Trafalgar Tours - Day 01 - 08-10-03 - Friday – Denver Flight to Munich, Germany As our flight from Denver International Airport (DIA) was not scheduled to leave until 2:05 PM we had a nice and leisurely morning. We did our regular Friday chores, had some coffee, read the paper and played with our two cats Kwai and Buddha. After a short conversation with our son Eduardo about his ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 02 - 08-10-04 - Saturday – Munich, Germany to Helsinki, Finland The clouds were thick over Germany as the red sun came up to welcome us to Northern Europe. We landed in Munich at 7:30 AM after a few hours of sleep and then a light breakfast. The immigration and customs in Munich were both very easy compared to the regulations in Frankfurt, our usual entry ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 03 - 08-10-05 - Sunday - St. Petersburg, Russia Even though we were very tired, sleep did not come easily. We woke up about 3:30 am and I organized some lose ends while Gennie worked on her UOP classes and checked on her student teachers. Our “wake up call” came at 5:00 right on schedule but we were both out of the shower and finishing our packing so our ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 04 - 08-10-06 - Monday - St. Petersburg, Russia Another brisk day in St. Petersburg! It was chilly during the night, but we still had the window open to take advantage of the fresh sea air. We did not have to get up until 7:00 so we showered, had a bountiful buffet breakfast, and then met our companions on the bus at 8:30. The temperature was 46 degrees ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 05 - 08-10-07 - Tuesday - St. Petersburg, Russia After a good night’s sleep, we were ready to greet another day in St. Petersburg. We had our breakfast and then met the group at 8:00 in the bus parking area. The hotel was going into a heighten security state as Vladimir Putin (past prime minister of Russia) was departing his penthouse suite. It was another ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 06 - 08-10-08 - Wednesday - Novgorod, Russia With a little luck and my internal Garcia clock, I woke up at 6:30 and discovered that our alarm had not gone off and we did not receive a wake up call! We hustled to get our showers and were at the 15th floor for breakfast a few minutes before the doors opened! At 8:00 we met those brave souls who signed up for ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 07 - 08-10-09 - Thursday – Novgorod, Tver, Moscow, Russia Our one night in Novgorod was very comfortable. We had an early morning with our wake-up call at 6:15 and then breakfast. We took a few minutes to check the mail as they loaded the luggage. At 7:45 we were on our way to Moscow! This far north it stays dark very late. In addition, it was very foggy ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 08 - 08-10-10 - Friday - Moscow, Russia We woke up at 6:30 and after our showers we took a few photos of the bright red sunrise over Moscow. We caught up on the mail and had a nice buffet breakfast on the 2nd floor with our travel companions. It was our turn to sit in the front of the bus today. We had a fantastic view as we traveled north to the city of ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 09 - 08-10-11 - Saturday - Moscow, Russia After our late evening at the circus we were happy to be able to sleep in this morning. At 9:30 we met out group, Vera, and Sergei to go on an optional tour. It was raining off and on so it seemed really cold and gray. The temperature was 50 degrees and it was 80% humidity. Vera reviewed the history of the Russian ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 10 - 08-10-12 - Sunday - Moscow – Smolensk – Minsk, Belarus Today was a travel day. We woke up early at 6:00 and were out to the bus at 8:00. The porters did not come after our luggage this morning so we brought it down to the lobby so our driver could load the bags. Nicholai was back from his two day holiday and will drive our bus for the rest of the ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 11 - 08-10-13 - Monday - Osm'any - Vilnius, Lithuania Xavier wanted to get an early start going though the border today so our alarm went off at 6:00. It was cool but dry as we left Minsk, the temperature was 54 degrees the humidity at 82%. Minsk is a beautiful city now that we could see it in the daylight. There are just over 2 million people in this ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 12 - 08-10-14 - Tuesday - Siauliai-Riga, Latvia The morning was foggy but Xavier said it was a promise of a beautiful day. The temperature was 51 degrees and the humidity was at 89%. We greeted Marja as she met us on the bus at 8:45. Our mission for the morning was to visit the town of Trakai. On our way out of town, she gave us even more information about ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 13 - 08-10-15 - Wednesday - Riga, Latvia We stayed in Riga for two nights so our morning was more leisurely because we did not have to have bags out early! We woke up at 7:00, had our showers, and then a great breakfast. This chain of Reval Hotels is very good - clean comfortable rooms, great food, and free internet! At 8:30 we met our group for a tour ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 14 - 08-10-16 - Thursday - Parnu-Tallinn, Estonia Once again we have a travel day. We woke up at 6:15 and finished packing up the bags to be put outside the door at 7:00. It was raining this morning and 53 degrees with 87% humidity. What luck to have a bus day in this weather! We left Riga for Tallinn at 8:00 on a drive that took us along the Gulf of ...
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Trafalgar Tours - Day 15 - 08-10-17 - Friday - Helsinki, Finland Our last day in the Baltic States was gray but not raining. The temperature was 51 degrees and the humidity was 84%. The morning was free so we slept in until 7:30 and then had breakfast. Today we were feeling adventurous so we left the hotel without a map and turned left. I knew eventually we would make it to the ...
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Day 16 - 08-10-18 - Saturday – Flight to Frankfurt, Germany then to Denver, Colorado - Home Our long day began early, very early, when our alarm clock went off at 4:30. The hotel provided us with a light breakfast before our departure. There were six of us on the early shuttle to the Helsinki airport. Nicholai loaded and unloaded our luggage for the last time. We left the hotel ...
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