Playing in the Snow

Ummm who grabbed the tree?

There's ice in that snow ball

Yeah the swing almost smacked us in the face

Ooops

He winds up...

Like dust... snow on a ....  I got nothing

Nap  time

Time to get up

Oooops

Thats better

You can't see me

Ahhh That's just cute

Exit stage left.

Ooops Crystal fell ... again.

Daddy Daughter Day

So on Friday the 23, I took the day off and spent it with Crystal.  We spent the morning touring the Red October Chocolate Factory.  I had been once before with Jolene, but since Crystal didn't make it, I figured I would make the sacrifice and go again.

So we donned our lab coats, hair nets, and booty shoe covers and made our way up and around the plant.  Unfortunately, cameras are not allowed on the production floor.  But we did taste some delicious chocolates freshly made.  From dark 75% cocoa to to filled truffle like candies. So rich and yummy.

The tour starts in a welcome area where there are chocolate sculptures such as this 150 pounds of chocolate brown bear.

We also learned about the Russian ethnologist, Yuri Valentinovich Knorosov, who deciphered the Mayan hieroglyphs.  Though many thought he was wrong, he was eventually proven correct.  This was an interesting feat since he had never traveled to see the ruins. 

And this is where chocolate comes from the Cocoa Tree, found in warm tropical climates.  It's said that cocoa from the Central American area is the best in the world.  Our lecturer also said that because the shrinking plantations, they believe the cost of cocoa will climb to be just as expensive as black caviar.





After getting a nice sugar buzz, Crystal and I decided to head to Red square and see how they decorated it for the holidays.  We did a lot of walking but took the opportunity to stroll the Gum (pronounced "GUME") mall.  I think Crystal really enjoyed that.  Guess what she likes the best...

Yeah she's a shoe girl.  We browsed some of the shops in the mall and took some pictures in Read Square. After that we walked back to the embassy to pick up mom, who worked all day.  All and all it was a great time out with my Boo.  Here are a few more pictures we too, and you can find all of them on our picasa web album.  Just click on the picture of St. Basil's in the upper right corner.

New Look and Snow

So first of all we've changed the theme for the blog.  Let us know what you think.  We wanted to get more color and brighten it up a bit.  We also added AdSense.  So if your so inclined go ahead and check out some of the adds.  This will help offset some of the costs of hosting our own domain (wallsplace.com).  Okay enough of the administrative stuff.

We've finally got snow!  About 8 inches so far on the ground.  It's going to be a White Christmas in Russia!  And today was the Winter Solstice so the days are going to start getting longer from here so that's a bonus too!

Tomorrow Crystal and I are going to the Red October Chocolate factory to sample some wares and tour the production area.  Then I think we'll head off and go get a light lunch somewhere, providing we don't completely spoil it.

Well that's enough for tonight...

Good Night and  Merry Christmas!

False Start

Okay a couple weeks ago, the skies were grey and snow was falling, everything was white with a light coating of snow.  I though this was the beginning of those cold snowy Russian winters everyone teased me about when I told them we were going to Russia for two years.  But we've lived in Iowa for the last eight years and in upstate New York for a few years before that.  Cold snowy winters were nothing new to us.  We made sure we had all our scarfs, gloves, snow pants, etc.  We were ready as we could be.  Jolene was waiting on a long coat, but that's another story...  It really is beautiful here and when the virgin snow is on everything it's doubly so.  We were told that they really didn't get big snow storms here but more of a constant accumulation of snow from day after day snow showers.

BUT what we got was snow showers at night and mid 30's during the day.  So needless to say, the snow was there in the morning, but after work, it had melted away.  And now the last two days have been nothing but rain.  Needless to say the beauty of the white snow was replaced by grey/black water that makes all cars filthy and gets tracked in when you come home.  Anyway, we're still waiting for winter to come.  We are still officially in autumn so we'll see what winter actually brings.

As grey and dismal it is and the lack of sunlight can be a bit depressing, but it still is very awesome to experience this new land.  I'm really looking forward to getting pictures of Red Square covered in snow.  Hope I get the chance.

Let see, I started this blog talking about the trials and tribulations of applying to the Foreign Service.  So I'm sure an update on work is long over due.  Let see I love my job and my co-workers are pretty cool too.  Now that we've been in country for just over 3 months you may wonder if I have any regrets.  Well just one, I wish I did this 10 years ago!  The work is challenging at times and there are some long hours.  But working at the embassy is pretty cool.  And to be in a country when historic event happen are kinda humbling.  The election protests here are peaceful enough but to be so close to everything is awesome.

Well till next time.   До свидания!

Starting to feel like Christmas

Okay we spent Saturday getting all the decorations out and decorating our tree.  I must say there is nothing like the smell of a fresh Christmas Tree.  The whole living room smells so good.  Just need some good baking smells coming from the kitchen and I'll be set!

A shorter tree this year, Crystal picked it out herself and I must say she did a great job.  Jolene bought some glass ornaments at the glass factory she toured a few weeks ago.  These are the gold ones here and there.  She also found her grandmothers nativity and we got that all set up too.

Jolene has a nice little village collection here too.  So I took a few pictures of that.

And finally, we have a couple shots out our back balcony.  We got a little snow last night.  These pictures were taken about 9:00am.  Not quite a sunrise and the days are still getting shorter.  But only for a couple more weeks.

More Tours

Okay I've got a couple of tours to report on.  On Thanksgiving day, Crystal had school, so Jolene and I took the opportunity to visit a chocolate factory.  Here we got to see a bit about the history of chocolate, some chocolate works of art, and more importantly we got to visit the production area and sample warm chocolates right off the line.

Unfortunately we were not allowed to take pictures in the production area, but needless to say it was pretty cool and the samples were Oh So Good! 

So you can see we had to wear lab coats and hair nets and the nice yellow slippers over our shoes.  Speaking of those yellow slippers, you find those all over the place here.  They like to keep their floors clean so the have slippers you slip on over your shoes as you enter the building.

A sample of the chocolate sculptures around.  You can see the rest of our pics from the tour here: ChocolateFactory Pics

The most recent tour we took was of a bunker Joseph Stalin had made in WWII.  Here is a view from Google Maps.  The stadium was only built to cover the fact that a bunker was being built.  The bunker is about 1,000,000 square feet so a construction project that big requires a big cover story.  The entrance to the bunker that we used was added after the bunker, well part of it was turned into a museum.  Before this area was connected to the Kremlin through a 17km tunnel.

The architecture inside the bunker was really cool, and all of it was built by prisoners.  Stalin didn't want his secret bunker known so he had prisoners build it and once the construction was done, work on the stadium stopped and the prisoners were sent to another project in some other part of the country.

From the center of the tables, the ceiling is arched similar to that of a satellite dish.  The effect of this made the speaker in the middle much louder without the use of microphones.  It also focused sound from around the table to the middle.  Joseph Stalin was a very soft spoken man and wanted the acoustics to make himself sound louder and avoid the use of electronics.

Stalin's desk was simple, but he had 3 phones, one to call the Kremlin, one to call the Generals in the field and one his Aids could call him on.  In the top left corner is a replica of his pipe.  Stalin also smoke very heavily.  After our tour of the bunker, we headed to an outdoor bazaar in Izmaylovo.  Then a short 30 minute metro ride home.  Here are the rest of our pictures.

Crystall Vodka Factory Tour

This weekend, Jolene and I went on a tour of the Crystall Vodka factory.  This factory has been in business since 1901.  There is a small museum with lots of different glasses, bottles and other trinkets related to Vodka, its production and consumption :) 

 Inside this bottle is a devil, to remind you of the effects of drinking.  There were several other bottles with objects in them.  There was one with a rooster in it and another with a swan. 

During WWII, the company was bombed by the Germans because of the production of Molotov Cocktails.  The bomb was not a direct hit and the company continued to produce them.  The dark bottle in the middle is an actual Molotov Cocktail produced in WWII, with the instructions printed on the label.

Below is the couch that Pyotr Arsenievich Smirnov got the news that the government was taking over all vodka production, putting him out of business.  The story goes that he had a heart attack and died upon receiving the news.

After the tour, we sat down and participated in a Vodka sampling.  With the table spread with different kinds of snacks from pickled herring to salami.  We sampled 10 different types of vodka and 3 different liqueurs.  We finished our tour with a stop by the gift shop where we picked up a few bottles for ourselves.  You can see the rest of the pictures at our online web album.  https://picasaweb.google.com/mwalls88