Wayne and Olya's Journal

Our little son and Olya at 5 months

2009-06-21T13:36:00.004-07:00

La Jolla and Del Mar

2009-04-19T21:15:00.008-07:00

We decided to head out to to California on a very cold Thursday and arrived at Del Mar around 9 pm. We stopped at Bully's East http://www.bullyseastsd.com/ for some dinner. One of the dishes we ordered was potato soup which tasted very much like a Russian stew and was very thick. Very good dish. We met a Russian girl there - Tatyana from Belarussia who studied to become a nurse in San Diego. She was the friendliest waitress in the restaurant that night. Our waitress on the other hand seemed to either have a bad day or a bad attitude - it was very hard to tell. I wish I could afford to be so intolerant to complete strangers.

The next morning we had breakfast at Bibby's Crepe Cafe in La Jolla. We love crepes and always look for places that serve them. Bibby's served a menu full of buckwheat savory crepes and sweet crepes. They also sold Leonidas Belgian chocolates - same ones we always get at New York's Manon Cafe. We ate there twice that week and especially enjoyed a crepe with pears, chocolate and vanilla cream.

We saw the seal beach on the news while in the hotel and decided to go visit the seals at the beach in La Jolla. The seals were very relaxed and quiet, sunbathing in the sun and completely oblivious to the people watching them. One very large seal occupied a prominent spot on on of the bigger rocks. It wasn't until he was completely dry that he decided to slide down to the water very slowly. I previously only saw seals while on catamaran in Boston and at the Sea World in San Diego, but never like that - wild in the open. It was wonderful to see them in the natural habitat - near the ocean water.

After driving around looking for a place to have lunch, we somehow settled on Pamplemousse Grill http://pgrille.com/. While nice and welcoming, the place was way too formal for what we expected from the name. We gave it a try and I ordered a seafood bisque, which was absolutely wonderful and full of flavor. A great soup for $18. Felt good in my pregnant belly.

We wanted to relax by the hotel pool in the afternoon and it was wonderful. It was still windy and chilly on Friday, but very refreshing. I swam for the very first time since November. It made me think how much I enjoyed swimming in the past.

We decided to go back to La Jolla beach to try Royal Thai Cuisine http://www.royalthaicuisine.com/. The place had excellent red curry. Although it looked more like yellow curry and was hardly warm enough. I wasn't a big fan of their "hot green tea" either - just lightly colored lukewarm water. Are they saving on electrical power there as well as tea bags?

Wayne discovered that right across from the hotel where we used to stay in the past was the Russian-Georgian Restaurant called Pomegranate. Naturally, we decided to try it. We ordered a salad platter full of familiar Russian salads and some Georgian salads that I wasn't familiar with. There was mashed bean salad that was pretty good. The green spinach dip was our least favorite, while the cabbage-apple salad was the best. We had an authentic Russian feast there: chicken kebabs and golubtsi - cabbage rolls filled with ground beef and cooked in the vegetable stock. The $4 tea came in a glass with metallic holder and we had to choose the syrup to go with the tea: I went with sour cherry.

We met uncle Bob and Diane on Sunday - the hottest day of our trip and went to the Presbyterian church with them in the morning. The service was good, but I didn't find the church to be very friendly. The pastor hardly made any eye contact when we went to visit with him and ended the conversation well before it started. Another tall guy with a big nose came up to introduce himself, did not even glance our way when shaking our way. Sometimes I wonder if it is social awkwardness that makes people act that way. I don't think we are very intimidating. Either way, I was happy that our home church is completely the opposite. We are friendly, open and like to socialize with new people.

We had wonderful time with uncle Bob and Diane during our brunch in Alpine. They got a new puppy - a little adopted white poodle mix named Princess that loves to jump on coaches despite having hip problems. The cat was still living at the house and we decided not to go there to avoid my allergy outburst.

St. Louis

2009-03-08T23:08:00.007-07:00

Why St.Louis?

It's a matter of where my husband gets send on a business trip. The company he works for is headquartered in St.Louis and he had to be there for over 2 weeks, which is way too long for us to be apart. So I flew to St. Louis for a 4 day weekend and we had a wonderful time.

We went to the St.Louis Art Museum - a rather small yet very diverse museum. I think we enjoyed our visit there so much because it was small and pretty much void of people - just the way we like it. We saw every single exhibit with the exception of the Ming Dynasty Exhibition that was taking place at the museum during the time. The museum is located inside Forest Park which is a beautiful park located in a very expensive area of the city. The residences right outside the Park are $1 million and up and look the price.

German painting from the times of Berlin Wall: Of course, we wouldn't miss riding the St.Louis Arch in a tiny little card for anything in this world. Why wouldn't anyone want to experience the shock of getting locked in a window free cell with 4 other people, packed so tight, none of us could move or stand up. It's a good test of whether you can handle a state of panic while stuck in the arch with no way to go. Once you're on top, you exit the tram cart and enter the tiny observation deck area, which is another enclosed space with tiny rectangular windows.

Does it look to you like a fun start to a journey to the top of the arch? Looks more like a concentration camp cell:That's how small those carts are. I don't look very happy. People behind me are concerned as well:We are smiling, but we are trembling inside:)

Cathedral Basilica of St.Louis was the best experience of the trip. Magnificent building, with mosaics telling the story of Christ. I was surprised to find out that Pope John Paul II visited this Basilica back in the 1990s. The singing was beautiful, the service - very ceremonial.

And we couldn't miss visiting the The Museum of the Dog, that moved to St.Louis from New York City. The museum is located in a upper class residential area, which struck me as odd, because I wouldn't necessarily look there for a dog museum. It occupies a former Jarville House.

Some fancy dog house:
Old Courthouse located near the arch. Beautiful structure!

Forest park photos:

Trip to New York

2009-02-07T09:05:00.033-08:00

We arrived in Detroit early Wednesday morning. Because of the biggest snowstorm, the Northeast they had in years, all flights headed northeast got cancelled. We were to spend all day in the Detroit airport with no way of getting out:).
Here's the picture of the fully automated train that we would ride from one end of the airport to the other:

Once it was clear that we had to face many hours at the airport without the possibility of getting out earlier, we had to decide on where to eat. We settled on eating at Sora -the Sushi & Asian Cuisine restaurant that seemed to be very popular with the travellers. We ate there on the way back as well and both times the place was packed with people. Surprisingly for the airport joint, the restaurant had a regular Sushi place menu.

As one of the main U.S. hubs to Asia - with direct routes to Japan and, by 2009, China - it came to no surprise that there were so many Asian travellers as well as all signs and announcements done in English and Chinese, as opposed to English and Spanish at Sky Harbor. We were craving for ice cream and went to look for Edy's restaurant, but found it to be out of business despite the fact that it was listed on all the signs. It's time to take Edy's name off!

After about 6 hours there we were so exhausted, that decided to explore the "Religious Reflection Room", located in the administrative area of the airport. Besides two of us, there were 4 Muslims that were using it. After spending 11 hours in Detroit, we finally got on the plane to Albany close to 10 P.M.

The landing was absolutely one of the scariest moments of our lives. Besides the bad turbulence on landing, the plane started rocking from side to side up until the moment we touched the ground. The runway was icy and full of snow. No wonder that once we were on the ground, the plane wasn't able to slow down for a while which caused a lot of concern for all of us. We had a pilot sitting next to us who missed his flight due to weather as well, who was holding the seat in front of him during the whole time. He looked pretty scared as well.

Praise to the Lord that we made it safe!

We rented a car around midnight and arrived at Karen and Bob's shortly after. After settling down 2 am in the morning we were finally in bed only to get up 3 hours later at 5 to catch a train to New York City.

It took us over 3.5 hours to get to the City by train because the malfunctioning signal kept halted us for 40 minutes. So we barely made it for our noon lunch meeting with my school friend Erianna. We took a taxi from the Penn station to the La Grenouille restaurant http://www.la-grenouille.com/. Because it is one of the few formal places left in New York, it was required to wear a jacket and more or less decent clothes. All waiters were french and in their 50s which was quite unusual. I ordered Steamed Cod with Anchovies, Capers, Shallot Crust with Lemon Zest and Wayne got veal special.

Erianna arrived shortly after we settled down. I have known her since I was 7 years old - since 1st grade and haven't seen her in 10 years. We went through 10 years of school together and graduated from the same Malasyan college together. She won a green card 5 years ago, received her MBA from Baruch and is working now as Vice President for Lazard in Rockefeller Center, NYC.

We talked more than we ate, then walked to the 30 Rock, took some photos together, saw Erianna off to her work and went up to the top of the Rock observation deck. It wasn't a perfect day for photography, but I was able to get a couple of good shots.

The following photos were taken from the top of the Rockefeller building - Top of the Rock:

There is only so much time you can spend on the roof of the sky scraper. And we've been on top of lots of them: World Trade Center, Chicago's Hancock Building, Sacre Coeur Tower (the highest point in Paris), etc.

Luckily, St. Patrick Cathedral was right next door. It proudly stands in the midst of the Manhattan skyscrapers and is the seat of the Roman Catholic archbishop of New York. It was amazing how much it looked like the Cologne Dom in Germany. A great example of the decorated and geometric style of Gothic ecclesiastical architecture. Walking into Saint Patrick's Cathedral and the medieval cathedral of Cologne, you would find a similar atmosphere of beauty and peace.

We also visited one of our favorite cafes in New York, called Manon Cafe http://www.manoncafe.com/. There are three of them in the New York City and two in London. The one we went to was located at 74 Trinity Place(immediately next to the American Stock Exchange and at the rear of Trinity Church). It features two levels of comfortable seating, one of the best cappuccinos and espressos in town, which Wayne orders every time we go there and loves it every time, and of course, a complete selection of Leonidas Belgian Chocolates - my favorites. You also get a free Leonida with a cup of tea and it's a delight to have tea there!

A new place we tried was called Pret a Manger http://www.pret.com/us/. They serve food with only natural ingredients. They make their stuff fresh so they can sell it fresh!

And finally it was time to take a train to Queens to see my college friend Frida. We got off at Woodhaven station in Queens, took a taxi and arrived at the apartment complex where Frida lives.

We had great time with her family and stayed up till 1 A.M. again. Only to get up early at 5 A.M. again to catch a train back to Albany.

Panera bread

2009-02-01T08:20:00.000-08:00

Sunday morning, February 1, we stopped at Panera bread in Glenmont, NY and Wayne ordered Baked Egg Souffle. The tasty soft creamy scrambled eggs were packed into crispy flaky buttery puffed pastry with melted cheese on top. I ordered Pineapple Upside Down Mini Bundt Cake which was a tasty mini cake, very moist and full of flavour. But the Egg Souffle was absolutely the best breakfast we had in a long while.

Christmas in pictures

2008-12-13T23:15:00.008-08:00

We went to see Fantasy of Lights Night Parade in Tempe today. What a dissapointment! The show started late with a single tiny boat making a first round and a 10 minute break before the rest of the very slow sad little boats with hardly any lights on quietly floated on the still waters of Tempe Town Lake. We left early in great dissappointment and instead took pictures of downtown Tempe.

Tempe Bridge with a beautiful moon rising above it:

The new monorail travels on top of this bridge. They were conducting practice runs tonight: Another view of the lights on the bridge:

Downtown Tempe, Mill Ave:
Arizona State University Building:

Chase building in Tempe:

Monorail station:

Some pictures of Christmas decorations from inside of our house:

Turkey Trot Race in Mesa, Arizona

2008-11-27T14:33:00.010-08:00

Wayne ran a 10K race on Thursday morning right on Thanksgiving. The 39th traditional Turkey Trot was held in Mesa at the Red Mountain Park located at 7745 E Brown Road, Mesa, AZ on Thanksgiving morning, November 27th, 2008. The race started at 8:15 am with thousands of people at the start line. It was amazing to see so many people in good shape in one spot. What were they racing for? A turkey!
The winner of each age group received a turkey as an award.

Photo report follows below

On the picture below, the turkey muscat checking his time. He finished pretty fast, considering the weight of the costume he was wearing.

Wayne trying to take a lead:)
Inspiring determination and strength:

Probably the winner of the race. He was running at least 20 minutes ahead of the everyone else.There were quite a few of the four legged friends who also participated in the running and made it all the way to the finish line:

Petrushka (Петрушка in Russian) at the Phoenix Symphony

2008-11-09T14:54:00.011-08:00

Saturday, November 8th we decided to go get some culture in downtown Phoenix. We went to see Petrushka (Петрушка) by Stravinsky (Стравинский).
Composer Michael Doherty opened the night. Doherty is one of the most commissioned, performed and recorded composers on the American concert scene today. On the night we were there, the symphony performed Doherty's March of the Metro - his new work dedicated to the upcoming opening of the Phoenix monorail. It was a very well performed march.

We listened to the Symphony 2 in D Major, Op.36 by Beethoven and finally made it to the Petrushka. Petrushka is a story of a Russian traditional puppet, who is made of straw and with a bag of sawdust as his body, but who comes to life and has the capacity to love. Unfortunately, Petrushka gets stabbed to death in this version of the famous story and then reappears on the ceiling of the symphony hall. The music was accompanied by a very good puppet show ( puppeteer Basil Twist).
A Balerina, Petrushka and what looked like a scary pirate were the main characters of the show.

Stravinsky composed the music during the winter of 1910–11 for Sergey Diagilev's ( Сергей Дягилев) Ballet. It was premièred in Paris with choreography by Mikhail Fokin (Михаил Фокин). The title role was danced by Васлав Нижинский. While the production was generally a success, more than a few observers were taken aback by music that was brittle, caustic, and at times even grotesque. When Diaghilev and his company traveled to Vienna in 1913, the Vienna Philharmonic initially refused to play the score, deriding Petrushka as schmutzige Musik ("dirty music").

Right before the Metro March by Doherty: During the intermission:
The dog slept through most of the performance, only to wake up occasionally to watch the puppets.

Orange, California

2008-10-24T10:19:00.011-07:00

We arrived in Santa Ana airport at 8 A.M. on Monday morning.
I took Wayne to work, checked in the hotel and went shopping for Pilates DVDs all morning.
After I picked up Wayne from work, we ate Mexican food at Frescas near the hotel http://www.frescas.com/.
Later that night we drove to the Huntington Beach. It was a very cold evening and windy. The sand felt very cold on our feet. Wayne got his socks wet:Surprisingly enough there
were still surfers there till dusk.

We watched the sunset and went onto the pier. Huntington beach pier shortly at the sunset.

The rest of the night we spent in the small shops around the area looking for a German restaurant. Unsuccessfully.
On the way back to the hotel we stopped at the Asian seafood buffet restaurant, where for $25 you can get a variety of Asian food and sushi http://www.todai.com/todaiConcept.html. The food was very good and abundant. You could get anything from spicy octopus and baked salmon rolls to eclairs and green tea cheesecake.
Tuesday night we drove to the downtown Disney, walked through the Disney store, the Californian hotel where the live piano music was playing and ate at LaBrea Bakery. It got boring after a while and we then decided to drive to Laguna Beach in the dark. The place is full of art galleries and small boutiques. However everything was already closed by the time we got there.
Wednesday night we drove to the Newport Beach, full of marinas and high end dealerships. We decided on Italian and ate at the Rothschild's Restaurant http://www.rothschildsrestaurant.com/ . We ordered seafood cakes for the appetizer. It was a tasty combination of crab with salmon and shrimp served in a roasted bell pepper cream sauce. I ordered Lobster Ravioli in a same tasty cream sauce with roasted bell peppers and diced green onions and Pollo Fassero, chicken topped with prosciutto ham, melted Gruyere cheese, Marsala wine and fresh mushrooms.
Thursday night we had dinner at King's fish house.
http://www.kingsfishhouse.com/locations_orange.html
Friday we went to see the Crystal Cathedral. The largest glass building in the world was built by the Rev. Robert Schuller. It rises some 12 stories above the ground with an angular, mirror like exterior. The church sits 3000 people, but giant sliding side doors on the side of the church allow even more worshippers to watch the service from their cars in the parking lot.
In the gardens around the church, you will find the statues of Moses,...
We then drove to Laguna beach, parked and walked down towards the water. The waves were beautiful, and it was very warm. We stayed at the beach till the sunset and then had dinner at Brussels Bistro http://www.brusselsbistro.com/.
We had tomato saffron soup and cream of asparagus soup. We also ordered Stuffed crepes duo (ham & cheese, chicken & mushrooms) - crepes stuffed with cheese and ham; and sea bass on the mashed potatoes. Early Saturday morning we headed out to the beach. It was freezing and we decided to find a place to have breakfast before going down to the water. We had coffee and hot tea with the apple strudel at the Heidelberg Bakery Cafe http://www.heidelbergbakery.net/
We went shopping to the Bloc in Orange and ate a very tasty crepe stuffed with fresh strawberries and melted chocolate at the Eurostation http://www.eurostationusa.com/
http://www.eurostationusa.com/

Las Vegas, Nevada

2008-09-11T22:47:00.004-07:00

The main purpose of the trip was to see Cirque De Soleil performance with my cousin Igor. And for him to see Las Vegas. So, we drove there after seeing the Grand Canyon.
We went to see Love (The Beatles) show by Cirque De Soleil at the Mirage theater. Created by French designer Jean Rabasse, the Love theater at The Mirage houses 6,341 speakers and 2,013 seats set around a central stage. Each seat is fitted with three speakers, including a pair in the headrest. The stage includes nine lifts and eight automated tracks and trolleys.
Video images on two walls above the audience on two sides of the auditorium emphasize elements of the show and provide transitions. High-definition projectors also create enormous images on four translucent screens that can be unfurled to divide the auditorium.

We also managed to see David Copperfield's performance on the same night by catching a taxi and making it there at the speed of light.

Grand Canyon, Arizona

2008-09-08T09:00:00.010-07:00

September 8, 2008

This was our 7th visit to the Grand Canyon. We first visited it while still living in New York state back in 2001. We brought and showed the Canyon to a lot of people, this time it was my cousin's turn to see the massive beauty. We saw the Grand Canyon in snow, rain and shine. This time around, the weather was especially photo friendly with nice overcast and beautiful shadows deep into the canyon.

We left the house Tuesday night after a hectic day at work for Wayne and a hectic day of fun for Olya with her sister and cousin in old town Scottsdale. We made it to Flagstaff by 11 PM and the next morning on September 9th 2008 we took a scenic drive to the Grand Canyon.

We arrived at the Grand Canyon National Park around 10 am and not far from the entrance to the park there were 3 elks feeding by the road. Lots of visitors were snapping pictures of them as seen on the pictures.

The canyon is 277 miles (446 km) long, ranges in width from 4 to 18 miles (6.4 to 29 km) and attains a depth of more than a mile (1.6 km). Prior to European emigration, the area was inhabited byNative Americans who built settlements within the canyon and its many caves.

Königswinter, Germany

2008-05-16T21:17:00.002-07:00

Königswinter is a town and summer resort in the Rhein-Sieg district, in North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany.
We arrived at the Konigswinter railway station together with my aunt Tanya around noon. We had a group ticket that wasn't properly stamped and that almost got us in trouble with the conductor who thought that the date was 05/15/08 instead of 05/16/08.

The romantic Drachenfels, crowned by the ruins of a castle built early in the 12th century by the archbishop of Cologne, rises behind the town. From the summit, which can be accessed by the Drachenfels railway, there is a magnificent view.

But first one has to get to the summit which is not easy.

It's a 5 minute ride by a railway car and it costs 7 euros per person. The alternative - enduring ascent by foot to the summit. We decided on spending 21 euros for a 5 minute ride. The train driver was a tall German with a stiff face and abrupt manners:

Here's the legend about the place.

The former masters of the castle, the Counts of Drachenfels, had a winged, fire-spitting dragon in there coat of arms. This ties up with the saga of Siegfried, who is reputed to have slain the dragon, which lived in a cave on the hillside, and then bathed in the blood. Lord Byron and many other poets glorified the Drachenfels. In the last century the hilltop and the tower were jeopardized by the stone quarries, which had been continually extended, until the Government stepped in, taking over the peak and safeguarding the ruins from any further danger of subsidence. A cave in the hill is said to have sheltered the dragon which was slain by the hero Siegfried.

On the wild, jagged Drachenfels towering up so mightily above the river, there once stood a proud castle, of which today only the high tower is still to be seen.

The hill and the castle enjoy enjoy tremendous popularity and are visited yearly by countless numbers of people. The view from the 1050-ft.-high summit is considered one of the most famous on the Rhein.
There is only one way to get to Kongiswinter castle - by foot only. It was a humid day, we used umbrellas quite a bit and finally made it to the top past some horses and beautiful scenery.

And here's the Königswinter castle itself and the scenery around it. The place is truly beautiful and mesmerizing.

It is often used for receptions, weddings and other celebrations. When were were there, the place was getting prepared for an event and was partially under remodelling.

Unfortunately because the place was getting remodelled we couldn't get inside this time to explore the place from within. My aunt was enjoying our time together as well as the beautiful place that she brought us to. We had great time together and will definitely be back here for the inside tour as well.

Now it was time for our way back. We decided against the ride on the rip off train and walked all the way down by foot.

We saw a peculiar road sign.

Vineyards on the side of the road. By the way, this is how they grow in Germany - on steep slopes some of which seem to be almost 90 degrees.

Trier, Germany

2008-05-15T21:54:00.010-07:00

We got to Trier by train on my birthday, May 15th. I was more than thrilled to turn 30 in such a magnificent place as Trier, Germany.
It was a peaceful and refreshing morning. We walked through a green park surrounded by small streets and old buildings.
Trier is the oldest city in Germany - beautiful buildings, quiet streets.

Trier lies near the German border with Luxembourg and within the important Mosel wine-growing region.

Trier is well known for its well-preserved Roman and medieval buildings and we visited some of them:

The Porta Nigra, the best preserved Roman city gate north of the Alps

The Constantine Basilika and the Electoral Palace

the Trier Cathedral ( Trierer Dom or Dom St. Peter), a Roman Catholic church which dates back to Roman times and is home to the Holy Tunic, a garment with a recorded history back to the 12th century, in Catholic tradition said to be the robe Jesus was wearing when he died. It is only exhibited every few decades, at irregular intervals. We didn't see it exhibited on our visit.

The birthplace of social philosopher Karl Marx

Food in Paris

2008-05-14T22:45:00.005-07:00

We were really impressed with the quality and variety of food in Paris.

Lots of bakeries with a variety of desserts that are unmatched, always fresh and very tasty. That's one thing I truly miss - is the great food in lots of wonderful little restaurants that we had a chance to taste during our stay in Paris.

Of course, I wasn't able to take pictures of food everywhere we went and have just a few pictures to remember what the food was like.

One of the restaurants that we visited was La Rotonde http://www.rotondemontparnasse.com/

Once patronized by Hemingway, the original Rotonde faded into history but is immortalized in the pages of The Sun Also Rises, in which Papa wrote, "No matter what cafe in Montparnasse you ask a taxi driver to bring you to from the right bank of the river, they always take you to the Rotonde." Lavishly upgraded, its reincarnation has a paneled Art Deco elegance and shares the site with a cinema. We had a breakfast there on our last morning in Paris.

But we especially became very fond of numerous creperies in Paris. The one we frequented the most was Creposuk: http://creposuk.free.fr/

At first, I didn't like the environment as everyone around me was smoking like a chimney and there was no escape from the tobacco. I had to move our table way out of the way and avoid the smoking as much as possible.

Creposuk creperie is famous for its buckwheat flour crepes. They serve both salty and sweet crepes. The menu features a choice of over 60 crepes variety from Roquefort cheese walnuts and cream crepes for 8 Euros to Hot chocolate flambee with Grand Marnier crepes for 7.5 Euros.

Our favorite was Pear, Hot Chocolate and Vanilla ice cream crepe.

Paris, France

2008-05-13T17:34:00.012-07:00

After spending a day and a half at my uncle's in Koeln, Germany, we headed out to the train station on our way to Paris.
We strategically positioned ourselves at Starbucks which was considerably more expensive than a traditional American one, even without the exchange rate from of $1.55 for 1 euro - yeah, we got "lucky" that the exchange rate was so unfavorable for the american currency right when we decided to go to Europe.
Both Wayne and my aunt had some coffee. Since I don't drink coffee, I preferred to use the bathroom at that time instead. To get to the bathroom one has to get a key from the attendant, walk down 2 flights of stairs and enter this completely dark bathroom with infrared reflective lightning reflecting everything white (toilet paper, towels, toilet seat), yet the rest of the place is still in complete darkness.

We got on the train OK, but in the wrong cart and thanks to some stroller blocking incidents, Wayne got really behind.

We finally got to Paris, took a Subway to Charonne metro station and it was time to find our hotel. Mistakenly we followed Voltair Blvd instead of turning on Charonne. It took us about 30 minutes to finally arrive at our hotel and rest for an hour.

Our first night in Paris. First thing we did there is eat at a restaraunt with a mediocre dinner menu, but not so mediocre prices. The other customers around us in the restaurant were Americans as well - yes, we were very close to the popular tourist traps near the Louvre. We took some pictures behind the Louvre without realizing that we were pretty much right there, just on the outside. And later we headed out to the Notre Dame Cathedral. What a beautiful building that is! Its location, streets around it and the square in front of it kinda reminded me of the Navoi Theater in Tashkent. At about 11 pm we decided it was time to have a dessert and we found a great place - Kreposuk crepery. We ordered a buckwheat crepe filled with amaretto pears and dark chocolate. It was incredible.

Visit to the The Sacré-Cœur Basilica.
A Roman Catholic Basilica dedicated to the sacred heart of Jesus. The basilica is located at the summit of Montmartre, the highest point in the city.
To get there, we had to climb lots of stairs. The alternative was to take a finicular - an electric tram that goes up and down the hill. But since we were there so early - it wasn't running yet. Once you're there, there are more stairs to climb to get to the Basilica. But why stop there, at 5 euros per person you can climb up more stairs to the dome of the Sacre Coeur. It was so high, at one point I got scared that we will never make it back:) and the staircase kept going round and round. We finally got to the top - there was no one else there besides us. Only pigeons.

It felt so peaceful to be up there early in the morning with no one around. And all of Paris was right there down below us. It was amazing.

On the way back, Wayne got "attacked" by the bracelet scam artist who was very persistent about putting the bracelet on and quite scary. We were very lucky to come across lots of scammers while in Paris: the ring scheme, the bracelet scheme and the croatian refuge scheme.

Visit to Notre Dame de Paris.
A Gothic cathedral and the seat of the Archbishop of Paris. The name "Notre Dame" means "Our Lady" in French. The cathedral is considered one of the finest pieces of French Gothic Architecture. There were a lot of gypsies around the Cathedral, addressing only Americans with requests to give them money.

We came back to the Cathedral several times during our stay in Paris.

Notre Dame Cathedral at night:

Notre Dame in bright daylight:
Visit to The Tuileries Garden (french: Jardin des Tuileries).
It is surrounded by the Louvre (to the east), the Seine (to the south), the Place de la Concorde (to the west). Further to the north lies the Place Vendome. The Tuileries Garden covers about 63 acres (25 hectares)
Arc de Triomphe du Carrousel is located to the west of the Louvre.

Visit to th Place de la Concorde. That was my favorate part of Paris. The fountains, the Obelisque and lots of Chinease tourists that come in buses. We then walked towards the Alexander Bridge where we were harrassed by the scam artist with a ring. Twice. Alexander Bridge is rather short like all bridges in Paris. Very intriquite and classic. It felt special being on top of that bridge and watching the boats pass by underneath it.
Grand Palace and Petit Palace.

Our last morning in Paris we were determined to see Opera Garnier as well as the famous shopping. We ate a carb rich breakfast that included french bread roll, butter, coffee, tea.
It was chilly and gloomy unlike the rest of our time in Paris. Therefore the pictures don't look as good as the other ones.

Köln, Germany

2008-05-09T21:16:00.006-07:00

We visited Cologne Germany in May 2008. The city of Cologne is better known as Köln to the rest of the world. Only 10 hours by air from Newark, Köln is Germany's fourth largest city after Berlin, Hamburg and Munich. It is one of the oldest cities in Germany, having been founded by the Romans in the year 38 BC. Cologne was granted the status of a Roman "city" in the year 50 AD.

We landed at 8:30 am on Saturday May 10th - my aunt Sasha's birthday. The airport appeared to be empty - we were the only flight at the baggage claim.

That same Saturday after 32 hours of travel time and only 2 hours of sleep on the plane from New York to Cologne, we went to see the Dom and visit the huge square right in front of it. It was very busy with lots of people, lots of protests and people dressed like this:

There were quite a few artists that were working on the ground, creating these beautiful images. All images get destroyed by the end of the day and then it starts all over again:
We spent all afternoon in the old core of the town, called Altstadt, which is undoubtelly the most charming part of the town. It is situated along the bank of the river Rhein and in the close vicinity of the Dom. The Altstadt is characteristic for its network of short and narrow streets, but most of all, for the traditional houses congested one to another and each coloured in different vivid colours. This part of the town is full of fine breweries, restaurants and nice looking shops.

We were passed many times by the beer bike. It spaced about 10 people all drinking beer while peddling their bike around.

Cologne Cathedral, or Kölner Dom in German is officially called Hohe Domkirche St. Peter und Maria. It is the seat of Archbishop of Cologne under the administration of the Roman Catholic Church and is a renowned monument of Christianity and of Gothic Architecture.

Treasures of Cologne Cathedral
The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings, a large gilded sarcophagus dating from the 13th century, and the largest reliquary in the Western world. It is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men, whose bones and 2,000-year-old clothes were discovered at the opening of the shrine in 1864.

Utah Snowmobiling

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Zion National Park in December 2008. The park is located in southwestern Utah.

Frozen Wayne:

Snowmobiling

Bahamas

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We went to Bahamas on our first year wedding anniversary in September of 2001. It was a very spontaneous idea.
We flew from Newberg, New York to Miami, Florida, boarded a cruise ship and headed to the Caribbean.
We got off at Nassau and spent a day at the beach, took a taxi cab around the city where everyone drives on the left side of the road.

Chicago

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Chicago Panorama pictures taken from the top of the Hancock building:

Pictures taken from the top of the Hancock building:

Santa Monica, CA

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Palm Beach, Florida

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We spent our wedding anniversary at the Breakers in Palm Beach, Florida http://www.thebreakers.com/.
We loved the Relaxation pool, located right across from where I was standing and the private beach:

Catamaran ride along the coast:

Our hotel, the Breakers. View from the Balcony:

New York City

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Battery Park, NYC:

At the Ground Zero in 2006:

Boston

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We travelled to Boston in July 2006.

Boston skyline. Picture was taken from the boat

Quincy Market

We went whale watching while in Boston and had a very successful day seeing humpback whales, baby whales and dolphins all over the place. The wind was so strong, our faces got burned.