat, there were ponds with coy fish and turtles and a bird in a cage. The only thing that sucked was the fact that they did not speak English and we did not speak Russiam. We were able to communicate a little bit, enough to get our food and pay. It was SOO good! After lunch, we headed back to the ship to get ready for our white nights tour of St. Petersburg. Again, it was not what I was expecting, but it was great. There were so many of us that they had to split us up into 2 different groups. One went on the canal tour first (aka my group) while it was only 6pm. It wasn’t much of a white night as it was a white day. Then we headed to some famous Russian composure’s house – I cannot remember his name! Ooops! After the tour of his very hot, non air conditioned house, we went to the bottom floor and a young Russian opera singer put on a concert for us. It was so good; it sent chills up my spine. After the tour, a group of us went out for drinks and desert. I got warm chocolate cake and an Irish coffee. The Irish coffee was terrible. It was very strong, and I was not expecting there to be a lot of alcohol in it. The cake was soo good though. They make it fresh when you order it. We stayed until 1:30 and went outside to watch the bridges go up. It was very pretty! I took pictures, of course!
Day 4 aka the 4th of July was pretty cool. I went to the Hermitage with my friend Melissa and some other SAS kids. We only got to spend about 45 minutes inside because Melissa had to be back for a trip. That was not enough time in there. What the Hermitage is is the old Winter palace for the royal family. It has been turned into a museum with so many art pieces that if you spend M-F there taking 1 minute to look at each piece of art, it would take you 9 years to get through. I ate lunch on the ship and after went to St. Isaac’s Cathedral with my friend Jackie. That was beautiful. All the artwork on the walls and ceiling was made out of tiling. On the way over to the Cathedral, we had to have seen like 8 weddings going on. These Russians are crazy with their weddings. After the cathedral, we came back to the boat and hung out on the deck and enjoyed the warm weather.
On the last day of Russia, I went back to the Hermitage with some other friends. We spent like 2 hours there that time. Before heading back to the ship, we hit up a little outdoor souvenir market where I bought some Russian nesting dolls. We went back to the ship early because we were having a 4th of July BBQ on the deck. (So maybe it wasn’t the 4th in Russia anymore, but it was still the 4th in Hawaii!!) It was a lot of fun, there was live music, good food and ice cream!
Overall thoughts:
I had a busy 5 days in Russia and really did love it. It sucked not being able to drink the water because of bacteria; everything we drank had to be bottled. Russia was a lot cheaper than Norway. There were 25 Rubles to $1. Russians drive ultra crazy. I don’t even know how to explain it, but I felt like we were going to be in an accident every 2 seconds. But I never saw one. The weather was very nice, a little hot at times. It was weird being there in such a huge city. It was almost like NYC, but with midget buildings. The buildings had to be shorter than the Hermitage. It sucked having to carry around the passport, but luckily there was nothing scary that happened to me there. One last thing – mullets were everywhere. They were taking over. It was quite scary, haha!! I did have one shot of Russian vodka. You cannot go to Russia and not taste it. It was okay, not my favorite thing in the world, or even close to being my favorite thing in the world.
I will try to post Denmark’s blog before I get to Belgium, but no promises. If not, I get free Internet in the hostel I will be at in Amsterdam. I will be visiting Amsterdam for a night while I am in Belgium! I am looking forward to seeing Anne Frank’s house and whatnot in Amsterdam and eating chocolate and waffles in Belgium. I do not really like the taste of beer, but apparently Belgium has some pretty good Belgian brewed beers, so I may just taste one for the sake of trying something of the culture.
Shoot me some emails! I am still using kmvalentini@semesteratsea.net! Let me know what you think of my blogs, keep me updated with information in the states, with your lives! Miss you!
xoxo Kate
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