An interesting church in the Kremlin...
A church too big to fit in the frame. It's impossible to give a good impression of the immensity of many places in Russia... you simply have to be there, and feel it.
Another church in the Kremlin.
Another building in the Kremlin. I liked the mirror effect of the windows.
A huge cannon in the Kremlin, purported to be the largest in the world at one time. Though
there's apparently been some dispute as to whether or not it's ever been fired.
Supposedly the largest bell at one time, also located in the Kremlin.
Moscow State University, or Moskovskii Gosudarstvennii Universitet (MGU). It was difficult
to get it all in the frame.
The Hotel Ukraine in Moscow, not far from Moscow State University.
I'm afraid I couldn't resist. Yes, Virginia, there really *is* a McDonald's on Red Square.
I spent a fair amount of time in Russian cemetaries (this one was near a convent in Moscow -
they have some of the most beautiful statues I've seen (and I've poked around a lot of
cemetaries). This is a monument to Nikolai Konstantinovich Zhembrovsky, apparently a
pilot who perished in the Great Patriotic War (World War II), and my favorite of all
I found there.
Unfortunately, I don't know to whom this is a monument (if anyone else out there knows, please
tell me).
Another grave statue I liked. I was barely able to make out the writing, but it appears
to be to the Polikarovs, a husband and wife.
I believe this one is to Matvey (Matthew) Manizer.
This one I just liked for its uniqueness. Again, I don't know who it was for...
At Peterhof, "the place of many fountains." In fact, that's how my friend and I found it, by asking people on the Metro and the elektrichki (electric trains), "where's that place with all the fountains?"
One of my favorite scenes at Peterhof.
In the ancient city of Pskov.
An extremely old and beautiful church in Pskov.
Another scene in Pskov.
A Lutheran church in Estonia.
Trakar, a castle in Lithuania.
My fellow students periodically reminded me to get some pictures with me in them so
people would believe I was actually there. This is one of them, of me at Trakar.
This statue was found at Peterhof, and reminds me of Peter the Great's theme - of looking ever to the west. Simultaneously wistful, sad, and hopeful, or at least I'd like to think so.
Another monument to a The Great Patriotic War, found on the roadside. They're all over Russia, and this one was on the road back to St. Petersburg from Pskov.
A good friend from Moscow, who claimed the moniker "Phil." (Phil explained that all good Russian hippies chose American-sounding nicknames). Phil taught me a lot... thanks Phil...
And another good friend, who traveled all the way from Bashkortostan to St. Petersburg, just to see me... I can still hardly believe it... t'was a magical week, and way, way too short.
In Lithuania, at the scene of the famous 1991 protest, where Lithuanians withstood Russian tanks. The Lithuanians won, and were the first to declare independence from the Soviet Union. From what I saw of them while I was in Vilnius, they're a very strong people.
More grafitti.
The most chilling image I've ever witnessed. While I was in Vilnius, I visited the
KGB prison museum and was given a personal tour by someone who, as I recall, had been
kept in the prison at one time. I got to see the individual cells, including some padded,
with bullet holes in the padding, some with memorabilia of those who'd died in them,
and a cell for solitary confinement that was no more than 4' x 4' x 3. This is a straitjacket
hung in one of the cells, and it still terrifies me.