Lugging the suitcases through snow drifts early in the morning in Boulder
The snow-bound Denver airport
View from our plane's window
De-icing
Frozen pond near Constantine Palace by our hotel in St. Petersburg
Peter the Great's palace
Another view of Peter the Great's Palace
Alexi on the frozen shores of the Gulf of Finland
The front of the Constantine Palace
Ginger Bread house in our hotel's lobby
Going on a tour of Constantine's palace
Statue of Peter the Great
Inside one of the Palace's halls
A small conference room
This is the private conference room where Bush gazed into Putin's eyes and "got a sense of his soul"
Different perspective of the same room
Large conference room in the Palace
The canal in the back of the palace, which was used as a prototype for Peterhoff
Detail of the columns at the back entrance to the palace
Alexi warms up with a cup of tea
The Fontanka canal in St. Petersburg
The New Year's tree in front of the Winter Palace
The Winter Palace, as viewed from across the Neva
Alexi by the frigid Neva
Alexi buffeted by the wind on the river
The Kunstkammer Museum
The night-lit bridge over the Neva
The New Year's tree in front of the Kazan Cathedral
Getting tipsy on Sovietskoye Champanskoye at a cafe
Alexi and Oleg's Aunt Tamara, New Year's Eve dinner
Training it to Moscow in a completely empty train car, Jan. 1, 2008
View from our room at the Holiday Inn in Moscow
Church in the Ukrainian Quarter, Moscow
Alexi on a deserted street in Moscow
Deserted street in Moscow
Pigeons keeping warm on ventilation ducts
A deserted park. Who says that Moscow is always crowded?
Another view from our walk through Moscow
Lubyanka, ex-KGB headquarters
Cool-looking archway
Another small church in Moscow
Russian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
Our first sighting of people in Moscow on Jan.2!
The pinnacle of capitalism in Moscow, Glavny Universalny Magazin (GUM) on the Red Square
St. Basil's Cathedral, Red Square
Obligatory shot of the Red Square (where everyone was hanging out Jan. 2)
Lenin's Mausoleum
New Year's tree near the Red Square
A pedestrianized street near the Red Square
Alexi by the ice sculptures and light fountain
Yuri Dolgoruky, dressed as Ded Moroz (Grandfather Frost, aka Santa)
Skaters on a frozen pond in a residential area of Moscow
One of seven Stalin's skyscrapers at night
The rising skyscrapers of the new Moscow-Citi business district
A church in Kolomenskoye
Alexi snuggles in for the night on the train to Minsk
View from our hotel window in Minsk. Note the McDonald's across the square.
Classic Soviet-style architecture in Minsk
Cool-looking underpasses in central Minsk
Statue of Dzerzhinsky (founder of the Soviet secret police, later known as the KGB) in Minsk. It's now around the corner from a sushi place :)
Palace of the Republic in Minsk
Skating rink in front of the Palace of the Republic
Another example of neo-classical Stalinist architecture in Minsk
Looking down Independence Avenue toward Yanka Kupala park.
The Minsk circus
One of the entrances to the park
Frozen pond in the center of the park
Pretty street lamps and more impressive architecture
Modern Minsk buses
Victory Square, part 1
Victory Square, part 2. The complete sign reads "the heroic deed of the people is immortal."
Radio tower
Metro entrance. Note the "WC" sign -- clean public bathrooms were easy to find!
Minsk tram crossing Independence Avenue
Patriotic poster proclaiming "For Belarus, for the people!"
Not a statue of Lenin, but rather of Yakub Kolas, a Belarussian poet
Judging by the olympic rings, probably a sports complex of some sort
"Your health largely depends on your lifestyle" - a message brought to you by the Belarus Ministry of Health
The skating rink in front of the Palace of the Republic
"Dom Ofitserov" - literally, "officers' house"
Bad English in our hotel room
Alexi was curious what chicken wings in Belarus would be like. This is the answer.
Alexi on Victory Square
The eternal flame
Closeup of the victory monument
The National Library of Belarus - a very impressive building!
Plaque in front of the library. The English transciption appears to be a mangled version of 2 Timothy 3:16
Belaz welcomes you to Belarus!
Minsk metro. The stern-looking woman walking towards me is about to tell me that taking photos is prohibited
Bus station where we waited for an airport bus
Alligator statue at the Minsk airport
Western-style or squat-style: your choice!
Our ride to Istanbul
View from our room at the Zeynep Sultan hotel in Istanbul
The breakfast room had a great view of the Hagia Sophia
On the patio next to the breakfast room
Inside the Hagia Sophia. Originally constructed as a church in 537, it became a mosque in 1453 after the conquest of Constantinople. In 1935, it became a museum.
It now features kneeling of a different sort
One of the original mosaics from the time it was a church
Alexi in front of the Hagia Sophia
Istanbul was full of well-fed and healthy-looking cats, like this playful kitten
It really liked playing with Alexi's hair!
Cute!
Back streets around the Blue Mosque. We saw a lot of Best Westerns. Globalization, what can you do...
Dogs hanging out
Cute cobblestone alleys near Gulhane Park
Our hotel
Looking across the Bosphorus at the Asian part of the city
Looking towards Beyoglu, a more modern part of Istanbul
A street near our hotel
View of the Hagia Sophia from our hotel
Traditional Turkish tea with a view of the Bosphorus
Alexi after a few drinks at the 360, a fashinable restaurant/bar with great views of Istanbul
Going on a tour of Topkapi palace, residence of the sultans for 400 years
The proverbial gilded cage
The inner courtyard
Interesting hollowed-out tree
View of the Bosphorus from the palace
The entrance to the harem
Harem courtyard. Womens' quarters are on the right.
Large room where the main entertainment took place
Another room in the harem
Stables, I think
A fountain the Suleymaniye Hamam, a Turkish bath where we wpent a relaxing evening
Photos from a Bosphorus cruise from Istanbul up to the Black Sea
A delicious and inexpensive lunch in Anadolu Kavagi
Ruins of the medieval Genoese Castle near Anadolu Kavagi. We had the place to ourselves!
Alexi with the Black Sea in the background
Just beyond the castle walls was some army installation
Bosphorus views from the cruise back to Istanbul
Hagia Sophia in the evening, as seen from our hotel
We don't smoke, but we couldn't pass up the chance to try a nargile, or a Turkish pipe
Me after a nicotine overdose
In the couryard of the Blue Mosque
Alexi's head covering
The entertainment system on our Turkish Airlines flight from Istanbul included a camera view from the pilot's point of view.
Landing at JFK