“I’m about to sing for you now, a song from the sea…Sometimes you get out on the sea in the middle of the night, and, you know, you can’t see your hand in front of your face. There’s a way to navigate though you know, by the stars...I never learned.”
The cast along the Geirangerfjord:
The Wedding Veil:
Ares is the new the Senior Accountant on board, so he is in charge of really boring things, that you wouldn’t want to hear about; well, boring to me. However he is not one of those people who sits at his desk with grey whiskers and a green visor cramming numbers into a calculator like The Producers leads us to believe; instead, after Nina and I met him in the gym (yes, you read that correctly mother, the gym) we all became buds and he took Nina and I on a tour of our next city Tromso. Norway’s towns get more interesting when you have a guide. We went across a bridge that was ¾ a mile long to the incredible Arctic Cathedral who’s architecture is absolutely stunning:
We walked all over, did I mention that Ares keeps asking me if I have been to the gym today?! He like to be very active and now that we’re friends he’s making me do the same. As I’m writing this Nina, who is sitting next to me kindly reminded me, “uh…you haven’t been to the gym in ages babe, you know that right?” Thanks Nina, for those loving words. I so appreciate them. After sitting down for a coffee in a little local coffee shop on the main street (which my the way, we started dubbing the main street in ever down Oxford Street, or fifth avenue for the Americans because the size difference is so ironic), the three of us went back to the ship and sailed on to Honningsvag, which is the very top of Norway!
Part of the Geirangerfjord:
The Seven Sisters:
I escorted a ship tour to the North Cape! The North Cape is the most northerly part of Europe and there is a building with a cinema (showing a wonderful film about the North Cape set to music), post office(where I got my port postcard!) and many a statue commemorating the area, including the famous globe! We were welcomed with a champagne and caviar toast in the bar with giant windows and a balcony cut into the cliff three stories below ground. There is even, get this, a Thai museum, which made me think of no one but one of my best friends Kavin, so I took a picture of it to show him, which I’ll have to post once I upload them. We met two bicyclists that had just arrived from the south of Spain, a whopping 3,000 miles away. It had taken them two months to get there, and we witnessed it. I even took a photo with them, again waiting on the upload. It was quite thrilling to look down the sheer cliffs that dropped 1,000 feet below into the ice-cold Barrant Sea of the North. The top of the world, pretty much. Well, with the rugged tundra and the 6,000 reindeer running around at 71˚ north it certainly felt like it.
Nina & I at The Globe at North Cape:
Gemma & I in Leknes:
After the Northcape, we rounded the top of Europe and sailed into Murmansk, Russia: a barren place, which was rundown and sad looking. I had IPM, so I stayed on, plus the Russian Government wouldn’t allow me to disembark anyhow as I was not on a scheduled tour and did not have a Visa to enter the country. I did however get out at Archangel, Russia on a tour of the city and it was nothing to write home about. It makes one realize how lucky we are to have what we have. It felt as though I was stepping into a time warp to the past. Some areas were nicer than others, but it felt as though the money was being put into having more secret service looking people roam the streets than anything else. I would have loved to get my hands on some caviar and vodka but wasn’t allowed to do anything outside the tour, so missed out on that one. I’m sure the other areas of Russia are lovely, but this far north it just seemed disappointing. Perhaps if I was Russian I would enjoy it more or be more familiar with everything. Our ballroom team, Anton and Olga who are Ukranian had a lovely time purchasing snacks and things that reminded them of home, so that reminded me that everything we experience in life is completely subjective.
Me at The Wedding Veil:
Nina & I in Hellesylt:
Me at the Hellesylt waterfalls, near where I jumped into the Fjord:
We had a couple of sea days, and in between them we stopped (for some wi-fi) in Hammerfest, Norway. A rainy little town with the most random shopping center, where we ran into another Peppes Pizza, I must have been wrong when I wrote a status update saying “Peppes Pizza. A Norwegian chain? Doubt it.” We have had internet from Peppes Pizza in almost every port that we’ve had internet in! Thank you Peppes Pizza! Haha. Anyway, a few more brightly colored houses. It’s funny, I don’t mean to drag on the towns in Norway, but they become the same thing after you’ve seen one of them. However the scenery is beautiful! We’re now in a slightly larger city, Kristiansund, Norway, sitting at, you guessed it another Peppes Pizza (haven’t tried their pizza yet, lol). It looks like a lovely town, the hillsides are packed with little houses that all look alike, I’m reminded of a song:
“Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes made of ticky tacky, Little boxes on the hillside, Little boxes all the same. There's a green one and a pink one and a blue one and a yellow one, and they're all made out of ticky tacky and they all look just the same.”
We found this amazing fountain in Copenhagen:
Nina and I are just talking about the blog while I’m writing this and the second highest country views, after the US are from Slovenia, thanks to her mother, Ljuba! Thanks Ljuba!
A random Statue in Copenhagen, I had to put my head in the middle of:
Now then, I must tell you about the most amazing women that are on this eighteen day leg of the journey. They are three sisters, and as always I won’t use names, to protect their privacy. These women are amazing. They are funny and have so much life within them and are living every moment for what it is. Living life to the fullest. I admire them so much. I found out a few days ago that one of the sisters has cancer and is not doing to well. You would never know it. She is beautiful and happy all the time and in fact they celebrated a secret birthday party for her, which I found out about too late, so I’ll have to sing for her before she leaves. Anyway, they’ve taken a liking to us performers and by the end of the cruise we’ll have dined with them three times. Whenever they see me, they all shout my name with joy. It’s a wonderful thing to have such admiration from someone who has sailed with Silver Sea for many years and is a Lady! I mean an actual Lady, meaning her husband is a Sir! How cool. They give me such wonderful strength to see them facing this battle head on and living life to the fullest. Did I mention that they sit in the front row of all the shows and cheer until their hands are red!?! So in our Broadway show I sang a song for them called, “I’d Rather Be Sailing” which I have a new found love for as it is a song about doing exactly what they are doing. In context it is sung to someone who is in the hospital, and the singer is telling him to slow down and not worry about work, but to live his life the way he wants to live it, to do the things that bring him joy and to make the choice to live happily while he can. I love these three women for everything they are and I am so proud to know them and know that they love me back.
Me at The Royal Palace Square in Copenhagen:
We have our last show this leg tonight, a sea day tomorrow and then we get a whole new load of people in Copenhagen day after tomorrow! I hope all your lives are well, and everything in them is grand! If I’ve learned one thing this trip, its that you have no time to be anything other than elated, so just don’t be bothered to be miserable. Hah!
Lots of love - and I do mean love…spread the love, people don’t love enough,
Rhett
P.S. One of my best friends in the whole world Shanna made a video of herself doing a dramatic reading of the the opening sentence from my last blog (the one I'd put on the back of my book) and it made my life so happy. So although I can't share it with you, I just wanted to thank her for being so amazing!
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