CANADA | Monday, 3 Aug 2009 | Views [45]

Two nights on the train from Toronto to Winnipeg. Extremely glad I upgraded to the sleeper as champagne when we arrive, observation-bubble roof-car-thingy, superb meals, 24 hour coffee and biccies and congenial company. The first night I stay up till ... Read more >
Tags: canadienne, bears, smokestops
CANADA | Friday, 31 Jul 2009 | Views [46]

Gooooooooood mornin', Ca-na-da! Canada! Land of smiles! No, really. They go out of their way to help and are uniformly charming and intelligent and they speak English and there is coffee everywhere - so what's not to like? I'll tell you what's not ... Read more >
Tags: canada, polar bears
AUSTRIA | Wednesday, 13 May 2009 | Views [154]

What fabulous people! Nipped into the loo at Baghdad (Aleppo)train station and short woman in burqua smiled and chattered and delved into her bag and produced a yellow rose for me - then dove again and handed me a red one as well. I laughed and kissed ... Read more >
Tags: aleppo, hatay, syrian border, smoking
AUSTRIA | Wednesday, 6 May 2009 | Views [90]

Disappointed to find that Vienna is not in black and white, devoid of sinister men lurking in doorways and the pharmacies well stocked with penicillin. The power of Hollywood! On the upside the West End Hostel is terrific at 22 euros, the city is walkable ... Read more >
Tags: stift melk, wachau, vienna
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Wednesday, 3 Dec 2008 | Views [96]
Breakfast in dining car - eggs, sausage bits and tomato, coffee. The scene outside my window is magical for one who lives in usually snowless England; untouched snow, birches, firs all in a pinky early light. So, apart from the bad cold, bad hip, appalling ... Read more >
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Tuesday, 2 Dec 2008 | Views [132]
Sadly, there are no adventures to be had in Khabarovsk. The streets are wide and clean, the park closed, the centre is 3km across so a bit of a trek even down to the river which I decide to skip. It is bright, modern, clean, prosperous and dull. Or dull ... Read more >
Tags: negativity
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 1 Dec 2008 | Views [103]
Well. Thanks to the wonderful internet cafes of Tibet and China and this one in Khabarovsk. I am up to date and can go off and sightsee and have adventures instead. Hurrah!
Tags: blog updated
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 1 Dec 2008 | Views [90]
Russia is certainly different. In 1983 there were no smart people, no spikeheeled boots, no BMWs, no shops that I recall apart from the ghastly and terribly sad GUM in Moscow. No souvenirs except in the overpriced hard currency foreigner only shops. ... Read more >
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 1 Dec 2008 | Views [101]

Wake as we stop and go for a cigarette in the corridor. A woman tells me it is 'Meenus 15' and I believe her as there is heaped snow or frost in the corner by the door. The sun is coming up on the snow and birch trees and it is a very long way from ... Read more >
Tags: snow! trains!
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Saturday, 29 Nov 2008 | Views [109]
Leave bag at hotel after morning on the internet at the business centre at the post office. Getting back up the hill and up to the fifth floor so that I could check out nearly killed me. Memo to self: stay in flat towns from now on. Treated myself ... Read more >
Tags: hills, guards, dogs
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