Memories from Norway Book 2: This picture book, one of 5 about Norway, is a record of a part of a cruise along the Norwegian coastline. This book covers the coast from leaving Bergen. The following morning had the ship adjacent to Varholmen and the Flåvær lighthouse. The ship was a passenger and freight carrier: as such it stopped at ports overnight as we slept. Ålesund was the next stop. After that we cruised into the amazing Geirangerfjord. Steep sides, waterfalls and narrow (in terms of...

Memories from Russia Book 5: This picture book, the last of 5 about travels in Russia in a river cruise between Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Although the books are labelled “Russia” this country is so immense that in the couple of weeks of the visit, only a miniscule amount could be experienced. This book cover the second part of the guided tours of Saint Petersburg. An historic city, Saint Petersburg cannot be covered in two days! Basically one gets, in that time, to see the highlights an...

Memories from Baltic States 1: This picture book, one of 4 about travels in Estonia, Latvia Lithuania and Poland, is a record of mainly guided tours through these countries. Although the books are labelled Baltic States, the first book also covers some of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The reason for this is it is one place from which to get to Estonia. It is out of synchrony with the other three books as it happened at an earlier time, but geographically it fits. Helsinki is a very ple...

Memories from Baltic States Book 3: This picture book, one of 4 about travels in Estonia, Latvia Lithuania and Poland, is a record of a guided tours through these countries. After the tours of Riga and the nearby castles, the guided tour took us south, by car, on our way to Lithuania. On the way we were taken to another of the architecture marvels of Latvia: Rundale Palace. This is some 80 kilometres from Riga. It is a totally renovated baroque palace from 1768. It also contains a garden w...

Memories from Southern Africa Book 5: This picture book is the fifth of the series travelling in Southern Africa, of 7, which cover some touring - mostly guided - mostly of South Africa, a trip to Victoria Falls in Zimbabwe and a safari excursion in Botswana. We flew from Cape Town and landed in Hoedspruit and then were driven to our safari camp - Motswari - adjacent to the Kruger National park. Again we were provided with luxury accommodation in the form of a domed thatched roof hut, call...

Memories from South Korea Book 2: This picture book is the second of 5 which cover some touring - mostly unguided - of South Korea. For Europeans, South Korea is going to have some distinctly different experiences, maybe not so for Americans. It is about as culturally distinct as one can get, except for a visit to the its northern neighbour (although there isn’t much neighbourly behaviours between the two). It could be a real challenge except that it is a place with a great deal of foreign...

Memories from Baltic States 2: This picture book, one of 4 about travels in Estonia, Latvia Lithuania and Poland, is a record of a guided tours through these countries. Although the books are labelled Baltic States, the first book also covered some of Helsinki, the capital of Finland. The reason for this is it is one easy place to transit to Latvia. It is a little out of synchrony with Book 1 as it occurred at a later time (also the camera was more modern). We landed at Riga which is a ver...

Memories from Australia Book 7. An opportunity came up to travel to Darwin in October. This is close to the Wet Season and so the climate is hot and humid. Although the maximum temperature may only be 34°C and the minimum a balmy 25°C, the humidity is an energy sapping 85%. For the unacclimatised, almost any activity results in a sheen of sweat: entering the generally air-conditioned buildings causes quite a cold-sensation for a moment. The trip was short but there were opportunities to vi...

Memories from Russia Book 1: This picture book, one of 5 covering travels in Russia, is a record of guided tours in Moscow. The remaining books in the series cover the river cruise and the trip to Saint Petersburg. Although the books are labelled “Russia” this country is so immense that in the couple of weeks of the visit, only a miniscule amount could be experienced. This first book covers part of the visit to Moscow, or rather, small parts of it as a prelude to the river cruise to Saint ...

Memories from South Korea Book 1: This picture book is the first of 5 which cover some touring - mostly unguided - of South Korea. For Europeans, South Korea is going to have some distinctly different experiences, although maybe not so for Americans. It is about as culturally distinct as one can get, except for a visit to the its northern neighbour (although there isn’t much neighbourly behaviours between the two). It could be a real challenge except that it is a place with a great deal of...

Memories from Australia Book 6 deals with a trip to see bit more of the Red Centre of Australia. To make best use of time we flew to Alice Springs and from there to Yulara. Thi is a very small settlement almost purely to cater for tourists wanting to see Uluru and Kata Tjuta (also known as the ‘Olgas”. There was a special display of lights set up neat Yluara which we wanted to se as well. This proved to be a little disappointing. Unlike the promotional material which showed Uluru and these...

Memories from South Korea Book 5: This picture book is the last of 5 which cover some touring - mostly unguided - of South Korea. For Europeans, South Korea is going to have some distinctly different experiences, maybe not so for Americans. It is about as culturally distinct as one can get, except for a visit to its northern neighbour (although there isn’t much neighbourly behaviours between the two). It could be a real challenge except that it is a place with a great deal of foreign influ...