Victoria Hotel Minsk

... bought lunch in McDonalds as it was the only place that spoke the slightest bit of english and were even stopped by the police for photographing a government building (even though it was a hotel, but the police officer was okay when we deleted the picture). We plan to do a day trip to the town of Brest on the border with Poland tomorrow so its an early bedtime for us tonight. All the best Mark and Peter

... statistics). Some of the doctors even mentioned the fact that the gene pool of the population has mutated now so that future generations will likely be affected indefinitely. Very sad! Dr. Novick performed 6 operations this week and all of the patients had good outcomes. The last surgery was definitely the most complicated. It was a re-do TOF repair and the surgical team ended up being in the OR from 3pm-2 AM before the ...

... the government decides! Usually if you are very strong student in math and science, the government will appoint you as a medical student and will also determine what kind of a doctor you will become and where you work! If you do not go along with the government's choice, you go to jail! CRAZY! Also, instead of going into a regular university for the first four years, you go straight into medical school out of college (3-4years) and then get ONE, I ...

... on the other side of the world some how associate Texas with a sex show! There are even coasters all over the lobby of the hotel that feature TEXAS! Anyways, on with my night... we went out for dinner at a restaurant that had really good food and amazing entertainment! There was a gypsy performance with dancers all around our table for the first half of the dinner, and ...

... possible. I also take advantage of the mall to engage in a favorite Belarusian past time: boot shopping! Everyone here wears boots with 1 to 5+ inch heels, coming up to the ankle, mid-calf, or above the knee. I happen to love boots (they make me taller) and the selection in Belarus is far superior to that in North America. I fall in love with a leathery-looking faux-fur lined, mid-calf pair, and it's a good thing the store doesn't take visa (apparently it's ...

... he has a huge heart for children. After we got to the hotel, we went out for dinner with everyone. There seems to be a lot of fish here, so we ordered sturgeon and actually got to pick it out of a tank. The fish was good, but the appetizers were a bit salty for my taste. All the vegetables that were served were pickled and VERY salty. Oh, and if you ever visit Belarus, do NOT order mineral water... it's ...

... for the border crossing). After reading my guides, I was expecting the worst at the border. I had hidden my Lonely Planet (their discussion of Belarusian politics is a little too frank for the current regieme and guards have been known to confiscate guidebooks) and stuffed the majority of my US cash in a dirty pair of socks. Guards can't extort bribes from you if they think you have no money, and they're unlikely to rifle through dirty socks. Fortunately ...

... make Angels in London look walk able, it was never ending, but laden with bags we continued.. Direction from Vladimir were working, the letterings and lack of signs weren't.. but on to Nevskiy Prospekt we sauntered, street cleaners and drunks welcomed us. Two extremes of the Russia experience, pride of place and stature, harmonized and ingrained with self-destruction.. And in the wrong ...

... building a memorial at Khatyn Village (which I will describe later). In 1990 Gorbachev finally admitted to a mild version of the events that transpired here. The memorial is very serene, a pathway through the woods with memorials throughout. I walked through with Tom and Stacey, and it was really nice. Then we were back on the bus and we made it over the Belarus border in less than an hour. Our first stop in Belarus was the Khatyn Village memorial. In Khatyn Village ...

... Our destination was the fortress at Mир (Mir, a Russian word meaning both 'world' and 'peace'). The building was amazing though the weather was cold and we were glad to get back on the bus and head fpor the second stop at Несви 78; (Neshvits). Несви 78; has a seminary and a church including over-excited icon-sellers who tried to sell me one (she looked a little perturbed when told I ...