Geo: 44.122, 15.2381We are now in Zadar having spent a fabulous two days seeing various aspects of Croatia.We spent yesterday morning further exploring Zagreb, returning to some of the monuments of the Lower Town we had only seen from the bus. These included the National Theatre building in Tito square and the parks that form a green U around the city. We also went back to the markets which were now open and we browsed through the various stalls selling flowers, fruit and fish. I bought a beautiful hand embroidered table cloth for my back table which was not expensive. There were some lovely more modern sculptures in the town too, including one of an old lady I particularly liked. We had lunch at a cafe near the main square which was great.We left Zagreb about ... read more

Geo: 48.22, 16.37We waltzed into Vienna after a three hour train trip from Budapest. Found our way to the hotel and had time to walk into the centre to renew aquaintance with this attractive city. We were here in 2004 though staying further out. Our hotel is opposite the Stadtpark at the edge of the first district. The park is an oasis of greenery and is a popular spot for locals. We found our way to St Stephen's, the towering church at the heart of the city. (Those Inspector Rex fans would recognise it immediately) It is being cleaned and renovated at the moment so is covered with scaffolding. After our reccy we returned to the hotel to meet with our tour group. Once again, there are 39 in the group and this time 35 of ... read more

Geo: 52.2449, 21.0119We left Minsk to travel to Warsaw. This was an exremely long day on the bus, leaving Minsk at 7-30am and arriving in Warsaw at 6pm (and gaining an hour along the way). the most exciting thing to happen was crossoing the border from Belarus to Poland. This took about 2 hours in all but we were told that we were lucky as at times it takes nearly 4!!. The trip was so unexciting that Maja put on the DVD of the 1950s version of War and Peace!!I don't know which was less exciting!!That night in Warsaw we had a great farewll dinner in pour hotel, The Sheraton. this was our last chance to say goodbye to our travelling companions of the last 2 weeks. We had joined up with three other Australian couples ... read more

Geo: 55.75, 37.62I am in Moscow having spent 6 days now in Russia. The highlight of our second day in St Petersburg was a trip to the town of Pushkin where one of the summer palaces, Catherine's palace is located. This was originally built for Catherine 1, second wife of Peter the Great. He tried to emulate Versailles so there are many elegant and golden rooms. It took about an hour to drive there but we arrived just before 10am which is opening time. Even so there were many other groups waiting. As we entered we had to don overshoes, (much like operating theatre slippers) and then we mounted the grand staircase. Everything in the first few rooms was white and gold. The main Reception room was stunning. Intricate, wooden carved, gold leaf covered ornamentation framed ... read more

Geo: 58.5953, 25.0136We are in Talinn. This is a great city. We had been here in 2001 so we have noticed the enormous progress the city has undergone since then. We arrived here yesterday afternoon. Last night we had a meal provided in the hotel so we did not venture out. This morning we left on a tour of the city. It was a public holiday here celebrating their Independence from the Soviet Union in 1991. Last night there had been a huge singing festival to celebrate this event. Our guide took us to the veue to appreciate the idea that 100,000 people had turned up, 10 percent of the whole population of the country!!We then drove to the Old Town. We have been pretty unlucky with the weather. As we arrived at the walls of ... read more