We were all set to leave on March 4th and got sick. Canceling Montana, Guyana and Columbia allowed us time to recover.
This is a new one. Our flight from Guyana to Medellin, Columbia was on Copa Airlines. Their cancelation policy says that our tickets are good until January 2024 but we must fly out of the same airport in which we were originally scheduled. Hmm…
We can do that! This time around we’ll have more time to explore and perhaps check out French Guiana, Suriname, Paraguay, Uruguay and Brazil. No sense staying in cold Nevada another winter.
As we leave, the Sierras are blanketed in snow. Much less today than a few days ago after the rains came. The grass has been hidden for months and now the robins are gathering and happily looking for worms….
Wintering in Charleston (home B) conjures images of warm days and swaying palm trees. It’s the South – right?
The last couple years we have spent a good part of the winter in South Carolina. Loving the temps but quietly jealous of the snow storms in Northern Nevada (home A). Our fav – snow. Particularly snow storms.
A week ago today – the stars aligned and Charleston hit the jackpot. 5 plus inches of snow! The community came to a screeching but quiet halt. Downtown businesses and the airport closed for days – the schools for a week.
It was a peaceful, renewing calm that hit us like a marshmallow.
What a treat! Miraculous.
Palm trees and snow! Yin and yang – juxtaposition- whatever you want to call it. Southern living and mountain living weather converge into a medley of photos.
We took a ferry from St. Petersburg back to Helsinki and promptly boarded another ferry to Tallinn, Estonia.
Winter started in St. Petersburg but was firmly in place in the Baltic countries with over 6” of snow and 2’ berms.
The walled medieval town of Tallinn rest on the gulf of Finland. Old Town is a designated UNESCO World Heritage site and is surrounded by narrow cobblestone streets, intermixed with stone and pastel buildings with icicles dangerously hanging from the eaves Pure magic.
Our original plan was to take the train south through Latvia and Lithuania but discovered that train travel in the Baltic’s is limited. Apparently the Soviets disregarded rail maintenance during their occupation although there are still freight trains with local slow passenger schedules. Bus service filled in and had become very efficient.
A beautiful 2 hour bus ride through the snow-blanketed country side took us to Riga, Latvia. Another UNESCO World Heritage site known for its Art Nouveau buildings and 19th century wooden homes. Quaint as can be.
The bus schedule dictated that we only had time to see the town of Penevezys in Lithuania’s not so pretty 5th largest city. We strolled around the snow packed park and enjoyed watching children playing in the snow.
The bus station was decrepit with old benches and a squatter toilet in a detached cold room. Within 2 minutes of our scheduled departure 6 big yellow busses pulled in where passengers scurried from one bus to another – one coming from Moscow and ours came from Prague.