FUN-travel: New 7 Wonders of the World Runner Up – Red Square
February 20, 2015 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: New 7 Wonders of the World Runner Up – Red Square
Red Square FUN-facts
- The square was considered the central square and main marketplace with all roads
St. Basil’s Cathedral
originating here.
- It sits just outside of the Kremlin.
- It’s bordered by St. Basil’s cathedral, Lenin’s tomb, GUM department store & Moscow museum. The word red in Russian means beautiful and applied to St. Basil’s Cathedral.
- GUM is a three-arcade structure with three tiers of all worlds’ brand stores and cafés.
- Over the centuries has been the site of national celebrations, coronations, executions, hand-to-hand battles, and May Day Parades.
FUN-Fact – St. Basil’s Cathedral was built in 1561 at the behest of Ivan the Terrible who allegedly killed the architect.
More FF – It’s a New 7 Wonders of the World runner up and #18 on our list that we have visited.
- In the summer of 2007, more than 90 million people cast their votes to determine which architectural marvels in the world deserved to be one of the New Seven Wonders of the World. There were a total of twenty-one landmarks vying for that title.
- Of the Seven Ancient Wonders of the World, only the Great Pyramids in Giza, Egypt still stand. The pyramids were given an automatic spot after infuriated Egyptian officials said it was a disgrace to have to compete for something that had belonged to their country for so long. I agree! We saw them in 2007.
- It is our goal to see all twenty-one landmarks. Also, Chris and I have collectively seen a lot of the twenty-one, however, not together. So the rule is, “If you’ve been there but not together, it doesn’t count.”
Moscow Museum Opposite St. Basil’s Cathedral
New 7 Wonders of the World we’ve been to:
#1 Chichen Itza, Mexico – 2005
#2 Great Wall of China – 2010
#3 Machu Picchu, Peru – February, 2012
#4 Christ the Redeemer, Rio de Janeiro – February, 2012
#5 The Coliseum – Rome, Italy – August, 2012
#6 Petra, Jordan – March, 2013
TBA #7 – The Taj Mahal – Agra, India
New 7 Wonders of the World Runner Ups we’ve been to:
# 9 Statue of Liberty, New York – May, 2005
#10 Sydney Opera House, Australia – January, 2006
#11 Hagia Sophia, Istanbul – May, 2007
#12 Acropolis, Athens – May, 2007
#13 Angkor Wat, Cambodia – March, 2010
#14 Eiffel Tower, Paris – October, 2010
#15 Stonehenge, England – October, 2011
#16 Alhambra, Spain – August, 2012
#17 Easter Island, Chile – February, 2013
#18 Neuschwanstein Castle – Füssen, Germany – September, 2013
#19 Red Square, Moscow – July 2014
TBA #20 – Kiyomizu Temple – Kyoto, Japan
TBA #21 – Timbuktu – Mali, Africa (may never happen due to current civil war)
FUN-travel: London, UK to Home, Sweet, Home!
February 19, 2015 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: London, UK to Home, Sweet, Home!
Day 56 – Tuesday, August 26 – London, England to HOME! – full on clouds – high 50’s
What I LIKE
- 8:00 – Costa coffee in terminal (need some exercise)
- Leisurely packing up
- 12:00 – check out
- *12:20 – arrive British Airways T5
- 12:30 – check in
- 12:35 – breeze thru security – no lines – a 1st for sure!
- ** – no hassle except Chris forgot to take his laptop out
Tower Bridge, London
- 12:45 – BA biz lounge very nice selection of food
- – hot buffet w/soup and salad bar
- – wine bar has 4 each red & whites
- 2:15 – head to B gates via train
- 2:30 – arrive
- 2:45 – board plane
- 3:35 – TAKES OFF ON TIME!
The Bridge on Le Boreal
What I DON’T LIKE
- *can’t check in until3 hrs before flight
- **BIG mistake! – now he has to go thru full pat down/sweep for bomb detection
FUN-fact – Captain Garcia was lots of FUN and let us come to the bridge anytime.
More FF – We got out of Reykjavik and London just before the Bardarbunga volcano erupted!
Our Zodiacs
Trip Recap – Travel is very personal!
- I have 2 Travel Motto’s
- – I want to be surprised and not PO’d
- – It’s 5 o’clock somewhere and I want to be somewhere by 5 o’clock
The more I spend the pickier I get
I should never to ask for or be denied anything when it is billed as all inclusive – and on our A&K cruise (which is by far one of the priciest we’ve been on) we experienced being told they were out of sparkling water (but my fridge had some) – being out of red wine the 2nd day – not having a wine opener at the bar twice (I went to my room and got mine) it’s good to be resourceful!
Northern Lights
Lessons Learned
- Size matters when it comes to a room or cabin. I now check to see how big they are prior to making reservations. Be aware that cruise ships add the outside balcony to room size. Most of the time all the rooms are the same size just on different decks. The lower cabins tend to be less expensive and have less movement/rocking if the water is rough.
- It’s better to be a really good 4 star than a mediocre 5 star.
- I wouldn’t do a massage on a Russian Riverboat or anywhere else in Russia unless it was at the 4 Seasons. But then I would never pay for a room that expensive, so it would never happen!
Bardarbunga Volcano
Word Of the Week #550: Unplug
February 18, 2015 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on Word Of the Week #550: Unplug
Unplug – to disconnect; take time out.
How would you rate your level of stress? How attached are you to your electronic gadgets? When was the last time you were “unplugged” from everything?
This week’s WOW was inspired by Mary MacVean’s LA Times Sunday article, “There’s no place like om. To the overstressed and overstimulated, mindful meditation is a welcome space to unplug and time out.”
She writes, “Meditation, primarily a 2,500-year-old form called mindfulness meditation that emphasizes paying attention to the present moment, has gone viral.
The unrelenting siege on our attention can take a good share of the credit; stress has bombarded people from executives on 24/7 schedules to kids who feel the pressure to succeed even before puberty. Meditation has been lauded as a way to reduce stress, ease physical ailments like headaches and increase compassion and productivity.
The great thing about mindful meditation is that it fits a lot about the American spirit. You don’t have to join anything. It’s very private. It’s a very direct answer to an awful lot of stress and confusion. You needn’t even put down your phone, with apps like Insight Timer, which has guided meditations and ways to track your stillness.
Janice Marturano, once a top executive at General Mills, and the founder of the Institute for Mindful Leadership says, “As a mother, spouse, daughter of aging parents, president of an arts board, and a top executive – every day I juggled faster and faster, and on most days, most of the time, most of the balls stayed in the air.” You know where this is going: What goes up must come down.
“In the business world, we were just so bombarded with work all the time. The mobile devices – you’re expected to be on call at the movie theater, at your children’s recital, even in bed. I was just looking for a way to find peace,” says Jason Garner, once the CEO of Live Nation, and the author of “…And I Breathed.”
And I love his tag line on the home page. It reads, “I choose to live my life as if it is a playground not a battlefield.” For those of you who have heard me speak I talk about “Time Out” for adults. You put a child in time out to calm them down as well as to discourage inappropriate behavior. What behavior is causing you stress?
This week focus is on how it would feel to unplug. How many balls are you trying to juggle? How much quiet time do you devote to yourself each day? How often do you put your phone/computer/gadgets out of reach?
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FUN-travel: London, UK – Full Day
February 17, 2015 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: London, UK – Full Day
Day 55 – Monday, August 25 – London, England – Full Day – steady rain – high 50’s
What I LIKE
- 7:45 – Chris brings Costa coffee from terminal
- 9:30 – ready for big adventure
- *– got tickets on Heathrow express train & Underground pass
- 10:00 – depart
- 10:20 – arrive main station (takes 70 mins on cheaper one)
- **10:45 – nice man helps direct us to easiest train
- 10:55 – on train & easy to read/well marked directions
- ***11:10 – arrive Tower Hill station for Tower of London
- 11:30 – Starbuck’s break w/egg sandwich
- 12:20 – finally find pizza place!
FUN-food – Pizza Express – Toscana w/chili/fennel sausage, caprese salad, 2 sodas = $30
- 1:00 – line much shorter (but still long) – see courtyard where Anne was beheaded
- – (along w/Catherine, Henry VIII’s 5th wife) – see Crown Jewels (line only takes 20 mins)
- – walk through several buildings
- 3:15 – ready to be dry – head to station
- 3:45 – train from Paddington
- 4:15 – back to hotel for nap
- 7:30 – dinner @ Sofitel – Caesar salad, Thai green curry w/chicken – Drostdy 2013 South African Merlot = $120
- 11:30 – night night
What I DON’T LIKE
- *costs $143
- **10:45 – our stop is under construction
- – have to walk out to get Green line – light rain
- ***huge line waiting to get in – it’s a Bank Holiday!
FUN-fact – the Tower of London is a medieval Palace that was built in 1078.
More FF – The ravens of the Tower of London are a group of captive common ravens which live there. The group comprises at least seven individuals. The presence of the ravens is traditionally believed to protect the Crown and the Tower; a superstition holds that “If the Tower of London ravens are lost or fly away, the Crown will fall and Britain with it.”
FUN-travel: Reykjavik, Iceland to London, UK
February 17, 2015 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Reykjavik, Iceland to London, UK
Day 54 – Sunday, August 24 – Reykjavik, Iceland to London, England – full on clouds – high 50’s
Ittoqqortoormitt, Greenland
What I LIKE
- 8:15 – wake up
- 8:45 – get up to more good hot espresso
- – nice lazy morning
- 11:00 – check out of apt – leave bags in office
- 11:15 – walk for brunch
- *11:25 – arrive Le Bistro
- 11:40 – order 2 cappuccinos classic burger & grilled veggie plate
- **12:45 – Kaffir – get take away quiche – saved $50 by doing this option
- 1:00 – shuttle to train station on time
- 1:15 – airport bus on time – starts sprinking
- 2:00 – arrive airport – very efficient check in
- – more than a dozen people to check bags
- – 2 helpers get luggage tags from self service kiosk
- – NO BAGGAGE NAZIS!
- *** – security live very fast & efficient too!
- 2:30 – tax refund counter – more efficiency at its finest!
- – only 4 people waiting for credit card refund
- – cash line is 2 rows long snaking thru the airport
- – don’t even ask to see my items
Ittoqqortoormitt, Greenland
- ****Duty free wine – more Viña Maipo wines –
- Gran Devoción 2010 – syrah/petite syrah – 90 pts Wine Advocate & Vitrol Carmenere
- 2:50 – lunch – 2 tandori wraps to go
- # flight takes off on time – only 2.5 hrs long
- 7:50 – arrive early
The Norther Lights We Slept Through
- Breeze thru customs
- Luggage already on belt
- Get directions to Terminal 5 – FREE express train runs every 15 minutes
- 9:00 – arrive Sofitel Hotelin Terminal 5
- Don’t have to deal w/taxi & schlepping bags – this is a transit hotel
- Get upgraded to King bed! YEAH
- ##12:30 – night night
Bardarbunga Volcano Eruption We Missed Too!
What I DON’T LIKE
- *only have high bar stool seats w/no backs – wait for table
- – breakfast is over at 11:30 & now only offer
- huge brunch plates w/fruit, yogurt, breads – too much food!
- 12:00 – told they’re out of buns & running to store
- 12:30 – still no food
- 12:40 – walk out! Starving!
- **ordered chicken & got veggie
Monacobreen, Svalbard, Norway
- ***very sensitive as my jewelry goes off and I hardly have any
- ****charge $2 for a plastic bag & didn’t tell us
- # no jetway – have to schlep on bus to plane
- Arrive Terminal 1 & need to get to Terminal 5
- Pretty sterile hotel – no view to outside
- – window looks across to another room window
- ## had to move clock ahead
Monacobreen
FUN-fact – Reykjavik is the most northern capital in the world and Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe.
More FF – They sell a product called Skyr which is pretty good. Like strained yogurt and it has been a part of their cuisine for over a 1000 years.
More FF – When NASA was looking for a place on Earth that most resembled the moon’s surface, they found it in Iceland.
More Eruptions