Baltic Cruise: Berlin, Germany

Berlin meant a 3 hour bus ride in from the coast, but it was completely worth it. The most fascinating part was seeing the contrast between East and West Berlin. Historically, West Berlin was the place to be - there was money and capitalism, so they could afford to rebuild. East Berlin was communist and poor, and consequently they couldn't really rebuild. An interesting after effect is that decades later, East Berlin has become the place to be. When west Berlin was rebuilt, it was rebuilt in a rather utilitarian, unimaginative style. It was after a war, the important thing was just to get the city functioning again. East Berlin was barely rebuilt at all during that time, and remained in ruins for decades ... but the good news was that as it has started to be rebuilt, the builders are taking their time, and the architects are getting artsy. East Berlin is now where all the cool cats hang out.

Bombed out Old Church, and the ugly new 70s church

Posing

Berlin Wall Markers

Holocaust Memorial

Burn Before Reading

I saw Burn Before Reading last week & I really enjoyed it. It was fun & funny, and it's always amusing to see how movies portray the government... the stark gray offices, the empty hallways ... the boss that doesn't know what to tell his inferiors ...

"Report back to me when ...

I don't know...

When it makes sense."

And at the end of a series of ridiculous occurrences and unfortunate mishaps ... the conclusion:

"What did we learn?

I don't know either.

I guess we learned not to do that again.

F*ck if I know what we did."

*sigh* how very, very true. :)

Baltic Cruise: Copenhagen, Denmark

Our first port was Copenhagen. We started with breakfast, a necessity for two Swingle women.

Then we hopped a bus for a city tour. We saw the classic Little Mermaid statue. It was built in homage to Hans Christian Anderson's famous tale ... but no one from Copenhagen can understand how it got to be such a big deal.

Then we saw some other sights ... fountains, the Queen's Winter Castle...

Tivoli gardens turned out to be less spectacular than we had originally hoped. It turned out that we were there at exactly the wrong time to see any of the performances, so it was basically an Epcot Center crossed with a Six Flags for kids. We amused ourselves anyway, and then used the extra time to plan our next stop.

Rosenburg Castle - the home of the Danish crown jewels.

We navigated our way back to the ship on foot . . .  just in time.

Baltic Cruise: Days at Sea

Our first day on our ship, the Carnival Splendor, was a day at sea. Mom and I were very lazy during our days at sea. But that's what vacation's for, right? It turned out that after several days in a row of hard core sightseeing, we needed some time to relax anyway. But complete nothingness gets boring after a day too. We didn't do much on the ship - so I'll let some pictures tell you about it.

Reading on the windy deck

Mini golf

Self-Portrait in front of the 10:30 pm Baltic Sunset

In the cabin before formal night

Who says I need to put clothes on? This bathrobe is so comfy ...

Baltic Cruise: Dover, UK

Continuing the posts about my recent trip ... We took a bus from London to Dover to get on the cruise ship. 

We stopped on the way at Dover Castle - and it was fricking freezing & breezy. I was definitely starting to worry that I should have packed warmer clothes. Anyway, the castle was a castle ..

From Europe Cruise

 but the really cool part was touring the "Secret Wartime Tunnels". 

From Europe Cruise

Apparently the tunnels have been used throughout the years to fortify the city of Dover against attacks from the Sea. The tunnels were set up as they used to be in WWII - as a hospital. Unfortunately I couldn't take any pictures inside, but it was pretty neat to see the setup in there, and kind of amazing to imagine what it must have actually been like during wartime. All I can say is, thank goodness for modern medicine!

Holding you ...

"Holding you holds me together

when holding on gets just a little too hard.

When this tightrope I travel begins to unravel 

and I feel like I'm falling apart,

holding you holds me together." - Gretchen Wilson's "Holding You"

I've been emotional lately. My sister's crazy car accident sent ripples through everyone in my family, and I've been stressed at work & with the whole Italy thing. Plus a million people I know are getting married or having babies - which is just weird.

Anyway, having someone to hold ... and to hold me. Has really helped.

Wear Your Seatbelt

Here's Theresa & Benny ... and the remnants of Theresa's car. Her front left tire is completely gone, so we think it blew. The car spun around and then flipped several times, before coming to rest in the median. Theresa climbed out the driver's side window & the car caught fire. Benny was thrown from the car, but managed to get away with only biting his tongue. Theresa was wearing her seatbelt, and gripping the steering wheel to keep herself in place. She's bruised and scratched, and otherwise fine.

So ... did I make my point?