Belgium and France were the first countries where overland travel (meaning traveling between countries off the ship) was allowed.  My friend Sam and I decided that we really wanted to spend a day touring Omaha Beach and the American Cemetery, so we registered ourselves as overland travelers.  Our first few hours in Antwerp consisted figuring out how to we were going to get there. I finally found that we needed to take a train from Antwerp to Brussels, a bus from Brussels to Paris, a train from Paris to Bayeux, a bus from Bayeux to Omaha Beach and back, then a train to Caen and a bus to Le Havre.  It was going to be quite the trek, but we both wanted to do the D-Day beaches and memorials more than anything, so we made the decision to do whatever it took to get there.

The rest of our day was spent wandering around Antwerp.  The two best things we found were a hidden medieval street and an amazing little café called The Chocolate Box.  We HAD to make a pit stop there to try the necessary Belgian chocolate.  We all got Bailey’s hot chocolate.  They give you the hot milk and the Baileys in a glass and a bowl of chocolate chips for you to stir in yourself so you can make it as chocolatey as you want.  You then got to munch on the remaining chips and they gave you two complimentary truffles as well!  It was some of the most amazing chocolate I’ve ever had.  I was going to buy some to bring home, but I fully acknowledged that there was no way it would last all the way back to the States…sorry Mom and friends!  I met up with a few friends that night and we ventured out to go find chocolate wine that was rumored to exist…we tried every bar we saw but everyone told us that no such thing exists.  Instead, we got delicious Belgian chocolate liquor, which certainly helped ease the pain of that realization!  I absolutely loved Antwerp, but despite the limited amount of time I had there, I felt like we had seen enough for this trip.  I was definitely ready for the rest of our adventure to begin!

We decided to spend a half-day in Brussels the next day since that’s where our train was leaving.  NewEurope offers a tour in Brussels, so we decided to check it out.  Unfortunately, it was raining for a majority of the day, which didn’t make the most pleasant of tours.  I was interested in learning about the history, but overall I didn’t particularly love Brussels.  I thought it was pretty and interesting, but I liked Antwerp more.   The tour ended just in time for us to walk to the bus station, use the bathroom and get some snacks in preparation for the four-hour bus ride we had ahead of us.

We left about an hour and forty-five minutes in between the arrival of our bus and the departure of our train.  Between leaving late and traffic, however, our bus ended up being close to two hours late.   After sprinting through the bus and metro stations to get to the train station, we got to there at 2052...our train was at 2045.  We missed it by seven minutes.  Panic started to settle in.  We had planned to couchsurf in Bayeux, and had nowhere to stay in Paris.  I sent out a mass CouchSurfing request to the Paris area, but since it was close to 9pm, no one responded.  I checked hostels, and everything affordable was booked.  Our backup plan was to sleep in the train station, but the station closed around 1am.  I called my mom crying on FaceTime, but the wonder woman that she is was able to find us a hotel that was three minutes walking from the station at a fairly decent price.  Even from thousands of miles away, she’s always there to save the day!  We got the hotel were told how lucky we were…the receptionist’s boss had just come and told him to lower the price.  The average night at this place cost 450 euro!  After we got settled, Sam and I decided to go out into the city to make the most of the couple hours we had in Paris.  We had both been to Paris before, so we were in agreement that there was only one thing to do: buy a bottle of wine, a block of cheese and head to the Eiffel Tower.  It was just as perfect as the first time I saw it!  What had started off as an extremely stressful situation ended up turning out wonderfully…there are definitely worse places to be stranded than Paris!  Even though the Metro closed earlier than we anticipated, we had a gorgeous walk back.  It was a warm night, and all the monuments were still lit.  We saw the Tower, Pont Alexandre, the Palace, the Notre Dame, Arc de Triomphe, and the Madeleine.  What was even cooler was that once it hit 1am, we saw everything turn off, one after the other.  It was amazing.

The next morning, we caught the earliest train to Bayeux (which fortunately we didn’t have to pay more money for).  Unfortunately, there were only a limited number of buses running going out to Omaha that day, so we had a few hours to kill before the next one left.  I couldn't imagine a more perfect place than Bayeux to have some extra time in, though.  It was the most quintessential French town I’ve ever seen!  There was a giant, gorgeous cathedral in the center of town that we spent a lot of time exploring.   I actually wish we had more time to spend in Bayeux!  We were both very excited to finally get on our way to the cemetery, though…especially after all we went through to get there!

As soon as we stepped onto the cemetery grounds, I instantly knew that everything we dealt with was worth it…I would have absolutely regretted not doing this.  It was an extremely solemn and peaceful place, and I can’t possibly envision a more beautiful spot to be buried.  You walk onto the grounds and all you see is ocean and thousands of white marble crosses against the greenest grass.  It was astounding.  We started off by making our way down to the beach.  It was so hard to think that a place so incredible could have such a gruesome and devastating history.  A few minutes after we got down there, a priest arrived.  Amongst the dozen or so people who were exploring, he stood there in silence, praying.  It was a very moving moment to witness.  The hill down to the beach had stairs built into it in order to make the trek up and down easier for visitors.  We made our way back up the hill and I was struggling.  I was carrying my heavy backpack with both of our things, up the steep hill, and I didn’t think I would make it.  About halfway up, however, I realized something.  These stairs were built into the hill when the cemetery was built…meaning, the soldiers who landed on Omaha Beach on D-Day had to climb the hill through sand and grass with packs heavier than mine, guns, and trying to avoid being killed.  This realization quickly humbled me and stopped my mental complaining.  If they could do that in conditions much worse than my own, I could make it up the rest of the stairs.  After making it up to the top again, we started wandering around the cemetery.

We made our way down the rows of crosses to the tomb of the unknown solider that stood in memorial of the soldiers whose bodies were never recovered.  We spent about an hour and a half wandering around thousands of white marble crosses.  We looked for soldiers from our home states, or those with last names we knew.  In many cases, graves were marked with crosses that read, “Here rests in honored glory a comrade in arms, known but to God”.  Those stones mark the graves of soldiers whose bodies WERE recovered but couldn’t be identified.  I felt a lot like I did at the concentration camp- it was very hard to process the feelings that the site brought on.  Towards the end of our visit, we sat down on a bench to give our backs a rest.  We were still carrying around our trash from the lunch we had on the bus, which drew the attention of the cemetery director.   He assumed that we had been eating on the grounds, which is strictly prohibited.  We explained the situation to him, and he understood and took the trash from us.  Before he left, however, he turned to me and asked, “Are you Lauren?”  I was incredibly creeped out and confused!  He then told me that he saw me on Couchsurfing, but he didn’t see the request until it was too late.  We spent the next ten minutes telling him (Alan) about our travels and learning a little bit about him.  He asked us how we were getting back to Le Havre that night and we told him about our bus and train situation.  When we told him that we were taking a bus back to town that would get in at 17:08 and a train from Bayeux that was leaving at 17:12, he told us that there was no way we were going to make it.  He then told us to meet him at the visitor center in about ten minutes and he would see what he could do.  When we made our way to the center and met up with him, he told us that he checked with all his tour guides and with his schedule to see whether he or anyone could give us a ride back.  When that didn’t work, he checked to see how far Le Havre was and considered driving all the way back.  He then told us that he ensured that we would make it back in time via bus…apparently he talked to the bus driver to make sure it was a safe call.  Alan then took our bag and drove us to the bus stop.  He walked us up to the bus, talked to the driver and handed us our bag.  We were all set to go!  We got on the bus, and it even left several minutes early!  Sam and I started talking and we were sure that he convinced the driver to take care of us.  He was so incredibly nice!  I really wish we could have stayed with him…he lives on the cemetery grounds and must be so knowledgeable about everything!  It would have been the most incredibly interesting experience.

We got to the station just in time for the earlier train to leave, which meant we got to Caen early and had time to get dinner.  I had an omelet and fries and after several days of living on chips, cheese, and salad, and it was the most delicious of meals!  We finally made it to Le Havre…and in one piece!!  After the events of the past couple of days, we were more than ready for a good nights sleep and passed out as soon as our heads hit the pillow.

The next morning, we met back up with the ship as it was docking to leave on a field program going to Mont Saint Michel.  When we got to the docks, they were still in the process of lowering the gangway, so we went into the reception building to hang out until they were ready for us.   I was so incredibly excited for this field program…I had been waiting for the opportunity to make it there since I first saw a pin about it during my first semester abroad.  It was going to be an amazing day!!  I tried so hard to stay awake during the drive there so I could see and hear about everything, but I was so tired from the previous days’ traveling that I couldn’t fight off sleep.  I woke up just in time to hear the tour guide point our attention to the right hand side for our first glimpse of Mont Saint-Michel.  We were still miles away, but it was already everything I had imagined it to be.    Three hours after we left the ship, we were finally there.  Walking into the walled town was like walking into a fairytale…it felt as though we were stepping back in time into an enchanted medieval world.  Our program included a guided tour, which definitely made a huge difference in my experience.  Even though I could have explored the abbey on my own for hours, I wouldn’t have known what anything was.  Mont Saint-Michel is something I’ve never studied, so it was all new information for me, and I was absolutely fascinated.  It was so cool, and unbelievably beautiful.  After the tour, we had some free time to get lunch and explore on our own.  I found a bunch of little nooks and crannies to venture into, and then we grabbed a light lunch and I picked up a bottle of cider to try (I heard cider in northern France is just amazing…and it was).    We met back up with the group and walked down the causeway to the dam that the professor who was with us was going to talk to us about.  The various things that people throughout the centuries have done to help with the tides was actually extremely detrimental to the environment around the Mont, and there’s currently a new initiative going to fix the previous damage.  It was so cool!  We finished the lecture, took some final pictures, and headed home.  I was so tired that within twenty minutes of finishing dinner back at the ship, I was already asleep.

My final day in France was spent on a field lab for my Photography class.  We were supposed to be doing a walking tour and photographing the city, but it was POURING all day.  Walking around in the rain with extremely expensive cameras is not the best idea in the world.  Fortunately, we were able to time our different locations so that we were inside during the worst of it.  I was soaked the to bone, but my camera survived.  We even ended up seeing some really cool things, getting some incredible pictures, and having an AMAZING lunch.  It included two courses, and a third would only cost an extra four Euro…EVERTYTHING was gluten-free, so I went for it!  For my first course, I had “Parmentier de hareng fume (smoked hering); for my second, I enjoyed “Poulet rôti frites” (chicken and fries); finally, for my dessert, I had the most delicious “Mousse au chocolat” I have ever had in my life.  It was the best four Euro I’ve spent!  The two coolest things we saw were the beach and one particular church.  At the beach, I found more seaglass than I’ve ever seen in my life.  Despite the wind, it was absolutely beautiful!  The church was one of the most interesting places I’ve ever been.  The brochure I picked up read, “St Joseph Church: An aesthetic and spiritual vertigo.”  All I could think about while I was walking around inside was how I felt like it was going to take off to enter back into orbit at any second because it looked so much like the inside of a spaceship.  I was very concerned about what the day was going to be like at the start of the lab, but it ended up being a pretty decent day!  I was certainly happy to be back on our warm ship and head to my most anticipated port: Ireland!

Read More 0 comments | Posted by LVD

I loved Germany!!   I was so excited to get there and explore and was certainly not disappointed!  I spent my first day on a field lab for my Acting Techniques in Interviews class.  We had to spend the day observing people in various locations around the city.  We started off by heading to a small market in an outlying neighborhood.   The second spot was the Rathaus, or town hall.  After lunch, our tour guide brought us on a detour to a “surprise” visit somewhere.  It was a German elevator, and incredibly different from anything I’ve ever seen!  It worked on a pulley system.  One side went up and the other went down…there was no door.  Instead, you just walked onto a platform and it brought you up, around, down, around and back up again!  It was the coolest!  After our detour, we headed to the smaller of the Alster lakes and my partner and I got gelato…pistachio, of course!  Wouldn’t have it any other way!  Our final stop of the day was to an outer neighborhood that is a little more artsy and edgy.  It reminded me like the Village…I loved it!  I could definitely see myself living somewhere like that.  On the way back, we took a ferry back to the ship, which was a fun experience!  It was a surprisingly fun field lab!  After dinner and napping, I woke up feeling like a new person and was ready to go out.  We headed out to Reeperbahn, Hamburg’s Red Light District.  Soon, however, our group of six turned into a group of twenty, which quickly turned into a group of fifty.  Dani and I finally decided that we just couldn’t handle them all, so we separated ourselves and found a quiet bar and got a glass of German wine.  We definitely salvaged the night!  We headed back nice and early so we could get a jump-start on the next day.

In the morning, Dani, Emily and I went on the NewHamburg walking tour at 11.  It was amazing, as usual.  With every tour I do, the more I feel like I would absolutely love to work with that company one day.  We saw everything from the Rathaus to various churches (which he gave us time to go in and explore) to various architecturally intriguing buildings.  We saw the place that the Great Fire of 1842 started, as well as the new part of the city that is currently under development.  After the tour, we continued with the guide for lunch at a local pub.  I presented the server with my gluten-free card and they did everything they could to accommodate me!  She brought over another server who got the owner who then brought the card back into the kitchen.  They asked me what I would like to eat then created a special GF dish for me!  It was so incredibly hospitable of them- very few restaurants have ever been so great, both in the US and abroad!  After our amazing lunch, we made our way up to Alster Lake to spend the rest of the afternoon relaxing.  There was no way that any of us were going to rally for a pub crawl, so after dinner we decided to just go to a nearby bar and share a bottle of German wine.  It was wonderful!  Relaxing and delicious, and exactly what we needed to unwind after a long day of exploring the city.

The past few weeks have consisted of a nonstop array of boat engines, traffic, chatter, and music.  We’ve navigated the busy streets of London, St. Petersburg and Moscow, and have traversed the North and Baltic Seas.  The next day, however, the hustle and bustle that had become the soundtrack to our lives came to a discomforting halt as we stepped out of the bus and onto the unsettlingly peaceful and beautiful grounds of the Neuengamme Concentration Camp right outside of Hamburg.

My first introduction to the Holocaust and World War II was in the second grade when my class read the book Number the Stars. Since then, I haven’t stopped learning about this period in history.  I’ve taken classes that cover it from both an American and European perspective, and have discussed it in length, both in an educational setting and a personal one as well.  But no number of history lessons, stories, or movies could have prepared me for the feelings that come along with seeing the places they depict in real life.

At any one time, the camp housed anywhere from 12,000 – 14,000 Jews and prisoners of war and it’s primary purpose was a work camp.  Though there weren’t any official extermination facilities on the grounds, the people there still suffered the same atrocities that those in other camps did.  Women were forced into prostitution, children were separated from their parents, and none were given enough food to survive.  A slice of bread was a reward at the end of a good day.  At Neuengamme alone, 42,900 people died from suicide, starvation, disease or murder.

I had a few friends who went to the camp earlier in the week and came back and said it was “cool” or that they went in expecting a very emotional experience and never got one.  After leaving the camp, I was left baffled over how they couldn’t have reacted the way I did.  The unexpected silence was what initially shocked me the most, but what truly got me was one of the quotes from an Italian man, Rinaldo Rinaldi, that was imprisoned at the camp.  Almost all the quotes were in German, and this was the only one I could actually read.  The quote was hanging over the book that held his personal biography and read “…questo è l’inferno, sarà il purgatorio, l’inferno, io sono morto, ma quando sono morto?”  Essentially, he was saying that he was in hell and “I am dead, but when am I going to die?”  The testimonies were the most touching parts, but we couldn’t understand any that weren’t printed in English on the information cards.  So the fact that in a sea of German, the one Italian quote stood out, hit me like a ton of bricks.  Reading that testimony put the rest of what I saw into perspective.  From uniforms to bunks, to videos and sketches, everything made the fact that I was walking through the halls of hell that this man once inhabited even more real.

Outside of the barracks, we were able to see where the prisoners worked.  They built railway tracks, dug out the Elbe River so the boats they built could get through, made artillery shells, and created bricks out of clay.  They were worked like animals, with few breaks for food or water, many of them suffering from extreme exhaustion and exposure to the elements.  There was little shade, and the warehouses they worked in were dark, damp, and had one chimney to keep it warm.  The working conditions were just as sickening as the living conditions.

Our tour of the camp concluded after walking around the grounds.  On the way out, Carlos, my RD who was the trip liaison, caught up with me and asked how I was doing with everything.  The only thing I could respond with was, “It’s all hard to process.”  It took the rest of the day for me to do just that and put what I was thinking and feeling into words.

Our concentration camp visit was sandwiched between two other stops where we learned more about Jewish history that was especially pertinent to the Hamburg area.  In the morning, we went to the small Jewish quarter of the city and our tour guide pointed out gold squares that have been laid into the ground.  They all rest outside the residencies of the Jewish people who had been deported and killed.  Thousands of stones rest in the ground not only across Hamburg, but of Germany and other European countries as well.  We saw an all-Jewish school and walked by Joseph Carleblach-Platz, which is a square commemorating a synagogue that used to stand here.  The end of our day was concluded with a visit to the largest and oldest Jewish cemetery in the area.  Unfortunately, we were not allowed to tour because it was the Sabbath, but from the outside, it was an absolutely beautiful place.

On the bus on the way back from the bus, Carlos spoke to us about how to cope with everything we experienced today.  He told us about a tactic he uses: “What, so what, and now what?”  I seriously thought about all this while trying to process the day’s events and here is what I came up with:

I went into this day expecting to view everything from a historical standpoint.  I was going to see the places I’ve studied for so long, and was looking forward to being able to put all those facts into context and put an image to the stories.  I never expected that I would be hit so emotionally by it all.  Within all the ugliness of the time, however, there is one positive piece that shines through.  Despite the horrors that they all went through, the prisoners in these camps did everything they did to stay happy, keep themselves entertained, and always remained true to their religion, believing that they would one day be delivered from the hell they were going through.  There will always be an evil in this world, and unfortunately it will shine through more prominently throughout different times in our history.  What we need to do, however, is not give that evil more power by concentrating on them; instead, we need to look for the one ray of light that may sine through and hold true to it.  By doing this, evil will never win out over good.  We should thus remember the poor souls who suffered and be inspired by the strength they maintained despite the most terrible conditions.

On the last day of Russia, I was ready to leave.  I had loved everything that I saw and did, and was sad to have that time come to an end so soon, but I was eager to get to our next port.  Our last day in Germany was different, however.  I absolutely fell in love with this city, and wish more than anything that we could have more time to spend here.  Our first two days were so much fun, and yesterday was such an emotional and moving experience.  To top the wonderful time we spent here off, a big group of all went out for a nice dinner.

Strangely, there were just as many Italian restaurants as there were German restaurants in the city.  And almost every one of them had menus written in Italian- my mark of a truly great Italian restaurant.  So, we decided to head to this one place we kept walking by near the Rathaus, called Dolce Vino (perfect, I know).  I was able to read the menu and figure out if there was anything I could eat, and there was!  It was a done deal.

We all sat down inside and our waiter approached us, asking if we spoke German or Italian- there was no English option.  But I absolutely could not have been more excited!  I got to spend the evening speaking completely in Italian and translating for the whole table.  They were so impressed with me that they let me order my favorite wine (Montepulciano, which they normally only sell by the glass), in a liter bottle and at a discounted price.  I ordered an amazing carpaccio and had caprese with buffalo mozzarella.  The great group of people I was with and I ate fabulous food, drank incredible wine, and I spoke the most beautiful language on the planet.  I couldn’t have been a happier girl.

We finished off the night by heading to the Rathaus to check out the free rock concert we had passed a couple times in the past few days.  It was so much fun!  We had no idea what they were singing, but we all enjoyed it, and it was great to see local Germans soaking in their own culture.

We got an early the last morning so we could do everything we were hoping to fit in.  We started the day off by going to the Fischmarkt, which we had heard was something not to be missed!  They had everything you ever could have wanted there.  Just walking around, seeing everything interact with each other, was such an interesting experience.  The fish vendors were all yelling at customers and each other in German.  Everyone was laughing at what they were saying and I wish more than anything that I could have understood what was happening.  Dani and I then decided to climb the 452 steps up the tower at St. Michaelis church to get a panoramic view of the city.  It was breathtaking!  From the very top, we could see the MV Explorer!

I really wish we had more time to spend in this amazing city.  I truly felt welcomed here by the locals, everyone was so nice, and it was all so beautiful.  The culture and history of this country is so rich, and there’s so much more I’m hoping to see.  I know I’ll be coming back to Europe soon, and Germany will definitely be one of my stops on my next adventure!

Read More 0 comments | Posted by LVD

Russia was AMAZING!  I was very nervous about how this port would turn out (either very overwhelming or very underwhelming), but I had such a wonderful time.  Pulling in was very interesting!  It started off being surrounded by very industrial areas, and then slowly, as we started getting closer to the city, you began to glimpse the tops of churches.  The transition between industry and culture was so cool to experience.  We docked around 8am (next to a submarine, which I found ironic) and you could see the Winter Palace just down the river!  For the first day, I had booked a walking tour and Hermitage Museum visit.  Unlike Windsor Castle, the Winter Palace now only serves as a museum, and does not function as living quarters for anyone anymore.  Instead, it is filled to the brim with breathtaking works of art and artifacts ranging from the Antiquities to the 20^th century.  Every aspect of these rooms was ornate- even down to the door handles.   Before I went to Italy, I didn’t understand the appeal of museums.  By the time I left, however, my opinion of them was totally flipped.  Now, I can take hours walking through a museum, completely enthralled by what I’m looking at.  I can even recognize names of artists!  We saw works by major artists such as Van Dyke, Rembrandt, and Da Vinci.   After we left the Hermitage, we did a ten-minute “walking tour” from the museum, by Pushkin’s apartment, to the Church on Spilled Blood and Kazan Cathedral.  Once everyone was back on the ship, a few friends and I decided we wanted to go out, but that we wanted to stay on our side of the bridge (the bridges in St. Petersburg go up at 1:30am, so if you miss it you’re stuck until morning).  When we found a bar to go to, we came across two problems: no one spoke English, and they didn’t take credit cards (I hadn’t gotten out any rubles yet at that point).  It was an issue, but it was also an opportunity to see just how nice and helpful Russians really can be.  One of the servers physically walked me to the ATM that was down the street since he couldn’t explain to me where it was.  When we got there, it was closed, so we started walking until he found some locals he could ask about a different bank.  We finally were able to go to that one, and he walked us back.  It was something he absolutely didn’t have to do, especially since he was working.  When we walked back into the restaurant, we saw the rest of the group trying to communicate with the owner about what we wanted to drink and how much.  He was bringing over different bottles trying to figure it out, and there was someone there who spoke a little English trying to aid us as well.  Through his help and lots of hand motions and trial and errors, we were finally able to figure everything out.  Even though I couldn’t try the Russian vodka (it was made with wheat), we truly enjoyed our time there.  Not only because it was great company, but we were also so thrilled to see how hospitable the Russians in the bar were.

The second day was very much an adventure.  The first order of business was to find a ticket agent because I had decided to take a spontaneous trip to Moscow the following day with a few of my friends.  We searched everywhere, but could not find one of an agent!!  Finally, after lots of asking around and playing charades with various shop owners, we were able to find a train station.  Unfortunately, not a single employee knew English and almost none of them were willing to work with me to help me find out what I wanted.  Finally, as I was in line at the last window, I noticed that the couple in front of me were speaking Italian and using an Italian-Russian dictionary to communicate what they wanted to the ticket agent.  I pulled the woman aside and asked if she could help me when they were done.  After two hours, we finally saw a light at the end of the tunnel!  I used Italian to speak to the couple who then helped me translate what I wanted into Russian, all the while playing Pictionary with the woman at the counter to figure out where in the train I would be sleeping.  It was such a production, but I have had few other moments in my life where I have felt such an immense feeling of accomplishment.  I was able to overcome an INCREDIBLE language barrier, using skills I have picked up in the past few years, and the help of very patient people, to get me where I needed to go.  It was going to make my trip to Moscow even more memorable than it was already going to be!  Our next stop was Kuznechny Market.  Dani knew the stop we needed to get off at, but not quite exactly where it was.  After running into my roommates, we followed their directions to the market and it was incredible!  All the stands gave you free samples of whatever they were selling, whether it was fruit, vegetables, nuts, or cheese, and it was all so delicious.  Dani, Kait (who we ran into there) and I really loved a particular kind of melon and were able to haggle the stand owner down to a price were we would all pay about a dollar each.  I found a type of cheese I really loved and paid about a dollar for a big chunk of it.  We got our lunch!  Thinking about it even now is making my mouth water!  Markets are one of my favorite parts in exploring other countries.  You get to talk to locals and try different food for so cheap.  It’s the perfect glimpse into a part of their everyday lives and their culture that many other people look over.  We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around.  We went back to the Church of Spilled Blood, went souvenir shopping at the market across the street (I haggled a beautiful music box down from 1800 to only 600 rubles!) and got cheesecake at a restaurant Dani had discovered the day before.  It was one of the best cheesecakes I had ever had!  We headed back for dinner on the ship and to rest before I headed back out to catch the train with my friends.  The group ended up being Byron, Erin, three girls Kayla (an ADPi!), Sara and Megan, and me.  The train got to the platform around 11 and we headed to our cabins.  Byron and Erin had bunks together, and two of the girls did as well.  I was very worried about the ride because I was by myself.  It ended up being nothing to worry about though!  Apparently, the only tickets available for the ride there were in second class, so I got a private car with two other Russian women (another relief…I was so happy not to be with men!).  They tried so hard to communicate with me, but I was finally able to explain that I was an American student visiting for a few days and really knew nothing of language.  They were so nice, and made sure I knew when we were leaving and getting in, and that the box of food on the table was my dinner/breakfast!  It was actually a very comfortable bed, even though I didn't have any room to sit up.  As the train began to pull away from the station, that feeling of accomplishment I had earlier just began to grow, and despite the a cold and some serious blisters, I absolutely could not wait to explore Moscow the next day.

The train pulled in just after 6 the next morning.  The Moscow train station was a ways out of the city, so we figured out how to get to the Kremlin and headed that way.  We were all hungry, but nothing was open that early, so we ended up at a McDonald’s.  While we were there, we met a new Russian friend!  Nikita, who was presumably finishing his crazy night of drinking with some drunk breakfast food, came over and introduced himself to us so he could practice his English.  He was such a sweetheart!  He wanted to know all about each of us- where we were from, what we’re doing in Russia, and all about Semester at Sea.  We talked with him for a solid hour; it was so great chatting with a local!  Upon leaving our new friend, we just wandered around the Kremlin area until everything opened at 10.  It was all so beautiful!  While we were waiting, we made our way to the Red Square.  As we approached the square, I swore I heard the Game of Thrones theme song and was terribly confused.  That was closed off as well, but one of the surrounding churches, Kazan Church, was open.  We took a look inside and there was a service going on!  It was very moving, even though we had no idea what was going on.  A small, old, Russian woman tried pulling us aside and explaining what was going on and what we had to do, but I don’t think she realized that we didn’t speak Russian.  It was so cute and so nice of her to try and communicate to us though!  After watching in for a few minutes, we made our way back outside.  As soon as we opened the door, the serene atmosphere of the church was abruptly interrupted by the theme song to Pirates of the Caribbean.  It was such a strange combination of tradition and pop culture, and we needed to figure out what was happening.  It wasn’t hard to do, however, because as soon as we stepped out of the church, we saw what was going on.  From the front steps, you could see all of the Red Square.  They were setting up for a festival that would be going on the next day to honor a national holiday in Russia (their own Victory day, I believe).  The music was coming from the rehearsal of one of the acts- synchronized horse trotting!  It was one of the strangest and most intriguing things I had ever seen.  There were about twenty horses and riders trotting along with some of the major action TV/film theme songs!  There was Mission Impossible, James Bond, Game of Thrones (which explained the music from earlier), Pirates of the Caribbean, and more.  They even pulled out swords at one point.  I have never seen anything like it, and can’t imagine that I ever will again.  Everything finally opened at 10, and we made our way inside the Red Square.  We went to St. Basil’s first.  I was so happy to have my ISIC card from SU Abroad, because it got me discounted rates at every place we went to that day!  It was so cool inside and very unlike any other church I’ve been in before.  It was a maze through many different rooms and chapels.  It serves now as a museum, so there were many artifacts from it’s history and paintings that were created for it.  At one point, I ran into an Italian tour group and was even able to hop on to get a guided tour of it.  The best part of the tour was the show that they had organized.  Inside the main chapel, the tour guide had gotten a group of four men to sing one of the typical Russian church songs.  Their voices and the echoes they made in the chapel gave me goosebumps.  It was one of the most beautiful songs I have ever heard, even though I had no idea what they were singing about.  We then made our way back outside the square to get in line for entrance to Lenin’s Mausoleum.  Against his wishes, Stalin had his body embalmed after his death in 1924, so he has been preserved in the same state that he died in almost 90 years ago.  You aren’t allowed to bring anything in at all, and are not permitted to speak in order to pay the deepest respect to him.  There are guards at every turn and it kept incredibly dark.  It was the creepiest atmosphere I had ever been in.  You wander through a labyrinth of passages until you get to where he is on display.  Then BAM!  There he is.  Lenin, in all his glory.  It was the coolest and freakiest thing I have ever seen in my entire life.  I couldn’t believe I was seeing him in person (sort of).  After lunch, we headed over to the Kremlin itself to tour the churches.  On our way, we passed two brides making their way over!  I have never seen as many weddings as I did in Russia…apparently they all get married during this time of year because it’s so miserable during the rest of it (which actually makes total sense)!  We made our way inside the walls of the Kremlin, and I was in awe.  While it is still very significant politically, it used to also be the religious center of Russia- such an important part of Russian history!  Inside, there was a main parliament building, surrounded by Napoleonic cannons that were captured from the French when they lost the war.  Just around the corner was the plaza that hosts the cathedrals.  The walls of the churches, the stone of the plaza, and the walls surrounding it were all white.  It made me feel very peaceful.  We went in most of the cathedrals, and they were absolutely beautiful.  Byron had printed out a Lonely Planet guide packet before we left, so he was able to tell us the history and significance of each place, which fascinated me.  No matter how many churches I go into in whatever country I’m in, I will never get sick of them.  They’re always part of my favorite things about each new place!  We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering around the Kremlin and learning about the different histories of each section.  We spent the rest of the day wandering, getting dinner and Internet.  I was able to FaceTime with Julia and mom!  It was great to see their faces.  It was eventually time to make our way back to the train station.  This time around I was in 3^rd class, which is open.  Somehow, I felt much safer and was more comfortable this time around!  I absolutely passed out as soon as my head hit the pillow and didn’t wake up until it was time to get off the train.

The last day we spent close to the ship.  Dani and I were too tired to do much of anything else, so we spent the morning getting Wi-Fi and planning future adventures.

I definitely experienced some problems in Russia with language barriers, but I can truly say I enjoyed my time there.  I’m so incredibly glad I went to Moscow, because I know I would have absolutely regretted not going.  St. Petersburg was so much fun and absolutely beautiful and Moscow was just amazing.  I really loved my time there, though I was also happy to move on to the next port:  Hamburg!

Read More 0 comments | Posted by LVD

Amazingly, those first two days were absolutely beautiful.  It was sunny and hot, and perfect for exploring new places.  This was not the case on Thursday.  We woke up to pouring rain and a chilling wind.  Fortunately, a bunch of SAS kids had booked a tour of Harry Potter Studios that day, so no amount of terrible weather could dampen my day.  We spent the morning hanging around the hostel getting to know each other before heading out to the studios.  It was magical in every sense of the word.  Not only did it appeal to the part of my that will always believe that my letter to Hogwarts just got lost in the mail, but also to the part that is completely fascinated with everything that goes into creating such an amazing film.  Every prop and set in the studio were the authentic ones used in the filming of the 8 movies in the franchise.  Beside every thing was a board that talked about what it was and how it was used, and what the importance of it all was.  We spent THREE hours walking around, and I felt like I could have done so much more.  Not only did they have props and costumes, but they had original sketches for various scenes, creatures, and special effects.  You could see the mechanics behind certain things like the book Hagrid assigns for the students in Care of Magical Creatures (the one that attacks Harry when he opens it).  It was incredible.

We finished off the day with a trip to the London eye, just before it closed.  We had been told that it is amazing during both the day and night, but the night gives you a view of London lit up that nothing can beat.  We were so happy we decided to go at night because the view from the top truly took my breath away.  You could see everything in London, and it was amazing.

Friday was sadly our last day in the city.  Though I had already done and seen so much, there was still so much more I had left to do.  I had an entire plan for the day, and was determined to accomplish everything.  The plan was destined for failure from the beginning though.  We left almost an hour and a half after I was hoping to get going.  That wasn't the biggest deal, though.  We still went to an incredible breakfast and walked around Borough Market trying all sorts of cheese and olive oils.  Our next stop was the Globe Theater, Millennium Bridge (the one Death Eaters destroy in the HP movies), and St. Paul's Cathedral (where we saw a group of older women who called themselves the Red Hat Society and wear fancy red hats whenever they gather).  We then headed off towards our next destination, the amazing Abbey Road.

Finally, we were on our way to Abbey Road.  I was so excited I couldn't control myself (surprise, huh?).  It was SO COOL.  Yeah, it's just a walkway on a street, but THE BEATLES WALKED HERE SO I DON'T CARE.  After a few failed attempts at getting the iconic picture, we saw an Italian couple who went all out to get what they wanted.  The woman taking the picture stepped out right into the middle of the street and blocked traffic while the man walked (BAREFOOT, just like Paul) across the street.  It was awesome.  So, I approached them and asked them (in Italian) if they could do the same for us, and they were so excited to hear me speaking Italian that they said yes!  (I seriously have used Italian almost as much as English on this trip, it's amazing)  We crossed the street and the man took the picture, blocking all traffic until he got a shot he was satisfied with...in typical Italian fashion.

Unfortunately, it had gotten so late that we weren't able to do any of the other things I was planning on doing.  Instead, we headed to dinner and then back to the hostel to get our things.  On the way back, we got off the Tube a stop early and walked across London Bridge to see the beautiful Tower Bridge all lit up.  It was breathtaking.  Back at the hostel, my friends picked up their stuff, and I packed my things and checked out early.  One of my friends graciously offered to let me stay in the Hilton room for free since I had to be there so early the next morning, so I jumped on the opportunity.  Fortunately, Dani and I had checked in our luggage, but our friends Emily and Stephen had brought it all with them.  I have never struggled so much in my entire life.  Getting their things all the way to the hotel (attached to the airport) via Tube was near impossible and would never have happened had Dani and I brought all our things with them.  We finally made it, though, and with a nice nightcap in the hotel room, our amazing time in London came to and end.

It was certainly a couple weeks of nonstop, hectic running around, but I couldn't have imagined having a better time in London.  All the stress was completely worth it.  The best part?  London isn't even one of the official ports for SAS.  If my time there was that amazing, I am so excited to see how the rest of this trip blows me away.

Baci e abbracci! xoxo

Read More 0 comments | Posted by LVD