Russia entry! no pictures :(

The ship education board did a really excellent job of freaking us out about this country. (I think the sales of passport protectors went up about 500%). The first day out we had our hands clasped so tightly around our valuables that are knuckles have been white since. A few hours into the city we learned that the warnings were definitely just precautionary measures. Russians for the most part seemed to be friendly people (we know this because we talked to a lot of them asking for directions :), they just take a lot of pride in their country and really you can't blame them since they have one of the most historically, architecturally, and religiously rich cities in the world. St. Petersburg is the kind of place that you see on the back of postcards and say, "I have got to go there!" It's beauty is dense and encompassing. We decided to wonder the streets the first day and our mouths were wide open the whole time. Our conversation went a little like this:
"Oh my gosh! Look over there it's The Church of Spilt Blood! I learned about it in art history!"
"That's awesome! Wait look past it, thats the tower from Night Watch!"
"Wow cool! Hey let's walk through this magical park to get there!"
"Okay. What the heck, is that a man holding a bear?"
"What is this place??"
Not exactly word for word but observe the pictures and you'll see just how much there is to this city!

And yes, we successfully traveled through Russia without being pick-pocketed once! Not quite as admirable as downtown LA but it still feels like an accomplishment :)

CAN DENMARK COMPETE WITH THE WHITE NIGHTS OF ST. PETERSBURG??? hopefully you'll know before we get home :)

LOVE YOU ALL

Hi everyone!!! We are currently staying in a hostel in Rome!!! We didnt know that they would have free internet here so we didnt bring our computers, but we can use thiers to update you with woooords! So I cant begin to tell you where we have been in the last 24 hours, but it is INSANE! We saw the coluseum, we saw the Pantheon, we saw the fountian, ah... we saw everything!! AMAZING!!! We cant wait to see you guys again, and can not wait to tell you everything! The internet will be off in 5 minutes so I have to wrap it up, but I just wanted to let everyone know that we are still alive! If and when we find the internet, we will update update update! Mom, this is Stacey, thank you for dinner. I'm not even going to tell you where we ate, I will just show you the picture. But you will be proud of your little daughter! We love you all!!! Please be safe during this summer! I love you Gavin!! Sorry everyone, but I have really wanted to tell him that! I LOVE YOU ALL!!

p.s. sorry about the grammatical errors, this keyboard has about 874891734 different symbols I don't understand on it!

NORWAY!!

So we have finally found free internet in Denmark! I already love this place :) Now that we can update you all, we will! Norway, in a nutshell was amazing. We saw LOTS of fur, tried whale, went to a grungy aquarium, hiked up a giant mountain (twice), saw some Fjords from a distance, and got quite acquainted with the local trolls. We hope you guys are well and enjoy the update!!





























Starfish at Grungy Aquarium!



CHRISTMAS IN BERGEN!! Molly and the elf



Exploring the Streets






SWING??!?!