Some of the Philippine women and single sisters in our branch--for Easter dinner.
Russian Church by us. Midnight --Saturday night-Easter services that I went to. He would chant -Christ is Risen--to which we would say-- Indeed He has Risen--all in Russian of course!! It was wonderful
This is a small church and the bell tower inside the convent. The bell tower was built in the 15 hundreds. The weird design is actually Yeltsin's grave marker. The other with the head on the stone blocks is N. Krushtoff's (I don't know how to spell it--and spell check isn't working!)grave. Bob and I used to be so afraid of him when we were little.
The first flower of spring--a little purple crocus!. Me at my market. This is the canal that I walk over on my way to market--this was April 14th--still frozen. This is a pond outside the Nov.... Monistary that we were at today--Saturday April 16th --starting to thaw a bit!
Bob here: KLynn and I are totally spoiled living in Eastern Europe. KLynn's birthday is Monday, and to celebrate we took a three-day trip to Vienna, Austria. We left Thursday morning and just returned a few hours ago. It was WAY COOL! For a music geek there just isn't a better place. [At one subway station there is a pay toilet facility that features piped in Strauss walzes.] KLynn and I spent most of our time shopping for grandchildren, going to concerts, operas, visiting castles, and enjoying one of the most beautiful cities in the world. Last night we attended a performance of "The Elixer of Love" by Donnazetti (sp?) at the Vienna State Opera House. It was beyond amazing. The building makes every other opera house I've ever visited seem like a poor sister, and the talent on stage was equally outstanding. KLynn and I felt very blessed to be able to be there. The cab driver who took us to the airport this morning said the original opera house was destroyed by American bombers during the war, and the people of Vienna joined together to reconstruct it as close to the original as possible. Hurray for the people of Vienna! Thursday we attended a symphonic concert at the "Golden Hall" in the Vienna Musik Verein, which was just behind our hotel. I would describe that in equally glowing terms. Friday we attended a performance of the operatta "Die Fledermaus" at the "Volksoper," traditionally the opera house for the common people. It was great too! KLynn and I thought of her sister, Wendee, who sings an aria from that work. Vienna is an expensive city to visit -- think New York with a bad currency exchange rate -- so it will be a while before we go there again, but we will definitely want to go back in another year or two. Last but not least, we found this great little French cafe that was always filled with locals. We ate there a lot and brought some pastries home with us on the plane. Tomorrow it's back to work.
Some of the Philippine women and single sisters in our branch--for Easter dinner.
This is a small church and the bell tower inside the convent. The bell tower 
was built in the 15 hundreds. The weird design is actually Yeltsin's grave marker. The other with the head on the stone blocks is N. Krushtoff's (I don't know how to spell it--and spell check isn't working!)grave. Bob and I used to be so afraid of him when we were little.
The first flower of spring--a little purple crocus!. Me at my market. This is the canal that I walk over on my way to market--this was April 14th--still frozen. This is a pond outside the Nov.... Monistary that we were at today--Saturday April 16th --starting to thaw a bit!
This was a Easter market--these are decorated eggs. This is a 14th century church--a cute dirndl and fun street--we took a buggy ride
