The traveler sees what he sees, the tourist sees what he has come to see. - G. K. Chesterton June 3, 2009, Wednesday, Yaroslavl, Russia. Today is a long walking day. We began from the camp and walked to the main part of Yaroslavl, one of the largest cities in the “Golden Ring”; and is located on the Volga River. The strong baritone voices of Russian men singing greeted us, and the walls trembled in the ancient chapel of St. Elijah. This cathedral is filled with lovely frescoes. After a boat tour on the Volga River, we [View Full Entry]

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A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving. ~Lao Tzu June 1, 2009, Monday, Moscow to Vladimir to Suzdal, Russia—220km. Our tour leaders were due to change today!? Departure was to be 8 AM, today we begin the tour of the “Golden Ring” some of Russia’s oldest cities rich with Russian history. We waited and finally some young Russian gals appeared. They don’t seem to speak much English. This is going to be fun. Around 10ish our convoy of 16 RV’s head out on the ring roads of Moscow toward M7, it a [View Full Entry]

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No one realizes how beautiful it is to travel until he comes home and rests his head on his old, familiar pillow. ~Lin Yutang May 30, 2009, Saturday, Moscow, Russia. This morning began with a walk on Ulitsa Arbat, a 1.5 km pedestrian mall. This street is dotted with pastel-colored merchant houses and tourist oriented shops and cafes. By late morning, we ALL stopped at a Russian Super Market. It was huge and had everything you might want. Since we are on a bus, we only purchased things we could carry. Novodevichy Cemetery was our final AM stop. It is [View Full Entry]

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When you travel, remember that a foreign country is not designed to make you comfortable. It is designed to make its own people comfortable. - Clifton Fadiman May 28, 2009, Thursday, Nelidovo RUS to Moscow RUS. The saga continues and the road certainly has not improved, it is still incredibly awful. Today’s drive will be another 360 kilometers as we drive into Moscow. We are taking turns with our friends leading and following, and at one point we just stopped…it is hard to take the ruts, bumps, dirt, potholes, washboards, etc. There seems to be not [View Full Entry]

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There is a sun above the clouds May 23, 2009, Friday, Riga City, Latvia. The day is cloudy and windy as we start our walk over the bridge to the Old Town and on to the central market. The Baltic’s largest market place has occupied the converted Zeppelin hangars since 1930. Each of the hangars, or pavilions, has a specialty, meat, fish, groceries, and dairy products. But as we walked around the many booths, one can find anything… from sunglasses to mittens, from DVD’s to baskets. It was quite a cultural experience. Rain began as we walked bac [View Full Entry]

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WE ARE OUT OF RUSSIA NO PROBLEMS YOU WILL HEAR MORE AS WE DO THE BLOGS · The world is a book, and those who do not travel read only a page. - Saint Augustine May 25, 2009, Monday Riga, Latvia, we go to the Latvian Ethnographic Open Air Museum. We tried using the GPS to get to the Open Air Museum, and “she” was doing find until I saw an underpass ahead with a clearance of 2.8 meters, we are 3.8 meters!!! “Bob we can’t do this stop, stop!” Monday morning traffic jam…and commuters loved us backing up and Maureen [View Full Entry]

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Just a side note, Bob loves to take pictures of flowers. So we are sending a blog of flowers we have enjoyed here in Eastern Europe. It is springtime and everwhere there are flowers, flower gardens, wildflowers and flower vendors. At the market and along the roads people sell flowers. Also the fruit trees are in full bloom and there are lots of them If invited to visit someone the appropriate gift to bring is flowers. But bring an odd number an even number is bad luck! Hope you enjoy them. [View Full Entry]

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These are a few videos to see how it works. They are not edited. this is just a trial Just click on the arrow These are at the palace in Prague and Waraw The band with the bridge in the back ground is one we have walked across to get into the city [View Full Entry]

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This might be the last Blog . we will be going into Russia on Tuesday for 18 days I have found out that there ain't no surer way to find out whether you like people or hate them than to travel with them. - Mark Twain May 20, 2009, Wednesday, Riga City Campground to Sigulda, Gauja National Park, to Cesis, Latvia. It was about 50 kilometers to Sigulda from Riga. After strolling around this lovely town we enjoyed a hot lunch at the Black Cat bakery/cafeteria. It rained again last night and the weather is cloudy and chilly 40ish. [View Full Entry]

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I travel not to go anywhere, but to go. I travel for travel's sake. The great affair is to move. ~Robert Louis Stevenson May 16, 2009, Saturday, Mezerers Campground north to Plavinas, it is one strange/weird place. Perhaps, once upon a time, it “used to be” an entertainment/hotel/outdoor attraction for various sports; but today it is a falling apart…”used to be”. Bob didn’t feel safe here overnight, so we are glad to leave. Salaspils, a concentration camp was our first stop. “Behind this gate, the earth groans&r [View Full Entry]

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