I'm sitting here in the Half Moon Room on Deck 7, enjoying the bright light of a Dutch summer sun, listening to the new station band playing in the nearby Ocean Bar, and I'm in a strange state of peace. I had a long day of walking through Amsterdam today after being deterred by the hundreds of people in line for the Anne Frank House, so i made the most of it and just wandered around that beautiful old city (and bought stroopwaffels. They are the only thing one needs.). We've had quite an eventful cruise, with lots of fun surprises along the way.

Just to recap, here's our itinerary:

disregard the Norwegian ports, which is what we are currently sailing

The biggest news of this cruise was that we finally finished our installation period with the shows, performing Rock at the Opera and Dance to standing-ovation crowds. We said goodbye to Tash, our director, after Dance was installed, and we were sad to see her go....but not without one last hurrah in the OB (frome whence hails my new Facebook profile picture).

We were also happy to find that word had gotten out that we were a halfway decent cast, and we had many of our fellow crew members attending our shows. It's always such a nice feeling to look out into a blank sea of faces, but hear your band mates, shop girls, and spa ladies hooting and hollering for you. It's a nice family feel on this little ship, and I'm enjoying it. 

We started this cruise with two picture-perfect days in the Danish ports of Aalborg and Copenhagen. This was the last time we got to the see and enjoy the sun in full force before being battered by winds and rain in the following ports, and we amde the most of it.

Aalborg is a small city on the Juteland of Denmark, and apparently, the Prinsendam is the only cruise ship that calls there. It was a sweet little town with cute little cobblestone streets and a nice medieval quarter, but we docked on a national holiday, so EVERYTHING WAS CLOSED. Like, everything. However, they did provide free hot dogs with all the tradiitonal Danish fixin's (sweet pickles, chopped onions, onion straws, mustard, and ketchup), so that was a good concession.

also, I got to take this picture.

Copenhagen was an absolute dream day for me, because I got to spend most of it with my friend Jacob, who I met just a few months ago when I was hostelling in Mostar, BiH. We met up for some coffee at a theater near the Opera House, then went for a great bike ride across the bridge. We climbed up a beautiful church, whose top golden-painted spire has a spiral staircase on the outside, providing amazing views of the city. We then moved on to Cristiania, a sort of new-hippie enclave just outside the city, where free love reigns and the air is thick with the smell of patchouli and hash. It was a cute littel place, with lots of little twisting, turning, side streets and hills to climb. I had to be back on the ship for a tech rehearsal, but as we were docked there later than usual, I had time to go back out and explore the little hamlet again. I finished my day with a massive smoothie containing about a carton of blueberries. Chock full of antioxidants, I biked back to the ship in the beautiful 80-degree sunshine. Just the dreamiest of days.

spiral-y!

Jacob

 

 One of our nights on the ship was dubbed a "crew" night in the spa, and the cast came out in force to patronize our spa girls. I indulged in an acupuncture session and a haircut, both of which were fabulous. I hadn't had acupuncture in such a long time, and Charlene was fantastic. Chani, who did my hair, gave me a nice trim and curled my whole head...which if you know my hair and its inability to hold shape other than "straight-ish", this was an accomplishment. We felt fabulous.

Once we finished Dance, we had a good 6 days before our next show, and we suddenly found ourselves with all the time in the world on our hands, after several weeks of rehearsals, runs, and reblocks for all our shows. It was a wonderful feeling, to have the days to ourselves. And especially after coming from a Seabourn ship, where we were expected to do social duties several times a day, to now have the freedom to do what we wanted and be where we pleased (within reason, of course) was a nice feeling.

In the middle of all this, I got a wonderful surprise with the arrival of Annie Frances, who was a guest enetertainer on the Maasdam when i was there four years ago. That sassy Aussie's still got it, and it was wonderful to reconnect with her after so long. That, and I didn't have to eat any more Vegemite! 

Our newfound freedoms also coincided with the beginning of the World Cup games, and we've been keeping up pretty well with the teams. The best night so far was Holland's win over European cahmps Spain, who got hammered in a 5-1 defeat. And considering we are on a HOLLAND America ship, you can imagine that there was quite a fervor. The OB was (and still is) decked out in orange bunting and a huge Dutch flag. The ship has paid big $$$ to get all the World Cup games streamed here to the ship, and because of the time difference between us and Brazil, there are a lot of late-night games to watch in the bars around the ship. I don't follow soccer at all, but I get caught up in the energy of it all. It reminds me of traveling Europe back in 2006 when Italy won it all (and I was in Venice that day!). Who knows, maybe the Orange Lions will take the whole thing....?

We had a nice day in Tallinn, Estonia, which was much improved by the lack of gale-force winds and sleeting rain, like we had the last time we docked there. I had a nice, relaing day with Anthony and Meredith there, with a nice stop at the Beer House for some home brew and giant pretzels. We spent the rest of the day smelling heavily of garlic. It was awesome.

INDEED.

Perhaps my best forway into cultural actitivties came in St. Petersburg, Russia, when I got the opportunity to escort a tour of the Hermitage at night. I had never been before, and I had heard that it was an absolute not-to-be-missed sort of place, so I felt very fortunate to be there. We were on a tour arranged specifically for the cruise, so no other guests were allowed in the museum. We had a private tour guide who has a masters in art history, and not having to jostle our ways through the rooms was a luury I won't soon forget. What impressed me more about the msueum were the rooms themselves. The artwork is beautiful and impressive, but every room is so uniquely furnished and painted and decorated, that it was like walking through the different worlds at Disneyland, always something new to see. 

loving it

I had a wonderful time.

The wonderful times continued at a tiny cafe bar at night with four good friends, the Turkmenistani owners, and an indeterminate number of bottles of vodka consumed. I don't remember too much about that night, but I am certain I had fun. 

Probably.

We mosey'd along to Visby, Sweden...or, that is to say, we tried to mosey along. This port is notorious for its rough waters, and despite the crew's best eofforts, the captain decided it was too choppy and dangerous for the passengers to embark the tender boats to shore. So we pulled anchor and slowly crawled toward Germany. 

The next port, of Ystad, Sweden, was similarly vexed with poor weather at anchorage, so the captain decided instead to port us in Kiel, Germany for the next day. The city itself isn't much to see, unless you are an afficionado of WWII shipbuilding. Instead, five of us took a (very efficiently run) train to the nearby town of Lübeck. It was there I got to visit Niederegger, the shop where marzipan was invented! I'm always up for trying delciisou things in their place of origin (see my adventures at St. Sixtus Abbey in Belgium, circa 2006), and I was not disappointed. The marzipan was flavorful, smooth, and just the pick-me-up we needed after an hour-and-a-half train ride in the rain.

Also, good for making recreations of the city center!

After the surprise port of Kiel, we had our second-to-last show--Bravo--which was received with another standing ovation, and also featured our new bass player, Hannah. Having had to do RATO without a bass player, and using the track for the instrument, it was nice to have a live bassist again.

We finally made it to a double-overnight docking in Hamburg, Germany, which was a blast and a half. I was on IPM for the first day, but we docked at 6pm, so i didn't miss too too much. The next day was a great day of outdoor brunching, shopping, and seeing the sights.

brunch and Mer go well together

Hamburg is a very pretty place, I had no idea! That day was also the day that Germany played Ghana in the World Cup, so when we went out after our two shows of Amour, the Reeperbahn was absolutely packed with drunk Germans celebrating the 2-2 tie. Drinks were cheap, music was loud, and delciious doner kebab was eaten at 2 in the morning. All in all, a success. Also, the Queen Mary 2--Annabel and Dima's previous ship--had arrived later that second night, and apparently the entire city of Hamburg comes out to welcome that ship when it docks. Not even those two knew why it was so celebrated there, but it was funny to see advertisements for the ship all over the city, with not one mention of "oh yeah, the Prinsendam is here too..." No love, I tells ya.

And then it was back to IJmuiden, to start another adventure! We're now on a 20-day fjord-tacular voyage, where we'll be bouncing around the Norwegian coast, going above the Arctic Circle and into the polar ice cap!! I'm reeeeeeeeeally hoping to see the Northern Lights for the first time, and I'm thinking we'll hgave a good chance. This will also be the cruise where the sun will neither set nor rise for three days straight. COOL.

The last little tidbit of this last cruise is that I was offered another contract with Belinda King! I haven't made a decision on it yet, but I am very flattered. It would be a four-week rehearsal period in England for five new shows--one of which is a singers-only show around the piano--performing on the Seabourn Sojourn for five months and the Seabourn Odyssey for another four months. It's a huge undertaking, but the itineraries are INCREDIBLE: Spain, Senegal, Namibia, and overnight in Cape Town, South Africa, India, Cambodia, Madagascar, the Phillipines, Morocco, Egypt...then a two-week break, then on to the Black Sea in the summer--the Balkans, Ukraine, overnights in Istanbul... the list goes on. I'd be adding another 25 countries to my collection, bringing my total up past 100, if I'm not mistaken....!!!

I'll update when we're back in IJuiden on July 13, when my parents will be on, as well as my dear friend Yaniv! I can't wait!

Ciao!