Knonborg Castle

Knowborg castle was a joy to visit the 45 minute train along some coast was lovely and in First Class I was totally along and quiet.
Some outside Castle photos.

Dinner w/ Deb and Jerry

Spent a lovely evening meeting up with Deb and Jerry in Copenhagen. We couldn't ever get together in NYC but half way around the world we did. We meet at my hotel for a drink and then we googled a place to eat and it turned out good food. They were generous to pick up the check.

Radisson Royal Blue

Copenhagen walkabout

I spend day two walking around visiting Rosenborg Castle and visiting the can area. It was raining and damp took some pleasure out of this easoyl walkable city.

Copenhagen Day 1

Day 1 in Copenhagen, I was dead to the world. Just hung out around the hotel, in the room, order room services and read, watched shows and made some calls.

Flight to Copenhagen

Never again will I make flight at the ungodly hour of 5 am in the morning.  Later flights work better for me as I never sleep and lack of stamina to deal with going without much or no sleep

Leaving Minsk...

Minsk is a beautiful, clean friendly city with while not overly exciting merits a few days stay to relax and enjoy this no longer Russian city. Not many people speak English and this can present a little challenge to get around.

On my way out due to my lack of diligence I had not realized the visa company made a mistake and only put me down for a one day stay look it look like I had over stayed my visa. Luckily, I was asked to show my boarding pass from St. Petersersburg to Minsk and this for what ever reason got me out of a jam.

 I should pay more attention in the future

Awesome Massage And Meal...

I finally, needed to stop walking as the heat, being tied and the museum was much further than I though so I got ripped off by another cab driver and headed to eat.

I had this wonderful meal of Dranki which is potato pancakes stuffed with pork with mushroom sauce and sour cream on the side. I was fantastic to eat in authentic Balerusian eatery. I sat outside across from a military building with a tank onside.

After that fantastic mean, I walk down the lovely, Karl Marx Street to the hotel.  I decided to get another massage and boy was I glad I did. Marina works me over for 1 1/2 hours and I feel GREAT.

More Minsk...Old Soviet Architecture

Fun Buildings Minsk.

KGB Headquarters above.

Day 1 and 2 in Minsk con't...

I walked around and ran into a fun Georgian festival.

A man's got to have a place to hang his hat...

Day 1 and 2 In Minsk

The first day in Minsk was how Belarus and Russia have no passport and immigration center you have to wait on line to pass through.  I took a taxi that was waiting for me to the hotel. I spent my first day relaxing, getting a massage ordering room service.

My second day is where I pounded payment and really enjoyed walking. I visited the now very interesting Red Church. At this bell sight where dirt from the first atomic explosion was commentated I guess you can say, I met this two friendly university girls for a photo.

Crowne Plaza Review

Pros:
Great Staff,
Location
WiFi
Excellent Massage
Good food

Minsk....Crowne Plaza

Easy flight to Minsk, an 1 1/2 hour flight. No passport control in Minsk if coming from Russia.
Check into the Crowne Plaza a beautiful hotel in the heart of the city..

Atomic Bell....

Nagasaki’s Bell is the monument placed in Minsk in September 2000 on Squire of Independence not far from the sculpture of Archangel Michael and Red Church. The monument is the reminder of the victims in the nuclear catastrophe.

The Bell was casted by the masters of bell molding on Japanese Catholic Church initiative. It is a twin copy of the bell «Angel” that survived in atomic bombarding of Nagasaki in August 9, 1945. There are samples of soil from various places, Jerusalem, Japanese cities Nagasaki, Hiroshima, Fukushima and from the districts affected by Chernobyl disaster in the monuments foundation. There are also capsules from Semipalatinsk Test Site or from the firing range in New Earth.

Faberge

Faberge Museum: The Great Eggs

Here was a nice, small interesting museum with many quality pieces of art that were no problem seeing.

Church of the Spilled Blood II

Church of the Spilled Blood History:

I spent delightful time in the communal kitchen talking to this amazing woman who is traveling for 4 years!!!!
Then, I was off to the the church.

The decision was taken to build a church on the spot where the Emperor, Alexandar II was mortally wounded. The church was built between 1883 and 1907 and was officially called the Resurrection of Christ Church (a.k.a. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood ). The construction of the church was almost entirely funded by the Imperial family and thousands of private donors. Both the interior and exterior of the church is decorated with incredibly detailed mosaics, designed and created by the most prominent Russian artists of the day (V.M. Vasnetsov, M.V. Nesterov and M.A. Vrubel). Interestingly, despite the church's very obviously Russian aspect, its principle architect, A. Parland, was not even Russian by birth.