#636 No time for work

For the first time ever, I'm on board the MV Explorer and I'm not working.

See how eager I am to board?

My friend Theresa is teaching me the art of cruising.  There is so much to learn.  For example, I need to remember to take my sunglasses and a book to 5 aft for reading (or for not reading).  And I certainly must remember the cookie break at 1600.   Meeting up with friends for breakfast, lunch, and dinner while at sea and planning for upcoming ports are critical to the success of cruising, so I pay close attention to those events.

The lectures on this enrichment voyage are fabulous.  My favorites are those led by Larry Silver, Penn professor of Art History.  We first met Larry in Fall 2006 and have been his groupies ever since. 

And, of course, I'm actually working a little bit.  I've trained the EV library staff.  I've answered a few work e-mails.  Larry and I worked on the art and architecture collection of the shipboard library. And now I'm updating some library documentation.

Yours in wondering how I ever had time for full-time work,
Mary

#633 The Friendly Faces of Saint Petersburg

As we step off the MV Explorer in Saint Petersburg, we immediately encounter 3 friendly and familiar faces.

Just past the immigration officials, we spy our first familiar face: the violinist who plays for hours each day at the Lieutenant Schmidt embankment.  He and Kelly are good friends.  Smaller cruise ships can sail up the Neva River and dock here, much closer to the city.

Alisa, a Russian tour guide, remembers us from our last visit in August 2013.  She is leading trips for this enrichment voyage too, but since we have a Russian visa for this visit, we are exploring on our own and won't be hanging out with Alisa this time.   

Our third familiar face is Kira, a SAS F13 student who has now graduated and lives in Moscow.  And we F13 alums reap the benefit of her visit to Saint Petersburg.  

Yours in enjoying the friendly faces of Saint Petersburg,
Mary

#632 Tallinn

Tallinn is my favorite port so far.

I'm basing this on the 'boatload' of photos I've taken here in this beautiful city.  Lucky for us, it's a port where we stay docked for 2 days - instead of the usual 1 day.

Tallinn's Old Town, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, reminds us of Dubrovnik with its city walls and red-tiled roofs next to the water.  

With our friend Theresa as our guide, we explore every nook and cranny.   Sometimes, Theresa even holds a rolled map above her head like the paid tour guides!  Here we are entering the Great Coastal Gate, a 16th-century arch flanked by two towers.

The Alexander Nevsky cathedral, built when Estonia was part of the Russian empire, is magnificent.

 But the Holy Spirit Church, a medieval Lutheran church in the Old Town, is my favorite.

We do some shopping at the Little Red House in the Old Town - selling only what is made in Estonia.  Here Kelly is paying for my Estonian socks and Donna is purchasing a blacksmith-made shot glass.  

 

On our first day, the Town Hall Square is filled with an acrobatic troupe.

  

But, of course, one of our favorite sights is the MV Explorer docked in the distance in one of the prettiest views of the city.

Yours in loving Tallinn,
Mary

#626 Cunard Sisters

Today, we spied the third of the Cunard sisters, the MS Queen Victoria when the MV Explorer pulled into the seaside resort of Warnemunde, Germany at 0800. 

Just 4 days ago, we saw the second sister, the MS Queen Elizabeth, pulling into a dry dock in Hamburg.  And last August, we sailed on the first sister, the RMS Queen Mary 2.

Seeing the third sister today was an unexpected thrill especially when the ferry from Warnemunde to Rostock gave us this nose-to-nose view of the MS Queen Victoria and the MV Explorer. 

Yours in sisterhood,
Mary

#625 Sailing with Friends

It is always exciting for us when we board the MV Explorer.  We love it.

It is only on the MV Explorer that we see many of our friends - faculty, staff, and crew that we've come to know and care about on previous voyages.  It really is like coming home.

And this time, just to add to the fun, we've boarded the MV Explorer with some land-based friends including Rob and Donna - friends for more than 20 years who now live in Colorado.  They add life to any party.  And they've certainly got this party started with a lift over the threshold!

We're blessed to call them friends and shipmates.

Yours in sailing with friends,
Mary

#623 The Sea is Calling

We're off on another nautical adventure, but first we have to get ourselves to Hamburg.

For our trip, we're relying on Iceland Air to fly us from Dulles to Reykjavik to Hamburg, but wait.  Uh oh.  What's this?  Pilots Union: Biggest Travel Season in Danger.   An Iceland Air pilot's strike?  Lucky for us, we miss the strike by one day and fly just south of Greenland on the way to Reykjavik. and we land as scheduled in Hamburg.   

Now that we've completed the aeronautical leg of our journey, it's time to turn our attention to the nautical portion.  Hamburg, as we discovered last August, is about as nautical as it gets.

Today, we are lucky to witness the Queen Elizabeth 2 sailing up the Elbe River and pulling into a Blohm and Voss dry dock for its first overhaul since entering service in 2010.

The MV Explorer is also in dry dock at a Blohm and Voss shipyard (her birthplace) getting some routine maintenance, engine-, ventilation- and steel repairs (superstructure, tanks), fresh water sys, rudder, propeller, pipes, ventilation, deck improvements (new tiles and carpets in public spaces).  All this is according to http://www.shipcruise.org/cruise-ship-refurbishment-dry-dock-schedule/.

So the MV Explorer will be all ready for us when we board on Saturday.

Yours in anticipation,
Mary

#614 Souls on the MV Explorer

“We have ten souls on board,” a sailor might say when asking for assistance from a passing ship.  Ten souls.  Not ten people.  Not ten passengers.  Not ten customers.  Ten souls. …  To see another as a soul was to acknowledge the magnificent, epic course that life is for each of us, and to experience sympathy for the other in his or her negotiation of that course.  It was quite different from seeing others simply as people.  The word soul had a big job to do, and it was the only word that could do it.  - Alexander McCall Smith, Sunshine on Scotland Street

Yours in love and appreciation of all souls on board the MV Explorer,
Mary

#612 Ship life

To get from Rio de Janeiro to Salvador, we opt to travel on the MV Explorer rather than traveling overland through Brazil.

So for the 200 or so of us on board, the ship feels more like our own private yacht.  And the crew makes us feel even more special by surprising us both nights with an elegant dining experience on deck 5 rather than the usual buffet line.

 And during the day we have time for other fun activities such as housekeeping in the computer lab.

And some celestial navigation with a sextant just to confirm Captain Jeremy is on the right course.

Yours in enjoying life at sea,

Mary

#604 Extending our family

Extended families make a ship feel more like home.

Last night - about 1,000 miles off the coast of Argentina - we enjoyed dinner by the pool with Ryan and Hillary (on the back row) and Sophie, Amy, Jessica, and Willa (on the front row).  They seem to enjoy the shipboard pizza as much as we do.  It was our 6th family dinner of the voyage.

Many students sign up to be part of a shipboard family - on this voyage, about 400 of the 575 students.  And we're glad they did!

Our family gets together regularly and we often see each other around the ship.  We do the things that regular land-based families do: 

• Parents caution students against risky behavior.  Shark diving in South Africa?  Let's think about that.  
• We kid each other a lot.  You're going to visit ANOTHER library in Buenos Aires?  
• And we compete against other families.  Next week, we're going to take on the other shipboard families in a game of Family Feud.

Having a shipboard family is a highlight of the voyage for us. 

Yours in appreciating the sunshine, the pizza, and especially these six students,
Mary

#599 Archbishop Desmond Tutu revisits the MV Explorer

Archbishop Desmond Tutu and Semester at Sea are a natural match.

We are so fortunate, so blessed on our last day in Cape Town to hear the Nobel Peace Prize-winning Archbishop speak and share his thoughts on Ubuntu and the value of young people. 

None of us is an accident. There's no one else like you. 

You have come to a country [South Africa] which today is free and it has been in large measure because of the success of the anti-Apartheid movement in which young people played a very signal role changing the moral climate in your country.

You are dreamers.  You're idealistic.

God sees Syria, Palestine, Somalia, Nairobi, 9/11.  It can't be nice to be God because these are all His children.  God weeps. Then God looks and sees Semester at Sea.  And God looks and sees you at the orphanage in Ghana.  A smile breaks over God's face like sunshine in the rain.  God says, I have no one except you and you and you to help me make this the kind of world it can be.  A compassionate world.  A caring world.  A world where no one dies from starvation.  No one dies because they cannot afford an inexpensive inoculation.  God says, I depend on you and you and you.  Help me to make this world the beautiful world it can be.  Please help me.

Yours in appreciating the idealistic dreamers of all ages on board the MV Explorer,
Mary

#596 Pollywogs to Emerald Shellbacks

Crossing the Equator at the Prime Meridian is a special day for all - not just for map nerds.

For more on the ceremony of crossing the line, see Line-Crossing Ceremony.  On board the MV Explorer, we assemble a special court that includes King Neptune, Queen Minerva, and the cutest Master of Arms you ever did see.

Pollywogs (those who have never crossed the Equator) are initiated and become Emerald Shellbacks after completing just a few simple tasks.

'fish guts' dowsing

Fish kissing

Head shaving

Yours in enjoying nautical traditions,

Mary

#590 A Disconnected Day

Here on the MV Explorer, our connection to the world is by satellite.

When the satellite fails, we rely on technology with a centuries-long track record of success.

Yours in appreciating reliability,

Kelly  

#589 Making room for what's important

Weeding a photocopier from the library means more space for map viewing.

Yours in making room for what's important,
Mary

#580 Lisbon exploration

Many Portuguese explorers left from Lisbon during the Age of Discovery.

To celebrate these expeditions, a Monument to the Discoveries stands at the edge of the Tagus River where ships sponsored by the Portuguese Prince Henry the Navigator departed Lisbon.  Steps away are two UNESCO World Heritage Sites: Belem Tower and Jeronimos Monastery.

See Prince Henry carved in stone standing in the prow of the ship?  See Kelly celebrating these expeditions by flying a kite?

See Kelly pretending to be Vasco de Gama and leaving from Portugal on the stone map?

Our expedition's ship, the MV Explorer, is docked nearby and preparing to continue the fall voyage to Spain, followed by 3 ports in Africa.  We won't be following the route of Vasco de Gama all the way to India, but we're thinking about his voyage as it "marked the beginning of the first wave of global multiculturalism."

Yours in continuing the Lisbon tradition of launching explorers on great adventures,
Mary

#570 Library setup

Interested in what's happening in the shipboard library?  Then do read on!

Tbe first couple of weeks of the fall voyage have been a whirlwind.  Our quick departure in Southampton two days after we boarded meant that Julie (my partner in the library) and I worked long days to attend orientation meetings and long nights to set up the library.  The last of the library shipment from UVA was finally unboxed after the students boarded.  That's unusually late.  During student orientation day, we set up the Destiny library catalog, got everything put on reserve for fall, and met our student assistants.

One of my pre-voyage tasks was to review each syllabus in order to identify those with a research component.  Then Julie and I drafted research guides.  Faculty were happy to see these guides along with all their readings in their course folders. 



We have 8 stellar students assisting us in the library and they've already been much help.  In addition to staffing our circulation desk, they all went to work immediately to shift the reference section.  There wasn't room to add even one reference book - as you can see in the 'before' photo.  After shifting across two ranges, we created an empty shelf in addition to some space on each of the shelves.  It's a shelving miracle!

before shifting

after shifting

Yours in getting started,
Mary

#565 MV Explorer home in Hamburg

The MV Explorer came home to her birthplace in Hamburg this morning.

This MarineTraffic.com live map shows our route up the Elbe River and our fabulous Hamburg port location.

Our favorite ship and her nearly identical twin were born here just over 10 years ago in shipyard number 962.  Built by Blohm + Voss, she was christened Olympia Explorer and delivered in April 2002 to Royal Olympic Cruises.  In 2004, she realized her true destiny as a floating university when she was chartered by the Institute for Shipboard Education for the Semester at Sea program and later purchased.

From the MV Explorer's berth at the Uberseebrucke dock in the port of Hamburg, she can see the Blohm + Voss dock 17 where her sister is being built today.  The German shipbuilding company lists the MV Explorer as one of the most notable ships they've built.

The MV Explorer will come home again at the completion of the Spring 2014 voyage when she will undergo a tune-up in dry dock conditions.

To see photos of the MV Explorer all around the world, check this ShipSpotting site.

Yours in Hamburg homecomings,
Mary

#564 The Kiel Canal

Going around the Denmark peninsula on the way to Hamburg from Saint Petersburg takes a long time.

So today, Captain Jeremy navigates the MV Explorer through the Kiel Canal, a beautiful, 60-mile shortcut in northern Germany via the bucolic artificial waterway from the Baltic Sea to the North Sea.  We traveled this way five years ago and loved it.

Today is a gorgeous sunny day with many cyclists and pedestrians on the canal towpath eager to wave at our big blue ship.

Yours in enjoying a Kiel Canal redux,
Mary

#563 Number 19

Ernest Hemingway said, "Never go on trips with anyone you do not love."  I think he means that if you go with someone you love, you get to remember what they remember too.  

The MV Explorer is the best place to celebrate our wedding anniversary today - and it's not because of the 25-hour day!

Our friends in the dining hall wrap our wrists together in a napkin and serenade us with the classic sea shanty "Let Me Call You Sweetheart".

When the singing ends, a beautiful and delicious work of art in the form of anniversary cake appears.

 

Later in the Glazer Lounge, Katie orders up a bottle of celebratory champagne.  And Mandy, another favorite crew member, presents us with his work of art, an exquisite white paper rose with this advice, "Don't water it!."

Thank you MV Explorer friends for our best anniversary party at sea! 

Yours in artistic celebration,

Kelly and Mary

#561 Saint Petersburg libraries

Librarians make the best guides!

Julie, Kelly, and I step off the ship in Saint Petersburg and are warmly greeted by Julia, a Russian business librarian.  Julia has a couple of master's degrees under her belt and is working on her PhD. And today, she is kind enough to spend her time showing us around the historic center of Saint Petersburg, a UNESCO world heritage site. She could not have been more welcoming.

Our first stop (and location of the above photo) is the Boris Yeltsin Presidential Library. Gleaming and full of high-tech equipment, the grand building sits in a prime spot just off the Neva river across the street from Peter the Great's bronze horseman.

We tour the city's largest Russian Orthodox church Saint Isaac's Cathedral on our way to the Saint Petersburg State University's Graduate School of Management, where we enjoy a cup of tea, exchange gifts, and meet other GSOM librarians.  We end our day at Julia's favorite Chinese restaurant, Two Chopsticks.  Spasibo, Julia!

We say goodbye to our new Russian friend during our walk back to the MV Explorer where we discover that Captain Jeremy (celebrating his birthday) has left the lights on for us.

Yours in recommending local librarians when you travel,
Mary