Delusion-Elle

Limited internet time so I'm typing up this entry in Notepad first.

So it's been too long on the cruise ship. 12 days now?
Something like that.
First stop was Belgium, but my mom saw that the predicted temperature was going to be 33 degrees so we didn't leave the ship. Perhaps it was for the best given that it was a Sunday and a lot of things were closed, but I'm still a bit miffed. My family seems so lackadaisical when it comes to leaving the ship to visit European cities/towns. I want to see everything, at least to say that I've been there.

The next stop was Germany. My family didn't go in to Berlin, but we stayed in Warnemunde, which was our port. I went on a segway tour around the town, and it was actually really fun. The only downside to using a segway is that your feet get sore after a time, but it was much easier to control than a car. The little fishing town of Warnemunde was also really neat. It was quaint, but had plenty of tourist information and souvenir shops.

After a day at sea, we landed in Stockholm. Right off the bat, this city is gorgeous. GORGEOUS. From the café on the ship, you could see the city from both sides. They have the perfect mix of trees and city and also the perfect mix of old and new. Off the ship we just hung out in Old Town, but it was plenty good. I feel like I only got a really small taste of the city and I'd like to go back one day to see New Town. The guards at the Royal Palace were also not bad looking ;) Most of those Swedish boys that I saw today are not as tall as I'd expected, but they were all taller than me anyhow so it's all good. Their English is also really good and hardly accented. I hope I'm not terribly shallow for just thinking "BLOND HAIR BLOND HAIR"...
And yes, I made my family stay longer so I could watch the entire changing of the guards. My excuse was that I wanted to watch the band. I think we all know why I really wanted to stay...

Finland was an interesting contrast to Sweden. Helsinki doesn't have the same charm as Stockholm, I think, but it still seems to be a very busy place. I was crossing a cobblestone street that was partly torn up for construction and I tripped; I flew out of my shoes, my sunglasses fell off, and I landed on my feet. I'm still getting over the fact that I am unscarred. It was still really weird to realize that some of the signage meant things to me, like Hartwall Areena (where my favourite band played the last concert of their tour) and a promotional poster for a new Indica album (they're a Finnish pop group that I've heard a bit of). Unfortunately the dock where the ship is moored at is really industrial and is consequently rather ugly. Not like Stockholm and its picturesque port.

After Finland was Russia -- 2 days in St. Petersburg. Much of my time on land there was spent passed out on a tour bus because our tour on the first day started at 7:45am and so I had to wake up at 6:15am. DO NOT WANT. We visited some palaces, ate a Russian lunch in a restaurant (where there was a cute blond waiter), did some souvenir shopping, and took pictures of whatever our tour guide told us to take pictures of. One of our stops was this ginormous art gallery/museum called the Hermitage, which actually houses 3 million pieces of art, but I think we only saw about 300. Some of the art we saw were originals by da Vinci, Michaelangelo, Matisse, Picasso, and oh my gosh Matisse's artwork was just... derp. Ridiculously simple. I don't know. Maybe if I was really into art, then I would have appreciated it more, but I mostly just ran towards the few vents of cool air I found. No air conditioning makes me sad. :(

The next day (to complete an almost hellish 5 days straight of shore excursions) was Estonia. Based on the stupid map that the cruise ship people gave us, I thought that Tallinn, Estonia would be a tiny ass medieval village town thing. Dammit, I was wrong. They had a few skyscrapers there, but of course, we were pretty much confined to the cobblestoned Old Town area like what our map showed. At this point, I am sick and tired of seeing old stone buildings so we took a few pictures and spent the rest of the time souvenir shopping.

So tomorrow is Rotterdam & Amsterdam in the Netherlands. Contemplating going to the red light district and harrassing some whores. Dutch whores. Woo.

Another thing I forgot to mention in my London entry is that the British mispronounce things. Honestly, since when does "Queensway" sound like "Quainsway". And "Marble Arch" was pronounced "Mahble Ahtch". English is deteriorating in England.

When I go traveling, it's not the people in the places I go to, and it certainly isn't the current location that I'm visiting. No. It's who I travel with.

Traveling with a great group of people.
So great.
Bitten by the jealousy monster.

Missing you guys greatly. I dream about you guys sometimes. Two nights ago, it was a dream involving you guys and cheesecake.