The Russian Orthodox Churches are just amazing. Much like Moscow, the churches that remain standing fall into two categories: those attached to Palaces (as family places of worship) and those that were purpose built as a memorial. St Issac’s was built in 1818 to commemorate the victory over Napoleon. It is lavishly decorated with marble and other stones (malachite columns). It was closed during the … Continue reading St. Petersburg Churches – Russia continues

Iguazu Falls are truly a magnificent display of nature. Their size and scale are unlike any other waterfall on earth. The falls may be viewed from Argentina and Brazil, we visited them from Iguazu National Park in Argentina as Brazil required a visa. The park has many catwalks and trails taking you over rivers and to the upper and lower circuit and Devil’s Throat. In … Continue reading A natural wonder – Iguazu Falls

Penguins as far as you can see — 2 million adult penguins and 1 million chicks! We cruised further north along the Argentina coast to Puerto Madryn where the temperatures were more summer like. This port gave us the last opportunity to go on an excursion to view penguins. The excursion took us on a 2 hour bus ride to a rocky 3-km long and … Continue reading Penguins as far as you can see

Distinguished by their pink webbed feet, red-orange beak, blood red eyes, bright yellow crests, and the irreverent black and yellow “crown”. They were named for their distinctive hopping movements over the rocky hills and cliffs where they live and breed. Due to the harsh rocky environment, they cannot slide on their bellies like most penguins, so they hop to get from one place to another. … Continue reading Rockhopper Penguins on Falkland Island

I had expected my fair share of snow capped mountains and stark, white landscape but I was genuinely surprised by its icebergs. I had not imagined them to be so beautiful or abundant. They came in all shapes, sizes, and colors. When it was sunny, they glistened like beautiful gems, and when it was cloudy they took on the color of the sky. I was … Continue reading Antarctic icebergs and penguins

There is a phrase we all know: Life is not measured by the number of breaths we take, but by the moments that take our breath away. These last few weeks are filled with moments I will not forget, they took my breath away. You did not want to go to bed because you didn’t want to miss a moment — and it never really … Continue reading Antartica Amazing Landscapes

We cruised to the southernmost town on the South American continent and last outpost before Antarctica, Ushuaia has earned the name el Fin del Mundo. Ushuaia is, quite literally, the end of the road. Located off the tip of the South American continent in the archipelago called Tierra del Fuego, it’s considered the southernmost city in the world. its location — between snow topped mountains … Continue reading Ushuaia, Terra Del Fuego, Cape Horn, and Drake Passage

The Chilean fjords’ snow-capped volcanoes and spectacular frosty glaciers are certainly dramatic highlights — During this part is of the cruise, we were out on deck with binoculars and camera in hand to watch the Captain expertly maneuver through the slalom course of islands and channel markers, dodge brash sea ice and bits of ice bergs as we pass by the glaciers. We saw lots … Continue reading The Chilean Fjords, Glacier Alley

We embarked on our 22 day South America and Antartica cruise on December 20, two months after we began our South American land journey. Our departure port, Valipariso, was one of the most intriguing and distinctive cities in Chile. Its most striking feature is the array of houses – a mad, colorful tangle of them tumbling down the hills to a narrow shelf of land … Continue reading The Chilean Coastline

[Show slideshow] We made it to our 7th Continent. Antartica is amazing. This post is a preview of what to come. Continue reading Antartica WoW

Wine tasting is one of our favorite past times during this trip. Although difficult, we have come up with our favorite wines. Unfortunately, some are not exported to the US. An area to the northeast of Santiago is a region of many fruit and vegetable farms. Further to the east and closer to the Pacific Ocean is the town of Casablanca, mostly Chilean wine wines. … Continue reading Wine tasting in Casablanca, Chile

Fin Del Mundo – ‘End of the World’, that what the sign says, but it felt that way as we rented a car in Puerto Natales and drove the 2 hours, mostly on gravel roads, to Parque Nacional Torres del Paine, Chile. Our hotel was, Hotel Torres del Paine. Patagonia is far south in South America, one would think being this far south in the Southern … Continue reading Patagonia: a magical-sounding name for a faraway land

The Perito Moreno Glacier is one of only three Patagonian glaciers that is growing. The reason remains debated by glaciologists. The Perito Moreno Glacier is 3 miles wide, 19 miles in length, and is one of 48 glaciers fed by the Southern Patagonian Ice and has an average height of 240 ft above the surface of the water. It has a total ice depth of … Continue reading Cat-walking Moreno Glacier

We are in Patagonia with glaciers and snow covered mountain peaks. The Argentinian Glacier National Park has lots and lots of glaciers! We needed to decide between the largest glacier, the tallest glacier, the closest glacier, whew, so many choices! Well we picked the one closest to Fitz Roy massif. Fitzroy massif is the heart of the trekking experience, and is located near Viedma Lake/ … Continue reading Glacier National Park (Argentina)

What a great experience it was to view the thousands of Magellanic penguins that call this island their summer home. Lots of penguins, like 150,000 were on the Magellana island, and many were keeping their baby chicks warm while they grow strong enough to feed on their own. The humans have to stay on a roped off path, but the penguins are free to roam … Continue reading Penguins, penguins, everywhere (plus a couple hybrids)

Traveling on bikes must be one of our favorite things to do. If you add a winery or three, in another country, we are talking about the perfect day. It was a perfect day . . . The tour started with breakfast empanadas and scrambled eggs, then a 7 mile bike ride on thru the Santa Rita vineyard (which included three separate labels and processing … Continue reading Chile wine country by Bicycle

[Show slideshow] It was nice to return to La Paz. Our regular driver picked us up from the airport and took us back to our home away from home, the Rendezvous. Zach the owner of this B&B Hotel, is from Boston and always makes feel like we are home. This time, our goal was to see the sights of La Paz and the surrounding areas … Continue reading Bolivia final farewell – La Paz

In the centuries before the Incan rose to stature, there was the Tiahuanaco society. Located in western Bolivia, at the shores of Lake Titicaca, this ancient civilization created monuments to the heavens, the earth and the underworld. As the oldest and most advanced people, it developed advances in metallurgy, farming, and art. Tiahuanaco had a class system…. Aymaran were farmers, others were tradesmen, still more … Continue reading Tiahuanaco

[Show slideshow] Isla del Sol (“Island of the Sun”) is the largest island on Lake Titicaca, and part of Bolivian territory and an ancient holy site of the Inca. Inca legend says that the bearded god who created the universe, emerged from the waters of Lake Titicaca and created the sun at this location. Lake Titicaca is split between Bolivia and Peru, we stayed on … Continue reading Isla del Sol, Bolivia

Cafayate has a laid-back rhythm, colonial style, and wine cellars (bodegas) open to the public and is what attracted us to this town located in northern Argentina. Located at 1,660 m above sea level, Cafayate is well known because of its famous torrontes wine product of the exquisite combination of temperature and humidity that provides the ideal environment to the growth of the sweet and … Continue reading Northern Argentina Bodegas

We really like Argentina! Staying at an Estancia (horse ranch), reminded David of his youth where his family vacationed at the Malibu Dude Ranch. Riding Peruvian horses, led by a true Argentine gaucho, was really a treat. The horses were so well mannered and easy to ride. One of the 10 children is a vet (he lives there part time) says they still raise and … Continue reading The Estancia el Bordo de Las Lanzas

Salta is a fair-sized city, we really liked it a lot. Our hotel was centrally located, and the room was huge. The roads were paved, everything was clean, and people were friendly. Most days we walked around town, thru parks, in and out of museums and always to a steak dinner. We extended our stay. We saw churches, got our laundry done and discovered empanadas … Continue reading Salta – hello Argentina

Tupiza represents the gateway for the southern portion of the popular tourist trek in SW Bolivia. The road between Uyuni and Tupiza is not paved and very rough. The reason is, it passes over the mountain and rains and bad weather creates a rutted, washboard, dusty mess. So we took the train, a superior option. The train departed Uyuni at 9:30pm and arrived in Tupiza … Continue reading Tupiza, Bolivia – Farewell Bolivia