Thursday 8 May 2008

The Russian Adventure - an Itinerary

Now that I've got my Russian Business Visa and Lara has her Tourist Visa, we can safely release the details of the itinerary. I'll prepare a nice powerpoint presentation about it like I did for our USA Tour in 2005, but for the moment, here are the basics:
  • Sunday 25th May: We've got a room at a Travelodge close to Heathrow
  • Monday 26th May: 9.30am BMI flight from Heathrow to Moscow Domodedovo airport
  • Monday - Wednesday: Stay in Moscow
  • Wednesday 28th May (Happy Birthday Mum): 5.48pm train on the Trans-Siberian Railway, First Class cabin to Tyumen
  • Friday 30th May: 4.38am arrival in Tyumen
  • Friday - Sunday: Meet & Greet with Olga's family and friends in Tyumen
  • Monday 2nd - Friday 6th June: Chris is working in the Tigress office, Olga & Lara go to Lesnoy to meet up with Babooshka Luda (Olga's Mum!)
  • Saturday 7th June: Chris takes the train to Ekaterinburg to meet up with Olga, Lara & Luda and we all travel to Petrokamensk
  • Sunday 8th - Saturday 14th June: Staying with Olga's Grandma in her village (no running hot water but lots of fresh air and nature)
  • Saturday 14th June: Drive to Ekaterinburg, staying one night.
  • Sunday 15th June: 1.10pm BMI flight direct back to Heathrow

Another Long Day in London

On Tuesday we had another long day trip to London. I'll not go into detail here or it'll be another 3000 word epic, suffice it to say these things were achieved:

- We got into London by car by 7.10am.
- We got Lara's Russian visa.
- We walked something like 12km around London's sights.
- Chris got nicely sunburnt, as usual for the first hot day of the year.

More to follow...

The Camping Trip.. photos at least

I've created a new Web Album with the photos from the camping trip, with a couple of videos to be added yet. I'll write something about it soon!

Wednesday 7 May 2008

Messing about by the river

(click to enlarge)

We aren't exactly on the river this afternoon, but Lara and I are passing an hour next to it at the moment at Medmenham, just upriver from Marlow. This is probably where we'll come and try the boat out one evening.

The Beer Festival

We went to the Reading Beer Festival on Sunday for their "Family Day", and met up with Anton, Becca with Eve, Lucy, Simon and Arong. Lara took a deep and concerted interest in the beer, as you can see from these photos Anton took: