Hello Peaple

We went to Суздаль yesterday.  It is a very buwetifl little town in part of Russias, Golden Ring.  The city had something like 500 churches.  Its a funny number of churches for a small town.  Think Eveleth with 500 churchas.

One of the larger and used cathedrals, is surounded by a large earthan damn.  It was originaly built int he 1200's.  I have a picture of a plack telling about it bellow.  Since its high ground, I took these 3 panaramic shots hopping to show how many church tops litter the skyline of this little town.  I'm not sure how clear it comes through, but standing there I could count something like 20 churches from this spot.

Some random churches we walked buy.

The next 2 pics are all at the christmass cathedral.  The one were I took the panaramic shots.

Having a great trip

Here are just some random pictures from my trip so far.  Everything is fantastic, and wonderful.  This is the first collection of randome pictures, Enjoy!

When we where waiting for our bus in the bus station, there was a cat.  Just hanging out.  It lived there, and people just ignored it.  It wondered around from group of people to group of people.  There were lots of birds out side, and I saw some mouse droppings, so clearly there was food for it and a warm place.  People did not seam to even notice the cat as they walked around.

And This

This is the river that runs through Ivanovo.  

This was the School that Masha went to during her child hood.  It seamd like a nice school.  We got yelled at when taking some pictures by the doors.  A man in a sucurity uniform came out, and told us no pictures.  Masha said she had the permision of the Minser of Education, and the man asked, Seriously?  Then we scurried away.

This is the regonal government building.  The govoner works here.  When we walked up, Masha said, there would be no pictures and a guard would yell at us.  So in proper style she asked for the camera.  We snapped a pictuer well walking, and no one said anything.  Though they also probably didn't notice since it was quick.

With Pictures come Many Updates

There is an interesting history here in Ivanovo.  You would never hear about this city, in a US history class, but here it is tought that the very first soviout revolutionarys came from this citie.  It is a and was a factory town, and it only makes sence for labor inequalitys to fule such ideas.  In my History class last semester when we coverd the Russian Revolution, Ivanovo was not mentioned.  When I asked my profesor why, he said it was not important were things started.

There is a monument at the very center of Ivanovo.

The dying solder drops the flag, and another will always pick it up and continue the fight.  

Also it is considered an old man passing on the flag to the new generation.

A rose grows from a factory pipe.

These are at the very center of town.  It is a local tradition for wedding partys to come to this monument.  Another local wedding tradition is to take a lock and atach it to a bridge.  We have walked acrose 2 bridges a number of times and both have many locks atached to them.  Some very new locks, and some very old.  Masha wants me to spesify that the wedding tradition of visiting the monument is for the one with the flag passing, and not the factory pipe.  I was confused since they are at the same location, but I guess it is spesific.

Finaly Pictures

Sory for being a little slow.  It took me a litle bit to properly setup Masha's internet for wi-fi.  Now that I can get online with my computer, I can put some pictures online.

Masha and I are having what you might call our first fight.  Its not really a fight, more of a gental disagrement.  She does not want pictures of her online.  So untill I convincer her to allow me to put pictures of her on this blog, it will only be me, and various things online.

My mother gave to Masha's mother a gift of Wild Rice, and a recepe for wildrice soup.  Of course, the recipie includes things that we can not get here, so we had to supstitute.  Here is the soup.

The soup was very good.  There where a few things different.  First there is no Cambles Cream of Potato soup here.  So we had to make that ourselfs.  Olga did everything on her own, from the translated instructions, even though we did not ever everything quite right.  The potatos were shreded, and there was some parsly.  The stores did not have any strip bacon left.  There was recently a holiday, and all that was available was back bacon.  Also there was no American Chese, so Olga used some other kind.  The flavor was almost exactly right.  The consistanct was just a little creamyer, since Raw Milk was used, but it was quite delisous.  Olga is a great cook.

My home away from home

I have made it safly to Иваново, and I am at Masha's home. I will quickly appologies, I am using her computer, and the spell check is in Russian, so EVERY word is spelled wrong, and I will not be able to properly correct them. The aparatment here is quite small, but is very nice. The things they have are new, and in very good condition. However there is not much room, and so there is no wast or excess. Also the honey comes in a very unusual form.

So Ryan, showed me a site, when I was sittin the the Worst airpot in the US. He checked it during my flight and it showes your location. Ryan, Post the link to this site in the comments, please.

Masha's mom is fantastic. She is very fun, and friendly. We looked over the resipie for wild rice soup, and discused it some. It seams that not only the wild rice is an american only product. Its quite difficult to explain what a "can" of soup. But we will find some substitutes, and make it worl. Also, Velveeta does not exisit here, and the american chease is a dary prdocut and not actualy chease so we will have to find a substitute for that also.

No internet for my laptop yet, but we will fix that tomorrow.

Off again to Russia

My dear friends and family. For all of you who read this, I am once again off to Russia. This time to meet the family of my travailing companion. This trip will be a little more laid back, less site seeing, and more meeting and intermingling.

I will travel to a provincial town, I have also heard small used in reference to Ivanovo (Pronounced eevanava). But the population is 400000 so I don't think it will be small, I guess maybe it is compared to Moscow, but so is Minneapolis.

I will leave Minneapolis in just under 3 hours. I will take a plane to Chicago (Worlds Worst Airport), then from there to Moscow. Masha will be meeting me at the airport, and we will travel together by bus to Ivanova.

Masha said she will show me the place she works, so I'm looking forward to seeing a Russian Court House, and governmental offices. This should be really a fun trip, and very interesting. Stay posted for pictures and further updates.

Fallowing Traffic

It is very interesting to watch the traffic for this blog.  

This image is my traffic.  My first trip to Russia was from Dec 28 to Jan 10th.  It seams perfectly reasonable that after that time period people would stop visiting.  What I'm curious about next is my march trip.  I will be leaving for Иваново on March 12th and return on March 22nd.  Will my traffic pick back up?  It sure well if I tell everyone to come and look, but what if I don't?  I think it will be interesting to see.

My upcoming trip will not contain as many monuments or historical events.  However I will get a better look at Russia.  How people are living, what its like outside of the famous cities.  With a population of 400,000 this is no little town.  It will be very interesting.  I expect even less people to speak English on this trip.  My Russian is still very bad, but I'm making some progress.

Going Back

So I finalized plans to return to Russia.  I will be going from the 12th of march untill the 22nd.

This time I will stay in Ivanovo, its pronounced more like Eevanava, and is properly spelled Иваново.

My tickets are bought, I'm only waiting for my Visa to come, and then to board my flight...

SmugMug

So I'm uploading all of the photos taken to my mothers SmugMugg site.  So that beyond my commentary any one interested can look through all of the pictures that I took in there full detail.  The only problem is that to upload them all its taking about 30 seconds a picture, and since there are 1121 pictures it should take about 9.5 hours or so to upload them all.

Mom is that enough pictures for such a trip?  Was this a little better than they last time I went some where?

Post Production

So The trip is over, but I have have so many pictures I will have to do a bunch of updates to share them.On the last full day we went to a few different places. One of them was a large shopping center under red Square.  I don't know the name of it but its 3 stories underground, and its main entrance is from the metro.  Masha was trying to find a gift for her mother, but the thing she was interested in they didn't have the right version of.  The shopping center was very interesting, it was very large.  Just a little smaller than the Rosdail mail.  Totally underground, you can see the top of it on Google Earth, but it looks like a dome on the ground, which is a skylight.

We walked allot in Moscow on our last night.  Mom, don't be to upset, but I have things to tell you that might make you a little crazy.  We had a wonderful time.  I did not have a single moment of unhappiness or disappointment.  Masha was more wonderful than I could have expected or hopped for, and Russia was far more friendly and fun than I had anticipated.  It was very safe.  If you could see a monument you could see a police officer, and if you are in St. Peters or Moscow then you can see a monument.  I don't think I was ever out of shouting distance from an police officer for if I needed one.  Never was I given an unfriendly look, and many times people approached me and asked me questions in Russian, so I look enough like I belonged that people did not assume I was an American tourist as apposed to a Russian tourist.  I had a strange sense of belonging that I'm not used to.  I'm not sure if its the more social attitudes of the people or just being with Masha.

The only thing I will say is without an interpreter, it would be a difficult trip.  In Moscow many people speak English, but in St. Peters there was very very little.  If any one wants to go, I'm happy to go along, and I'm sure I could convince Masha to come again.  

So Chicago cancled my flight to minneapolis, so I got to spend an extra day on the trip.  I'm about to board a plane to Minneapolis finaly, and get home.

Moscow The Next Day

There is definitely something different about Moscow.  I would say that I liked St Peter's better.  Its a nice place, and everyone is friendly, its something about the buildings.  Mom you may not like this news, but I have committed my spring break to Masha.  I will come back in March to visit Иваново.  I'm not sure just what.  In both city's there are police everywhere.  An officer or a guard on just about every other street corner.  With so many monuments, and historical structures, it only makes sense, and most of them are in positions near such monuments and structures.  In St. Peters, there was never a problem with taking a photo of a building of any sort, however in Moscow some buildings are active government buildings, and guards are quick to let you know not to photo the building.  Of course we usually got a few pics first.  We didn't even get to find out what this building was, but its not to be photoed.

It seams each day we spend more time together and less time sightseeing.  Thursday was cold, and snowy and Mashas mother said to be careful and better to stay in and watch movies, so we did, one of these movies was Russian film called Moscow Vacation.  Today we are setting out to find an open air art market, a flash drive so Masha can have all the pictures also, and some other things.

Here is a picture of our final day in St. Peters, it was a very magical sky that night.

Moscow

So I made it to Moscow safe and sound.  The hotel is well, a little different.  They are very good extortionists here.  One hour of Internet at this hotel will pay for a month of Internet in MN.  And Masha says the same for her hometown.

So for those that are worried.  MOM... I made it safe, and sound, my computer is fine, and everything is going great.  Moscow does not feel quite the same as St. Peters.  I liked it better there.  It is still a very nice place people are friendly.

Some thing a little interesting about Russian theater.  Since there are no black people here, black face is still alive.

When I get back home, I will have to make a few large updates to this to bring any one interested up to speed.  Pictures and such will be coming then.

Another day...

No pictures just now, I don't have time to put them all online.  I will tell more about today latter.  We attempted but did anything but see the Hermitage museum.  We tired but did anything but stay warm.  It was the coldest day by far.  Tomorrow is the last day in St. Peters.

There is so much to tell, I feel like I will be updating this for weeks after I get back home.  We are averaging about 150 pictures a day.  So really I'm only showing a very small fraction of whats going on.  Of course many pictures are duplicities when there is a blurring or some mistake, blinkin and such.

Another Show

Our next day we sort of took a break from vacationing.  How does that work anyway?

We went to the Nutcracker.  It was another production of the Marinski theater.  This time our show was in the the propoer theater.  The one we tried to go to first the day befor.  We were a little late.  It was my fault for loosing our room key so we had to search for it.  We did not find it until we returned, and had to have the frunt desk let us in.  Of course it was in my coat pocket the entire time.

Again no camears allowed.  oops...

About the Opera

We went to an opera called "Christmass Eve". It is a story written buy a Ukranian man long ago. Here there is much respect for composers and writters of the past. There is a statu of the writter of this story only a block from our hotel.

After going to petergof, our goal was to get back to the hotel and get dressed up nice to see the show. Well, of course, life is always an adventure. We missed our stop, and took the bus to far, and had to walk about a mile to Petergof. We lost a lot of time doing this. We were the very very last people to go through the musium. They were clossing the doors behind us and turning lights off after we finished with each room. The gaurd left us alone in the queens ballroom, and we danced.

As for the show, we got there just in time. We did not get to stop at the hotel, we did not get to dress up. We arived at the wrong theater just at the time the show was starting, so we had to run to the correct theatoer, it is the same company and just a block down the street. We arived they took our coats, and the show didn't start for another 10 minits. They were more late then us, so it worked out very well.

The production value was fantastic.

The show started with the narator coming out from behind and starting the storry some. He had a bottle of some kind of drink and asked it anyone would like to drink with him, and a few did. It looked like ether wisky or apple juce. Here are a few pictures from the show, and yes, No camears allowed...

петергоф and a Show

Noon in St Peters

On friday we sent of to see Petergof, a spot I recomend anyone who visits St. Peters to see.  We took the metro to a station that ran busses to Petergof, and then we took a buss.  We road the buss, and road it and road it, and then after some time the driver asked us were we where going.  Masha told him, and he pulled over and let us out saying we missed it, and should have told him.  So we walked back the way we came for a bit.  It was a very nice walk, large trees along the raod, and then we came acrose a random monument.

We finaly made it to Petergof, and payed to have a picture taken with some actors.  Then they tried to be sneeky.  The actor took Masha and said let us have a picture dancing.  So the took up a pose and I took the camera from the photographer and took the picture.  The man told us we must pay again for the second picture.  Masha said why would we do that, and he told us to just go.  I told her she should have said, we would have payed but he did not take the picture.  There where no cameras allowed inside of the palace, but that did not stop us.  They had a coat check, and when we got to the next room Masha asked where was the camear, and I said in my coat pocket.  So we pretended she was cold and had them give my liner back to us.  We snuck pictures every chance we got.  It was a buetifuly ornate building with lots of gold sculptures. here are a few of our picturs.

Then we went to a show, more about it latter.

New Years Day

Маша says that we made a mistake.  We should not have come to Peters in the night, better to have come in June when it is daytime.  The day time is very short here.  We missed it on new years day.  After staying up late, buy the time we got ready to go, it was already dark out.  So you might notice many night photos.

We have tickets to a couple of shows at the Mariinsky theater.  We tried to get them on new years day.  We must go to a booth and give them the conformation number to get the tickets.  We walked to this place, and it was closed.  On the way there we came across the Kazansky Cathedral.  It is a wondrous Russian Orthodox Cathedral.  From the outside it looks like a relic, something very old, and in a roman like style.  We saw people coming in and out of it so we went inside.  The inside was very much alive.  We walked around looking at the many paintings and statues, and then a service started.  It reminded me of Johns wedding a little, there were some strong similarity's.  One things that I like about the Orthodox church is how the priest stands facing the alter with the people.  In this Cathedral, an area was sectioned off, and the priest was literally among the people.  I could not take any pictures inside, there were some signs saying no photography, and it was a service an all.  I thought it was interesting, and maybe Rachel could enlighten me, but they had 3 gates.  One was small and not very 

fancy, One was very large and grand and in the center, it was the gate that the service was in front of when we were there.  The last was very ornate, but not so large.  I'm sure there is a meaning for each.  The structure of the building is very interesting.  From the outside it looks like a large crescent shape, like a young moon.  But inside the space open to use was in the shape of a cross.  After we finished exploring it we went on to where tickets could be picked up.  When we got there it was closed.  A woman there told us to go to the theater, it would be open.

For the record and to be perfectly clear, yes, Steve has been to the Kazansky Cathedral.

We walked a long way along this canal, to get to the theater.  It was very beautiful, but also very cold.  We had a few funny run ins with drunks.  We were taking a picture and a drunk man started peeing into the canal.  Further down, a drunk crossing a bridge that we were taking a photo on, stopped and offered to take out picture.  Маша ignored him since I don't understand Russian I did the same.  She took my picture, and with night photos some times they are a little blurry so you must try again.  The drunk was kneeling under to not be in the photo and standing just to the side, so his shoulder and parts of him are in a few pictures.  He was being silly and was quite funny.  He was chatting to us the hole time, rattling on in Russian.  Finally I told him in Russian "I'm sorry, I do not speak Russian", and he said to me in Russian "What, you do not speak Russian?" he then turned to Маша and said "What is he, Italian?".  It was funny, and we continued on our way leaving the drunk man on the bridge.

We walked along this canal for some time, and then we finally made it the the theater, and it was closed.

There are many monuments to great composers, and streets named for them.  There is clearly a love of great music here, and a deep respect for its creators.

Маша Attacks the conservatory.

This is a very wondrous city with many sights and interesting things.  We came across this palace randomly.  It was just on the way home.  Such grand entryways, are not uncommon here.  It really is an interesting city to see.