So this is the story of our fabulous trip to Austria and Czech Republic.  It really was wonderful.  A nice break from Russia, and a prolonged Autumn compared to what we've experienced in Moscow.  Two weeks of relatively warm weather, and the rain managed to keep mostly to days when we were travelling, leaving us nice weather for sightseeing. One of our biggest worries was how Aiden would do with a busy travel schedule, but he was fantastic.  We really had a wonderful time. 

Of course, there are a lot of pictures, and there are some here in the blog, but you can see them all, if you want, using this link or the link at the bottom of the page.  

Everything went smoothly for our travel, which is always a good omen. We walked out our front door to the metro, and then connected to the airport train. We found our way through the airport with no problem, checked in and made it to the gate. No muss no fuss.  On the flight, the flight attendant gave Aiden some toys to play with and reseated the gentleman in our row so that we had all three seats to ourselves. Aiden even got a special seat belt that hooked on to mine so that we knew he was safe.  And even though the flight was only two and a half hours, they gave us meals. 

In Vienna, our bags came in no time and we had no trouble getting a train into the city and finding our hotel. As I said, it was a great start to our trip.  Our hotel in Vienna was a short walk from the old city and was very quaint.  The proprietor was a little old man who was married to a famous musical conductor. He was very nice, and very excited about his dog and bird. In fact, every time he saw us, he gave us another one of his business cards, which featured pictures of them on the back .

The next morning, we had a wonderful breakfast at the hotel including crepes with Nutella, and it turned out that the cook was Russian.  It was kind of funny to travel all that way only to speak Russian over breakfast, but since we don't speak much German, it was nice to be able to have a conversation at all. The only downside about the hotel was that we only had one key between us, so there were a couple of times where we went back to the room at different times and Stephanie had to knock.  The second time, she was reprimanded by the proprietors wife for being irresponsible and coming back without a key.

Our first day was a little dreary, but we headed out for sightseeing, taking in the Hofsburg Palace and surrounding areas.  We made  a decision early on not to do much in the way of museums because we didn't think we'd get to enjoy it with Aiden, but there was more than enough to see from the outside in terms of beautiful architecture and fountains.

From there we made our way to the Rathaus, the Parliament, and the Votives Kirche (which looked rather derelict from the outside but was beautiful inside).

Stephanie took Aiden to a playground while I scouted out a restaurant, which was surprisingly difficult to find.  Our prior experiences in Western Europe have been that everyone is on a later schedule than we are used to.  When we went to Spain, many restaurants didn't even open until after 9pm.  Austria is like the anti-Spain.  Everything closes down around five pm.  I did end up finding a restaurant that was open, but we decided to look for pastries on our way back to the hotel.  Boy were we disappointed.  Apparently, you can't get pastries in Vienna after lunch.  Poor Stephanie had been looking forward to a good Viennese pastry for so long, but we didn't end up having any until the next day. 

The next day dawned bright and sunny.  We started at the opera house and made our way into the historic center, home to St. Stephen's cathedral. 

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As you can see, the cathedral was incredible inside, but just as impressive were the views from the bell tower looking over the city .

We obviously didn't carry Aiden up several hundred steps, so we took turns walking around outside the cathedral with him.  He enjoyed looking at some beautiful fall centerpieces outside a flower shop and entertaining passersby.  Asian women in particular seem to be particularly taken with him and we had to rescue him from being overwhelmed from time to time.  They all wanted to take their picture with him and try to pick him up or pinch his cheeks. It was very strange and poor Aiden seemed a bit nervous.

One of the great surprises of our visit was when we ducked inside this rather plain looking church only to find one of the most ornately decorated spaces we've ever seen on the inside.

We passed through Karlzplatz on our way to get lunch at the Nachts Market, where we had planned to get lunch.

I had read that there are a lot of placed to grab a bite to eat in the Nachts Market, which is a huge historic outdoor market. But when we got there, most of the places to eat were packed with smokers, which was none too appetizing. In the end, though, I think we made out even better. We found a guy selling local cheese, including one infused with saffron.  We rounded out our meal with some figs, cured meat, some sort of berries that grew in little paper wrappers, and yes, some strudel.  And thus, Stephanie got her pastry.

We spent the rest of the afternoon at Schonbrunn palace, which has beautiful grounds where we were able to let Aiden play.  It was a wonderful way to wrap up our time in Vienna, and we went back to the hotel that night to pack up for our next move to Olomouc (pronounced Olomouts), in Czech Republic.

We had a wonderful train ride.  We had a compartment all to ourselves, so we were able to relax while Aiden played or looked out the window at the passing scenery.  There was only a short stopover on the way, and the whole trip was over in about two and a half hours.

We arrived in Olomouc around lunch, took a short trolley ride to our hotel and walked down the street to the main square, which houses the centuries-old town hall.  It's a relatively small town in Moravia, and dates back to Roman times when it was settled as a fortification.  It's a beautiful town, but relatively unknown to tourists, so it's very peaceful. 

Of course, by that time, we were quite hungry, so we found a restaurant and quickly learned that Americans do not quite deserve their reputation for huge portions. I've never seen so much food.  I don't think we even ate dinner that first night.  Of course, some of the fun was trying local delicacies like a local pungent cheese, served in a dish with butter and onions, called the Lord of Lostice's Smelly Breath.  They actually serve mints with it, but it's quite good.  We also had some delicious and very strong garlic soup that the area is known for and shared a nice bottle of Moravian wine.  That was just the appetizers...

We pretty much spent the rest of the afternoon walking lunch off and just enjoying the sites around town. All in all, it was a fantastic way to mark our 5th Anniversary (particularly the bottle of wine).

By the end of the day, Stephanie and I were both pretty exhausted, but not Aiden.  He was still running around the room, playing and laughing and jumping on us in bed when we tried to go to sleep.  We were worried that he would get tired out because he wasn't taking his normal naps, but if anything, the effect was the opposite. 

The next day the weather looked a little uncertain, but we headed up to the main cathedral. There was a service going on at the time, but that didn't stop us from admiring the architecture. 

After that, we went to the Archbishop's palace.  One thing that was interesting is that it was very easy to see similarities between Czech language and Russian.  In many cases I could understand things in writing very clearly. But due to lingering bad feelings regarding the Soviet occupation, most young people in Czech Republic did not learn Russian, and even older people, for whom Russian was compulsory, will not speak it. While I understand the sentiment, and while many Czech people speak English very well,  it was a bit frustrating  at times when I knew someone could speak Russian but wouldn't.  On the other hand, at the Archbishop's Palace, I had to dredge up the tattered remnants of my Spanish because it was the only language we spoke in common.

I guess because it was Sunday morning, we had a great private tour with a knowledgeable guide (who spoke English).  We even got a great history lesson on the Austro-hungarian Empire as part of the deal!  

Better yet, when we finished, the sun was out and another beautiful day was at hand.  We spent the rest of the day just enjoying the town, and climbing the steps of church towers to take in the incredible views.

In the afternoon, we took Aiden to the botanical garden, which featured playgrounds, and an Aiden-sized chess board.  We finished our stay in Olomouc with dinner at a microbrewery, which specialized in cherry beer. No complaints here.

The next day we took a train to Prague and, once we got our bearing, we found our way to our hotel, which was just a short walk from Wenceslas square.  

When we got checked in, the first thing I did was log on to check our e-mail since I had been deprived for several days at that point.  I was sure glad I did, my boss and several of my colleagues were nice enough to write to my personal e-mail to congratulate me on being promoted at work.  It was a great surprise on an already fantastic trip and the guy at the reception desk gave us a recommendation for a brewery/restaurant down the street where we could celebrate.  They had a great beer sampler that included flavors like nettle, coffee, and banana.

The only thing that wasn't aligned was the weather.  It was a bit chilly and rather dreary, but we got out and about anyway.  We were further disappointed when we got to the old Jewish quarter of the city to find out that everything was closed for both days we were in town for the holiday of Sukkot.  We got to see some of the synagogues from the outside, but I've heard they're beautiful on the inside  and was sorry to miss seeing it.

I tried to drown myself in Absinthe flavored ice cream, but honestly, it didn't taste that good - worse that Absinthe itself. 

As it turned out, the bright spot in the day was when we were going through the old town square and there was a young lady making enormous bubbles. Aiden was thrilled and we spent a long time letting him watch and chase the bubbles. 

The next day was still pretty cloudy when we made our way across the river to the Prague Castle, so we toured the interior first.  The architecture is impressive today, even  more so when you consider that it was built in the 15th century.

And luck favored us again, with blue skies returning before we left the castle compound, providing amazing views of the cathedral that was built inside it and creating beautiful colors on the interior walls from the stained glass windows.

Then, with the sun at our backs, we made our way down through the lesser town to the Charles bridge.

We stopped on the banks of the river to try to find lunch, and there was a stall selling delicious looking roast ham and potato salad, but they had misleading signs showing the prices.  It turned out that the sign was the cost for 100 grams, but they won't sell you 100 grams (which would have been plenty), they insist on selling 300 grams in a portion.  So a lunch that would have been around $10 a person became more like $30 and I just wasn't having that.

We opted instead for trdelnik, little pastries rolled around wooden pins, and then roasted over hot coals and coated in sugar and spices.  They held us over until we made it back to the town square.

The old town square being the center of tourism, it's not the place you'd expect to find a reasonable restaurant, but Stephanie found an out-of-the-way place with traditional food and good prices. I had a pig knee, which sounded like pygmy to Stephanie and brought rounds of hilarity.  I was oh so glad we didn't give our custom to the ham rip-offs.

We spent the rest of our day enjoying the nice weather (the bubble lady was back), and trying desperately to find a bavarian crystal christmas ornament.  We never did find one, and the best answer we got is that they aren't made anymore because they were fashionable last year.

Despite the lack of an ornament, we had a wonderful stroll at sunset to take in the city at night on our way back to the hotel.

At the hotel, we had an interesting experience when Aiden threw his first temper tantrum. Stephanie left the room to get coffee and when she didn't let Aiden go with her, he became furious and took out his wrath on the clothes in the suitcase, pulling them out and tossing them all over the room, and yelling at me.  I suppose at some point we'll have to teach him better ways to deal with his disappointment, but at the time, it was so hilarious I had to laugh.

After Prague, we took a break from public transportation and hired a car to the ancient village of Cesky Krumlov.  It is possible to get there by train, but it requires a number of transfers and takes about twice as long as driving.  We had a great driver and got to enjoy the countryside on the way.  When we got to Cesky Krumlov, we found our hotel was in a quaint room above a little shop with a nice homey common area. 

Just steps from our front door, the main street turns onto a little wooden bridge crossing a small river, directly under the castle overlooking the village from the cliff above.  It was fantastic. 

We went to a nearby restaurant for lunch and were seated at a table with a great view of the castle, and had an authentic Bavarian meal of rabbit and pheasant. It was a beautiful day and with the nice view and the sound of the river rushing by, it was probably one of the best moments of the entire trip. 

We spent the afternoon exploring the narrow, cobblestone streets, and stumbled across a restaurant with a nice terrace overlooking the town where we had some coffee and dessert. Again, what a day!

In the evening, the castle was beautifully lit and we enjoyed a nice walk around before bed.

We awoke to applause the next morning. Aiden was sleeping soundly and suddenly his eyes flew open, he sat up, and started clapping. It was as if he was saying, "Hooray! I'm here! Let's get the day started!"  After a nice breakfast at a restaurant down the street, we trekked up to the castle and took turns climbing the tower to take in the amazing views of the town.

While Stephanie was taking her turn at the top of the tower, I took Aiden to see the bears that live under the drawbridge. He was fascinated by them and I'm pretty sure he said "Bear".

Walking along the outer walls of the castle complex, we had incredible views over the town. We particularly enjoyed the fall foliage, which doesn't really happen in Russia as far as I can tell.  It was the best of Fall all in one day.

The path led up to the Castle gardens where we were able to let Aiden run around freely.  But while we were admiring the duck pond, we heard these enormous booms that literally shook the ground. We were a bit concerned before I realized that it must be the work going on in the graphite mines nearby.

In the afternoon we walked along the river, which was generally very beautiful. But eventually we came to a strange part of town with fanged benches and strange figurines in the window. I even found a foot bench to sit on. 

But about that time, it started to rain, so we hustled back into the town proper and found a place for dinner.  I had to have pig knee one more time before we left Czech Republic and happily, we found a place that served it. We called it a day early as our transfer to Salzburg was leaving earl the next morning.

The weather was nice again when we got to Salzburg, so we took a bus into the historic center, had lunch and made straight for the castle overlooking the city.  We had watched The Sound of Music just before leaving, so we were looking forward to seeing some of the sights shown in the movie and the hilltop castle seemed like a good place to take in an overview.

There was a funicular going up the hill, but it was fairly pricey and we would have missed a lot of great views.  The views were worth it, but the way was not easy and we were pretty hot and sweaty by the time we reached the top.  When we got to the ticket counter, we learned that we could only buy an all-inclusive ticket, which included a trip on the funicular!  I'll admit it, I was furious. There was no indication that that was an option when we were at the bottom. When I mentioned this to the ticket guy, he said I could take the funicular down. I nearly exploded, and pointed out that down is the easy part and I didn't need help with that. Stuck between my desire walk away, depriving them of my business, and my desire to see the castle, I caved and bought the tickets, but not without some very ugly looks and indistinct muttering.

The visit to the castle was very worthwhile, for the views from the guard tower, if nothing else. We also enjoyed the marionette museum and castle tour that were included.

Of course, we did take the funicular down. I mean, it was included in the ticket and I wasn't going to cut off my nose to spite my face.  By then the afternoon was getting along, so we walked around and found a restaurant that served a traditional Salzburg dessert - the Nockerl. It's a huge fluffy soft meringue over a berry jam sort of filling and was quite impressive.  I now understand that we've been spending too much time listening to Aiden's music because Stephanie and I both burst into song with "Hey ho, the Nockerl!" because it reminded us of a tune about a narwhal on his animal alphabet CD.  By the time we made it back to the hotel, we were pretty beat, but it was awhile before we could get to sleep thanks to the loud conversation in German going on in the room above us...

Aiden was not bothered by the conversation in the room above, so he was up bright and early and off we went.  We saw Mozart's birthplace and stopped in a cemetery where some of his family is buried.  We noticed that some of the tombs looked fairly morbid with decorations such as skulls with snakes winding through them. At least it seemed appropriate with the approach of Halloween. 

From there, we hiked up a hill to a little church with great views over the old town, before heading down to explore the Mirabel Schloss, where the scene in the Sound Of Music featuring Maria and the children dancing through gardens was filmed. 

Although, I can't say I remember the Gringott's goblins being there in the movie, the statues in the dwarf garden kind of look like them. 

 By that time, I was coming down with a rather bad cold, but learned that in addition to restaurants closing early, pharmacies in Austria close at noon on Saturday and don't open again until Monday morning.  I wish someone had sent me the memo so I could have rescheduled my cold for a weekday. 

But I'm not one to let a little cold get the better of me, so we had a great lunch of venison ragout and fresh cider at a little restaurant down the river and then walked along the banks back into town for some sightseeing and visits to the various churches. 

After one church, we followed a guy through a little side door and into a beautiful little cemetery.  Each of the plots had been turned into a little planter, turning the whole thing into a large garden.  In the back was a row of tombs that looked very much like the place where the Von Trappes hid from the Nazis - I know it was filmed in a studio, but perhaps this is what inspired the set.  We also found the concert hall where the concert was held in the movie, but unfortunately it was closed. 

We generally spent the rest of the afternoon walking around the old town, and had a nice dinner before setting out to see Salzburg at night.

Hard as it was to believe, we set off the next morning for our final destination; the small town of Melk in Austria's Wachau Valley.  Our luck with the weather finally failed and it was pretty dismal and raining.  The main attraction in Melk is a huge abbey overlooking the town, so we decided to go ahead and tour the inside.

It was incredible, with amazing paintings on the ceilings and sumptuous decorations.  One difficulty was that it also had great acoustics and once Aiden discovered that fact, he wasted no time in vocal experimentation to see how his voice sounded in the huge empty rooms. Luckily, the other visitors seemed to find him as charming we did.

Despite the dreary weather, an exterior balcony provided great views of the town, but we hurried into the library, which featured tens of thousands of volumes and more amazing frescoes, but photographs weren't allowed.

That was alright though, because the church inside the abbey had some of the most amazing decorations we had seen so far, and some of the most unusual.  Among other oddities, there were entire skeletons dressed and posed, and many of the frescoes depicted battles between angels and demons.  By that time, Aiden had fallen asleep in his stroller, so we had plenty of time to look around and admire everything, including a beautifully painted spiral staircase.

After we toured the abbey,  the weather was clearing a bit and we attempted to cross the Danube River to the town of Emmersdorf.  However, one thing that google maps is not good at, is showing pedestrian paths.  So while the roads appeared fairly direct, the paths that we would have had to follow were much longer and when we finally made it to the bridge, it became apparent that we would not be able to make it into Emmersdorf and get back to Melk before dark, so we reluctantly headed back into town for the evening.

On the other hand, I guess everything does work out for a reason because we found a fantastic restaurant, that served things like pumpkin gnocchi and wild boar.  Aiden was in high spirits and seemed to want to join in with a party of locals at another table.  He was very engaged in their conversation and would laugh loudly whenever they laughed. It was absolutely hilarious.  On the way back to our hotel, we passed a spectacular view of the abbey at night.

The next morning, the weather was back on our side.  And the pharmacy was open, so I was finally able to get some cold medicine.  The funny thing was, the medicine they gave me contained menthol, so about an hour after I took it, I started exuding menthol so that there was a little cloud of it around me all the time.  I guess since it was coming from me, I didn't notice it that much, but Stephanie said it was quite strong. I guess there are worse things to smell like.

We spent the morning at the abbey gardens, letting Aiden run around, and then meandered through town, where we found a centuries old grape vine growing out of a gap in some rocks.  We also thought we found a Heurigan, which is a little restaurant where they sell the fall harvest wine and is marked by a wheel made from wheat, but it was closed and we had a boat to catch!

Our last big adventure on our trip was a two hour boat ride down the Danube.  It was a perfect day for it and the sights were incredible.  The only thing that marred the experience at all was that a class of poorly controlled fifth graders boarded at one point, but they didn't stay on for long.  It was such a relaxing way to wind down as we passed the beautiful castles, quaint villages, and hills terraced with vineyards, all to the tune of The Beautiful Blue Danube.

Our boat ride ended in the town of Melk, and rather than rush back to Vienna, we headed into the historic district, luggage in tow, to see some last sights and have a final meal.  It was a good choice because there were no restaurants near our hotel in Vienna. We found a nice place with traditional meals like cheese spatzel and Weiner-schnitzel.  It couldn't have been more perfect if we had planned it.

On our way back to the train station, we found a pastry shop that was actually open and picked up some treats for the train ride back to Vienna.  I had a marzipan potato, that looked fairly realistic and contained cake and bavarian creme on the inside. Not a bad note to finish on.

As a little coda to our trip, the hotel room we stayed in on our last night had a very interesting lighting system, with a control panel above the bed. Aiden mastered the controls with surprising ease and soon had the various lights flashing on and off much to his delight. It was difficult getting him to sleep with such an interesting toy just inches above his head, and when he woke up in the morning, he immediately reached for the console and brought us quickly out of sleep with a spectacular light show. 

It was probably a good thing because we walked around for a long time trying to find breakfast, before picking up some sandwiches and pastries from a little deli, only to pass several cafe's on the way to the subway. 

Our trip home was as uneventful as our trip out, which was a blessing.  We returned to a colder and grayer Moscow than we left, but the nice time we had on our trip should hold us for a little while, despite the fact that it snowed last night...

In case you're still looking for them, here are the rest of the pictures.

Getting Into the Halloween Spirit

We just got back from a wonderful vacation in Austria and Czech Republic, and as with any long and wonderful vacation, there are lots of pictures, so it will probably be a bit until I can get that post ready.  In the meantime, life goes on back here in Moscow. 

We came back from lovely fall weather in Europe to something akin to what we would expect in late November in the U.S. - temperatures in the 40's and lots of clouds and rain. Fortunately, preparations for the holiday season, starting with Halloween are keeping our minds off the dreary weather. 

We decorated Aiden's rooms with window and wall stickers, including a glow-in-the dark skeleton, of which I haven't been able to get a great photo so far.  

We've done some similar work in our living/dining room.

In New York last year, we didn't really have any decorations, so it's nice to give Aiden a better idea of Halloween this year.  We do have a costume for him, but it's top secret until the time comes for him to wear it. 

At work, I've been busy making the transition from adjudicating Immigrant Visas to Non-Immigrant Visas, which is a huge shift.  Instead of in-depth interviews with about 15 people per day, I'll be expected to interview between 75 and 100 people per day and to make decisions after just a few minutes at most. It's a bit daunting, but the change will keep things fresh.  Of course, getting the news that I was promoted while we were away on vacation also helped to put an extra spring in my step as I go back to the office. It's my first competitive promotion since joining the Foreign Service and it isn't all that common to be both tenured and promoted at the first opportunity, so I'm feeling pretty good about it. The major downside of the switch is that I start earlier now and don't get to see Aiden in the morning anymore, which stinks. And no, I don't get out earlier, but hey, that's the job.

I still don't have any clearer idea on how my bids for my next job are going.  Since I already speak Russian, I'm able to bid on jobs now, even though it isn't technically my turn, because I don't need the language training that's built into the schedule. But I've learned that bidding is something of a one-way street, where we feed a lot of information about ourselves to the decision-makers (a process called lobbying), and they don't tell us much about what they're thinking.  I know it varies depending on the job and who's doing the decision making, but my experience has been fairly opaque. Of course, it isn't the end of the world if it doesn't work out because I'll still get to bid on the regular cycle next year.  It could be very exciting to see what's available next time around, but then again, it would be nice to know where we're going next now and not have to go through this rather stressful process again.

Aiden got sick just as we were returning from our trip and had a fever for several days after we got home.  He was doing better by this weekend, but we still thought it best to keep him indoors for a full recovery.  It was probably good for us to get a bit of rest too, but of course we still needed to restock the fridge, etc... So I volunteered to go to the store, which is always a bit hectic and tiresome, so that Steph could stay home and relax. 

Everything was going fine until I went to the scale to weigh my produce.  Here in Russia, we have to bag the fruit, weigh it, and select the appropriate type of produce so that the scale can print a sticker for scanning at the check-out counter. I happened to be buying some locally grown apples because they are delicious and less than half the price of the imported kinds, but couldn't find the button for Russian apples on the machine (that was because it wasn't there).  As I was looking for it, though, a rude older man behind me, who assumed that I was an ignorant foreigner, grabbed the apples from my hand and slammed them down on the scale. 

To his surprise (and mine a bit too, I'll admit) I turned around and snapped at him in Russian that I know how to weigh the fruit but that I was buying local apples and they weren't shown on the screen and I didn't feel like paying twice as much for my fruit.  I told him that if he could find them for me, I'd be happy to finish up and let him have a turn.  I gave him enough time to recover so he could apologize and then found a store clerk who helped me get the right price sticker. I felt pretty good about that too.

Today I went to the bazaar to go pumpkin hunting.  It's a neat time of year to go with a lot of different types of produce being recently harvested. It's too bad they don't allow pictures inside because between the stacks of produce, piles of fish, and huge butcher's area, it's a fantastic place.  After getting some fresh bacon, sausage, nuts, and raisins, I snagged a cup of seabuckthorn berries (which turned out to be quite bitter and will need to be incorporated into a smoothie), I went back to a guy outside who had some pumpkin. 

He tried to sell me a 17 pound monster, but after some nudging, he went inside and found a perfectly nice 10 pound pumpkin with a decent shape and good color.  As you can see below, Aiden was quite taken with it, and came surprisingly close to picking it up. 

Unlike at home, there are no varieties here grown just for jack-o-lanterns, so these are good to eat. I think it will make a great jack-o-lantern, and probably will have enough meat that I can scrape some out for pie.  

It Starts And Ends With A Meal...And Siberia In Between

Before I left for my outreach trip to Siberia, we decided to go out for a family dinner.  On the way there, we passed a plaque on a building saying that a Soviet film director by the name of Boris Vasiliyevich Barnet lived there for a time. 

As far as I know, Barnet is not a very Russian name, so it was quite a surprise and quite a coincidence that he lived so close to where we do, even though we are not very likely to be related, even distantly.  

Another surprise was our dinner.  Stephanie suggested a Thai place she had seen on one of her walks, and which a person in our building had recommended.  We were both a little skeptical about it because most of our experiences with ethnic food here have been rather bland, which would be very disappointing in Thai food.  Luckily, we were pleasantly surprised.  The curries were rich with plenty of spice and the pad thai was very authentic.  Aiden even went along and cooperated through the whole meal.  It was a little pricey for Thai food, but well worth the opportunity for something different. 

My flight to Krasnoyarsk didn't leave until 11:45pm Sunday night, but the dispatcher at the motor pool insisted that I needed to be picked up no later than 8:15 to get to the airport by 10:00.  Even though I thought traffic was unlikely to be that bad late on Sunday night, I gave in to his more experienced point of view.  I wished I hadn't.  Even with a stop to pick up my colleague, we arrived shortly after 9:00, over three hours before the flight.  Not how I wanted to spend my evening, but then again it's better to be three hours early than a minute late. 

My flight was on Aeroflot, which made Stephanie nervous given the general perception about Russian airlines, but it was a modern plane, very comfortable, with far more leg room than we get in the U.S. I even slept for a bit after the meal. Yes! A meal! On a domestic flight!  The flight was only a little more than 4 hours long, but given the time difference, we arrived at 8:00am local time. 

Though tired, I was treated to a wonderful sunset as we descended into Krasnoyarsk. 

I also snapped a pretty cool shot of another plane flying parallel to us in the distance...

And enjoyed views of the fog rolling between the hills outside the city.

We arrived to a warm welcome, with our trip facilitator, a local government employee, there to receive us and take us to our hotel.  Since our whole night was condensed into about 4 hours, I was glad that I had a couple of hours to refresh myself before going to our meetings.  After a quick rest, I went with my colleague to a little restaurant down the street.  It was a neat place down in a brick basement with vaulted ceilings.

For lunch, I had a deer meat cutlet with mashed potatoes and pickled fern.  Apparently it's a delicacy in Siberia - they pick the young shoots and preserve them.  They were like green beans with bits of broccoli growing out of the end in appearance, but they had a completely different taste with a bit of sweetness. Best of all, the meal was about half of what we would have paid in Moscow.  The restaurant had a lot of interesting knick-knacks, but I was particularly impressed by the bronze man coming through the wall.

Our guide met us after lunch and took us to our scheduled meetings with local government officials.  I met with the local Ombudsman for Children's Rights, representatives of the Ministry for Education, and representatives of the Courts. I guess at this point it makes sense to mention that the purpose of my trip was to learn more about the international adoption process and discuss issues regarding the implementation of the new bilateral agreement between the U.S. and Russia on the subject.  It was during one of these meetings where I had one of those strange moments where I thought, "Hey, I'm a diplomat!"  It was pretty cool.  I also had a meeting with representatives of  the governor's office for international affairs, where I learned a lot more about the whole Krasnoyarsk region (one of the largest in Russia), and their plans for economic development.  All in all, the meetings were very productive and informative.  The government building also had a nice view over a park and the surrounding hills.

That evening, before dinner, I took a quick walk to a nearby park close to sunset.  Krasnoyarsk's population is approaching a million, but I can't say that there was much to see architecturally. Or maybe I just didn't get to see it.  Our schedule was busy and we didn't really have time for sightseeing.  Still, there are certainly some beautiful spots in and around the city.

That evening, I provided American Citizen Services at the hotel restaurant, collecting passport applications and such.  There was a surprising number of applicants and it kept me busy.  Even though they came a little early, they were very nice and allowed me to keep eating my dinner in between reviewing the various forms. By the time I was done I was pretty exhausted and went gratefully to bed.

I purposefully set my alarm a little earlier than needed the next morning so that I could get out for a quick walk.  The night before, I saw a little footbridge over to a little island in the river. I wasn't disappointed.  It was a clear, still morning and the fall colors were starting to come out in the trees. Another surprise was how warm it was in Siberia.  Much warmer than it has been in Moscow recently.  I was assured that it gets plenty cold when winter comes, but it was still a pleasant surprise.

The second day was comprised of visits to various orphanages in the area.  I don't think anyone would argue that an orphanage is a good environment for children, but it was clear that the staff care for the children very much and give them the best care they can.  At one location, we got to watch the kids doing their music class, which was a lot of fun.  At one of the orphanages I was surprised by the presence of a local TV news team.  I didn't know they would be there, but when they asked for a short interview, I could hardly refuse.  I bucked up my courage and did the interview in Russian, and it went better than I thought - I didn't see it, but I understand that I made the local evening news.

Late in the afternoon, our meeting schedule came to an end, and our facilitator took us on a brief sightseeing trip.  There are a lot of amazing natural features in the area, but we only got a glimpse.  We took in the sights over the river from an overlook point...

Click on the panorama to see a full sized view.

 And then we drove up the river to see a huge dam for a hydroelectric station.  Unfortunately, the light wasn't in a good angle to see it, but there were rocks a couple of hundred feet out that we learned are blasted out of the dam when they have to open the sluice gates in times of heavy rain or snow melt.  We also got a glimpse of a unique system for moving boats past the dam, where they are taken out of the water and put on a train that carries them up or down.  The dam is too steep for a system of locks.

On our way back to town we past a reminder of the Soviet past in the area. The words on the monument below say "Glory to Labor."

For dinner, we went to a great little restaurant outside of town and sampled lots of local fare.  Different kinds of fresh river fish both sashimi style and grilled. We also had pelmeni - meat filled dumplings that are a local specialty - and deer steaks.  Our facilitator also had us try a couple of local liquors, including one made from the shells of cedar seeds (also known as pine nuts).  And so with full bellies of delicious foods, we made our way back into town to catch the overnight train to Novosibirsk. I was a little worried we would miss our train because our trip coincided with a visit by the Patriarch of the Russian Orthodox church (a rare and special event) and traffic was bad, but we got on board with time to spare.  Thankfully my roommate was a quiet sleeper and I got a good night's rest.

In the morning, my colleague and I went to the restaurant car for breakfast.  It wasn't anything amazing, but not bad either.  The only annoying thing is that they didn't list prices for coffee and a cup ended up costing $6 - and not for good coffee, for Nescafe.

Overpriced coffee aside, we made it to Novosibirsk, a larger city one time zone closer to Moscow, and made our way to our hotel.  This time, there was no welcoming to committee.  We freshened up and then took a taxi to the government building.  We met with basically the same groups that we did in Krasnoyarsk, but overall, they were less accommodating.  We told we weren't allowed to visit any of the state-run orphanages.

Since our meetings weren't quite as lengthy, we had a bit of a gap to fill and walked back through town toward our hotel, taking in some of the sights.

We stopped at a nice place for lunch where I was greeted by a bear.  Anyone who saw my pictures from Dushanbe knows how friendly I am with bears, and this case was no different.

We continued our walk after lunch and saw many things.  For example, you might think that Siberia would be very provincial, but the heels are just as high as in Moscow.  I don't know how women stay up in those things.

We also passed one of the most famous architectural sights in Novosibirsk, the State Opera House, which is quite impressive.

And Novosibirsk is comparatively young - less than 200 years old I was told - but there are still examples of traditional Siberian architecture, like this wooden apartment building.

Of course, there's Soviet architecture too...

The next morning I got up early again, and had a wonderful breakfast at the buffet, where I first saw the news about the tragic events in Libya.  It was difficult to understand what had happened from the Russian news, which seemed more intent on showing pictures that would never be shown in U.S. media out of tact. The anchor went on to say that most Americans didn't know where Libya was on a map, but they certainly would now. It's times like those that being in a foreign country really feels foreign. 

After breakfast, I headed to a nearby park, where I was greeted, or menaced by a squirrel, depending on how you interpret the body language.

The park was nice and quiet, and a good place to think about things a bit, and after awhile I went back to the hotel to get ready.  We had been told that we could not visit the state run orphanages, but we managed to find a private one instead.

Our taxi driver informed us that we would be charged by the minute, and then proceeded to drive as slowly as possible, making no effort to avoid traffic jams.  So we cut a deal with him for a set price for the trip in both directions and proceeded considerably faster.  Perhaps too fast, because we were frequently on the wrong side of the road and I was dismayed to see that there were no seat belts.

Nonetheless, we got to the orphanage safe and sound, and it was very interesting to see a private facility.  This one was run by Catholics, and was very nice. They were very hospitable and even gave me a picture frame that one of the children made.

When we returned to the hotel that evening, I met with one of the adoption service providers and an American family who was in the process of adopting a child with down syndrome.  After meeting with all of the government officials, which was interesting, it was also helpful to get the perspective from the other side of the process.

Right after that, I had to leave for a speaking engagement at the American Corner, which is a place set up by the Embassy where locals can get exposure to American culture, learn English, and get access to American books and movies.

On the way there, I passed a little chapel that I learned is at the geographical center of Russia.  Pretty amazing.

I always enjoy the speaking engagements, and this one was particularly good considering the current events of the recent days.  It allowed us to talk about freedom of speech, and why it's important to protect free speech even when someone says something you find offensive.  The participants were engaged and asked great questions.  But it made it very clear to me that the idea of freedom of speech in the U.S. is not well understood around the world.  It showed that we still have work to do.  But I like explaining things, and I think the discussion went very well.

Our trip back the next morning was smooth, except for the fact that the driver from the Embassy was still more than an hour away when we arrived on time.  I can't help but point out that I was told to leave almost four hours before my flight on a Sunday evening, but the driver only left an hour before my arrival in the middle of a work day. A tad frustrating.

Since we didn't want to wait for an hour, followed by a two hour car ride back into town, we cancelled the car and took a train to the nearest metro stop and rode the subway home.  In the long run, I'm sure we actually saved money for the government by allowing the car to turn around.  In the future, I'll just take the train to begin with.

That evening, we were invited to a cook-out at my boss's house along with other officers from the section.  It was a great way to come home from the trip.

Here is the full set of photos for anyone interested.

Since I got back, I've been busy at work trying to wrap up my responsibilities in the Immigrant Visa section. We leave this week for a two week vacation in Europe and when I come back I will move to the Non Immigrant Visa section.

Stephanie and I are also gearing up for our 5th Anniversary.  I'm sure we will celebrate while we are on our trip, but we decided use our 'date night' for the month to go out to lunch at Cafe Pushkin.  Cafe Pushkin is an upscale restaurant in a historic building, with period decor dating back to the time of Pushkin himself. Even the waiters and waitresses wear period serving uniforms.

We knew that Cafe Pushkin is expensive, but what we didn't know is that it also lives up to its reputation for great food - and frankly the price was worth it.  I had no idea that borsch could be so rich, or that beef stroganoff could be so tender.  We also had buckwheat blini with salmon caviar, a huge meat pie the size of a dinner plate with veal, pork, and mutton, and an assortment of other classic Russian dishes brought to new levels of deliciousness.  Wash it down with a home made black current drink and top it off with an amazing pistachio desert, and you have what I call a fine dining experience.  I would highly recommend it. 

Well, that's it for now.  Just a couple more days till we're off on another adventure. 

Something New Everyday

What a difference since our trip to Vladimir and Suzdal! We're seeing a whole new side of Russian weather now.  About a week after we got back, the weather suddenly changed completely.  We went from day after day of sun and 80+ degree weather to day after day of clouds, rain, and highs in the low 60's or even upper 50s!  It's a nice break from the heat, but it was very sudden, and it makes me a little nervous about what we can expect in winter. 

There have been lots of other changes and new experiences recently too.  I noticed on the way home one day that one of the advertising billboards was replaced with a sign cautioning drivers to give pedestrians in the crosswalks right of way. I was pleased at the thought that my daily commute might be a little safer from now on until I realized that it faces away from oncoming traffic.  I guess I'll still be dashing across the street for the time being. 

Stephanie and I also finally got up the nerve to leave Aiden with a babysitter and go out for a date night.  We found a woman who works as a nanny for another family at the embassy. Stephanie saw how good she was with the little boy she takes care of at the embassy playground, so we decided to give it a go.  Everything was fine, Aiden warmed up to the babysitter very quickly when she arrived, so we felt good about going out. 

For our date, we went to a highly recommended burger joint and were glad we did.  I had a Hawaiian burger with ham, pineapple chutney, wasabi cheddar cheese, and coconut mayonnaise.  It was incredible.  Stephanie had a caprese burger with buffalo mozzarella, basil, and tomatoes and it was also good.  They also had very interesting flavors of lemonade (which in Russia is used to describe any fizzy fruit drink).  Stephanie had one with pear and basil, and I had seabuckthorn and ginger.  Interestingly, I looked up seabuckthorn when we got home and learned that it is an orange berry that we got to try when we were in the Pamir mountains in Tajikistan, where it grows wild. 

After dinner, we went next door to a nice little bakery for dessert - and also picked up some delicious cupcakes (french toast, peanut butter chocolate, and strawberry cheesecake) to take home.  As much as we missed Aiden, it was nice to have a night out just the two of us - the first time since we came to Moscow.  When we got home, Aiden was already in bed.  The babysitter said he was the easiest child she has ever watched, so I'm sure we'll be doing it again in the near future. 

Another recent new experience was getting ice cream in a tube.  We saw it in the grocery store - like the tubes of cookie dough, but several times larger.  It was cheap so we tried it and it actually wasn't bad, although it was a bit difficult to squeeze the last bits out. 

I also had my first experience as duty officer here and luckily it wasn't too bad. The duty officer has to take any calls that come in after hours for a week. A lot of different events can trigger a call on the duty phone, but it usually involves an American Citizen in trouble.  I served as duty officer twice in Tajikistan, but there are so few American citizens there, that it's usually pretty quiet. Moscow can be much busier, but as I said, I got lucky and only had three calls - none of which were in the middle of the night. 

After completing my stint as duty officer, I led my first Conversation Cafe at the American Corner here in Moscow.  The Conversation Cafe gives locals a chance to speak directly with American officers in a discussion style format and the topics vary depending on the questions asked.  It's great practice for answering diplomatically as I fielded questions on everything from the U.S. elections, to the Russian elections, the global economy, and my favorite contemporary authors. I had a great audience and thoroughly enjoyed it. 

One of the perks of working at a large embassy is that nearly every government agency is represented here, including NASA.  Last week, we had a special treat when one of the astronauts in training for a future mission to the Space Station gave a presentation on his experiences in the space shuttle. Astronaut Butch Wilmore talked about what it's like to launch in the shuttle, and life in space, and a whole lot more.  He also shared some amazing video, including one of the earth at night, showing the light from cities across the globe and the Southern Lights over the south pole.  He even signed a picture for Aiden, which I'm sure will be very exciting for him when he gets to be a little older. 

Aiden has also had a lot of firsts.  He has learned some of his body parts (head, ears, feet), and has made his first animal sound.  He picked up my impression of an elephant by blowing air out between his lips and raising his arm like a trunk.  Unfortunately, also got his first black eye while playing on the playground equipment - he turned around too quickly while on the slide and hit his face on the side. I wasn't there, but Stephanie said he was pretty brave about it, and it's already fading.  All part of growing up - which he is doing at an unbelievably fast pace.

And now I'm preparing for my first consular outreach trip, heading to Siberia for a week next week to meet with local officials regarding international adoption.  Things have been busy at work, so it kind of snuck up on me, but I'm sure it's going to be an interesting experience.