Photo of the Week: Nuuanu Pali Park, Hawaii

Nuuanu Pali Park, Honolulu, Hawaii. Well actually I'm not sure what the picture is of, but I was in Nuuanu Pali Park when I took the picture.

St. Petersburg Day 3

Days 21: St. Petersburg Sightseeing: Plenty of time in St Petersburg to get acquainted with the fascinating history and way of life. Our sightseeing tour includes the great Winter Palace, the incredible Hermitage Museum; visit Petrodvorets with its palaces, parks and fountains. And for a taste of local flavour, anyone for caviar and a vodka chaser? (Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: LDM Ulitsa Professora Popova

Breakfast: 8:30 Bus departs: 9:00

The Niet Niet Ladies at the hotel had struck, apparently they had a substitute Niet Niet Lady and she wouldn't give the room cards back, Maggy was able to fix it before we left. Is it really that hard to exchange pieces of paper for room keys? While the hotel seemed to be pretty clean, the water definitely had an odor to it, you definitely could not brush your teeth here, and you had to keep your mouth closed in the shower. But at least I had a shower in my room, Scandinavia made me appreciate that.

Our first stop of the morning was a photo stop at the Arora Battleship. During the war with Japan there was a 45 minute sea battle in which 45 Russian ships were lost, the only to survive was the Arora. Next was Peter and Paul Fortress, resting place of the Tsars.

The bodies of Nicholas II's family were found in 1991 and were given a state funeral, by 1998 DNA testing showed a 98.5% chance that the bodies were Nicholas II, Alexandra, Tatiana, Olga, and either Maria or Anastasia. The bodies of Alexei and Anastasia have not been found.

Once at the Fortress we went inside the Cathedral, Anna showed us the tombs of the Tsars and explained about the Cathedral. There was a lot of construction inside, they were bringing the body of one of the Romanov wives from Copenhagen and they were setting up for her tomb. They seemed to be preparing the whole cathedral for the event. We also saw the room where Nicholas's family is interred, 2 places are left blank for Alexei and Anastasia. Our last stop in the Cathedral was to listen to the choir, they were truly amazing signers. I would have bought their CD, except it was 20 or 25 euros and I didn't foresee myself listening to it much.

After Peter and Paul fortress we had a stop at the Faberge Egg store. Tsar Alexander III started the tradition of purchasing these for his wife for Easter each year. Tsar Nicholas II would continue this tradition by purchasing them for his wife and mother. I purchased an egg charm for myself, it opens up and inside is a basket of flowers, this would be my big purchase of the trip, and a lovely one at that. I also got my mother an egg with a carriage inside, mom deserved something nice.

At 11:40 we were dropped off near the Nevsky Prospect McDonalds and had free time till 1:30. Today we had KFC for lunch, the workers hear understood enough for us to order. We ended up with enough time to not really do anything other then walk down Nevsky Prospect a bit. Our 1:30 meeting today was for our tour of the Hermitage, which I was very excited to see.
The reason we went to the Hermitage today instead of yesterday is that yesterday there were 5 cruise ships in town and the place would be mobbed, this is the value of having a tour guide. As excited as I was I was literally falling asleep standing up and walking, that would explain why I was walking like a drunk and bumping into people. It was kind of bazaar, but I do remember seeing many of the rooms in the Winter Palace and some of the famous works of art throughout the museum, I'm glad I got a book on the Hermitage. From what I remember it was a remarkable place with all the formal gold and jewles you might imagine. After the tour I decided not to continue walking around the museum for obvious reasons. I decided to find the internet and write home instead. Well I waited on line for 15 minutes at a coffee shop counter to buy 20 minutes of internet. The guy in front of me complained to some woman who had cut the line, she just showed her Hermitage id, said she worked there and gave the look of death. When I got to the cashier I was told they couldn't sell anymore time because they were closing in 15 minutes, NIET NIET!!!!! I must have given her the look of death because she called over the manager who explained it again. I swear, I almost jumped over the counter and strangled someone. It made me very cranky for a while, but I was able to save other people from wasting 15 minutes of their time on line, at least there was that.

We walked around a bit, saw some brides (these were not the first brides we saw in St. Petersburg, we had seen at least one everyday we were here) and walked over to the Church of the Spilled blood and a miracle happened, I actually bought a matryoska doll, yea! I even bargained for it. She tried to sell me another one that wasn't as nice since it was closer to my price range, but I liked the one I picked out much better.

At 5:00 we were picked up and taken to two photo stops, St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral and the palace where Rasputin was assassinated. Rasputin became a fixture with the Tsar's family and many believed he was really controlling the Tsar's decisions, some thought he was the Tsarina's lover too. In December 1916 those loyal to the Tsar thought he had too much power and assassinated Rasputin. They tried to poison him, but that didn't work so they shot him. When he was still moving after being shot they clubbed him and dragged him to the Neva River and threw him in - the cause of death was drowning.

From there we went to Moo Moo's for dinner. The restaurant is named after a Russian story about a dog named Moo Moo. The short version: Moo Moo rented a room from a Russian woman who did not like dogs. One day she took the dog, tied a brick to him and threw him in a lake drowning him, poor Moo Moo. From there we went to the Russian Folklore show.

Most of us were a bit ambivalent about this part of the Russian Optional package, but everyone seemed to enjoy the folklore show. During the show they did audience participation, and one of the woman in the show had been eyeing Fraser all night. Fraser tried to get Corey to switch with him so Fraser could be a row closer and right next to the stairs. Not sure what why Corey wouldn't switch with him, but it really pissed Fraser off. I could see why he wanted to switch, but I'm not sure what the big deal was. Fraser did get pulled up on stage anyway, and seemed to have a great time up there. During intermission they had fruit, Champaign and caviar. I was almost tempted to try the caviar, just to say I did it. Marie said it was good. But then Kate tried it, I was almost gagging just looking at her trying not to gag on it. After she got it down she proceeded to explain how all the little eggs exploded in her mouth, yuck! I didn't try it, and doubt I ever will. On the bus back Maggy played our day song, Rasputin, for us, and Fraser danced...

I wanted to eat at the furniture store

This is part 2 about my trip to Washington DC.

I arrived in the city around 7:30 at Union Station. The station was pretty nice (for a train station) with a bunch of food places (including some that were a little better then the typical train station places.) But I went straight for the taxi stand. My first image of the city was of the Capital, I liked that, it gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. There's just something I like about seeing the seat of government, it makes the government feel accesable, even if it's not. It actually reminded me of when I was in Rome and the first thing I saw when I got out of the Metro was seeing the Coloseum. My taxi took me quickly to my hotel - The Henley Hotel on Massachusets Ave.

Check in at the hotel was quick and effiecient and I was assigned room number 702. I was excited about this hotel, it's a historic preservation building and from the website it seemed like it had a lot of character, not just a typical chain hotel. Well the hotel was nice and clean and did have a bit more character. But, it wasn't that special. The room was small, it didn't have a desk, I had to wiggle the cable wire to get a clear picture on the TV and it didn't have THAT much character. I felt like every room might have had a different shape and set up, but that they probably have all the same bedding, window treatments, furniture, TV's. Basically the character of the hotel didn't go much past the lobby and the outside of the building. I also didn't like the set up of the bathroom - it had a lot of empty space and the sink area was really small.

But the good things were the bedding. The bed was comfortable, though not exceptional. But the bedding did seem to be of a higher quality and the pillows were comfortable. Being as I spent about 9 hours a day in the room (mostly sleeping) a comfortable bed was the only thing I really cared about in the end.

After checking into my room I dropped my stuff off and went in search of food. I wasn't terribly hungry, but I knew I would be if I didn't eat. This was another problem with the hotel, there was a restaurant there, but there was nothing to eat within a 2 block radius and forget it if you wanted something quick and easy to eat, McDonalds was about 5 blocks away. At one point I saw a diner like place and got all excited, but it turned out to be a furniture store. Later on I noticed another furniture store that looked like a diner. Later on in my trip I realized that if I had done my walking in the other direction, I probably would have found a nicer McDonalds within the same distance.

The two things I learned on this night was that this hotel was poorly placed if you wanted food, and that in Washington DC furniture stores look like diners.

So I did end up eating at McDonalds, I got french fries and a soda. I have to say I'm not sure it was my best decision though. As I was walking up I passed some homeless people and at the same time 2 guys walked up to me and asked where the nearest Metro stop was, a homeless person answered, then asked for money. I'm so not into giving homeless people money so I just went to McDonalds where the clientel was a little off. There was a family of 4 who looked like they spent a fair amount of time in McDonalds, and a homeless woman who was talking to herself. Then the homeless guys came in. As a single woman in a strange city (and one not know for how safe it is), it didn't feel terribly comfortable to me. But nothing happened to me and it just served as one of those nights when you notice everything that is going on around you, but traveling will do that to you.

Photo of the Week: Jefferson Memorial

I'm actually a Lincoln fan, it's the whole Civil War buff thing that I have going on. But the Jefferson Memorial is very photogenic. Not only do I like this picture for the composition and the content but I took this with my little point and shoot camera that I had to figure out on this trip. I also didn't have my tripod, I never seem to have the thing when I need it.

St. Petersburg Day 2

Days 20: St. Petersburg Sightseeing: Plenty of time in St Petersburg to get acquainted with the fascinating history and way of life. Our sightseeing tour includes the great Winter Palace, the incredible Hermitage Museum; visit Petrodvorets with its palaces, parks and fountains. And for a taste of local flavour, anyone for caviar and a vodka chaser? (Breakfast included)

Hotel: LDM Ulitsa Professora Popova

Breakfast: 8:00 Bus departs: 8:30

When I think of St. Petersburg I think of Tsarist Russia: The Romanov Dynasty. I think to appreciate St. Petersburg you need to know a little history about St. Petersburg and the Romanovs', I'll have some blurbs throughout about the history.

Ivan III (AKA Ivan of Moscow or Ivan the Great) was the first to take the title Tsar (Russian for Caesar), Emperor of all the Russias. Ivan took the Byzantine symbol of absolute authority, the double eagle, as his personal symbol. His grandson, Ivan IV, was the next to take the title Tsar, he is known as Ivan the Terrible. Ivan the terrible married Anastasia Romanov, after her death there was significant turmoil in Russia.

In 1613 a descendant of Anastasia, Mikhail, was found and became the first of the Romanov rulers and so the Romanov dynasty is born. Peter The Great (very long story short) became the Co-Tsar in 1682 and sole ruler in 1696. Moscow and Russia was stuck in the Middle Ages and Peter had a great love of the anything modern, or Western (Western Europe). He had a vision to create a new Westernized Russia. His first order of business, a Navy. Then he went West to learn about ships and different aspects of Western life, such as medicine. When he returned he wanted to change Russia - he forced Russia forward to be more Western. He envisioned a new city, on the Baltic, he built his own log house in a city to be known as St. Petersburg, which would be the new capital of Russia. It was a city in Russia that was never to surrender, and was built at any cost, it is also said to have been built on the bones of Russians (essentially slave labor with little or no tools and a high death rate). Peterhoff Palace, his Summer Palace, was designed to outdo Versailles. He told who to build what (Palaces) and where. Today the city is the remains of these palaces, which is one of the reasons it is a nice and attractive city. Other things that Peter The Great brought to Russia: the first newspaper, hospital, museum, schools, geography, astronomy, mathematics, a Navy, Army, Capital, even a new crown, Russia was now a global power, well sorda.

Under Nicholas I the Decembrists tried to start a revolution for a Constitution, they failed and the Absolute Monarchy stayed. Speaking of a rebellion or a constitution could be cause for exile or death under his reign. Nicholas's legacy was as the Police Officer of monarchy in Europe.

Alexander III rounded up the assassins of Alexander II and had them hanged, and the reform that had recently come to Russia was over. Alexander III built The Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood on the site of the successful assassination of Alexander II, hence the name.

The following year Alexander III died and Nicolas II took over, but Nicolas was unprepared to be a Tsar. The poor were as poor as ever and revolution was in the air. Nicolas was considered out of touch with Russians and there was little faith in his ability to rule. Nicholas tried to expand into China and Korea and ended up in a fight with Japan. In 1904 Alexei was born, he was the 5th child and the only son. It was later discovered that Alexei had Hemophilia. The Empress Alexandra was introduced to a Monk and mystic, Rasputin. Rasputin became a fixture when Alexandra believe he could heal Alexei, but others saw him as a greasy womanizer with too much power. In December 1916 those loyal to the Tsar assassinated Rasputin.

Jan 9, 1905 workers, students, and priests marched on the Winter Palace, they wanted a representative government, and peace with Japan. Nicolas was out of town and Bloody Sundaywas born when the protesters were attacked, between 100 and 1,000 were killed.
Nicholas eventually gave in to the populous and created an elective assembly (the Duma) and a constitution. When World War I broke out Russia was dragged in, 8 million Russians were killed, wounded or captured. At the same time Lenin's slogan was "peace, land and bread."
On Feb 23 1917 bread lines turned to riots, Nicholas came home from the front and was forced to abdicate and give power to the Duma. The last European Monarchy had fallen. Civil War broke out and the Bolsheviks eventually took power. Some Romanovs were allowed to leave Russia, some were killed and Nicolas's family was moved around a bit. In July of 1918 the family was woken up in the middle of the night, taken to the basement, told to pose for a family photo and were killed by the Red Army. There bodies were soaked in acid and burned.

And so my first day in St. Petersburg went like this...

We left a little late this morning, since some people slept late and Maggy was being nice giving them a few minutes to get ready after waking them. Our first stop of the morning was the Peterhof Gardens at Peterhof Palace. We did not go inside the palace as we would be seeing other Palaces, but the gardens are breathtaking. The exterior of the palace is gorgeous and the workmanship and gold simply amazing, and to think of all the Russians who died building it and the Russians who died of starvation after it was built, yet all this wealth in one palace. The fountains are magnificent and you could see the great effort put into outdoing Versailles. Once we finished looking around we had a bit of free time to look around at the market outside the palace. I didn't know it at the time, but this was one of the places where you could get better prices on Russian souvenirs. I got a scarf for mom. But the most interesting thing was using the bathroom. I waited on line and had to pay 60 euro cent (or 40 rubles). The toilet paper was hanging on the wall outside the stalls under my favorite sign of the whole trip.

After Peterhof we made a stop at a church, St. Peters, to see and experience a Russian Orthodox Church. There was a little boy outside begging, he had an eye on Michael and followed him for a bit, it was pretty funny. Inside the church there were lots of little old Russian ladies praying. In a Russian Orthodox Church everyone stands, so there is no seating inside, except for seats for the Tsar and his family. During Communism many churches were destroyed, those that weren't were converted into warehouses, pools, skating rinks, anything other then a church, consequently there are not as many churches in Russia as there should be. After the church we were on our way to the Siege of Leningrad (Communist name for the city St. Petersburg) Memorial.

Several of the great world powers have tried to take Russia. King Charles XII and the Swedes tried during Peter the Great's reign, but failed and the great Swedish Empire collapsed. Tsar Alexander pretty much started a fight with the French (he aligned with the English) and Napoleon Bonaparte tried to take Russia. The Russians retreated from the French burning the land as they went, Napoleon followed deeper and deeper into Russia and finally met the Russians in Borodino, 75,000 men died and both sides claimed victory. The Russians retreated and left Moscow to the French, but not without burning the city. Napoleon ordered the retreat, but the Russian winter came early, they had little or no supplies and Russians attacked the retreating army. By the time they reached the Polish border the army had been decimated. On June 22, 1941 Hitler's secret plan for the Soviet Union, Operation Barbarossa began. The Russians were slow to respond and within 4 months the Germans were outside Moscow and laid siege on Leningrad. In 1942 Hitler went after Stalingrad (now known as Volgograd), but Germany's supplies lines were insecure and winter came early (early September). Stalin released restrictions on the church and appealed to patriotism to rally for the cause. In February of 1943 the German 6th Army surrendered. Leningrad had held out for 900 days, but never surrendered. By April 1945 the Red Army was in Berlin. There are a couple reasons for the Russian success: a large military was simply able to outnumber a better army; the scorched earth policy, where the Russians burned everything as they retreated leaving little for the advancing army; harsh Russian winters and long supply lines for invading armies; and well the Russians are used to hardship, there is more then one point in Russian history where it is believed that Russians resorted to cannibalism for survival, their own government treated them worse then any invading army could.

And so we stopped at the Siege of Leningrad Memorial. Downstairs they have a museum, they showed a video without sound of the hardships the residents of Leningrad, but Anna explained everything in the video. The city was under siege for 900 days, and over 1 million people died, despite the fact that many people were able to leave the city. At one point the daily rations consisted of 175grams (a small loaf of wonder white is 340 grams) of sawdust laden bread people supplemented by eating pets, rats, birds, wallpaper paste, leather belts and eventually some resorted to cannibalism. Some days as many as 30,000 people died, many just falling over in the street. Despite the hardships they never surrendered and human spirit remained alive, including acts of kindness and performances by the philharmonic and the symphony.

When we were walking back to the bus Anna stopped to talk to a guy on the sidewalk and let us know that if we needed to exchange money to see this guy. The black market exchange guy, nice! At 2:00 we were dropped off at the Church on the Spilled Blood for 3 hours of free time. Almost everyone went to Nevsky Prospect for lunch. I had Subway with Kieren, Marie, Kate, Andrew, Donna and Stephanie. Ordering lunch wasn't too bad, the people working there understood meatball and pointing at bread, relief! After lunch a bunch of us went to St. Isaacs Cathedral for a view of the city. Then we wanted to go to the Kunstkamera Museum (the deformed baby museum or the Museum of Anthropology & Ethnography), but other people were coming from there, the line was 45 minutes to get in - there wouldn't be time to go. We went back the the Church on the Spilled Blood because there was a market there. I looked at the martryoshka dolls, but couldn't decide on one, but I did get a flask for my brother-in-law.

Dostoevsky is a famous Russian writer and apparently they love him here, they even have a museum about him. In the fall semester of school I read a book by him, Notes From the Underground, it was awful! I don't specifically remember all that much about the book, except that reading it was torture. I have a friend who is a Russian language student and she says his other stuff isn't any better. I would not spend my free time going to see his statue or museum.

We went back to the hotel at 5:00 to get ready for the ballet and to have dinner. At 7:00 we left for the Ballet, we were seeing Giselle. When we went to find our seats someone was in my seat, he seemed confused about where he was supposed to sit and I didn't have the answer, but I knew he was in mine. Anna came in just after that and got rid of him. Our seats were very good, they were Orchestra seats in the front row of the back section, my seat happened to be at the end of the isle for the front section - I had an unobstructed view of the stage. The ballet was really good, quite amazing how they could tell the story through dance. I will admit I did fall asleep at one point during the first act, but I think everyone did, and almost everyone liked it. I think 2 of the guys left during intermission to hit the town. But buying the program was worth every penny, without it it's hard to tell what is going on onstage. The ballet finished at 10 and then it was back to the hotel for bed since I was exhausted.

Amtrak

Last week I went down to Washington DC for work. I traveled down there by Amtrak, it was my first time in about 15 years (so pretty much my first time) that I had been on Amtrak.

I got a ride from someone at work up to Penn Station, much better then the subway with luggage! At Penn Station I was able to easily get my tickets for Amtrak using the Quik-Trak system, just scan the email confirmation and it prints the ticket. I was about 40 minutes early for my train and had considered trying to get on an earlier train, but the line was so long for the ticket counter that I doubted I would have time, instead I sat in the seating area and read a magazine. Penn Station for Amtrak is not the best setup, you have to go downstairs to get to the train, which is a bit of a pain if you have luggage and really seemed to slow the process down a bit for boarding. But I quickly found a seat on the train car next to the cafe car, incase I got hungry.

The seats seemed wider with a better recline and more comfortable then a seat on a plane and there is a ton more space for luggage, and to think I was worried about my carry-on size bag! The aisles were much wider then a plane so it was easier to get your luggage around on the train. I also noticed that there was a power point for laptops at every seat, hmmm, this seems better then a plane so far! Also better then a plane was that you didn't have to go through security and you could show up 15 minutes before departure to board. Since you don't have to go through security you can also bring liquids and other sharp objects, like a scissor.

But what wasn't as nice as on a plane is that the train stopped every 15-20 minutes with people getting on a off, of course there were also all the announcements that come with people getting on and off the train. Because of this the train seemed to take forever, actually about 3 and a half hours - a flight is about an hour and 15 minutes. I should say my reading lap wasn't as focused as I find them to be on a plane, but the train generally had better lighting. And well there was no one coming around giving me a drink and food, so pack your own.

The odd thing for me, was that being by myself I felt strange leaving my stuff at my seat to either go to the bathroom or to go to the cafe car. For some reason I've never felt this on a plane. Maybe it's because you kinda get to know your seatmate (at least they become your neighbor even if you don't talk), or because the passenger manifest has their name as being next to yours. Or maybe the fact that you get on the plane and everyone gets off as the same time makes it feel safer to leave your stuff. But on Amtrak people are coming and going at every stop. But I felt odd leaving stuff and that I was more likely to have something stolen. It's probably irrational, but it's how I felt.

I would definitely consider Amtrak again for a trip to Washington DC or to Boston. Though plane tickets are often cheaper, for a short trip with a little bit of luggage Amtrak is less of a hassle, though I think I would look more at the Acela service, it's a bit more expensive but it also takes an hour less. I would caution that I've heard on the late night trains the clientele isn't the highest, so I personally would avoid those trains.

The Jetiquette Pledge

I thought I would give a shout out to the Jetiquette blog and their Jetiquette Pledge...

http://www.dearskysteward.com/civilized-travelers-are-making-the-jetiquette-pledge/

hey, can't we all just get along??? Play nice and be considerate travelers.

I'll just share my jetiquette story of a nice, friendly traveler I met along the way.

A year or so ago I was flying home from Pittsburg and earlier in the day had put my cell phone in my suitcase. I forgot about it until 1 minute after I gave it to screening as checked luggage - it was too late. Murphy's Law - my flight was delayed. I asked a nice gentleman seated near me if I could borrow his phone to call home and tell my family. I would like to say, naturally he let me do it, but I suspect there are people out there who wouldn't but my family and I appreciated it.

Photo of the Week: New York City

I took this picture of Long Island City, NY from Manhattan. I'm always a fan of night shots, but I like the way this one has the reflections of the city on the water. It's not quite as crisp as I would like, but I still like the effect.

Helsinki to St. Petersburg

Day 19: Helsinki to St. Petersburg: An early start this morning as we head to Russia. Stopping en-route at Vyborg - your first taste of old-style Russia, we continue to our hotel in St. Petersburg. (Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: LDM
Breakfast: 6:45 Bags to the bus: 7:15 Bus departs: 7:30

Today we were leaving Scandinavia, which meant a lot of different things. Firstly, we were leaving 19 people behind, which I was sad about. I was also sad to leave the relatively slow paced Scandinavia, where the sun was always out, people were nice, they spoke English and nature was abundant. I was going to miss this place. But we were exchanging it for Russia: dirty water, dirty cities, corruption, bad bathrooms, people who don't speak English, and the remnants of czarist and communist Russia, I actually was excited about this.

I got up early this morning, 5:30. I wanted to actually get a shower before going to Russia, St. Petersburg in particular, and I wanted to try and call home again.

I woke up Nancy when I got up, which I felt bad about since she had come in even later then me last night, but she would be one of the few to see us off this morning. I did get to talk to mom and let her know I wouldn't be calling from Russia and that I was ok. Then had breakfast and everyone made their way to the bus. Nancy, Leah B, Karl, Sara and Ash saw us off this morning. Later on I heard that a bunch of people from the Scandi part of the tour went to Estonia for the day.

The rest of us got an introduction from Maggy and Ash as we hit the road for Russia. We were also introduced to our day song - Rasputin, fitting for a trip to Russia. Our first stop was just after 10am before the Russia border. This was our opportunity to go to the bathroom, get money, eat and get supplies for Russia. It was suggested that we split a case of 4 large bottles of water with someone, that that would be a good start for Russia since the water wasn't safe to drink or brush our teeth with. Around Moscow it was realized that some people considered this community water, some people must have taken more then they purchased and we ran out, leaving some people screwed out of the water they had purchased - nice.

We left there at 11:05 and went out of Finland, the customs guy came on the bus, looked very grumpy and stamped all our passports, yea, I got a stamp. We drove through no-mans land to the Russia border. We were told to go in the building and get on line, apparently we weren't supposed to and were sent back to wait until 12:15. On line I got to talk to a couple people, Fraser and Brittany and some others. The line moved well sometimes and then other times one person would take a half hour. One person had a lot of trouble getting in - he had lost his passport recently and so there was something with either the new passport or the new Visa that was a flag - they even took him to another room. In the meantime Maggy couldn't find out much about what was going on. Everyone finally finished going through customs at 3:00 and we actually got into Russia at 3:30, then had to change our watches ahead 1 hour.

After all that Maggy gave us a bit of history about Russia and as interested as it was I still fell asleep. At 5:15 we stopped in Vyborg, which used to be part of Finland, and were told to use the bathroom and find the train to St. Petersburg. Well I couldn't find the train since I don't read cerilic and the bathroom is best described as a cultural experience. My cold and congestion (I had felt better for about 1 day and then felt sick again) were a good thing in Russia, it's good when you can't smell the bathroom.

On the bus Maggy spoke to us about the trip and what to expect. At the hotels they have "Niet, Niet Ladies," when you check in you give your passport to the hotel and they give you a hotel card (in place of the passport). When you come and go from the room you exchange your hotel card for your room key. By the elevator was the Niet Niet lady who exchanges the key for the hotel card. She's a grumpy lady and says Neit Niet to everything - she's the stereotypical old Russian lady. Niet Niet ladies aren't only in hotels, any time you need something you'll have to deal with a Niet Niet lady. At some point I looked out the front window and saw the infamous "death lane," we were in it and straight ahead you saw headlights. hmmm, I probably shouldn't do that again. In Scandinavia the cars were all very nice and well cared for, in Russia they were all old junky looking cars. The roads are lined with trash and the road isn't in good condition, and we were on "highways."

Before our next stop we were introduced to our wake up song - Wake Me Up Before You Go Go by Whamm. We got to our hotel at 8pm, LDM means "youth palace." Maggy had warned us that it was neither youthful nor a palace, she wasn't kidding. Just to emphasis this, Fraser got stuck in the elevator, most people ended up taking there bags up the stairs, thankfully I was only on 1, which was actually up 4 flights of stairs. We had dinner at 8:30, it was pork and rice and it wasn't too bad.

After dinner Anna, our local guide, took us on a Champanski Tour of St. Petersburg. We had stops at Decembrists' Square to see St. Isaac's Cathedral, Mariinsky Palace, the statue of Peter the Great (the Bronze Horseman) and the Astoria Hotel (where Hitler planned to have his celebration after he won St. Petersburg in the war). Our other stop was in front of the Central Naval Museum. We also saw the deformed baby museum (we didn't go in), Stroganov Palace, and Nevsky Prospect. We got back around 10:30 and Maggy set up Dodgy Serge's samples and took orders from everyone. It was a long day, but a good one.

Disney makes flying easy

I have two older sisters with children and both are going to Walt Disney World in May, separately. On one hand I secretly hoped one would invite me, on the other I was there a year and a half ago, I don't feel like I need to go back. There's still a lot of world out there to see. But who can resist a giant friendly mouse? Well the invite came last week, and I actually had to think about it. I am supposed to go to Las Vegas in August and then to Scotland in September after all. But in the end I decided to go because my Mom is going and she might need support. Watch out giant friendly mouse!

But the good news is that finding a flight there was MUCH easier to do then finding a flight to London and returning from Scotland. My choices for non-stop flights were Jetblue, Southwest and Delta. Jetblue won! Delta and Jetblue prices were the same, but the cheaper flights with the times we wanted were all on Jetblue, not Delta. Plus we can each check a suitcase without paying. Southwests flights were a bit more expensive and didn't have as good of a selection.

Picture of the Week: Itter, Austria

Itter, Austria. This place was like heaven! A small town nestled in the mountains outside Innsbruck. The place had picturesque views (hence the photo,) the neighbor had cows and there was a small castle. The place was so magical that a couple on my tour got engaged here. When I look at this picture I wonder if this place is real. Oh, it is!

Keuruu to Helsinki

Day 18: Keuruu to Helsinki: We continue southwards to Helsinki, Finland's capital. Our sightseeing tour takes in the Olympic Stadium, the massive underground church and Sibelius Park, a memorial to Finland's greatest composer in the 'White City of the North'. (Breakfast included)

Hotel: Satakuntatalo Summerhotel
Breakfast: 8:00 Bags to the bus: 8:45 Bus departs: 9:00

I got up a little before my alarm today so I got a jump on getting ready. The bathrooms were cool at this campsite. Each stall in the bathroom had a toilet, sink and shower which made it a bit easier to get ready. On the bus I played Crazy 8's with Nancy, Karl, Cathy and Jacqui. We had one quick break, when they realized we were lost, and got into Helsinki a little after 1. After we got lost Dion and Che decided we should play Coach Olympics, since I was in the front of the bus and everything had to go to the back of the d? But apparently the other side of the bus had pretty much given up, I guess I didn't have to rbus I didn't do much. Until they wanted an ipod with Eye of the Tiger paused. OMG, that's me! So everything in my backpack went flying (poor Nancy was trying to keep my stuff organized), I finally found it then couldn't find the song, I guess I was a little overly excited. I was rushing like crazy because who wouldn't have Eye of the Tiger on their ipoush so much. We won the point and the game! Yea for cheesy music! On the bus we also did comment things about the tour and Che and Dion thanked us for a nice tour. Dion also told us that he had been lying to us, it was actually his first tour as a Super Cook, how cute. Well the other thing that happened is that my watch stopped, not a very useful watch now, why is everything breaking?

When we got into town we stopped for pictures at the Lutheran Church and at Sibelius Park. Then I had lunch with Kate, Andrew, Kieran, and Marie. We walked over the the Rock Church (Temppeliaukio Church), a church built into a really big rock. After that we walked over to Olympic Stadium from the 1952 Helsinki games, apparently Kate likes seeing the Olympic sites, I'm not the only one. I heard later on that you can go up the towery thing, but we didn't really have time for that anyway. On the way back we saw the statue to Paavo Nurmi, an Olympic runner/medalist. I was going to try and get my watch fixed before our 5:15 pick up, but in the end we ran out of time.

A couple people almost missed the bus to the Hostel. When we got there I got in the elevator with my bag, I knew where my room was, but I left Nancy to get the key, I just hadn't told her. So Dion let me store my bag in his room while I tried to find Nancy. By the time I got back downstairs Nancy had already gotten the key. But in the meantime I met a couple people from the Russian part of the tour and said a quick hello. On my way back up to the room the floors were all screwy, room 410 would be on the 6th floor, crazy. Eventually I found my room. There was a doorway that led to a set of rooms, about 6 rooms, which were all filled with people from tour. It also had two toilets, but only 1 shower - that would be interesting. Nancy was in our room and we had a balcony, with a view of construction, Yippy!

We had quite a while to get ready so I decided to find a place to get my watch fixed, since I didn't know how possible that would be in Russia. The front desk sent me a couple blocks away, I got a little lost on the way, but eventually found a mall. One of the first stores was a watch store and I waited a while to get helped. The girl said it would take 10 minutes, I went for a drink in the meantime. When I got back the girl was helping someone else. I left her alone for a few minutes but it started getting late so I had to interrupted her, either way I needed the watch back so I could get back in time for our Russia meeting. She quickly finished and only charged me half the price since it took so long.

I got back to the hostel with 10 minutes to spare before our Russia meeting with Maggy. I quickly changed and fixed myself up for our dinner and night out then went down to the meeting. Maggy introduced herself and Ash (the driver) and gave us a little basic info before taking the Russia group to dinner. She advised us to have a good time tonight, but not too make it too big of a night since tomorrow would be a long day getting into Russia. We still had a few minutes before going to dinner so I went back upstairs to properly get ready. Some people were very dressed up and I felt like I should do myself up a bit more.

At 7:45 we walked to dinner, we were eating (as was the other group that had gone a half hour before us) at Armadillo. I sat with Cara, AJ and Renae. Since this was our last night with the Scandi only group we took lots of pictures at dinner. After dinner we all met at some bar down the block. Later on I heard that the bar next to ours had an ice bar in it, a couple people had gone to it, but I didn't bother since I had been to the one in Stockholm. When we first got there I talked to some of the Russia tour people and had last minute bonding with the Scandi people. It was an interesting evening. Che had quite a bit to drink and Tania had an accident. She fell out of an elevator onto the floor, went unconscious and cut her head and was bleeding. It's a good thing Karl was with her (I'll leave that to your own imaginations), she had to go to the emergency room and get 10 stitches in her head. Later on I saw the pictures of her in the ambulance and she didn't look too upset.

I left the bar at 1:20 with Lis, Jilly, Kate and Andrew since the rest of the group was going to a club and I wasn't interest in that. Poor Kate's shoes were hurting her feet so much that Andrew had to carry her part way back. We ran into some others on the way, including Kevin who tried to get a ride on Andrew's back - only to get spun around, which he didn't seem to enjoy, but the rest of us did. When I got back I tried to call home one last time before going to Russia where my phone rates would be much higher, but I just got the answering machine.

Photo of the Week: Las Vegas at night

Las Vegas at night, taken from the top of the Eiffel Tower at Paris, the hotel, not the city.

Why I like this photo? I learned about shutter speed a week or so before this trip and this is the result. This is one of those pictures that was a new learning experience and it's a great picture of the strip.

Reading Travel Reviews

After my looked into flights to London and Scotland I realized I didn't know much about Air France. The obvious solution was to go look at Airlinequality.com for reviews of Air France. To my frustration I found the same problem that I have at other review websites. There are too many people complaining about things that aren't really related to the airline. There are a lot of people complaining that their flight was canceled and they couldn't get through to the phone support. Well if there were a lot of cancellations for the airline, say due to weather, then of course you can't get through to phone support because everyone is doing the same thing. Or you get the complaints about delays, well every airline has delays and they all have them for the same reasons some of which they have limited control over. Based on one flight they will rate the airline really, really low. I liked the guy who doesn't like the use of the term "bed" when referring to the business seat that doesn't lay flat. Maybe I'm a geek or a dreamer, but I often take a look at airlines premium class cabins and see what you get, if someone is so interested in the terminology, didn't he look at that before flying? He then tried to compare the wine offerings from Business with the offerings on Singapore Coach class - an airline that many consider the best in the world and something that isn't exactly a secret if you looked it up. As for the customer service complaints... First, it's a French Airline, the French suck at customer service why do they think it would stop at their airline? Not that it's an excuse for bad customer service, but if you're expecting great customer service then I wouldn't choose an airline from France. I'm just saying.

But this is a common theme when looking at travel reviews. Chris Christensen from the Amateur Traveler podcast and This Week In Travel once said that you learn more about people's trips in some hotel reviews then you learn about the actual hotel. It's true, and it makes it hard to find good information about travel things. For the airlinequality website I now just skip the reviews with a zero, they're pissed about something on their flight and are on a rant and I know that that person would probably fly with the airline again if it offered the cheapest price. I also suspect these are the same people who get up to the counter and yell at the person and get screwed. You then walk up right after are nice and the person gets you whatever you want. I know I don't think like that person.

Then of course there are the people who visit hotels and tell hotel owners that if they don't do something for them they will write a bad review on tripadvisor. Between those people and the people who complain in their review about every little thing, they walked in behind a tour bus and had to wait too long to check in or the sheets were scratchy in a $50 a night hotel who knows what to believe. Some reviews are entertaining, but not helpful.

So how to find good reviews? I personally like it when websites, though I can't think of any travel websites that do this, that allow readers to rate if the review was helpful or not. Short of that I avoid reviews that give the lowest review possible, this is usually the person who is mad and wants everyone to hear how horrible they were treated, but they don't offer information that is helpful in making a decision. This is especially true if there are a lot of high markings. Do they offer examples of what was wrong. "The room was dirty" is subjective. But, "there were stains on the carpet, and bedding," that tells me what was wrong and is useful in making my decision. I often don't spend much time on the 5 star ratings, they really liked I don't need to read too much about that. I like to concentrate on the middle of the road ratings.

In the meantime you should all know that you can't lie flat in Air France Business class, and you might have to contort to sleep. WHAT? In business class you can actually contort so that you CAN sleep, now that's worth money!

British Airways, Air France, Delta, American, Continenetal, Virgin Airways

ACKKK! So I'm very seriously considering doing a Contiki tour of England and Scotland in September. The biggest thing I need to know is when my next surgery will be and if I'll be good to travel by then. I picked the date of the tour, but haven't booked or anything.

Here's my problem, picking an airline. I had originally thought I would just do the Scotland tour, but it's so short and I would miss the first couple days with tourmates, making it harder to get to know people, I know this because I've done the "join a tour late" thing already. With my original plan I thought I would try an economy plus ticket for flying, probably with British Airways. Obviously depending on the price, but it really didn't seem like that much more money and I would hopefully be better rested when I got to Scotland. But, to add on the England part of the tour is more then the cost of the upgrade of the plane ticket, so now I'm not sure if I'll just do economy or if I'll go with the economy plus.

So I started my search, and I'll admit that even the economy tickets are a little more then I expected for September, though it is early for plane tickets. But I noticed to take Delta/Air France was about $200 cheaper. So I looked, Air France does offer economy plus (but with a different name) and the prices were still reasonable if I decided to fork up the money. Problem - I have to fly through Paris.

The tour starts in London but ends in Glasgow but I was thinking of going back to Edinburgh for a day, maybe two to meet up with some other friends (though I'm not sure that will work out, it was a better idea when i was just doing Scotland).

Here are my route options -
with British Airways (American is the same except part American flight and part BA flights and not economy plus)
JFK to LHR (Heathrow)
EDI to LHR to JFK

With Delta
JFK to LHR (no economy plus service)
EDI to Paris to JFK (Air France)
EDI to Amsterdam to JFK (with KLM)

Air France
JFK to Paris to LHR
EDI to Paris to EDI

Continental
EWR to LHR
EDI to EWR

Unless someone from outside of NY is coming with me, then I'm not going to Newark Airport, it's just too much of a pain to get to and to make someone take me to and pick me up from.

Lufthansa is also an option, but then I'm connecting through Frankfurt, and they are a bit more expensive then British Airways and Air France, but they are in a better alliance then Air France, one that I would like to earn some FF miles on.

With Delta, American/BA I get a non-stop flight to Heathrow, with Air France I have a connection both ways. All flights force me to connect coming home.

So questions I have to ask myself -
How important is economy plus?
Do I want to fly an American based airline?
Do I want to fly with Delta, an airline that's getting beaten over the head for poor redemption of miles and I'm not sure their alliance will help me much in the future.
Is $200 worth an extra stop over in Paris going to London?

I don't have the answers to these questions, but I think I'm getting a headache thinking about it. I hate to make my flight choice based on frequent flyer miles, but I do like the idea of knowing that my miles are going to a good alliance to build up miles so I can hopefully fly free one of these days, maybe even in first class.

I should say that I originally wrote this on a Thursday and went to do some editing after and when I looked at the flights, the prices were all a lot closer (within $100) between BA, Air France and Lufthansa.