Okay- I have to apologize. Please, forgive the lack of blogs in the past week. Norway has extremely limited internet access on its seas (who knew?) so it’s been quite hard to get a chance to write. We finished up the Norway cruise just as strong as we began it, heading through more fjords and to the big ports of Bergen and Oslo. Along the way Captain Dag pulled another trick and stopped the ship to pick up some homemade waffles and jam one morning for everyone! Ha ha! The two largest cities in Norway, Bergen and Oslo were some great ports with a really interesting, artsy sort of feel. Bergen is famous for its very in tact medieval town. It’s absolutely amazing to think these tiny little buildings with overlapping roofs have been in that town for so long!
Oslo was great fun since we were there overnight. We took a walk and I realized how much I had missed being out at night, walking around parks and past streetlights. It was a MUCH NEEDED change of scenery. The following day in Oslo I went exploring with my friend, Rose, one of the dancers in the cast. We trekked a couple miles around the city to find a famous sculpture garden that is full of pieces depicting different moments in the human experience. It was very cool and nice to get to spend a day getting to know Rose more and more. You know, as much as we are together and living every moment on this ship as a team, I find we still have so much to learn about each other.
Anyway- we also found a local bakery that was really trendy and fun. We also felt pretty cool because we were the only Americans in the joint. We felt right at home, though, fitting right in to the sea of beautiful Norwegian blonds! Ha ha! They never suspected us, I’m sure!
Also in Oslo I was asked to hold a “piano bar sing-a-long” kind of event. Basically they wanted me to get together a night in one of the lounges where I would play and sing a bunch of well known, loved songs for the guests to enjoy and join in on. It proved to be a bit difficult with the lack of sheet music I had with me, but I got a show of about 45 minutes together and the lounge was PACKED! I was excited to see so many friendly faces and we had a really good time. It was nice because I felt like I was back to Fierce Follies at NKU, pulling a show together in 2 days and really challenging myself. I’m going to have a hard time making sure to keep myself learning and growing on the ship, but I’m doing my best.
Yesterday we started our “Baltic Season” with the first of 7 one-week cruises we will do through the Baltic Sea. I was excited to get to escort a biking tour in the town of Visby on the island of Gotland, Sweden. It’s a cool walled city and we explored and biked about 10 miles on the trip with some awesome views and fun trails. It was good to be on a bike exploring, for sure. Today I got to walk around Tallin, Estonia, another medieval, walled city. These towns are SO interesting and have really great history and atmosphere about them. There are tons of winding, cobblestone streets and lots of kitschy medieval gear to be bought and sold. So cool!
Anyway- now I have at least caught you up with where we are and now that we are sailing the Baltic I will have loads of internet. (Usually free in the these ports!!!) I am glad to really get to know all of these ports and find some cool spots to return to over the next few days. Hope everything is well back home. Please write and update me with your life. I would love to hear from you guys. Let me know who you had lunch with today or the best movie you saw recently. Have you been having good summers? Where are you vacationing? About the only people I know about is my family. HELLO!!! Comment or email me: tripphampton@gmail.com
Tripp
5 comments:
HELLO!!! You know about me! (Check the email.) And, did your bike work better than mine while we were in France? :)
Laura
ps- I had to look up the word kitschy.
I love your blogs, Mister! Sounds like life is still pretty interesting and you are taking advantage of every chance you can to get off the ship and explore. Loved our two impromptu Skype sessions on Sunday! Getting to see you in a David Cassidy wig and your Elton John costume was fantastic! I can't wait to see real pictures of everyone in costume! We sure do miss you around here. LOVE YOU! Mom
P.S. I'm proud of you for spelling "kitschy" correctly!
thanks for filling us in on what you are doing now. The piano night sounds like a lot of fun and is right up your alley. Now I am waiting for pictures of the medieval buildings.
Ok...summer is great --- going to fast. Trying to get school stuff together and organized which is not happening. Gavin finished the bonus room which will right now be the school room. The kids think it is a dance floor. I am going to start packing for NC tomorrow and wonder why you aren't meeting us there..oh yeah, you are in the Baltic...where is that??? Oh! did I tell you that we have our huge world map up and we are looking to see where Uncle Tripp is all over the world! Love you and Miss you and wish you were going to NC so you can make me laugh....oh and BTW I had lunch at Panera with Gavin and Caroline. MMMMWWWWAAAAA!
Shan
When are you going to have video clips of you performing!? Surely some of your passengers could help you out with that!
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