Category Archives: The Orient

20 April: Up at 4:30am, on the bus to the airport at 5:30am. Our flight goes from St. Petersburg to Paris then after an hour and a half lay-over on to Chicago then to Minneapolis. While transferring aircraft in Paris, … Continue reading →

Up at 4am, my plan is to meet the train from Moscow at 5am. It is the same train we arrived on two days ago. It is right on time. I go to car #10 and see the very same … Continue reading →

18 April: Today we take the van about an hour SE of St. Petersburg to a world treasure called Peterhof. This is a huge complex of palace, grounds, ornate buildings, gravity fed fountains and more; all overlooking the Gulf of … Continue reading →

17 April: We arrive in St. Petersburg at 5am, find our driver immediately and go to the hotel. It is about 5:30am, we have a chance to shower and rest a bit before breakfast. As we prepare to meet our … Continue reading →

16 April: It has been about five days since I started taking antibiotics and I am feeling much better; no chills but the Chinese chronic cough continues. These seem to be two separate issues, about half our group has “the … Continue reading →

15 April: Breakfast at the Sovietsky, meet Dan, our guide, and we are off to see Moscow: Red Square, Lenin’s Mausaleum, KGB headquarters, the Kremlin, St. Basil’s Cathedral, the Armory and much more. Betty- Our guide Dan is an absolute … Continue reading →

14 April: Had a good night’s sleep, awoke early feeling great, had a shower and started getting this journal up to date. Jeez, it feels good to feel good. And, yes I will stay on the antibiotics for the prescribed … Continue reading →

13 April: The train just keeps rolling. Russia is one big country, the largest in the world. Just in Siberia there are over one million lakes, one of which is Lake Baikal – the deepest lake in the world. Even … Continue reading →

12 April – EASTER SUNDAY: Happy Easter! We are going through thousands of miles of birch forest. Some places the ground is covered with a foot or more of snow and some places the ground is nearly bare with only … Continue reading →

11 April: Our guide, Sveta, picks us up at 11am. Our luggage will follow in another vehicle, we think. An hour later we are in Irkutsk with a couple of hours before check-in time at the Railway station. While everyone … Continue reading →