Summer of Slow Travel

We just had to return to the Hermitage. Found Catherine’s Chapel. She didn’t believe there could ever be too much gold. Then a waiting room..maybe..as we ventured off the regular track there was less English, as you would expect and then Max was in heaven when he found the Armor…

Our last day with the tour group, though we will be here for two more days. It has been so amazing to travel with our guide and fellow travelers. We drove around the city. Stopping at St Issacs Cathedral: Here is a view from a distance And then inside…it is…

This is how the Hermitage greets you.and then before you get your breath back you are just delighted at every turn. And the off to the Summer Palace. I asked our guide why Stalin paid to repair the damages from WW2- to glorify the era he had removed. She thought…

Odyssey took us to an “Open Air Museum” today. They have brought farmhouses from all over Estonia and restored them in this beautiful forest. What a wonderful way to say good-by to the Baltics. When the old towns were being built 90% of the people had a rural life. Seeing…

The Balkans had some independent identity back in the 1300-1500, with Lithuania actually being big for a while. Then in the late 1500’s Poland swept up Lithuania (giving it a Catholic identity) and Russia and Sweden stared fighting over Latvia and Estonia. Peter the Great eventually won in 1710. At…

Ok, this is an extra post tonight because I just think this is so strange. You can see where we flew into Lithuania, with Poland to the South-and to the West would be Germany. We drive north to Latvia and then Estonia. Finding a little bit of Spring along the…