Postcard from Moscow

We are here in Moscow for a few days near the end of our trip. Our first day out of course we had to visit the Kremlin. Growing up during the cold way, I always pictured it as a dangerous but probably beautiful government structure, which was there, but the main part of the Kremlin and the part that you are allowed to visit is made up of Cathedrals. I was quite suprised at that.



This is a photo from the main gate. Like so many ancient cities, Moscow was built on a hill near a river. The city walls were in a ring further out, then the main city on the hill is surrounded by walls the height of the hill. This makes all the buildings inside the walls at the level of the tops of the walls. Very cool. We purchased our tickets and headed in.



This is Stephen listening to our Audio guide in front of Cathedral of the Assumption. The audio guide was probably about as good as a paid guide and also a lot cheaper. I didn't know a whole lot about Orthodox Churches before coming to Russia but I sure learned a lot. They have a slightly better cross, love icons and Mary. It seems that all the Cathedrals are dedicated to some part of Mary and there are tons of icons of Madonna and Child.



Also in the same complex is the bell tower with its two additions. It was under renovation along with one of the cathedrals so we could see the jewel collection unfortunately. Apparently the Czars would compete with each other by building bigger bells with a deeper ring. This is the largest one built and it looks like it went the way of the liberty bell.



Also there is the Czars cannon. It is absolutely enormous. Not in length but in the size of the cannon balls. It was cast by well-known Russian founder Andrei Chokhov in 1586 and has an inside diameter of 35 inches or nearly three feet! I wonder if it ever got used...



Around the corner in Red Square is St. Basil's Cathedral which is notable because it looks like it would be more at home in Disney Land than Moscow. Who can accuse these designers of creating dreary old cathedrals?

The next day we went to the National History Museum and saw the history of Russia since the first fish crawled up on land till the last of the Czars and everything in between. Interestingly enough, there was nothing on any Soviet history there. We tried to visit Lenin's tomb but it was closed for some reason.

Tonight we head to St. Petersburg by train. Moscow has proved to be a very cold city and a bit drisly or sleety at the same time. Lets see how St. Petersburg is.

Postcard from Almaty

We took a quick taxi across the border to Kazakhstan (three hours) to the former capital of Almaty. We didn't really have any reason we wanted to visit here except that it is a convenient place to catch the train to Moscow. There are a couple of museums and things but we didn't really get around to seeing them since we were only there for a day and a half. We did wander around the central shopping area a couple of times which is mostly remarkable for its large number of guys sitting around drinking beer on park benches. Not the most friendly of places.

We caught the train up to Moscow which is aruond 80 hours or over three full days. Needless to say by the time we arrived we were quite tired. We had a good time relaxing, reflecting and trying to talk with the people in our car. We did successfully ward off the friendly lady trying to get us to marry her daughter for a couple of hours. Everyone was very nice and often shared food and hung out talking although most of the time we couldn't follow what was being said. We eventually did arrive in Moscow and spent about 4 hours walking around tying to find a specific hostel but apparently I wrote down the address wrong. We walked for another 3 hours trying to find another one and eventually succeeded in finding a full hostel but they were nice enough to let us sleep in the laundry room. This turned out to be a huge blessing as we were both exhausted and most of the rest of the hostel was filled with a group of Germans who were in town for a football (soccer) match. They spent most of the night partying loudly and no one else got any sleep. Next step is to explore Moscow then on the 24th we'll take the overnight train up to St. Petersburgh.

Postcard from Bishkek

After our time in the fergana valley, we headed up to Bishkek. Bishkek turned out to be one of the most beautiful big (1 million people) cities we have ever seen. There are trees and parts everywhere and the roads are really wide. We stayed with some friend's of a friend's parents. What made it really fun is that they didn't speak any english! That didn't stop them from being super hospitable and showing us all over town. One of the coolest things at their house is that they had a sauna instead of a bath! They made us take a sauna every night and it is amazing how addicting a sauna can be in cold weather. I would be tempted to install one in the US if I wasn't going back to Texas.

All in all, Kyrgyzstan is one of my favorite countries. It wouldn't take a lot to convince me to move here. The people are friendly, the cities are wide and beautiful and the natural beauty is stunning. The economy is not real good which makes for cheap prices and lots of opportunities to help out.

Next up we headed to Almaty. We aren't planning on staying long before heading to Moscow.

Postcard from Arslanbob

We traveled up into the mountains in Kyrgyzstan to a town called Arslanbob. It turned out to be one of the most idyllic and beautiful places we have been yet. We didn't stay in town long though, only long enough to head up into the mountains. We were going camping for a week which is really great since we have been lugging around many pounds of camping gear for months. The mountains around the area were absolutely stunning. Much of Kyrgyzstan is mountains and all of the cities are in valleys. Makes for a beautiful country.

We started up loaded down with tons of food and made it up into the hills a bit before stopping for the night. We found a nice camping spot between two streams.

This is us hanging out with our gear at the first camping spot. The next morning we had a leisurly breakfast and headed out to visit the waterfall. There was water and it was falling a long way (80 meters or 240 feet) but it was impossible to photograph since it was so long. Just imagine water falling a long way and you get a pretty good idea of what it looked like.

We found an absolutely beautiful camping spot not too much later and pitched what ended up being our camping spot for several days. It was next to some very large rocks which provided protection and cover from rain and snow. There was also a beautiful little brook not too far away and the ground was really level. Here are our neighbors coming over to mow our lawn. How considerate!

Actually, they were sheep and the shepherd came by later and chatted with us. Of course we don't really speak Russian or Uzbek (He was Uzbek) but with a dictionary we were able to chat quite well. He kept bringing us fermented goats milk which was almost drinkable and break. He also showed us which berries we could eat. He was really nice. We left him a lot of our gear that we did not want to carry back.

During the next couple days we just took it easy and did some day hikes in the surrounding areas. It was absolutely gorgeous. It felt at times like walking in really old places. The trees were old and gnarly and there really wasn't any undergrowth. There were also tons of beautiful little brooks.

The third to last night there it snowed.

We were already pushing the timing since they don't recommend camping after September and it was already November but it had been beautiful so far and we took our chances. Luckily we came prepared with good sleeping bags and plenty of cold weather clothes. It was definitely cold though. It started out the night by raining for 2 hours which didn't help the situation any. We ended up really wet before it started snowing so we got cold as well while we slept. During the day the sun came out long enough for us to dry most of our stuff out for the next night.

After a second night of wet and cold though we had had enough. We packed up and headed to town. We stayed with a really nice family there and they cooked us some really good food. Then we headed back.

Arslanbob is one of the most beautiful places either of us had ever been. It was a small town still dominated by sheep, cows and horses with simple people and surrounded by a walnut forest. Mountains and beautiful lakes are a long days trek up into the moutains making it an ideal place to visit. In the town square is a lion. On our way out I asked someone about it.

They told me that the name of the town, Arslanbob, was named by an Islamic Imam from the 11th century. Arlsan means lion in Arabic, interesting if you are a Narnia fan, and bob means garden since he planted a garden. Then we headed back to the Fergana Valley.

Robert D. Nichols

Nichols, Robert D. age 81, passed away November 4, 2006. Preceded in death by parents Sam and Dora, and first wife Rosemary (Hable). He worked throughout the banking industry in Minnesota, but most importantly he was a beloved husband and father. Survived by wife, Andrea; daughters, Kathleen Korner, Barbara (Dave) Knutson, Mari (Dave) Meyer, and Susan (Karl) Wendorf; sons, Robert Jr. (Linda), Tom (Susan), Mark (Connie); and stepson, Dennis (Barbara) McFadden; 19 grandchildren; and 5 great-grandchildren; sister, Marilyn Lederle; brother, William (Jary); and many friends. Visitation for family and friends Monday (TODAY) 6:30 to 8 pm at St. Bartholomew Catholic Church in Wayzata. Private funeral for family. Interment Fort Snelling Nat'l. Cemetery. Memorials preferred to the Arizona Heart Institute in Phoenix. "I am grateful for being able to have had two very good wives who loved me, gave me support, and cared for my family." David Lee Funeral Home Wayzata 952-473-5577

Grandpa Nichols

Last Saturday, November 4th my Grandfather, Robert Nichols, went to be with his Lord. He was buried at Fort Snelling in Saint Paul with full military honors. We'll miss him.

Postcard from Khiva

We arrived in Khiva and were immediately speechless. While Samarkand still had a few old buildings and Bukhara was about half still there and with a bit of imagination you could imagine what it was once like, Khiva was still (almost) like it was 150 years ago. We stayed for two days and wandered around trying to see everything. There is way too much explaining to do of all the things below so I'll just summarize a few here and let the rest speak for themselves. To truly appreciate this city you have to see it yourselves. We rank it up there with the best we have seen like Angkor Wat.

The Kalta Minaret is the nearly solid blue and stumpy mosque below (not the tall one with a top. It was commisioned in 1852 and was supposed to reach a staggering 70 meters (230 feet) but was abandoned when he died two years later. It would be truly stunning if it were actually finished.

The Camel's name is Misha if you were wondering. Also the Yurt (tent like thing) is pitched in the throne room where I am sitting. The Khan's like to still sleep in Yurts during the winter so all of the throne rooms had round platforms for their yurts. Not pictured is another prison with gruesome pictures of different torture methods that the Khans like to use including impaling on a stick, flaying and putting in a bag with cats and then beating. The caretaker of the jail loves to point all this out.























After our two full days in Khiva, we caught the bus and taxis back to Krgyzstan. We almost weren't allowed back across the border but managed to talk our way through. It was a great relief to be out of Uzbekistan since it is the first competent police state we have been in yet. There are checkpoints everywhere and tons of papers to be filled out twice, stamped, restamped then frowned over and carried for the rest of your trip. We made it though.

Postcard from Bukhara

A short busride from Samarkand is the city of Bukhara which is famous for cruelty and Great Game politics between the British and Russians. We arrived after our fun bus ride and quickly found a great place to stay called Komil's B&B. Komil was a very friendly guy and spoke great english. He told us that the place we stayed at in Samarkand, Kamila is the female version of his name so we had to stay at his place to complete the pair.

We did a walking tour around the city since it still has a lot of old buildings. In fact, it is over half old buildings in the old section of town and doesn't feel too modernized at all. We were really amazed at how much it felt like going back in time a bit. You could still imagine the city as it was hundreds of years ago.



Here is Stephen standing next to one of the many traditional doors still dotting the area. Amazingly the people aren't all that short. They just build the doors that way.

After wandering around the city for a while looking at different architectural stuff, we made our way over to what is left of the Ark. The Ark is the royal fortress of Bukhara and is build on a slight rise in the ground that gave it great strategic fortifications.



This is the front gate of the Ark. The ramp you see in the picture continues winding and climbing up till you reach the level at the top of the walls. This is the height of the palace. You can almost see Gandalf riding Shadowfax up the ramp trying to rally the troops in Minas Tirith. Okay, maybe I've read it too many times. Anyways, about 70-80% of the Ark was shelled to pieces when the Soviets took over the area in 1920. There are still a few remaining buildings to see inside and it is well worth the look.



These are cannonballs pulled out of what was the Ark. The big ones are over 12 inches in diameter. Earthen defenses proved to be no match for these combined with airplane bombardments.

Around the back of the Ark is the prison where Connelly and Stoddard were held.



Stoddard was sent as a British envoy to Bukhara in 1838 during the Great Game but didn't follow proper protocals like bringing a gift, riding his horse up into the Ark and bringing a letter from the Governer General of India instead of the Queen. The Khan was not impressed and tossed him into prison, more infamously the "bug pit."



The bug pit was so called because it is a large hole in the prison where tons of lice, scorpions and other bugs were infested. It was reserved for less favored prisoners. His would be rescuer arrived two years later in the form of Connelly but he was promptly thrown in the pit as well. The Khan grew tired of waiting for a response to his letter to the Queen of England who he considered his equal and with the British defeat in Kabul he figured they weren't very important players. He had Stoddard and Connely marched out of the prison, forced to dig their own graves and executed. Stoddard was in the bug pit for three years.

Also in Bukhara are some covered Bazaars which are like intersections with markets in them and many more Medrassas. We began to realize that Samarkand was neat but not nearly as neat as Bukhara. Also there is the Kalon Minaret.



It was built in 1127 and is 47 meters (154 feet) tall. Kalon means great and it has 10m foundations with straw as earthquakeproofing. In fact, it has never needed repairs except cosmetic repairs like when an airplane hit it in 1920. Supposedly even Jenghiz Khan was so amazed by it he didn't destroy it.

We also stopped in one of the largest Medrassas in Uzbekistan. This is Stephen walking alond the many arched covered areas. It was used by the Soviets as a warehouse and is truly huge.



Finally we wandered over to where what is left of the walls are. We caught it right as the sun was setting which ended a great day of exploring an ancient city.



Next up we were headed to Khiva which had been preserved by the Soviets as a "City Museum" so it promised to be in nearly original condition. Fun!