Category: Travel
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Wednesday 19 July 2006 Highlights: Museum of Occupation, Walking next to the black Baltic Sea We started the day with a tour of Riga. I found that our local guide actually lost control of the group at one stage asking if people wanted to just get a coffee (not good). It was interesting…
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Tuesday 18 July 2006 Highlights: Trakai Castle, The moving Hill of Crosses On the way to Latvia in the morning we visited Trakai (Lithuania). This is the site of a stunning old castle. The defences of this place are amazing; they had at least 4 different sections they could fall back into. …
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Monday 17 July 2006 Highlights: Gediminas Square, St Peter & St Paul Church We left the dark and dreary Belarus for the more energetic Lithuania which is the first of the Baltic States and a former republic of the USSR (Belarus is not Baltic and wants to be a republic again). The first thing…
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Sunday 16 July 2006. Highlights: Buying Beer from Government Shop! Belarussia President Lukashenko certainly runs this country in and interesting fashion. While Russia and other countries around have taken great steps forward this President has managed to only move the country a little bit past the USSR era which he longs for a return…
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Saturday 15 July 2006 Highlights: Borodino Panorama Exhibition, The Kremlin We started off by visiting the Borodino Panorama Exhibition. This exhibition highlights the 1812 war with France and in particular a key battle about 100 kms outside of Moscow.
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Friday 14 July 2006 Highlights: Moscow Red Square, Cathedral of Christ the Saviour The Moscow Red Square, site of all those army marches I still remember as a child. Today I got to visit this incredible place which included Lenin’s tomb just outside the Kremlin. It’s hard to take in just how much world…
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Thursday 13 July 2006 Highlights: Moscow Metro System Setting off from Novgorod we briefly stopped at the small town of Volga which highlighted how the majority of people live outside of St Petersburg and Moscow. The roads are not very good, it takes a lot longer to travel distances in Russia for example one…
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Wednesday 12 July 2006 Highlights: Hermitage art collection (St Petersburg), Kremlin Fort (Novgorod) On our last day in St Petersburg we visited the Hermitage art collection. Started by Catherine the II (the Great) as her personal art museum in a structure linked to the winter palace it now covers the entire palace area. The…
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Tuesday 11 July 2006 Highlights: St Isaac’s Square & Cathedral, Eternal Flame, Yusupov’s Palace After the very big day of yesterday I had scheduled a tour of Yusupov’s Palace which was the home of Felix Yusupov and his noble family. Three months before the revolution on 16th December 1916 Felix conspired to kill the infamous…
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Monday 10 July 2006 Highlights: Pushkin Palace (Summer Palace), Petredvoert (Versailles of Russia), Attending the ballet – Swan Lake This morning I visited what is now know as the Pushkin Palace (after famous Russian poet) but was the former Summer Palace of the Tsars. This palace was occupied by the Nazis in WWII and…
