1st May - Vitebsky Station is considered the most beautiful railway station of St. Petersburg. Today we were able to visit with Anna & learn about the history of this beautiful structure, originally built in 1837 and the first railway station in Russia, Opening its doors in October 1837 The first passenger train headed by Provorny went from there on the line connected St.Petersburg and Tsarskoe se Read on...
Our next stop in the UK was St. Albans as we had organized to cat sit for a couple that had two cats, Georges and Leon. We traveled there from Cardiff by train, the first leg was 1st Class which was a great way to start the day with the delivery of beverages and snacks. The rest of the trip was via subway which went seamlessly as well. We sure are enjoying the ability to use public transportation Read on...
We woke up pretty early at around 5:30, and I finally forced myself out of bed by 6. Meanwhile, my sweet wife had gone to the nearby gas station to get us some fresh coffee. When Id gone to bed, I felt except for my My Pillow travel pillow which was a bit too small for use in the bed. Sometime a bit later, I got so cold that I had major chills and shakes, waking up my wife. I put on extra clothes Read on...
For the Memorial Day weekend we went to Grandpa Jerrys cabin in the SugarLoaf area of Big Bear to stay 2 days and 1 night at Torys childhood cabin. The cabin was being sold in June, 2021, so the family went for the first/last time to see the place that had many of Torys memories including where she learned how to ski with her mom at the Snow Summit slopes. Before this trip, Nathan went one time as Read on...
Yesterday we left Hobart about and set out on the Brooker Highway. We first travelled north but soon turned onto the Lyell Highway for our journey to the West Coast. The scenery along the way was ever changing. Along the Derwent river were beautiful spots, dotted with houses along the edge of the water. Then the outlook became rolling hills, some with vegetation but others glowing yellow in the m Read on...
We set off for an early morning hike up Emma Gorge. Were told that its only 1.6 kms each way, but that we should walk within our capability and not be too ashamed to crawl over rocks with our backsides on the ground. Hmmm. That doesnt sound too encouraging. It all starts off easily enough - what were they on about we ask each other; this is like a gentle Sunday morning stroll in the park. It seems Read on...
Lovely day out in Smart Arse today exploring the local area to the East of Woodbridge. We crossed the Deben river and drove through the pretty Suffolk countryside passing lots of enormous tractors on the way. Made Smart Arse look even tinier. This is an agricultural area, fields full of crops and quite frequently full of pigs, each with their own little hut. Loving the architecture. Lots of thatch Read on...
So, we left Chiang Rai this morning. We stopped at a roadside stall on the way out of town for something to eat. We got a couple of black buns with gold stripes for the road because they looked interesting. Shortly after that we arrived at the white temple, Wat Rong Khun. This is a strange place. On the one hand, its a Buddhist temple with lots of statues of buddha & such. On the other hand it fel Read on...
We had an early start today, with our pick up scheduled for 7am. The van was a little late, and then went to another spot to pick up more people, where we ended up waiting for over an hour. Finally we collected up our group of 18 (about half from Portugal, then Italians, French, Americans and us Canadians) and headed out.
We had a long day of driving. We made a couple of photo stops as we travele Read on...
Covid boredom brought four friends together where I was staying at Cloud9, to do a themed cooking night at weekends. All of us have boats in the shipyard and with the struggles getting staff though this time means were all over our time! Doni from Sweden, Frances from Rotuma in Fiji, Brent from New Zealand and moi from Scotland.
This was by far the best out of all of them, Brent cooked New Zealan Read on...