Photo recap of Stavropol Trip #1

Boarding the plane to Stavropol.

The beautiful clouds above Moscow.

The seat in front of Kevin was broken and I couldn't resist getting stealing this shot of the man in the Kevin's lap. He did lean forward during the meal service. We will always have a good laugh about it.

The Eurohotel is where we stayed in Stavropol. Isn't it interesting that they continue to build floors on top of the hotel, while the lower part is functioning and occupied? We didn't hear the construction, nor the disco from our room. Our audio ambience was the barking dogs across the street, which we became very fond of during our trip, once we started sleeping with our windows closed. We named them the Dogs of the Caucasus.

Lenin and I in the large square in Stavropol.

A soldier statue in tribute to the Great Patriotic War (WWII) with the Stavropol countryside in the distance.

Gardeners working in the elaborate garden borders throughout the city. They painstaking planted tiny seedlings in each flower bed and statue. Stavropol takes great pride in their gardens.

The mud chicken, waiting to be planted. When we return we'll get another shot of it planted and growing.

A pretty view of St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. We had an evening to spend here before boarding our flight to Atlanta the next morning.

I stole a photo of a Russian bride in Red Square.

Vladimir Lenin was trying to get me to buy a Matryoshka doll just outside Red Square. (Lovely portables in the background, but it's really nice to have them there. 15 rubles to the babushka to use one. Good luck picking the babushka who keeps her portables stocked with toilet paper.)

Etazh restaurant on Tverskaya Street has English on their menus, although our waiter didn't speak English. The food was good; I had an arugula salad and lamb chops. This shot was taken on the sly from our table through a tunnel to the hookah lounge on the other side. Exotic.... and thankfully the air conditioning kept the tobacco smoke in the lounge and away from our table.

The most ornate grocery store I have ever been in. It was fantastic, and had we not had to catch the Metro back to the hotel shuttle I would have loitered for hours. This market was right next door to the restaurant, near Pushkin Square.