Russian Fountain
Russia is a country filled with history, great architecture, and not so interesting food. On this trip we hired a guide to take us around. I don't know how we would have survived without Tonya. The days were mostly cold and dreary and there was always a sense of uneasiness on the trip. While it is not one of my favorite countries, hearing the stories of the families that had grown up under a very controlling government and then let loose to make a life of their own was heart breaking. Most were not equipped to make the change and yearned for the government help again. Those that have the ability led to the creation a two class system: those that have a lot and those that have nothing.
Sad.
This day of exploring took us to Manezhnaya Square in Moscow. The fountain was nice but when the little Russian girl jumped up in a bright colored coat I knew that was the shot. You will not find this photo in a greeting card. You can only see it on the home page of the site. Let me know if you think this would make a nice card.
One sad note about the Russia trip. We visited Moscow and St. Petersburg. On the last full day of the trip, my wife and I were having coffee in a nice little coffee shop. A gentleman came in and started talking to us but we could not understand what he was saying. He sat down several tables away for coffee. A few minutes later another man came in and was selling post cards. We politely said no and started to tally up our bill. The same gentleman "accidentally" knocked over a large sugar container, spilling the white stuff everywhere. He tried to clean it up to no avail. Several minutes later he was trying to sell the postcards again except this time he got pushy about it. He actually was pushing my wife back into the wall as he urged us to buy. I had enough and pushed him away. Good move...he left. However, and you know where this is going, I looked up to find my camera was missing. The team of three men made it off with about $5,500 worth of a camera and lens. Now you know why my memories of Russia are not real great!