Fiona and Kevin
We've had a lot of fun planning and researching this trip - now for the reality!! Fikev
Travel Blog Posts
May 21st 2008
Dear Blog Readers Farnackling is over - we are back in beautiful Adelaide, after four days seeing Beijing (not nearly enough). It's great to be home. We've had a fantastic time - met some wonderful people, seen amazing sights (including world heritage todger touchstones) and learnt lots. Thanks to all of our readers for your messages - we have really enjoyed being bloggers. Over and out. Fikev... read more
May 17th 2008
IRKUSKT TO ULAN BAATAR After returning from Lake Baikal we had an afternoon in Irkutsk (population 600,000) before boarding the train for Ulaan Baatar. Irkutsk has the atmosphere of a frontier town - pretty dusty, lots of traditional wooden houses although these are being gradually replaced by more modern buildings, very basic flowerless parks and old infrastructure - but very friendly people. While sitting in the park, admiring an enormous statue of Lenin with coat tails flying with revolutionary zeal , we were joined by two young Irkuskt women - Marsha and Oola. Marsha is learning English at University and keen to practice at every opportunity and we appeared to be just some of the many foreigners she’s approached for this purpose. She was very confident and told us lots about the people and activities in ... read more
May 17th 2008
Last day in Moscow and the train to Irkutsk Not only did we get to the Kremlin on our last day, but we also saw one of the parades leading up to the May 9 Victory Day celebrations, including very smartly dressed army personnel (white gloves) in jeeps (flags flying), tanks, rocket launchers, personnel carriers, supply vehicles and fuel/water tankers. It was full of pomp and ceremony - and a little scary... We were on a street corner near Red Square and prevented from crossing the street because of the parade, so stopped to watch what was happening. Red Square was also closed - we could hear speeches, bands playing and a gun salute - then suddenly the parade vehicles, including tanks etc, started their engines. The ground shook as a huge rumble filled the air ... read more
May 4th 2008
MOSCOW MOSCOW... It’s hard to not hum the tune “Moscow Moscow......” when you’re here. One thing I do know, is that no one else is humming it. We arrived at Moscow station at 7.30 on Friday morning and were met by a rep from the travel company with whom we booked this section of our trip. The overnight train from St Petersburg was fun and hopefully a taste of something to come! We were booked into a four berth cabin, but were the only occupants. We were allocated a top bunk and a bottom bunk, but since we were alone we both took bottom bunks, much to the concern of the carriage attendant. She brought the guard along to show him - Fi was creasing the wrong sheets!. Luckily he did not seem to think it ... read more
May 1st 2008
Whilst Dave and Phyllis went off to Sweden, Fiona and I flew to St Petersburg. As seasoned travellers we dismissed the cheats way of catching a taxi and caught a smog encrusted 8 seater bus for 20 roubles each(about a dollar). Sandwiched in with about 10 others spluttered off into town-like we knew where we were going! The payment system was interesting-people passed money around the bus while it was in motion until it finally reached the driver. We were dropped off in Sennaya Square and then walked off to our hotel- about a 20 minute trek. Now we know the metro system we could have done it more easily. First impressions-it seems as if a huge dust storm has settled on the city a left patina of grit and dust all over the place. There ... read more
April 29th 2008
Wir sind Berliners - just paraphrasing JFK’s auspicious remarks and with the luxury of time, definitely Berlin is a city to return to. The city is redolent with history of WW2 and simply walking around the places one has heard of rekindles an huge interest into a more in depth study into a dark period of human history. The vestiges of the Cold War, the Berlin Wall, and the eastern block are all so evident in Berlin. Unfortunately Fiona had a migraine for most of this part of our trip so managed only two short forays into the city. Like most of our hosts, the owners of the apartment were amazingly helpful, this time in getting medical support - within an 1.5 hours of asking for information, a great Doctor arrived on our doorstep. The owners ... read more
April 28th 2008
And so to Munich, via Fussen, one end of the Romantic Road. We thought we’d seen some snow around Salzburg, but were not prepared for the drive through Fussen!! We started out on the green fields and small villages that we’d got used to, stopping in Bad Tolz at a very friendly market to get bread cheese and tomatoes for lunch. However, as we continued along the Deutsche Apline Strasse we rose higher in the Alps and were soon driving through light and then quite heavy snow with very large flakes. The whole countryside was covered in thick snow, as were the buildings and fir trees on the mountainsides - absolutely magic!! We saw lots of alpine flowers valiantly poking their heads through the snow. We stopped at Oberau, near where the famous passion play is ... read more
Cesky Krumlov to Salzburg
Published: April 28th 2008Europe » Czech Republic » South Bohemian Region » Cesky Krumlov
April 28th 2008
So now we’re in Munich, having been to Cesky Krumlov (Czech Republic), Passau (Germany) and Salzburg (Austria). Cesky Krumlov is a world heritage listed medieval town, nestled in a bend of the Vltava River (the same one that goes through Prague). It’s an oasis of quaint buildings, narrow cobbled streets and mostly pedestrians only, and is a huge tourist attraction. In summer it would be very crowded - at this time of the year there aren’t a lot of people around so for us it was a charming place to wander, drink coffee/beer overlooking the river and explore the castle, which is notable for its bears in the moat (yuk!!), and for the fact that many of the walls are actually flat but painted to look as if they are 3D. Dave and Phyllis went for ... read more
April 12th 2008
We’re writing this on the bus from Prague to Cesky Krumlov, so have covered some ground since the last blog entry! Unfortunately the bus windows have a protective film on them so we can’t see much - it’s giving the whole countryside a grey pea soup hue. We seem to be passing through farm land, occasional small towns and trees on the roadside are still in winter colours but beginning to show signs of spring. Cambridge was lovely and restful with family. We revisited old haunts including the splendid Ely Cathedral and it’s lovely surrounds, the fens, which are reminiscent of the south east of S Australia, as they are criss-crossed with huge drains. New adventures included Grimes Graves - an ancient flint mine which was working in 4000 BC and which is surrounded by land ... read more
March 31st 2008
We’ve made it to beautiful Cambridge - gorgeous blue skies, spring not quite here yet (it snowed last Sunday and the remains of the snowman are in the backyard) but buds are bursting so there is hope for warmer weather!! Today we’ve “done” the Cambridge colleges with the best guide in the city - Fi’s sister Barbara, who seems to be able to open doors that others can’t. Those who have done the tour with Barb before will understand what that means! The trip from Portstewart to Belfast was great - countryside reminiscent of the Connemara from the previous week with streams, tussock country, stone huts and the ever present blacked legged and nosed long haired sheep. There was ice from hail on the roadsides - very chilly!! Stopped off at the Carrick Fergus castle - ... read more
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