POLAND | Monday, 8 Oct 2012 | Views [2893]
In the pre-dawn rain, after an all-night bus trip from Vilnius, the McDonalds at the Gdansk station was a welcome sight. A cup of hot coffee, an Egg McMuffin and a warm, dry place to wait were just the ticket until we could go to our hotel. ... Read more >
POLAND | Saturday, 6 Oct 2012 | Photo Gallery
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LITHUANIA | Friday, 5 Oct 2012 | Views [1317]
Two "must do's" in Trakai, according to our guide, Julia; visit the Island Castle and eat a kybynlar , the local speciality. Well, we booked the trip to see the castle and I just couldn't resist the juicy lamb pie. Yummy!
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LITHUANIA | Thursday, 4 Oct 2012 | Views [1291]
A Connie-led walking tour, even in the rain, is a bargain at twice the price. With the places of interest circled and numbered on her map of the Old City, she lead me to the Presidential Palace and the Cathedral Basilica, just ... Read more >
LITHUANIA | Wednesday, 3 Oct 2012 | Views [1273]
Lithuania. The name conjures up images of, well - I'm at a loss for words, actually. Sometimes we get it confused with Ljubljana, but that's in Slovenia. It is Connie's 100th country, if that's worth anything. The language is totally ... Read more >
LITHUANIA | Tuesday, 2 Oct 2012 | Photo Gallery
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LATVIA | Monday, 1 Oct 2012 | Views [909]
You say you're not quite sure where Riga is? Or Latvia, for that matter? You can be forgiven; the Baltic countries are even farther from the average tourist's radar than are the Balkans. All they share is having been occupied by both ... Read more >
LATVIA | Sunday, 30 Sep 2012 | Photo Gallery
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ESTONIA | Saturday, 29 Sep 2012 | Views [2474]
There is more to Tallinn than just the Old Town. Even Peter the Great realized that when he built a palace for his main squeeze, Catherine, also the Great, in Kadroig. So does the president of Estonia, who lives in the Kadroig neighborhood today.... Read more >
ESTONIA | Friday, 28 Sep 2012 | Photo Gallery
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ESTONIA | Friday, 28 Sep 2012 | Views [727]
Tallinn is the newest "gem" of European tourism, a true medieval walled city, a bit reminiscent of Dubrovnik. It has been a trading city since the XIIIth Century when it became a member of the Hanseatic League. Over the centuries it has ... Read more >
ESTONIA | Thursday, 27 Sep 2012 | Views [645]
They call it a cruise ship - it does have a casino and several classes of cabins - but the Princess Maria is really just a big ferry, with cars and trucks on board to prove it. Star Tallinn has no such pretensions; it is a ferry. ... Read more >
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Wednesday, 26 Sep 2012 | Views [1081]
It was, after all, the main reason we came to St. Petersburg. The Hermitage is among the Top Ten art museums of the world. The building itself was the former Winter Palace of Peter the Great and it is large, maybe not Louvre-size, but formidable ... Read more >
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 24 Sep 2012 | Views [1029]
Visiting Russia has been a long-time goal that seemed unlikely to happen. But when The St. Petersberg Line offered a 3-day, 2-night, visa-free visit including return overnight ferry, we were onboard. Boarding the Princess Maria in Helsinki went ... Read more >
RUSSIAN FEDERATION | Monday, 24 Sep 2012 | Photo Gallery
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FINLAND | Sunday, 23 Sep 2012 | Views [1178]
We have visited every site our travel hero, Rick Steves, recommended - and then some! He limited himself to Helsinki but we got into the countryside, too. Finland is the size of Montana (4th largest of the US states) but has a about half ... Read more >
FINLAND | Saturday, 22 Sep 2012 | Views [824]
After a fortnight's hiatus I am back behind the wheel of our teeny-weeny Nissan Micra. Rentals and fuel, like everything else in Finland, are expensive, but a car is really the only way to get a taste of the countryside. The roads are excellent and ... Read more >
FINLAND | Wednesday, 19 Sep 2012 | Photo Gallery
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FINLAND | Tuesday, 18 Sep 2012 | Views [810]
We shared a cab to the airport with Tim and Candice, flew to Helsinki, dropped off our luggage at the Omenahotelli, the strangest place we have stayed. The room was fine, OK TV, good internet. But there was no lobby, no reception, no staff. When ... Read more >
GERMANY | Monday, 17 Sep 2012 | Views [1214]
It was a reunion of sorts. Tim and Candice, friends from Denver, were in Berlin to facilitate a book of letters written by Tim's father, an OSS officer involved in de-Nazification at the end of the war. They share many interests with us; birding, ... Read more >
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