From the middle of the Med

Hi! So, we are now on day 5 of this trip and it has been pretty much non stop. Let me think about what I have been up to since the last time I wrote.

We spent day 2 in Madrid. This was the day our 9 person cast arrived. They are AMAZING! We have a family of 6 who are truly straight out of central casting. They are so attractive and the kids are so fantastically sweet and humorous. And then there is a group of 3 girlfriends from Atlanta. They are so sassy, cute and fun! And get this – one of them worked at the Atlanta Olympics as well and she worked in fleet and we have a ton of friends in common! She still does some events with some of them. We are convinced that at some point we drank beers together at Atkins Park but we haven’t pinpointed it yet! It is such a small world!

We headed out to Retiro Park – the largest park in Spain. It was beautiful – a green oasis in the middle of the urban playground. They have a lake in the center with little rowboats that we took out for a scene. Somehow, even though I am the only girl on the crew, I ended up rowing the cameraman around the lake! My arms were on fire! It was about 80 degrees and blazingly sunny – simply perfect.

Then we wandered around the park, stopping for a traditional Spanish drink (non-alcoholic!) called Horchatas. The horchata is a creamy, milky-looking white drink made from nuts I believe. They taste great and refreshing at first and then have a strange, unidentifiable aftertaste. I am not sure if I would say they are enjoyable or not. But, they are different and isn’t that after all the point of traveling?

The next morning, I awoke to a rainy and chilly city. I packed up my luggage and dropped it off for delivery to Barcelona. The whole team headed out to the town of Toledo, about 1 hour southeast of Madrid. It is an ancient city with 80,000 inhabitants. It sits atop a hill surrounded by a river. We drove along very narrow and very winding roads to reach a viewpoint from which we could take in the whole city before entering it. When you see it from a distance, it is striking. Massive stone walls are everywhere and at the pinnacle of it all rises a beautiful church spire. We arrived into town and the rain was now in a full downpour. I of course, never bothered to look outside that morning when I dressed, so I packed all my rain gear and sent it off to Barcelona and was now walking around Toledo in a fleece that, once soaking wet, was heavy and unpleasant! But, nonetheless, the town was just spectacular. It was one of those places that makes you, as an American, realize just how young your country is and how lacking is true character it is.

Stone streets shone is the rain, ancient stone houses, all only 2 or 3 stories, stood regally along narrow sloping streets. It was a beautiful morning really. And oh yea, for those 2 days, our local tour guide smelled of scotch and had a very red face! But he gave a good tour!

Next, the train to Barcelona…..

Greetings from Madrid

Hi everyone!

Well here I am on the next trip to the Med! We flew into Madrid and had a day at leaisure yesterday before we began work when everyone arrived today. We spent the day wandering all over the city to scout locations.

I have never been to Madrid before and what can I say about it? It is a very urban city (Spain's capitol) and at times while walking around, I felt like I could be in almost any city in the world. It is crowded with people who have no sense of spacial relations - they just walk right into you without a sorry, excuse me, or really even noticing that they just almost knocked you over! The buildings are all about 10 stories tall, most with commercial space on the ground floor and apartments upstairs. Some are what I consider typically Spanish - brighttly colored buildings, with wrought iron terraces on every window. A very quaint and scenic sight in the middle of a concrete and crowded jungle.

The people are always, and I mean 24-7, dressed to the nines! At 10am on a Wednesday morning, I witnessed outfits even I wouldn't wear out to clubs! Where are these people going I wondered. I was never answered. These are the same people that will plow you over in their Manolos without so much as a glance!

The most surprising thing about Madrid so far is that very very few people speak English. To be a total America, I always assume that when I travel to Europe, I will be fine bcs everyone will speak English. Not so in Madrid. My high school Spanish is rapidly coming back to me, though it is not perfect. I wanted a door opened for some shooting and apparently kept telling the guy to close it and was so frustrated when he kept closing it on the shot and I couldn't understand why!

The weather is unreal - almost 80 and sunny so far both days and just fantastic. Send all your karma to us that it stays this way!

Nonetheless, it has been very fun so far! The cast is fantastic and Spain is great! Here are a few pics, I will post more as we go on/ We leave for Barcelona in 2 days!

After the crossing

Hi all! Sorry I have been out of touch. It was difficult to get on line on board so here is a blog I wrote the day I departed the ship. My next trip is to the Mediterranean on Oct 14 so stay tuned!

Well it is Thurs Sept 11 and I am sitting in an unusually sunny and warm London. To be more exact, I am sitting about 30 minutes outside London in the home of my cousin Jim, his wife Mary and their 2 children, Kieran and Sophie. They are 7 and 2 respectively and I have never met either of them so I am anxiously waiting for them to return home from school. It is interesting now that my cousins are having children because my family is so large and just keeps growing!

I departed from the Queen Mary 2 yesterday in Southampton England. What an amazing week it was. The ship is simply unbelievable, so gorgeous and so elegant. It is a gigantic ship, so much so that it would take 30 minutes to walk to your room if you were on the opposite side of the ship! It is tastefully decorated with a bright and cheerful champagne bar, and authentic English Pub with fantastic fish and chips, the largest ballroom at sea and certainly the largest and liveliest nightclub I have seen yet on these trips. There is a very masculine cigar bar, a few piano and jazz bars, a great casino, the 2 story main dining room and an incredible restaurant, Todd English. For recreation, there is a Canyon Ranch fitness center and spa, a golf simulator, basketball, table tennis, acting lessons, dance lessons, pretty much you name it you can do it on board! I was worried about not having enough to shoot, but it was quite the opposite.

The passengers are certainly a bit older, but they are a lively group. Everyone was friendly for the most part, except fort the woman that kicked our camera (on purpose) on our first day! There were a lot of Europeans and we met some great folks.

We worked long hard days, walking untold miles each day around the ship. But we managed to have fun at night after wrapping. One night we hit the nightclub, G32, the name signifying the dock at which the ship was built. We danced until 4:30am! I haven’t danced that much in quite a while and it was sooo much fun. I laughed all night as we made complete fools of ourselves.

The difficult thing about this crossing that I was unaware of is this: each night you turn your clock ahead one hour. This makes perfect sense so that you don’t arrive in England and suddenly lose 5 hours. But it really takes it’s toll on you after a while. Every night we would wrap and think, oh it is only 1, I can get some sleep. Then you would return to your room to find a note reminding you to turn you clock ahead and you would think, damn! It is 2!

We had the opportunity to see the top of the line suites on the ship for shooting purposes. They are amazing. I thing they may be larger in sq footage then the home I own in South Philly! They are 2 story penthouses, complete with a kitchen, treadmill, huge private balcony, a personal butler, champagne and chocolate covered strawberries and I am sure many things we didn’t even hear about. If you can afford it, you should book on for the transatlantic crossing. They are only $35000 for the week!!!!

I like to learn something new on all my trips and this time, it was a very important lesson……I learned how to play craps! After all my visits to Vegas and AC I have always wanted to learn, but both of those places were a bit intimidating to me. But on board we met a lovely fellow named Ivan and he taught us how to play. We were betting only 5 dollars at a time but you would have thought we were winning millions the way we would yell and scream with each win. Now I can’t wait for my next AC night!

I was concerned with the idea of being at sea for 6 days but it really was an amazing trip. I would definitely do it again!

Well that’s all, Jim and Sophie just came home, so I must go chat! Hope you are all well.

Crossing the Atlantic

Greetings from the middle of the Atlantic. I don't have much time but wanted to say that all is going well aboard the QM2! The ship is positively HUGE and gorgeous. So far I am really enjoying it. The crowd is a bit older then me (!) but you really only ever see them at the buffets, which I am, of course, eating my way through regularly!

That's all for now - hope your all well!

Stockholm Sweden

Today is our final day. We arrive into Stockholm at 8am. After a slow start - checking email and getting packed, Brook, the ferrets and I head into town. WHat a GREAT city. It is large and modern, but extremely clean. The people are ridiculously tall and gorgeous - all of them. It is like America's Next Top Model has taken over town. The Swedes are friendly and smiling all the time. Despite the absolute pouring rain that comes and goes and is a staple of daily life here.

We walk about town sightseeing and searching for a new backpack for me. I wish I could stay here a few days, I just love the vibe of this city. Very energetic and happy. We find our way to the Ice Bar and pay the crazy entrance fee to stand in a freezing room and drink a shot of vodka. Yes, I nkow I already did this, but when will I have the chance again?

The ferrets head back to ship and Brook and I eat dinner in Stockholm. We have sandwiches that are out of this world! We then return in the pouring rain to the ship.

The night is low key as I am officially exhausted. I say my goodbyes and turn in early. As I write this, I am in the airport awaiting my delayed flight home. Think good thoughts for me that I finally end this trip that has been challenging at times to say the least!

I am off to Sea Isle for the week tomorrow! Woo HOO!

Have a great week!

Tallin Estonia

YEA! I am out of Russia!!! I awake in Tallin Estonia, somewhere I have never heard of and know nothing about as I didn't research it for the trip. It is nice knowing I have no schedule today and can go be a tourist.

I go into the city with 2 brothers I have met on board. They are nice young'uns from Cali that someone in my group has nicknamed "the ferrets". I have no idea why.

So, the ferrets and I spend the day touring the old town section of Tallin. It is a gorgeous 16th century town practically preserved in it's original form. Huge stone walls are everywhere with stunning cathedrals, castles complete with turrets and old Estonias in do-rags shuffling about. As we wander through town we encounter the hordes of tourists who have come from what seems like 20 cruise ships in port. It is of course raining on and off and everywhere you turn the scenery is ruined by camera toting folks in blue ponchos. Every few feet I am stopped by all manners of folks who want to know if "I am the one who was involved in the incident in Russia" I have become some sort of sad celebrity aboard my ship. "Hey it is her, come hear her story" they yell to their friends. "She lost everything" they scream at their tour group. It is strange. I feel like saying, yes I did lose everything, maybe you should donate some money to me. But I don't.

We pick a quaint little spot for lunch and try Estonian beer (tasty), cider (tastier), pizza (fabulous), cheese fondue (it is cheese - you can't go wrong) and somethng called pig pocket that burns the inside of your mouth. Overall it is a lovely day in town.

Back on board this is apparently the big night out for the crew. It is formal night #2 and they are allowed to come to the club. Their is going to be kareoke that is apparently going to be the highlight of the nightlife on board. The ferrets are so suprised about everyone's knowledge of what happened in Russia that they decide the kareoke should be a fundraiser for me. They want to MC the thing and get everyone to pay money to sing and have that money go to me.....or at the very least get everyone to buy me a drink.

That plan goes awry when little ferret goes to bed early and big ferret plays blackjack all night and gets too drunk to participate in kareoke. Despite that through I have a great night with all the crew as we sing and dance into the early morning.

Another day in Russia

I have some fitfull sleep that night (morning) and get a call in my room at 9am. It is the concierge telling me that I have to go to the US Embassy in Russia to get my passport or the Russians will not let me sail off with the boat and will not let the ship leave with me on it. DAMN IT! He tells me there is a car coming to get me in a half hour. All of my team except the sick host are flying out today, so no one can come with me back into hell.

I exit the ship and am again questioned to death about not having a passport. My new guide who is taking me to the Embassy explains everything and off we go. I am sent there with 2 kids who can't be older then 21. They have no idea where the Embassy is and we aimlessly drive around St Pete's for like 1 1/2 hours. The entire time, they say absolutely nothing to me, just speak to each other in Russian. I am convinced it is a set up and I am getting detained again! How could they not know where we are going?

Let me divert a little here to discuss driving in Russia. Apparently lanes are insignificant, red means jump on the gas as hard as you can and hope you don't get hit by everyone else driving a mach-a-thousand and there are no stop signs at 4 way intersections. Yes, you heard that that - no stop signs, so everyone just flies ahead without slowing and you hope no one is coming in the opposite direction.

Anyway - we finally arrive at the Embassy and I go to fill out the paperwork. I have never been so happy to see an American flag! I am asked (by a russian - not an American worker) where my passport photos are. I don't have any I tell her. Apparently I need to get them. So now I have to go out into the mean streets and wander 10 minutes away to find the photo place, first stopping at a bank to change $20 of the only $80 I have that Dane gave me into Rubles so I can pay for the photos. I return to the Embassy and am told it will cost $100 to get the new passport. I try and explain all my money and credit acrds have been stolen. It is no use, I have to pay. So, I had to use the company credit card which is the only one I still have left. I am then told to "walk around town" until the passport is ready at 2:30. It is 11:30. You have to be kidding me. I don't want to wander around town, looking at unfashionable angry people who seem to smoke 10 packs a day. I want to go to bed as I have had only 3 hours of fitfull sleep. I decide to wait int he car, bcs apparently I can't wait in the Embassy and watch tv and feel safe, bcs they have to go to lunch.

So I sit in the car with the 21 year olds, who talk amongst themselves for 3 hours. No lie - not one word to me for 3 hours as I sit in the backseat of a strange car in Russia. At 2:30, my "guide" calls the Embassy and my passport is not ready. I have to be back on board by 5pm for sailing. I am starting to get nervous. We call again at 3 and it is ready. I wanted to kiss the lady when she handed it to me. I went running through the Embassy yelling "YEA I can get out of this place" to the mass un-amusement of the Russian security guards.

I arrive back to the ship at 4:00pm to great fanfare by the staff. I decide to go eat somethng before sleeping and quickly discover that my story has spread like wildfire across the ship and everyone I pass - those I know and don't know - stop to talk to me about my ordeal.

At 5pm we set sail and I happily stand in the rain on the deck waving goodbye to Russia for good. Now some sleep and off to Estonia. I hope they are friendly.

Robbed and detained in Russia

So, let’s recap, everything I have has been stolen, I have been in 2 separate police stations and a paddy wagon and now I am not allowed back on my ship. The story continues……

After some discussion, we decide that I will go back to the ship and see what happens. There is no way I am staying in St Pete’s. We travel back and arrive at the main gate into the port around 11:30. All of my group goes back on board except my CP who stays with me to see what happens. He is still in constant contract with the ship who are trying to get the port agent out of bed to come help. We go through passport control and of course, the woman there does not speak English. We show her the police report (that says god knows what) and she points me to a chair and points Dane out the door towards the ship. So I sit, and he waits outside the little building. And I sit, and he waits. There is a man in the building that works there who is seated at the little table next to my little chair. He just sits there and stares straight ahead. Cruise ship crew members come and go, heading into or back from their night off in the city. In the time that I sit there I see one of the waiters that I know leave for his night out and return, all while I sit and wait.

Every once in a while a phone rings and the women behind the glass answers it, stares at me, speaks in Russian and hangs up. I sit. Cockroaches are running rampant around the floor and I silently debate starting to stomp on them just for something to do. I decide against it. Dane continues to sit outside and occasionally he peeks in the woman’s little window. One time when he does this she picks up the phone and makes a call. 3 minutes later 2 men arrive with a window shade and hang it up over the little window. I kid you not.

So, I continue sitting. There are no windows where I am and no clock and I have no idea what time it is or how long they plan to leave me sitting here. When the door to the ship side opens with people coming through, I yell outside to Dane who informs me that the ship is still working on getting me back on. At one time, the woman behind the glass gets a call and points at me to come around the outside of the building and talk on the phone. I tip toe around the roaches and go out into what has become a very cold night. Dane is sitting on a small wall, doing battle with his own myriad of strange bugs. I take the phone and someone in very broken English asks me some inane questions that I thought were covered in the police report. Where was I? What happened? He doesn’t understand English really at all, so the call seems pointless. I get pointed back to my small chair by the woman. Dane informs me as I pass that the ship continues to work for me and that is phone battery is rapidly depleting which would be bad as it is our only link to anyone who speaks English.

I return to my chair next to the silent staring man and sit. This is starting to feel very isolating. I am just sitting here alone, with absolutely no idea what is happening. It is a very sad and scary feeling.

A call comes in and I am waved through to speak on the phone again. This time it is a woman in broken English who wants to know who my tour guide was in St Petes and doesn’t understand the whole concept of production fixer when I try and explain it. I am sent back to my little chair. And I sit.

Suddenly 4 uniformed angry Russian men appear in the glass booth with the woman. They have a conversation that seems more like yelling at each other then exchanging pleasantries, and they stare at me. Literally stare. They yell, stop yelling and turn in unison and stare. This goes on for about 15 minutes. I am starting to freak out a little. One of the men, a short mean little bugger comes around and stands over my chair staring down at me, hands clasped behind his back and he is rocking back and forth slightly. In broken English he says “you lost your passport”. It was stolen I say. “What is this stolen, I do not know” he says. I try to explain through pantomime what stolen is and I mention that it was not just my passport but all of my money and everything. “Police report says you lost passport only, nothing about stolen, no money, passport.” Well that is incorrect I explain. I try again to explain the concept of stolen and he says “by a black man” very matter of factly. In my head I am thinking WHAT??? What the hell is going on? I must be on Punked, this is ridiculous. I did not see the person I explain. He rocks a little, stares a little and informs me “this happens in US too” Umm, ok. Yes, yes it does I agree. Whatever you say little man, just let me go! “Always by black man” he says. I simply stare. And let me mention here that is 2 days in St Pete’s I did not see one black person, so what he is going on about I have no idea.

He goes back around into the booth with all the other angry people staring at me. Dane yells to me that the port agent is on his way. Soon, another man arrives in the booth, seemingly the port agent. He looks friendly and smiles at me. Yea! A smile! He has lots of papers with him and they all exchange papers and yell at each other and stare at me and finally the nice man comes in to my small room and tells me to come with him. I am free!! He leads Dane and I to a car and drives us to the ship apologizing for all the mess. I am just so relieved to be out of there. We arrive at the next check point and are held there for a spell as the woman won’t let me on board without a passport. Everything is explained again, calls are made and I am let on the ship. The concierge, Frantz, who has been working to get me back all night is standing waiting and I literally jump into his arms! He is totally my hero tonight. We walk into the ship’s lobby and it is nearly 4am.

I am told that I will have to go into St Petes tomorrow to visit the US Consulate and get a passport. I say that I am not stepping one foot off this ship in Russia and will wait until Stockholm to visit the embassy there. Frantz says he will arrange it for me in Stockholm. I join the rest of the group who are drinking and waiting to see if I make it back and we eat French fries (freedom fries if you will), drink vodka (only thing the Russians are good for) and finally crash out around 5:30.

From Russia without Love

So, there I am in St Petersburg having a lovely shooting day. It is raining on and off but is not too bad. I’ve seen some unreal architecture, eaten pancakes stuffed with meat (quite tasty), and most importantly, purchased – get ready for it – a Winnie the Pooh nesting doll set!!!!! Can you imagine my excitement when I found this? I think I scared the lady at the market! The first doll is Winnie and then each inside doll is a different character, ending with Roo! I love it!

Anyway – back to my story. So, we are a large group of people with an even larger group of bags, umbrellas, equipment, coats, etc. We are filming a segment on a bridge looking down the canals. The canals here are wide and clean and roam throughout the city giving it the nickname, Venice of the North. The canals are much cleaner then those in Venice and certainly smell more pleasant. Angry Russians however, are still in abundance.

Back to the bridge…..I left to buy some props for the next scene and next thing we know, my backpack is gone! That’s right, I was robbed in St Petersburg. My backpack, my camera, all my paperwork, my credit cards, id, all my money and holy crap – my PASSPORT are gone! In an instant. I am now in St Petersburg without a passport. I hope the horror of this statement is not lost on you all.

We all flip into overdrive, calling the ship, the police and anyone else who may help us. I am understandably flipping out. Here is where the real story begins. Now stay with me and remember I am in Russia at night, with no passport and consequentially, no visa!

My “fixer” (the local production person hired to secure our permits and act as a translator) comes with me and my EP to the police station as everyone else goes off in our van to get money from an ATM to pay for the boat rental we just had, for which the money was in my bag and is now gone. The 3 of us (all women) go off to the police. We walk into a room where there are 3 angry Russian men behind a window, smoking and staring at us. As my fixer explains the story the stare at me and clearly do not care at all about my situation. We are here mainly because we have been told by the ship that I need a letter from the police in order to get back on the ship. Oh yeah, did I mention I can’t get back on the ship without a passport?

So there we are in a seedy little police station with people yelling at me in Russian. They tell us we have to go to another building. They load us into – and I kid you not – a paddy wagon to transfer us to another facility. A facility that is down a dark back alley with no signage and no indication that it is actually a police facility.

On the way in the paddy wagon, which by the way has a Russian flag in the back window, the officer asks me through the fixer what I think of the Russia- Georgia war! I say that I don’t know too much about it. Then he asks who I think is right – Russia or Georgia! Now clearly this is a no win situation for me. I plead American ignorance, that I know nothing about international politics and that I have no opinion.

So now we are turning down the dark, unlit alley and we are lead into a door with no handle, he buzzes and someone lets us in from the inside. We walk into the most dismal place I have ever seen. Handcuffed prisoners are sitting on benches, 3 smoking angry Russians are behind glass, again staring at me. It was like every bad KGB movie you have ever seen. My fixer explains the situation again and they fill out some paper in Russian. The yell at each other and stare at me. My EP has her Blackberry and is trying to get in touch with the rest of our group as they don’t know that we have been transferred somewhere. They can’t find us! It is now getting a little scary to say the least. I am informed by the police that I can not get back on my ship until I get a new passport from the American Embassy which opens at 9am. It is 11 pm.

I am now freaking out as I don’t want to spend the night in St Pete’s, especially without a passport and I would have no way to pay for a hotel anyway as everything has been stolen! The rest of our team eventually arrives and they inform that they have been told the same thing by the port agent through the ship. I just begin crying, this is so insane!

Another installment to come shortly! Tune in!

Slight change in plans in St Petersburg

So, here we are in St Petersburg on Sunday and our host comes down with a ruptured eardrum and that means that she can not fly on Tuesday as planned. So I volunteer to stay with her until the end of the cruise in Stockholm (we were all getting off early in St Pete’s). Now she and I are staying until Friday and visiting Tallin, Estonia and Stockholm Sweden. I am pretty excited as I have always wanted to go to Sweden. It will be a nice change to actually stay on a ship with some time off and maybe lie on a deck chair at the pool for a bit! Hopefully we will have nice weather!

So without our host, the shoot has become a bit more difficult. But we run ahead and figure it out. St Petersburg is a beautiful city, large and sometimes not very clean, but with striking HUGE buildings covered in ornate sconces and such. There is so much gold plating on the buildings here that even on a cloudy day the sky sparkles a sunny glow.

We visit the Church of the Spilled Blood. It is what you would think of as a Russian building, similar to the ones you see in pictures of Moscow. It is amazing in it’s detail and color. Non-symmetrical spires stretch upward fro the main building, each covered in magnificently colored ceramics. It is truly like something out of a movie set, or maybe Epcot, Russia! You can’t even understand and I hope the picture does it justice.

The Russian people are an angry people. Really angry, unfriendly and mean people. All of them. It is a little shocking really. And they aren’t the most attractive folks. The fashion (and I use that term loosely) is atrocious. I spend much of the day staring in disbelief at what women and girls are wearing on a Sunday morning. All of the pants are unfathomably tight and the skirts remarkably short. There is a lot of gold lame, which I simply can’t explain!

We have a lovely day, though not too great weather wise, in St Petes and return to the ship. On this night we finally go out (almost all of us) to the “club” on the ship. We drink too much and dance too little and it is overall a great fun night that was much needed to relieve some of the stress. We have met some fun people on board and we all have a great night. We head out the next day with a renewed energy, but still without a host.

Gdynia

Today we were in Gdynia Poland. It was a gloriously sunny and warm day. After taking a short bus ride into the center of town, we joined the ship’s chef for a pierogi making lesson at an adorable and authentic restaurant which it is said serves the best pierogis in Poland! There were 15 different varieties and after our shoot the chef made us plenty of all of them. They were so full of flavor and soft with an amazing pork lard and onion sauce! One of the varieties was wild boar and man was it gamey! The mushrooms ones however practically melted in your mouth! When we gorged ourselves on homemade pierogis it was off to shoot around the town. By the way – I do not recommend pierogis for breakfast!

The town on Gdynia has about 750,000 people in it and is so charming. The architecture of centuries old buildings was gorgeous. Wide, large cement porches adorned with elaborate gargoyle rain spouts and cement walls were everywhere. It was truly stunning. We shoot around town and I purchased some beautiful amber jewelry for ¼ the price I would have paid at home!

Now we are back on board headed for another day at sea and we are wrapped for the night. We are headed to the specialty Italian restaurant for dinner, so I better go! More soon! And pictures coming soon!

Warnemunde continued

So, let’s see. Last time I wrote we were in Warnemunde. After I left you, we went into town and walked around to shoot there. It is a quaint little port town, with canals, beautiful buildings and lots of sidewalk cafes. We did a scene in a restaurant there and the German food was fantastic. We tasted some local beers and pastries. (I am definitely eating too much on this trip!)

Yesterday was a day at sea as we made our way from Warnemunde to Gdynia, Poland. We spent the whole day shooting scenes around the ship. The weather was overcast but warm, so it was perfect for shooting.

Last night was the formal night and wow were there some interesting outfits! It was a strange experience to be running around with tapes and paperwork and equipment in a formal floor length dress and 4 inch heels! I never found myself in that position when I was doing sports!

We shot a scene in the Nobu restaurant on board and had dinner there after. It was fantastic! If you live in a city with a Nobu and haven’t been there yet – go immediately! The blackened cod was one of the best things I have ever eaten. So flavorful and fresh. And I even ate raw yellowtail tuna. It was amazing light and tasty. Perhaps I should have had more Poki when I lived in Maui!

After Nobu, it was off to the nightclub to shoot. Nightclubs on ships like this are an interesting animal. Most of the clientele in older and gone to bed by 9pm, so the nightclub is always quite sparse. We gathered up some young people we met in Nobu and brought them dancing with us. There was also karaoke if you wanted and that is always good for a laugh.

We finally wrapped at midnight and crashed!

Warnemunde, Germany

Hi there! Today I write to you from the balcony of my penthouse suite, as we are docked in Warnemunde Germany and taking a break from filming for an hour! It is a beautiful sunny day, now it quite cold and cloudy earlier. I can't say much about the town yet as I haven't seen it - we are heading out in a bit to shoot there. This morning, we went about a 1/2 hour outside of town and we on a private high speed sailing boat! It is the boat that won some huge sailing race 2 years ago. It was amazing. We had to help the crew do everything - hoisting the sails, pulling robes, cranking this lever and that and even had the chance to steer - which was much more difficult then you can imagine. While we were sailing, we were listing almost perendicular to the ocean! It was so totally amazing.

For some reason my picture posting isn't going well. Will try some more when I post tonight!

Have a great Tuesday!

Cheers from Copenhagen!

Cheers from Copenhagen!

So we made it! The flight was great except for the ADHD child sitting next to me who didn't sit still for more then 2 minutes at a time! But, I still managed to finish my book, Feel - a biography about Robbie Williams...highly recommended if you like him - watch a movie, 21 - also recommended - and eat 2 meals! So overall not bad!

We arrived at our hotel at 8:30am and I resolved to stay awake all day so I could sleep through the night. I spent the day walking around exploring in a very cold and rainy city. It is a nice city, though I wouldn't say beautiful, but very typically European. Many time I found myself thinking I could be in Dublin, Galway, Milan, etc. I (of course) stopped in an Irish pub for a cider and discovered it was called Farrellys! Crazy! And I just had to try some Danish pastieries which were yummy! And lastly, I tracked down the Absolut Ice Bar! A whole bar (walls, stools, glasses, bar) made out of ice! It was very, very cool!

All the crew went out to a really nice "modern Danish cuisine" dinner and I actually tried something new! I fish called Sander which was delicious! I finally passed out around 11, though I am not sure how I was still standing at that point!

We boarded the ship today and it is gorgeous! This is going to be a great trip. Our host is a dream and free champagne and chocolates welcomed me to the room!

I have to run now to the lifeboat safety briefing! I will write more later.

This is a photo of me in the Ice Bar in Copenhagen.

Cruising the Baltic Sea

Hello all! Well, I have finally decided to start a blog! This was I can keep all you up-to-date on my travels and not keep telling the same story over and over! I hope you enjoy it!

I am heading out on Saturday to cruise on the Crystal Symphony. We start in Copenhagen Denmark, then travel to Warnemunde Germany, Gdynia Poland, Helsinki Finland and St Petersburg Russia! I am so excited for this trip as I have never been to any of these countries. Well, I was in Germany once, but that was for Oktoberfest so that was a whole different ball game!

While I am so looking forward to Russia, I simply can not wait to go to the ice bar in Copenhagen! It is an entire bar (the actual building) make out of solid ice. Even the glasses from which you sip your vodka are made of ice! They apparently give you a coat and gloves to wear when enetering as it is -5 degrees in there!

Anyway, this is the start - I will try to write often from the ship. Have a great Aug!

Irene