Catherinersquos Palace at Tsarkoye Selo and Pavlovsk at PushkinThe suburban Imperial Estates of St. Petersburg like Catherinersquos Palace Pavlovsk Gatchina etc. are marvels of recreation.Please note that I am not using the word lsquorestorationrsquo since after the lsquoSiege of Leningradrsquo in WWII there was nothing left to restore in those palaces. They were totally looted and

Where to begin We rented a vanbus and driver and we were off by 8 a.m. Off to the Great Wall of China While driving up there you could see mountains surrounding the whole area And not Camelback A Mountain status but I mean real gigantic mountains. Once we reached the leg we were climing the real workout began. Up and up and up we climbed slowly getting more tired. Legs burning sweat drippin

My vacation has officially started but I haven't left the country yet so it doesn't feel like it. I spent two days in D.C. before Rachel and I left for Costa Rica. It was very helpful for me though because I realized I forgot my camera cables was able to go to Best Buy and get a memory card reader for cheap. Also had a chance to eat at Chipotle's yummy. I know we have them in Seattle

I haven't updated in a while mostly because I feel like I haven't been doing all that much. I realized in Dali that I am going to San Francisco and then basically straight to work plus I'm going to want to be really busy for the last two weeks of my trip which I am now entering so I just decided to relax a bit. Dali is a good town for relaxing lots of good food and coffee and tea. I went on

We set off today for Mandurah which is about hour south of Perth the secondlargest city in Western Australia it is also the home to Bobby's Great Aunty Muriel and uncle Allen who emigrated here in 1997. We have a special mission Bobby great grandad has asked us to deliver a hug and kiss to his daughter which we do.After having lunch at the marine we then set off for the lovely home. They make u

Sunday 16 MayWe started the day with breakfast and coffee at the bakery across the road from Amandarsquos house. Very convenient indeed and the coffee is okay. We then headed for Greenwich to shop for wedding dress for Amanda. About 100 dresses later and plenty of fashion shows we all found the perfect dress at Palma. The two shop assistance perhaps owners were very helpful very knowledgeab

Bereits auf der Busfahrt nach Cusco sehen wir erste Relikte aus der Inkazeit und wir freuen uns auf eine Reise ins Reich der Inkas. Cusco gefaellt uns vom ersten Augenblick an Die vielen Kolonialhaeuser mit verspielten Holzbalkonen die riesige Plaza de Armas mit den imposanten Kirchen und das gute Gemisch von Peruanern und westlichen Touristen. Mit vier Kanadierinnen zusammen erkunden wir zu Fus

OHH soo much to catch up on I'm going to split this up a bit..Friday's blog will be long so that it t.b.c. after this. Thursday we had to switch hotels for the last two nights here in Beijing. Once we were checkedin and had another round table turntable traditional Chinese lunch we headed to the financial district to meet with one of Xu's friends. He worked for Hedgefund a stock company. Afte

Monday 17 Tuesday 18 MayAmanda had to go to work her second last day before holidays or vacation as the call it here. Jason went in to work with her went to the gym then came back to pick Marika and I up to go in to New York. The weather took a turn for the worse but we persevered with the cold. Tuesday was a lot colder and raining pretty much all day. We found the lsquoNew York Sightseein

Monday 10 MayLondon to ParisWell the Eurostar is great. Just over two hours are we were in Paris. Two hours from Perth gets you to Bunbury whoop de do. There are food carriages and the seats were comfortable enough. When we got to Paris every thing well signed and we headed straight for the Metro. We did hop on the fist one going in the wrong direction but hopped off and onto the right one easil

As is the way with hostels I bumped into two other backpackers and joined forces for the day. My companions were French so I got some language practice in as well yes I know I'm a geek.The Emperor's summer residence was entirely destroyed by AngloFrench troops in the 1890s so what is there now has been reconstructed since. And they have done an excellent job.The palace complex is an enor

Friday 14 MayWe had an early start this morning with the car arriving at 7am to take us to Heathrow airport to go to JFK New York finally on our way to see Amanda JWe got a good run to Heathrow and after a lack of cash in the purse to pay the taxi driver bungle we were checking in at the British Airways counter. We had both checked in online but werenrsquot sitting together we managed to ch

OK I was three days in Saigon but for me there was not so much. Of course night life is very lively in Saigon but that was not my thing this time. The thing that I remember best is the traffic. Crossing over the roads is interesting because there are motorbikes cars and cyclos. And a lot of them. There is over 4 000 000 motorbikes in Saigon and they all are on the road at a same time. Only wa

May 13th. We start our trip in earnest as we travel east over the snowcapped Sierras on Highway 50. Nevada is greener than we can ever remember seeing it due no doubt to the long rainy season this year. We see several birds such as ibis and snowy egrets at Stillwater Refuge where we have detoured for a lunch stop.Dramatic clouds surround us as we drive through Nevada and Utah. When we reach W

Saturday 15 MayAmanda had a hairdressers appointment this morning so after we went for coffee we all wandered down the road to the hairdressers. Just like being at home meeting up at Noranda Palms Shops for coffee and a hair cut. But we are in Newark New Jersey this time. Jason met up with us and we headed into Newport for some shopping. It was a short train ride away and had nice big shops and

Day 1 Sunday May 16thLeft Spokane 1230ish goal Spanaway WA. Stopped several times letting Daisy run. Started raining before Cle Elum then just past Cle Elum traffic slowed to a crawl. Finally passed a Surburban with a uhaul trailer that had jack knifed and looked like the trailer had landed on the roof of the suv. Appeared all to be unhurt they were gathering backpacks and the uhaul

Thurs.Still visiting Wanda and Stan good people. Learning alot about the Jones family my mom's family. Scanning many photos and info for Geneology. Walk with Daisy many times a day she being soo good but doesnt want to visit any newcomers.

Day 5 cousin Wanda's Yamhill OreWell planned on leaving to go on to cousin Richard Mary Jones' but....While visiting with one of Wanda's sons Shawn looked out at the RVa nd noticed a big huge bubble on the outside of the rear tire about as big as a football lengthwise in half whew glad i saw that before driving on it AAA w RV came to the rescue Les Scwab came with tire and mount

I set out fairly early to try and find a mobile phone and Chinese SIM card which I did and despite haggling am sure I bought at extortionate price. I took the opportunity in sodoing to explore the area around the hostel a bit.The hostel is situated in the Dongcheng district which is a maze of passages and alleys about 20 minutes walk north of the Forbidden City. The alleyways or hutong

Hello boys and girls. The boy half of the ListerGillett combo is here again to update you with our latest adventures. Where did I leave you last Hmmm... ah ha we were about to go to Queenstown...It was a fairly short drive just a few hours from Wanaka to Queenstown and we arrived around 5pm. Queenstownrsquos reputation as the tourist and extreme sport capital of New Zealand meant that we d