Saturday Afternoon Lunch

This past Saturday was a beautiful spring day here in Moscow and a few of our friends got together for lunch at a great outdoor patio restaurant serving the best burgers in town - Scandinavia!

Jim & Martin (who is from London)

Carrie & Megan (who is from Dallas)

Victory Day

This weekend is a big holiday here in Russia.....Victory Day!

Victory Day consists of a military parade involving almost 8,000 personnel, 111 sophisticated tracked and wheeled military vehicles, as well as 32 aircraft and helicopters was launched on Moscow's Red Square on May 9th, when Russia celebrates Victory Day.

Victory Day marks the final surrender by Nazi Germany to the U.S.S.R. in WWII, often referred to as the Great Patriotic War in Russia and other states in the former Soviet Union. The parade was addressed by President Dmitry Medvedev, whose inauguration took place this past Wednesday.

The parade accompanied by a large military band of 550 musicians. Personnel dressed in WWII uniform, carrying historical military banners, are to be followed by the passing of sophisticated military hardware, including war fighting vehicles, armored personnel carriers, tanks, missile launchers and strategic bombers.

Military hardware was last involved in a parade on Red Square on November 7, 1990. No military parades were held on the square from 1991 to 1994, and the May 9 parade in 1995 saw WWII veterans marching in central Moscow. Troops resumed their participation in military parades on Red Square in 1996 and the first Victory Parade was held on Red Square on June 24, 1945 on the order of the then-Supreme Commander-in-Chief, Joseph Stalin.

Here are a few photos of the fighter planes that flew past our apartment window towards Red Square during the parade......only in Russia.

http://mnweekly.rian.ru/local/20080507/55327559.html

Ireland

We took off for a long weekend in Ireland..... here we are at

St. Patricks Cathedral in Dublin

We flew into Dublin and spent two days exploring the city of Dublin ate fish & chips and washed it all down with pints of Guinness. The entire country of Ireland is SMOKE FREE - so wonderful to sit in a bar and not dying of smoke inhalation....like we do in Moscow and Pittsburgh for that matter.....

We toured the Guinness Brewery - really neat tour! After the tour we each got a free pint of Guinness to sample....who knew that Guinness was so good!

After spending a few days in Dublin we set out for the west coast of Ireland to make our trek down the western coast of Ireland south to Cork and drive back to Dublin to fly back home to Moscow......

This was the first vacation that Jim has ever taken with NO hotel reservations - just the open road and our rented red mini cooper (that Jim had to have!!!) I was told NOT to reserve hotel or B&B reservations prior to the trip as you just have no idea what cute Irish town you'll be spending the night.....so we just played it by ear and ended up not having a problem finding a place to stay along the way......

Our first stop was a little town outside the Cliffs of Moher called Lahinch which is on the western coast of Ireland. After touring the cliffs we began our drive down the coast south towards the Dingle Peninsula to our next stop Dingle Town.

Shots of the Cliffs of Moher

Dingle Peninsula was a very neat drive and the town of Dingle was very fun -
lots of cute shops and great pubs.

Standing on Conor Pass

Jim standing at Dingle Harbor

After spending the night and the next day in Dingle we set off East down the coast towards the Ring of Kerry which unfortunately rained the entire day so the Ring of Kerry wasn't as impressive as Dingle Peninsula. We ended up driving to a town called Kenmare to spend the night.

A neat church along the drive towards Kinsale

The next morning we set off driving East again to a town called Kinsale which ended up being our favorite town. It's located on the Kinsale Harbor and made up of great outside cafe's and great shopping. After spending the day in Kinsale we began our drive North towards Cork and a quick stop to the Blarney Castle we were back on the road again towards Dublin
to catch our flight back to Moscow!

Gorky Park

It was a great spring afternoon and Jim and I set off for a walk in Gorky Park! Or the Central Park of Rest and Culture Named After M. Gorky, to give it its full name, is one of the most famous places in Moscow. Laid out in 1928, this was the first park of its kind, and the prototype for hundreds of others across the Soviet Union.

The park stretches along the banks of the Moscow River, and is divided into two parts. The first is primarily of interest to children or those trying to entertain them, as it contains a range of funfair rides and roller coasters - some safer looking than others....

The other, older, half of the park is considerably more restrained, consisting of gardens and woods that combine the former Golitsynskiy and Neskuchniy Gardens. There are a number of fine old buildings dating from the late 18th and early 19th Centuries, including two summerhouses by the great Moscow architect Mikhail Kazakov (who designed the Senate Building in the Kremlin), and the first City Hospital.

Gorky Park's attractions are generally more appealing for locals than for tourists but it's the place to come if you want to find out how the majority of Muscovites spend their free time.

Moscow Circus

This past weekend we visited the Old Moscow Circus with our friends Stacy & Randol.

The Nikulin Circus is one of the oldest in Russia, and the traditional home of the world-famous Moscow State Circus. The original stone building was founded on Tsvetnoi Bulvar in 1880 and the cost of a ticket for the circus was 350 rubles.

Initially, the circus was most famous for its trick riding acts, but an increasingly wide variety of performers joined, and later the stars of the show became the clowns. In 1946, the Clown Studio was established, and its alumni included the great clown and comic actor Yuri Nikulin, who performed at the circus for over 20 years and became Chief Producer there, as well as starring in a number of extremely popular Soviet-era film comedies.

The circus has been renamed in honor of this much-loved performer, and a statue of him stands in front of the building. Although it's called the 'Old' Circus - to differentiate it from the Big Circus on Prospekt Vernadskogo near Moscow University - it was in fact completely rebuilt in the 1980's, and the building and the auditorium seem more like a theater than a big top, with a plush red interior and comfortable seating.

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I haven't been to a circus in quite some time but it was really fun - a lot of acrobatic shows and the poodle show was by far our favorite!

Walk Like an Egyptian

We just returned from a great trip to Egypt....we spent a week at the Renaissance Hotel located in Sharm el-Sheikh which is located on the Sinai Peninsula of Egypt.....The Sinai Peninsula is actually part of the continent of Asia where as the rest of the country of Egypt is part of the continent of Africa. So on this trip to one country of Egypt Jim and I were able to visit two continents - Asia and Africa!!

The flight to Sharm el-Sheikh from Russia was about 4.5 hours long and we had a direct flight from Moscow....we arrived into the airport to find that the airport was pretty nice...Jim was preparing me the entire flight down that it may just be a shack in the middle of the desert - but I have to say it was a pretty nice airport!

Our hotel was also very nice - the Egyptians cater to tourist in Sharm el-Sheikh so we had a wonderful time - here is the link to our hotel http://www.marriott.com/hotels/travel/sshbr-renaissance-golden-view-beach-resort-sharm-el-sheikh/ located off the hotel was the Red Sea and a great coral reef where Jim was able to enjoy the underwater marine life....he said the fish and coral were beautiful....

Hey what's that in the water???
Oh that's Jim trying out his new snorkel gear in the Red Sea!

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On Tuesday, we signed up with a tour group to tour Cairo and check out the Pyramids - because who goes to Egypt and doesn't see the pyramids??? We took a small plane and flew to Cairo from Sharm el-Sheikh about a 1 hour flight - and met up with a tour guide at the Cairo Airport. Our tour group consisted of around 10 people and everyone was from England or Ireland. Our tour guides name was Mohammad - not Hammed as I thought - he corrected me very quickly. We boarded a big tour bus and set off to see the pyramids!

As we were driving Mohammad gave us a few facts on the country of Egypt and the city of Cairo....Egypt makes most of its money as a country with the Suez Canal - Mohammad said that it is estimated to bring in 200 million dollars a day. The city of Cairo is the 3rd most populated city in the world - 20 million people live just in Cairo and the average household income is only $5,000 a year. He mentioned that Cairo is trying to pass a minimum wage law of 700 Egyptian pounds a month or $150 a month.

We finally arrived at the pyramids - what a great site! Here we are with the pyramids and the Sphinx behind us. It's amazing to think that these man-made structures were built over 4000 years ago and to this day still remain a mystery how they were built and why they were built.....Each block used to make the pyramids weighs 2.5 tons!

After sightseeing all morning we took in a little shopping at one of the outside markets in downtown Cairo - they sell everything imaginable - mostly hookah pipes and belly dancing outfits....but to tell you the truth - you can find just about anything!

We heard from some friends that you have to try Egyptian threading....so we stopped into a place and we thought we'd give it a whirl....Threading involves knotting and twisting a fine cotton thread around each hair shaft to essentially “pluck” it from the scalp. They say that it doesn't hurt as badly as plucking or waxing....I had my eyebrows cleaned-up and have to disagree - it hurt like crazy!

A shave and a haicut - and then they tried to thread Jim's head?!?!

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After our week long trip in Egypt is was time to fly home - our flight time had changed and we were leaving a bit later than expected - our flight was now scheduled to leave Sharm el-Sheikh at 12:50 AM and arrive into Moscow at 8 AM - we were not thrilled with the departure time but we did get an extra day of pool time!

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We arrived at the airport, checked our luggage, boarded the plane, and settled into our seats when a Russian woman stands up and announces in Russian to all of the passengers that there are 3 terrorists on the plane and they have plotted to bomb our airplane (I am seated in the aisle seat and at this point have one of the flight attendants translating everything for me...) and as soon as she made her announcement the entire plane went into chaos - people were frantic and children were crying....

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The 3 "terrorists" were asked to come to the galley of the airplane where their carry-on bags were checked....and rechecked. Now you are probably asking yourself - Did these men look like terrorists?? I would have to say - Yes - if you were to draw a picture of what you would think a terrorist would look like - these guys would fit the description...but you have to remember we are in Egypt which is a Muslim country...

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After about an hour the pilot came on the intercom and notified us that there are some individuals on the plane in question and that their checked bags beneath the plane would need to be re-screened and that he hoped we would be leaving shortly....now we all know how long it takes to find and pull someones bags beneath the plane....if you don't - you are lucky you haven't been through it.

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Around 3 AM the pilot came back on the intercom and stated that the 3 individuals in question have been checked and pose no terrorist threat to the airplane and they will be flying to Moscow and departing with us on the plane - Hooray We're off!!!! So we thought....

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As soon as this announcement is made the same Russian woman stood up and announced to the plane - How do we know that they haven't already taken the bomb out of their carry-on bag and placed the bomb somewhere on the plane??? and that she doesn't feel comfortable flying on the same plane and would like to get off the plane immediately....and then 15 other people followed her off the plane! Good riddens kick her to the curb! Hooray We're off Again!!!! Yeah NOT so quick.....

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As most of you I'm sure are aware.... a plane can not take off with luggage of a passenger who is not on the aircraft. So we had to wait as all 15 checked bags underneath the plane were found before taking off. Just after 5 AM we took off from Sharm el-Sheikh......lesson learned - would a terrorist bomber come dressed as a terrorist bomber? I don't think so. Only on a Russian airline would flight attendants allow a crazy woman to stand up and announce that terrorists are on the plane - but as you all know This Is Russia (TIR)

St. Patrick's Day in Moscow

Early Sunday morning we went down to Moscow's main street, New Arbat. As we turned the corner onto Arbat we proceeded through the metal detectors through which all spectators had to pass. The parade route was lined with Russian Military personnel - one uniformed officer every five feet.

A few bagpipers bringing in the Parade!!!

The parade was nice, but certainly not up to what one would expect of a St. Patrick's day parade. The parade included about four marching bands, a couple of company sponsored floats, bagpipers, and a group of people marching their Irish Setters. There was no cheering from the crowd, no waiving at those passing by, and certainly no Mayors with their hair dyed green (like Mayor O'Conner). None-the-less the parade was quite nice and afterward we joined all of the Americans at Starbucks for coffee and lunch.

A couple of scary-looking Russian parade people!!

Unfortunately no one told these gentlemen that it was

the St. Patrick's Day parade -

they were a couple of months late for their parade!!

No smiling at this parade - you would not want any of the military guys

to know you were having any fun.........

Here come more military guys at the end of the parade to disburse the crowd.