Tovaritch Trip to - St. Petersberg International Borzoi Conference - 2008 (Jun 20 - 2 Jul)

Well first of all we had a fantastic trip - a little scarey at times but overall excellent.  we started out our trip by visiting our dear friends in Germany at vom Solring Hus - Harald & Inken Neumann.  We dropped off a puppy named Hnossa to them and we hear that she has settled in well.  She is a darling puppy.  After arriving in Frankfurt we found out that somehow the travel agent screwed up our flights and our flight to Bremen was booked for a month later - so we ended up taking a beautiful scenic train ride from Frankfurth to Bremen, where we were oh so happy to meet up with Inken.   Unfortunately the stress of it all and our house for sale etc, the list goes on took its toll on me and I landed in the hospital with a gastro intestinal problem.  Oh Joy!!!  We can't thank Inken & Harald enough for their hospitality and for putting up with me :) Well our arrival in St. Petersberg was uneventful - but I tell you i will never complain about our drivers ever again.  they have no respect for other drivers or rules or nothing!!!  two lanes - oh heck we can fit 4 cars in there and hell why not a bus too - arghhhhhhh.  I just kept my eyes closed and was glad that our insurance was all paid up. The lifestyle over there is much different from ours as is their attitudes towards work, dealing with tourists and schedules.  I guess their work day doesn't start until around 11 am and goes till around 8 pm.  Our hotel was interesting but adequate.  The people who were there on the conference were the best - the friends that we made - gotta love borzoi people  I tell you, they are the best.  The conference was good, the food was excellent as we sought out many restuarants and ate way to much and drank a lot of good beer - as beer was cheaper then almost everything else on the menu.  In the stores a 26er of vodka was about $4.50  Vodka shooters with a pickle chaser mmmmmmmm mum mums.  Greg & I got home on 2 July safely but unfortunately with really bad colds.  Thank god that Kris Brolin or Brolin Borzoi was staying with us to look after the kids while we were gone.  She not only ended up looking after the dogs but also us.  Sorry Kris - we owe you one.  enough rambling here are some photos.

Greg & Inken on our tour in Germany before we left for Russia.

St. Petersberg - the building, Palaces hidden courtyards - were magnificent, many were still under construction but you could still see all the beauty.  The church pictured bleow - the inside was floor to ceiling mosaic - what a site.  I only wished we could have seen more - I took over 300 photos - but I'm not posting them all :)

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