As I begin my journey home I want to try and put down some thoughts from this wonderful trip my brother Kenneth and I experienced together. To recap we spent almost three weeks driving through most of Ireland. Then we took an OAT (Overseas Adventure Travel) guided trip to the Baltic Capitals and ST Petersburg, Russia. Ireland was punctuated by three visits with my good friend and former client Brynn McElroy who lives in Dublin. First we enjoyed every minute in Ireland. We rented a Spanish car with right side drive and off we went. Kenneth did the driving, I fumbled with the navigation by map. We basically drove around the outer edge of the country. We loved the sights, people and food. We easily found very good accomadations at reasonable prices. We learned a lot about the countries history and current state of political affairs. We discovered that there is a lot about Ireland’s history that we really didn’t understand. I highly recommend a trip there. It gets a LOT of rain, but usually in short bursts and the country is really green. Then we flew to Vilneus, the capital of Lithuania to begin our OAT trip for two weeks. We had never done this type of travel and we both were not at all sure if we would like it. Turns out OAT is an excellent company. Our guide was smart, friendly, fun and very knowledgeable. We also were introduced to some very bright local people who explained each countries history and current state of affairs. It gave us an opportunity to really dig in and ask some hard questions and we were rewarded with smart, insightful answers. I never knew the Baltic history how each of the countries was ravaged by both Russia, then when they thought they would be rescued by the Germans, more tragedy befell them. They each suffered and lost millions of their countrymen over the course of 50 plus years. It explains why the people shy away from making direct eye contact on the street when you smile at them. How for all that time they lived with really very little of everything. Why they don’t have a current history of building business or much in the way of expectations. The parents suffered too greatly in their lives and there is often conflict within the family today over how the children who never experienced the horror live their lives. Now the bright side is that the countries today are trying very hard to come out of this darkness and build better lives and catch up with the rest of the world. Also the cities we visited were really beautiful and the people we were able to interact with in restaurants, stores really went out of their way be open and friendly and warm. We loved our time in the Baltics and I hope my photos will show that. Then we entered Russia. We really didn’t know what to expect....Wow, were we in for a treat. Politics aside, anyone who loves to travel and explore and really see the world needs to visit Russia. We were blown away! First the cities of St. Petersburg and Moscow are beautiful. Filled with stunning churches whose beauty is very difficult for me to put into words. The city is filled with surprises every where you look. World class stores fill modern shopping malls with more interesting things to see and do than ours. They take shopping to another level I don’t think we have seen. They mix Vegas, arcade, food and product so well it really can be an outing to enjoy. When Paul McCartney sang back in the USSR he wasn’t kidding about the girls...stunners! The city of Moscow is spending a fortune upgrading the streets everywhere. The people there are really hard workers, we saw people working every day of the week including a holiday weekend. We stayed in a new hotel near a metro station in a neighborhood. Everyday we discovered something new. We could walk to the Kremlin/Red Square. We tried to walk everywhere. I am sure some days we easily covered 10 or more miles. People were always friendly and helpful. Not once did we experience a negative feeling from letting everyone know we were from the States. They are spending a fortune renovating many of their old buildings . Food everywhere was good. In Moscow it was often the case that we just didn’t order correctly. It was a running joke that what we ordered wasn’t exactly what we expected. Even when we saw pictures. Moscow police, they were everywhere, and lots of them. No problem, they never paid any attention to us. In tourist areas where our guide said to be extra careful because of street thieves, no problem. Moscow is just a city of over 20,000,000 people that seems to run well. There was building going on everywhere along with renovation on every street. Because of Russia’s extreme wealth from it’s oil and natural gas, it really doesn’t have any manufacturing to speak of. They import everything. The stores everywhere are filled with wonderful things from all over the world. We went to the oldest farmers market in Moscow and it was filled with fruit, fish, cheese and spices from all over the world. It was quite amazing to see. Unfortunately there, like so many of the stunning orthodox churches they didn’t allow photographs. Oh well, sorry I can not share these things with you. So, you just have to go over and see them for yourselves like we did. In the end, we both are so happy we bought 3 year visas for the extra $20 over a one time visa, we will be going back. If you want to see images from the trip right now, download instagram to your phone/tablet and follow vaughndhart to see what I posted daily along the way. If you have any questions I would be happy to try and answer. Traveling the world opens your eyes, mind and heart. Cheers, Vaughn Vaughn Hart Vaughn D Hart Photography 818 762-4254 picasaweb.google/vaughnhart
Posted on: Sun, 22 Jun 2014 17:29:26 +0000