A Baltic boating adventure TRIP REPORT COMPLETED 11/19 - Page 80 - PassPorter - A Community of Walt Disney World, Disneyland, Disney Cruise Line, and General Travel Forums
As of January 1, 2019, we have closed our forums. This is a decision we did not come to lightly, but it is necessary. The software our forums run on is just too out-of-date and it poses a significant security risk. The server software itself must be updated, and it cannot be without removing the forums.
So it is with a heavy heart that we say goodbye to our long-running forums. They came online in 2000 and brought together so many wonderful Disney fans. We had friendships form, careers launch, couples marry, children born ... all because of this amazing community.
Thank you to each of you who were a part of this community. You made it possible.
And a very special thank you to our Guides (moderators), past and present, who kept our forums a happy place to be. You are the glue that held everything together, and we are forever grateful to you. Thank you aliceinwdw, Caldercup, MrsM, WillCAD, Fortissimo, GingerJ, HiddenMickey, CRCrazy, Eeyoresmom, disneyknut, disneydani, Cam22, chezp, WDWfan, Luvsun, KMB733, rescuesk, OhToodles!, Colexis Mom, lfredsbo, HiddenMickey, DrDolphin, DopeyGirl, duck addict, Disneybine, PixieMichele, Sandra Bostwick, Eeyore Tattoo, DyanKJ130, Suzy Q'Disney, LilMarcieMouse, AllisonG, Belle*, Chrissi, Brant, DawnDenise, Crystalloubear, Disneymom9092, FanOfMickey, Goofy4Goofy, GoofyMom, Home4us123, iamgrumpy, ilovedisney247, Jennifer2003, Jenny Pooh, KrisLuvsDisney, Ladyt, Laughaholic88, LauraBelle Hime, Lilianna, LizardCop, Loobyoxlip, lukeandbrooksmom, marisag, michnash, MickeyMAC, OffKilter_Lynn, PamelaK, Poor_Eeyore, ripkensnana, RobDVC, SHEANA1226, Shell of the South, snoozin, Statelady01, Tara O'Hara, tigger22, Tink and Co., Tinkerbelz, WDWJAMBA, wdwlovers, Wendyismyname, whoSEZ, WildforWD, and WvuGrrrl. You made the magic.
We want to personally thank Sara Varney, who coordinated our community for many years (among so many other things she did for us), and Cheryl Pendry, our Message Board Manager who helped train our Guides, and Ginger Jabour, who helped us with the PassPorter-specific forums and Live! Guides. Thank you for your time, energy, and enthusiasm. You made it all happen.
There are other changes as well.
Why? Well, the world has changed. And change with it, we must. The lyrics to "We Go On" for IllumiNations say it best:
We go on to the joy and through the tears
We go on to discover new frontiers
Moving on with the current of the years.
We go on
Moving forward now as one
Moving on with a spirit born to run
Ever on with each rising sun.
To a new day, we go on.
It's time to move on and move forward.
PassPorter is a small business, and for many years it supported our family. But the world changed, print books took a backseat to the Internet, and for a long time now it has been unable to make ends meet. We've had to find new ways to support our family, which means new careers and less and less time available to devote to our first baby, PassPorter.
But eventually, we must move on and move forward. It is the right thing to do.
So we are retiring this newsletter, as we simply cannot keep up with it. Many thanks to Mouse Fan Travel who supported it all these years, to All Ears and MousePlanet who helped us with news, to our many article contributors, and -- most importantly -- to Sara Varney who edited our newsletter so wonderfully for years and years.
And we are no longer charging for the Live Guides. If you have a subscription, it's yours to keep for the lifetime of the Live Guides at no additional cost. The Live Guides will stay online, barring server issues and technical problems, for all of 2019.
That said, PassPorter is not going away. Most of the resources will remain online for as long as we can support them, and after that we will find ways to make whatever we can available. PassPorter means a great deal to us, and to many of you, and we will do our best to keep it alive in whatever way we can. Our server costs are high, and they'll need to come out of our pockets, so in the future you can expect some changes so we can bring those costs down.
Thank you, thank you, thank you for your amazing support over the years. Without you, there's no way us little guys could have made something like this happen and given the "big guys" a run for their money. PassPorter was consistently the #3 guidebook after the Unofficial and Official guides, which was really unheard of for such a small company to do. We ROCKED it thanks to you and your support and love!
If you miss us, you can still find some of us online. Sara started a new blog at DisneyParkPrincess.com -- I strongly urge you to visit and get on her mailing list. She IS the Disney park princess and knows Disney backward and forward. And I am blogging as well at JenniferMaker.com, which is a little craft blog I started a couple of years ago to make ends meet. You can see and hear me in my craft show at https://www.youtube.com/c/jennifermaker . Many PassPorter readers and fans are on Facebook, in groups they formed like the PassPorter Trip Reports and PassPorter Crafting Challenge (if you join, just let them know you read about it in the newsletter). And some of our most devoted community members started a forum of their own at Pixie Dust Lane and all are invited over.
So we encourage you to stay in touch with us and your fellow community members wherever works best for you!
Welcome! We're happy you've found the PassPorter Community -- the friendliest place to plan your vacation to Walt Disney World, Disney Cruise Line, Disneyland, and the world in general! You are now viewing the PassPorter Message Board Community as a guest, which gives you limited access. As our guest, feel free to browse our messages by selecting the forum you want to visit from the list below.
To post messages and ask questions, join our FREE community today and you'll get access to tools and resources not available to guests, such as our vacation countown timers, "living" avatars, private messaging system, database searches, downloads, and a special PassPorter discount code. Registration is fast, simple, and completely free. Just click the Join Our Community link.
If you think you've already joined, log in below now. If you don't remember your member name or password, please visit our Member Name and Password Recovery page. You are also welcome to contact us.
St. Basil's is always what I think of when I think of Moscow. It's like a cheerful gingerbread house, but in not so cheerful of a historic location. So very happy you got to see it and get good photos with it too! What a bummer the rain came so badly though! Too bad you couldn't have flip flopped that bit and done the Kremlin and St. Basil's first and then inside the mall! Oh well, hindsight.
__________________
Tanya
Every click helps feed .6 bowls of food to rescued animals. Give a quick click every day and help animals in shelters! www.theanimalrescuesite.com
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
PassPorter Guide Community Rank: Legend Extraordinaire
Join Date: Aug 2008
Location: Ballston Lake, NY
Concierge Level: 6
Posts: 46,162
Post Thanks / Like
Likes (Given): 94
Likes (Received): 241
Thanks (Given): 0
Thanks (Received): 139
Pixie Dust (Given): 3
Pixie Dust (Received): 4
All caught up on Moscow. Too bad the rain spoiled part of your day. But your pictures of Red Square are amazing. I've been waiting to see St. Basil's Cathedral. I don't blame you about watching your guide's bag like a hawk, I would have done the same thing.
Great photos of St. Basil's and The Kremlin, even with the rain!
__________________
October 6, 2017-Enjoying an amazing dinner at Victoria & Albert's with PP's Dot and Drew
My TR from my most recent trip is now underway. Includes: Universal Studios Florida, Disney World and Sea World Orlando Trifecta TR -Updated December 10th! TR is now COMPLETED!
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
St. Basil's is always what I think of when I think of Moscow.
Me too.
Quote:
It's like a cheerful gingerbread house, but in not so cheerful of a historic location. So very happy you got to see it and get good photos with it too! What a bummer the rain came so badly though! Too bad you couldn't have flip flopped that bit and done the Kremlin and St. Basil's first and then inside the mall! Oh well, hindsight.
Well, unfortunately we were stuck with what we could do that day - don't forget with it being Russia Day, a lot of things were shut, including much of the Kremlin.
Registered Message Board Members save 30% off PassPorter guidebooks! When you register you'll have access to a discount coupon good for 30% off the list price of PassPorter books in our online store.
As a special treat, I have a little bit of time at the airport (we're in Virgin Atlantic's amazing Upper Class Clubhouse lounge at Heathrow! ), so here's one more update for you...
Sunday 12 June – part eight: he’s smoking!
When we headed outside, the skies had lightened again, and we got some glimpses of the Kremlin without the rain.
I am fast learning this is what the weather's like around the Baltic - sunny and brilliant blue skies one minute, then tipping down with rain. It's certainly changeable and it does seem to be a theme with every place we've visited so far.
As we got back to the minivan, I saw a sight that frankly horrified me. Our driver was sitting there, with his window wound down a little, but not completely, smoking. I do not see how that is acceptable at all. If you need to smoke, then move away from the vehicle, and unfortunately even then we'll still smell it, as it stays with you. Every single person who boarded, without exception, all commented on the smell of smoke and how awful it was.
We then saw some of the city's museums almost opposite the church, including the Gallery of 19th and 20th century European and American arts (very specific ) and the Pushkin State Museum of the Fine Arts, which had a massive line to get into it. Again, I'm starting to see a theme here.
As we drove along, we finally got some better shots of the Kremlin. This is home to the Russian president, and covers a ridicolous amount of space. I can't remember how many hectares it was now (I want to say 28?), but it's staggering. We figured this would be the last view we'd get of it, but we were very wrong.
We then crossed the Moscow River, noticing the red, white and blue flags, representing the Russian flag, although of course we all pointed out those were the colours of many other flags, including the States, the UK and France. I suspect it was Russia they were representing here though.
We next passed Pashkov House, which was a private residence, dating from the late 18th century with commanding views of the Kremin.
The next building we saw was the State Library...
... although personally I was fascinated by more familiar names. Thomas Cook is a travel agent we have at home, and I just think it's amazing to see things like this on the streets of Moscow, when in our lifetime, there is no way that anything like that would've been thought possible under the previous regime.
We then passed some of those remnants from those Communist days. These buildings were apparently designed to be open books, which I can see, although my goodness, they are really ugly. To me, I look at this and I see Communism architecture. Sadly, of course, Russia is not the only country to have buildings like this. We do too at home. What people were thinking in the 1960s when they created these, I will never know.
As you can see, the skies were looking threatening once again.
PassPorter's Free-Book to Walt Disney World It’s hard to believe anything is free at Walt Disney World; but there are actually a number of things you can get or do for little to no cost. This e-book documents over 200 free or cheap tips to do before you go and after you arrive. You could save a considerable amount of money following these tips. Perhaps more importantly; you can discover overlooked attractions and little-known details most people whiz by on their way to spend money. Click here to see free sample pages from the e-book! Get this popular e-book free of extra charges when you join the PassPorter's Club for as little as $4.95. A club pass includes access to all our other e-books; e-worksheets; super-size photos; and more! This e-book is also available for separate purchase in the PassPorter Online Store for just $5.95.
You'd think tour companies would have rules about drivers smoking in their vehicles. But then again, I think smoking rates in Russia must be some of the highest around. I would have been upset about that though as I do find the smell so awful.
ugh, so sorry about the smoking driver. Unacceptable.
We have many ugly 1950-60 buildings as well. Midcentury modern as it's called here is frankly ugly and boring imho. I don't like many houses built during that time either. I love victorians or colonials...houses with character!
Registered Message Board Members Get Our Free Newsletter! When you register you'll have the option to sign up for our weekly PassPorter Newsletter. It's chock-full of feature articles; news; tips; contests; photos; and special offers in our online store.
About This Page: 
Like
Thank
Pixie Dust
PassPorter Guide Author
If you need to smoke, then move away from the vehicle, and unfortunately even then we'll still smell it, as it stays with you. Every single person who boarded, without exception, all commented on the smell of smoke and how awful it was. 
To me, I look at this and I see Communism architecture. Sadly, of course, Russia is not the only country to have buildings like this. We do too at home. What people were thinking in the 1960s when they created these, I will never know. 
I can't believe your driver was smoking n the van!
That is horrible! The views of the Kremlin are amazing.
]
Linear Mode
