Blog or Ad?

The other day I came across a Facebook post about a blog that mentioned five tips for enjoying Paris on a budget. Had to read about my favourite topic and one of my favourite cities. Boy, was I disappointed.

The first three suggestions were okay, the usual advice about using public transit and sticking to the daily menu (menu du jour) in restaurants, preferably restaurants in non-touristy parts of town. I would have added that ethnic restaurants often offer better value than French ones.

However, the last two tips could have been written by an ad agency for a certain financial institution that I will not name. This is an increasing problem with travel blogs, the fact that they are sponsored or accept ads and therefore don't even pretend to be unbiased.

I'm not travelling or posting as much as I would like to at the moment, but with this blog you can rest assured that I do not accept ads or sponsorships. You may not agree with my advice, but it is as close to unbiased as I can make it. And if in future that changes, I'll let you know.

GUM at Night

This attractive late 19th century shopping mall right on Red Square in Moscow is decorated with lights at night. There aren't many bargains to be found there, but I did pick up some reproductions of old Soviet propaganda posters at a souvenir and book shop. And there is a good, inexpensive cafeteria on the top floor.

Peterhof

Peterhof, the summer palace of Peter the Great, is one of my favourite places in the beautiful city of St. Petersburg, Russia.

It's not far from downtown, and is a pleasant excursion from the city since it is surrounded by a large park and has lots of these fantastic fountains. If you are spending some time in Peter, as I did one summer, it is a good place to escape the traffic and noise of the city.

The best way to approach the palace is the way Peter the Great did, by water. There is a hydrofoil that serves Peterhof regularly in summer from the Embankment beside the Hermitage.

Decor in the Moscow Metro

Moscow's Metro has some of the most interesting decor of any such system in the world, and you can view it for just the price of a Metro ticket, around a dollar for a single ticket. The picture above is from Novoslobodskaya Station. Other stations with amazing decor include Komsomolskaya, Mayakovskaya, and Ploshchad Revolyutsii. All these are among the oldest and busiest stations in central Moscow, so if you want to photograph them without hordes of people, go early on weekend mornings.

Komsomol refers to the former youth organization of the Communist Party, Mayakovsky was one of the most famous Soviet-era poets, and the last in the above list refers, naturally, to the 1917 revolution. I haven't been able to determine the origin of "Novoslobodskaya" yet.



If you can't make it as far as Moscow, Montreal's Metro also has some interesting stations. I like the Berri-UQAM station downtown, with its mural on the history of the city. It's especially appropriate this year, our city's 375th anniversary and Canada's 150th birthday. Unfortunately tickets cost more here, $3.25 Canadian for a single ride.

Gethsemani Monastery

Gethsemani Monastery, near Peroslavl-Zalessky, Russia.

Assumption Cathedral, St. Sergius Monastery, Sergiev Posad

This beautiful cathedral is, I believe, the church where some of the action takes place in the film version of John Le Carre's "The Russia House." Sergiev Posad is another of the old Russian cities of the Golden Ring near Moscow, and one of the main pilgrimage sights for Orthodox Russians.

From an old Soviet-era guidebook, I just learned that St. Sergius is buried in another church of this monastery, in a silver sarcophagus that was donated by Ivan the Terrible. On another visit, a guide said that "Terrible" is a mistranslation of the word "grozny," which also means troubled or stressed. Interesting that Grozny is the name of the capital of Chechnya, which has certainly been troubled but has now, from what I have read, been mostly rebuilt.

Dog in Peroslavl-Zalessky, Russia

I love taking pictures of animals when I travel. They never object to being photographed, or need to fix their hair first. This one was at a small market in Peroslavl-Zalessky, a pretty town on the shore of Lake Pleshcheyevo north of Moscow.

The town is well worth a visit, with many beautiful monasteries nearby and some museums in town. It dates from 1152 and was the birthplace of Alexander Nevsky, a medieval Russian prince who defeated invading armies from Sweden and Germany. Nevsky was declared a saint by the Russian Orthodox Church.

Peroslavl-Zalessky is one of the towns of the Golden Ring of old Russian cities near Moscow and is close to the better known Sergiev Posad (called Zagorsk in Soviet times,) a beautiful pilgrimage site for Orthodox Russians.

All Russia Exhibition Centre, Moscow

Now for something completely different, a shot of the entrance to the VDNKh, All Russia Exhibition Centre on the north side of Moscow. It's a very large park with a lot to interest those who are nostalgic for the Soviet Union, and there is a statue of Lenin to welcome you. The large entrance building is in the now much sought after Stalinist style. This was taken in September, 2015.

Venus in Florence

Here's the famous painting of the Birth of Venus by Botticelli, which you can enjoy at the Uffizi Gallery in Florence. It's not free, but admission is a mere 8 euros. I wish more museums in North America (other than those in Washington, D.C.) would copy this practice of keeping admissions affordable.

Savings in Cairo, Istanbul

Check out the Frugal Traveler column in the New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com) for some suggestions on ways to save on summer travel. It's a question and answer format, and my favourite question was about travelling to destinations that are often in the news for bad reasons--Cairo, Istanbul and Baghdad.

Lucas Peterson, the columnist, said that he found some great deals on hotels in the first two cities through http://www.hotels.com. Very good hotel rooms were going for $30 a night or less. I haven't been to Baghdad and would not go now (too dangerous,) but Cairo and Istanbul both have a lot to offer. And with such low prices, how can you resist? I've stayed at excellent hotels in both cities--the Mena House right next to the Pyramids in Cairo and the Pera Palas in Istanbul--the latter was the home of Kemal Ataturk for a time, and featured in Agatha Christie's book about the Orient Express. I don't think the Pera Palas is still a hotel, but the Mena House is.

Bernini Doors,Baptistry, Florence Duomo

One of the amazing free sights in Florence. Bernini's bronze doors with Biblical scenes on the doors of the Baptistry of Florence's Duomo. The lady in blue in the middle is my friend Gina Thomas.

San Marco Cathedral, Venice

Here's the entrance to St. Mark's Cathedral, the main church and one of the major attractions in Venice, on a cold day in January, 2017. Like most of the city's highlights, it's free. However, the exterior is more visually interesting than the interior.

Among Rome's Free Sights

Finally, thanks to a very helpful friend, I am able to post some shots from my Italy trip. Below is the Arch of Constantine, one of Rome's many free sights. Constantine, as you will remember, is the Roman emperor who, at the urging of his mother Helena, adopted Christianity as the official religion of the Roman empire. The Arch is very near the Colosseum and the Forum.

New York Numbers, Travel Warnings

The last post (ta-dum) on my former blog, http://www.yourtravelwriter.blogspot.com, was a guest contribution from a Toronto friend who took a budget holiday to New York City last fall. She went one way by overnight bus, and stayed in a room in an apartment she found through http://www.airbnb.com., returning to Toronto by plane.

Any type of budget vacation in New York is quite an accomplishment, since the city is very costly. At the time I posted the story she did not have dollar figures, but has since supplied them. The bus cost about $60 U.S., as did each night at the air bnb place in Lower Manhattan. This is a real achievement, in my book, and she didn't stay at a hostel.

I'm working on getting a new computer where, I hope, I will be able to meld this blog with the previous one.

On a more sombre note, a friend in New York told me about a travel warning that has been issued by the Government of Canada for a number of countries in the Caribbean and Latin America. It comes in the wake of the murder of two tourists, one from Canada, in Belize. Apparently crimes of many types including robbery, sexual assault and extortion are a big problem in places such as the Bahamas, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, Surinam, Belize, Guyana and Trinidad and Tobago.

You can read the complete story on these warnings at http://www.newsamericasnow.com. In some parts of some of these countries, travellers are warned against walking alone, especially after dark. Western governments do tend to err on the side of caution with these warnings, but it's good to be aware. Unfortunately, crime against travellers seems to be on the rise in many parts of the world.

Rome Miscellany

I discovered a nice, reasonably-priced restaurant on Piazza Indipendenza near Roma Termini Station. It is called Vitality Foods and emphasizes healthy food in a modern, bright setting. I enjoyed a meal of roast chicken breast with sun dried tomatoes, potatoes, eggplant, cabbage and broccoli tastefully arranged on the plate. With a glass of wine and some bread it came to a mere 14 euros.

 Vitality Foods isn't fancy, but the food is good and the service friendly, and it was open on Sunday. My colourful meal is pictured below.

If you don't have time to shop for souvenirs while you are in Rome, don't despair. There are some nice shops at the airport, and once you have passed through security there is a sparkling new shopping area that features all the top Italian designers--Dolce & Gabbana, Fendi, Feragamo, Valentino, etc. I didn't check the prices at any of them, since I only buy Italian designer items when they are deeply discounted.

The shops are fairly small so the selection may be limited, but it's a lovely place to window shop and, if you want to splurge, to pick up something elegant for that special someone. Rome may be the Eternal City, but it's nice to see something new at Fiumicino, formerly a pretty dull airport.

JFK Airport

I always love flying into New York and seeing the skyline, but I hadn't been to New York's JFK Airport for quite a few years prior to my visit in January. I'm not sure whether it grew, or I had just forgotten how big it is. The distance from where my plane arrived to the exit seemed to be a mile long, and this on a domestic flight. I was fortunate to find a buggy near my gate, and while I seldom take these I was glad I did in this case.

Then I was surprised to find that I had to take quite a long ride on a free elevated train to reach the area where hotel limousines pick you up. I booked at the Courtyard by Marriott because it had the best price, and because Marriott has a good reputation. The price for a double the first night was just $132 including hotel tax, not bad for the New York area. It was a Sunday, usually the cheapest night in hotels, and I booked through a travel agent with a non-refundable rate, which saved $20.

The room was reasonable size, with two large, comfortable beds and a good view of the airport. It was well soundproofed and had good curtains, so you didn't notice the air traffic. Breakfast was not included, nor was it cheap. On my return I had a bagel with cream cheese and milk for breakfast, which came to $6.50.

Because my friend and I liked the hotel we booked to stay there on our return, too. This time it cost more, $183, perhaps because it was mid-week. On the second visit the room seemed quite large and luxurious compared to those in Italy, but we missed the large Italian buffet breakfasts.

One thing that took me a couple of minutes to figure out was the Do Not Disturb sign. It said "Going through my pre-game rituals." Only when I remembered that it was near time for the Superbowl did the penny drop. Since then, I have discovered that Marriott is the official hotel of the National Football League.

Marriott advertises that you can obtain the lowest room price at any of their hotels by booking directly with them online or by phone, but I haven't tried this yet.

If you plan to spend much time in any of the New York area airports, be aware that the restaurants are quite pricey. The cheapest sandwich was $15, while a glass of wine costs at least $9. Pack your own food to save money, or buy snacks at the newsstands.