Vilnius, Lithuania; Wilno to Poles who called it home until after WW2, Vilna in Yiddish. Dubbed the Jerusalem of North by Napoleon. Nicknamed Babylon in the 16th-18th due to its multi-ethnic demographic. It was not until independence in 1990, that for the first time in modern history Lithuanians became a majority at 63%. of theContinue reading “A Serious Vilnius”
Tag Archives: travel
Fallinn for Tallinn
(pictures better viewed on the blog not the email) Travel, obviously, takes you somewhere you haven’t been. It forces you to figure out how to get somewhere, where to stay, how to shop and how to work those weird tumbler washing machines with instructions in another language. New experiences, doing routines differently. Much of theContinue reading “Fallinn for Tallinn”
History repeats itself
Sometimes in our travels we are just emotionally overwhelmed by a place. Sometimes it is staggering beauty, other times it is the history; cities whose names represent the worse of humans, places where religious differences are used for hatred and killing people. Cities such as Munich, Jerusalem, Belfast and now Sarajevo have evoked theseContinue reading “History repeats itself”
It was just so French
We like to be useful. We like to experience what it would be like to live in different places, to step into a different life. So pet sitting works out well for us. We use Trusted Housesitters to find pet sits, but almost 4 years into pet sitting, family and friends are keeping us prettyContinue reading “It was just so French”
Malta Pans Out
January in Northern Europe, we needed some semblance of warmth. So, Malta! We got a malt a deal on Jet2, so off we flew! 12-15 degrees celsius (54-59 F) which is kind a funny that we now consider that warm, but after chilly, freezing Liverpool, it was. Except almost everyday in Malta we were caughtContinue reading “Malta Pans Out”
Sitting Out the Summer
Another California summer watching dogs, cats and llamas, oh my! We seem to have unintentially settled in to a lifestyle of petsitting for family, friends and fellow TrustedHousesitters (see links at the end)*. Big dogs, little dogs, furry cats and wooly llamas: French Bulldogs (3), Pug, miniature Australian Shepard, Vizsla, King Charles Spaniel, English Spaniel,Continue reading “Sitting Out the Summer”
Cheers
Back to the UK to warm up, where cold is better understood than Greece. We always start with a visit to Liverpool. To prevent overstaying our welcome and limit school week distraction, we did 2 quick dog sits in the Liverpool suburbs Formby was our first sit. Highlights: Next up was on the Wirral peninsula,Continue reading “Cheers”
Greece, ευχαριστώ (Efcharistó)
Nafplio was a 6 night finale to our month in Greece. We took a very scenic, twisty bus ride, from Pyrgos to Nafplio with a stop at every village, no matter how narrow the road. The ride ended with a very dramatic approach as we reached the Argolic gulf. Nafplio is a star on theContinue reading “Greece, ευχαριστώ (Efcharistó)”
Our Ancient Olympic Trials
We don’t really like to bounce between towns with one night stays, it feels pretty superficial and it’s difficult to cook when you are leaving the next day (our packing is pretty tight, we try not to carry a pantry). In order to approximate what we wanted to do with the KTEL schedule, that isContinue reading “Our Ancient Olympic Trials”
KTEL Presents Greece’s Greatest Rocks and Ruins
Having successfully mastered Albania’s no bus system-no bus station minibus-sedan-tag-team transportation we felt ready to tackle the Greek bus system. Greece had big buses and actual bus stations with staffed information counters, tickets, gift shops and cafeterias. However, efficient travel off season was mythical. Greece’s Achilles heel was its bus schedule. Buses usually ran twiceContinue reading “KTEL Presents Greece’s Greatest Rocks and Ruins”
Chosen Fugue 