Malinki Hotel Ivanovo

Hey guys,

Some of the more memorable moments from our trip:

Live fish brought to the table at dinner our first night...tobogganing down the hill from the Great Wall...the Forbidden City...walking through hutongs at night...bargaining...looking for camera batteries...looking for soldiers in Tienanmen square...border crossings...bogie changing...dinosaur bones in Ulaan Baator...illegal photos...horseback riding...ger camp...buuz making...archery ...

... was where her family lived, that's where she'd go. We showed her pictures of our family and home in America. One picture of Mom and Dad had been taken in Hawaii. She looked at it and said "Is that real?!" She couldn't believe that the photo hadn't been taken in a studio with a fake background. When we got back to the Tourist, we had to get packed and check out of our room. While I was standing guard with the luggage, and Dad was ...

... a footpath. As we pulled up, two little girls were playing on the playground equipment outside and Dad turned to Mom and said "I've never seen a red-headed Russian before, have you?!" Sure enough, one of the girls had seriously, can't mistake-it-for-anything-else red hair. They were both really polite and said that yes, we were in the right spot, and led us inside. This was my first experience with seriously rural ...

After spending 4 days in the busy Moscow, it is nice to come out to the country side for a change. Suzdal is another one of the Russian UNESCO treasure. It is one of the former capital of the old Rus empire back inthe 1100's. The old capital of Rus empire is located in the southern part of the city called the Kremlin. This is a cluster of churches and cathedral on top of the hill and ...

... yet...thank goodness!). Somehow, after showing us several photos, my parents must have felt God speak to them, because everyone settled on a good candidate to adopt. With all of that stress over with, we were able to relax and sightsee. If sightseeing means going back to the mall and shopping. I think I only bought a few books that day, but it was fun. We stopped at the ...

... me feel as though I was out on the open sea. Other than sadly unlevel, they were pretty cool--herringbone parquet, which frankly, I never would have cared about, but now will always connect with Russia. I loved the pattern. There was a cool little area off the main hall with a big window that looked out over the city. It had a great picturesque old-world feel to it. We finally go into the Ministry office where the woman was wearing the most ...

... down how it wouldn't happen that way. A lot of that was just Russia being Russia--none of her horror stories came to pass. We got Natasha's telephone number (home number, although I believe she has a mobile too) and bid them goodnight. Walked down to the mall and bought some groceries for the next few days--a lot of bread and cookies ...

... in progress. Elderly women with head covers were standing on one side while the men were on the other side. The sweet smell of incense wafted in the air. I stood at the doorway for a while, observing this interesting religious service unfolding before my eyes. The colors, the pageantry, the icons of Orthodox religion - everything was so beautiful. I wish there was more time in this town, but we next had to depart for Moscow, 250 miles away...

... we met Sonia's parents and went to the market to buy ingredients for the Indian dinner we'd promised to cook them. On the way there we had a true crowded Russian bus experience - at one point I was sure there was no way another person could fit anywhere on the bus - but it almost felt good after freezing in the puppet theater! The market was a great experience - full of chaos, but very fun. There was a lot of variety and I'd imagine ...

... great-aunt lives in a wonderful, cozy, fantastic home. There we also met Sonia's 'uncle' (really her father's cousin) and his daughter, who also live in the village. First we had a feast of Russian dishes - a sausage like Spanish chorizo, salad, cheese, Georgian white wine, mushroom salad, cucumbers, bread, more mushrooms, homemade black currant wine and I can't remember what all else. Then we went for a walk ...