Photo of the Week: Las Vegas

This is an oldie, but a goody. The volcano at the Mirage in Las Vegas, don't be confused by Treasure Island in the background. I took this back in 2002 with my first digital camera on my first trip to Las Vegas. I haven't gone to see the volcano erupt on any subsequent trips to Las Vegas though.

Moscow Day 2

Days 24: Moscow Sightseeing: Two days to explore this fascinating city. Our sightseeing tour includes the Kremlin, the onion domes of St Basil's, Red Square and the GUM Store. There's even the opportunity to travel on the Moscow underground! (Breakfast included)

Hotel: Hotel Izamailovo Block "Beta"
Breakfast: 8:30 Bus departs: 9:00

At 9am we all met in the hotel lobby, today was a coach free day so we were starting off with a tour of the Metro. But first the sick people would have to be cared for. Daniel apparently had been sick for a few days and last night Galina had taken him to the hospital. He had an inner ear infection, he was still in the hospital. Tom also wasn't feeling well - something in his throat. Galina took him to the doctor this morning and he had to go to the hospital too, something had to be cut out of his throat or something. It turned out he had an infection in his throat (possibly from having a cut/sore in his throat and brushing his teeth with the water in St. Petersburg.) They gave him an anti-biotic and told him if he wasn't feeling better in a couple days it would have to be cut out.

At 9:45 we finally left, there was a Metro stop 2 blocks away, I took a picture of the name of the stop incase I needed it later. For the tour Galina would tell us the number of stops we were going and put up the appropriate # of fingers so everyone knew where we were going. No one seemed to get lost. At each stop Galina showed us all the cool stuff. The Metro was cool, much of it looked like it belonged in a palace, it was very grand. The decorations were very ornate and there was quite a bit of Communist things there, though some had been taken down. In one station they had montages and in one section they showed communist scenes, but in another area they had been changed and were just flowers. As grand as it was, the train cars looked like they were made of wood - that can't be safe.

When we finished on the Metro Galina put us on line to see Lenin's tomb. We waited on line for a little bit, then had to put our cameras and bags in a security thing since they can't go in. Going into the tomb was a very weird experience. After going through security you go inside the building, it's quite dark and the floor looked like granite, it was hard to see. There were guards when you first walk in, then you go down stairs and there were more, maybe 6 or more in each spot. Then when you walk into the room with his body there were only 2 in there, but at this point you're afraid to do something anyway, it's a very intimidating experience. Once in the room you walk on a pathway around the body, you can't stop or put your hands in your pocket (I heard someone did that and a guard came right up to him). The body is encased in glass and looks very waxy, totally unnatural - it was a parafin waxy look to be more specific. When Lenin died he wished for a small funeral with little fanfare. Stalin had a huge funeral with lots of fanfare for Lenin, he also ordered that his body be maintained so people could see him, like me. He told the Russian scientists to figure out a way to maintain the body. According to Lonely Plant the body is wiped down every couple days and then they use paraffin wax on the body to keep it looking fresh, that explains the waxy look. You too can have this done to your body, you just need to pay 1 Million dollars. After Stalin died his body was put with Lenins, but after 3 years Kruschev had his body removed from the tomb and buried.

Once we left the tomb we had to walk half way around Red Square to get our stuff back, but we did walk through GUM, which is a high end mall. One of the stores had mannequins with potato sack heads, interesting. Andy, Kate, Marie, Kieran, Ted, Lis, Jilly, James and I all went to the Church of Christ Our Savior, which is supposedly one of the most beautiful churches in all of Europe. The hand of St. John the Baptist was in the church, making it a little difficult to get in. It seems that every human being on the planet had made a pilgrimage to the church to see the hand, who knew? We walked by the line for it for quite a while before getting to the back of the church, we thought it was the entrance, but we couldn't get in since it was the exit. We were only able to take pictures of the back. From where we were the line continued around the block and then to the front of the church to get in, the line seemed to be over a day long. Man these Russians really do know how to make a line! After taking a few pictures we headed back to the Red Square area for lunch.

On the way back Lis and Jilly wanted to sit for a few minutes, it had been a long day and it had started getting hot out. Only Kate, Andrew and I waited with them, the others went ahead for lunch. The 5 of us ended up at the underground mall by Red Square having lunch at the food court - we had pizza with bad salads, we also ran into Tom, who had been released from the hospital, I think Lis had sent him a text message about where to meet us. At 3:00 the group met outside the Kremlin for our tour of the Kremlin. Once inside there are areas where you can and cannot walk, they get a little pissy if you cross the line. While inside the walls we saw a group of the military marching in formation, they started heading in our direction but Fraser didn't see them and they just kept marching right into him, it was pretty funny! Inside the armory we got to see some of the Tsar's Faberge Eggs, which were very nice. But I was so tired that it was hard to concentrate on what Galina was saying. After that we went to dinner near Red Square and had Borst (soup) which I didn't like and Chicken. After dinner we tried to go to a bar, but the one that had been picked out wasn't that good so most of us left. We went back to the hotel and tried to go into the Vodka Museum which was nearby, but it was closed. We ended up in the hotel bar having a few drinks, Daniel was there, he had been released from the hospital and was feeling a bit better.

King Tut and family

On Saturday I went to the King Tut exhibit in Times Square. I enjoyed the exhibit, but your reaction to the exhibit will depend a lot on what you expect. I was in Egypt in 2007 so I know that all the really good stuff is still in Egypt like his mask, the sarcophagus, gold boxes that held the sarcophagus, and the mummy. They did have a nice sampling of some of the more minor pieces from King Tut's tomb and his family. I read that there were 130 pieces, and it's quite a bit of stuff, though not overwhelming. I thought it was a good amount.


The first half of the exhibit is items of his family, including the sarcophagus of his grandmother - by far the largest and nicest piece. I thought this piece was one of the best of the collection. There was also a larger statue, though not nearly as large as the pieces you would see in Egypt. There were many items from King Tut's tomb. One example of how this exhibit could be disapointing is that there was a small wooden chair, the chair is kinda cool, though not spectacular. In Egypt there was a small chair that I remember seeing, it was covered in gold and jeweles and really jumped out at you. But overall I thought the exhibit had a nice selection which showed a variety of the types of things you would have seen in Ancient Egypt, without going all the way to Egypt.


If you're expecting to see his body (it's in his tomb), or his sarcophagus and mask (in a special room at the Cairo Museum) you will be very disappointed.

Since my brother-in-law asked, I thought I would mention that this exhibit isn't really appropriate for young children. If you have a child 10 and up and they are interested in Ancient Egypt, then they might enjoy this exhibit, otherwise leave them at home.

Photo of the Week: Checkpoint Charlie Museum, Berlin

This is a poster I found at the Checkpoint Charlie Museum in Berlin. A child's depiction of East and West Berlin...

Just another Saturday night in Times Square, well and a bomb too.

On Saturday I met my friend Kelley in Times Square to see the King Tut exhibit, and then the night took an interesting turn when they found a bomb in Times Square... I'll write about King Tut for this week, but thought I would write about my experience in Times Square today.

According to news reports the bomb was found around 6:30pm, right around the time I left the King Tut exhibit, which is on West 44th Street between 7th and 8th Avenues. The bomb was located at West 45 at Broadway. Kelley and I walked up to a restaurant at West 46 and 8th Avenue for dinner and were blissfully unaware of what was going on. After 8:00 Kelley went to use the rest room and was told by another woman that there was a bomb threat in Times Square. I looked out the window of the restaurant and did notice that West 46 Street was closed and there was a little crowd around and heavier traffic. I work for New York City and am all too aware of how many "suspicious" packages are in New York City so I wasn't too fazed by this. Plus I know that they are more careful with "suspicious" whatevers (I'm thinking of the recent suspicious vehicle back in December) and 2 hours to clear it wouldn't be unusual or alarming. I rarely see Kelley so I didn't want to start checking twitter or the newspapers on my iphone and pretty much ignored it. Kelley and I went up to a bar around 50th and Bway for a drink and left around 11pm. We walking down Broadway and at 46th Street were diverted to 6th Avenue. I did take a quick picture of an empty Times Square with my iphone, not a common site.

On 6th and West 46 there is a Fox News ticker which is where Kelley and I got our first glimpse at what was going on via the news - that their was a possible vehicle bomb and some guy was seen running away (which is not true), it was the first time that we got confirmation of this being serious, aside from the fact that at this point we knew it was going on about 4 hours, which is a long time. Kelley and I separated shortly after for our own respective homes and on the way home finally checked out twitter and the news and got an idea of how serious things were.

In the end it was a very serious situation, but Kelley and I was pretty oblivious to it, and that wasn't hard to do, especially since we're both pretty used to unplanned disruptions that happen in NYC all the time. You just walk a different way and go on with life. I think it's also a testament to the good work on the NYPD, we didn't see any chaos or confusion in the streets, just curious onlookers. As a tourist it would have been frustrating (can't get to hotels, broadway shows and the sites), but also more fascinating.

In the next few days more and more information will come out about who did this and what exactly this bomb was (as in how much danger people were actually in.) Am I worried? Not really. It's not that I'm not worried - I think Times Square, NYC Subway and lots of other places in NYC and other cities are targets for terrorists. But I also think our intelligence services are doing a good job, and in the end there are so many places that are targets and to avoid them all would be to not live life. The bottom line for me is that next week a friend is coming to Times Square for a show and I'm meeting her for dinner. I have not plans to skip this, I'll be there with my friend for dinner.

Novgorod to Moscow

Day 23: Novgorod to Moscow: Past Klin where Tchaikovsky lived, then a short drive to Moscow where we enjoy a first glance at the city sights, including Red Square. (Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: Hotel Izamailovo Beta Block
Breakfast: 7:00 Bags to the bus/depart: 7:30

I'll start with a brief history of Communism in Russia...

Although Moscow's history is much more diverse then simply Communism, the remains of Communism are much more prevalent then they were in St. Petersburg. Moscow is first mentioned in historical chronicles in 1147, it's been burned down several times and been at the center of many battles. But I think the more modern history of Moscow is more interesting so I'll stick to that.

After the Bolsheviks took power they moved the Capital back to Moscow, in fear that the Germans would try to take St. Petersburg if it were the Capital. In an effort to maintain power the Bolsheviks and Lenin imprisoned and killed opponents, the same as had been going on in Tsarist Russia, just at a higher level then the Tsars. Several attempts were made on Lenin's life, resulting in Red Terror - tens of thousands were executed or put into labor camps. Meanwhile the continuing civil war caused widespread famine and death in Russia. Both the red army, led by Trotsky, and the white army (Tsarist with the support of the US, British, French and Japanese) ravished the countryside of Russia. Lenin and some Bolsheviks broke off from the Socialists and started the Russian Communist Party. After the war, Lenin tried to rebuild industry and agriculture in Russia, as well as fighting Anti-Semitism. In January of 1924 Lenin died, but not before criticizing Stalin and saying he is too harsh and should be removed from his post.

After Lenin's death there was a struggle for power between Stalin and Trotsky, eventually Stalin took power, the party chose him because they thought he was the lesser of two evils. Trotsky and his supporters were exiled; eventually, Trotsky would be assassinated by Stalin. Stalin went on to ban the Russian Orthodox Church, and executed the Priests. His vision for Russia was to take the peasant society and make it an industrial world power, which he did. He took away the farms and property of 4/5ths of the population in order to achieve his goal - if they refused - Stalin sent the secret police in. Those in violation were sent to Gulag Camps, by the 1930's there were 10 Million people in forced labor. Stalin ordered the deaths of 90% of the 17th Congress, because he did not trust them. Paranoia and hysteria reigned supreme - 1 and a half million people were killed within a 2 year period in Stalin's effort to eliminate dissenters - this was known as the Great Terror. Those who were sent to Gulag Camps didn't fair any better, they did back breaking work and the death rate was close to 100% in some of these camps. Throughout all of this Stalin was revered as the father of Russia and loved by all, YEA for propaganda.

In 1939 Stalin signed a non-aggression pact with Hitler. This made Hitler's attack on Russia even more successful, Stalin didn't expect it and dropped the ball on the response. In World War II over 8 and a half million Russian soldiers and 20 million civilians were killed in the war. At the Yalta Conference Stalin demanded control of conquered German areas in the East, the Allies agreed.

After the bombing on Hiroshima, Stalin studied the effects of the Atomic Bomb: Hitler's invasion of Russia was 4 times worse - Russia would be able to survive an initial strike by the US - a little scary if you ask me. In March of 1953 Stalin suffered a stroke and died 3 days later. I have heard that they knew what was going on (stroke) when he was dying, but refused to help him, waiting for him to die.

Nikita Kruschev took over power after Stalin and started the De-Stalinization of Russia, which allowed more liberalism in Russia and the Eastern Bloc. The Russian economy grew faster then many Western economies. But he also encouraged the building of the Berlin Wall and persecuted the Russian Orthodox Church. He deployed missiles to Cuba, causing the Cuban Missile Crisis. After that Kruschev was ousted.

Leonid Brezhnev took power in 1964. I like to think of him as the leader of Russia when the Soviet Hockey Team lost to the USA Hockey Team in the 1980 Olympics in Lake Placid. But he did other things, like sending his military into Afghanistan. It is also believed that he ordered the failed assassination of Pope John Paul the II in 1981.

In 1985 Mikhail Gorbachev became the leader of Russia. Under his leadership the economy failed and there were severe shortages of food. Gorbachev worked with Ronald Reagan (who promised to win the arms race) to bring an end to the Cold War. He relaxed control over the Soviet Caucuses and eventually brought an end to Communism in Russia, along with allowing the unification of Germany. He was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize in 1990.

And so it was time to drive to Moscow...

We left a few minutes late this morning because Tony had accidentally taken a towel from his room and the hotel wanted it back. Our first stop this morning at 10:30 was interesting... It's almost like a rest stop, well more like a gas station with a shop inside and a restaurant next door. They had animals in cages (like a bear and a fox in a cage, along with other animals), it was a bit weird as they obviously were sedated, either that or they have all lost their will to live. I used a really crappy bathroom, but it was better then the free one. Maggy said the free bathroom was the dodgiest bathroom she had ever seen in her life, and she has been to Egypt so it's saying something. (That was what I had originally written and in all my life this was the second worst bathroom, the worst was in Belarus. The bathrooms in Egypt weren't that bad.)

After that stop we played a game with a matryoska doll of Russian leaders that Maggy had and then she gave us some more history on Russia. At 2:30 we had a stop at McDonalds, I tried to order my cheeseburger with only ketchup (I was afraid of what else they might put on it), I thought we sorted it out, but I ended up with extra ketchup and everything else (mustard, pickle, and onion). It could have been worse; I think, they originally thought I didn't want any ketchup. After lunch we drove to Tchaikovsky's House, on the way we passed a public bus that was missing a tire, it was just riding on the wheel, and no one seem fazed.

We arrived in Moscow at 6:15, picked up Galina, our Moscow guide, and Maggy gave our passports to someone else to go get our Belarus Visas. Galina talked to us a bit about Moscow and Russia on the way to Red Square for our group photo. On the way over to Red Square I saw a kid walking around with a stuffed mouse, what? Who would want a stuffed mouse? And no, it wasn't Mickey. Don't kids want giraffes like me? So we walked into Red Square where the Red Army has marched countless times. We were quickly lined up for our picture, we took a couple and of course I was squinting in the one they picked, owell, but St. Basil's is in the background. In Red Square they were cleaning up from the concert the night before, the one that Tania and I had watched on TV, I guess it was live.

After our photo Galina took us on a city tour, she showed us the KGB and a bunch of other stuff, I think my brain was getting overloaded at this point. She explained to us about the double headed eagle that Russia uses. I explained before that it came from the Byzantine Empire, and was taken by Tsarist Russia. Under the Tsars the two heads represented the church and the Royal Family working together. When communism fell they needed a symbol, so they took the double headed eagle again, now it represents the government and something else, but the running joke is that the other thing is the mafia.

When we got back to the hotel the girl who had taken our passports wasn't back yet, she was stuck in traffic, and so the hotel would not let us check in. Around now the trip was getting to me, I was tired and it had been a long day, I even commented to Kate that I was ready to kill someone, no one in particular, just that I was on the edge. I had been one of the last to get into the hotel and I heard Maggy announce that we couldn't get our rooms yet and that we were going to leave our bags in the lobby (with someone watching them) and the rest of us would eat. Everyone was bunched up in the middle so I was waiting till they cleared out to put my bag in the middle with the others. Renae asked if I was going to dinner, I said I was just waiting for everyone to move (I think I sounded a bit short with her). Right after Fraser came over and told me I had to put my bag in the middle... Well I lost it... I yelled something about how I could see what was going on, Fraser tried to explain himself, but I just yelled at him more. I hear he mumbled something about me being a bitch, he's not the first, wont be the last even though I really am a nice girl. Once I put my bag down I went up to dinner with the few people who were around to witness my outburst.

After dinner several people went to do internet in one of the other buildings in the complex, our hotel is part of a multiple building complex that was used for the 1980 Moscow Olympics (the ones the US didn't attend) so the hotel was nice, though the rooms were out of date, but the elevators rocked! While waiting I waited on line at the reception desk to find out about the internet in our lobby, eventually I found out they were only open 9am to 7pm - when we would be out of the hotel, naturally. Anyway the girl with the passports got to the hotel at 9:15 and I was in my room by 10:00. I did a little laundry in the room, since Moscow is the only city in Russia with "safe" water (I still only used bottled water for drinking and brushing teeth). When Tania got in she wanted to go use the internet so I went with her and spent 50 minutes updating everyone as to what I was up to. I had planned on doing something with Kate and Andrew, but I felt bad that the family hadn't heard from me in a while. I finally got to bed at 12:45.

Cherry Blossoms

Part 3 of my trip to Washington DC.

I was lucky enough that my trip to Washington DC was during Cherry Blossom festival. For years I had heard about these mythical Cherry Blossoms, but had never seen them, but I was intrigued. About 2 weeks before my trip I found out that I would be there for the Cherry Blossoms. Tried as I might, I didn't find out too much about them, none of the sites I looked at even talked about where to go see them. In retrospect, it seems obvious to those in Washington, but when all you know about them is that they are trees, you need a little more detail. For those with inquiring minds, they are around the Mall and the Potomac River.

Luckily I was there with my friend who knew slightly more then that they were trees. But we quickly learned a lesson. Driving is NOT a good way to see them. We were in the area around the Mall at rush hour - BAD, it was also during a school break so there were tons of tourists around in addition to the regular people. Being in a car gave us mobility, but also made it hard to stop and take pictures, a real problem when the sun starts going down. Low light and movement don't go well together. Also, my friend didn't have the best knowledge of getting around the area of the Potomac. Eventually we were able to stop, I got out and took some pictures - it was fairly dark by now and I didn't really know how to use my camera that well and I didn't have a tripod. I got to learn how to straighten pictures when I got home. But the cherry blossoms are pretty.

The following day I was on foot (with a very heavy backpack) and had some time to kill so I decided to go back. It was a gorgeous day - 80 degrees and sunny. The mall and the area around the Potomac was packed. I found a band on the Cherry Blossom festival stage. Well the Potomac with the Cherry Blossoms is really pretty and a great setting for photos, you'll be seeing many of them in the coming photo's of the week.

I didn't get to fully experience the festival, I just got a glimpse of it. I can't say I would kill myself trying to get back for the Cherry Blossom Festival, but it did seem like a nice way to spend a spring day in Washington DC.

This was also my only opportunity to buy souvenirs from my trip. I bought myself a Christmas tree ornament, and bought my mom a Cherry Blossom tree starter kit which I gave her for Easter.

Photo of the Week: Washington DC

From my recent trip to Washington DC this was my first encounter with Cherry Blossoms. You can read about my experience seeing them on Wednesday.

St. Petersburg to Novgorod

Day 22: St. Petersburg to Novgorod: We leave the 'Cradle of the Revolution' and journey past collective farmland to Novgorod, which when translated means 'New Town'. This afternoon, a guided tour of the town and its famous church and millenium bell. (Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: Hotel Sadko
Breakfast: 9:00 Bags to the bus/depart: 9:30

This morning we were dropped off the Church on the Spilled Blood at 10am for a free morning. Marie was trying to arrange for a canal tour this morning, she had spoken to someone the day before, but no one mentioned that today was a holiday and everything was running with limited service. The only times we could get for the canal cruise would make it really tight for meeting the bus at 12:30 if we wanted to eat lunch too. We finally got one that was supposed to leave at 11 for 7 euro each. But by 11:15 the boat hadn't moved yet and they didn't know where the driver was, so we all got off and went for lunch instead, Subway.

At 12:30 we met the bus and headed off to Novgorod. Maggy had gotten our stuff from Dodgy Serg and gave it out once we were on the bus. Then she went over our Belarus Visas and gave us some history on Novgorod. Novgorod is 1047 years old, we didn't know it then but we found out later that today is "Novgorod Day," it's Novgorod's Birthday! Some history: the city was trashed by the Nazi's and Ivan the Terrible left his mark here, he sent his storm troopers in and killed 60,000 people. What a happy place!

At 4:00 we arrived at our hotel, which was really nice. But Contiki had not made our reservation and they weren't ready for us, but they had rooms at least. At 4:30 we went on our tour of the city while the hotel got our rooms and dinner ready. The city isn't terribly big, and a bit run down, but it was Novgorod Day so they were having a festival and everyone was out and about. We saw the Cathedral of St. Sophia, the gold gilding had come off the domes and you could find it on the ground, I found some. We also saw the Millennium of Russia Monument, celebrating the 1000th anniversary of Prince Rurick's arrival. We drove over the Volkhov River back to the hotel at 6:00 and had dinner at 7:30. With my free time I packed up my souvenir bag so it could be stored in the bottom of the bus so I wouldn't have to drag the stuff around anymore, I had collected quite a bit of stuff.

At dinner I sat with Skye, Tom and Michael. Skye and I decided to follow Maggy's advice, to go to the communist grocery store next door, then we were going to walk into town. Tania decided to come with us, but she didn't last long as she needed something back at the hotel and didn't even make it into town with us. The communist store was interesting, everything is behind counters and you tell the people what you want and they get it for you. Ahhh, so this is how the communists created jobs for everyone, by making everything excessively labor intensive. The girl behind the counter looked bothered by me and my buying candy, I love Russian hospitality.
We continued into town and it was nice since there were so many people in town. We looked for an internet cafe that was supposedly in town, but never found it. As it got later Skye and I started to feel a bit uncomfortable in town and decided it was time to go back to the hotel.

Back at the hotel I finished packing while Tania and I watched a concert that seemed to be going on in Red Square, we wondered if it was live. It was funny to watch because we couldn't understand 95% of what they were saying, but every now and then they would say a word that was close to the English translation and it would catch my ear, like "internet," but I still didn't know what they were talking about.

Solio Iphone Charger

Right after Christmas I got the Solio Iphone solar charger. It touted that you could have extra power for your Iphone by charging the solar charger with either the sun or your computer. It sounded great, but in the end it's a complete dud!

The first problem is that it takes around 20 hours of direct sun light to fully charge, but since you can charge through your computer I was able to get over that. I ended up never charging with the sun - winter on Long Island isn't known for long sunny days. But the device was still quite usable until it started to provide less and less power for my iphone, about 3/4 of power instead of full power.

After 3 months I charged it from my computer fully before my trip to Washington DC. While in Washington I needed to charge my cell phone, well the solio charger provided no power to my iphone.

When I returned home I sent an email to Solio explaining the situation. The first question they asked was what wire I was using - the one that came with it was my response. My next email told me that I needed the updated wire, they gave me a discount code, but I was still paying money and shipping for a new wire (which looked exactly the same as the one I had and the website link provided no information on it) for a 3 month old device. Seriously??? If the charger was a year old I could see needing an updated wire or something, but 3 months? And it's not cheap, at $80 it's at the high end of chargers prices. I was NOT happy. I packed up the charger and went to the Apple store and returned it, Apple gave me a store credit. Not perfect, but then again it was 3 months later. Now i'll buy a new charger, but will do a little more research first.

Incase you were wondering. No, I do not recommend this to anyone.

Photo of the Week: Nuuanu Pali Park, Hawaii

Nuuanu Pali Park, Honolulu, Hawaii. Well actually I'm not sure what the picture is of, but I was in Nuuanu Pali Park when I took the picture.

St. Petersburg Day 3

Days 21: St. Petersburg Sightseeing: Plenty of time in St Petersburg to get acquainted with the fascinating history and way of life. Our sightseeing tour includes the great Winter Palace, the incredible Hermitage Museum; visit Petrodvorets with its palaces, parks and fountains. And for a taste of local flavour, anyone for caviar and a vodka chaser? (Breakfast and Dinner included)

Hotel: LDM Ulitsa Professora Popova

Breakfast: 8:30 Bus departs: 9:00

The Niet Niet Ladies at the hotel had struck, apparently they had a substitute Niet Niet Lady and she wouldn't give the room cards back, Maggy was able to fix it before we left. Is it really that hard to exchange pieces of paper for room keys? While the hotel seemed to be pretty clean, the water definitely had an odor to it, you definitely could not brush your teeth here, and you had to keep your mouth closed in the shower. But at least I had a shower in my room, Scandinavia made me appreciate that.

Our first stop of the morning was a photo stop at the Arora Battleship. During the war with Japan there was a 45 minute sea battle in which 45 Russian ships were lost, the only to survive was the Arora. Next was Peter and Paul Fortress, resting place of the Tsars.

The bodies of Nicholas II's family were found in 1991 and were given a state funeral, by 1998 DNA testing showed a 98.5% chance that the bodies were Nicholas II, Alexandra, Tatiana, Olga, and either Maria or Anastasia. The bodies of Alexei and Anastasia have not been found.

Once at the Fortress we went inside the Cathedral, Anna showed us the tombs of the Tsars and explained about the Cathedral. There was a lot of construction inside, they were bringing the body of one of the Romanov wives from Copenhagen and they were setting up for her tomb. They seemed to be preparing the whole cathedral for the event. We also saw the room where Nicholas's family is interred, 2 places are left blank for Alexei and Anastasia. Our last stop in the Cathedral was to listen to the choir, they were truly amazing signers. I would have bought their CD, except it was 20 or 25 euros and I didn't foresee myself listening to it much.

After Peter and Paul fortress we had a stop at the Faberge Egg store. Tsar Alexander III started the tradition of purchasing these for his wife for Easter each year. Tsar Nicholas II would continue this tradition by purchasing them for his wife and mother. I purchased an egg charm for myself, it opens up and inside is a basket of flowers, this would be my big purchase of the trip, and a lovely one at that. I also got my mother an egg with a carriage inside, mom deserved something nice.

At 11:40 we were dropped off near the Nevsky Prospect McDonalds and had free time till 1:30. Today we had KFC for lunch, the workers hear understood enough for us to order. We ended up with enough time to not really do anything other then walk down Nevsky Prospect a bit. Our 1:30 meeting today was for our tour of the Hermitage, which I was very excited to see.
The reason we went to the Hermitage today instead of yesterday is that yesterday there were 5 cruise ships in town and the place would be mobbed, this is the value of having a tour guide. As excited as I was I was literally falling asleep standing up and walking, that would explain why I was walking like a drunk and bumping into people. It was kind of bazaar, but I do remember seeing many of the rooms in the Winter Palace and some of the famous works of art throughout the museum, I'm glad I got a book on the Hermitage. From what I remember it was a remarkable place with all the formal gold and jewles you might imagine. After the tour I decided not to continue walking around the museum for obvious reasons. I decided to find the internet and write home instead. Well I waited on line for 15 minutes at a coffee shop counter to buy 20 minutes of internet. The guy in front of me complained to some woman who had cut the line, she just showed her Hermitage id, said she worked there and gave the look of death. When I got to the cashier I was told they couldn't sell anymore time because they were closing in 15 minutes, NIET NIET!!!!! I must have given her the look of death because she called over the manager who explained it again. I swear, I almost jumped over the counter and strangled someone. It made me very cranky for a while, but I was able to save other people from wasting 15 minutes of their time on line, at least there was that.

We walked around a bit, saw some brides (these were not the first brides we saw in St. Petersburg, we had seen at least one everyday we were here) and walked over to the Church of the Spilled blood and a miracle happened, I actually bought a matryoska doll, yea! I even bargained for it. She tried to sell me another one that wasn't as nice since it was closer to my price range, but I liked the one I picked out much better.

At 5:00 we were picked up and taken to two photo stops, St. Nicholas Naval Cathedral and the palace where Rasputin was assassinated. Rasputin became a fixture with the Tsar's family and many believed he was really controlling the Tsar's decisions, some thought he was the Tsarina's lover too. In December 1916 those loyal to the Tsar thought he had too much power and assassinated Rasputin. They tried to poison him, but that didn't work so they shot him. When he was still moving after being shot they clubbed him and dragged him to the Neva River and threw him in - the cause of death was drowning.

From there we went to Moo Moo's for dinner. The restaurant is named after a Russian story about a dog named Moo Moo. The short version: Moo Moo rented a room from a Russian woman who did not like dogs. One day she took the dog, tied a brick to him and threw him in a lake drowning him, poor Moo Moo. From there we went to the Russian Folklore show.

Most of us were a bit ambivalent about this part of the Russian Optional package, but everyone seemed to enjoy the folklore show. During the show they did audience participation, and one of the woman in the show had been eyeing Fraser all night. Fraser tried to get Corey to switch with him so Fraser could be a row closer and right next to the stairs. Not sure what why Corey wouldn't switch with him, but it really pissed Fraser off. I could see why he wanted to switch, but I'm not sure what the big deal was. Fraser did get pulled up on stage anyway, and seemed to have a great time up there. During intermission they had fruit, Champaign and caviar. I was almost tempted to try the caviar, just to say I did it. Marie said it was good. But then Kate tried it, I was almost gagging just looking at her trying not to gag on it. After she got it down she proceeded to explain how all the little eggs exploded in her mouth, yuck! I didn't try it, and doubt I ever will. On the bus back Maggy played our day song, Rasputin, for us, and Fraser danced...

I wanted to eat at the furniture store

This is part 2 about my trip to Washington DC.

I arrived in the city around 7:30 at Union Station. The station was pretty nice (for a train station) with a bunch of food places (including some that were a little better then the typical train station places.) But I went straight for the taxi stand. My first image of the city was of the Capital, I liked that, it gave me a warm and fuzzy feeling. There's just something I like about seeing the seat of government, it makes the government feel accesable, even if it's not. It actually reminded me of when I was in Rome and the first thing I saw when I got out of the Metro was seeing the Coloseum. My taxi took me quickly to my hotel - The Henley Hotel on Massachusets Ave.

Check in at the hotel was quick and effiecient and I was assigned room number 702. I was excited about this hotel, it's a historic preservation building and from the website it seemed like it had a lot of character, not just a typical chain hotel. Well the hotel was nice and clean and did have a bit more character. But, it wasn't that special. The room was small, it didn't have a desk, I had to wiggle the cable wire to get a clear picture on the TV and it didn't have THAT much character. I felt like every room might have had a different shape and set up, but that they probably have all the same bedding, window treatments, furniture, TV's. Basically the character of the hotel didn't go much past the lobby and the outside of the building. I also didn't like the set up of the bathroom - it had a lot of empty space and the sink area was really small.

But the good things were the bedding. The bed was comfortable, though not exceptional. But the bedding did seem to be of a higher quality and the pillows were comfortable. Being as I spent about 9 hours a day in the room (mostly sleeping) a comfortable bed was the only thing I really cared about in the end.

After checking into my room I dropped my stuff off and went in search of food. I wasn't terribly hungry, but I knew I would be if I didn't eat. This was another problem with the hotel, there was a restaurant there, but there was nothing to eat within a 2 block radius and forget it if you wanted something quick and easy to eat, McDonalds was about 5 blocks away. At one point I saw a diner like place and got all excited, but it turned out to be a furniture store. Later on I noticed another furniture store that looked like a diner. Later on in my trip I realized that if I had done my walking in the other direction, I probably would have found a nicer McDonalds within the same distance.

The two things I learned on this night was that this hotel was poorly placed if you wanted food, and that in Washington DC furniture stores look like diners.

So I did end up eating at McDonalds, I got french fries and a soda. I have to say I'm not sure it was my best decision though. As I was walking up I passed some homeless people and at the same time 2 guys walked up to me and asked where the nearest Metro stop was, a homeless person answered, then asked for money. I'm so not into giving homeless people money so I just went to McDonalds where the clientel was a little off. There was a family of 4 who looked like they spent a fair amount of time in McDonalds, and a homeless woman who was talking to herself. Then the homeless guys came in. As a single woman in a strange city (and one not know for how safe it is), it didn't feel terribly comfortable to me. But nothing happened to me and it just served as one of those nights when you notice everything that is going on around you, but traveling will do that to you.

Photo of the Week: Jefferson Memorial

I'm actually a Lincoln fan, it's the whole Civil War buff thing that I have going on. But the Jefferson Memorial is very photogenic. Not only do I like this picture for the composition and the content but I took this with my little point and shoot camera that I had to figure out on this trip. I also didn't have my tripod, I never seem to have the thing when I need it.