Midnight clicked over as we were over Krakow, Poland at 36,000 feet. Rachel started to watch an old film, Hello Dolly, even with no sound this film has dated badly. I listened to some music and noticed that both Bob Dillon and Willy Nelson had recently put out new albums and it would appear that time has been kinder to Willy Nelson. I love the line from his recent song "This morning I woke up and I was still alive". The plane arrived at Doha just as the sun was...

The morning started later than planned after a relaxed breakfast in a cafe around the corner from Nollendorfstraße . Today we had a plan and it was a visit to the Alte Nationalgalerie (Old National Gallery) on Museum Island. We caught the Ubahn and have now become experts on the Ubahn just as we are leaving the city. A word of explanation about the galleries on Museum Island. Museum Island is the name of the northern half of an island in the Spree River in the...

Back in Berlin. We left Riga in the rain, we always take the good weather with us, sorry Riga. We arrived at Tegel airport, now officially one of the worst airports I've ever been to, picked up our luggage and into a cab; "Nollendorfstraße achtundzwanzig bitte" and off we went. We are staying at an Airbnb apartment/guesthouse. Our host David is charming. The apartment is enormous with a huge marble kitchen, dining and lounge room area as well as a bedroom wi...

Our last day in Riga. Greg had been angling to visit the old Spilve airport, which was the airport built by the Soviets after World War II as the hub for Aeroflot. The terminal building still remains as a notable example of Stalin's neoclassical architecture, which was the main reason for our visit. The airfield was closed for regular flights in the late 1980s and is now used for general aviation. We weren't sure if we could see the terminal but thought it was w...

Riga is on the Baltic Sea at the mouth of the Daugava River. On our penultimate day in Riga we decided to travel to the seaside resort of Jurmala by ferry down the Daugava River which takes about two and a half hours. Joan arrived at the appointed time and we made our way by tram to the old town and then walked to the statue of Great Kristaps opposite Riga Castle where we would meet the ferry. Tickets bought it was time for a coffee to kick start the day and ou...