Monday, September 16, 2024 This morning after a buffet breakfast, the tour group gathered around the long table in the Social Salon where Cameron (Dr. Watson) gave a presentation entitled The Land of Basque in Space and Time. Cameron introduced his lecture by provokingly stating that “Basque is a country […]
Sunday, September 15, 2024 Greetings from Basque Country! We arrived after a long day of traveling (actually two days with a brief night). Yesterday, we Ubered from home to RDU at 1 pm. Checking our bags and getting through security went smoothly. Jane ate a sandwich for lunch while waiting
Saturday, September 14, 2024 This afternoon, Rambling Jane and John will be departing for a 25-day trip to Spain and Portugal (plus a wee bit of time in France). We’ll be traveling with Jane’s sister, Nancy, and her husband, John. The sisters have been planning this trip for over a
Wednesday, August 28, 2024 Jeff and I had this morning free but needed to leave for the Helsinki airport around noon for our 3:05 pm flight back home. We decided to take it easy, and so after checking out of the GLO Art Hotel, left our bags at the desk,
Tuesday, August 27, 2024 Our guided tour was over yesterday, but Jeff and I had booked an extra day in Helsinki. Based on a strong recommendation from Elisabeth, yesterday’s guide, Jeff and I met in the lobby this morning with plans to visit the resort town of Porvoo. We walked
Monday, August 26, 2024 After breakfast this morning, I had time to take some photographs of the unique GLO Hotel Art. Then, at 8:30, Elisabeth, our guide for the day met a small group (six) of us in the lobby. We boarded a van and Elisabeth narrated as we drove
Sunday, August 25, 2024 After breakfast and checking-out this morning, Jeff and I joined a van that included English and Spanish speaking tourists and guides. We all had selected the optional excursion to Lahemaa National Park before boarding the Tallinn to Helsinki ferry. Our first stop along the way to
Saturday, August 24, 2024 This morning at 9 am, we were transported from the Radisson Blu hotel to Old Town Tallinn. Zane narrated as she led us past many landmarks including: the Eastern Orthodox Alexander Nevskey Cathedral, Toompea Castle, and the Commandant’s Garden with beautiful views overlooking the city and
Friday, August 23, 2024 We boarded the bus this morning at 9 am for our trip to Tallinn which included a stop at the coastal resort of Parnu. We rode for about 1.75 hours before a rest stop just across the Estonian border. —— Rest Stop —— After another hour
Thursday, August 22, 2024 Today, we boarded the bus at 8:30 am for an hour-long ride northeast of Riga to the Gauja National Park which encompasses the forested Gauja River valley and its cliffs and caves. Our first stop was at the medieval Turaida Castle. From the bus parking lot,
Wednesday, August 21, 2024 After breakfast this morning, Zane led the English-speaking group on a tour of Old Town Riga, departing on foot from the hotel at 9 am. The begininng of the tour retraced the route that Jeff and I had taken last night but this time we had
Tuesday, August 20, 2024 Today, we travelled from Vilnius, Lithuania, to Riga, Lativa, with two enroute sightseeing stops. The bus departed at 9 am and after about an hour on the road, pulled over at a large Circle K station for a rest stop. It felt very familiar because back
Monday, August 19, 2024 Today was the start of the organized BalticVision tour. At breakfast, after gathering my breakfast victuals and coffee in the hotel restaurant, I selected a quiet table in a back room to avoid the noise of the crowd in the bustling main room. I was joined
Sunday, August 18, 2024 After a late breakfast this Sunday morning, Jeff and I set off to see more of Vilnius. Our hotel was located in an enclave of modern high-rise buildings and Jeff suggested that we start off by walking through this area. We did so but after several
Saturday, August 17, 2024 After a leisurely breakfast and checking out of the hotel, I met Jeff in the lobby and we wheeled our luggage across the way to the Copenhagen Airport to catch our flight to Vilnius, Lithuania. After smoothly checking our luggage, we waited in a long queue