Hello,
I thought I would give you the itinerary of our trip. Here goes:
June 7--Dave, Dad and Sylvia leave Omaha heading to Taiwan
June 8--arrive Kaohsiung, Taiwan where they will be greeted by the Welcome to Taiwan committee consisting of Molly and me. (Molly flies in on the 7th, so she will be at school for our last day.)
Reference: Dave is my brother, Sylvia is his wife, Molly is my sister, and oh--Dad is my dad
June 9--Dad has to go up to school to meet the people I work with, hopefully Dave/Sylvia/Molly will come too. The kids' last day was yesterday, but I have to go up to check out. Since he is famous in Taiwan (how many 91 year olds are still working, and working out 5 days a week . . .?), my friends want to meet him.
Dinner at Dim Tai Fung if they are still awake at 5:00. Great dumpling restaurant.
SJune 10--Day of rest and leisure at the Strom B&B (we are all staying in my apt. I have 3 bedrooms/2 full bathrooms--lots of bonding!)
June 11--We fly to Hualian (east of here) for 3 days of soaking up Taroko Gorge. One day we will take a tour of the gorge. We'll visit the night market in town.
June 14--Fly back to Kaohsiung
June 15--We will visit the Naval Museum. Dad loved the WWI and II trip we took a few years ago, so I thought he might enjoy seeing the 'other' side of the war. Also--wash clothes!
June 16--fly to Xi'an, China, via Hong Kong. We will see the Terracotta Warriors while we are here.
June 18--fly to Beijing, China. Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, hutongs, Summer Palace or a taiji lesson at the Temple of Heaven, and we get to meet up with Helen, Andy and Harrison! (friends from Jakarta)
June 22--Dave and Sylvia will leave us here, and return to the states via Tokyo. Molly, Dad and I will fly to Irkutsk (yah--pronounce that one!), Russia. (At this point I am hoping I will be going, since the embassy is not letting me have a visa--YET. But--with hopeful thinking . . .) After we land, we are taken to Lake Baikal/Listvianka where we will stay. Sites: Open Air Museum, Ecology Museum, Circum-Baikal railroad trip around the lake. Lots of leisure time to take a boat ride on the lake. There are 1,700 species of plants and animals, 2/3 of which can be found nowhere else in the world. UNESCO World Heritage Site.
June 25--fly to Moscow. Our hotel here is in Red Square! We'll see the Kremlin, Red Square, State Armory, St. Basil's Cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Novodevichy Convent Cemetery, and we decided to pass on the viewing the dead, waxy guy.
June 27--we take a train to St. Petersburg. 4.5 hours long. Nevsky Prospect, Palace Square, Winter Palace, Admiralty and Vasilevsky Island (Peter & Paul Fortress), St Isaac's Cathedral, Hermitage, and canal boat ride.
June 30--fly to Rome. Basilica of Constantine, Senate House, Arch of Titus, Colosseum, Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, Vittoriano monument, Circus Maximus, Campo Marzio area, Trevi Fountain, Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Basilica of St. Peters. There are more sites in Rome, but we will chose which ones we go to, or not, so I'll post them as we do them.
We leave Rome for a day and we'll tour some of the countryside outside the city, visiting some of the villages. I noticed this is a wine area--I'm sure we will partake of the fruits of their labors! :))
July 4--fly to London. I don't think England celebrates this holiday (although I would think they would be glad to since they got rid of us this day!). Molly lives in London, and so does my brother Bryan and his wife Liz--she's the one who is pregnant with twin boys (lovingly called Baby A and Baby B right now). We stay here for 10 days. Recovering from our whirlwind tour. We will get to see a VERY pregnant Liz (due August 1), and simply enjoy our time with family. Missy (sister in Omaha) will fly over on the 9th and stay with us.
June 14--Missy and Dad fly back to Omaha. :((
June 15--I fly back to Kaohsiung. I can feel the pangs of withdrawal already.
We are pampered all the way. We get picked up/dropped off at each airport, we have guides and drivers set for all the sites, the hotels are really nice (thanks, Dad!), and I think we will be well spoiled!
I thought I would give you the itinerary of our trip. Here goes:
June 7--Dave, Dad and Sylvia leave Omaha heading to Taiwan
June 8--arrive Kaohsiung, Taiwan where they will be greeted by the Welcome to Taiwan committee consisting of Molly and me. (Molly flies in on the 7th, so she will be at school for our last day.)
Reference: Dave is my brother, Sylvia is his wife, Molly is my sister, and oh--Dad is my dad
June 9--Dad has to go up to school to meet the people I work with, hopefully Dave/Sylvia/Molly will come too. The kids' last day was yesterday, but I have to go up to check out. Since he is famous in Taiwan (how many 91 year olds are still working, and working out 5 days a week . . .?), my friends want to meet him.
Dinner at Dim Tai Fung if they are still awake at 5:00. Great dumpling restaurant.
SJune 10--Day of rest and leisure at the Strom B&B (we are all staying in my apt. I have 3 bedrooms/2 full bathrooms--lots of bonding!)
June 11--We fly to Hualian (east of here) for 3 days of soaking up Taroko Gorge. One day we will take a tour of the gorge. We'll visit the night market in town.
June 14--Fly back to Kaohsiung
June 15--We will visit the Naval Museum. Dad loved the WWI and II trip we took a few years ago, so I thought he might enjoy seeing the 'other' side of the war. Also--wash clothes!
June 16--fly to Xi'an, China, via Hong Kong. We will see the Terracotta Warriors while we are here.
June 18--fly to Beijing, China. Great Wall, Tiananmen Square, Forbidden City, hutongs, Summer Palace or a taiji lesson at the Temple of Heaven, and we get to meet up with Helen, Andy and Harrison! (friends from Jakarta)
June 22--Dave and Sylvia will leave us here, and return to the states via Tokyo. Molly, Dad and I will fly to Irkutsk (yah--pronounce that one!), Russia. (At this point I am hoping I will be going, since the embassy is not letting me have a visa--YET. But--with hopeful thinking . . .) After we land, we are taken to Lake Baikal/Listvianka where we will stay. Sites: Open Air Museum, Ecology Museum, Circum-Baikal railroad trip around the lake. Lots of leisure time to take a boat ride on the lake. There are 1,700 species of plants and animals, 2/3 of which can be found nowhere else in the world. UNESCO World Heritage Site.
June 25--fly to Moscow. Our hotel here is in Red Square! We'll see the Kremlin, Red Square, State Armory, St. Basil's Cathedral, Cathedral of Christ the Savior, Novodevichy Convent Cemetery, and we decided to pass on the viewing the dead, waxy guy.
June 27--we take a train to St. Petersburg. 4.5 hours long. Nevsky Prospect, Palace Square, Winter Palace, Admiralty and Vasilevsky Island (Peter & Paul Fortress), St Isaac's Cathedral, Hermitage, and canal boat ride.
June 30--fly to Rome. Basilica of Constantine, Senate House, Arch of Titus, Colosseum, Basilica of St. Peter in Chains, Vittoriano monument, Circus Maximus, Campo Marzio area, Trevi Fountain, Vatican, Sistine Chapel, Basilica of St. Peters. There are more sites in Rome, but we will chose which ones we go to, or not, so I'll post them as we do them.
We leave Rome for a day and we'll tour some of the countryside outside the city, visiting some of the villages. I noticed this is a wine area--I'm sure we will partake of the fruits of their labors! :))
July 4--fly to London. I don't think England celebrates this holiday (although I would think they would be glad to since they got rid of us this day!). Molly lives in London, and so does my brother Bryan and his wife Liz--she's the one who is pregnant with twin boys (lovingly called Baby A and Baby B right now). We stay here for 10 days. Recovering from our whirlwind tour. We will get to see a VERY pregnant Liz (due August 1), and simply enjoy our time with family. Missy (sister in Omaha) will fly over on the 9th and stay with us.
June 14--Missy and Dad fly back to Omaha. :((
June 15--I fly back to Kaohsiung. I can feel the pangs of withdrawal already.
We are pampered all the way. We get picked up/dropped off at each airport, we have guides and drivers set for all the sites, the hotels are really nice (thanks, Dad!), and I think we will be well spoiled!
