Posted 8:28 AM by MelanieandSteve
WARSAW AND KRAKOW, POLAND, written 19 Aug re: 13 Aug to 20 Aug

RIDDLE: What is the one word in the English language that changes both pronunciation and meaning with a change of case? (answer below)

WARSAW: 11 Aug to 13 Aug: Warsaw is the Capital of Poland and has an amazingly well preserved Old Town Center that's as good as new.

--THE OLD TOWN THAT'S NEW: Warsaw once looked much like it does now. But somewhere in between, it has looked a lot different. Nazi's burned it in 1944. During the Warsaw Uprising, underdog Poles faught Nazis for 63 days before virtually all Poles were killed or driven out. Still not satisfied, the Nazis loaded explosives into the few remaining buildings and razed them to the ground. Proud Polish have rebuilt the "old town" to look almost exactly like it was. Though new, it feels like old time Europe.

--MURMAID OR MONOLYTH: Two monuments compete to be Warsaw's icon. One: the Murmaid sculpture Famous for guiding a lost sailor home. The other: the Palace of Culture and Art, built in the 1950's, INfamous for being an ugly monolythic building, a 'gift of friendship' from non-friend Joseph Stalin. Poles have considered tearing it down or covering it up, but they can't help that it's become a symbol of their capital. Our hostel was near the Monolyth. Our days were spent near the Mermaid (in the middle of town's squaire).

--BE THERE, BE IN THE SQUARE: There's really nothing like walking through winding narrow town streets and happening upon a wide open square. On enterring Warsaw's Castle Square, we were enchanted by an accordian player that was so good that Steve gave up his ice cream money and put a 10 zlotty bill in the hat.

--PROUD POLISH FIRSTS: We visited the history museum and learned that Poland has two proud firsts. Number 1 - it was the first country to regain sovereignty from the Soviets in 1989. Number 2 - in 1791, Poland established a Constitution, the first constitution in Europe and second in the world. The first was in the United States. Constitution is defined as a "document embodying the fundamental principles according to which a nation is governed." (Someone needs to give this definition to George Bush before he infects our fundamental principles with his personal opinions.) The Polish constitution had a short life due to occupations and wars.

--OUR DAYS: walking the old town. History museum and Marie Curie's Museum (the Polish woman who discovered radiation) were highlights. OUR NIGHTS: walking the new town and it's restaurants and pubs with Aussie Friends Michelle and Justin and New York Friends Joe and Chris.

KRAKOW: 13 Aug to 20 Aug: Once the Capital of Poland before Warsaw, Krakow was last in a line of "Old Town Trekking", and possibly our favorite.

--MORE DOWN TO EARTH: Krakow was not entirely destroyed by war so its old town actually is old. It's not quite as post-card perfect as Warsaw, but it felt more real. We loved it. The night life was great. We made lots of friends and spent many late late nights and early mornings out with them. Restaurants and pubs are often underground in brick wine celler-like caverns. Great atmosphere.

--THE MUSEUM YOU CAN EAT: At the Salt Mines outside Krakow, the walls and floors are salt. "If you don't believe me," said our tour guide, "taste it." Contrary to our expectations, the walls were not white. They looked more like granite, but savory granite. We were 135 meters (443 feet) below the surface, just the tip of the iceberg as the caverns went three times deeper (speaking of icebergs, it was cold). 700 years of mining resulted in thirty kilometers of mine shafts and caverns and produced 1/3 of Poland's treasury until it stopped opperating 8 years ago. Horses were once lowered into the caves by ropes to work under the surface for years a at a time. There are underground dance halls, restaurants, 400 chapels, a huge museum, a sanitorium, and a hotel. Sculptures are carved in the salt walls, and chandaliers are made with pure salt chrystals.

--SOBERING AUSCHWITZ: An important place of learning and rememberance, we visited the largest Nazi Concentration and Death Camp, responsible for 1.5 million murders. It had formal displays of relics left from the days of operation. Perhaps the most sobering was a large glass-enclosed room filled wall to wall with human hair. Other rooms displayed suit cases, combs, brushes, and shoes, including childrens' shoes and clothing stripped from the victims on arrival. We walked into gas chambers and crematoriums. At nearby Berkenau death camp (where scenes from Schindler's List were filmed), most executions took place. Surrounded in barbed wire, and with some buildings in ruins, the majority of the camp still stands with no added displays necessary.

--SLIDES AND SAUNAS: First water park we'd seen in a long time, we suited up, packed the sunscrean, and caught the bus for a water day. What we didn't know was that it was an INdoor water park. Climate controlled. But not controlled to the taste of a Californian who likes to swim in WARM weather. The airconditioned building sometimes made it difficult to get back in line for another slide. But the slides were really good - steep, fast, and scary. When Mel got too cold, we just stepped into the sauna room.

--POLISH QUISINE: Our big culinary delight was dinner at a restaurant once voted "Best in Poland" with friends Nathan and Maria. Reservations only, we dined as we watched disappointed patrons turned away. All atmosphere with thick woody tables, pillowed benches, and folksy wall decor, we started off the meal with huge slices of thick Polish bread and for the spread . . . Lard. Sounds gross? Also looks gross! Tastes Great - says the non-vegetarians who tried it. Everyone's dinner was exceptional. Though traditional Polish food is mostly meat and potato based, this food was so well prepared that it was a feast of exotic tastes.

--OLYMPIC TIMES: We found a sports bar with English Olympics coverage. We decided to extend our stay in Krakow to make sure we didn't miss Gymnastics. Congrats on Golds to U.S. All-Arounders.

ANSWER TO RIDDLE: -- polish. And our time in Poland sparkled.

NEXT STOP: We just keep heading south.

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Nancy C., Kevin M., Becc M., Jasmine H., Kim C., and Anne A.

Posted 5:07 AM by MelanieandSteve
LATVIA AND LITHUANIA, written 18 Aug, re 5-11 Aug

RIGA: 5-8 Aug: the Capital of Latvia, in the middle Baltics.

--MORE LIBERAL CROWD: Riga was another old town, but with another population of tourists. Here, the night life abounded. Beer Gardens lined the central city, music sounded, and women danced on tables in bars all in the setting of the same sort of cobble stoned quaintness of the towns in Estonia. Funny that this is where we finally encountered American tourists.

--GROOMED GARDENS: Melanie decided the Baltic States get the award for best gardening skills. In Each of the three states, gardens were groomed vibrantly. In Riga, the glassy river flowed through kilometers of perfect grasses, flowers, and sculptures.

--OUR DAYS IN TOWN: Melanie mapped out a self-guided tour complete with historic information and explanations. We topped it off at the Occupational Museum all about struggles with Russia and Germany and war time.

--OPEN AIR ETHNOGRAPHICAL MUSEUM: Outside of town, is a place of 118 ethnic buildings transplanted here over about 75 years. Hikes through thickly wooded trails led to old homes, churches, and other buildings from various regions of Latvia. The black smith made a nail for Melanie and punched a coin for numismatic Steve. The lazy silver smith, on the other hand, was more interested in enjoying his snacks.

--JURMALA BEACH: 45 minutes away on the Standing Room Only Train, we enjoyed the peace and warmth of this white sandy beach and sweet sidewalk sale sort of town.

VILNIUS, LITHUANIA: 8-11 Aug: Another Capital, another old town:

--A MORE GENUINE EASTERN BLOCK EXPERIENCE: After having troubles with our reserved hostel in a town where all hostels were fully booked, we ended up at the old Teacher's University Hotel. It was well outside the touristy center of town. Despite pocked and cracked walls, a few unwanted buggy bugs, a concrete floored bathroom, a cinder block exterior, and a sort of seedy area of town, the place held a certain charm of its own. Maybe, this break from a string of tourist show towns, was our opportunity to see the real Baltics. Highlights included access to a stove for tea in the creaky kitchen down the hall, and bright yellow walls in our former dorm room. We moved to a better hostel in the morning.

--RIGA FRIENDS: In Riga, we arranged to meet up in Vinius with friends Kristin and Brian. From early afternoon until late night we hung out, ate, and drank and then spent the rest of our Vilnius time bumping into each other at the amber museum and KGB museums.

--KGB Museum: Melanie had so wanted to tour the KGB museum in Russia but it was not open to common public. Now was her chance. The former prison was eirie and upsetting with it's displays of torture and cruelty. We walked into tiny cells, learned stories of inhumanity, and shivered in the glass floored execution room.

--ZAPPA: We saw "The only sculpture of Frank Zappa in the World." A bust on a pole, and we don't know why, but listed under "Wacky Vilnius" in a pocket guide, we had to pay a visit.

--DISTINGUISHING VILNIUS: Yes, another old town. They each differ in small ways. This one was more conservative with more of a presence of religion than the party town of Riga. Nuns and monks could be seen walking the streets, and the majority of historic places of interest were churches (but this is Europe, so what's new.)

STAY TUNED FOR HIGHLIGHTS OF NEXT BLOG'S EDITION: - POLAND:

... ... ...

----Warsaw and the newest Old Town of all and
----Krakow, Fear Factor Style, Steve eats Lard


HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Mareia T., Nancy C.,
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO: Jen and Stephan

Posted 5:14 AM by MelanieandSteve
Finland and Estonia, written 17 Aug re 24 July - 5 Aug

THE LITTLE COUNTRY THAT STEVE WROTE A REPORT ON IN ELEMENTARY SCHOOL

WHAT IS WESTERNIZED? We've enterred the "Eastern block". When a country is clean or developed or equiped with conveniences, we say ... "Westernized". Interestingly, the cities we have visited in the East have been developed and clean and fully convenient - often more so than countries in the southern Western parts of Europe. So what does "Easternized" mean?

TALLIN:

--OLD TOWN TALLIN, FIRST ON THE OLD TOWN TRACK: Tallin, a touristy old town in the North of Estonia, is emaculate, equiped with clean restrooms, groceries, well-maintained roads, good restaurants etc... This was the first of a series of old towns we would visit soon. As the first, it's cobble stone streets, steepled skyline, fortified walls all endeared us. Behind our hostel the highest steeple, St. Olaf's. disappeared into the sky on a misty night. Old towns are beautiful, but Melanie felt much like she used to feel about Venice, Italy. Nice as they are, they are all show. They exist synthetically for tourists, not for real people to live in.

----GETTING LOST IN THE MAZES: Aside from the attractions like museums, sites, and architecture, the best part about all the old towns is simply being in them. We would wind through random corridors and roads and allow ourselves to get lost. In Tallin, we conducted a self-guided walking tour reading literature about sites. At nights we hung out with Fins and English friends in the town square.

--NOT SO WESTERNIZED: there is one way Tallin disappointed us. We saw a man hit a woman in the face, knocking her to the ground. Bloody faced and crying, she screamed and struggled as he kicked her and tried to force her into his car. We tried to prevent him from touching her while we waited for police. When the police arrived, they asked no questions. We volunteered to be witnesses. They said, "It was just her boyfriend, it's alright." They didn't want witnesses and they preserved no evidence. Even the girl shrugged it off. Will this primitive attitude change with "westernization" now that Estonia is in the EU?

FINLAND: Similar in Language and Culture to Estonia, Finland was the "Western Model". We arrived by Ferry across the Baltic Sea.

--HELSINKI:

----IMPRESSIONS: A day dodging raindrops and walking the city, a long visit to the not-so-impressive National Museum of Finland picking up on local history, left us enjoying ourselves, but without a strong impression of Helsinki. The city is nondescript. It is convenient, clean, well equipt and cared for, but it's not gripping. We decided to head North in search of the Midnight Sun and possible Northern Lights.

--KEMIJARVI

----DESTINATION, THE LAND OF MIDNIGHT SUN: Rovianimi in Lapland, in the North of Finland is just below the Arctic Circle. The ticket sales desk said it was the Northernmost train stop. But when we arrived on our sleeper train, we learned there was one more stop, an hour and a half North and above the Arctic Circle. Easy decision. We stayed on the train for Kemijarvi - no info on hostels, no maps...

----KEMIJARVI was small. No office at the train station. No tourist info. It was lush and packed with lakes - possibly more lakes than land, and not a known tourist destination. They call themselves the land of "Green Gold", aka timber, and the town if full of wooden sculpture, often in unexpected places - high in trees, in the middle of parks and walkways. The economy of the town is based on a single factory, and despite it's idyllic woodsy atmosphere, unfortunately the aroma of the town was also based on this factory.

----A PRIMO PLACE TO LAY OUR HEADS: Fortunately there were good road signs and we made our way on foot to the towns only hostel, not even knowing if they'd have space available. As we walked in the door, German Speaking Lyla ran toward us singing out overjoyed words of welcome. She embraced us and celebrated the gorgeous day by repeating the word "Primo!" Melanie fell in love with her. We both fell in love with the cabiny lake front hostel and our lake-view corner room.

----LEISURE DAYS: We spent time row boating, sunbathing, swimming, resting. We rowed to a beach where kids jumped off the pier and families played in the water. We rowed to the Art Center to see exhibits of wood carvings from the International bi-annual invitation Wood Carving Simposiums - some pieces were gorgeous, others thought provoking, and some were funny or cute.

----WHITE NIGHTS ... OR MAYBE PINK: the sun did go below the horizon - we were too late for a real white night, but it remained bright enough to read by. We enjoyed a long sunset and Steve stayed up late watching for northern lights - sadly none appeared.

OH, GO TO HELSINKI: on a night train.

--HIRING AN IMPRESSION OF THE CITY: On a pay tour, we got to know the city better. Now it's not so nondescript. The best part of the tour was the history we learned. Proud Finish have resisted occupation by Germans, Swedes, and Russians since independence in 1918. Helsinki has a high standard of living. Melanie appreciated their attitude toward women. Finland was the first country in Europe to allow women to vote and to hold office, their university is 60% female students, and 37% of political offices are held by women. On another note, Finland boasts having successfully hosted Olympics so soon after WWII in 1952 - a significant accomplishment following the mass destruction caused by the war.

--NEW IMPRESSION: After the tour, we strolled through open air markets, munched on traditional foods, and we hiking the stairs in the middle of Senate Squaire. Steve enjoyed the Museum of contemporary art. Helsinki is so well planned and convenient, it might be a better place to live than to visit.

--STYLE WEEK AND "STYLE WARS": Steve watched an outdoor dance and music fest in honor of Finland's Style Week. Steve saw a break dancing show. We watched a movie screaning of "Style Wars" about urban artists in New York: graffiti 'artists', Rappers, and Break Dancers. Wait listed for this sold-out show, we got standing room only in the underground theater below a pub. After the show in the pub, break dancers sported their moves. We thought it was interesting that a city would sponsor or allow a theme week glorifying graffiti as art.

--HELSINKI BEACH: We spent our last morning beaching before catching a hydrofoil back to Estonia.

TALLIN AGAIN: WINDPIPES, WATERFALS, AND WAVES

--WINDPIPES: In time for the week long Organ Festival, we attended an Organ Concert in a beautiful Cathedral.

--WATERFALLS: We took a bus to Keile Joa Waterfall. Like Niagra but smaller, this waterfal was broader than it was tall, powerfully gushing dark amber colored water. Upstream from the fall was a walking bridge. Locked on the railings were large padlocks with inscriptions of names of couples. We surmised that tradition is to seal vows by locking the padlocks to the bridge and throwing the key into the waterfall.

--WAVES: OR LACK THEREOF: From the waterfall we hiked to the Baltic sea through the forests along the river. The silver sea horizon presented itself behind silouettes of evergreen trees. We walked along the shore and up the jetti.

PARNU: Southbound to the South-West coast of Estonia:

--TOTTER TEATER WITHOUT A SEATER: A few minutes walk from this quaint old town was the ocean. Parnu had thought of everything. There were rental chase lounges, swings, trampolines, slides, mini-golf courses, a climbing wall, a water slide, and the list goes on. Next cove over was a ladies only beach for the clothing optional femmes. Our favorite attraction was a unique kind of swing. Like a reverse teter totter, it was high in the air. Instead of sitting on it, we grabbed on and hung below. As one of us came down, the other was flung high into the air. It was heaps of fun.

--EVENINGS OUT: In Parnu, we visited museums, walked beaches, strolled the old town, and enjoyed eats with friends Raul and Caroline from Spain and Canada.

NEXT STOPS: Latvia and lithuania

HAPPY BIRTHDAYS TO: Petra S., Arnie W., Lynn S., Annik V., Kenny P., and Darren B.

Posted 1:14 AM by MelanieandSteve
EUROPEAN RUSSIA AND THE END OF OUR RR TRIP: Written 1 Aug about 18 to 24 July

MOSCOW: A CAPITAL TIME AND FIRST IMPRESSIONS: On our first evening, we just walked through the town's center and Red Square - breathtaking. This may be the best first impression of any city yet.

--BEAUTIFUL RED SQUARE: In Red square at twilight, the town sparkled. St. Baisel's Cathedral glowed with candy colored onion domes. The Kremlin was almost haunting with so much history. Lenin's Mausoleum stood alone in the center. While Red Square has seen Communism and blood shed, the name is based on neither. The Word Red in Russian means Beautiful. The square's real name is "Beautiful Square" - Deserving. - especially at twilight.

--THE BIG HOTEL: Our Hotel Rossiya was once in the Guinness Book of World Records as the world's biggest hotel. It's now only the largest hotel in Europe. Location is it's main attraction. Our window view included the Moscow river, the Kremlin, and a steepled sky line.

--THE MAN, THE MARBLE, THE MAUSOLEUM: Ambivalent on how to feel about Lenin the man, we visited his Mausoleum. Steve was extremely impressed by the marble walls with blue opal in it. Lenin's waxy preserved body lay in a palid attempt at immortalization. Once, Stalin's body lay next to him. But it is said that Lenin appeared to his wife in a dream asking to remove Stalin. So Russia did. In back behind the Mausoleum, we saw his grave as well.

--AROUND THE SQUARE: We saw: the three gold-domed churches in the Kremlin, the Old Senate of Presidential offices, the GUM department store which used to epitomize soviet shopping with queues for every item (people would wait in line all day for a banana but now there are only high-end stores like Christian Diore without queues), the Bolshoi Theater, Lubyanka Prison where KGB worked, and so much more.

--EVERYTHING IS BEAUTIFUL AT THE BALLET: The Bolshoi closes in the summer, but the theater next door remains open. Russia wouldn't be Russia without the Ballet. We saw Swan Lake.

--GET A QUEUE... OR TWO OR THREE: The old fashioned Russian queing is not dead. To get into the Kremlin, we waited in long lines first for tickets, then for audio guides, then for entry. Once inside, the first thing we had to do was line up again for special displays.

----UNDERCOVER, AS GUIDES AND CLIENTS: The best special display in the Kremlin, the Armory and Crown Jewels, was sold out. We tried everything to get in, but to no avail. Just as we gave up, we saw a guard at a backdoor. Melanie asked one last time if there was a way to get in. To our surprise, a woman standing by the guard said, "there are tickets." She was a guide in training also trying to get in. She needed clients in order to be admitted - and we were just what she was looking for. VIP style, she escorted us through the back door and straight to the jewels. The armory was good but the crown jewels were stunning.

--MATES, MEALS AND METROS: That night we met our Listvianka friends, Peader and Phoebe, for dinner. We hung out in the Moscow Park with great fountains spouting water tunnels we could walk through. After dinner, we all rode the metro to the train station. Designed as bomb shelters, Russia's metros are about 3 times deeper than other subways. The steep escalators move extremely fast through endless tunnels. Inside, the metros are beautiful domed hallways that look like Cathedrals.

LONG LONG WAY FROM HOME: After an overnight train to St. Petersburg, we had a homestay planned. We didn't want a homestay here, but our travel agent had mistakenly booked it. As we noticed the distance that our driver was taking us from the city center, we grew apprehensive. We left a metropolis of glorious palaces, cathedrals, canals, and European streets and enterred a city scape of gray boxes. Not knowing if there'd be public transport back, the distance bothered us.

--BIG GRAY HOME STAY FAR AWAY : We enterred a sea of monolythic apartment buildings - gray, square, and barely distinguishable from one another but for different graffiti markings. Our driver had trouble finding ours. We later learned to distinguish ours by characteristics such as overgrown grass surrounding it, an overflowing trash dumpster in front, the empty Beer Bottle by the door, and two empty cans of beans on the window sill just inside. We arrived with hearts sinking but we both remembered to keep an open mind.

--COMING IN: The rusty steel entry door creaked open before the cold, dusty cement hallway. ''Conk!'' - the sound of the elevator as we pushed the button. We could barely squeeze our bags and bodies into the sardine tight box. Trusting the ride to the seventh floor was a calculated risk. Then, after knocking on the wrong door, we finally found Luba and her yappy dog Chip, ready to take us in.

--A NEW DIMENSION: Inside, it was a different world - a lovely, albeit small, home. There were Persian rugs on wooden floors, cherry wood furniture, a vanity, bright windows, and even a sunroom. The lay out was strikingly similar to the homestay in Listvianka with two rooms for beds and a tiny kitchen. Luba was even similar to Galina in appearance - round, jolly, aproned. She made us tea, gave us advice, showed us where the metro was, and encouraged us to get started. Seeing this lovely home and learning we had metro access brightened our prospects. With renewed spirit, we headed out to the St. Petersburg unknown. What a wonderful city and experience this would turn out to be.

SELF-GUIDED WALKING TOUR: We led ourselves around this once capital city reading up on history and seeing sites. Stops included palaces, Cathedrals, and Tchaikovsky's home (appropriate after seeing Swan Lake). We read a plaque on a building from World War II warning that during heavy bombardment, this was the dangerous side of the street. We passed through large yellow arches framing the Palace Square. There, St. Petersburg's greatest attraction awaited in the elegant Winter palace, the Hermitage museum.

MEMORIAL TO VICTIMS OF HITLER'S BLOCKADE: Hitler had made secret orders during WWII to wipe St. Petersburg off the face of the Earth. Germans blockaded part of the city stopping supply routes for two years, starving the town to death. Russians lived on 100g of bread a day. Many ate wallpaper starch. Others boiled leather belts and chewed them. At times, thirty thousand people died each day. In total, one Million died. We walked through the graveyard for these victims. Many have never been identified, and mass grave mounds rise from the earth. A flame burns permanently in their honor.

ALWAYS TIME FOR THE BEACH: Our homestay was only a block from the Baltic Beach. We spent an evening watching locals sunbath and picnic. There were large boulders to sit on, and cars abandoned in the water. There was a pathway along the shore that Melanie would run on in the morning.

FUN WITH FRENCH AND RUSSIAN FRIENDS: French travellers, Daniel and Annik also stayed in our homestay. The four of us went out for good conversation. At a cafe, local Russians Boris and Vilodio asked us to join them. Now the tenor of the night turned from conversational to a late night of raucus fun, Russian style. Like Russians we'd met before, Boris and Vilodio wanted to buy and share everything: dinner, snacks, and drinks. They'd point to their throat to get us to drink, and as usual we spent most of our time saying 'Nyet'. Boris wanted to show us St. Petersburg at two a.m., but since he'd been drinking and we were tired, we declined. There was good humor in the fact that we spent four hours at this table: two Americans that could not speak French or Russian, two Russians that could not speak English or French, and two French who could not speak Russian. Only one french person could speak English. Somehow, the conversations persisted.

THE HERMITAGE: We spent the entire day at the World's largest museum and couldn't see it all. This museum inside Peter the Great's stunning Winter Palace was like a mix between France's Versailles and the Louvre with gorgeous palace rooms and magnificent art. During WWII, they acquired some of Europes best collections.

MICKEY D'S, NO LONGER A NOVELTY: Over a decade ago, Russia's first McDonalds was like a simbol of their switch to Capitalism. So we paid a visit. McD's in Russia seems more popular than in the states. The lines and crowds are forever. But despite jam packed tables and queues, they only have a single bathroom stall. We haven't seen the movie "Supersize This," but the long bathroom line there might be another reason NOT to supersize your soda.

BUS TO ESTONIA, IN THE NICK OF TIME: 24 July was the expiration date of our Russian Visa and we had no arrangements to get out. That day, we knew, 'Marvin K. Mooney,' that we had to go, but we didn't know how. As we arrived at the bus station, a bus was conveniently leaving for Tallin, Estonia. Without time to hem, haw, or think about it, we hopped on and it pulled out. That morning went as smooth as silk. Unfortunately, the road did not...

--BLOW OUT!: Out in the middle of nowhere came the big "boom" below our bus seats. A double flat. The driver had myriad troubles changing the tires, so we could do nothing but wait. Two hours in the hot sun made us appreciate the AC when we got back on.

--WEDDINGS AND MONUMENTS : Near our blow out was a stone monument, possibly a gravestone. While we were there, a honking, yelling wedding parade pulled up to pay respects to the monument. We realized curiously that everywhere we went in St. Petersburg, there were wedding parties - even here in the middle of nowhere. Later, we learned it's a St. Petersburg tradition for wedding parties to go around to all the monuments.

OXYMORONIC NEWSPRINT: We read a newspaper article saying that many Germans believe
Putin is responsible for human rights abuses in Chechnya and also guilty of blocking freedom of the press. It seemed paradoxical yet hopeful to read that in his own country's press.

PASSPORT CHECKS AND REGISTRATION: In Russia, Visas are a very serious thing. Strict rules require guests to register upon entry. We forgot to. Others we know who forgot got sent to the police, held until they paid high fines, and even got forced to pay for hotel rooms they would not use just so they could register the address. We don't know why they caught our friends and not us, but we slipped by and counted our lucky stars.

MORE VISA LUCK: We read and heard about many police scams in Russia - random passport checks resulting in random fines, customs craziness ending in seizure of American money, etc... We are so glad no such problems arose for us. Our Russia experience was truly positive and one of our favorite countries in travel.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO: Michelle W.
HAPPY ANNIVERSARY TO: Nate and Sandy.