Expo progress 2

Expo line

Dubrovnik

Greetings from the Pearl of the Adriatric! It's been a few days and a few thousand kilometers since my last entry. I flew from Russia to Austria and from Austria to Serbia. I've been in buses and cars throughout the southern half and Serbia, the eastern part of Bosnia and the southern tip of Croatia. Right now my parents and I are soaking up the beauty, history and sunshine of Dubrovnik, Croatia. Already tomorrow, we'll be retracing our steps through the mountainous Balkan Peninsula so my parents and grandma can fly home.

This might just be my last entry from outside the United States of America. This Saturday, 11 August, I'm flying back to California. Until we see or meet or talk again, Sve najbolje!

More pictures of Peterhof

Here's a couple more pictures of Peterhof. The first is taken from the level of the palace, looking out over the canal that leads to the Bay of Finland. The fountains hadn't been turned on yet, when I took this picture. The other picture is of the famous pyramid fountain, one of the many, many cool fountains. Enjoy the pictures!

What's a Pskov?

This week saw our last out-of-town excursion. We visited the 1100 year old city of Pskov near the Estonian border, staying there Thursday-Saturday. Most interesting to me was the Kremlin (fortress) built on the confluence of the Velikaya and Pskova rivers. It felt like an older, smaller, Russian version of Belgrade. Besides the mandatory fortress tour, we spent some time with the local members exploring other areas of the town.
In addition to Pskov, we saw Mihailovskoe, where the poet Alexander Pushkin spent time on house arrest; and also an old fortress in Izborsk and a monastery in Pechory.
Yesterday was also my last Sunday at my little branch outside the city. Next Saturday I'll be travelling with my parents so I already had to say goodbye to them. It was sad, and actually reminded me of when I had to leave my wonderful friends in Serbia. But even in that thought I found some consolation. At the end of this farewell, there awaits a reunion or two...