Camp pics

Hi! It's Julia again! Here are some pics from photography camp. Bye!
P.S. We found Earl just sittin there in a national park.

on the cape

Hey! this is Julia here, the youngest cremin child! Right now we are on the cape. Cape cod, that is. I am real happy. a great view, cape cod potato chips, and pop tarts. Plus, a whole season of Gilmore Girls! life is good. So on the road trip here, my mom rear ended someone on the tappan zee bridge in New York. It wasn't too bad. No one was hurt, but i have a bruise on my shoulder from the crash. so does my mom. I have to go now, but here's a picture of our car after. wait, one second. after the crash, we were on the side of the road, safe and sound, when the tow truck next to us backed up into a brand new police car. That i laughed at. okay. now i really have to go. bye! ttyl!

The Blind leading the Blind

Between Luther and Juliet, they had two good eyes. By dinner, Juliet had decided that her scratchy eyes also warranted a visit to the ship’s doctor. Both she and Luther showed up at dinner with matching white eye patches. Very photogenic. They put up well with the inconvenience and eye pain but turned in soon after dinner to rest their eyes. Both were better this morning and ready to tour again. Yea!

While they were recovering, Dennis and Rebecca headed out after dinner to meet Jennifer and Kim at Tivoli. After a city bus ride (one of Dennis’ favorite modes of transportation), they got to the park in time to see the pretty lights and ride the Demon, a roller coaster where your feet dangle. Dennis screamed like the girls he was with, who also screamed, naturally. It was a good ride! They figured their screaming was attracting customers to the roller coaster. Always glad to help. Tivoli was sort of like a quaint Epcot with areas for many countries. It looked great in the dark with the lights twinkling. With our heads spinning from the ride, we headed out to the music of a swing band back into Copenhagen. Next stop, the ice bar.

We managed to get there 5 minutes before closing time, and the bartender was kind enough to let us in anyway. The bar is a small space made entirely of ice – walls, glasses, artwork. The whole shebang. They dress you in a large blue cape with a hood and mittens and send you into the cold to order your drink. What a hoot! We had a gas bundled up against the cold as we sipped our drinks before being kicked out. After the deep freeze, Copenhagen’s relative warmth felt balmy! A quick taxi ride back to the ship and a nightcap later, and we were all off to bed. Kudos to Jennifer and Kim for the longest touring day EVER. They never took a break from when we left the ship at 9 am until we got back at midnight.

With the one-eyed wonders back in business, we woke in Helsingborg, Sweden. Paul looked right at home among his people. Dennis and Luther tendered, bused, ferried and bused again back to Denmark to see Elsinore’s Castle (Hamlet’s castle). The rest of the gang walked into the charming town of Helsingborg. For our cultural edification, we visited a castle known as the Keep, a 13th century battle station. There were great views from the top of the tower to the coast below. Then we hit the shopping street for some necessary doodads. Along the way we visited St. Mary’s church, a Lutheran church from the early 14th century. We finally saw a painting of Luther even. Buxtehude (dude!) was organist there in the 17th century. We picked up lunch at an international food fair that’s in town for a few days and headed back to the ship for an onboard picnic of tasty pretzels, pork sandwiches and chocolate waffles. Happiness all around.

Now we are waiting to set sail. A winch is broken so the last of the tender boats can’t be hoisted into place, delaying our departure for over an hour so far. I’m sure they’ll have it all resolved soon! Kim is taking a well-deserved nap and Paul is monitoring the winch situation. Tomorrow, Oslo!

Julie sends a special shout out to Ben and Abby since they couldn’t talk long this afternoon. Enjoy your spaghetti dinner. They will try to reach you tonight if the phones are working or tomorrow if they aren’t.

That's Copenhaaaagen not Copenhahhhgen

How days at sea can go by so fast is still a mystery. You’d think a day of nothing to do would drag along, but somehow the days just zip on by. Of course, with two lectures to occupy our time perhaps it should be no surprise. It was a working day for Dennis. He had a lecture at 11 on Copenhagen and Helsingborg and a second lecture at 1 on Oslo, both of which he had to prep that morning. Then he had desk hours from 5-7, so he was tuckered out by the end of the day. The rest of the group attended both entertaining lectures. Julie, Luther and Rebecca played a good round of Fill or Bust in Skywalker lounge way up at the top of the ship. It was a cold and windy day, so no sitting outside on deck. We had a casual lunch followed by some time in the shops.
It was formal night, so everyone got dressed in their finery for dinner. It was a fine looking bunch! After a drink at the lounge it was time for bed to get ready for Copenhagen.

We’re still in Copenhagen and will be until 4 am tomorrow. We headed off the boat and started walking into town. The weather was still cold and windy, but the rain was holding off. We passed where the Little Mermaid usually lives, but she is visiting Shanghai now so we moved along to the big square of the Amalienborg Palace with its four palaces and guards in beefeater hats. Frederick Church was our first official stop. The church is more commonly known as the marble church since it’s made of gray marble, and it had the apostles hanging out on the ceiling and a pretty organ. Then it was off to Our Saviour’s church across the canal. This was a gorgeous church, very light and airy, with statues of the angels, a highly decorated gold baptismal font, and an incredibly ornate organ. The steeple of the church is a twisty thing with touches of gold. Quite unique.

After all that walking, it was time for some sustenance, so we found a bakery with some seriously yummy pastries and coffees. The Danes do know their danish! We were close to Cristiania and figured we should at least walk through the bastion of few rules and free society. It was a colorful community with lots of street activity and bathrooms that Juliet decided were better left unused – no doors on the stalls. Then we hopped on the (free!) subway to whisk us to the shopping street, Stroget. It’s full of all sorts of fancy and pretty shops. After a bit of shopping, we found a traditional Danish place for lunch. We all tried new things, and it was all tasty. Then we tried to find a small museum where Hans Christian Andersen had been. It’s housed in a department store, of all places, that used to be a hotel where Andersen had stayed. The down side was that the museum is now closed; but on the upside, Juliet go a new watch and Jennifer and Kim got new sunglasses. So all was not lost! We decided to head back to the boat to regroup and reenergize (except for Jennifer and Kim who seem to have endless energy). They have just finished a canal boat tour and are looking forward to Tivoli. The rest of the gang walked in the rain and hail and wind back to the ship where we collapsed with our tired feet up. Luther got some grit in his eye, blown in by the wind as we walked, so the ship’s doctor fixed him up with an eye flush and patch and orders to come back tomorrow. His good eye is isn’t very good at seeing so he’s not too pleased, but he’s hanging in and the eye will be just fine. It has of course provided Julie with some good photo ops. She is threatening to draw an eyeball on the patch, but Luther hasn’t said yes yet.

Now the question is what to do next. We’re thinking that dinner on the ship is a good idea since the city is pricey and it’s cold out there but warm in here. After that we may head to Tivoli Garden. It would seem wrong to be here and miss it, but again there’s that warm in here cold out there factor. Of course the Absolut Vodka ice bar also beckons. Hmmm….

Can't believe we're missing a woot off. We'd better go check it out. Bye for now!

Green Team, Blue Team, Bruges Team

London day 2: After more baked beans for breakfast, we were off for a short excursion before heading to the ship. Paul and Juliet made a short trip to Westminster Abbey and then caught the bus to the ship. The Grafes and Cremins headed to the Tate Modern, a new museum housed in an old power station across the Millennium Bridge. Rebecca’s favorite piece was a cool Anish Kapoor sculpture (he’s the guy who did Chicago’s bean statue). We split into the blue and the green team (aka boys and girls teams). The Green Team headed to the hotel to pick up the suitcases and head to the train station. The blue team went to the Globe Theatre and squeezed in a trip to the shoe store . These expert shoppers were able to make it from the Tube to buy shoes and make it back to the Tube in 15 minutes – no small feat. Guess who was on each team? The teams met up at Waterloo (please sing along) with at least 10 minutes to spare and made it onto the train a whole 3 minutes before departure. Dennis’ blood pressure may have been a teensy bit elevated, although it must be noted that the blue team made it within time parameters by the skin of their teeth. They did concede victory to the Green Team. Go, green!
After a delightful train trip with sandwiches and wine, we arrived at the Southampton station and were whisked away in a taxi to the ship. After a quick embarking for Dennis and Rebecca and a lengthy wait for others, we met up for the martini of the day at the sailaway. Everyone likes their cabins. Dennis and Rebecca are in the crew zone this time, behind the forbidden doors. But they have a window! No more trying to guess if it’s day or night when they wake up. Dennis has desk hours two hours a day and lectures just on sea days. So just twice. Pretty sweet.
All 8 of us dined at table 20, making full use of all the menu offerings and closing down the dining room. After a very brisk and windy and hence short walk on the promenade deck, it was off to sleep.

Today we visited Bruges in Belgium, a lovely medieval town with horse-pulled carriages and boat canals and chocolate shops beyond your imagination. Divide and conquer was the theme with some of the group attending mass and visiting a museum and the other group checking out the chocolate shops and taking a lovely canal cruise. We met up for lunch at a restaurant with 400 beers! We only needed to try 50 beers each to make it through the selections. Just 49 more each to go! Then the boys rode bikes around the canals, and the rest of the group wandered and finished up shopping.

Then it was back to the boat for desk duty (Dennis), laundry (Julie, Juliet and Rebecca) and now the blog. Jennifer and Kim are doing who knows what. We suspect napping. We are sitting in the gorgeous sun (did we mention that it was in the 70s and beautifully sunny today?), listening to Mamma Mia as we type on Luther’s laptop awaiting the delivery of the drink of the day. Gotta love technology. Dinner is at 8. We’ll see if we can close the place down again! Tomorrow is a day at sea and then it’s Copenhagen.

Kiss My Ash

The Cremins and Grafes don't let something like a little ole ash cloud keep us at home! We are back across the pond, ready to take on another Princess ship. And this time, we have more company. Our newest contestants are Rebecca's parents, Paul and Juliet, and Julie's friends Jennifer and Kim.

Julie, Luther and Rebecca flew together to London and met up with Dennis (who arrived a day earlier afer ten days in Italy - tough life, we know) and Paul and Juliet who beat us to London by a few hours. First order of business: a pub lunch complete with fish and chips, steak and ale pie and pints of ale. Welcome to England! Properly fortified, we headed to Westminster Abbey (closed) and Big Ben in our Ben and Abby Grafe pilgrimage. We got in a quick visit to St. Margaret's church next to the abbey, checked out Parliament, and made a quick visit to the National Gallery. We managed to get back to Westminster in time for the 5 pm evensong service, complete with singing choir boys and men. We hardly even dozed. Really it was lovely.

Then it was back to the hotel to meet up with the parents for diiner at Uno, a restuarant they had visited a few yesas ago. Pizzas and pasta and wine and we were ready to head to the river to find the remnants of the Roman walls, walk across the Millennium Bridge and head past the Globe Theatre. Then we were officially tired. Our oyster cards have been the cat's meow. We are becoming experts at navigating the buses and tube. Rebecca and maps are another story, however. How come the maps here are all upside down and backwards here? It must have something to do with driving on the wrong side of the road.

After a restful night's sleep at our comfy hotel and a traditional English breakfast of eggs, bacon and baked beans we were back at it this morning. We started with the British Library: Handel's original Messiah score, original Beowulf, Magna Carta, Beatles lyrics, 4th century new testament in Greek, papal indulgences. All way cool (and free like most museums here!). After a few wrong turns (not Rebecca's fault, really), we picked up tickets to Billy Elliot (the musical) and headed downt the hill to catch the tail end of the changing of the guard at Buckingham Palace. (Jennifer, who was with Kim and not us at the time but also at the guard show, really enjoyed the equestrian display.)

After saying hello to Kim and Jennifer, we headed to St. Martin in the Fields for a harp concert. Very lovely. We didn't nap much there either. After finding a noodly lunch at Wagamama, we split out, girls going to Harrod's and the Victoria and Albert Museum, and boys going to the Churchill Museum. Big cheers all around for the museum trips.

After a refreshing glass or two or three of wine at the hotel, we headed to Billy Elliot. What a great show! Then it was out for a late dinner with risotto, sea bass and one honking veal chop. Luther had his first cockles! Tasty fish. Then back to the hotel to blog, blog, blog. No pictures yet, but trust us that there are some winners to come.

Tomorrow it's a ride on the train or bus, depending on who you are, to the ship. We had word before we left of an outbreak of norovirus on the cruise that's coming into port so we may be delayed in leaving becuase they are doing a big ship sanitization. We're hoping they get all those germs!

Time for bed. It's tomorrow here already. How did that happen? Hey, is anyone watching the Woots? Email Luther if there's a wootoff. :-)