Antarctica Jan. 12th, 2009 and Ring of Fire World Cruise

HERE WE GO AGAIN!!

WE WILL BE LEAVING BIRMINGHAM ON JANUARY 12TH, 2009 FOR ANTARCTICA!!

WE WILL BE THERE 12 DAYS. WE WILL FLY BACK TO MIAMI ON JAN. 25TH, 2009 TO BOARD THE REGENT SHIP, THE MARINER, FOR THE RING OF FIRE WORLD CRUISE. PLEASE CHECK THIS BLOG AND FOLLOW OUR TRIP!!

Made it Home!

We were gone about 30 days. Of those 30 days, we had 2 days off, so to speak. We have found out that time is of the essence. On this trip we did not have any "down" time. We we on the go. The kids were troopers and seemed to be coming into their own as professional travelers! We have more stories and pictures to post. Stay tuned.

Berlin, Germany 7-23-08

Berlin. A historic place where East met West in 1989, when the wall separating East and West Berlin came down. Berlin. A city thats buildings were 80% destroyed in bombing raids in WWII. Berlin. A city with 5 million people. Berlin. A city where you can take a walking tour that ends in a parking lot. The parking lot that you are standing in is the site where Adolph Hitler held up in his bunker and died. A parking lot! That is what his memory is now! Berlin. A city that has a Holocaust memorial, not nearly sufficient for what happened there. Berlin. A city where soccer and beer are the most important things that happen. Berlin. A city that is still rebuilding after WWII and has done a phenominal job of doing so. Berlin. A surprise of a city for us. I hope you enjoy the pictures. They don't do justice for the history they hold. We were diverted all around the city as they prepared for the arrival of Senator Obama. There were actually Obama '08 balloons up and people handing out flyers trying to get us to come to his speech which is set for the 24th. We had to leave. Missed it.

Sea Day 7-22-08

Tomorrow we will be in Germany. We will have a bus ride for 1 and a half hours and then arrive in Berlin. We have a 12 and a half hour tour! I am sure we will have tons of pictures to post. Will get started on that tomorrow. We dresssed up for the show and the fancy dinner.

Stockholm, Sweden 7-21-08

Happy Birthday to Anna LaRock 10 on the 21st!

We took a tour of the highlights of Stockholm and they were something else. This is a magnificent city.

A ship sank in 1628 in the harbor and stayed there for 333 years when it was found and brought up in 13,000 pieces in 1961!! It is an awesome vessel and would shock anyone that walked into that museum to see it. The city vistas were not as clear as they could have been as it was overcast and actually started raining right when our tour ended. Stockholm is built on 4 islands and has 54 bridges. The islands that are all around are just beautiful, so clean and crisp. It actually looks more like a lake than a sea town.

Helsinski, Finland 7-20-08

They call themselves Suomis, not Fins here. We took a tour of the city and had a great day. It was overcast and cool but not cold.

St. Peterburg, Russia Day 2 7-19-08

Happy Birthday Charlie Welden! If Charlie does not know this, it is his Golden birthday. 19 on the 19th!!! We made a sign for Charlie!
We celebrated by going to what some say is the world's largest museum. The Hermitage. It literally means, lonely place, like a hermit. It is nothing like that. We toured it with every other person that happened to be in St. Petersburg that day! Amazing art touring it at 100 miles an hour. We were only in there for 4 hours and we managed to see all the major works of art and were sweating when it was over!
The symbol of St. Petersburg is of Peter the Great on his horse in bronze and the base of the statue has his name, on one side in Latin and the other side in Russian. This is to depict his trying to make East meet West.
Inside the Hermitage, which is adjacent to The Winter Palace, we saw MANY priceless pieces of art. The blog may not have them in the right order as I post them, but I will do my best to catalog them. Renoir, Monet, Cezanne, Van Gogh, Paul Gauguin, Picasso, Davinci, Michelangelo, Rembrandt...The only sculpture done by Michelangelo in the museum is called "The crouching Man". Supposedly, he told the Russians he would make a sculpture as large as "The David" and this is what he delivered. He told them if the man stood up he would be as tall as The David!!and the building got bigger and took up more of the square. There are two photos of it and look at them and se the difference.
There was one painting that was of St. Mark's square in Venice, when you looked at it and kept walking, the painting moved with you
There was a container taller than Nicky made of total Jasper.
The building next to the Hermitage is where people go to get their marriage licenses and then get married inside. Their family and friends wait outside the building until it is all over and then they walk around the parks taking pictures and drink a lot of vodka and champagne! Before 1991, this is where you had to get married. No church weddings were allowed.