A Charming Town

There is a big difference between Moscow and Western Europe. We could feel it as soon as we left the airport. The cab driver was lively. It was still overcast and cool, but not cold. There was no snow on the ground. There were no throngs. Hardly any cars. Only 600,000 people in the whole country!! When you stepped onto a crosswalk, every car stopped. Pedestrians were no longer targets. They actually had the right of way.

Every street in the old town is pristine. They obviously have a lot of pride in their heritage. Be sure to click on the pictures to appreciate the detail. From this first pic you can see the ocean and the cruise ships that frequent their harbor!
Old Town from above the city wall!

Russian Orthodox Church

Dadd standing in one of the many interesting little alleys that provide shortcuts from one street to another.

After about 4 hours on our feet the first day, we checked out a movie: National Treasure 2, or whatever the name was! Don't faint, but your father paid $12 dollars apiece for tickets!! I'm not sure I have still recovered from that experience.

Over the next couple of days we checked out the Maritme Museum and the Occupational Museum. The Occupational Museum was my favorite and tells the story of occupation by, first, Russia, then Hitler, then Russia again, until 1991 (They actually raised their flag in 1989, but it took a couple of more years for the communists to acknowledge their independence.

The last night we ate at a nice little Italian restaurant and strolled through the city at night. Here is a picture that shows the city square at night. The square was set up like a little village, with portable, but quaint little buildings or merchants to sell their wares, and a stage for local talent to entertain us. I will post some video a little later.


The next day we spent some more time in Old Town, after we got our new visas and our passports back from our travel agent. We must have spent a couple of hours just in the book store. Earlier that morning we bought some food for dinner and breakfast for the long (16 hour) train trip back to Moscow. Here is a picture of our deluxe accomodations.


I will tell you more about the adventure on the train later, but I am out of time now. Happy New Years, if I can't get back to this later today!! We are on our way to the Truman Madsen Fireside tonight.