Day 10 Copenhagen, Denmark Over breakfast, we argued about how many locks are on the Mississippi. And how many are on the Tennessee River. And how doable it is to float a raft to the Gulf of Mexico. And the internet was sporadic, so we couldn’t just look it up. Read more…
Day 9 Berlin, Germany My husband says I’m the Adult on this trip, and Aunt Terrye is the Alternate Adult. But then she was worried about fulfilling her duties after she broke her arm. I encouraged her to still use her words, and so far she’s doing fine. Plus I Read more…
Day 8 Gdansk, Poland We learned about amber. That it burns like a candle. That it’s used as incense in Catholic churches. That it floats. That you shouldn’t burn your jewelry just to prove it’s real. We learned about witches. If you throw her in the river and she floats, Read more…
Day 7 All Aboard – Day at Sea The water lick-lick-licking at the sides of the boat, water slipping around, other ships on the horizon. We found a lounge with wide comfy couches, reindeer hides draped across the backs with fur so warm and snuggly it made me feel sad Read more…
Day 6 Tallinn, Estonia The ropes holding the boat to the dock were bigger around than my arms. If I were a rat, it would be my gangway. My thoroughfare. My free ticket. Our guide excitedly explained that Estonia holds forests and swamps the ability to walk in them for Read more…
Day 5 St. Petersburg Russia Children on every corner of every block. Globs of them. All dressed in sweet little white and navy blue school uniforms, bouquets of flowers in hand for their teachers. The first day of the school year. Nervous and excited and smiley and filling the air Read more…
Day 4 St. Petersburg, Russia What the hell is that? I asked aloud, seventy-three seconds after I woke up. A massive something on the horizon. Looking like a giant rocket. Five times the height of anything else anywhere near the thing. Silver and shiny and new and menacing and intimidating Read more…
Day 3 Helsinki Finland It was part of Sweden for a while and part of Russia for a while and now it’s Finland, except they call themselves Soumi. I’d be pissed if someone just made up a name for me and ran around making everyone else use it. Like if Read more…
Day 2 Stockholm, Sweden It was 2:43 and I was awake. I managed to close my eyes until 3:47, listening to Aunt Terrye’s soft snoring. Then I just stared out the glass doors of our cabin on the cruise ship, past the balcony, past the mirrored water, past the amusement Read more…
Day 1 Knoxville to Atlanta: The mud smeared around. I tried some more to wipe it from the air vent on the plane with my little disinfectant wipe. More mud. Nasty-germy-mess. No touching. I watched some germ-ball kid squeal, pull his hand out of his mouth, turn his air vent Read more…