St. Petersburg

After we pulled up to the train station in St. Petersburg, our guide met us on the platform.  Edward had only been for Moscow.  In St. Petersburg, we had Elena.  For those that know me well, you know I have to have a shower every morning.  I can't fully function through out the day without one.  To the point that I was dreading day one in St. Petersburg because the plan was to pick us up at the train station, take us to breakfast, then start the day.  We wouldn't be able to check in and shower until late that afternoon.  I sucked it up though...one day wouldn't kill me.  Our first stop was at a restaurant along one of the canals that had breakfast waiting for us.  The place didn't know we were Americans, only that we were coming from Germany.  So on each table, they had little German flags set out.

Breakfast was pretty good, standard European fare with meats, cheeses, bread and yogurt.  From there we stopped at a church to take pictures, as well as a few canals and bridges.

One neat place we stopped at was steps that lead down into the Neva River that flows through St. Petersburg.  On either side of the step were mini-sphynxes "guarding" the entrance to the river that were originally guarding a Pharaoh's tomb in Egypt.  From there we headed to Peter and Paul Fortress. It sits on an island in the Neva River, and contains a giant church inside.  It was originally built as a prison, and remained that way for over 200 years until shortly after the Revolution, when it was converted into a museum.  The church that stands inside it today contains the bodies of all the Russian Emperors and Czars, including Czar Nicholas II and his entire family, who were killed in 1917 when the Bolsheviks overthrew the monarchy.  Even the fabled Anastasia is buried there.

One neat thing about our visit there was while the guide was talking, we suddenly heard a loud roar over head as several fighter jets in formation flew by.  That weekend there was an air show, so they were practicing.  The really neat part was they were all painted in the colors of Russia's flag...Red, White and Blue.  And the day we were there happened to be July 4th.  Never in all my life did I think I'd be watching fighter jets painted Red, White & Blue performing stunts and flying over head on July 4th in Russia.

Elena then took us to a church nicknamed Spilled Blood Cathedral.  Along the way, we stopped for pictures at the Aurora, a battleship made famous because in 1917 the crew mutinied and fired off a single blank shot from the guns.  That shot signaled to the rebels that it was time to attack the Winter Palace and begin the Bolshevik Revolution.

Spilled Blood Cathedral is called that because Alexander II was assassinated there.  We didn't have time to go in, but we stopped along the way and took pictures from a distance, then went the actual church to take pictures up close.  After taking some pictures, we strolled around a small market that was there.  One funny thing we saw was a vendor selling Matryoshka Dolls that were painted like US Sports players.  They had Football, Basketball, Baseball, etc...  What made us laugh was when we were looking over them, we saw one for the San Diego Chargers and the Arkansas Razorbacks sitting right next to each other.  For those that don't know, I'm a big Chargers fan and Shanna's a big Razorbacks fan.

When we finished up there, it was finally time to head to the hotel and check in.  Like earlier in the week, everyone took a shower, had dinner, and went straight to bed.

The next day Elena and the bus picked us up, and we headed to Peterhof.  It was the Summer Palace of the Czars.  It was built by Peter the Great, and given a German sounding name because Peter spoke many languages, and liked to give things foreign sounding names.  Along the way, we passed several apartment buildings that had a cardboard lining around them to make it look like it was made of wood.  I think the main reason was for some privacy.  But one balcony had a giant hole cut out so their dog could sit there and watch traffic and people passing by.  Unfortunately the only good shot I got was from the bus with a tree in the way, but if you look close, you can see the hole and the dog.

When we finally arrived, it didn't seem like much.  But after we walked through yet another flea market, we finally got to the palace and it was breath taking.  The palace itself looked a lot like other palaces we've seen.  What really set it apart, though, were the amazing display of fountains.

We started with a tour of the palace itself.  It was interesting, but like with most palaces in Europe, no pictures were allowed.  When the tour ended, Elena showed us some of the fountains, including "trick" fountains.  One of the most amazing things about the fountains were they were built before pump technology had been invented.  It was built downhill from a water supply, so every fountain functions based on gravity.  It was incredible to think of that as you watched the high speeds that water flew out.

One trick fountain looked like a giant mushroom.  The "trick" was a person would step underneath to escape the sun, and the ground was one giant pressure plate.  Once you stepped on it, the water would flow all around the mushroom's edge, essentially trapping you inside.  The only way out was to step through the water.  They had modified it so that the water was constantly flowing and visitors could see it.  It was a hot day out, so I took advantage and dipped my head in the cold water.

Another trick fountain was one you didn't see.  There was a long path through the trees, and the fountain was on a timer.  Once an hour, it would go off and completely soak anyone walking down the path.  Times were clearly posted, as well as an alternate path to follow if you didn't want to get wet, so the only people getting soaked were the ones that wanted to.  I thought it was just a little sprinkle until I saw people leaving that area.  They were completely drenched...there wasn't a dry spot on their body.

Another trick fountain again centered around a bench.  There were stones placed in front of the bench, and it was originally set up with some of the stones being pressure sensitive.  You step on it, and jets of water flew out of the bench at you.  Now, though, the stones don't cause the water to shoot out, it's controlled by a guy sitting near the bench.  It was popular with little kids who would take turns trying to figure out which "stone" caused the water to spray, then laughing when they got squirted.

Eventually we made our way to the end of the path where we ended up at an overlook with a view of the Gulf of Finland.  It eventually dumps into the Baltic Sea, but we couldn't see the Sea from there.

After that we had some free time to walk around.  We passed one area where you could rent costumes and dress up for pictures.  They even had costumes for kids to wear.

Finally we headed to the bus, and drove back to the hotel.  After having beautiful 75 degree sunny weather the entire week, we finally got a little rain on the drive back.  But it lasted about 20 minutes, then was gone, and was beautiful the entire rest of the week.

That evening we decided to check out the outdoor terrace bar on the third floor of the hotel.  It didn't have much of a view, but it was still nice to sit outside with a breeze blowing, relaxing after a day of running around.   Shanna, myself, and two friends from the tour group we'd made that week decided that we'd all try some of the local caviar.  I didn't know this prior to our visit, but apparently Russia is famous for it's caviar.  I'd never tried it before because eating fish eggs doesn't sound appealing, but when in Russia...

I went down to the store at the bottom of the hotel and bought a little can of it.  It was NOT cheap, so I was glad we were splitting it with other people.  When our waiter came around, we asked him for crackers to eat with it, and if I didn't know better, I'd think that request personally offended him.  Apparently it's their custom to eat it with pancakes.  Not the fluffy pancakes we eat in the US, but the thin kind more commonly known as Crepes.  So we ordered some Crepes, a round of Russian Vodka, and tried it.  I have to admit...I really liked the Caviar.  I didn't think I would, but it was good, and went well with the Crepes.

After that we called it a night.  The next day was our last full day in Russia, and we were on our way to visit the Hermitage Museum.  It's one of the oldest and largest museums in the world, founded by Catherine the Great.  It contains 3 million pieces in it's collection.  There were some really neat things in there, including paintings from Leonardo Da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Rafael.  The only person missing was Donatello!  It also had the only Michelangelo statue in Russia called The Crouching Boy.  I had posted on Facebook that we were in St. Petersburg, and Esra, our guide from when we visited Istanbul, told us we had to visit the oldest carpet in the world that the museum has...because it's Turkish.  So when we arrived at the museum we made sure to grab a map, and found it.  They had closed off the most direct route to the carpet, so we had to climb up the stairs to the second level, walk from one end to the other (the place is huge) and find another stair case to take us back down to the first floor.  When we found the stair case, it too was closed.  We finally found another stair case, and made our way down.  As we navigated through the rooms to the carpet, we finally got within one room of it...and the way was closed off.  Apparently for that day only they were holding a concert, and the room that contained the carpet was closed to the public.  Go figure.

One neat thing Elena told us as we walked through the rooms was that during World War II, most of the art was evacuated by train to other places to keep them safe when the Germans invaded.  The museum itself, though, was not maintained.  With the harsh winters and humid conditions, there was extensive damage to the wood flooring and walls.  They have since restored it, but left one panel unrestored so you could see the difference.

When we entered the Rembrandt section, we got to see the famous Prodigal Son painting, but the more interesting one to me was the painting called Danaë.  In 1985 a man visited the museum and asked to see the most valuable piece they had.  He was taken to this painting, where he proceeded to toss acid on it and slice it with a knife.  A security guard was able to stop him, but the acid that spilled on him cost the guard his hands.  After 12 years, they were able to fully restore the painting.  You can still see some streaks where the acid ran down it, but for the most part, you'd never know anything happened.

When we finished at the museum, we visited St. Isaacs Cathedral, the largest one in the city.  It was huge, and like most European cathedrals, ornately decorated.  The architect whose design was chosen for the church first broke ground when he was 30 years old.  He said at the time that this would be his life's work, and he was right.  It was finally finished when he was 70 years old, and he died shortly after it's completion.  One of the interesting things about the church was the giant dome in the center of it.  When the church was first built, the center of the dome had a large dove in the middle.  When you walked to the center of the church and looked up, you could see it.  During the Soviet Era, when religion was frowned upon, they removed the dove and replaced it with a giant pendulum.  After the Soviet Union collapsed, the pendulum was removed and the dove was put back.

When we left the Cathedral, the touring was done for the day.  The group mentioned to Elena that we were interested in a boat tour, so she said she would arrange it for the next day.

It was finally Sunday, our last day in Russia.  Elena wasn't picking us up until 1pm, so we had the whole morning to ourselves.  We slept in, got some breakfast, and met Penny and Adam in the lobby.  There was a metro stop next to the hotel, and we wanted to find this grocery store Elena had told us about.  It was built in 1902, but over the years, fell into disrepair.  It was recently renovated, and now looks great...and exactly like it did when it was built in 1902.  Thanks to Edward showing us around in Moscow, it was easy to figure out the metro.  And just like in Moscow, the metro lines are located FAR under ground.  It was a good 3-4 minute escalator ride down and back up.

We got off at the right stop, and after figuring out the map, we were able to find the place.  It was called  Kupetz Eliseevs, and it did not disappoint.  When you walked in the doors, it was like stepping back 100 years.  There was a self playing piano playing "old time" music, everything was beautifully decorated, and the food they offered looked amazing.  Fresh meats, cheeses, macaroons, live oysters, and of course, caviar.  The caviar was insanely expensive.  A 500G (17 oz) container cost almost $1,500.  They had a cafe inside too, so we sat down and ordered coffee (juice for me) and some sweets.  When they brought me my apple juice, it was unlike any apple juice I'd ever seen.  Instead of a clear amber color like I was expecting, it was green and cloudy.  I took a sip, and it tasted like an actual apple.  It was delicious!  They must have taken an apple and juiced it.  It was so good.  When we were done, and ready to pay our bill, they brought the check out in an engraved box.  We put our money in, closed the box up, and gave it back to the waitress...it was kind of neat.

I also finally found a souvenir I wanted here.  I didn't want to buy something just to buy something, so I was waiting until something caught my eye.  If nothing did, that was fine.  But they had a neat decanter with their logo engraved on it, and some martini glasses to go with it, so I picked that up.  It was either that, or the bottle of Cognac they had that came out to approximately $14,000.

When we left, it was about time to start heading back to the hotel.  We got there, checked out, and when Elena came, we loaded our luggage into the bus.  From there we went to one of the canals to begin our boat tour.  The bus couldn't pull right up to the canal, so we had to walk a bit.  On the way, we passed a huge event where people were racing on what looked like snow skis with wheels.  They were FLYING by us!  Eventually we made it to the canal.  As the boat got under way, Elena told us about some of the buildings we were looking at.  To be honest, though, everyone was just enjoying sitting back in the sun while cruising the Neva River.

When the boat ride wrapped up, we hopped on the bus and headed to the airport.  While it wasn't anywhere near as bad as our ordeal in Moscow, St. Petersburg airport has to be the worst airport I've ever been in.  And I didn't think anything could compare to the chaos in the Cairo airport.  There weren't any good signs telling you where to go, and it was a free for all.  On top of it all, the airport had no air conditioning.  With that many people packed into a small area, it was HOT.  We eventually found the right counter, but we had gotten there too early...we had to stand in the heat, waiting in line for the counter to open, for an hour and a half.  When it finally did, things went smoothly.  We checked our luggage, went through the passport control, and made our way to our gate.  Remember how I said there are a lot of American fast food chains in Russia?  Right next to our gate was a TGI Fridays.  We were all hungry, and chowed down on burgers and wings...a little taste of America before flying back to Germany.  The flight home was much smoother than the flight there, and before we knew it, we were in Frankfurt.  I've never appreciated being in a German airport like I did that day.  We hopped the train back to Stuttgart, and thankfully met up with Katia's husband, Scott, who was nice enough to give us a ride home.

Overall, this trip was incredible.  It had it's problems, but what trip doesn't?  We saw things that I never thought I'd ever see, and it's definitely a trip we'll never forget.  The visa process is a hassle, and it's not cheap, but if you ever have a chance to visit Russia, do it.  You won't regret it.

I'm not sure when the next blog post will be.  We both have 5 days off in September, so we're going somewhere, I'm just not sure where yet.  Stay tuned!

To see the pictures, click here or any picture above.

Moscow

Shanna & I have wanted to go to Russia for awhile now.  2 years ago we looked into it, but the cost was going to be more than we could afford, and the process of getting a Russian visa was daunting, to say the least.  Then a year ago we went on a tour with a company that took us all over Normandy and we loved it.  We found out they not only offered a Russian tour, but had a third party company that would take care of the visa for us.  It could not have been easier, and before we knew it, the day of the trip had arrived!

The flight was out of Frankfurt, so Shanna, myself and our friend Katia caught the train from Stuttgart up there, got checked in, and met up with our friends Penny and Adam, and Penny's friend Tara.  You might remember Penny & Adam from previous trips they've done with us to Croatia and London.  Before we knew it, we were Moscow bound!  Or so we thought.  As we approached Moscow, the pilot came on the over head and said that the weather wasn't great in Moscow, so they were going to circle around for a bit so it could clear.  15 minutes later he comes back on and says that they need to refuel, then they'll fly back to the main Moscow airport.  There are 3 airports in Moscow, so I just figured we'd land at one of the other ones.  But instead, they fly us 400km outside Moscow.  We land, and begin refueling at a remote airport.  Shanna was right, it looked a lot like the airport we use when we fly back to in her home town.

After 30 minutes, the pilot comes back on and says that the weather has gotten so bad in Moscow that the airport was shut down for the day, and that the air traffic controllers in Frankfurt had told them to come back to Frankfurt.  Since that required more fuel, they kept refueling.  About 45 minutes later, the pilot came on again and said they'd found buses to take us to Moscow.  We were relieved, because at least we'd make it to Moscow.  Had we flown back to Frankfurt, Shanna & I had no intention of staying with the tour.  We were already talking about finding a last minute vacation deal at the Frankfurt airport.

After taking forever to get through Russian customs, we finally made it outside the airport, only to find the "busses" were actually little 15 seater vans.  They had no room for luggage, so we had to stack everything in front of the seats.

Google Maps said it was 400km.  In Germany, assuming most of that was interstate kilometers, it would take about 4 1/2 hours.  But Google Maps factored in traffic, and that we'd be driving through some remote small towns...and calculated 8.5 hours.  I was hoping it was wrong, but sadly...it was dead on.  We left the airport at 10pm, and didn't pull into Moscow's airport until 6:30am the next morning.  We then met our local tour guide with a bus who took us all to the hotel.  In Moscow traffic, what should have taken 20 minutes, took an hour and a half.  So we finally pulled into the hotel around 8am...a full 14 hours after we landed at the airport in the middle of nowhere.

Thankfully we got in early enough to still get breakfast at the hotel, as well as take a much needed shower.  At 11am we all met in the lobby, got in our tour bus, and took off.

We started off driving around downtown Moscow. We got to see all kinds of neat buildings, including the former headquarters of the KGB.  We eventually arrived at the point I was most looking forward to, Red Square.  We've seen a lot of neat things since we've been here, and as a history buff, I've loved it.  But with the exception of the Berlin Wall, all the things we've seen have just been history I've read about.  Red Square is something I remember from when I was a kid.  I'll never forget Peter Jennings reporting from The Kremlin, or videos of the Soviets having various military parades on Red Square.  And whenever a reporter was in Moscow reporting, they were most likely standing in front of St. Basil's Cathedral, which is on Red Square.  When the bus parked, that was the first thing you saw.

St. Basil's Cathedral was built in the mid 1500's by Ivan The Terrible.  Legend has it that after the building was complete, Ivan had the architect blinded so that he could never create another cathedral like this one again.  While it's called a single cathedral, it's really seven different churches in one building...each spire is a single church.

After we walked past the cathedral, we were on Red Square.  The Kremlin was to our left, as was Lenin's tomb.  Our tour guide then gave us time to walk around and see the sites by ourselves.  We were to meet back up in an hour so that we could enter the Kremlin.  I hadn't realized until we arrived that The Kremlin is not a single building, but in fact is a giant walled off area...practically a fortress.  Inside the Kremlin grounds are buildings and churches.  All the Soviet leaders had their main office there, as well as the presidents of Russia who presided after the Soviet Union's collapse, right up to President Putin today.  We weren't allowed to take pictures in some of the churches there we went into, but they were beautiful.   One area we walked by was blocked off by the police.  Our guide said that usually happens when Putin is about to arrive in his Helicopter.  Sure enough, about 10 minutes later, we heard a helicopter approaching.  We never saw him, but based on all the cars that came flying up with lights flashing, and the TV crew waiting outside the Kremlin, we're pretty sure it was him.

After that tour, we got on the bus and the rest of the afternoon was a tour of the city by bus.  After the long night we'd had, that was fine with us.  We drove by a giant statue dedicated to Yuri Gagarin, the first man in space.  It was neat, but to me looked like a statue of Buzz Lightyear.

We stopped along the river that runs by the Kremlin, and got some neat shots of it across the water.  We stopped at a few more places for pictures along the way, including a bridge that has a great distant view of Moscow and the Olympic Stadium.  We also drove by (but didn't stop at) a giant park that is also a World War 2 memorial.  They had a neat statue that showed Russian warriors through out the ages.  One was a soldier from Medieval Times, a soldier from the war with Napoleon, and a WWII soldier.  The park, memorial and museum there are dedicated to the 27 million Russians who were killed in WWII.  That number is no exaggeration and shocked me.  I knew they had suffered heavy losses, but I had no idea it was anywhere near that much.  For comparison purposes, US losses were approximately 416,000.

Finally we arrived back at the hotel.  At this point, everyone was beyond exhausted.  We hadn't stopped moving since arriving that morning from the overnight bus ride, so everyone called it an early night.

The next morning we all met in the lobby, loaded on to the bus, and headed to Trinity Monastery of St. Sergius in a town called Sergiev Posad.  Along the way we passed several missile defense bases.  During the Cold War, had the US launched a strike on Moscow, these are the bases that would have had the job of trying to shoot the missiles down.  It's a huge monastery, and I had looked up pictures of it before we left.  It looked beautiful...of course, with how our luck had been so far on this trip, it should have come as no surprise that some of the prettiest buildings would be completely covered in scaffolding for renovation.  Next year is it's 650th anniversary, so they are getting everything all cleaned up for the celebrations.

The scaffolding aside, it was a beautiful monastery.  The entrance alone was breathtaking as you walked through.

Our guide from the previous day, Edward, gave us the history the place as we entered, then stopped for a brief bathroom break.  While I was snapping pictures, I noticed several Orthodox Priests walking around, including one guy that really stood out.  He was a mix of priest and someone off Sons of Anarchy with his leather motorcycle jacket on.  The long beard added to the biker look too.

We walked through the various buildings, which were impressive, but was really neat was the actual Church where they held services.  I've attended church services for various religions, but Russian Orthodox was not like any other that I'd seen.  When we walked in, there was a giant room where women were standing around singing while a priest did...something.  I'm not sure how to describe it.  He just seemed to be walking around a statue of Jesus on the cross, and chanting.  One thing we learned was that the altar is in a separate room from the worshipers.  In all of the Christian churches I've been in, the altar has been at the front of the church, and the people sit or stand facing it while the priest is up there giving the service.  For Russian Orthodox, everything done at the altar is in a separate room that the worshipers can not see.  The priest walks in to the room, performs the rituals, then comes back out.

One reason we always like personal guides instead of audio guides is you get stories that bring the history to life that you don't get otherwise.  This was a perfect example.  Our guide told his his father was an adjunct professor Moscow's main university.  In order to reach a level that high, he had to join the Soviet Communist Party.  That also meant renouncing all religion.  So when Edward was born, they snuck away to his grandmother's village, and had him baptized in secret there.  That way he could be part of the church without his work colleagues knowing.  He also mentioned that during Soviet times, it was primarily only the elderly who went to church.  Young people, and those of working age couldn't afford to attend publicly because it would hurt them socially, professionally and ultimately, financially.  When people retired, they started openly attending church because they no longer had to worry about work or school colleagues.

After walking through the large room, we got to the altar room.   To call it stunning would be an understatement.  The gold and art were amazing.

That was it for the tour of the monastery, so we headed over to the gift shop area and bought a few things.  We then walked outside where there was a huge market set up.  Vendors were there selling all kinds of souvenirs.  Some of it was junk, but some of it was pretty neat.  We walked across the street and found a hole in the wall restaurant selling food called "Pattys".  It was potato bread with all kinds of stuffings.  You could get it with a hot dog, meat pudding, cheese, apples, sugar, and more.  We bought several different kinds and loved it.

We had been there most of the day, and it was now time to head back to the hotel.  We got to enjoy some more of Moscow's finest traffic jams, and it took awhile to get back.  On the way back, Edward offered to arrange an outing if people were interested to take us to see a Russian Folk Dance.  Shanna & I weren't interested, so we passed.  Adam, Penny, Katia and Tara were, but when we got back to the hotel, we had 3 hours or so to kill.  Initially Shanna & I were just going to stroll around the part of town we were in.  While out, we ran in to Penny & Adam, and decided to head to find a pub nearby.  We ended up finding this cozy little pub up the block and ordered a few drinks.  The one thing about Moscow...stuff isn't cheap.  The average cost of a beer was $9.  I've paid that much (and more) for a beer before, but it was usually specialty beer, like an American Microbrew.  This was standard fare Russian Pilsner.  It was still nice to sit and chat around a cold beer, though.  One thing a lot of restaurants had in Russia were giant picture menus.  Shanna noticed a tray of six watermelon shots, so she ordered that for the table.  They were actually fairly refreshing on a warm day.  They had a watermelon flavor, plus an actual wedge of watermelon in each glass.

Here comes the funny part...our waitress didn't speak much English.  So after finished these, she came over and said something that none of us understood.  We assumed she had asked us if we liked it, so we said something like "Yes, it was good, thanks"!  Five minutes later, we see her walking around with another tray of the shots and we laughed, thinking someone else had ordered them...until she came right to our table and dropped them off.  So lesson learned...make sure you know what the waiter/waitress is saying before agreeing.   We stayed there for a bit longer, then headed back.  Penny & Adam went to the show, and Shanna & I called it a night.

The next day was our last day in Moscow, but it was going to be a LONG day.  The plan was check out of the hotel, load our luggage into a bus (this time a bus with a luggage area), and sight see all day.  At 11pm we would be dropped off at the train station, where we would take an overnighter to St. Petersburg.

Our first stop of the day was at one of the famous flea markets in Moscow.  This place was HUGE.  Shanna ended up getting some neat souveniers, including a few Santas.  In Russia, they have a custom of taking a block of wood and carving it into a Santa, then painting it.  Some are hand made, others are cheaper and only have stickers on them.  We first discovered these at some of the bazaars and Christmas Markets they have around Stuttgart, but they were always way to expensive.  Some of the really nice ones ran almost $1,000.  Here, though, we were able to find ones of the same quality, but for a fraction of that cost.  Shanna is good haggling...I hate it.  I'd prefer they just give me a fair price and I'll pay it.  I eventually had to walk away and let her haggle, because I didn't know if she really didn't want it, or was just using it as a tactic.  She'd say things like "I don't know...I'm not sure if I really want it".  I'd think she was worried about the price, so I'd tell her to just get it...which the vendor would leap at.  She was much more successful at bringing the price down when I wasn't standing there.

After we finished walking around, we headed across the street to what appeared to be a giant castle area.  I'm not exactly sure what the point of the place was...they had stores, but most people were closed.  They had some really neat buildings inside the courtyard area, but there was almost no one there.  No employees, no visitors, nothing.  We took some pictures and headed back to the bus at the meeting time.  From there we headed to metro entrance.  I didn't realize this before our trip, but Moscow is famous for it's intricate Metros.  They have beautiful mosaics, sculptures, stained glass and so on.  The really fascinating part was most of the decorations were put in during the Soviet Era, and the artwork reflects that.  There were Hammer & Sickles everywhere, as well as pictures of Lenin, the common peasant, the field worker, and all the other Soviet symbols of "the people".

We visited four or five stations, taking pictures at each one.  We finally ended in one of the shopping districts in Moscow.  It was a pedestrian street that had shops, cafes, and stores lined all the way up and down it.  They also had an amazing amount of American chains.  Adam was excited about his cup of Dunkin' Donuts Iced Coffee, and I was excited about our Wendy's for lunch.

After we finished up there, we headed to the Tretyakov Gallery, which contains a large collection of Russian art.  At this point, I was beat and my feet were hurting, so I wasn't really interested in an art museum.  Shanna walked through, though, and took pictures that are in the pictures link at the bottom of the page.

Our last stop in Moscow was back at Red Square.  We got some great pictures of Lenin's tomb, St. Basil's Cathedral, and the Kremlin walls with the sun setting.  We then found a great beer bar right near our bus and just relaxed for a few hours.  This bar had a GREAT selection of Belgian and Dutch beers.  They weren't cheap, but were so worth it.  Shanna & I each got a 1 Liter (33 oz) glass of Belgian beer that cost $20 each...but was worth every penny.

From there we took the bus to the train station, and got on to our train.  The standard cabin had 4 bunks in it, but we had paid to upgrade to a room with two beds.  I'm glad we did, because apparently the size of the room we wasn't any bigger, it just had 2 beds instead of 4.  As you can see from the picture below, there wasn't a lot of space.  It would have been miserable with 2 other people.

They hadn't turned the A/C on yet, so we were miserable in our cabin.  Then someone walked by and said the diner cabin had A/C going, so we all headed down there.  Turns out we weren't the only ones who found out...about half our tour group got word, so we were all in there.  It ended up being a lot of fun.  We ordered beer, and because it was Russia, we ordered some Vodka.  What started off as an attempt to cool down ended up lasting a few hours.  We eventually made our way back to our cabin, went to sleep, and woke up shortly before pulling into St. Petersburg.

I split the post up into two, but the pictures are all on the same page.  I'll link to it here, as well as at the end of the St. Petersburg post.

To continue reading about St. Petersburg, click here.

To see the pictures from the trip, click here or any picture above.

Scotland

I've wanted to go to Scotland for awhile now.  Shanna went a few years ago with her friend who was working in England, so she didn't have a desire to go back.  She stayed at home for this trip, and my friend Fred and I made it a guys weekend.  On Friday I picked him up at his place, and we hit the road. We'd gotten a dirt cheap Ryan Air flight, but the downside was it didn't fly out of Stuttgart...it flew out of a town called Memmingen, which is just south of Munich.  Thankfully it's a small airport, so parking and check in were a breeze.  It was a direct shot from there to Edinburgh, and before we knew it, we'd touched down.

After cabbing from the airport to the hotel, we got settled in, then hit The Royal Mile.  It's called that because it's a road that is approximately one mile long, and connects Edinburgh Castle to Holyrood Palace.  All along the way are shops, but more importantly, pubs.  That night we were both beat from traveling, so we just hit a few pubs.  One of the things I was determined to try, despite knowing what it was, was Haggis.  I figured I'd start easy...the first pub had an appetizer that was fried Haggis balls.  I was hooked from the first bite...it was AMAZING.

One of reasons I was excited about heading back to the U.K. was the beer.  German beer is good, but I miss variety.  Specifically, I love Ales and Germany sells almost exclusively Lagers.  Not just Ales...Cask Ales (a.k.a Real Ales).  They are not very carbonated (if at all) and are served at cellar temperature.  The result is you get a lot of flavor in the beer.  That would be my drink of choice all weekend.

We eventually headed back to the hotel and crashed.  The next morning we didn't have anything planned.  I wanted to take a Highlands tour, and in looking at the weather report for the weekend, the weather was going to be bad and worse.  Bad on Sunday, worse on Saturday.  So I scheduled our Highland tour for Sunday.  That meant Saturday was left to explore Edinburgh.  We started off by having breakfast at Deacon's House Cafe.  It's named after Deacon Brodie, a legendary figure in Edinburgh history.  He was a master woodsmith and Cabinet Maker in the late 1700's.  What people didn't know is that by night, he was a gambler and in a lot of debt.  He solved this by making copies of keys for the houses he delivered to, then would sneak back at night and rob the place.  He got away with it for awhile, but was eventually caught during one of his robberies.  He fled to Amsterdam, but was caught there and returned for trial.  He was convicted and hanged.  The irony is he was the first person to be hanged on Gallows he had designed and built a year prior.  Legend has it that he wore a steel collar during his execution and slipped away later.

After breakfast we continued down the mile and headed to Edinburgh Castle.  We opted for the audio guide and I'm glad we did...the history of the castle was amazing.  As a Dog lover, one of the places in the Castle I thought was the neatest was the cemetery put in for dogs that belonged to soldiers there.

There was a small chapel in the castle where you can register to have your wedding at.  If you do, though, it'll be a small guest list... I don't think you could fit more than 20 people in there.  Up top there was a beautiful view of the city and the surrounding loch's, but unfortunately it was a rainy cloudy day, so you couldn't see much beyond the city.  I'm sure on nicer days the view is amazing.

We walked around the castle for almost 3 hours.  By the time we were done, our feet were sore and we didn't feel like touring anymore.  So we did the other thing we came to Scotland for...pub crawled.  Fred had a good idea at that point...take a picture of every pub we visited.  I think we got most of them...you can see them in the pictures section linked at the bottom of the post, or by clicking any picture in this post.

Later that afternoon, we grabbed dinner at a pub that also offered live music.  That's where we spent most of the evening until calling it a day and heading back to the hotel.

The next morning we got up early and hiked up to the meeting point for the Highlands tour.  We'd both woken up pretty early, so we decided to walk around the Royal Mile, taking side roads and exploring.  In doing so, we stumbled upon the old city wall, where we got a great view of Edinburgh Castle.

We also found a plaque in the wall that marked the spot of the last public execution in Edinburgh in 1864.  Finally we made our way back to the meeting point and started our tour.  Our guide, James, was a wealth of knowledge.  He jumped all over the place, giving us the history of areas we were driving through, and even describing various plants and trees we were seeing on the side of the road.  Unfortunately for us, the weather report got it wrong...Saturday was actually a nicer day (relatively speaking) than Sunday was.  The morning started off beautiful, with not a cloud in the sky.  Within 30 minutes of driving, the clouds rolled in and the rains started.  Our first stop was Stirling Castle.  It's where Mary, Queen of Scots was born and coronated.  Outside the castle is a statue dedicated to Robert the Bruce.

As you'll see in the pictures, off in the distance you can also see a monument dedicated to William Wallace, a.k.a. Braveheart.  Walking through the castle was neat, but not unlike previous castle's we've visited.  We saw the royal bed chambers, the meeting room for dignitaries and the banquet area.  We stayed there for about an hour and a half, then hit the road.

The next stop was a brief one to see Nessie, the oldest Highland Cow, at approximately 30 years old.  For reference, most cows only live to be about 8 years old.  The funny thing is I remember looking at the scrapbook Shanna made of her trip to Scotland, and she has a picture of Nessie too!  One of the other things I noticed while we drove around was the abundance of sheep, both young and adult.

Next stop was Loch Lomond and lunch.  I have to admit, this part was the biggest disappointment.  Lunch was good, but when we walked out, we only had about 30 minutes to explore, and the point we were dropped off at didn't really give you a good view of the Loch.  We had some great views while driving, but I waited to take pictures until we got there so I could get a better view up close.  Now I wish I'd taken the pictures when I could.

From there we went to my favorite part of the tour, the Glengoyne Distillery.  We took their tour, which was fascinating, and ended it with samples of a 12 year old and 18 year old Scotch.  I really liked it, and after sampling the 21 year old bottle, I had to get one.  I also noticed a barrel they had set up with writing on it that said it was their first Bourbon, distilled in 1999.  They had just tapped it a few weeks ago, and if you wanted a bottle, you could bottle it, cork it, and stamp it yourself.  I tried a sample and WOW...it was strong.  Since it was straight from the cask, it was Cask Strength.  Whisky and Bourbon are watered down a bit from the cask to the bottle, giving you an average alcohol percentage of 40-45 percent.  Cask Strength whisky is usually between 55-60 percent.  This particular Bourbon was 56 percent and man...it tasted strong.  But once you got passed the strong alcohol taste, the flavor of the Bourbon was amazing.  And because Fred and I both took the tour, and he wasn't buying anything, I was able to use both his coupon and mine to save 10 pounds!  What a deal. :)  There was a bottle of 40 year old whisky that I briefly considered buying when I thought the price said 375 pounds.  I wouldn't have, but the thought briefly crossed my mind.  Then Fred pointed out the extra 0 at the end...as in 3,750 pounds.  If I even had the slightest thought of buying it, that killed that idea.  But man...it was a pretty bottle and I'm sure delicious.

From there we drove back to the meeting point in Edinburgh.  At this point (of course) the clouds were starting to part and the sun was coming out.  We saw a rainbow going over Stirling Castle in the distance.  Unfortunately, since we were on the road, I couldn't get a good angle on the picture of the rainbow to show it going over the castle.  Instead you'll see the rainbow on the right and the castle on the left.  When we got back into town, we finished off with some more pub crawling, dinner, and called it a night.  The next morning we packed up, cabbed back to the airport, and headed home.

Scotland was fun, but I wish the weather had been nicer.  We might have to go back to visit further north in the country where all the distilleries are.  I'll just have to leave my wallet at home. :)

Check back in mid July for the next post about our week long trip to Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia.

To see pictures, click here or any pictures in the post.

Cairo

A few months ago Shanna and I wanted to travel, but we were tired of the cold and wanted to go somewhere warm.  We were seriously looking at going back to Turkey until Shanna thought of Egypt. As a history buff, I've always wanted to go, and as soon as she said it, I knew that's where we were going.  After doing some research on Trip Advisor, I found the perfect hotel and booked it.  This was in early January of this year.  A week or so after, things got crazy in Cairo.  It was the anniversary of the revolution that ousted Mubarak, and the Egyptian people were not happy that things were not going as planned.  A week or so after that, things got real heated in Port Said after several soccer fans were convicted and sentenced to death for their role in a mass deadly riot the year before.  So things were looking worse and worse for our trip, but at this point, it was early February and a month and a half before our trip.  As I'd hoped, things calmed down.  There are still protests going on, but I was checking the news every day, as well as Trip Advisor for reviews of people who were staying there during all this, and each review said they had a great time and were never disturbed by the outbreak of violence.

Finally the day arrived, and we flew out.  Traveling to Egypt is an all day affair.  We flew out of Stuttgart at 10:30am, had a brief layover in Paris, then flew to Cairo, landing around 7pm.  I did not want to have to deal with a taxi after traveling all day, and I was not going to try and navigate public transportation, so I arranged ahead of time with our hotel to have a driver waiting for us.  I'd done this a few times before when public transportation was not readily available, and each time the driver met us outside security, after we'd gotten our bags.  So I was a little surprised when we walked off the plane, out of our gate, and a person was standing there holding a sign with my name on it.  We later found out that the hotel has people who work at the airport so that when you hire a driver, they show up at your gate to speed you through the arrival process.  Normally we'd have to wait in line to get our tourist visa, then wait in another line to have a passport official ask us questions before stamping it.  Then another line to get into the luggage area, and finally one more line with our luggage to have customs check everything out.  Our plane was a Boeing 777 that was almost full, so that was close to 750 people all trying to do this at once.  The person from the hotel, though, immediately took our passports and came back 2 minutes later with Visa stickers inside them.  He then took us to the "Diplomat/ID Card holder" line, which had no one in it, and sped us through all the way so that it took a fraction of the time.  That alone was worth the cost of the driver!  He then took us straight to our driver, said Welcome to Egypt, and we were off.

After all that came reason number 2 I'm glad we had a driver...the drivers in Cairo are CRAZY.  There are lines painted to divide lanes, but I don't know why...people don't pay any attention to them.  On one particular street the painted lines indicated it was three lanes, but at any given time, there were 5 cars lined up side by side moving along.  People were constantly honking their horn.  I had been thinking that on Thursday night, traffic wouldn't be that bad.  What I didn't know is that in Middle East countries, their work week is Sunday - Thursday, with Friday and Saturday off.  So a Thursday night in the Middle East is like a Friday night in the US.  Everyone was out.

We eventually got to our hotel and had a chance to catch our breath.  Our room over looked the Nile, and it was beautiful at night.

We were both exhausted, so we just ordered room service for dinner.  Before calling it a night, I went downstairs and talked with Mohamed at the Concierge desk.  He was fantastic all weekend helping us out.  I mentioned that we wanted to arrange a guide for Friday and Saturday, and I told him what we wanted to see.  He took care of the rest, arranging a driver to take us around all day and a tour guide to show just the two of us around.  After dinner we crawled into one of the most comfortable beds I've ever slept in at a hotel.

The next morning we got up early so we could eat breakfast, then meet our guide in the lobby at 8am.  The breakfast spread was delicious.  Since this was a Muslim country, there were no pork products served...a far cry from the typical German breakfast we usually have at hotels.  They even had Beef Bacon...not as good as pork bacon, but not bad.  The view of the Nile from the breakfast room was beautiful.

After breakfast we met our guide, Mona, downstairs.  She told us our first destination would be the Step Pyramid at Saqqara.  While we were driven there, she gave us a brief introduction of herself, and talked about the city.  One thing she mentioned (and I'll expand upon this at different points later in the post) was about the revolution.  She said what they thought was their greatest triumph 2 years ago ousting Mubarak ended up being their greatest mistake.  She said they were so hopeful for their future when the dictator was kicked out, and that they were excited about democracy.  But the new government is even more corrupt than the previous, and she's come to believe that the Egyptian people need a dictator to tell them what to do, and are not ready for democracy yet.  I thought that was fascinating.

One the way to the pyramid, we entered rural farm land.  The first evidence of this was when we had to stop and wait a few minutes for a Shepard and his flock of sheep to cross the road.

We also drove by several carpet schools.  Mona told us that about a hundred years ago a man did not like the fact that the farmers children were receiving no education.  So he set up a carpet school that taught them reading and writing, as well as how to make carpets.  So if they did not want to farm, they would have a valuable skill that they could use to provide for their family.  From that sprung up several other carpet schools in the area.  She said we would stop in one, but first up was the Step Pyramid.

As we arrived, Mona gave us the history of the pyramid.  It was built 4,700 years ago and is the first known pyramid in the world.  The man who designed it built it tiered in such a way that it would not collapse over time, and the fact that it's still standing is a testament to his genius.  About 80 years ago, while clearing away sand in the area, the pathway to the Pyramid was discovered.  There is a grand entrance that contain blocks of stone smoothed down so much they feel like glass.  They are also so tightly packed together you can't even slide a piece of paper in between...all this with no mortar or sealing compound of any kind.  As you walked through the entrance you saw the first known columns built by man.  It was amazing walking through and seeing all this.

After she gave us the history of the place, we were able to walk around and take pictures.  One of the first things I noticed was how empty the place was.  There were tourists, but not nearly as many as I expected.  I'd read how much the turmoil had hurt their tourism industry, but we were seeing it first hand now.  We walked around, took a few pictures with the locals who were doing what ever they could to get you to hand over some money.  I know we paid too much, but it was fun, and it wasn't THAT expensive.  We wouldn't do it at every stop, but once was fine.

When we were done there, we drove over to some tombs that were discovered near the pyramid.  It was incredible walking down into the tombs.  They were obviously built for much shorter people than I.  I had to bend over almost 90 degrees to walk inside, and some tunnels were so small that I had to crawl.  But seeing the sarcophagus with all the hieroglyphs etched in the wall and ceiling was worth it.  It was amazing seeing the trial of the dead with Osiris etched in the wall, and knowing that it was put there over 4,000 years ago.  In one of the tombs, the paint was still on the etchings.  It had not been restored at all, the paint was the same paint put on there 4,500 years ago.

When we left there, Mona took us to one of the carpet schools.  It's a school on one level, and above that is the show room where you can buy Egyptian carpets.  The cheap ones were made by the students, the more expensive ones were made by the teachers.  We looked around and found one we liked for ourselves, and a few small ones for people back home.  Below is a picture of one of the teachers holding the rug we purchased.

The next stop was the Great Pyramids of Giza. But first Shanna asked Mona for a recommendation for a place to buy hand made cartouches.  She wanted one with her name in hieroglyphs.  She took us to a place, and we were given a first hand look at what people had to do for security now.  The store was just opening, so first they took these huge solid iron doors off their hinges and set them aside.  They unlocked door number 2 and opened it.  They then opened an iron gate.  And finally unlocked door number 4 and we walked in.  We talked with the store owner, and Shanna described what she wanted.  We ordered it, and he got our hotel information because it would take a day to make it.  We picked up a few other things and headed to the Great Pyramids.

When we drove up to the pyramids, my mouth dropped.  After learning about them in history class growing up, here we finally were, standing in front of them.  They were beyond enormous, touring over us.  Mona gave us the history and background of the pyramids, including an interesting fact about how they sealed the pyramid once the body of the Pharaoh was placed inside.  In order to make it difficult to come in afterwards to rob it, the door was built to seal itself from the inside.  So after the body was laid to rest, the workers sealed themselves inside, then escaped through a small back door they'd built into the place.  Once they were out, they sealed the back door and covered it to hide their tracks.

We walked all around the pyramid.  The boulders that make up the pyramid were so massive that Shanna took a picture of me standing in front of one of them with my arms outstretched.  From finger tip to finger tip, I couldn't touch both ends of one block.  How they were able to stack these one by one with no modern tools is beyond me.

After walking around for a bit, we got back in the car and Mona had the driver take us to a secluded spot near by where we could take pictures of all 3 of the Great Pyramids.

Next up was a drive down the hill to the Great Sphinx.  I asked Mona if the story I'd heard in history class as a kid was accurate in regards to how it lost it's nose.  I'd been taught that when Napoleon came through Egypt, his army used the nose as target practice.  She said that used to be the thinking, but when the nose was examined more closely, it was determined that it was intentionally removed using a chisel.  Hundreds of years ago the sand in the area came up to the head of the Sphinx, and the rest of the body was buried.  The current theory is that someone did not want people worshiping the Sphinx as a false idol, so they attempted to destroy it by removing the nose and the beard.  Both pieces have been recovered, with the nose being in the Egyptian museum and the beard being in the British Museum in London.  She said she used to be upset that the various European countries would not return the Egyptian artifacts they had, but after the Egyptian museum in Cairo was looted following the revolution, she said the European countries should keep whatever they have, because at least they'll be safe there.

When we finished up there, we had one more stop.  Egypt is known for things other than pyramids, such as inventing the first process for making paper and various perfumes and oils.  She took us to a hole in the wall store we never would have found that made their own Papyrus paper, and sold all kinds of home made perfumes and oils.  They gave us a demonstration on how to make paper from a Papyrus reed that was fascinating.  They then gave us a demonstration of all kinds of oils that they sell.  Shanna ended up buying some oils to use at home in a bath or as perfume.  As we were leaving, the owner of the store (who was a family friend of Mona's) took us out back to his stable to show us some of his horses, including a 2 month old horse.

Finally it was time to call it a day.  The driver took us back to the hotel and we said goodbye to Mona for the day.  We were wiped out, so we ended up taking a nap.  That evening we went up to the top level of the hotel and had a few beers while watching the sun set over the Nile.  It was absolutely beautiful.  We then went down to their main restaurant, which was having Turkish night.  We had our hands washed by the waiter in traditional Turkish fashion, and had a delicious multi-course meal.  We've come to love Turkish food, and that night's meal was no exception.

After dinner we headed up to bed and called it a night.  The next morning we met Mona in the lobby and headed to the Egyptian Museum.  I was disappointed that there were no pictures allowed inside, because we saw some fascinating things.  They had all kinds of mummies, including Amenhotep and Ramsey The Great.  They had King Tut's mother, and the Pharaoh who drove Moses out of Egypt (can't remember his name off the top of my head).  They also had King Tut's display with his burial mask, sarcophagus, and the burial chamber he was found in.  The artifacts they had on display were amazing.  Last week Shanna & I went up to this tiny village outside Frankfurt that was a historic village with an Easter market.  They had an old brewery you could walk through, and in that brewery was a tiny statue of an Egyptian making beer.  The sign said it was replica, but the real statue from 2,400 B.C. was in the Egyptian Museum in Cairo...after doing some looking, we found the original statue in the museum!  I thought that was neat to see.

When we walked out of the museum, I took the picture below because it showed the burial place for the first curator of the museum.  What ended up being far more fascinating was the burned out building in the background.

In the days leading up to the revolution in 2011, the building was an office building used by the Muslim Brotherhood.  One night the building caught on fire, and the Brotherhood played on the people's growing anti-government emotions, and said the Government did it to try and silence them.  That got people even more angry, and helped propel them towards the eventual ousting of the government leaders at the time.  It was later discovered that the government did not set the fire, and the Brotherhood knew it all along, but used it to their advantage.  Shanna & I remember what she said differently.  I thought it was an accidental electrical fire, but Shanna thought the Brotherhood themselves set it on fire.  Either way, though, the Brotherhood lied about the real cause to use it to their advantage.

From the museum we went to the Cairo bazaar.  It's been running continuously for over 700 years.  Remember how I said tourism had taken a big hit, and most of the sites were empty?  The bazaar was no exception, which meant the vendors were even more insistent than usual to try and get you in their shops.  We'd both gotten to the point where we were just ignoring people if we weren't interested in what they were selling.  If you spoke to them, that was their opening and they'd keep insisting you come look.  We ended up talking with one vendor who sold pillow cases that could be used for other things.  Shanna, for example, bought a few that could be used as table cloths.

It was getting warm at that point, so we stopped at a little cafe for drinks.  Mona asked if we minded if she headed to a few shops to pick some things up, and we said no problem.  So Shanna & I sat there, with her sipping Mint Tea, and me sipping Hibiscus juice.  I'd discovered this the day before and LOVED it...I hope I can find some for sale here in Germany.  There's an international Market Hall downtown that I'm hoping will carry it if I can't find it in a normal grocery store.

We had people walking up to us trying to sell things, but a casual no and continuing our conversation was usually enough to send them on their way.  Eventually Mona met back up with us, and we left the bazaar.  On the way out she pointed out a large Mosque that is famous all over Egypt, because the grandson of the Muslim Prophet Mohamed is buried there.

At this point we we were ready for lunch.  Mona recommended a place in a park near by that had a great view of Cairo.  When we got there, she wasn't kidding...the view was amazing.  She'd talked earlier about how delicious pigeon was, so we decided to try it.  Shanna ordered the grilled pigeon and I ordered it stuffed with something called "Freek".  It's a type of wheat cooked in a way that resembles rice.  One thing we'd learned is that there are all kinds of fresh fruit grown along the Nile, and the fruit juices there were incredible.  With lunch, I had strawberry juice and Shanna had mango juice.  I don't like mango, but even I had to admit the juice was good.

Eventually lunch came out, and the pigeon wasn't bad!  My only complaint was there was not a lot of meat on it, but the taste was good.  We also ordered flat bread with this dipping sauce called Labne.  We'd found that the first night with dinner and fell in love with it.  Basically it's a yogurt based dip mixed with olive oil, garlic, and some other herbs.  It's absolutely amazing.  From the deck we were eating lunch on we could see the pyramids in the distance, as well as some of the larger mosques in the city.  We couldn't help but feel Middle Eastern at that point.

After lunch we drove back to the hotel.  On the ride back I was lucky enough to get a clear picture of a street sign that pointed towards the infamous Tahir Square.  There was no chance we would go there, but I was glad I got a picture of the sign.  Mona told us how much that area had changed.  Three years ago before the revolution her daughter and friends used to go there all the time after school and not come home until 11 or 12 at night, and it was no problem.  Even during the first uprising, when thousands of people camped out there, it was a peaceful atmosphere, filled with hope.  Over the last two years, though, it's been taken over by gangs, and even she as a native of the area wouldn't go there.  She said it was the first time she'd seen people openly carrying guns and other weapons in the street.  At one point we were driving through an intersection, and it was a free for all.  There were no lights, and while there were cops there trying to direct traffic, no one was paying attention.  She said that in the days of Mubarak, people feared the cops and it kept them in line, including simple things like obeying traffic laws.  Once Mubarak was ousted, the police force lost a lot of it's authority, and people stopped caring what they said.  Now people drive however they want, and we saw that everywhere we went.  With all the driving around in the city we did, I only saw one stop light...and that's for a city with 22 million residents.

One of the main reasons I like a personal guide vs. a book or a recorded audio guide is because in addition to all the history and facts, you get a personal side.  Talking with her about her thoughts on the failure of the revolution and where she thinks her people need to go was fascinating.  The best part about traveling is talking with local people and getting to know them and their culture.

Finally we made it back to our hotel and got things packed up.  We had dinner at the chocolate lounge (they served normal food, not just chocolate), then called it a night.  The next morning we were up bright and early, and had the hotel driver take us to the airport.  I was worried about things being a hassle, but at that time of the morning the airport wasn't busy, and it was a breeze going through customs and getting to our gate.

Over all we had an amazing time.  Egypt ranks up there was one of our top trips since moving here, and visiting the Pyramids and the Sphinx is something everyone should do once in their life time.  Nothing makes you feel small quite like standing next to a towering pyramid, knowing it's been standing there for thousands of years.

To see pictures, click here or any picture above.  We don't have any more trips planned until early July when we go to Russia, but we might take some last minute trips here and there, so check back often!