Has it been two days?

Boy, this trip is flying by. Not sure if I want to go back to work or not. Well, I know I don't, but sometimes I miss having a reason to get up in the morning. I know, I'm sick and twisted.

Day ??? something or other on this cruise. Helsinki was awesome. Saw some more castles and a glass blowing factory. Picked up some cheap china in the store there. A lot like Ikea, but they have seconds - which are perfect. Picked up some new plates and serving dishes. I should have bought the coffee cups and bowls to match too. MIght have to order some when I get home. Loved the colors of everything. Very basic - colors and styles. Love the simple lines over here.

Docked in St. Petersburg this morning and had a busy day touring the city. I'm glad we get two days here - there's too much to see. We also had our first day of cool weather. Only 14 degrees celsius. In the mid 50's. Nice. Actually, with the wind, it seemed cooler. You could see your breath. I love the cold weather so today was perfect. Hope tomorrow is just as cool.

So, I saw Peterhof palace today. Then we went to St. Isaacs Cathedral and some other cathedral. It was a long day and I can't remember the name of the third place. There was lunch in there somewhere. A traditional lunch with vodka, caviar and all the other stuff. I don't eat half of the 'native' foods over here, but its fun to see what they do eat. I will say that the bread is fantastic over here. And I LOVE lingon berry jam. Or anything made with lingon berry. :)

Can't wait to get home and start posting some pictures. Nothing too fantastic since its only my Canon point and shoot camera. I didn't want to rish my Rebel over here. I don't know what I'd do if they made me pack it. I've heard some airlines are very restrctive and will not let you carry anything on. I won't pack that camera. I can only think of my mental state if they lose the bag its in or break it in transport. No, I'll just live with my little Canon A80. It takes great photos. Not as nice as the Rebel, but nice photos. I think I've up over 500 photos now. I'll have to sort through them when I get home and can actually view them.

On tap for tomorrow is more St. Petersburg. Tsarkoye Selo, Church of the Spilled Blood and more. I think she said we have a canal tour in there somewhere. Good, I love boat rides. And for anyone who remembers the old Rocky and Bullwinkle cartoon, our bus guide sounds like the character Natasha.

The city (St. Petersburg) is beautiful. Old and beautiful. Its clean but not clean. There is no litter and very little grafiti. Very little. Only in the areas down by the dock. But the buildings are so old and not very well kept up. Its funny (olay, not funny, but odd) to see the people living in poverty while the palaces and cathedrals are being restored. There is money somewhere here in St. Petersburg, just not with the people. The amount of gold leaf in some of these buildings is incredible. It is real gold leaf - 24k. And some of these rooms are just coated in it.

Since I love Russian history (especially the Romanovs) I'm just loving the tours. I've read so many books about the life of the family - how they lived, what they did, where they lived and now I'm actually seeing the places. Thats what I love. Reading about a place and then actually seeing it. I love anything about European history anyway so you could drop me in any city, in any country and I would find something.

I better finish this before I rack up too much on the bill. 35 cents a minute! Its a good thing I type fast!

The internet cafe...

...is busy tonight! Not sure what the deal is, but EVERYONE on this boat is lined up to use the computers. Better type fast.

Toured Stockholm Sweden today. Saw the Royal Palace and the entire Old Town. Awesome city. So much history. I'll say one thing for these Euro's, they know how to preserve their history. Not like Americans who tear down the ruins and put up a plaque to commemorate what used to be there. The stories are amazing. So much to see and not enough time to see it in.

Tomorrow, I'll be in Helsinki, Finland. Not sure what tour I have, but it most likely includes at least one castle and one church. I love castles. I want to live in the castles.

Had drinks in the Sjkywalkers lounge on the back of the boat. 18th Deck on the very back. Its like 200 feet in the air and you bounce around like crazy. A lot of fun. Great sunset and views as we sailed out of Stockholm. The weather has been a little warm, but cool enough to survive. It could be cooler though......

Bryan is busy playing golf on the simulator on board. He attempted to win the closest to the pin competition, but that didn't go so well. He said some scratch golfer just showed up in flip flops and took over. Nice. He could have won two tour tickets valued at $664 for the two days in St. Petersburg.

So, I ate at a traditional Swedish Smorgasbord today. Well, I only ate the bread and jam, but everyone else attempted to eat the 57 dishes with herring in them. Herring smells very bad, in case you wanted to know. Stinky fish. And they put it in everything. Everything. Did I mention that they put that stinky fish in every dish???? Blech.

So, the line of people is growing so I'll post this entry and update again tomorrow.
For all of my little friends at the office - hope you're having fun working while I'm on VAY-KAY-SHUN!!!

WWW

I love the internet. Isn't it great? The boats have internet access now and I can update the blog, check email etc.

Its great.
No pictures - can't upload any from here.
It's been an awesome three days in Copenhagen. The trip here wasn't so great. London was such a hassle. Remind me never to fly through there again on a connecting flight.....
Once we got through the 87 screenings and transfers and other such things they had waiting for me, the connecting flight to Copenhagen was hassle free.
The city is amazing. Can't say enough about it. The history and stories in this city could fill several blogs. I already have 200 photos. Some good ones to scrap and some just for posterity sake.
Took a couple of tours while we were there and tried to see as much of the city as possible. I need another few days just to take in the rest and see everything in detail.
No SUV's over here. Everyone drives a little compact car. By compact, I mean COMPACT. The Mini Cooper is a luxury vehicle over here. All of the cabs are Mercedes Benz' and it seems that everyone rides their bikes. I saw one pregnant lady over here who had to be past her due date and there she flew past me, her knees banging on that ever-so-pregnant belly. I've walked more in the last three days than I have in months. It almost allows me to justify the food I'll be putting away over the next 10 days.
Its almost 9 pm here and the boat will be leaving the dock soon. I have to get up on deck so I can watch.

I'll update more in a couple of days. Our first port is Nysanham (sp?) Sweden.

The bags are packed.....

The money is exchanged and the camera is loaded. We're off to Europe for two weeks. I'll be updating my blog every couple of days, but I won't be noting it in the 2peas Blog thread when I do. So, if you want to check back, bookmark this!

So, our flight on Terrorist Airways leaves tonight. Got my Ativan ready.

Not looking forward to dropping the dog off at the sitters for two weeks, but I'm sure he'll be fine. There will be two english bulldogs for him to play with so he should be fine. Won't miss us too much. I got him a new toy to take along and of course, his favorite blanket. He'll be fine. I just have to keep telling myself that......

And I leave you with a picture of the man I love!

2 more days.....

2 more days....2 more days...

If I keep repeating it, those 2 days will be come 1 and then I can count the hours. Just checked the Princess website and my boat is docked in St. Petersburg. Very cool sunset over there.

I made a very difficult decision this morning. I won't be taking my Digital Rebel with me on this trip. There is too much that could happen. Sure, I can take it on the plane with me Friday but (God forbid) if something should happen while I'm over there and they change the carry on restrictions AGAIN, I'll be forced to pack the camera. I'm NOT packing that camera. I paid WAY too much money for it to subject it to the 'security' personnel and the baggage handlers on the tarmac. I've seen the way they 'handle' bags and there is no way anything is surviving the 'luggage toss'. I'm convinced those guys are in some kind of competition with their co workers on the tarmac to see who can throw what further.

So, the Canon A80 will be making the trip. And to think, I rushed my husband into getting this back in June so that I had time to learn the functions. This camera was purchased for this trip specifically. Its not like I go to Europe every day and I wanted to bring back some really awesome photos. Guess that won't be happening......

So, in honor of no camera, no photos today.

Extra hockey tickets.....

have been secured. Yep, I called and purchased some tickets for the special games this year. Opening night, the Rangers and Islanders, the Jersey retirement ceremony for Luc in January.
Of course, I still have my awesome seats now. Lets take another look, shall we?
I'm loving these. Can't wait for the season to actually start.I worked on some projects this weekend. I finished the layout from the Kelli Crowe class I took at the Oasis a couple of weeks ago.

Lots of stamping and water colors. Loved the idea though and Kelli was too cute! I know, the LO is about a hockey player. Sorry! I'm obsessed. And I really didn't have anyone else to use the LO for and Luc just popped into my mind as we were working on it.

I also made the little shell covered book from the Jenni Bowlin kit from a couple of months ago. I love these little books. 7 Gypsies 4x4 mini books. Book is painted with Ice colored paint from Lil Davis Designs, then coated with some of the glitter in the kit. I ModgePodged the shells over that and then covered them with clear Glitter Glaze (LDD). I printed out some beach and sunset pictures in wallet size and added them to the pages. Nothing too amazing but a cute little book to keep on my desk at work. Something I can look at when I don't want to be here.

Busy, busy, busy....

So, busy these days. Busy working, getting ready for the trip, cleaning. Busy. I can't believe we leave in 4 days. We booked this trip over 400 days ago and I've been counting it down. People at work were laughing at me when I posted the first count at some 400 + days.
Well, it creeps up when you aren't paying attention. And I wasn't. With work and other vacations planned in between, time really flew. I finished up the travel journals for my mother and I and we've ordered the money from the bank. Still lots to do. My family is pretty much packed, but I'll wait until the night before to do ours. Why? Because I try to wear myself out for the flight. If I stay up all night packing, I'll be exhausted and sleep on the plane. Trust me, I've done it before. Well, with the aid of some Ativan. I'm not a good flyer these days. Terrorists and turbulence are my biggest fear. so, if I sleep through it all, I could care less.
Some pictures of the travel journals....

I used the Sarabinders with the lined papers for journaling. A few pockets and envelopes are stuck in there to hold the good stuff. With a full 14 days over there, I should fill mine up. I've booked us on every tour that takes us to historic castles and other places. I love the history.
Can't wait. 4 more days.

Of course, I can't be ALL happy about this trip. There are several things I'm going to miss while I'm gone.

2 Michelle Hill classes at some of my LSS.
1 Frozen Fury - the best preseason hockey game in the entire league and several parties in Vegas with the LGK crew
Birthdays
The Long Island Scrapbook Expo - My mother and I were going to fly back and go with my cousins.
I'm sure there is more that I'm missing, but they don't matter. The above items matter. But, what the hell, I'm going to EUROPE baby!!!