Disembark - Copenhagen, Denmark

We are currently docked at Copenhagen, waiting for our group to be called to disembark. We are the last ones to leave as our group has the least time sensitivity.

Yesterday we were at sea for the day. Dane and I specially requested them to play Star Trek again so we cuddled in bed and watched that and The Soloist. It was a great way to spend the last day at sea, especially since it was rainy and windy. I got my hair done one last time and then we went to the Pinnacle Grill (the fancy place) and got to drink the champagne we won then some officers ordered 2 espresso martinis to our table but the drinks were delivered to the wrong table. The people at that table didn't want the drinks so they gave them to us as our true espresso martinis were delivered to us so we were all set for drinks. We were hoping for an epic last night on the Rotterdam but ended up getting tired and both of us started thinking about all the stuff we have to do when we get back Stateside - what with the house and work and moving and blah blah blah. Money is another thing - we've gone ridiculously over budget on this trip, artwork aside even. Oh well. What can you do.

We still have two nights in Copenhagen though so the vacation isn't over yet. It's rainy today in the city so I'm not sure how much walking around we will do. We are tired anyway. Hopefully it's not like tomorrow so we can go to our amusement park.

So not much to update on. Still no word from the Water for People folks - not sure if that's good or bad, I'm not really going to take sides one way or another.

I really miss my cats. Apparently Dane left some garbage in the apartment and it cultivated 100's of flies (per Melanie) and so she had to let them all out, clean out the garbage can (and maggots - poor Melanie) and lay fly strips all over. I'm sure the flies kept Willy busy for hours though.

I miss work, I miss my friends, I miss my car, I miss fresh steamed vegetables, I miss a lot of stuff. I'll definitely be back to Nutrisystem hard core after this trip. I'm sure I gained about 10 pounds on this trip. Gross.

That's all for now. I can't wait to come home!

Helsinki, Finland and Stockholm, Sweden

Yesterday we pulled into Helsinki, Finland in the late morning and got to sleep in a little before we went on our High Speed Helsinki tour. It was on a rigid inflatable boat (think military or Google C-Trek) with two large outboard motors, or in other words it was like sitting on a leaf with bottle rockets attached. We sped all over the bay and stopped at some spots for sight seeing, Dane was in the front of the boat and I was in the back. We even got to see a fleet of icebreakers and get a short lesson on how they work. There were ships from the 60's, 70's, 80's and a modern one and I guess they are nuclear powered or something like that. And then they have things in the back which can tow another boat, so the icebreaker goes destroying all ice and tugs the other boat behind. Fun. Dane says he was expecting something special in how they worked but they are just tough and weigh a lot. They break the ice just by sheer weight and can break up to a yard of ice at full speed (15 knots) or a maximum of 12 feet at slower speeds. Then we sped off to an island and ate a nice snack of sausage, salad and beer. On the way back to our boat, the driver did about 100 figure eights right next to our ship at mach 1 - it was awesome. And let me tell you - those Fins - they sure do love their saunas. EVERYONE has not one but two saunas - an electric one and another one but I couldn't hear what. The driver said that it is literally possible for the entire population to be in their saunas all at once, should they call such an occasion. Crazy. Our driver was funny. But his nose hair was longer than his moustache. :-s

After that we went to town and went shopping and found some more clothes for me and a dress. Not my favorite - I found a dress by Guess that I really wanted but Dane vetoed it. Instead he approved a mumu. Just kidding. We found a fun dress and were able to walk around town in the process. We went to the bow of the ship to watch us depart Helsinki, which was awesome! It's really LOUD when the Captain blows the horn, which he does...A LOT! Then we lazily ate dinner and got ready for the Indonesian show but we ended up staying in the bar all night long talking to another young person named Hal who is literally going through the same situation we are as far as closing on a house at sea and all the complications that go with that. Hal was a great guy and we enjoyed telling stories till 1 am. We were all sad because we were missing the "Dirty Disney" party that was going on in the OB for one of the officer's birthday. Stoopid liability issues with guests in the crew area. Lame.

We got to sleep in this morning, which was awesome!! In fact, we slept in so late it was lunch time by the time we ate. We were in Stockholm, Sweden so it was our day for the ice bar tour. Once at the bar we were given special coats with hoods and gloves and led into a bar that is kept at 23 degrees. Cold! But so fun - good music, fun lights and great drinks. We were able to get two down before it was time to leave. Good times. Then we walked around Old Town Stockholm and even got to see the changing of the guard. We got some drinks at a sidewalk cafe and munched on a Swedish cheese plate which was awesome. Before we knew it, it was time to go back to the ship where we went to the bow again to watch us leave Stockholm, which I guess is about a million islands - an archipelago (sp?) so it took about 4 hours for us to get out to sea. After the bow got cold we resumed watching the ship weave through the islands in the spa. I love that spa. Then we got dinner and now here we are blogging. After this we will go to the Dessert Extravaganza which we hear is awesome.

Tomorrow I have another detox session, then we get to watch Star Trek because we talked them into playing it another day since we were disposed the other day when it was on, then we will get ready for our last night on ship, which I hope is fun. We have to pack tomorrow which is lame. But we still have another two days in Copenhagen, so it's not so bad. Once we get off the ship in Copenhagen around 8am on Tuesday we will go on a tour before arriving at our hotel. Dane and I decided to just walk around and chill out on Tuesday and scout out a fun place for Wednesday night. Wednesday we will visit Tivoli Gardens then find one last place to whoop it up before spending all day Thursday flying back home.

First thing I'm doing when I get home is ordering a Pagliacci pizza.

St Petersburg - Day 2

This day was a long and exhausting day. It was interesting, but I don't love Russia like I love Egypt so the exhaustion got to me more. We visited to Czar's palaces which were the biggest, most extravagant, guilded gold things I've ever seen. Too many people to much to look at and absorb and we went through everything too fast to really have time to stop and appreciate it all. But I don't want to sound like I'm complaining - I just wish I'd had more time. The Amber Room at Catherine's palace was absolutely amazing - I could spend a whole day in that room alone. Our lunch was good - mushroom soup and beef stroganoff. Very fun.

Once we got back to the room we decided to go to the spa for departure again. It was nice to rest my tootsies after all that walking. Then we went to a Sommelier's Dinner - Sommelier is a French word which really has no translation (so I'm told) except that maybe it means head wine master. The wine master, Frank (I spoke about him in prior posts), is a hysterical German who really knows his business about wine. He is not liking Prosseco. :-) Anyway - we ate the most amazing 7 course meal paired with fantastic wines from all over the world - France, Chile, Portugal, Italy and even home - Washington State. After the dinner Dane and I went to the Crow's Nest where I had hopped to catch the Captain and beg him for another ball. He wasn't up there but our happy waiter told us he was in the Ocean Bar so I told Dane I was going to go beg for a ball. Found the Captain, but he was busy so I couldn't ask. Then, later, he was up in the Crow's Nest and as he was leaving I was able to run him down in the hall (of course by now I'm nice and toasty from the wine and my after dinner drink) and ask him for another ball. He said he could not do it or that I'd have to speak with the hotel manager. But he did say he was going to be around in case I wanted another dance. I asked one more time to get to the OB and he just laughed at me. Even Frank the Sommelier said that there was no way. Even if I made it to the OB, the other officer's would have to report me or risk losing their jobs so they don't mess around with that one bit.

Dane and I have been having a great time though. No fighting, not even minor bickering. Just laughing and joking. He's made some pretty good jokes - all "you had to be there" type jokes, but really good ones. We are just so happy and so lucky and blessed. We keep thanking God everyday for the opportunities we get and our house and the debt relief and everything. Amazing. Our realtor emailed us today. He has the keys. The house is ours. Ours ours ours. Unbelievable.

I miss my cats. I'm getting worried about work and coming back to a lot of work to do in a very short amount of time. I forget if I was supposed to prioritize the budget or the monthend close so it's giving me anxiety. I'm not looking forward to the jet lag, especially if it was anything like the first part of this trip (though I'm sure my Amsterdam stint did nothing to help the lag). I am looking forward to seeing my Seattle friends again and for the last time really. Well, last time for a long time. It will be a good month. No word from Water for People but I'm not too worried. Whatever is meant to be will happen in due time. What with Dane's debt relief, the pressure for me to find work immediately has been lifted.

Well I'm rambling on at this point. I'll post our Helsinki notes later today.

St Petersburg, Russia - Day 1

I had the most wonderful girls night out last night! Yes, I have already made friends with all the late 20's, early 30's crew members on deck and we all went to the Pinnacle Grill last night for dinner, drinks and dessert. It was great talking with them, hearing what they love about Holland America and working for a cruise ship and hearing their complaints. There were two lady officers, the internet cafe gal, the children's group leader, the art director, the party planner and a GOB - which apparently means "girlfriend on board." We had such a good time. The girls are going to try to get me into the OB (Officer's Bar) on the last night. We'll see. I already asked the Captain - indeed those were my first words to him "How do I get on the OB?" And he laughed at me and said it was not possible. But the girls are going to try anyway. That would be fun!

We woke up early this morning and went to the Hermitage in St. Petersburg. It was big and huge and overwhelming. Full of art and gold and stuff. Our guide (Dane is laughing at my description of the Hermitage - he feels I should elaborate and say there were Picasso's, Rembrant's, Monet's, Da Vinci's, etc. etc.) was great - just the most hysterical Russian gal. Great humor, knowledgable and just plain fun. She always says we are having. We are having a difficulity. We are having a look. We are having a new flower. So fun.

After the Hermitage we went back to the ship, inhaled some food and grabbed a nap before going back to town for a folklore show which was a lot of fun. Extravagent costumes, great singing, dancing and music. Lots of fun. We never did get to go to a Russian dance club but I'm honestly not sure I've recovered from the Officer's Ball. It is already 11pm here and we are ready for bed.

I've gained at least, at the very least, 5 pounds. And I'm upset that I didn't bring a few extra dresses. I waffled on it and decided not to overpack and now I regret it. Good thing we are walking all over creation tomorrow, maybe I can burn off the calories of the bedtime cookies I'm about to eat. :-)

At Sea (yesterday) and Tallinn, Estonia (today)

Yesterday we slept in and enjoyed a lazy breakfast then ran off to play the $100,000 Jackpot Bingo. We didn't win $100K but Dane did win a bingo game and won $63. Which pretty much paid for the bingo cards with $13 to spare but it was still a good time. After that we went to the spa then an art auction. I've been eyeing several pieces of art the last week or so and finally decided to go to the auction. I bid on the two pieces I liked and was able to purchase them for the reserve price of $385 and $465 - amazing. The pieces are huge. Not as big as my Temple of Isis piece, but they are very nice. After the art show we went wine tasting and the head wine attendant was the most wonderful, humorous German. He was great. Frank - that's his name. Anyway we tasted all sorts of wine from all over, including Washington, and tried the wine with different foods like apricots, Thai shrimps, pate, chocolate, strawberries - it was great fun and we learned a lot about wine. I guess Frank lost about 200 wine glasses on the rough day at sea we had at the beginning of the Baltic Tour portion.

After the wine tasting we had just enough time to change for Alan's cocktail party. So by now I was having a good afternoon since I had champagne (for FREE) at the art auction, the wine tasting and now the cocktail party. We chatted with a nice couple for an hour then it was time to get ready for the Officer's Ball, which I had to look my best for so I could woo the Captain. We went to our scheduled fancy dinner at the Pinnacle and just barely made it up to the Crow's Nest for the beginning of the ball. I danced with the Culinary Director and Frank (I won a bottle of champagne from that dance since Frank had the particular winning envelope - some game they play) and Scott - the Canadian "have fun" guy. I'm not really sure what his title is. Then I got to dance with the Captain!! He told me to find him for the last dance but some other gal elbowed me out of the way so of course she got the grand prize, which I guess was a shirt and some other stuff. After the 5 Officer dances some of the crew stayed dancing, including the Captain who danced with me. I chatted his ear off about stuff, especially boat questions till Dane muscled his way in and took over flirting with the Captain. They talked ship for a long time - so long that I finally gave up trying to woo the Captain and resigned to dancing with the ship's girl crew members. We had a good time and I'm sure I was three sheets to the wind, which Dane says is real bad in a ship with no sails. :-) After my 8th Grey Goose vodka-soda I was dancing with the Captain and we were making small talk. He asked about Dane and how long we have been married and if we were planning on having kids. I ended up telling briefly that I was not planning on having kids but that today (August 4th) would have been my daughter's 9th birthday. He asked about that and I told him about her. He was shocked and actually said "But you are so bubbly?!" I didn't really have an answer for that. He said he was sorry and offered his condolences. Then, as he was leaving he said something to Dane that made Dane light up like a Christmas tree. I asked what the hubaloo was about and the Captain said that Dane would tell me then he left. I asked Dane what could be so exciting, aside from the Captain asking me to his quarters, and Dane said that the Captain invited us to the Bridge the next evening to watch the departure from Tallinn! We couldn't believe our luck! We even confirmed it with the front desk. Excited like kids we danced the night away and didn't get to bed till 3 am!!

Woke up this morning at 7 am and thought for sure we wouldn't make it on our tour. But we rallied and slept on the bus. We drove about 1.5 hours outside of Tallinn to a small countryside town where we went to a museum, tried some local vodka (well, Dane did - I am vodkaed out) and went to an old medieval fortress and played around all afternoon. Then we went back to Tallinn and walked around town. It was fun. Nothing too exciting to write home about. Once back on the ship we had just enough time to change and get up to the Bridge where we took a thousand pictures and watched the Officer's pull away from port and listen to the calls and stand on the glass floor. The Captain even let me blow the ship's giant foghorn whistle. THREE TIMES!!!!! It was amazing - what a treat. I can't believe how lucky we are. Dane got to ask the Captain a million more questions - so many that Dane says he truly does not have any more questions. After spending time on the Bridge the Captain showed us his room so now I can honestly say that I made it to the Captain's quarters! But, so did Dane so the reality didn't quite play out like my fantasy. Just kidding. Dane is right here snorting/laughing next to me. We had a great time with the Captain and I almost want to book another cruise just to hang out with him again. He really likes Dane too - he must if he gave us passage to the Navigation Bridge. Dane is still in shock. He wants to be a captain. :-)

Now we are going to enjoy coffee and dessert and then I'm going to go out with the girls - the crew member girls I met last night, so that should be fun. I'm kinda tired from last night's excursions but I can't pass up the opportunity to spend some girl time on the boat.

Tomorrow is St. Petersburg - a day and evening excursion so it there will be a lot to do and blog about. I miss everyone. It sure is fun out here but I miss the States. I miss home. I did find a MacDonalds and mowed down a large fry. It was awesome.

Berlin, Germany - Yesterday

Today we woke up pretty spankin' early to get out to Berlin. We docked in Warnemunde, Germany - sort of on the northeast side of the German coastline. We took a 3 hour bus ride in to Berlin and then raced all over jumping out at various hotspots to take pictures and soak in whatever culture we could in 10 minutes or less. We stopped at a beautiful church, the Brandenburg Gate (the old gate between East and West Berlin), the city center with all the embassies (?, embassys, I don't know) and there was a protest and a Starbucks. We had just enough time to participate in both. Then we went to the Holocaust Museum, though only the outside - we didn't have time for the inside which bummed me out. The HM was interesting. The American architecht built the outside with 2711 concrete columns each of a different size. He didn't explain the meaning but rather wanted each person to come to their own conclusions about what it meant. Very powerful, I thought. After that we visited the Berlin Wall, including the part that has been preserved (of sorts) and painted on from over 20 different artists from around the world. I would have liked more time here too but all we got was 10 minutes. Then we went to lunch and had authentic German food: potato soup, pork schnitzel, some weird fried potatoes that I have to Dane, veggies, and a berries and cream dessert. YUM!!! After lunch we went to Checkpoint Charlie then to the mall. I looked in the Chanel, Fendi, Prada, Louis Vutton, and Tiffany stores and could not find anything that I liked and or could afford. It was a very sad shopping trip. It is just not meant to be for me to find something that I love here. After shopping it was time to head back to the boat, which was fine - we were all tired and slept most of the way.

I did find the most AWESOME Ritter Sport chocolates - it's milk chocolate with cornflakes!!!! Sooooo good. Anyway, once we got on the boat I had just enough time to blog and research Water for People a bit more before my 15 minute phone interview. I sat on our patio and watched the sunset as WFP called me. I feel the interview went well, I did most of the talking - talking about my history in nonprofit, how I became an accountant and what I feel I do well as an accountant. They were very interested in my experience at Treehouse in regards to the RE/FE integration. Seems they are integrating RE and NetSuite and the WFP Director was looking for someone with integration experience. Sounds to me like looking for a candidate with integration was as important to her as finding someone who excels at audit is for Jim. They said they'd be getting back with candidates by the end of this week (even thought I didn't even ask) and they wanted to know all about how to get a hold of me while I'm still on vacation, when I'm coming back from vacation and when I'm moving to Denver for good. So - I'd say it went well enough for the first round. We'll see what happens. I don't even know much about this place and if it is even a good fit. I'll save those questions for the second round, if applicable.

I'll blog later tonight about our busy day at sea. We are going to the spa, playing jackpot bingo, going to a wine tasting lunch, cocktail party, formal fancy dinner, and then the Captain's Black & White Ball. I told Dane I need to look my best so I can flirt with our totally cute, and wiley, captain. He agrees. Take, for example, last nights tomfoolery. We are leaving Warnemunde - (oh, this is the best part!) and the port is playing music for us, including our wedding song (our favorite version even of Andre Bocelli and Sarah MacLaughlin singing Con ti Partio) so we danced on our patio in our robes and watched all the people - there were a TON of people, we don't even know why. But there were also 3 cruise boats leaving at once, so there was a lot to see. And as we are leaving - music is playing (Elvis's Wooden Heart), people are hootin' and hollerin', the Captain is honking his horn (3 toots means Peace Out!) and there are all these other smaller party boats that always return fire with honks of their own. So the Captain proceeds to get into a honking war with these boats. Then the other cruise boats have enough, so join in the fray - let me tell you how loud that was to have over 6 boats honking their horns in a horn battle. Hee-haw-larious. Then there was a fireworks show for no particular reason. Awesome. Best part of Germany.

It's going to be a fun night. I only have 10 min left for breakfast so I need to run!

Arhus, Denmark - Yesterday

Yesterday we docked in Arhus, Denmark at 10am. We lazily got ready and then went out on our own to explore the town. Luckily for us the shopping mall was open (only on the 1st Sunday of the month) so we walked to the mall and tried to find a dress for me. No such luck. However, we did realize that 1985 is totally back in style. I'm talking faded pastel jeans, the cotton tee-shirts with the torn ends and indian beads knotted on them, crazy colors, armbands, if it was from the 80's, it is back in style. Also everyone one in Arhus is pregant, has a child or both. It was scary how many pregnant women we saw. Uncanny.

After the disappointment at the mall we found a cafe called Bar Bar that actually served my favorite beer, Hoegaarden, on tap. So we drank beers, ordered lunch - I had a fabulous curry pasta. I would have never thought to put curry and pasta together, but it was delish. Dane even liked it more than his burger, which turned out to be a veggie burger. He said he liked it though. After we people watched for a while and drank more beer we decided to get back to the boat. Good thing too cause the rain came in as soon as we boarded. We read our books up in the Crow's Nest and then stayed a while longer as we left port and talked and talked about our past and future and all sorts of things. We ate dinner in our room and got to bed somewhat early since our next port was an early wake up call.

So I'll blog about Berlin after my phone interview in half an hour. I need to read up on the organization and arrange some thoughts/questions. Wish me luck!