Are YOU Sweet Enough!? [MSC Lirica Baltic Cruise]

I'm back from the magical land of MSC Lirica~! So prepare yourslef for a roller coster of an epicly long post~ <3

☆

Ok guys! I'm back~.

Back with many a story to tell. Stories of prizes, politics, and nice people. Brace yourslef!

The Journey.

Starting on 13th July '09 (Monday), mum, grandma and I travelled all the way down from rainy North West England to not-so-rainy Canterbury (South East England). The following day we were preparing to set off on a luxurious cruise around the Baltic; aboard MSC Lirica. Our trip was to take us all the way from Dover, to Amsterdam (Holland), Bremenhaven (Germany), Goteborg (Sweden), Tallinn (Estonia), St. Petersburg (Russia) and Copehagen (Denmark).

[all images are (c) to me; SamuraiJAM/comicbook-girl. For the full gallery please visit: http://comicbook-girl.deviantart.com/gallery/#Baltic-Cruise-09-MSC-Lirica]

So, on the 14th July, we set off from our over night stop of Canterbury and headed to Dover. (whilst taking photos of road-sode poppies and roadsigns along the way).

LIFE LESSON : book online, get a fast track ticket!!

Even though we booked online and got an "express" ticket, we still had to queue loads to get on the ship. Not as much as regular ticket holders though... the poor souls.

One of the best things about MSC cruiseliners is that they're an Italian country, and people from all over Europe go on their cruises; meaning you're with people of different nationalities; which is really refreshing.

Soon enough, it was dinner, and, as grandma didn't want to eat late at night, we had to eat in the first sitting (aka; at 6.15pm/18.15). Which was hard for me, as I usually eat late. So, becuase I really wasn't very hungry, and as we sat down to eat, the ship was already pulling out of port; I excused myself as mum & grandma ate their appetisers, and ran up the stairs from Deck 5 to Deck 11, with mum's backup camera (Nikon D40). All so I could get pictures of the White Cliffs of Dover as we were leaving. I thought that, as the next time we'd get such a view would be 6.00am, I'd never get another chance to do so. (I was wrong, but still).

Through a series of various events, I ended up running up and down those stairs about 5-6 times.

Which is when I met Bannister Man. 

Bannister Man was, simply put, the guy who polished the bannisters. Most people of his rank in the ship; cleaners, etc; were pretty much ignored and taken for granted by most passengers... So their faces always lit up when you talked to them.

Although we never really talked properly, Bannister Man was always very friendly and smiley, and always seemed happy to see me... He was very nice; I didn't touch the bannisters because he always seemed to be working so hard...

So anyway, 'twas when I met Bannister Man. Now, on with the story.

Amsterdam

I tell ya, it's very strange at first, to go to sleep looking at sea, and wake up looking at windmills (the energy creating type <3) and cranes. So, our first proper destination was Amsterdam!! We didn't book any excursions for Amsterdam, so we just explored on our own~.

Moslty, we just visited Anne Frank's House, and had lunch. But we explored a little, took lots of photos and found the first case of grandma being classed as foreign. No special cakes, sorry...

There were bikes everywhere in Amsterdam. I mean. EVERYWHERE. you couldn't turn a corner or walk down a road and not see one!

Although we didn't really do much it was very nice to explore a little, I'd deffinately come back again!!

Bremenhaven

Actually, we didn't get off the ship when we were in Bremenhaven. Apparently there wasn't much to see there (?) So we spent the whole day sun bathing on Deck 11 X3

Gotenborg

Gotenborg was really nice, it was calm too. And everyone seemed really friendly! Again, we didn't do any excursions here, so we just explored on our own. Grandma was very concerned she wanted a really nice cake in a cafe... but she never got one... I: However, mum and I stumbled upon a very nice clothes shop, so now my wardrobe has grown slightly...

Another note about Gotenborg is the Pantbank.

This made for much hilarity between my mother and I. I wonder what it actually means?

As we were rushing back to the shuttle bus which would take us back to the ship, I saw an An Cafe t shirt on sale outside a shop! I almost had a panic attack!! haha~ I guess you really know you're a cafekko when that happens X'D

[At Sea]

The day after \gotenborg was a whole day at sea. Our hopes of the glorious 80+ degrees F baking sunshine in which to sunbathe and swim under all day were shattered when we woke up and saw that it was raining. Going up to Deck 11, we saw it wasn't just raining, it was chucking it down! I mean, proper, full blown ENGLAND type raining!! Not to mention the wind, it was so windy!! In the end it turned into a full blown storm, tunder, lighting and everything. I worked out, with the playground trick of counting the seconds from the flash till the bang, that the thunder/lighting was pretty much right on top of us; meaning we were sailing through the eye of the storm - there were even hail stones and everything!! So yeah.... bye bye sun tan~

Tallinn

After we finally managed to get out of that damn storm, we were greeted by 80 dgrees in Tallinn! <3 Our tour guide in Tallinn was very friendly and very informative! She basically told us the entire political history of Estonia; and let me say, those guys ROCK!! 

They were always being captured by some people or another, first the Danish, then the Germans during ww2, and after that they came subject to Soviet Russia and communism. 

However~ Estonia was hell bent on getting their freedom! The people of Estonia all managed to get their representatives in the Soviet Union to back out and refuse to join in with Russia. That way, they managed to become Estonia again, and not just a satelitte state. By the early 90s, they were on their way to freedom, but they knew that they had to get their own currency to do so. The only way of doing so was to stop the circulation of Russian roubles. But to do this, they had to go for months on only one months worth salary, until they could bring in their own currency. Because of all this, Estonia is very democratic and even the parliament, you can not only walk straight up to, but you can walk straight into the Estonian parliament, and even request to talk to an MP!!

Estonia's parliament. Compared to other parliament buildings, it's quite small. Not to mention pink! You can't see itt very well, but on top of the turret is the Estonian flag. The blue at the top symbolises Estonia's blue skies, the black is Estonia's land, and the white at the bottom represents freedom, meaning Estonia is built on freedom.

So, all in all Tallinn was wonderful! And I'd deffinately go back again!! Probably in the summer though... our guide said that in winter, -15C is mild. MILD!! -20C is about normal and -30C is a bit rough.

St. Petersburg

St. Petersburg was very interesting... In some ways, it was a bit like Disney land... Most of the palaces and such (such as the winter palace) had been burnt down or destroyed, so they had to rebuild them all; so there's this odd sort of feeling that what you're seeing isn't really real... 

We were docked in St Petersburg for 2 days, so on the first day we went on a canal tour of the city, and we went to St. Peter & Paul's fortress, in the morning.

In Peter and Paul's fortress, we went into the cathedral (The Romanovs like gold. I mean, in a BIG way). There were all these tombs, or at least memorial type things in to shape of tombs, dotted about inside the cathedral, such as Peter the Great, and Catherine I.

Whilst we were in St Petersburg, all we ever heard about was "Peter the Great" and "Catherine I". It was as if everyone was in denial over the past 100 years or so. It was all very strange, none of us had visas, so we could only enter the country as part of a tour group. But the whole time, it was as if we weren't being told the whole story. It was a big contrast with Tallinn, where we were told the entire political history of the country, whereas in Russia, it seemed like some big cover up story. 

On the second day we went to the Summer Palace and gardens in the morning, and the Hermitage in the afternoon. It was a full day's excusion... and it was completely knackering!! Our tourguide gave us these little black box type things and headphones... it was like a radio reciever or something... so she could talk and we could hear her over the noise of the other tourists.  And, well in the end, my mum and I, along with a nice middle aged ish couple we met on the tour decided we'd had enough and took the headphones off. Haha! It was like being in primary school, I swear! Yknow, when you have the annoyingly enthusiastic teacher that no one really likes... and you have to go on a school trip/field trip that turns out the be the really boring sort, and the best part of the day was the gift shop? And you get the goody goody two shoes at the front with the teacher listening intently, then the naughty kids ambling behind at the front, talking amoungst themselves and ignoring the teacher (might I say, I am very proud to say that I was the latter, always at the back saying "I'm bored" and mucking about with my friends). Well, it was basically like that.... but without the exciting gift shop.

The man we were with (part of the couple that is) was very funny, and made us laugh (thinking about it, it was exactly like being at school!! haha!). Because we were so far at the back, our radio reciever things didn't pick up very well so they kept crackling. He said "honestly, it's all snap crackle and pop!!.... it's like listening to a bowl of rice krispies!!" So, from then on out, her name to us was "Rice Krispies".

Another one he came up with was "Don't look nbow, but in the next room, is an original, authentic Russian Barbie doll" (he was refering to the member of staff standing watch in the room.... you really had to be there to get it, but it was hilarious!!). haha yeah, we were deffinately the bad kids at the back XD

So, after the palace & gardens, and then after lunch, we made out way to the Hermitage. We were so worn out from the palace and gardens alone (we're not very good at playing tourist), a lot of us fell asleep during the half an hour coach trip to the Hermitage. And, to my horror, when I woke up, I realised I'd been sleeping not only with my head back.... but.... my mouth open!! I NEVER sleep like that! I swear! It was so embarassing!! And to add insult to injury, when I woke up, and realised this, we were stopped at the traffic lights, with a Russian public bus next to us and... loads of people on sed bus were staring at me!! It was so embarassing!! :C

So. The Hermitage. Something that, as art lovers, should have been wonderful... But, with ourt lame tourguide it was turned into a nightmare!! We were told we couldn't take water bottles into the gallery (the hell!?) so we went without water or any form of liquid hydration for about 3 hours. To make things worse, the place was pakced with other tour groups!! So, because of that it was hot. And then our tourguide kept walking and walking and we didn't get the chance to sit down often... So, basically, we were on our feet (already knackered) for about 3 hours, in stuffy, hot, crowded rooms, completely 100% dehydrated!! (Surely that's a breach of human rights or soemthing?) Oh yeah, and no chance of a toilet stop at the end, so mum and I almost got left behind. (That's surely a breach of rights?!)

And, to add insult to injury yet again, we spent hours looking at Renaissance pictures. Our tour guide said she'd give us the highlights tour, so we could get a good view of everything. Oh boy was that a mistranslation! We (meaning us naughty kids) were yet again, at the back not paying attention. None of us very particularly keen on the Renaissance, I mean it can be beautiful and everything, but we much prefer modern and abstract etc. So, so spend about 30 minutes in each Renaissance room was a complete killer!! In the end, we gave up even looking at the paintigs.

Don't get me wrong and say stuff like "philistine!!", because believe me, I've grown up with art and I've been going to galleries probably pretty much since I was born. Mum and I particularly, go to art galleries quite often, and even in an exhibit we really like, we would NEVER spend that much time in a gallery! Our guide was hell bent on throwing her views on art and giving her own commentary on every single damn painting. Art is there for you to make your own meaning of. You don't need to make a whole commentary for it, just appreciate it in your own way. And it's deffinately not acceptable to have other's opinions forced on you.

So, for us modern lovers, this was a nightmare! (the dehydration, heat and lack of seats didn't help). And! By the time we actually got to the modern art section, as in, the greats, like Matisse, and Picasso (<3) she literally just walked through and didn't say anything about them (we had funny man listening in every now and then to see what she was saying). We went to a massive room of Picasso paintings and d'you know what she said?! All she said was "oh... and Picasso was another artist who used abstract and cubism" and with that she ran to the next room. I mean! Another?! Another?!! Geez that man practically invented cubism!! She dragged us round for the good part of 3 hours looking at her favourite paintings, and then this? It was awful... And after Picasso, there was a room on Matisse (one of mum's faves). She didn't even say anything, we just walked through and weren't even allowed to look at any of them. Thankfully, we'd already seen the exhibit before, when it was in London... but it had some of his greatest works and we weren't allowed to see them properly;

One of his most famous pieces and we weren't allowed to see it. Thankfully we'd already seen it in London.

And (I'm using this saying alot, sorry) to add insult to injury yet again, as we were leaving, we walked past the entrance to a massive exhibit on... Japanese Art!!! I swear I almost cried!! There was no way I could've seen that exhibit, Even if I'd snuck in and gone super-turbo-art-lover-jam on it, I would've either

a) completely been left stranded in Russia on my own (no srsly mum and I were almost forgotten)

or

b) In order to see it and keep up with the group, I would've had to ran soooo quickly, everything would've been a blur, and I wouldn'tve been able to appriciate it properly.

However, there was a massive shodo (calligraphy) hanging outside the room, which I managed to get a picture of;

I don't know who it was by, or quite what it says, but I think it's very beautiful... It's just a shame I didn't get to see any more...

Anyone who's familiar with the animated film "Anastasia" (which, was not made by Disney! It was infact made by FOX :3 (which may I say is the best surname ever.)), will know of this place;

<3 <3 <3 !!!

I had to take this from a veryy veerrryyy small little open window in the Hermiatge. And, surprise surprise, our tourguide wouldn't take us into the square/plaza thing, and she even falied to recognise it was there. But still! I got the picture!!

Oh, I forgot to mention we went to see Swan Lake at the ballet on the first night. It was very good... however, it was a shortened version, and it was actually a student ballet. However, we payed top whack for it. I'm talking covent garden prices!!.

Copenhagen

After another day at sea, we docked in Copenhagen. We ...ended up not doing much in Copenhagen... Grandma desperately wanted to go to "Tivoli" which, apparently used to be nice Victorian style gardens... which is now some form of theme park... with VERY tame rides, might I say, even the big ones. But then again, I guess that's how it is when you come from a country that has the likes of Oblivion, and Nemesis (not to mention the SAW ride at Pleasure Beach, which I am desperate to go on!!). Haha but then, this is all coming from someone who lives pretty close to one of the country's biggest theme parks*, and if "Rita Queen of Speed"'s speed is classed as "illegal" in France, then the same might be said in Denmark. We... meaning I didn't go on any rides though... there wasn't really much time, they weren't as good as the ones back home and, I was wearing a skirt. (I didn't know it wa a theme park, ok?) 

I did, however, get some candy floss. which was WAYYY better than the stuff we get at home!! This was actually.... FRESH! and...... on one of those cone type stick things!!!!!! At home, it's already made and in a plastic bag.... but when you see it made in front of you in the big machine thing and put on a cone stick thing.... ahh! it just tastes SOOOO much better!! haha brings back memories of my very early childhood! In England, we did actually used to have candyfloos on sticks that was made in a big machine in front of you.... but for some very strange reason, we don't any more... it's so depressing!! D':

So anyway! This Danish candyfloss was actually twice the size of my head!!! And I ate it all! ALL!! AHAHAHAHAHAAAA!! And I didn't feel sick after, either.... actually what I said was;

"...heyyy mum~ can I have some more?!"

and her response was, inevitably;

"NO!!!!"

aww.... but hey, it was sooo good~!!

***

So, after another day at sea after Copenhagen, we eventually arrived back home in Dover. And then we had a 7 hour or so drive back to the North West!! D':

We left Dover at about 11am ish, and by the time we'd dropped Grandma off and had a cup of tea and such (cause, yknow, in England you can't do anything till you've had a cup of tea. It's practically the law. I'm serious, it's true!), Mum and I ended up getting home about 7ish. 

And like the typical teenager, I spent the whole night uploading photos to facebook, and the whole following day uploading the more artsy ones to DeviantART!

***

The Ship

I can't blog about my cruise and not talk about the ship itself!! (gawd) So; As I've already said, we were staying on MSC Lirica;

The Ship itself was really nice~ Every night there were performances in the Theatre! Some were singing, some were dancing, some were magic... some even had contortionists!!!!!  I LOVE those guys!! They're amaaaazing!! I wish I could be that bendy!! they're just so amazing!! <3

And  one night there were two singers singing the Phantom of the Opera~ It sounded so good~ I love the version that was on the ship~ but the original and film version sounds kinda lame.... hmm it's probably just me, but on the ship, the woman sung it all high pitched and opera like, and the man's voice was so strong~ It was lovely!! <3

Whenever we had a whole day at sea, we had a "gala" night, meaning everyone put their best clothes on!! cocktail dresses and bowties all round~!! On our 2nd day at sea (between Russia and Denmark) we had "elegant afternoon tea" in "La Bussola" (one of the restaurants). It was...... so cool!!! It was like something out of a shoujo manga!! Like Ouran High or something!! It was soo nice!! And then two of the waiters came over (pretty much all the waiters in there were Indonesian btw) with a cake trolley and asked me if I wanted cake (they never asked mum and grandma come to think of it...) I politely refused, but they wouldn't give in..!! The converstaion roughly went like this;

(btw, they kept calling me something in Indonesian that I guess meant miss or something... but I forgot what it was!! DX so for now it's represented as this : [*])

"Hello, would you like some cake [*]?"

"oh, no thank you"

"awwww no, you want some cake!"

"oh, no I'm fine thank you"

(waiters look at each other)

"ahhhh!!! you keep diet?"

"oh... uhm no I..."

"you hold weight?"

"uhm... n- -"

"Are you sweet enough for it~~?! [*]~ [*]~"

".......... fine, chocolate cake please!"

"yaaay!! Here you go [*]!!"

...No srsly. that was the conversation.

All the waiters were very nice! Particularly our waiters, Budi and Khadak (I think Khadak was his name.... he never introduced himself and I only saw his name tag briefly DX )

One night, Budi made a rose out of a napkin and put it in a champagne glass on our table! haha Khadak got all excited! "Do you like it?! Budi made it!!!" he said~ haha.

On the last night, when we had special Baked Alaska, most of the waiters had to carry this flaming Baked Alaska around. It looked so cool! Khadak was carrying it for his and Budi's tables, he started laughing when he saw us all clapping! 

The cleaners were really nice too!! I got lost a couple of times, and one of the cleaners helped point me in the right direction!;

"excuse me!"

"huh?"

"your cabin is that way!!"

"...is it? *looks around* heyy!! so it is! thankyouuu!"

I'm great at getting lost!! *thumbs up* He, along with one of the other cleaners always seemed to be in the cabin across from Grandma, so we decided they were either going to sleep or having a party... so we asked them.

mum "are you having a party in there or something?"

cleaner "..............NO."

".....yes, yes."

haha it was so funny!! Just the expression on his face!! XD

And of course, not forgetting Bannister Man!!! Whenever he saw me, he'd greet me with a big grin! haha it was really sweet~ When we were coming back from St Petersburg on the 2nd day, he was helping with getting everyone back on the ship, and when we ignored the arrows and walked completely the wrong way, he helped us in the right direction XD haha we're such doofuses!

And when we left to get off at Dover going home, he saw me off with a big smile! It's very sweet!!

***

So, now I'm back in L'Angleterre, where it's cold, and wet, and rainy... but there are some good things about England after all, it seems. Like, freedom of speech, and being able to wear religious items, and allowing people to be openly gay.

And a few other things too~ <3

So, After all that, I hope I managed to keep it interesting with the photos X'D haha sorry~ <3

STAY NYAPPY~!☆
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*In the UK, there are quite a few theme parks, but the "BIG 3" as I like to call them are; Thrope Park, Alton Towers and Pleasure beach, in Blackpool. Thorpe Park & Alton Towers are part of a franchise, so are pretty much the same rides & such. Thorpe Park is down south, and the lovely most awesomeist Alton Towers is up North~ It's infamous amoung us Northern teenagers! >D