An extremely cold and windy day. We left our hotel for the journey to the Dead Sea. Along the way we took photos of the snow on the side of the road. We stopped at Shobak Castle built during the crusades in 1115 built on a conical mountain overlooking the caravan and pilgrimage routes. This allowed King Baldwin, Jerusalem’s first titled king to control the areas commerce. It is a huge site which was surrounded by agricultural land to feed the people of the site. It was blowing so hard the we were almost blown off the castle top. We stopped for a photo op of the smallest hotel in the world - a VW bug fitted out with cushions and blankets on the side of the road. We reached our hotel at the Dead Sea ... read more

A stopver in London on the way to our tour to Jordon and Egypt. We visited the Shard for the champagne experience. A glass of Moët on the 69th floor. Great views and the champagne went down well after our flight from Oz. A quiet afternoon and then a great Thai meal in a local pub before an early night. The next day we visited the Sky garden which is only 33 floors up but very popular. Could be because it is free. Once again great views and very well done. The indoor gardens are well kept and are spread over three floors. We walked to Tower Bridge and had lunch at the Dickens Inn st St Katherine’s Dock, reviving memories of our visit in 2012. Later a quick catch up with Todd who was working ... read more

We are now home and our cruise has finished. As you will see from the info below we didn’t really have a lot of time to write of our experiences. Too many jam packed days and yet still more to see in Moscow. Russia has been fantastic and very different from my trip in 1978. Since the collapse of the Soviet Union and the introduction of private enterprises there have been many changes. It is becoming very westernized which means more cars, traffic jams, but there are now shops, plentiful foods and smiling people. It is very easy to get around, particularly as most signs and stores have English signs. The children learn English at school, but as with many countries, older people while they may have an understanding they do not speak it. They do ... read more

The 5th biggest city on the Volga river was founded in 1010 and named after its founder. in the 13th century it prospered due to its geographical position and became one of the most developed town in ancient Rus'. The 600 hectare city centre has around 140 federally protected buildings and in 2005 it was listed by UNESCO on the World Heritage Sites. We had a walking tour of he city visiting the many monuments including the Church of Elijah the Prophet, the Monastery, Volkov Theatre and finally the Governor's House (Yaroslavl Art Museum). At the Governor's House the guides greeted us dressed in period costume as the Governor's daughters and conducted the tour in this manner. The visit culminated in them being joined by some young men and they performed some dances for us such ... read more

Kizhi is an island near the geometrical center of the Lake Onega in the Republic of Karelia, Russia. Lake Onega is between 31 - 127 metres deep with 1650 islands (mostly rocky outcrops). The best known island is Kizhi. The island was very prosperous from the middle ages because of the trade with timber, furs and fish. It was frequently targeted in raids but when Peter the Great established Russia's soverignity in the Finnish borderlands that the region witnessed a construction boom using the local timber. They have a very traditional method of cutting wood by cutting with axes rather than sawing believing that it closed the grain of the wood against moisture while wooden pegs and joints were used rather than nails as they were expensive. As we set off for our tour of the ... read more