FUN-travel: Moscow to Uglich – Day 4 – Uniworld River Cruise
July 10, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Moscow to Uglich – Day 4 – Uniworld River Cruise
Day 6 – Sunday, July 6 – Moscow to Uglich – blue skies w/big puffy, white clouds – 80’s – sunrise 0’dark:30 – sunset – after 10 pm
New Maiden Cemetary
Inside GUM
What I LIKE
- 7:00 – typical wake up & cappuccino
- 9:00 – breakfast – the same
- 10:30 – take walk on waterfront
- & thru park across from ship
- 11:30 – return to ships
- FREE INTERNET ENTIRE CRUISE!
- 1:30 – lunch – salad bar & soup
- 2:15 – boutique on ship
- have lots of ship board credit!
- find traditional santa ornaments
- 2:30 – room R&R – nap
- 5:30 – set sail
- 5:45 – safety drill
- Ship mates in hall tell us Red Square was closed due to bomb scare
- So glad we didn’t go downtown today!
- 7:00 – Captains Welcome Reception
- 7:30 – dinner – Beef Tenderloin – almost always guaranteed the best meal is reception night
- 11:00 – sleeping pill
What I DON’T LIKE
- Bus to town leaves @ 9:30 & returns @ 2:30
- Don’t want to stay that long
FUN-fact – Moscow is the sixth largest city in the world with 10 million people.
More FF – GUM is a three-arcade structure with three tiers of all worlds’ brand stores and cafés.
Red Square
FUN-travel: Moscow – Day 3
July 8, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Moscow – Day 3
Day 5 – Saturday, July 5 – Moscow – blue skies w/ occasional big puffy clouds – 70’s – sunrise 0’dark:30 – sunset – after 10 pm
Church in Kremlin
What I LIKE
- 7:00 – typical morning
- 8:00 – breakfast – nice fresh fruit
- make sandwich to go
- 8:45 – bus departs for Kremlin tour
- No traffic!
- 9:30 – 1st sop – Armory museum – priceless collection of opulent treasures including weapons
- gem-encrusted armor
- gold & silver wares
- coronation thrones
- jewel studded crowns
- sable fur trimmed hats & capes
- ornate gowns w/pearls, silver & gold thread
- carriages
- & Elizabeth’s coronation sleigh (pulled by 23 horses)
- 12:00 – 2nd stop – Kremlin Regiment – changing of the guard – held only on Saturday’s in summer – includes both mounted Calvarymen & foot soldiers
- 12:30 – walking tour of grounds includes world’s biggest bell weighing 202 tons and biggest cannon never shot because the cannonballs weigh 1 ton each
- 1:30 – bus back to ship
- 2:00 – lunch
- 2:30 – nap
- 7:00 – dinner as usual
- 11:00 – sleeping pill
What I DON’T LIKE
- Having hard time getting over jet lag
FUN-fact – Kremlin means fortress and is a self-contained medieval city with palaces, armories, and cathedrals. It is enclosed by high walls 2.25 km long with 20 distinctive towers.
More FF – The Easter egg collection by jewelers Faberge each open to reveal amazingly detailed miniature objects – most famously a clockwork trans-Siberian train made of gold, platinum locomotive and ruby headlamp created to commemorate the completion of the Moscow-Vladivostok line.
FUN-travel: Moscow – Day 2
July 7, 2014 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Moscow – Day 2
Day 4 – Friday, July 4 – Moscow – blue skies w/occasional big puffy clouds – 70’s – sunrise 0’dark:30 – sunset – after 10 pm
Bolshoi Theatre
St. Basil’s Cathedral
What I LIKE
- 6:30 – wake up
- Feel refreshed
- Cappuccino – machine in lobby – 24/7 – just so so
- 8:00 – breakfast – nice fresh fruit – make sandwich to go
- 9:30 – bus departs for city tour
- 10:30 – 1st stop – New Maiden Convent park – 15 mins
- 11:00 – 2nd stop – New Maiden Cemetary – filled w/ lots of famous Russians – incredible ornate headstones & bronze busts & statues – 40 mins
- 12:00 – 3rd stop – Sparrow Hills – view of city w/little hills & Moscow state university – 15 mins
- 1:00 – 4th stop – Red Square – bordered by St. Basil’s cathedral, Lenin’s tomb, GUM department store & Moscow museum – free time
- 2:00 – lunch – Bosco Bar @ Gum – outdoor café on square – burrata salad, chicken Caesar, 2 draft beers – 1 russian & 1 german $$$$
- 3:00 – 5th stop – Moscow subway tour – called a museum due to rich collection of decorative materials
- 4:15 – 6th stop – Arbat Street – pedestrian shopping area – dates 15th century – many famous writers including Tolstoy lived here
- 5:45 – bus back to ship
- 7:00 – arrive
- 7:30 – dinner – more just so so food
- 10:30 – take sleeping pill
What I DON’T LIKE
- Lunch costs $85.00! OUCH
- No starbuck’s – only Mc Café – 2 iced lattes & bottle Perrier $10
- Traffic is brutal!
- Food on this ship not even comparable to the Uniworld Rhône river cruise – ship is Russian owned & only chartered by Uniworld
Moscow State University
FUN-fact – The décor in the Moscow Metro is palatial with marble, mosaics, stained-glass, life-sized statues, bronze fittings.
More FF – It consists of 170 stations, 11 lines and carries 7 million riders each day.
Metro Mosaic
FUN-travel: Arles to Chalon sur Saône, France – 7 day Uniworld River Cruise
August 14, 2012 by Susan Clarke · Comments Off on FUN-travel: Arles to Chalon sur Saône, France – 7 day Uniworld River Cruise
Trip Day 27 – Cruise Day 2 – Monday, August 6 – Arles, France – Uniworld Rhône River Cruise
Hospital Courtyard
What I LIKE
- hot French press coffee
- nice fruit selection @ breakfast
- 9 am – school on board – 1st Period – Art History 101 – 45 min talk on Vincent Van Gogh – very interesting
- 10 am walking tour
- it’s cloudy & overcast – then rain
- temperature in the 60’s (AH! what a relief)
- 1st stop – Roman Amphitheater – over 2000 yrs old & held 25,000 people
- 2nd stop – Roman baths
- 3rd stop – Town Hall Square with Romanesque church
- 4th stop – hospital Van Gogh sought treatment when his ear lobe was cut off
- 5th stop – Café de Nuit where he painted one of his most famous paintings & one of my favorites
- really nice lunch with lots of fresh veggies
- 6 pm ship departs
- 6:45 Captains Welcome
- arrive first lock @ 8 pm
- the food on the ship is really, really good
- dancing in the lounge
What I DON’T LIKE
- the food on the ship is really, really good (eating way too much)
Café de Nuit
FF (FUN-fact) – Got to walk in Vincent Van Gogh’s footsteps. He lived here for 15 months and created 200 paintings and 100 drawings. Many of his famous paintings were during this time including the Sunflowers, Starry Night over the Rhône, The Cafe at Night, and the Garden of Arles Hospital to name a few.
More FF – Arles has existed since the sixth century BC and the Romans built their first bridge across the Rhône here creating a vital route between Italy and Spain to expand their empire.