Greetings From Karelia!

It was almost four weeks ago that I arrived in Russia. It’s been non-stop adventure in living since landing here. So much has happened and, it being summer, there have not been enough hours of darkness, or rain, to allow time for processing photos. So, the pixels pile up far faster than they are getting organized, but I have made some progress. Here’s a link to a gallery showcasing the time spent in Moscow:

https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/Moscow-July-August

In regard to learning, it’s something I do many times daily, *hopefully* without much if any pain. While traveling, the rate of learning is inherently increased, a result of the new everything that free-form travel exposes a person to. This morning’s string of lessons was so funny, the story is worth sharing, especially since this could have happened anywhere:

https://balloonbill.smugmug.com/Other/Live-Learn

From Moscow, I went to St. Petersburg for a few days, then to Arkhangelsk. That area is so interesting and the people I’ve met are so nice, I happily lingered for a week. From there, I took a very cool little side trip in a biplane to stay in the village of Pertominsk, then returned a few days later by helicopter to Arkhangelsk.

Wanting to explore freely on my own, I discovered I could rent a car (who knew?!) and am now halfway through a 10-day road trip of wandering the wilds of Arkhangelsk Oblast and the Republic of Karelia. Of course, there will be more about all of this later.

Here’s hoping you appreciate the endless process of living & learning and find plenty of humor in it all!

GoldBalloon