Spain

August 6-10, 2005

Sarah and I were hoping to do some serious hiking in the Spanish Pyrenees, but the transportation to get there was too difficult from Bilbao, especially since we were already planning to spend a couple of days in Barcelona. I really wanted to go to Barcelona to see the Gaudi architecture. I first learned about him a couple of years ago while taking a Design class at UW and ever since I have wanted to see his work. At first Sarah wasn’t that excited about another city, but then she had a great time and even liked the architecture!

We spent part of the first day figuring out train, buses and hotels to Barcelona and then in the afternoon we took the metro line to the last stop to hang out at the beach. Another RD, Gary, was with us and the three of us had a great time. Jim joined us for the trip to Barcelona and the four of us had a blast. We got a rough start since we took an overnight bus to Barcelona; it was about seven hours on the bus. The buses in Spain are very different from the U.S. They are much nicer and traveled by the average person. We had an interport student trying to explain this to us. She was contrasting Spain’s buses to the U.S. and she had first hand experience. While traveling in the States she took a bus from Pennsylvania to Michigan and was scared the whole time due to the odd folks aboard. On the way to Barcelona we were sitting in the second to last row and there was a very large man sitting behind us. He got up many times to use the bathroom and kept bumping Gary and I since we were had the aisle seats. He was so large he couldn’t help it, but it was tough for sleeping, especially for Gary. We arrived at the bus station at six-something a.m. and then had to wait until the bus company office opened to buy our return ticket. We had a nice breakfast of chocolate crepes and real, fresh squeezed orange juice while we waited. In the meantime we figured out the metro and bought a two-day pass. After stopping at our hotel we went to the Picasso museum since it was free that day. It was an okay museum. The security made you go through the museum in order and you weren’t allowed to just wonder, which was very annoying since we got there right when it opened so we were crowded in with everyone else. Anyway, it chronicled his life work, but didn’t have much cubism or any of his famous works. We were all glad it was free. After the Picasso museum we wondered around and stumbled upon this playground and this cool swing set thing.

Gary and Jim on the rope swing set thing

Later, walked down to the water via La Rambla to catch the sights. La Rambla is a long car-less street in the center of town. Kind of like a huge State St. in Madison. Since it was Sunday morning things were a bit quiet and we all appreciated that. We found a restaurant for lunch and then went back to the hotel for our swim suits and towels and took the metro to the beach. We were all ready for a nap so we spread out our towels on the sand amongst the locals and promptly fell asleep. Later Sarah and I went in the water. It was very warm and clear. You could see your toes even when the water was up to your chin, not what I expected for a city beach. While we were swimming a building down the way caught on fire. We heard sirens and saw lots of black smoke and big flames in the upper story window. We never did find out what it was. I just hope it wasn’t anyone’s home. The beach was so relaxing and exactly what we needed after our long night. Once we were rested up I dragged everyone to the Sagrada Familia church by Gaudi that is still not complete. It has been under construction since the late 1800’s. It was really neat, very different from the other type of art we have seen. Sarah decided not to go and enjoyed a snack outside while Gary, Jim, and I wondered around inside.

Sagrada Familia interior

For dinner we went to a tapas bar, which turned into a rather complicated and expensive meal. The biggest expense ended up being our drinks, which were way overpriced (and of course the price wasn’t listed in the menu).

The next morning Sarah, Gary, and Jim went to the Olympic stadium while I wondered around and shopped a bit. We met before lunch and Sarah and I headed off to see some more Gaudi art. We first went to the Park that has buildings that look like gingerbread houses and many, many escalators on the sidewalk leading up to the park. It was funny to see them outside like that. It was a neat place and rather revolutionary for his time (early 1900’s) since he used so many curves in his buildings. Later we went to the apartment building he did called La Pedrera. It is a very fancy place these days.

La Pedrera

Roof top of La Pedrera

Park Guell

We met Gary and Jim for dinner and then headed to the bus station. We all slept pretty well on the way back to Bilbao.

On the last day Sarah joined with a few other departing spouses and took a cab to the airport. I went back to sleep for a bit then went into town to see the Guggenheim museum and go shopping. The museum was pretty good. The building was pretty neat, very different. There was one exhibit that I liked by Serras. There was a large Aztec exhibit that I might have enjoyed more had I not been to so many museums this summer. I sort of breezed through it and went outside to take photos of the building.

I gotta say I loved Spain! Barcelona was my favorite city we went to all summer. I hope I get the chance to return and do some hiking. There is a 23 day hike in the Spanish Pyrenees that looks fun. Maybe someday I’ll return and do that.

Ireland

July 31 to August 3, 2005

We had one day on the ship between France and Ireland which is barely enough time to recover.

My mom and step-dad were meeting us in Ireland and staying on the ship while were in port. I called my mom on her cell phone while we were in France to just touch base and she was in Ireland when she answered. I am telling ya, technology is awesome. I didn’t even know she was there yet. We never know our exact docking specifics until the night before the port so I sent her an email with all the details so she could find the ship. The morning we arrived in port she was supposed to be there between 9-10am. Well shortly after 10am she still wasn’t there and I was about to call her on a borrowed cell phone when I saw them pull up in a taxi. She never got my email, but fortunately thought to call the Port Agent and ask where we were docked, so only sometimes technology is awesome. They came on board and got settled into their room. After lunch we took the bus to town to see the Book of Kells and then the Kilmanheim Gaol, which is an old jail. Both were very neat. We wondered around looking for a place for dinner and finally found a nice place that wasn’t too loud. We were all pretty tired by then and a bit bedraggled after a day of adjusting to each other’s traveling style.

Inside the Kilmanhiem Gaol

downtown Dublin

The next day we took a train to a town north of Dublin called New Grange. We saw these monoliths which were about 1,000 years older than Stonehenge - 3,000 A.D. I thought they were really neat only because they were so massive and old. They had stone etchings which were done before the Iron Age so they didn’t even have metal to do the carvings. There were a lot of spirals and circles in the carvings.

It was a long day and we got back to Dublin kind of late and after wondering around for what seemed like a long time we found a restaurant. Unfortunately, it wasn’t that good and was very loud, but it was food.

One thing that I really wanted to do in Ireland was go hiking. Sarah and I wanted to go to the west coast and hike there, but I didn’t realize my mom and step-dad were staying in Ireland for about 10 days after we left to travel over there so of course they didn’t want to head west. Anyway, Sarah and I did split off on the third day and went hiking in the Wicklow Mountains, which is about an hour south of Dublin. It was absolutely gorgeous! We hiked about 11 km or so and had a great time. Because of the timing of the buses we had to stay overnight and ended up in an overpriced hostel that didn’t include towels in the price (which of course we didn’t find out until about 10pm). At least it was clean and safe. We woke up very early the next day and were back in Dublin for breakfast. We met up with my mom and step-dad and shopped around for a bit before they had to leave to pick up their rental car. Sarah and I met all the other RDs for a delicious, but slow lunch. We then just wondered around Dublin a bit. I must say Dublin was one of my least favorite cities of the summer. It was OK, but nothing really stood out for me, although the Irish countryside is gorgeous. I was looking forward to Spain.

Taking a rest on our Wicklow Mountain hike

France

Monday, July 25 to Friday, July 29

With only 48 hours notice we diverted course and headed to France. We were slated to spend 5 days in England, but due to the bombings in London it was determined we shouldn’t go there. It was probably a decision based only partly on true safety and more on perceived safety and politics, primarily to ease the parents of the students back at home. Regardless of the reason I was looking forward to France. French is the only language besides English that I know at all. I wish I had more notice so I could have brushed up on my French, but I actually did pretty well. The most frustrating times were when I had no idea what words to use or worse was when I knew I was using all the right words, but my pronunciation was so poor that they had no idea what I was saying. It was neat when I would remember words out of the blue and to feel my French getting better each day.

The biggest challenge with the last minute change was that my partner was flying into London and had to divert course and pay extra money for a flight from London to Paris. In the long-run it was worth it. She stayed until Spain and we had a great time.

We docked in Le Harve, France an industrial port about 2 hours by train from Paris. The first day I took a train to Paris with some other RDs. We booked a hotel before we left Le Harve and headed there first to drop off our stuff. We lazed around a bit figuring out what we were doing and finally, Dayna and I headed out. We went to the Lourve thinking it was open late on Mondays and Wednesdays only to find out it was open late Wednesdays and Fridays and we were there about 15 minutes shy of closing time. So we headed back to Notre Dame Cathedral since it was open until 7pm. When we arrived mass was in session so I jumped in line for communion. I felt a little funny joining mass just in time for communion, but I think it would be OK with God. Dayna is Jewish so she wondered around with the other tourists. Mass was not very crowded, but there were a lot of people milling around the edge of the church during the service. It was a gorgeous building and actually felt holy. After Notre Dame we got an ice cream cone and walked to the Eiffel Tower. It was about an hour walk and Dayna’s feet were pretty sore by the time we got there due to her high heel shoes. That morning I was in a hurry packing my things and once we got to the train I realized I forgot my camera. By the time we got to the Eiffel Tower I was feeling pretty naked without it. I love taking photos and fortunately Dayna let me use her camera for a few cool shots of the Eiffel Tower at night. Fortunately, I was able to contact my friends on the ship who were joining us the next day and they brought my camera with them. I felt so happy when they arrived the second night with my tiny camera. Anyway, the Eiffel Tower was awesome at night.

The Eiffel Tower at night

We stood in a long line and took the elevator to the top. It was a nice view, but we should have listened to the guidebook and just gone up to the second level, the third level wasn’t much different from the first, just more crowded and windy. After the trip to the top we walked across the street to the Trocodoro for an excellent view of the whole tower and some dinner, eating at the typical French time of 10:30pm. We were back at the hotel exhausted, but happy by 1am.

The next day we slept until 9am, went downstairs for breakfast, and then Dayna and I headed to the Musee d’Orsay that houses the Impressionism and Art Noveau work. It was amazing!!! I look forward to the day I get to go back. We were there for 2 hours, but I would have been happy to spend half a day there. It was awesome and is now my favorite museum in the world. It is an old train station renovated and converted to the museum. The center section where the trains come in is a huge, open sculpture room with lots of natural light. I like the work of that time period and was feeling a bit disappointed that I didn’t have my camera to record this beautiful place. After the Musee d’Orsay we brought some bread and fruit, mango juice for lunch and went to the Jardin du Luxemburg to eat. It was a gorgeous park, but we didn’t stay long since I wanted to get back to the hotel to meet Sarah. Well of course her flight was late and she finally got there about 6pm. It was so great to see her! I had been pacing the lobby and wondering around the sidewalks wondering where she was. Next time I travel to Europe I am going to adjust my cell phone so that it works wherever I go. There were so many times throughout the trip that I wished I had a cell phone. Of course, on the other hand it was a reminder of how dependent we are on our technology. As I write this on my laptop I am sitting on the deck of the ship basking in the sun and starring out at the Atlantic. I must admit that for the most part I love technology – laptops, cell phones, iPods. They have their problems, but more benefits if you ask me.

Anyway, back to France…
Sarah I finally arrived a little late and without her luggage. It was still in Chicago, but fortunately arrived the next day. That night Sarah and I joined another RD and some students for dinner and drinks. We didn’t last very long because we were so tired, especially Sarah who was experiencing jet lag.

On day three Sarah and I went to the Notre Dame and St. Chapel. I was happy to be back with my camera and with Sarah, of course. I couldn’t convince Sarah to go to the Musee d’Orsay, but we did make it to the Lourve. At that point Sarah was tired and I was a bit sick of old art so were there for all of 90 minutes, just enough time to see the Mona Lisa and the mob in front of her, the Winged Victory, and some ancient Egyptian mummies, including a mummified cat.

The Lourve courtyard

I dragged Sarah back to the Eiffel Tower and the Trocodoro for views. We had a chocolate crepe and were too tired for dinner. We made it back to the hotel pretty late. For Sarah it was a one day whirlwind of Paris since we headed back to the ship the next morning.

Our fourth day in France was a relaxing contrast to the whirlwind tour of Paris. We took the morning train back to Le Harve (after nearly missing it), napped on the ship, then took an hour bus ride to this nearby coastal town of Etretat that has these huge rock cliffs. I saw it in a guidebook and really wanted to visit. Due to the bus schedule we only had an hour to visit, but as soon as we stepped foot on the beach we looked at each other and decided to return the next day and we did.

We returned to Le Harve in time for a wonderful dinner on the beach. We had a delicious meal of mussels and wine and wondered around the beach watching the sunset. It was a wonderful evening.

Me in Etretat, France

Sarah relaxing on the beach at Etretat, France

Le Harve, France

Belgium

Belgium is a great place and Antwerp was a perfect city for our port. We were fortunate enough in Antwerp to have a superb docking place right downtown. It’s a fun city to walk around in with lots of shopping, delicious food, and beautiful buildings. I spent the first day wondering around Antwerp with a couple of friends, and then later went off to see Ruben’s house and the Museum of Contemporary Art. Ruben’s house was neat although there has been so much great art on this trip that I have become a bit desensitized and I am feeling less and less excited about religious paintings and icons. Not that it was a big draw for me in the first place, but I was enjoying them more initially. The Museum of Contemporary Art was also a bit of a disappointment. It was mostly conceptual art which I often don’t understand.

Antwerp, Belgium

The next day I went to Gent and Bruge with Laura the art history professor, another RD and her partner. It was a lot of fun. July 21 is Belgium’s Independence Day so there were a lot of festivals and parties. We stayed in Gent for only a couple hours, just long enough to see the Gent Altarpiece which Laura demanded we all see. It was very impressive. Painted by Jon Van Eyck and his brother in the 1500’s the style is very detailed and realistic. There is also debate about which part Jon did and which part his brother did. Either way it’s impressive. After a lunch of mussels and beer we took the train to the charming town of Bruge. Laura and I went to enjoy some art work at a Cathedral and then I left Laura at the Memling Museum because I was just too tired to enjoy it. I wondered around on my own and had a delicious waffle with chocolate poured over it, although it was so rich it gave me a stomach ache. Later on we all met up and wondered around some more before dinner and caught the final train back to the ship in Antwerp.

The train station in Antwerp - on the way to Gent and Bruge

Me eating delicious mussels in Gent

On the third morning I took a 2-hour train to Amsterdam on my own. I spent the day by myself in Amsterdam and had a great time (don’t worry mom even though I was traveling alone no one attacked me). J First I took the tram to the Van Gogh museum. Van Gogh is from The Netherlands and they have a gorgeous museum dedicated to his work and other work from the same time period. I spend nearly 3 hours in the museum and really enjoyed it. This was quite refreshing considering I was getting so tired of museums. I think part of it is that I like Van Gogh’s work more than the 15th and 16th century oil paintings which we keep seeing so much of. I might have to breeze through those in the Lourve (oh yeah, by the way, we are skipping London due to the bombings and going to France instead). After the museum and lunch I wondered around the many shops in Amsterdam, did a little shopping and made my way to Anne Frank’s house.

Anne Frank’s House was amazing. It was not what I expected. It’s been a while since I read her diary, but the place was bigger and more urban than I expected. Her family and four others lived there for two years and shortly before the war ended. Someone leaked their existence and the Nazis caught them. Everyone except the father died in the concentration camp only one month before liberation. It was very powerful and sad to see Anne Frank’s house and museum only a few days after visiting Auschwitz. It helped me appreciate more fully what they went through.

Anne Frank's House

Belgium is a wonderful place. I enjoyed the mixture of traveling by myself and with friends. I am looking forward to France and seeing Sarah!

Semester at Sea Olympics

July 17, 2005

The Olympics are a tradition with Semester at Sea. Classes are canceled for the day and the eight Seas compete in various games ranging from the hot dog eating contest to the talent show. A Sea is similar to a Hall on a land based campus – in our case a group of cabins in a certain section of the ship that join together in a proud union. I am proud to say I am the Resident Director for the Bering Sea (in case you as geographically ignorant as I was I will spare you the embarrassment of having to pull out an atlas and tell you the Bering Sea is between Alaska and Russia). The motivation for the competition is that the winning Sea gets to be the first Sea off the ship when we return to the States. This means first to catch their planes and first to see their family and friends who are greeting them on the dock. We were awesome and got first place in the Spirit contest, first in Trivia, second in the synchronized swim contest, and more. It was an awesome day! Overall, we fared very well in our Olympic escapades and took third place! We were really excited about third because we didn’t want to be first off the ship because then we would just be standing on the dock while everyone else was still getting to hug and say goodbye on board. But, anyway, it’s not about the competition – it’s about the camaraderie, the smiles, the laugher, and the memories (although I know my soccer-playing buds in Madison would debate me on this one).

Synchronized Swim Competition

Big Hair Contest

Bering Sea Rocks the Boat!!

The Orange Pass

The Tug-o-war

Poland

Poland is a gorgeous country, much more impressive than I expected. We docked in Gdnask, a very quaint active city in northern Poland. I spent the first day in Gdansk wandering around and seeing the sights with a couple friends.

me in Gdansk, Poland

Gdansk, Poland

Wednesday night we hopped an overnight train to Krakow. Since it was a Wednesday night the train wasn’t very busy and we were able to each lay down on our own bench and I was actually able to sleep rather well (thanks to my trusty earplugs – never leave home without them). We arrived in Krakow first thing in the morning and three of us rushed over to catch the train to Auschwitz. We spent the day in Auschwitz and the larger concentration camp called Auschwitz II. The day was filled with a mix of emotions – one minute I would feel tears in my eyes just thinking about the magnitude of evil and horrors that happened within the concentration camps and all of Europe during those years and then a bit later I would forget where I was and think I was just wondering around another historical museum. I think what amazed me the most was how well planned and thought out the Nazi’s were in their attempt to exterminate Jews, gays, and others. They went to great efforts to hide what they were doing and to make the prisoners initially think they were going someplace good. I have a couple photos of the camp here.

barbed wire fence at Auschawitz

After the long day at the concentration camps we went back to Krakow and joined our other friends at an apartment flat we rented for the night. It was in a beautiful, suburban area of town and the house was gorgeous. We didn’t quite know what to expect since we made the reservation on-line and we were so pleased. The family who owns the house lives on the top floor and rents out the first floor. We invited them down for dinner and had a fabulous time. One of our friends is from Italy and was very excited to cook us an authentic Italian meal. We were equally (if not more) excited to eat it and enjoyed it immensely. It was delicious. However, the best part was talking to our new Polish friends. The wife and two kids (aged 18 and 10) joined us for dinner and we asked them many questions about Poland, the fall of communism, and compared Polish and American life. They were very thankful about the fall of communism however, pointed out that not everyone was. In Russia we talked with many people who were not very happy about it. She said it was because if you are lazy then communism is much preferable because you will always have enough money to eat and live. However, that’s it. If you have any ambitions you can not pursue them. I imagine some of the difference between the feelings of the Russians and the Poles is that the Poles have a much better infrastructure than the Russians. The rails, the roads, the phones, everything was similar to the rest of Western Europe and very modern.

me on top of a church in Poland

The next morning we slowly woke up and after photos, goodbyes, and email exchanges with our new friends we headed into Krakow. We spent the day the wonderful city of Krakow. It’s a fun, beautiful place. I went off on my own for a bit and went to St. Mary’s Cathedral, Cloth Hall, and did some shopping. We all met up for a yummy dinner and then took the overnight train back to Gdansk. The overnight train back was not near as pleasant as they way. It was very crowded and we almost didn’t even get a seat. However, we did have to sit up most of the night and that was rather miserable. I didn’t sleep much and as soon as I got to the ship took a shower and fell asleep.

I woke up around noon in time to join three students for a trip to Sopot, a beach town that was 15 minutes by train north of Gdansk. We had a great time. We layed around on the beach and then before we left jumped on this really cool bungy-trampoline thing. We were doing flips and bouncing about 20 feet in the air. I loved it!

me flipping on the bungy-trampoline thing

I had a great time in Poland! It’s a beautiful country. The people are friendly, the streets are clean, and the food is cheap and good. I think it is still a bit of an undiscovered gem in Europe, but it won’t be for long.

Russia

St. Petersburg, Russia greeted us with a beautiful, blue sky and warm, sunny weather. For a city that only gets a few days of sun each year we were really lucky that every day was gorgeous. Our ship was parked in the Neva River about 5km from town so we did a lot of walking, which I enjoyed. The city is beautiful and very different from what I expected. The first morning I went on a bus tour of the city and to the Hermitage. The Hermitage is an enormous museum on par with the Louvre in France. Walking through every part of Hermitage would cover 27 miles! If you spent one minute looking at every piece in their collection it would take over 11 years! (These are the types of useless tidbits you pick up on guided tours). I started on a guided tour and then branched out on my own. It was amazing. There isn’t even any Russian art in it – that is all housed in the Russian Museum (which I didn’t make it to). I saw two Da Vinci’s, Michelangelo, Picasso, Monet, and much more.


The Interior of the Hermitage

I’ve always viewed Russia as a poorer country and while there are many people living in poverty I was shocked at the riches – the Hermitage, the palaces, the ornate churches, and the beautiful architecture. Although many of the places look wonderful on the outside and then when you wonder into the alleys between the buildings it is falling apart, however still beautiful in the way old brick can be.

In Russia the women are very fashionable in a 1980’s type of way and wear a lot of mini skirts and high heels. It’s rather amazing because the streets are often cobblestone or cracked up concrete. They also have these floor mats at many doorways that have holes just big enough for a high heel. Of course being less practiced at heels than the Russians, when I was leaving the ballet I got my heel stuck in one of the mat holes and then while trying to pull it out the other got stuck and then got it stuck for a third time and finally just walked out barefoot and laughing. Fortunately, I wasn’t the only American that had this problem.

The second day I spent time in St. Petersburg wondering around and visited the Church on Spilled Blood, which was incredible and is what I picture when I think of Russia.

the interior of the Church on Spilled Blood

The third night I traveled to Moscow with Semester at Sea. I was one of three trip leaders for the 93 participants. The experience was pretty crazy only because we were traveling with so many people, it was like herding cats. We had a few Russian tour guides with us – one was fabulous and the rest were only okay. Since we are not used to trains most of us didn’t sleep much on the way to Moscow. The day we spent in Moscow was very busy seeing the Kremlin and various other sights. By 11am I had probably had 30 people complain to me about something – always something I could do nothing about – the toilets, the tour guide, the bus, the heat, the itinerary, you name it people complained to me. Finally, I told them all to keep their negative thoughts to their selves that I wanted to enjoy the day and would not be able to if everyone complained to me. Well, then everyone had to come up and apologize to me which usually went something like this, “Amy, I am so sorry I was complaining to you. I didn’t realize you were getting so many complaints. It’s just that my camera ran out of batteries and I want to go back to the bus to get more. Do you know how much longer we’ll be at the Kremlin?” The whininess in their voice increasing with every word. What can you do? What I don’t understand is why would someone travel via a second class, overnight train in Russia and expect the Holiday Inn? You would think people would understand what they are getting into or at least just go with the flow, even if they have never been to Russia. Geez, very few Americans even get the privilege of traveling to Russia. The elitism of some of the students is my biggest frustration here. I think maybe some people are just never happy, no matter what they are doing or where they are. Those are the people I struggle with the most. Granted this particular trip was difficult because it was so structured. All of us were craving some free time to just wonder around Moscow. Finally, before dinner we had about 45 minutes in Red Square, which relaxed people a bit. Then we went to the Moscow circus, which was a highlight for me. It was excellent! Unfortunately, there were no trapeze flyers even though the bars were hanging. That was a disappointment, but a minor one. On the train ride home everyone slept very soundly. We were so tired after our busy day. Moscow is a beautiful city and much cleaner than St. Petersburg. I would love to go back and be able to explore more.

St. Basil in the Red Square in Moscow

Me in Red Square

Russia is an interesting country. It is an enormous country spanning 13 time zones and dwarfing the U.S. With the end of communism in 1991 the Russians have experienced so much change. Many people we talked with said they preferred communism over the current situation. I think part of this is because they do not have the infrastructure that we have in the States. There are very few roads outside of the cities, many people are very poor, and the police are corrupt and can be paid off easily. One example of their lack of infrastructure is their phone system. There are pay phones throughout the city, but you can only use a phone card from the company that owns the phone. Imagine if you had an MCI calling card, but could only find AT&T pay phones. You would be out of luck. It might not be so bad if phone cards were readily available, but no one I knew could ever figure out where the phone cards were sold. I imagine it will take at least 20 years for the infrastructure to match western Europe and the U.S.

Norway

Norway is a country that I had never considered visiting, but now that I have been here I am so glad to have come. It is gorgeous. The first day I wondered around to churches and museums with Laura, the art history professor. It was great because she would tell me the history of some of the old art work. We also saw several of Edvard Munch’s work that was great.
On day two I wanted to travel up to see some glacier mountains so I met up with Patrick, the Semester at Sea photographer and we hopped a train to a town called Flam. Once there we felt it was going to be too complicated to travel that far north so we decided to do some hiking around Flam and stay over night. We took the train back uphill and hiked down about 11km. It was gorgeous. We saw so many waterfalls I lost count. We stayed in a hotel and in the morning took a ferry to the next town over and hiked up to a waterfall and around some farmland.

The cute sheep!

One of the amazing things about Norway is their public access law. There are no trespassing laws and you can walk anywhere including on private property. We didn’t have to worry about someone calling the cops or pulling out a shotgun on us. Of course you have to be respectful and not trample their gardens, etc. We ended up talking with a couple of University students who were working in the field of the local agriculture college. They were picking weeds in a large garden. They had a great system where they would set the tractor at a very low speed, line it up on the row and then lay on this trailer designed just for this purpose. It seemed to be a very efficient system.

Just outside our hotel room

Today I walked around Bergen and visited the Fantoft Stave church that was rebuilt a few years ago. It was burned down by a satanic cult group in 1992. The original church dated back to the 11th century and so it was very sad to lose it to such an awful act of violence. It was rebuilt using the same tools and methods used back then. The unique thing about the entirely wooden church is that there are no nails. Everything is constructed to fit perfectly together without the addition of nails. In a few places where nails were necessary wooden ones were used.
On my way back to the ship I walked through the town center. There were a lot of street musicians and people selling things. I stumbled across three American Indian musicians playing in the street, quite ironic in Norway. It was especially funny to look over and see the Enthnomusicologist Professor and talk to her. Of course she was appalled.

Iceland II

From 6/28/05
Tomorrow we’ll be in Norway and then have to start paying for internet service. Semester at Sea follows the typical University model where faculty and students get more privileges than staff - in this case they get 200 minutes free internet whereas staff get only 100 minutes free until the end of the voyage in August. This was a bit of a surprise to me since we didn’t know about this ahead of time. At $.40/ minute the difference is only $40/person. I am just continually surprised what organizations do that may seem small, but communicate a clear message to their employees about how they view them. So I don’t know how much I’ll be posting between now and August, but hopefully enough to keep you all updated and entertained. Anyway, enough of my bitterness and on to the exciting things….

My third day in Iceland was rather uneventful until the evening. Reykjavík is known for their night life, so of course we had to experience it. At home my typical bedtime is 10:30pm so when the clubs at home are just picking up around 11pm I can barely stay awake. In Reykjavík no one really goes out until 1am, which is shortly after sunset. So on Saturday I went out with the other RDs around midnight. There was a dance at Café Reykjavik which was a fundraiser for the upcoming gay pride event so we went there. Well at midnight we stopped by and about three people were there, so we went to another bar called Café Solon for about an hour. When we returned to Café Reykjavik at 1am things were just starting to pick up. If I had been in the States I would have been exhausted, but since it doesn’t get dark all night the light plays tricks on your body. We stayed out until almost 4am and had a blast! I was rather fascinated by the whole thing. I barely felt tired and got up the next day at 8:30am. In fact if anything I felt energized and excited. The other different thing is that in a club in the States it is always very dark with few windows, but this place had big windows on both sides and the skylight was pouring in. The music they played was very diverse and included Dolly Parton, ABBA, Bon Jovi, rap, hard rock, and even heavy metal. It was actually a great mix with lots of American music and some Icelandic music. Everyone was dancing and seemed more carefree than in the States, less concerned about how other people were viewing them. It was quite refreshing.

My final day in Iceland involved a trip to the infamous Blue Lagoon. It is basically a section of a river that has been converted to a large hot tub heated by a geothermal power plant. It didn’t really seem like my thing, but everyone was raving about it so I decided to go check it out. Well, it was overrated, but still enjoyable. Here is a photo…

Iceland is a gorgeous country with friendly, proud locals. I am so glad I went and I would definitely go back. I have a feeling the Glacier lagoon (see previous post) is an experience that will be hard to top in any country.

Iceland

My experience with Iceland started the night before we arrived in the country. The sun set at 12:15am and the skies were clear. I think the entire ship was outside watching it set. There was this wonderful energy and sense of excitement and awe amongst everyone and you can see why. Check out the pictures.


The sunset at 12:15am


a student watching the sunset


The student life staff just before the sunset. It was cold and windy outside, but we were all so happy!


I went to bed after that so that I could get up a few hours later at 2:55am to see the sunrise. When my alarm went off I peeked my head out the window and decided to go back to sleep since it was 3am after all and getting up after two hours of sleep seemed a little absurd to me. However, as I rolled over to go back to sleep I moved my pillow and it knocked a glass of water off the nightstand into my bed. I leaped up to get a towel and try to dry the mess. Of course at that point I was awake so I put on my jacket and shoes, grabbed my camera and headed outside. The minute I stepped outside I was so glad I spilled that water. I was awestruck. The sun was rising over Iceland and was one of the most amazing sights I’ve ever seen. The photos I took barely look real; they look like paintings. I was thinking I’d be the only one crazy enough to be awake at that hour but there were at least 30 students outside watching it and many that never even went to bed. They said it never got dark and had remained pink and orange all night long. Again, there was this intense energy amongst everyone that was awake – adrenaline, awe, inspiration. It was worth getting up for. I stayed outside for about 25 minutes then went back to bed and unfortunately didn’t hear my alarm a few hours later and was awoken when the Assistant Dean announced that we all had to meet with the US Embassy folks in 15 minutes. I took the fastest shower of my life and made it on time. During our briefing I learned that Iceland is the second safest country in the world (not sure which is #1) and much safer than the U.S. The entire country has about as many people as the Greater Madison area and the capitol Reykjavik has about 115,000 people.


The sunrise at 3am



The sunrise over Iceland

In the morning I wondered around Reykavik with two other resident directors. We visited Hallgrimskirkja, a 75m church that can be seen from anywhere in Reykavik and the National Museum. We went back to the boat for dinner since an average dinner in Iceland is about $40 without drinks. It is a very expensive country with a high standard of living and not the place to go shopping. Everything here is very clean and there is virtually no air pollution in the entire city. They use natural geothermal heat from steam that rises out of the ground and do not rely on coal or fossil fuels for their energy.


Hallgrimskirkja

My second day in Iceland was awesome! I joined an organized tour to travel east of Reyjkavik to see the largest glacier in Iceland called Jokalsárlón. A few years ago the tongue of the glacier traveled down about 2km to the ocean and has been breaking apart ever since. This Glacier Lagoon is where the glacier tongue was and now pieces of the glacier that are slowly breaking off and melting. Like most of the geology of Iceland it is a very active location. Iceland is such a young island (geologically speaking) that it is still forming and has many active volcanos, earthquakes, etc. Consequently, the landscape looks magical.


Our first stop on the tour



The south coast of Iceland



Glacier lagoon with the Jokalsárlón Glacier in the background

We had time to walk around for about 45 minutes. I wondered off and as I was coming back I was walking along the shore looking at the rocks and was apart from other people. Next thing I know I looked up and there was a seal who popped out of the water and was looking at me. I stopped and as I started taking pictures the seal flipped up his tail and was fluttering along as if to show off or flirt with me. It was so awesome! We were just starring at each other and then some other people walked up and he swam away. My friend Laura (who is the art history teacher) came running up and says “Oh my gosh Amy, that was so cool! That seal was checking you out!” It was a neat moment.


The curious seal

After wandering around for a bit we got to go out on a Duck boat. These are old boats from the Vietnam war that can drive on land and float on the water. Those of you in Wisconsin know exactly what I am talking about!


me on the Duck boat

On the long ride home we stopped at another beautiful water fall and a few of us walked behind it.


The beautiful waterfall from behind

On the way home Laura and I were talking about the amazing things we had seen and the energy we felt. I was commenting about the Icelandic artists she talked about in her class and how you can really understand their inspirations and why they paint the way they do after seeing the beautiful land. She agreed, but said that nature always trumps art. It’s true. Nothing can compare to seeing the real thing.

We finally got home after the 16 hour tour. It was so much fun I didn’t even feel tired. As soon as I got to my room I downloaded my photos because I was so excited. I didn’t even sit down. I just love the immediate satisfaction of digital! Later Laura and I compared photos and I finally forced myself to go to bed at 1am. I was so energized and it was still light out, but I knew I needed to sleep. I love Iceland and hope I get to come back soon and go backpacking for several days so I can really spend time in the wilderness here.