Hartley and Sally sent in this report of their recent travels in Russia and Baltic area...

"Sally and I wisely spent the month of September on tour of Russia, Estonia, Finland and Norway. Highlights of Russia included walking FREELY on Red Square and in the Kremlin area, visiting the many historic palaces, museums and churches, and meeting with some WWII Russian heroes. The joy of all we met was remarkable. The amount of new construction was incredible and cars were everywhere! Estonia and Finland were equally enlightening, and we enjoyed sharing a meal with the Finn Samis and their reindeer. Our rides aboard the Norwegian Hurtigruten coastal steamer, Finnmark, from Kirkenes to Bergen, and then across the southern mountains, partly on the Flam railroad and on the Songefjiord to Oslo, were as spectacular as several of our classmates had said they would be. We were able to make contact with people on the Island of Rolla (near Harstad, north of the Arctic Circle in Norway, where we found that there

are several of our cousins. We were slowed a bit from the Volga River on, when Sally fell in a rainstorm and broke her right arm, which was later set in a heavy plaster cast in St. Petersburg. But that and the many other experiences will have to be told another day."

(Photo below of Sally and Hartley Holte in Bergen)