July 26th: New York City to Mechanicsville!

We landed at JFK and stood in long lines that really didn't take that long. I picked up my bags and headed out of the claim area to find..... no one waiting for me!! I went outside, no one. I cruised around a few hallways...but my wife was nowhere to be found. I called her cell phone from a pay phone because there was no reception in the terminal. So I found a seat near where all the people from my flight were slowly coming out. The man that sat quietly next to me for 10 hours came out and was looking for his daughter. He sat down next to me and we began a rather late conversation for two people who probably won't ever have any more contact. It turns out that he was waiting for his American daughter and that he was a physics professor at the U of Moscow. His university had started a special high school in Moscow just for higher math and science. They had tried to make some connections with American high schools, but had not been successful. I told him about my experiences and videoconferencing with Russian students in Penza. We exchanged emails and will try to connect this fall! Obviously, we should have started talking in Moscow and we would have had lots to talk about for 10 hours! His daughter came around the corner and we were introduced like we were old friends. She said that a lot of people were waiting in area C - our flight was exiting from area A. I went to area C and found my wife and my brother who were waiting for me to arrive at the wrong gate! Welcome to America!

We trained and subwayed to Penn Station. We went to the Hampton Inn in Manhattan. And then.....DINNER in AMERICA!!! The most amazing thing happened at a nice deli/restautant in Manhattan. The deli serves cucumbers and pickels for a snack/appetizer to everyone - Russians had cucumbers with everything! They also gave each of us a small dish of cole slaw. Now, what is slaw made of????? CABBAGE!!!! And then, the waitress comes to get drink orders. Her name was Iryna and her accent was definitely from somewhere in Russia!!! It is hard to leave Russia, especially when coming to NYC!!! Well, I had a Philly cheesesteak with onions and mushrooms, kethcup, fries, and all the ICED TEA I wanted to drink!! It was wonderful to be back the US of A!!

My wife, Judy, and I went to Ground Zero the next day and saw one big construction site. They were definitely in the foundation mode for the new building. Not much history to see. We took the subway north and took a tour of the United Nations. The Broadway shows we wanted to see had no seats together so we went out to dinner again and just relaxed.

The next morning, we took the Acela train to the BWI airport stop. Judy's sister and brother-in-law picked us up and took us to their house where Judy had left our car. We drove home, picked up our daughter Megan and promptly went out to OUTBACK for a great steak and shrimp dinner. It was great to be back home!!

July 25th: Education in Penza/back to Moscow

Sleeping in is one of my favorite things to do, especially during the summer months. My students always complain that I am way too perky in the morning. The secret is out: it's the only way I can be ready to teach that early in the morning. I am so agreeable to my students who want to sleep in and start school later. Studies show....not now.

We took the mini-van to down-town Penza and went to the floral shop. Svetlana thought it would be a good idea to take flowers when we visit their boss, Marina S.! When we got to her office (air-conditioned - yes!) S gave me the flowers and ushered me through the door towards Marina. Marina had visited the US in the spring and had been to dinner at my house, so I wasn't a total stranger. However, I wasn't aware that I would be giving the flowers. But, flowers do amazing things to people when they are given as gifts - smiles, hugs, laughing - S knew what she was doing!!

We sat down with tea and sweets and discussed our two school systems and our connections through relationships and with videoconferencing! They wanted to expand that line of communication! I said it would not be a problem (my own BOE is struggling to get it together this week) and we could expand forthwith! I spoke in front of a video camera for a video that they wanted to show their social studies teachers at the beginning of the school year. It was an incredible meeting and visit!

We went to lunch at the BierHaus, a lovely restaurant in the heart of Penza. I ordered a salad and an entree thinking of all the tiny little salads I've eaten in the last month. The salad was as big as the entree and I made a bit of a pig of myself. Dessert was fantastic as well! Chocolate is always good. Is there anyone in the world who doesn't like at least one kind of chocolate?

I packed at the flat and Igor picked us up in his 4x4 Lada again. This time to the train station. K and I shared a compartment with two total strangers, but they were very friendly. Sleeping on the train again was not a problem for me! We arrived in Moscow at 8:20 and our cab driver was waiting for us. Again, K was the master of logistics in Moscow! He went and fetched my big suitcase that we had stowed days earlier, went to the cab. We were worried that I would not make it to the airport in time, but the cab driver assured us that the big traffic was coming IN the city and we were on the way OUT. We arrived at the airport almost three hours before my flight! I took some time to even out the weight in my bags and then waited in several slow lines to have my bags checked. Packed the bags again and went to the check in. I didn't even show them my ticket - the passport number is entered and the computer knows that I have a ticket!
Another passport check. Another carry-on luggage search. Russian security seems a little more extreme than the US. Every two gates has a waiting area that you cannot leave once you enter and go through the metal detectors. As I was waiting, an American started a conversation and we found that he lives in NJ right across the Delaware from where I grew up in PA - small world! The flight was fairly enjoyable. I sat next to a man, a Russian, and I didn't think he spoke English. So there were no conversations on this flight. Ipod, movies, food and drink....home is coming soon!

July 24th: Back to Lermontov's Estate

It was great to sleep in! A driver named Anatoly picked us up at 11:00 and we were on our way to Mikhail Lermontov's estate. Lermontov is Russia's 2nd most famous poet behind Pushkin. Lermontov lived in the generation after Pushkin, early to mid-19th century. The road seemed smoother than I remember three years ago. But now we are riding in a Volga and not a cargo van. Anatoly, our driver for the day, was a smooth machina operator! Passing on Russian two-lane highways takes some finess. There are basically three lanes. One on the right, one on the left, and one gray area in the middle for passing. When you do pass, it is expected that oncoming traffic will give you enough room to pass. Lines on the highways are not as defined as they are in the US. The drive to Lermontov's took a little over an hour, still in Penza region.

We toured all the buildings except the private chapel, which was being renovated. We liesurely walked around the grounds and enjoyed the weather. It is a quiet place, good for writing poetry! We had a meal at the kitchen which provided us with a 19th century meal. AND, we had pie for dessert! Pie in Russia isn't like pie in America. The pie was mostly bread, circular in shape, but the inside was filled with.......CABBAGE! My sweet tooth wanted to scream! I was thinking sweet apple pie, maybe blueberry pie, or strawberry pie...but not cabbage!!

We arrived back in the city of Penza around 7:00 and went shopping at a new store reminiscent of Wal-Mart. It had an entire grocery store on one side and a warehouse side for non-edible goods on the other. It was a fairly new store and was in walking distance to their flat. Dinner was great again...red caviar!! Although I am not a fan, I learned how to eat it properly the Russian way....bread....butter....and a half inch thick smear of caviar!! K and S discussed a lot educational possibilities with our new videoconferencing scheme!

Monday, July 23: Moscow with Konstantin

I was up at 6:00 am and helped get some suitcases on the bus. I ate a last breakfast in Moscow with my fellow Fulbrighters. I said my goodbyes to all of them as they went to the airport to catch an early afternoon flight to NYC. After they left, I was alone in Moscow! I was alone in Moscow for nearly two hours - it's kind of scarey!! Konstantin, my exchange teacher from Penza, met me a little earlier than our agreed time in the lobby of the Vega Hotel. It was a joyful reunion! I have seen him several times in the US in the past few years, but this is the only time that I have been back to Russia! We then embarked on a luggage logistics exercise designed to get rid of my luggage at all the right places so it would be there when I returned to Moscow for my flight in three days! We took my large suitcase and put it in a locker at the train station (we would be coming back to Moscow on the train). We then placed my other suitcase at another train station, the one that we will take to the airport in the evening. After we had secured the big pieces of luggage, we were free to see the rest of Moscow! All of this was done by taking the Moscow metro all over the place!!

The first place we went was Gorky Park. I had always heard of it, but had never been there. Before we went there, we went to an outside park full of statues from the Soviet period. Some of these statues were very interesing. One statue was of Felix Derzshinsky, the founder of the secret police in the Soviet Union. I thought I would not see any statues of him since they tore one down in 1991 in front of the Lubyanka, KGB place of terror and execution. Gorky Park was like a small Central Park in NYC. It was a relaxing place with amusements, ponds, fountains, and cafes.

An interesting side activity involved Konstantin signing papers at a nearby realtor's office. He is in the process of buying a flat for his daughter, Marina. He told me some great stories of how difficult this buying process was. He had bought a flat in his home town last year. This year he sold it for double what he had paid for it! This gave him some down payment cash to make it easier to secure his daughter's flat. Marina has said that if you have a flat in Moscow, you have arrived!

We lunched at My My (pronounced Moo Moo). This chain of restaurants has a cow theme similar to our Chik-Filets in the US. The restaurant was really a big buffet with many things to choose from.

We metroed to Red Square and walked the Alexander Gardens adjacent to the Kremlin. Beautiful flowers were well in bloom. July is prettier than April in Russia!

K and I took a speedier train from Moscow to Domodedovo airport. It was as nice as any airport in the west. We were bussed to our little Aeroflot jet on the tarmac. We entered the jet from the rear. Our luggage was loaded in the back of the plane in a big cargo net. There were no reserved seats. First come, first served. K had movies on his blackberry, so we watched most of the movie 'Hero,' each of us with an earphone on the tiny screen! Smooth take-off and a smooth landing - nice! We reached Penza by 10:30 pm. Svetlana, K's wife met us at the airport. Igor drove us to K's flat in his 4x4 LADA. A late night dinner was prepared by Svetlana! Wonderful salad, meat, cheese, olives, AND..........MINT ICED TEA......with ICE CUBES! As E.B. declared with his beer earlier in the trip, "It was a beautiful moment!" I later would tell K that having iced tea with ice cubes in Russia, "Blew me away!" Translation = It was a very pleasant surprise! Sweets, hot tea, and toasts with cognac! Bed in another living room in a flat in Russia! But, this was not your usual day in Russia! Thanks to Konstantin and Svetlana, my very good friends in Penza, Russia! They are the BEST!

Saturday, July 21: Kremlin Tour/Red Square

We toured the Kremlin with its Cathedrals, Walls, Bell Tower, Tsarbell, Tsargun (largest cannon), Government buildings, and Towers. Troops marched in the kremlin as a band played. I saw a soldier with a falcon on his leather-bound hand that was used to keep the pigeons away. We toured through the Kremlin Museum. Peter's boots, Catherine's dresses. Crowns of the tsars and fancy carriages of the tsars. Faberge eggs and gold and silver and pearls. I took pictures in here three years ago. Now it is forbidden to take any pictures at all. A small group of us went to Red Square, Gym (pronounced goom), the fancy mall next to Red Square, and took pictures of St. Basil's Cathedral and Lenin's tomb. We walked to an Italian restaurant set up as a cafe on a traffic-less street near Red Square. I had what was the closest thing to a pepperoni pizza I could find on the menu - not bad. But, $3.50 for a small 10 ounce bottle of Coke Light!! We metroed to our hotel for the evening.

Friday, July 20th: Moscow

I have written about some of my experiences in Moscow in previous blogs due to the availability of computers and Internet Cafes. These blogs may be brief, but complement the earlier efforts. The computers in our hotel (Hotel Vega) had Internet capability, but not all of them worked all of the time. When I did log on, they worked very well. One night, I blogged and worked on answering emails from the hotel next to ours which had many more computers and worked very well.

On Friday morning, our train arrived in Moscow at 7:00 am pretty much on time. We boarded a bus with all of our luggage and went to the Vega Hotel which is in the Ismalovo area in NE Moscow. I got a shower and left with the group for a dicussion with a non-profit group called New Eurasia Foundation. This group wanted to help Russia realize its social and educational potential. We listened to their stories and their progress. We discussed our observations in Vladimir and Murom and came to the conclusion that there was still a LOT to be done to raise the social and educational potential of Russia and Russians.

On return, I went shopping at the big flea market close to our hotel with a bunch from our group. I bought a shawl for my daughter as a Christmas present. Even if she reads this she won't know what color or design is on it....or will she be able to guess? I used Nina's cell phone to call Marina Ulanova, the daughter of my Russian exchange teacher from Penza. She lives in Moscow and is employed by the Ministry of Agriculture as an interpreter. Marina met me at the hotel and took me to a fabulous restaurant near downtown Moscow, the Pushkin Cafe. Fantastic dinner! $40 entrees! $5 bottles of water! $10 drinks! $10 salads! $4 scoop of ice cream! $4 cup of tea! Did somebody say this city is expensive??

Thursday, July 19th: Pushkin/Catherine I Summer Palace

We bussed to the town of Pushkin which was just outside the line where the Germans had surrounded St. Petersburg. We first went to the summer palace of Catherine I, Peter the Great's wife. In later years it would be called Tsarkoe Seloe or Tsar's Village. The palace was extraordinary! It was like a mini-Versailles! This palace was actually even more impressive as we learned that the Germans had burned most of the palace out and what we were seeing was the restoration from the last 50 years! The Amber room was the most impressive as everything inside the room was cut and decorated with amber! Each of the other rooms were decorated with gold leaf and mirrors were used extensively to capture as much light as possible. The ball room was extravagant. It reminded me of Versailles on a smaller scale!

Very close to the summer palace was another palace that was not open to tourists or even important hostorians and teachers like us. Alexander I's palace was yellow (the summer palace of Catherine was blue) and was important more than being lived in by the defeater of Napoleon! Alexander Palace, as it is called, was the 'holding cell' for the royal family of Nicholas II in 1917 and 1918 before they were shipped off to the middle of the country to a town called Ekaterinburg. There in 1918, they were murdered, all shot to death in the basement, by the Bolsheviks to show that there was no going back to a tsarist reign. As I have written, the tsar's family's remains have been identified and reburried in the Cathedral on Peter and Paul Fortress with all 0f the other tsars from Peter to Alexander III, Nicholas' father.

On the way back to town, we stopped at the Memorial to the Defenders of Leningrad (WW II), a very moving memorial. On the top level, there is a circle that reminds them of the 900 days and 900 nights that St. Petersburg was surrounded by the Germans. There is a very tall obelisk with the years 1941 - 1945 on it. Farther out from the circle are two groups of statues of soldiers from the Great Patriotic War (what Russians call WW II). Underneath the circle is a museum complete with artifacts and a film without sound made of documentary material showing some of the hardships Leningraders had to deal with during the siege. Very emotional and educational!!

Nadia, our guide in St. Pete and Moscow from the American Home in Vladimir, took us to SUBWAY for dinner. It was the fastest way for us to eat, get to the show (Folk Music), and not have to stop before getting to the train to Moscow at the appropriate time! The folk music show was great. I had seen the same show three years earlier and was impressed then! Lots of singing, typical Russian dancing with the leg kicking, balalaikas, bayans!

At 11:00 in the evening (it's St. Petersburg 62 degrees north) it was still light as we boarded the train that would take us to Moscow!