Mountains!!!!!

Hi everybody! Today I took a trip just over the Idaho border to western Montana! I floated down a river in the bright sunshine and saw mountains and fishermen and trees!

The water was so clear and clean in the river I could sometimes see fish swimming right below me.

It was great!  I definitely recommend making a trip to Idaho and Montana!!!  More coming soon!

Yours,

Michael TheMonkey

Back in the USA!

Hi Everybody!!!  I'm in the little town of Sandpoint, Idaho!  So far and I've explored town a little bit, and I went hiking!  There were great views from the lookout point!

A view of town, there's a big lake here called "Pend Oreille" because it's shaped like an ear.

Old American cars

A repair shop and an old mill in the background

Happy evergreen trees

Me in a tree!

More to come tomorrow, I'm going to a farmer's market!

Yours,
Michael TheMonkey

Happy Birthday St. Basil's!

Today is the anniversary of St. Basil's Cathedral. It is 450 years old this year!

St. Basil's, Tourists and Construction

I learned something interesting about its name. In English it is usually called "St. Basil's", but in Russian it is called "Собор Василия Блаженного" - "Saint Vasili's Cathedral."

"Василия" is the possessive form of the Russian name "Василий" - "Vasili" (which has a short, informal form "Вася" - "Vasya.") The character "В" in Russian actually sounds like "V" in English, a hard English "B" sound in Russian is made by the character "Б."

So the Cathedral can be called "St. Basil's" or "St. Vasili's." :-)

Red Square

I also couldn't help myself -- I had to take a quick flight around the square.

Meeeeee!

Yours,
Michael TheMonkey

Chinese Box Lunch in Moscow!

I've been dreaming of finding a Chinese restaurant with take-out boxes for a long time, but I was convinced that they couldn't be found in Moscow.  Then, out of the blue last week I happened upon an internet ad for Wokker! Not only did their food look yummy, they also had cool take-out/order-in boxes like I had been dreaming about.

So I went to try it!  I got some Teriyaki turkey noodles and some noodles with shrimp and oyster sauce, it was great! The only sad thing is that Wokker's three locations in Moscow (at Metro stops "Voikovskaya" - where I went, "Rechnoi Vokzal" and "Universitet") aren't that close to where I live, so I might have to order in next time. :-)

Yours,
Michael TheMonkey