Vodka Museum

Well, it is my final weekend in Moscow... 

In typical Russian style we thought a Vodka tasting tour would be appropriate.

Vodka Tour

A bear in Moscow!

Lots of Vodka from around the world

Russian doll vodka bottle

Russian vodka bottle labels.

Year 2 - Graduation

My class graduating from Kindergarten.

Mark

Jan

Yaroslav

Katya

Rustem

Vanya

Marisha

Year 2 graduating

Kolmenskoe Park

The park is absolutely wonderful! It is rather large, so you need to have half of the day to visit it. There are hills, ravines, embankment of the river, old houses and paths among the gardens of apple trees. The famous Church of the Ascension, which is  situated here with a nice view on Moscow-river. And in the very end of the park there is recently restored wooden palace of tsar Alexis of Russia.  I had a lovely day with Amanda, Michael and Billy.

It is hard to imagine that it was snowing just 6 weeks ago!

St Petersburg Video

AIS Year 2 video

Moscow Video Part 2

Moscow Photo video part 1

Yusupov Palace - St Petersburg

On a quiet stretch of the Moika River stands a long yellow building, which was once the residence of the wealthy and respected Yusupov family and which saw one of the most dramatic episodes in Russia's history - the murder of Grigory Rasputin. In 1916 a group of the city's noble elite, including one of the Grand Dukes and led by the prominent anglophile Prince Felix Yusupov, conspired to kill the one man who they felt threatened the stability of an already war-torn Russian Empire. Grigory Rasputin, a peasant and self-proclaimed holy man, had gradually won favor with the Tsar's family through his alleged supernatural powers. His control over the decisions of the family and the Russian ruler himself, put him in a potentially manipulative position and posed a very real threat to their power. Consequently, Rasputin was murdered at the Yusupov Palace on the night of December 16-17 1916, and his death proved to be an almost greater mystery than his life had been.


After the Bolshevia reluation the family left Russia to go to France, Switzerland etc and the palace now belongs to a group of local artists. The room are well preserved, the small theater is interesting and downstairs there is the Pasputin tour with information and recreation of the murder.