Book Review: “A Gentleman In Moscow” by Amor Towles (Long)

I am including this book review that I wrote last January, for a reading challenge I just found out about: When Are You Reading 2018. A Gentleman in Moscow by Amor Towles Fiction Rating: 5 stars, BEST BOOK Finished reading: January 5, 2018 This turned out to be a wildly popular book and last April […]

Artful Photos: Soviet Art

If you would like to share artwork you have photographed or created, please include a link to your blog in the comments! I would love to see the art other bloggers have admired! In early January, Dale and I went to the Chicago Art Institute, to see a couple of temporary exhibits. One of them […]

CFFC: Oh, you!!

Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge this week is the letter U – must have both an ‘o’ and a ‘u’ in the word. Round Fountains Mountain Clouds Consumers Couple Spouse Dungeon The Old Exchange and Provost Dungeon, Charleston, SC. It was built by […]

CFFC: Hallways I Have Walked

School hallways: Museum hallways: Capitol Hallway Cee’s Fun Foto Challenge, 8/1/17

FoTD: Peterhof Flowers

I was looking through some of my pictures of Russia for another challenge, and came across photos I took at Peterhof, Peter the Great’s country estate outside St. Petersburg, Russia, full of fountains and gardens. I don’t know what kind of flowers these are but I love the color variety in them! Cee’s Flower of […]

Primary Colors Around the World

This is my first time entering Ailsa’s Travel Theme Challenge! This week’s theme is Primary Colors. Here are some previously posted* travel photos as well as some new ones: YELLOW BLUE RED *Check out my previous travel posts! 😀

CWWPC: Ways to go at the Hermitage

Cee’s Which Way Photo Challenge 8/17/16 The Hermitage is the largest art museum in the world, located in St. Petersburg, Russia. It was formerly the tsars’ winter palace. There is no way you can see this entire museum in one day, but what there is to see is more than paintings and sculptures. There are […]

WPC: Ornate

The word for the Weekly Photo Challenge this week is ornate. The first thing that immediately comes to my mind when I think of the word “ornate” is Catherine’s Palace in St. Petersburg, Russia. Like many royal palaces, this is a showcase of luxury, with room after room of walls decorated with gold. This style […]

The Hermitage Museum: 13 Masterpieces you can see in 2 hours

August 12, 2015 During our cruise in the Baltic Sea, one of the things I most looked forward to was visiting the Hermitage Museum, one of the largest and oldest museums in the world. It has the largest collection of paintings in the world. The museum, located on the banks of the Neva River, was […]

Onion domes and spires: Orthodox churches of St. Petersburg

August 11, 2015 Trinity Cathedral (Troitsky Sobor) We passed this cathedral, which I thought was so pretty, on our tour bus and did not visit. Wikipedia says that it is an example of Russian Neoclassism, and was built between 1828 and 1835. After years of neglect, it has recently begun to be restored. Many of […]