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January 3, 2010 - Punto Arenas, Chile

On the way here last night we went through a pretty strong storm. Gusts of wind up to 60 mph I think I heard, though we were only exposed to the open sea at two different 15 minute intervals, the rest of the time being protected by islands. Still, with 20 foot swells it was a fun ride.

Today the weather looked iffy for the tour to the penguin colony. It was cloudy and the bus was getting rained on on the whole ride out there. However, as is common in this area of the world, the weather changes rapidly, and by the time we arrived at the colony it was a partly cloudy, sunny day. The colony of penguins resembled what I'd imagine the Hobbit's Shire looks like. Mounds and underground nests, with paths connecting everything that the penguins hop and wobble along on their way to go play in the ocean, and then come back. This is mating season, and each nest has two parents and 1-2 chicks. Also, a jackrabbit, and some cousins of the ostrich made appearances as well.

After leaving the colony, the rain came right back. Looks like we timed it perfectly.

At least tomorrow, and perhaps the day after, we will be in steep Chilean fjords, and I'm told that at least tomorrow I will be without internet. Hopefully I'll have some good pictures of the fjords by the time I get internet again!

January 2, 2010 - Ushuaia, Argentina

Today (and yesterday), we were in at what they call "The End of the World", the southern most city on the planet. I'm not sure what defines a "city", and if there are any smaller settlements further south becuase there is a little land south of this city, but it is close enough.

Last night I didn't really have time to do anything, and today, given that we were to leave in the early afternoon, I didn't have a lot of time either. Still, I got up early and was able to get a taxi to a chair lift, at the top of which I heard was a nice hike. The chair lift was closed for the next 45 minutes, so I decided just to walk up from there. This was a good choice because it was only a 15 minute walk (along a mountain creek) to where the chair lift extended.

I was only able to hike beyond that another 45 minutes or so, which I guess I'll estimate is 1200 feet above the start of the chairlift, and maybe 2000 feet above sea level. This far south though, I was well above the timber line, and getting strong winds off of the surrounding mountains that were cold enough to only have been coming from the nearby glacier. I got a few pretty good pictures or the surrounding mountains and waterfalls, but deciding that I couldn't go any further without gear, turned around.

But the time I got back to the top of the chair lift, the people had just begun arriving. I tried to sneak on for a ride down, but that didn't fly, so I just walked the rest of the way. It wasn't a particularly long walk anyway.

I just left Argentina for good, and tomorrow I'll be in one of the southern-most Chilean cities. I'm scheduled for a penguin tour, so hopefully I'll get up close to one of those guys.

December 28-30, 2009 - Antarctica

I probably should have written after each day, but such was the activity on the ship that only now, on the 30th, am I getting to writing. Two days ago we passed what I guess are considered two of Antarctica's most northern islands, Elephant Island and King George Island. While the scenery was great, it was nothing compared to the following two days, so instead of describe those islands, I'll move onto the evening, when myself, a couple of the other bandmembers, and some members of the cast went up to the guest hot tub for a midnight bath. We are never going below the Antarctic Circle, so the sun does set, and it did this evening around quarter to midnight. But it never was dark. There is nothing like sitting in a jacuzzi in 40 degree air watching chunks of ice float by.

I'm surprised at what most people consider cold. I was on my way up to the jacuzzi, which involves a 50 foot walk in open air (though protected from the wind), and people thought I was crazy to walk it in my t-shirt and shorts. After all, there was a jacuzzi at the end of it, and I bet the air was 30 degrees F at the coldest.

The next day I set my alarm for 6 am because that was about when we entered "Iceberg Alley". It was a bit windier this day, though still only about 30-40 degrees F, so I couldn't really understand what the big deal was. But the icebergs were a big deal. Many were long enough to land an airplane on. They looked flat enough too, though I'm sure up close they were loaded with fissures and bumps.

After that, we arrived at a Deception Point. I forget the story as to why it is called Deception Point. But it was complete with towering cliffs, icebergs, and penguins. The penguins, being at least a mile away, couldn't really be seen by the naked eye. But you could smell them when downwind. Obviously, there were a lot of them. And a lot of penguin poo.

Today is what is most fresh in my mind, and was by far the most spectacular. This morning we went through some narrow channels and fjords, surrounded by cliffs and ice (this time much closer), and the sun was shining brightly. At the back of the ship, out of the wind and in the sun, the thermometer read 55 degrees F. However, at the bow of the ship, in the direct wind, it was actually quite cold. I felt like I had just gotten done skiing. We made our way through the channels to Palmer Station, which is an American research station. I'm not exactly sure if it was on an island or mainland Antarctica, but I guess it doesn't matter too much. Particularly in the wintertime, where the total surface area of Antarctica doubles due to the surrounding frozen waters.

At Palmer Station, we picked up 10 people that work there, a collection of scientists and maintenance engineers, who gave a 90 minute talk on what they do there, the science they are working on, and also on life in Antarctica. It was very fascinating. I wish I had had an opportunity to speak with them, but they had to get back, we had to get going, and a lot of people had questions of them. Not surprisingly, the question of climate change came up, both in the presentation and in the guest's subsequent questions. Their answers were both politically diplomatic, and at the same time unanimous about the interpretation of their data in so much as 1) yes, the climate is getting warmer, particularly in Antarctica, 2) Carbon Dioxide levels have been rising proportionally and over the same time period. They made no predictions however as to how long it would take for such changes to cause any sort of mass or cataclysmic change, since there are simply too many variables.

I probably snapped a gigabyte of photos, which will be up as soon as my web site problem is taken care off. Tomorrow we will be again crossing the Drake Passage up to Cape Horn, where we will have an overnight stay. Hopefully I'll get on a penguin tour this time.

December 26, 2009 - Stanley, Falkland Islands, U.K.

I guess more often than not, the weather is too harsh to allow people to tender to shore here. Today we were fortunate to have a calm sunny day. I got ashore early hoping to find out where the penguins were hanging out, and also hoping to find a war museum. After learning that the penguins were a 5 mile hike away, one way, I looked into getting a taxi or a tour. However, given that I had no money other then Argentinian (and I think they are still sensitive about that whole invasion thing), I decided to take the walk. Even though my shoes weren't the best for it (I got a few blisters), it was a nice scenic walk. There was hardly a tree on the island(s) (the only trees I saw were at the Government House, and I think they were transplants). Even though I guess there are parts of the island that are off limits due to the possibility of the random land mine still present, a local told me of a short cut, and given that there was no fence, I took it. So for much of my walk, I was on the water's edge, on a dirt footpath. I didn't see any wildlife until I found the penguins, and when I found them, there was a fence (with a landmine warning), so I only saw them at a distance. It was still very much worth the trip.

After returning back to the pier, I walked in the opposite direction towards a few memorials and the museum. Sadly, the museum had closed at 1 pm, so I missed out on that. But there were a couple of nice monuments, both to the liberation in 1982, and also to the naval victory against Germany early in the first world war. They also had a nice solar system representation, where they had a globe model of the sun, and put the planets along the jetty at distances to scale with the globe's size. Given that the globe was a good 3-4 feet in diameter, and that I had already walked 10 miles, I only walked to Mars and back.

Even though I thought I had heard that the ozone hole was closing, and I also didn't think that the hole went that far north, the lack of ozone was apparent in my sunburn. I've been burnt worse, but I was only in the sunlight for 5 hours at a summer latitude similar to that of Saskatoon. I would expect some color, but I really got a red face. I should have brought a hat.

In a couple days I'll be off the coast of Elephant island (off of the Antarctic peninsula), and from there on will be moving closer to the continent. More later!

December 18, 2009 - Montevideo, Uruguay

It was nice to be in a largish city that felt reasonably safe and didn't smell like urine (most of the time). Not to knock the other places on this trip, but Montevideo certainly felt...I don't know if European is valid or even what I'm going for, but it is the only word I can think of. All I did today was walk around the downtown area, which suited me just fine. There were seemingly endless tables on the main cobblestone market street and in a small park filled with antigues, trinkets, books, coins, and junk for sale. I briefly thought about getting an antique pair of binoculars, but the guy asked $50 for them, and they weren't worth a tenth that (since I'm guessing, as old as they looked, they may have been 50 years old). I also found an old Ben Franklin half dollar from the 40s...he wanted $10 for it. I passed as well.

The most interesting thing I found requires a little background. Recently I completed reading The Rise And Fall Of The Third Reich, a very comprehensive history of Nazi Germany. I recalled, even before docking today, that in 1939 a German cruiser, the Admiral Graf Spee, having been severly damaged in a battle with the British in 1939, docked in Montevideo for a day, before the government required that it leave or be interned. The Captain decided to take the ship out and scuttle it.

Anyway, as I was walking down this cobbletone street, I saw that it extended to a pier. I decided to walk out as far as the pier went. There were various fishermen on the pier with enormous poles catching tiny fish. Towards the end of the pier, on one of the many huge stones that lined the pier, I saw faintly painted on the rock "Panzerschiff Graf Spee 1939". Panzerschiff means "armored ship". Of course, anyone could have painted that on the rock, but I suppose there is a decent chance that an actual person from the Graf Spee did it before taking the ship out to be skuttled. I thought that was neat.

That's all for today. I'll try to get a good internet connection in Buenos Aires from which to fix my website and upload pictures.

December 15, 2009 - Rio De Janeiro, Brazil

Given that we had a rehearsal late in the morning today, and the fact that I didn't want to spring for a taxi by myself, I didn't have a chance to do everything I wanted to do. Nevertheless, myself and 4 other band members all sprung for a taxi to take us almost 3000 feet up to Corcovado. This is of course, home to the statue of Christ The Redeemer which keeps a watch on the harbor of Rio de Janeiro. The trip was pretty uneventful...haggling with the taxi drivers was probably the only difficulty in getting there, and helpful as our driver was (we were planning on tipping 25 Reals on top of the 100 promised), when we left the taxi he tried to up the fee to 140. Successfully I may add in that James proceeded to give him 140. Whatever...split 5 ways, it was an inexpensive excusion.

There really is nothing else to note...I never got to the beach, which I guess is a shame because of how famous it is, but I really don't find myself regretting much anyway. In 3 days time we will be in Montevideo, Uruguay.

December 7, 2009 - Boca De Valeria, Brazil

Since the powers that be on Crystal have seen it fit to increase musicians' "Port Manning" duties to one port in 4, this was to be one of the many ports that I was to miss. Thankfully, after having lunch with one of the singers, Liam, he volunteered to take over my duty as he was worried about about what going ashore would to do his voice. I only had 2 hours, but it was a very interesting time.

Boca De Valeria is the kind of port that I enjoy the most, in that it is hardly a port, or hardly a town at all. At best one could describe it as a permanent settlement. I counted maybe 10 houses total (which probably housed 100 adults and children). Before going ashore, I'd heard chatter from some of the crew about the extreme poverty of the people there, how kids are begging for money and such. While the kids did go out of their way to get tips and such (often times by giving the tourists a tour of the area), I didn't feel pressured, nor did I get the feeling that poverty really had a meaning there. Certainly, the people weren't well off. There was one generator in town that produced electricity (and I doubt it ran 24 hours a day as it smelled like it burned oil inefficiently when I walked past it). I'm not sure they had running water, though I did see a elevated water basin next to the church, which was the only building that wasn't simply a thatched hut on stilts.

The people seemed friendly and healthy if not overly fed. A lot of truly free range chickens roamed about, as well as numerous sluggish stray dogs (including another Sammy impersonator).

Having gotten off the ship late, I somehow avoided the onslaught of kids trying to earn tips from me. I set out to a trail that went up a bluff and found myself completely alone in the Amazon jungle. While I'm sure the bugs come out at night in force, the people that get concerned about always wearing long sleeves and using bug repellent apparently haven't spent any time in northern Minnesota. I never once was bitten by anything. Most of the bugs I saw were large dragonflies, but only in certain areas. Having now hiked a little in the Amazon, the forests of Alaska (also notorius for mosquitos), and northern Minnesota, the bugs are most annoying in Minnesota hands down.

I walked past patches of land that had been slashed and burnt, but I think these are the areas that, according to reports I've heard, have had this treatment in a traditional and responsible fashion. It seemed to me that the settlement is almost completely self-sufficient, except for a small need for gas/oil/parts for the town generator and the 10 or so boats with small outboard motors.

Down one particular trail I came across a fallen tree that was hollowed out. I saw movement out of the corner of my eye, and it turns out that about 100 tree frogs were hiding out from the sun in the trunk. I managed to get my camarea in there and get some neat pictures. However, that, and an agile lizard scurring across the path were the only examples of wildlife I came across. I did only have about an hour to hike.

Tomorrow we are in Santarem. I have no idea if it will be the same thing or a more developed town or city. I hope it is another small settlement, but I guess most of the passengers weren't very happy with port today. They probably only are content when there enough vendors selling Brazilian junk and trinkets that were probably made in China anyway. One can hope.

December 6, 2009 - Manaus, Brazil

It's probably a shame that I haven't added anything significant here in 3 years, but I may as well break that streak right now. So far on this contract there isn't a heck of a lot to report. A week ago I was on Devil's Island, which until the 50s was a penal colony for French political prisoners. It doesn't sound like it would have been a pleasant experience. Oddly now, even though the island seems bleak and a little creepy, people vacation here, living in what used to be the old guard barracks.

More recently I've arrived in Manaus. It's hard to believe that I'm actually closer to the Columbian and Peruvian borders than I am to the Atlantic Ocean, and the ship took us all this way. I had no idea the Amazon was so massive, but there times coming up the river when you couldn't see across it. Of course, this has at least to much to do with the fact that it is very smokey. The moment the ship entered the amazon, I could smell wood smoke IN MY CABIN. Of course, my first reaction was to check around for a fire. Turns out it is the slashing and burning of the Amazon that I was smelling. You don't always smell it, but when the wind is right it is very pervasive.

Two days ago I took a crew tour, which was supposed to involve canoing in the Amazon, but due to something going wrong, all they did was drive 60 crew on a big ferry for 30 minutes up the Amazon (which wasn't really a pleasant ride) up to what's called the "Meeting of the Rivers". Where the Amazon and the River Negro meet. The River Negro is "black water"...I guess the water, while clean, is stained like tea because of the leaves that fall in it up stream. The Amazon is brown and silty. They come together with an obvious striation right in the middle of the river. I guess the black water is low in PH while the brown water is high in PH. But they didn't seem to be chemically reacting, so I say the jury is still out on that. However, I never took chemistry, so what do I know?

Anyway, as the guide was talking about this, I was sitting on the edge of the boat for pictures. I noticed a canoe with a few local people driving up to us...right at ME actually. A woman had a stuffed animal in her hands. Suddenly, she pulls up right next to me and thrusts the stuffed animal directly into my hands. It was only then did I realize it wasn't stuffed at all, but a live sloth. I was shocked to say the least. Every crew member on the boat a picture of me looking stunned holding a grinning sloth. I'd heard from a nature show that sloths deficate through their fur as a defense mechanism, so I was careful to not touch my eyes after I held it. However, wikipedia makes no mention of this tendancy, so I don't know which is correct.

That's pretty much all to report for now. Coming up soon will be Rio and Buenos Aires. I'll be getting to the Corcovado in Rio, so I'm sure I'll have pictures of that.

December 7, 2007 - Milwaukee

I'm just making a quick entry to show Kenni how to edit his web page easily! :)

August 21, 2006 - Gibralter

Not having had time to get to the top of the "Rock" last time I was here, I made sure to get up early (well, 10-ish...) to make the trip. It really is only 1.5 hours from the ship, but even though there are roads all over the place on the rock, it is easy to get lost, especially if you don't have a map. Which I didn't. Someone told me to keep going past St. Michael's cave, so I did just that. However, that someone would be wrong, because I ended up at the south edge of the rock when the road ended, and I wasn't on top either. However, there was an area right there that made for easy climbing, so I scurried up that until I came to the top.

I wasn't surprised so much to see huge batteries of cannons there (and they were really big), but I was surprised to see no tourists. Still, I knew I was pretty far south of where the cable car goes.

Unfortunately, the only road out of the area went down before it went up, so my shortcut, while interesting, wasn't all that short. Also, on my way out, I found out why there were no tourists. The area was locked and gated shut, and so I had to scale the gate just to get out of the area. Oops.

Eventually, I came to where the cable car takes everyone. Unfortunately, this isn't the actual top. It is basically on a large saddle that runs from the absolute maximum (north part of the rock) and a relative maximum that I had climbed up already. Also, the only road that seemed to go to the real peak had a "do not enter" sign. I decided that I'd had enough fun for the day by this point though, and so I turned around. Not before watching the monkies for a while though. They were feeling feisty (maybe because it was kind of cool out), and they were riding on buses and jumping all about the trees and the rocks and frightening annoying little tourist girls.

Oh yeah, I can't believe I forgot to mention it. On my way to Naples (back on the 18th), at night we went past an active volcano. This was much more impressive than what I saw in Hawaii. There were jets of lava shooting 100 feet into the sky, accompanied by a loud "thud". Too bad we only made one pass.

August 19, 2006 - Naples, Italy

I'm so buzzed on Italian coffee...and coffee flavored Italian Gelato (with real coffee beans) that I can hardly type. It didn't make the Glenn Miller show easy tonight. But I suppose it was worth it. But before eating a pizza and getting high on coffee, I spent the morning running around the ruins of Pompeii. I think Pompeii was even cooler than the ruins in Athens. Nothing was quite as big in Pompeii, except that instead of just having monuments, Pompeii is a whole city, much like Nora, except that it is much larger, and much better preserved. Pompeii had endless alleys and crossing cobblestone streets, lined on both sides by what would be the ancient equivalent of townhomes. Homes, marketplaces, baths...all sharing the same wall along a street.

Along some of the streets you could see pipes...lead plumbing added by the ancient Romans. They had an entire running water system (though their waste management may have been less than stellar...there were stepping stones in the streets because the sewage often just flowed out there). Also a little too close to modern times, one villa had a tiled floor with a picture of a dog with a collar and leash. This was the Pompeii "Beware Of Dog" sign.

While the people and dogs all died in 79 A.D. with the eruption of Mt. Vesuvius, the dogs have recolonized the area. Strays found shelter from the sweltering heat in the buildings, some right under a display of a plaster mold of one of the Romans who died in the eruption. They all died not of lava, but of the poison gases from the eruption. Then, the whole town was buried in 40 feet of ash. With time, the ash compacted and the bodies disintegrated, leaving a hollow mold from which to make a replica of the bodies at the time of their death.

That pretty much ends my archeological tour of the Mediterranean. I was offered an extension of my contract, but I turned it down. It was a really hard decision, but I just couldn't turn down the work at home. I only hope the flight from the U.K. goes smoothly.

August 17, 2006 - Athens, Greece

I think it fortunate that I didn't escort a tour today. I probably covered twice as much as a group of elderly Brits could in half the time, even if I had a tour bus. And a bus would take away from the whole experience anyway.

I started the day, after a boat drill, by taking a leisurely 10 minute jog from the cruise terminal to the metro station. Finding anything in Greece is really tough because they don't tend to label all of the streets with signs, and any map I had only had the English version of the street names anyway. Now I understand the phrase "it's all Greek to me". In any other European country I can at least figure out the jist of what something is talking about. But Greece still uses, surprise surprise, the Greek alphabet. And even Greek proper names look far different from their English counterpart.

Still, I managed to find the metro in little time, and managed to work up quite a sweat in the 90 degree temperature too. I brought water, but not enough and was forced to refill on Greek tap at one point (filtered). Hopefully I won't develop any GI problems.

Anyway, a quick train ride, costing $2 roundtrip, to Athens, and once I left the train station, the Acropolis was plainly visible, with its main attraction: the Parthanon.

I had to start a game of Civilization last night in anticipation. The ruins in Athens were like no other ruins I've ever seen. I've been to the cliff dwellings of the Anasazi people in New Mexico, and those only date back to 1300 AD (and they only lived in those dwellings for about 50 years). I've been to some old cathedrals built a millenium ago, and I thought _those_ were old. But the Parthanon and all of the rest of the ruins are more than twice as old, being built around 400 B.C., and it is amazing how intact they are. Granted, only one building still had a roof. But these are some _huge_ structures.

In the distance the Temple of Zeus was visible, at the front of a vast sea of urban sprawl. I don't recall ever having such a view of an endless stream of homes. I don't know how many people are in Athens, but it is wonder looking out over a panoramic view of the city that their sanitation system even works. I had heard a lot about the pollution in Athens. Maybe it was the steady wind, but it didn't seem all that smoggy to me. And it didn't smell at all either. But it was obvious that this was a crowded city, where the only oasis from the desert of sprawl and low-cost housing were a few parks of 2400 year old buildings and artifacts.

Of course, the oasis has its own version of sprawl. It was crawling with tourists. Americans, Brits, Europeans, Asians, Muslims, most all getting sunburned and short of breath and of water. Fortunately, there was so much to see that the density faltered at times. After I spent some time walking around the Parthanon and looking at a few other buildings, such as a temple called the Erechtheion, I decended to go find the Theater of Dionysys. Unlike the Odeion of Herod Atticus (a Roman coliseum) also seated below the acropolis, the Theater of Dionysys hasn't been renovated. Additionally, people were allowed to go sit in the bleachers. So I went out into a 2400 year old stadium and sat down. But since there was no show, I soon got up to go seek out the Temple of Zeus.

I think I like my picture of that Temple from a distance better than the close up because of the perspective it gives. It was really an impressive structure. But I think I enjoyed the Temple of Hephaesus most of all since it was so well preserved. It even had a roof still. I overheard a tour guide talking about it. Apparently, there was a civil war in 1945 and people were using this building as a fortress. I did find bullet holes in the columns.

Besides there structures, there were still ruins everywhere. Numerous sites had walking baths where you go through ancient ruins as you would normally walk through a forest. It is a shame that I only had one day to walk around, because it is too easy to miss things. But I'll probably have time again at some point in the future.

After getting back to the port town of Piraeus, I jogged it back to the ship in plenty of time for my rehearsal. I need a nap.

This isn't the end of the ruins I'll see on my trip. I'll be in Naples soon, and from there I'll be able to go check out Pompeii. After that, then I guess all I have left to see will be the Pyramids. (Incidentally, ships to go to Alexandria, Egypt sometimes, but I guess it is quite a challenge dealing with the people there, especially for Americans, who aren't held in high regard in Egypt. Nevertheless, someday...

August 16, 2006 - Zakynthos, Greece

Though a bit of confusion with the tour office, I didn't do a tour today, which was perhaps for the best because I kind of wanted to chill out today anyway, and I tagged along with a group of people to a local beach. We made a point to getting the cab driver to take us to the local's beach, not to the tourist beach. I did get pretty beached out in Tahiti, and it was funny to hear everyone rave about the beach we were at when it was really nothing compared to any Tahitian beach I was at. But the scenery was still really cool, and now I can say I've swam in the Mediterranean. I basically spent a couple hours tossing a frisbee or hitting a ball around. Nothing major to report.

Tomorrow is Athens however. Once again, I'm not on a tour, and I'm not sure why. I think I may have ticked off the tour office. Anyway, I'm not excused from boat drill as a result, which really sucks. But I'll still be off the ship by noon, and I'll have plenty of time to get to downtown Athens, and see all of the sights, the best of which is going to be the Parthanon. I'm sure pictures will be forthcoming, though uploading them will be a pain since the internet is no longer free around here.

August 14, 2006 - Cagliari, Sardinia (Italy)

I almost wasn't able to do my tour today. The tour was scheduled to be a 4 hour tour leaving at 1:30. And I had a last minute rehearsal scheduled for 5:30. It was only for a comedian's show, but still, that's the job. I tried all morning to find the other trumpet player so that we could trade jobs tonight. After all, my job tonight is easier than his. However, I couldn't track him down, and I was going to bail and give my tour to a friend on the ship who said he'd do it for me if I couldn't. However, he left the ship by this time, so I was stuck. Having left many messages for the other trumpet player, I decided to do the tour and hope that he gets the message in time.

As it turned out, I returned late...about 6 pm, but Al got the message and was at the rehearsal. Therefore, tonight I'm playing back in the Queen's room, which is fine with me anyway, as it will give me some good practice before tomorrow, which is probably the hardest show of the cruise.

But back to the tour. I went to Nora, the name of which is Phoenecian in origin and surprisingly stuck. While the Phoencians founded the town around the 8th century BC, I'm told that most of the ruins are Roman in origin, dating only back to about the 2nd century AD. The Phoenicians apparently weren't all that interested in colonization, unlike the more powerful Carthinigans, that took over the time sometime before the birth of Christ. When the Romans finally came to build over most everything, the town was already 1000 years old. And yet, having abandoned the town in the 3rd century, it hasn't been occupied for almost twice that time.

One thing I thought was neat was the presense of the holy road, which went directly through the town to the temple. The temple was a place to worship all of the Gods that we've come to name all of our celestial bodies after, but such worship was only common in Imperial Rome, not the later Republican Rome. Thus, eventually the temple wasn't used anymore, and they built homes over this road. I think it is neat because it is too easy to assume that the ruins of which I was witness were one-dimenionally the result of a single static town. However, that such a prominant holy road was callously built on is a reminder that this town was around for a long time, and a lot changed during that time.

Also, being there is a reminder that I know pretty much none of the ancient history of the area. I think I need to make a trip to the library.

August 12, 2006 - Lisbon, Portugal

My tour today took me to neighboring cities of Cascais and Sintra. Cascais used to be a village that in the recent century has developed into a resort town, full of houses, hotels, and condos built in the 19th and 20th centuries. However, some of these functions have been applied to old derelict coastal fortresses. Many of them are now 5 star hotels or restaurants. I had 40 minutes to walk around a coastal shopping area this morning, and I took the opportunity to find a quiet cobblestone walkway that had a coffee shop. Their coffee is really good here, and it was nice to just sit and enjoy the surroundings for a while.

After Cascais, the tour took us to the mountain town of Sintra. First settled and named by the ancient Celts, later in about the 8th century it was settled by the Moorish people. The mountain peaks in Sintra are home to an 8th century Moorish castle. However, we didn't have time to get up there, so I had to enjoy it from the town below. The town was quite nice, offering a lot of views of the many palaces. I managed to walk quite a bit away from the city center up the hill and found a park that seemed quite unpopulated. The climate appeared dry and arid (and in fact they are in a bit of a water shortage at the moment), but the vegetation was lush, with both native pine trees, other deciduous plants, and artifically introduced Eucalyptus trees.

Walking back to the where the bus was to pick us up, I came across the studio of a local artist, where a sign invited people to come in and take a look at his paintings, which I, while decidedly lacking any real knowledge for what "good" art is, knew that I liked. Most were well out of my price range, but there was a smaller piece that was a view of the street outside his home and of the moorish castle above was only 75 euros. So I figured I could splurge a little...after all, my walls back home are still pretty bare, and this is an original painting by a local Portuguese artist. There is probably no better souvenir.

After the tour was over, I still had a couple hours to take the shuttle from the ship into the city center of Lisbon. I just wandered around, looking at all the neat statues and buildings, until I came across an archaeological museum that was housed in the ruins of an old cathedral. I'm not sure why the church was in ruins, but it was neat to see the collection of artifacts, ranging in age from 150 years old to 2000 years old. Of course, the really old artifacts, such as pieces of pottery, arrowheads, and spearheads, were housed in an environmentally secure portion of the church...the one area that wasn't in ruins. Not a bad find considering I had no idea what I was going to do in Lisbon.

Speaking of archaeology, my next stop will be Cagliari, on the island of Sardinia which is part of Italy. There, I will visit the archaeological site of Nora. Nora has been a Phoenician trading post, a Carthaginian city, and a Roman town. It was abandoned in the 3rd century and partially submerged by the sea. Needless to say, I'm looking forward to this tour. However, it is a late tour, so if it conflicts with a rehearsal then I will have to cancel.

August 9, 2006 - Saint Peter Port, Guernsey, Channel Islands (U.K.)

Today was a trip back to World War II as I escorted a tour on the German Occupation of Guernsey from 1940-1945. We started our tour going to an underground hospital the Germans dug during their occupation to protect their wounded from enemy bombardment. They even went so far as to install air cirulators that were resistant to chemical attacks. Despite all of their precautions, they never had to defend their claim to Guernsey until their order came down to surrender in 1945. Still, they left behind plenty of artifacts, some of which were stored in the underground hospital, but most of which were stored in the German Occupation Museum, which was only other stop worth mentioning.

They had jeeps and motorbikes, pistols and machine guns, anti-aircraft rangers and weapons, and most interestingly clips from the Guernsey daily newspaper, which had German censorship apparent everywhere. Not that the locals believed any of it, but it was the kind of stuff to at least make the invaders feel like they were doing the right thing, and that the locals were getting along ok with their watchdogs. I managed a few shots of the clips that are legible.

One thing I wasn't ever aware of was the tendancy of people in resistance to paint red V's for victory on their homes. The Germans would then come around and paint green laurel branches underneath, to symbolically balance out their opponents gesture. I am reminded of the mini-series in the early 80's called "V", where Earth was invaded by lizard like men and the resistance also painted red V's everywhere. I recall (from watching this decidedly cheesy mini-series again only 4 years ago) that they really didn't pull any punches when alluding to parallels with Nazi Germany, but then again, most drama from the 80's lays things out extra-obviously by today's standards.

August 8, 2006 - La Rochelle, France

Today I reentered the foray of escorting ship tours after a 7 year hiatus. I had forgotten that herding old people on vacation is harder than either sheep, children, or young sheep.

Despite this, and another night of 2 hours of sleep (interrupted, thanks to my roommate), I stayed awake for most of the tour of a few highlights of La Rochelle, France, a town described as "quite young, founded a late as the 10th century". Our bus took us to nearby Saintes, where there were ruins of a Roman coliseum from about 40 AD. Unfortunately, the bus didn't drop us off, instead taking us to the old town and giving us a mere 25 minutes to look at some arches from a similar time period (from a distance, and also from the bus), and otherwise walk to a cathedral. I can't recall how old it was, but it certainly far pre-dates the reformation. The entrance has little statues of all sorts of saints adorning it, and some of the heads have been lopped off. Turns out that this happened when France went protestant. The church was no longer Catholic, and all of the Catholic saints' heads were disposed off. I guess those Lutherans really take it seriously.

After Saintes, our bus took us to the main attraction, a castle called La Roche Croubon (this isn't accurate, but when I figure out the right name, I'll edit this). The castle was first built for military purposes during an English occupation in the 15th century, but the English withdrew near the time of completion, so it wasn't really used much until it was converted into a residence in the 17th century.

Pictures may be forthcoming.

August 7, 2006 - Bilbao, Spain

Last night as the cruise director was addressing our audience, he made quite a few tounge in cheek jokes about how people don't tend to spend too much time ashore in Bilbao. The jokes were more or less well founded. I took the 20 minute shuttle into downtown, where all there really was to do was walk around the canal area, or go to the Guggenheim. I did go there, only to find a line that would have taken at least an hour to get through. They were only letting in so many people at a time, so I decided to just walk around.

When I left downtown to go back to the pier area, I did more walking, and this time running, along the waterfront, which was actually really nice. I'm surprised nobody seemed to talk it up. Probably because there were no tourist things to do on the waterfront. There were a lot of nice houses, mansions, and even something that could probably pass as a castle. At the end of my run was the Vizcaya Transporter Bridge, which was the first bridge of its kind, built in 1893. The design is influenced by Eiffel. Of course, a lift bridge like the one in Duluth would be far more useful, as the platform that travels across the bridge only fits about 6 cars or so.

One could take an elevator to the top and walk across, but it costs 4 euros, and I brought none with me. Plus, I'm not sure it is worth 4 euros just for an elevator ride. But I'll probably run there next time I'm here later in the month, and maybe I'll just take the ride anyway.

There were some "nice" beaches nearby, and I debated going swimming. But a nice beach, even by the standards here, really don't compare to the beaches in Tahiti, which I found more or less uninteresting after not too long. So I don't feel like I missed out too much.

August 5, 2006 - Southampton and Salisbury, England

While things seemed to go right yesterday, things wen't equally wrong today. So far on this contract, I'm not impressed with the flow of things transporation-wise in England. I always seem delayed. I took the shuttle into town on my first visit to Southampton, and including the wait, it was longer than the walk in would be. So I'm walking it every time from now on.

And that's what I did today. 25 minutes to the music store where I had ordered new pads for my in-ears. I wasn't totally planning on picking them up at this time, but when I found that they were to open in 10 minutes, I waited, and waited, and at 9:05 they opened the store. Another 15 minutes, I had my pads, which were sitting somewhere in a place that nobody really knew for, well, 150 minutes.

I went straight to the train station only to realize that I had missed the train to Salisbury...by 15 minutes. Not to worry, another would come in 45, and I'd still have plenty of time. So I went back out, bought some laundry detergent that I was in need of, and got back in plenty of time for the train.

Unfortunately, everybody else in Southampton was on the train too, and after 2 hours on my feet, I had to stand on the train, with hardly room to do even that.

Still, I made it to Salisbury in 30 minutes and I was off to get a bus ticket to Stonehenge. Turns out I only had a 10 minute wait, and the ticket (an expensive 8 pounds) was to count for both the bus fare and the admission to Stonehenge. The bus was to pick me up "right outside". I asked again because "right outside" could be anywhere, but the woman behind the counter assured me "right outside".

Turns out "right outside" means "down a ways" in Metric English. Fortunately, I had the sense to wander at 11 (the time the bus was to arrive) and I found a gaggle of people waiting in line to get on a double decker that was already packed. The driver was slowly letting people on...turns out you can buy your ticket on the bus, and this caused things to move much more slowly.

To add a little humor to it, this was my first official encounter with the stereotypical "irritable Brit"...seemed right out of Fawlty Towers. People weren't allowed to stand in on the upper deck and he kept yelling at them to come to the bottom floor. Some kid kept hitting the "stop" bell and he kept yelling at the kid. Nothing was right apparently.

After 15 minutes of boarding, I get a few people away from the door of this bus that was totally jammed with people standing everywhere they could possibly fit. The bus driver declares that he can fit no more on board, and he says he'll call another bus, which will be here in "5 minutes". 20 minutes later (totally wasn't surprised by that), another bus arrives, and at least for this ride I could sit and stretch my legs.

30 minutes later, I arrived at Stonehenge...and another 20 minutes later I was let off of the bus. I find the admission gate (a long line of people) where the person attending informs me that my ticket is only good for the bus. So I shell out another 7 pounds for a ticket to Stonehenge.

Stonehenge was really cool. I wish I had read a bit more about it before...I still have yet to read and learn much about it. Tonight I think I'll spend some time online. But it was still impressive. Equally impressive was the army of tourists, mostly Asian, not that there is anything long with that, taking up much of the field surrounding the ancient ruins. If I had gotten there on time I would have been able to leave in 30 minutes, as this would have been plenty of time, but I had to wait for the next bus, which gave me a full hour to wander around, take pictures, and think about the monument. I couldn't resist....I had my ipod with me and I put on Spinal Tap's recording of their song Stonehenge. Hilarious! After that, I had no music dating back to 1000 AD, so I just listened to some late medivial stuff to prepare me for the Salisbury Cathedral, which I would visit if I had time.

By the time I got back to the train station (which it turns out is a 10 minute walk from the Cathedral), I only had 25 minutes before I had to be back for the train. So I pushed it to the cathedral, which was truly spectacular. I don't know old it was, but it was HUGE. If I had time to pay the admission, I would have gone in, and in fact I may yet go back just to go in. But I had to settle for outside views, and I still had to run back to insure I was back in time for the train's departure. At least I'm getting exercise...it is nice being able to run places.

Of course, I got there only to find that my train was to be delayed 20 minutes due to some sort of criminal chase. Hehe. No kidding. Unfortunately, this would only give me 30 minutes to get from the Southampton train station to the boat, and from the station it is a 45 minute walk.

So I ran the whole thing in 15 minutes flat. Back in plenty of time really. Still, I'm not a fan of travelling in England. I really doubt I'm going to take the train to London, which is at least a 90 minute ride, and it has at least 1 connection too. We'll see.

Pictures are posted. In a couple days I'll be in Bilbao, Spain I think. I've signed up to escort some of the ship's tours...I'm not sure which tour I'll be on, but at least it will be free :)

Addendum: I just looked up Stonehenge at wikipedia. Interesting. And a lot more detailed than anything they gave at the ruins.

August 4, 2006 - Rotterdam and Amsterdam, Netherlands

A lot of things could have gone wrong today, but it turns out that most everything went right. We arrived in port at 6:30 am, scheduled to leave at 3:30 pm (which means crew have to be back by 2:30). Thus, if I was going to make it to Amsterdam with enough time to explore sufficiently, I had to get up quite early. I really had no idea how long of a train trip it would be...I figured an hour, and I was right on. I knew there was a shuttle from the ship to the train station, but the shuttle service didn't start until 9, so I figured I'd just hope it was in walking distance.

Not surprisngly, I didn't fall asleep until 3 am again. I felt tired at midnight, but I made the mistake of doing a little email first, and then after that I was on a second wind. Oh well, I'm getting quite used to functioning on minimal sleep.

I got up at 6:30, got some breakfast, and headed for the gangway. When I got there I was informed that we hadn't cleared customs yet (oops, forgot that the ship had to do that), and that I would be needing my passport here because of some surprise immigration rule for today only. Maybe crew were to be issued a crew card or something similar, but whatever it was, it wasn't going to happen until 9 am. Still, I headed to the crew office, to at the very least find out when they would be open.

At the office I saw Gray (lead vocalist) and Graham (dance band bass). They were both escorting tours, which I'm going to start doing next cruise to get free tours. They were both there to collect their passports right away, because they had a duty. Well, I just waited with them...Graham told me where the train station was (40 minute walk away). When Katherina came to give them their passports, I just waited with them. She gave me mine too. Fortunately, she didn't ask "are you on a tour?". She just assumed. Of course, I would have lied at this point anyway, but at least I didn't have to.

I get my passport, and head for the gangway, and right before I get there, I hear an announcement over the PA that we have cleared immigration. Perfect. I was the FIRST person off the ship. I don't think crew are ever first, so this is, well, a first.

I enjoyed my walk to the train station. No tourists at this point, just a few locals going to work. Most of them travelled by bicycle. They had special paved bike lanes...not just a shoulder on the side of the road, and not just part of the sidewalk, but their own special lane. And everybody uses them. It is convenient because most everybody lives densely together. And I noticed that gas was about 1.20 (Euro) a liter, which is about $5.80 a gallon. If I lived there I'm pretty certain I wouldn't even own a car.

Once at the train station, I'm informed that the next train to Amsterdam leaves in 15 minutes...perfect. I buy my 22 Euro round trip ticket and head for the train.

The ride out was enjoyable. Lots of urban areas surrounded by the stark contrast of rural meadows for cattle, sheep, and occasionally goats. No suburban spral here.

An hour later, I was in the heart of Amsterdam. I had only about 3 hours, but I made it worthwhile. I walked all around and about the city center area, seeing many churches and museums (most not open though), a very intricate canal system, and of course, the red light district. I've heard stories about the red light district, but at this time of day, there wasn't a lot happening. However, I stopped at a coffee place (and there was a "coffee" place every other building) for some coffee. Fortunately, the place I stopped at actually served coffee...really good coffee too. But the first thing I noticed was the acrid oder of a certain plant being burned inside. I didn't see them selling any of it, but people were smoking openly. I was getting a little light headed just sitting there enjoying my coffee.

Nearby there was a place called the "Cannbis College", that was a place promoting the legalization of hemp for all of its myriad uses. I became engaged in a conversation with on of the volunteers that worked there. He was very passionate about this "beautiful plant", as he commonly referred to it. He talked about Willian Randolph Hearst's campaign to make it illegal because paper from hemp threatened his paper industry (which I had heard before, but I think I'd also heard from another source that this wasn't exactly accurate). He mentioned that at some time (I'm not sure if it was a few decades ago or more recently) a plastic was made out of hemp, which surprised the hell out of me. At any rate, he brought up some interesting points that I'm going to read up on further. I don't know how much of what he said was true, but one thing is certain. He was clear-headed, intelligent, and passionate. In fact, he's native Irish, and he moved to Amsterdam...mainly because he was caught growing in his home and so he left to avoid 5-10 years or some such thing. Eh. At any rate, he was an interesting guy to talk to.

After 2.5 hours of walking around, I headed back to the train station. The trip back was uneventful, as was the walk back to the ship, except I was walking across a lift bridge when the bells starting going off, warning that it would lift soon. I actually had to duck under the bar that had dropped to block the road and sidewalk.

Tomorrow should be an equally fun day. Another hour long train ride, as I get out to Salisbury and from there to Stonehenge!

August 2, 2006 - Oslo, Norway

It didn't bode well for today that we had a crew drill at 10 am, and I had a rehearsal at 4 pm. But it turns out I can get a lot of sightseeing done in 4 hours. Killing two birds with one stone, I got a little jogging in as I went the 3 kilometers from the ship to Gustav Vigeland's sculpture park. This is the one location that I've visited on this contract that I'm sure I've been to before on my Gustavus trip back in 1998. Fortunately, this time I had a little more time on my hands to walk around the park and I also had camera. The park in itself is worth the trip to Oslo.

After leaving the park, bad weather started to set in. But I had a little time, so I only walked back, through a different area of town. Plus, my left foot's plantar fasciatis has been acting up ever since that 7 hour walk in the uncomfortable shoes. So I just walked from landmark to landmark in downtown Oslo, mainly getting a good look at the residental complexes. But the rain came in full force eventually, drenching me and the rest of the tourists. With little time left and feeling somewhat wet and cold, I decided to go back to the ship, but not before I went into the castle and fortress of Akershus. This impressive structure was built around 1300. If I had had time and Norweigan Kroners, I could have toured the castle, but unfortunately, I had neither.

Nothing now until Rotterdam in two days. I'm told that the one thing I have to do in Rotterdam is, well, go to Amsterdam. So I'm planing on getting a train ticket there. Still, I feel like I should explore Rotterdam a little, having recently read Ender's Shadow (a sci-fi-ish book that starts the story in Rotterdam). We'll see how much time I have.

August 1, 2006 - Stavanger, Norway

I don't know why, but I'm still having trouble sleeping at night. During the day, if I need a nap, I can fall asleep in 30 seconds, but at night I can't seem to fall asleep. Even though I didn't nap at all yesterday (but wanted to), I stayed up until 5 am. Still, I set my alarm for 8 am to get out to Stavanger.

Finally, the many nights of only 3 hours of sleep are catching up with me and I was really dragging today. Plus, there weren't that many interesting things to do in the immediate vicinity of the dock. Still, I was smack dab in the middle of town, and I did manage to look around the cathedral for a bit, which is the oldest Catheral in Norway, finished sometime around 1130. However, there were surprisngly no old sarcophagi or tombs laying everywhere, and unfortunately no disturbingly graphic artwork either.

By noon I was back on the ship and I threw in the towl and slept for 4 hours. I have no doubt I'll be up until 5 am again, but it looks like I'll get a poker game going, and I'll probably be the most alert too.

Hopefully I'll have energy to go explore Oslo tomorrow again on 3 hours sleep.

Today was a long day, as I walked around Bergen for about 7 hours. I can appreciate how awesome my hiking boots are...or rather how not awesome my regular shoes are. My feet are far sorer now than in Colorado with my boots. But it was well worth it. The first thing I did was find a popular trail up a mountain. Well, actually, there is a train that goes half way up (at a 25 degree grade), and then I walk the rest of the way. It did offer incredible views of Bergen and the surrounding fjords below. And there is something nice about being above the tree line at 2000 feet.

After a while, I left the normal trail following what I came to realize was a shehperd's path around a few of the subalpine lakes that were overabundant up there. At one point I took my iPod and figured that Grieg's Peer Gynt Suite No. 1 would be fitting for the occasion. Nothing says Norway like that first movement. Or the last one, for that matter (Hall of the Mountain King). On the way down the mountain I chased some sheep to that music...I think I'll have to put some of that movie footage to the music and see what happens.

Upon returning to the train station, the tourists had finally all flooded in, and it would have taken at least 30 minutes to wait in line for a train, so I decided to walk down, which was a great choice because eventually I got to walk through some of the more well-to-do neighborhoods. Finally, back in the City Center of Bergen, I was free to explore some of the old churches and such. The oldest I found was one that was finished in 1169. Most notable inside were some odd paintings, including one of the 4 horsemen, and another where a guy was beheaded, had his head on a platter, and a dog was drinking the spurting blood from the beheaded body. I really can't fathom why that was in, of all places, a church.

Bergen seems to be a really nice city in the summer. In a main plaza area there were street performers, including kind of a country/folk duo that travels throughout Scandanavia in the summer, a "statue" that moved every so often, and a pair of Norweigan Marimba players playing things like The Entertainer and Winter from the 4 Seasons. It kind of reminded me of Key West, except the surroundings were pretty much exactly the opposite.

Tomorrow I'll be in Stavanger. Hopefully my feet will recover...those shoes I wore were not kind to my feet. It hurts to stand now! Argh.

July 25, 2006 - Gibralter

Pretty fun day today. I think I'm already pretty recovered from jet lag...not sure if staying up until 3 am last night helped or not. I guess that is just the same as staying up until 8 pm in Minnesota, except I didn't sleep one night. Whatever.

I had yet another medical exam today. I guess while every cruise line is owned by one parent company (and probably Time-Warner-AOL-Microsoft too...they merged, right?), each line has their own set of doctors that they require check your eyesight and reflexes. So once again I passed my medical exam. Surprise surprise :)

Afterwords, while I didn't plan on any hiking on this cruise, I guess am I am at _the_ rock. So I have to climb it. Unfortunately, I wasn't sure if I had a 6 pm sound check or not, so I had limited time. However, half way up the hill there is a spot to observe Barbury Apes. T hey are obviously accustomed to having people around because I practically put my arm around one for a picture. So while I only went half way up (and had to run all the way back to the ship, only to find that there was no rush) the day was a good one. However, it is 6:30 right now and I'm starting to feel like I need a nap. After all, I _did_ have to set a noon alarm today.

Two sea days coming up, which is actually pretty welcome, as it will give me a chance get comfortable with my surroundings. Tomorrow I'll also put some pictures of the monkeys up.

July 24, 2006 - Barcelona, Spain

After a long but tolerable flight, I arrived in Barcelona today. Of course, I didn't really have any time to sight see, so I merely enjoyed the cab ride from the airport to the port...there was an odd cemetary that was basically built in the side of a hill. It looked more like a fort, but the cab driver assured me it was a cemetary, and soon I could see crypts to prove it.

So far, it seems that this will be a very good ship to work on. It is by far the oldest ship I've ever been on, and in walking around, the corridors and decoration drip with history. Nothing seems level, as if the ship is always listing, even while in port. Walking around is like a trip back in time...not so old as the Titatic, but frankly, more reminiscent of that ship (a Cunard vessal I'm told) than any of the newer ships I've worked on.

My cabin is also by far the largest I've ever had...I don't even have to bunk. There are rules on this ship, but they seem reasonable and aren't tainted by the typical BS that I've gotten all too accustomed to. It seems that this is a place where I can just do my job, keep a low profile, and everybody will hopefully stay happy.

Today I spent the day either napping or walking around the ship. It is very easy to get lost here. They built the ship with a caste society in mind...it wasn't meant to be easy to get from the lower decks to the upper decks. This makes it very difficult to find my way around the lower crew areas, but it is far better than that tiny Tahitian Princess. At least I have to keep my brain on when I'm walking around.

Tomorrow I'll be in Gibralter. Hopefully I'll have time to go see "the rock" after my medical is complete.

July 22, 2006

Well, 4 days ago Proship called me. They offered me 1 month in the Mediterranean, and a little of Norway and other countries as well, on the QE2. I hate picking up and leaving again, especially on such short notice, but the money is good, and the itinerary is better. So, I guess tomorrow I catch a plane to Barcelona and from there I set sail for another month.

As before, I will (hopefully) be posting pictures and log entries about my travels. I will return August 29, 2006.

July 17, 2006

I just arrived back from Colorado from a backpacking excusion with a few friends of mine. We all had a great time. We estimate that we each put about 60 miles on our feet in the week in Rocky Mountain National Park, most of it going up, or down, or up, or up....

Among the highlights of the trip were camping at "Boulder Field", which is at about 12,800 feet and right below the base of Long's Peak (14,250 feet). The summiting of Long's Peak was exciting to say the least.

I'm not sure if I will write a play-by-play here. I think I'd rather simply put pictures with captions up. However, with over a gig of pictures to sort, it may be a few days until I get anything of that sort up. Still, I will put a few pictures of the trip up soon.

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