Mark & Gill

A quick walk, after arrival last night through Canbury Gardens to the Thames and through the market square – looks like this will be a great part of London to explore!
Seemed very appropriate to “Google it”  . follow this link  Kingston upon Thames

“Kingston upon Thames, also known as Kingston, is the principal settlement of the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames in southwest London. It was the ancient market town where Saxon kings were crowned. Kingston is situated 10 miles (16.1 km) southwest of Charing Cross and is one of the major metropolitan centres identified in the London Plan.[1] Kingston was part of a large ancient parish in the county of Surrey and the town was an ancient borough, reformed in 1835. It has been the location of Surrey County Hall from 1893, extraterritorially since Kingston became part of Greater London in 1965…….” Read more at the above link…

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No posts for awhile and no big trips. A lot of work and some saving, an incentive and we’re off again.

Big family news, since we last posted, with the arrival of 2 grandchildren in August 2013.

Amelia to Andrew and Sarah (Hamilton NZ) and Benjamin to Matt, Kat and Micah (London UK). Only 2 weeks apart.

So London calls but it will be much harder to leave Hamilton this time! Most of our 6 weeks away will be spent in London and the south of England with a cruise from Barcelona to Lisbon also booked.

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Love the city! Great atmosphere & friendly people. We stayed at a hotel right on Union Square – very central to everything & the major shopping area!! Today there was an art exhibition by SF Artists Guild in the square so lots to see, music & art.

Spent a great morning riding the cable cars – up hill & down dale & on several lines – excellent way to get around, see the city streets & feel the culture. The cable car drivers do an excellent job – braking & negotiating the hills, people & other traffic! 2 interesting incidents – one to get a driver to move his parked car from a corner so we could get around (much bell clanging) & the other , a stop on top of a steep hill to wait for a blind gent using a stick to come up the hill & get of the lines. Watched the traffic negotiate the “crookedest street in the world” – 8 tight hairpin bends @ 5km/hour- it’s a very short steep section of the street with manicured gardens & a fabulous view over the city & the Bay Bridge.

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Cruising time is over – such a peaceful way to travel – nice to have a base & no unpacking every few days! Has been a great trip along the Volga & Baltic Canals. Have made some great new friends. Made it out of Russia with only a little challenge & back to Dublin via Copenhagen.

Great to see Micah, Matt & Kat again. Micah has started really “talking”, laughing, blowing raspberries & he is delightful. I so want to bring him home! Nice catch-up times again, walks and dinner out. Unfortunately the Irish weather put a bit of a damper (lol) on our trip into the Wicklow Mountains to Glendalough but nice to see the scenery and mist on the hills.

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St Petersburg was founded by Peter the Great and is known as the ‘Venice of the North’ as the city encompasses islands & canals – modelled on Amsterdam. The initial drab weather has given way to some sunshine & the city looks very picturesque now. Most buildings in the central city are brownish in colour & low profile boxes lining the streets – many only 3-4 stories high as restricted to not be higher than the Winter Palace back in 18th century – now profiles low to protect heritage & UNESCO status. Some buidlings are bright yellow/blue reputedly to give impression of sunshine – they say St Petersburg only has 60 days of sunshine each year!

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Sept 1st is the Day of Knowledge in Russia and celebrates the return to school & universities – one explanation for some of the Moscow traffic jams was parents rushing to buy uniforms!

Today’s port of call was Mandrogi a reconstructed village built on the shore of the Svir River (connecting Europe’s 2 largest lakes) to illustrate the traditions & lifestyle of North Russia’s past. The original village was burned down during WW2. While somewhat cultivated the setting, wooden houses and crafts were interesting with activities such as painting elaborate matrushkas, ceramics, lacemaking, weaving and decorating birch bark boxes. A picnic was planned but the weather did not oblige!!

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Woke up this morning sitting up high in a lock with beautiful views of the forest, some mist & sunrise. This lock was 18m wide and the ship is 17m wide so a close fit! We had been through 5 other locks in the night being lowered about 13 metres each time.

Kizhi is a very small island well known for its unique wooden architecture, and the most northern part of our trip. The island is located at the top end of Lake Onega (2nd largest lake in Europe & known for its’ purity). It is a UNESCO site. The Transfiguration Cathedral (1714) is the most spectacular attraction – all pine wood, no nails used in construction & has 22 different sized cupola sheathed in aspen shingles. Was overcast with some rain so not the best for showing off the beautiful colours known to reflect off the shingles in various lights. However, very impressive when you consider graceful lines, details and all wood construction! Unfortunately the ground underneath is sinking so some serious repair work is underway & we couldn’t view the inside of the cathedral.

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Out in the provinces – a very different view – Goritsky only has 600 inhabitants and Kirillov not a lot bigger – low socio-economic, small, old wooden houses, no running water inside any but the newest houses, bath-house in the backyard, houses heated by a stove, some painted lovely bright colours. Homes have vege gardens and grow wide variety of food and also lots of foraging in forests for mushrooms & berries. Only a few types of mushrooms out of a large number are edible and apparently the cranberry liquer is deadly in anything but small doses! Very very cold here in winter! None too warm today! Ded Moroz – the Russian Santa Claus lives here in nearby town of Velikiy Ustyug.

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Uglich

Champagne and caviar for breakfast. Uglich is a very old town dating from 973 (records from 1,149!). Known as the place where 8 year old Dimitry, the last of the Romanoff line died in mysterious circumstances. Went through several more locks in the night & today – process is much quicker- think first time we followed a very slow boat which we overtook today! Scenery remains picturesque with modest and magnificent homes/dacha along the way. Town tour today and shopping time – Uglich is famous for its own watch factory- “Chaika” and great selection of souvenirs – matryoshka (nesting dolls), Christmas decorations, lacquered boxes and scarves. The dolls now come in every possible design including traditional, folklore, animals, football heroes and presidents! We also had the opportunity to listen to a magnificent male arcapella group- the deepest voices I have heard!

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Sailed from Moscow city along the Moscow canal to join the Volga River. I don’t quite know what I expected but the scenery is beautiful – extremely treed banks with cycle and walking paths, the domes of churches poking through, little villages & dacha tucked alongside & a marina or two. People are out enjoying the countryside – fishing, picnicking, camping, water-skiing and sailing. It really is stunning. Not crowds but small groups and pairs scattered about. Late evening we negotiated the first of 17 locks – us and another large riverboat – took about 2 hours to complete manoeuvre.

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