EuropeSept 2018
Sunday 9/16/18
Here we sit at 7:30 AM, 1:30 AM Florida time,in the lobby of the Leonardo Hotel in Hamburg Germany. We were hopeful after our red eye flight in that we could get a room early. I can tell we are in Germany as we were firmly told check in time is 3:00 PM. Luckily Barre and family live in Hamburg and will be here around 9:30 AM. We are going to tour around with them a bit then just relax this afternoon.
We are taking this trip to celebrate our 25 th anniversary on Sept 18 and my birthday on Sept 19. We are staying at an airport hotel as we have an early AM flight tomorrow to Riga Latvia. We will be there for 3 days. On 9/20 we fly to Moscow where we are netting our friends Jim and Danette. We will be in Moscow 3 days, then an 7 day river cruise up the Volga River to St Petersburg where we tour another 3 days. We then fly to Stockholm for 5 days, then back to Hamburg where we spend a week with Barre and family with a trip to Denmark. So that is the plan........
Sunday 9/16/18
Here we sit at 7:30 AM, 1:30 AM Florida time,in the lobby of the Leonardo Hotel in Hamburg Germany. We were hopeful after our red eye flight in that we could get a room early. I can tell we are in Germany as we were firmly told check in time is 3:00 PM. Luckily Barre and family live in Hamburg and will be here around 9:30 AM. We are going to tour around with them a bit then just relax this afternoon.
We are taking this trip to celebrate our 25 th anniversary on Sept 18 and my birthday on Sept 19. We are staying at an airport hotel as we have an early AM flight tomorrow to Riga Latvia. We will be there for 3 days. On 9/20 we fly to Moscow where we are netting our friends Jim and Danette. We will be in Moscow 3 days, then an 7 day river cruise up the Volga River to St Petersburg where we tour another 3 days. We then fly to Stockholm for 5 days, then back to Hamburg where we spend a week with Barre and family with a trip to Denmark. So that is the plan........
Mon. 9-17-18 Neiburgs Hotel, Riga Latvia
We had a fun day with kids yesterday. They drove to our hotel, then we all took train into, then back to our hotel. Jon and I were both running on empty, but it was fun ! We did lots of walking around Alster lake, the Rauthausmarkt, the warehouse district, town hall, Church of St Michaels, then had a great Sunday brunch that the Germans are famous for ! Hamburg was destroyed twice, once by a fire and once from bombings during WW2. I was surprised on all of the water infrastructure, canals everywhere ! We are already excited for our return visit on our way home. Oh geez, someone just knocked at our door. It was two staff who delivered us a huge fruit basket and a bottle of champagne for our celebrations ! I'll have to finish this later !
So, anyway, we got up 4:30 this am for our flight here to Riga. We are staying at Neiburgs hotel smack in the middle of Old Town. They upgraded us to a suite on the top floor with rooftop views and a great view of the old cathedral. We got in about 1:00 pm. We are both still wiped out so we just chilled for a bit then set out to explore Dow awhile.
We had a fun day with kids yesterday. They drove to our hotel, then we all took train into, then back to our hotel. Jon and I were both running on empty, but it was fun ! We did lots of walking around Alster lake, the Rauthausmarkt, the warehouse district, town hall, Church of St Michaels, then had a great Sunday brunch that the Germans are famous for ! Hamburg was destroyed twice, once by a fire and once from bombings during WW2. I was surprised on all of the water infrastructure, canals everywhere ! We are already excited for our return visit on our way home. Oh geez, someone just knocked at our door. It was two staff who delivered us a huge fruit basket and a bottle of champagne for our celebrations ! I'll have to finish this later !
So, anyway, we got up 4:30 this am for our flight here to Riga. We are staying at Neiburgs hotel smack in the middle of Old Town. They upgraded us to a suite on the top floor with rooftop views and a great view of the old cathedral. We got in about 1:00 pm. We are both still wiped out so we just chilled for a bit then set out to explore Dow awhile.
Blake and Cade scootering in park
City HAll
Blake and Cade
Cade
Blake and Gumpa
Canals
St Michaels church
Cade, Barre, me and David - train back to our hotel at the airport
The airport was deserted at 5:00 AM
View from our hotel in Riga
Our suite
Staff delivering anniversary surprise !
Streets in Riga
Jon
Riga town plaza
Tues. 9-18-18
Today is our 25th anniversary and it was a perfect day for us. We spent the day aimlessly wandering, exploring the historical sites, and walking both the river walk and by the canals. In the late afternoon we took a river cruise and got a beautiful perspective of the city. We had a little celebration and exchanged gifts when we returned. We then got ready and met Annija, a professional photographer I had hired to shoot photos of us all around Old town and the waterfront for 25 th anniversary. It was an absolute blast and even Jon had to admit it was fun. We then ate a late dinner at a fun cafe, it really was our idea of a perfect day !
Today is our 25th anniversary and it was a perfect day for us. We spent the day aimlessly wandering, exploring the historical sites, and walking both the river walk and by the canals. In the late afternoon we took a river cruise and got a beautiful perspective of the city. We had a little celebration and exchanged gifts when we returned. We then got ready and met Annija, a professional photographer I had hired to shoot photos of us all around Old town and the waterfront for 25 th anniversary. It was an absolute blast and even Jon had to admit it was fun. We then ate a late dinner at a fun cafe, it really was our idea of a perfect day !
Lindsay, me and Barre
Jacqui Manthey, Lindsay Blake, Jen Manthey, Connie Gardella, me and Barre Blake
We did it !
James Hunter, Tim Blake, Richard Hunter, Dwight Blake, Lew Scott, Jon, me, Connie Gardella, Barre Blake, Lindsay Blake, Jacqui Manthey and Jen Manthey
Back to Riga..... bridge form old section to new section
Jon on out river cruise
Scenes from the river
Jon and me
After touring around all day, we had a professional photography session to celebrate our 25th !
A little diamond adn sapphire bauble Jon gave me....
Wed. 9-19-18
Today is my birthday so another day of celebrating. We started at the market which took us several hours to stroll through. Next we walked over to the canal, and took a canal cruise that also went onto the river. The trip circumnavigated Old Town. It was really beautiful, just drinking champagne slowly watching the scenery pass by. We then walked more, then decided to take a little narrated trolley tour around. That filled up our entire day, so we headed back to hotel. We got ready for dinner, drank more champagne, and just laughed. Jon gave me a beautiful necklace that he had engraved,
"You are my miracle". It made me cry. We ate dinner at the hotel as it is rated one of the top ten venues, and it did not disappoint. We have really enjoyed Riga. It is the end of the tourist season so it was surreal walking about and at times being the only standing in a huge square. The architecture was beautiful, and people very friendly. We learned that the language is Latvian that is only spoken by about 2 million people. Latvia has struggled with its independence between Russia and Germany as strategically they are a well situated port on the Baltic. As many cities were, Riga was also heavily bombed during WW2, and has been majorly restored. We have to get up in about 6 hours at 4:00 am to catch our flight to Moscow.
Today is my birthday so another day of celebrating. We started at the market which took us several hours to stroll through. Next we walked over to the canal, and took a canal cruise that also went onto the river. The trip circumnavigated Old Town. It was really beautiful, just drinking champagne slowly watching the scenery pass by. We then walked more, then decided to take a little narrated trolley tour around. That filled up our entire day, so we headed back to hotel. We got ready for dinner, drank more champagne, and just laughed. Jon gave me a beautiful necklace that he had engraved,
"You are my miracle". It made me cry. We ate dinner at the hotel as it is rated one of the top ten venues, and it did not disappoint. We have really enjoyed Riga. It is the end of the tourist season so it was surreal walking about and at times being the only standing in a huge square. The architecture was beautiful, and people very friendly. We learned that the language is Latvian that is only spoken by about 2 million people. Latvia has struggled with its independence between Russia and Germany as strategically they are a well situated port on the Baltic. As many cities were, Riga was also heavily bombed during WW2, and has been majorly restored. We have to get up in about 6 hours at 4:00 am to catch our flight to Moscow.
More touring around town
Like most of Europe, fabulous markets
We took a really fun private canal tour to celebrate
