we're baaaaack!

so, there's really no good excuse for the delay. other than the fact that i'm jet-lagged and crabby and whiny, and thus did not want to share that sort of joy with my readers. you deserve better! you deserve a happy blogger who is uber-excited to share memories and experiences of her two weeks behind the former iron curtain.....

and each time i start to think about the highlights, i realize that there are tooooo many! our trip was absolutely positively craziness. and busy-ness and lack o'sleep! Seriously, 4 days in Moscow, 3 in St. Pete's, and the seven in between spent along some waterway experiencing some small village or town!

so, 'my dear friends,' i will begin by telling you 'russia is not so different than you.' There are big cities and small villages and tons of forest land and it's really freaking flat. 'could you imagine?'
I could not. borscht is pretty tasty, i ate more fish than i thought possible, the people are loud and somewhat push and need very little personal space (imagine, if you will a cross between a texan and new yorker, perhaps?) Every place we visited had some sort of statue immortalizing Lenin, an onion-topped church, and a civic center named Kremlin. 'you're welcome.'

I've barely got the photos onto the lappy and am lamely attempting to determine which ones are worthy of your time, or my time, or anyone else's time. but between the two of us, we took over 2200 pics. who knew! granted, most are the same silly shot that never came out. but I'll share some of the best. I promise. perhaps I'll aim to toss together some sort of daily montage. so that way you can travel along with me in this blog...