Lyuba and Win

After another day with the family in the dacha, and we flew to Moscow for a change in planes for Baku, Azerbaijan.... a new chapter in our saga. Four days of exploration in an amazing part of the Caucuses, hosts and friends who dined us out of sight, wined us profoundly, showed us amazing cultural and physical places and welcomed us to their families, homes and laboratories. Baku is an oil rich beautiful city....we stayed in a small modern hotel in the middle of the walled Old City 12th century with its mosques, castles, shrines, museums and sense of history....reminded us of the Old City Jerusalem. Our last day there was Independence Date (from USSR in 1991)...we left Baku for Moscow and then home, with a display of fireworks to wish us well....quite a finish for ... read more

Hello, all: As we write this entry we are already home. This was indeed, a frosting on the cake, Lord Howe Island was a dream vacation come true. We left Perth on Tuseday, leaving behing great memories of days with Linda, David and the girls. We spend a delightful evening wandering through Sydney and dined in a tropical fish restaruant at the Rocks. Thanks to David's good knowledge of the capitol, he arranged for us to stay at a great place and location, Hotel Rocks, where the ghost of Erick is still wondering in search of his only love. Apparently we slept through the ghost's nocturnal wandering.... The next morning we took off on a small plane to Lord Howe Island. Although we had some information from the web, we really were not prepared... Blue-green shades ... read more

Dear friends and family, Friday...already. David took the day off. Every day is a new adventure and today we walked part of their city park, an amazing 3 mile long park where you see no plants or flowers that do not remotely resemble any of the western world, as we know it. We took lots of pictures and now share some of them them with you. Dave and Win rode bikes to the park and Lin, Lyuba, Sarah and Maddy drove to this glorious, rambling part of Perth replete with lovely views of the city, harbor, Swan River, Japanese gardens and various memorials incuding one to Jewish soldiers who died in World War I campaigns of "Gallipoli, Ardennes and Palestine" along with thousands of other Australians. We cannot recall the names and descriptions of the diverse ... read more

Dear friends and family, Approximately 35 hours after boarding a Unite flight in Dulles airport, we arrived in Perth. Aside form a few temporary misplacements of our travel papers and my laptop bag, our flight and connections were uneventful. In particular, the Business Class part from L.A. to Sydney was outstanding. We stretched out, schmoosed, ate, drank a wee bit, rad, talked and slept. We were welcomed to Perth, which is exactly the other side of the world from Washington, D.C., by a glamorous and happy trio....daughter Lin and grand daughters, Maddy and Sarah. On arrival, sans our baggage...which came on a later flight, we drove to 19 Union street in Subiaco, a lovely English-style suburb of Perth. Gorgeous weather, flowers, birds, smogless air and warm welcome after a long flight, prompted Lyuba to crash for ... read more