Travelog for: Gina Giraffe

In the evening I watched my hosts and their friends playing a kind of Monopoly called Landapoly - this is Manapoly with IT-companies Very funny

Today we went for a walk and -- can you guess? -- we managed to ride in the inflatable sled!!

That was fun!!



Our hosts made us ride very fast!!



We didn't want to get out, but it was snowing and we were afraid to get wet.

When we got home to Zheleznodorozhny we ran to our New Year Tree first - to look for our presents! We saw that there was somethin that was not there as we left the house. But first we couldn't dare to go and see what it was. We were very shy.



Eldon was the first who went to look for his present! And look what he got - a small chest with sweets!



Then Bumba found his present:



I was excited and decided to find my present too!



I saw that the Mouse had a small dark red chest with the name Gina on it. That must be mine!!



I asked the Mouse to be sure and she said that this one was really for me!!



I wanted to open it just there, but the Mouse advised me to show it to all my friends.



Yes, she was right! I was very happy to show my present to the other!



Then BearyLuv got his present too!



We were very happy!

Today we went to an Italian cafe It was very funny cause we went there with our new friend Rangler who has just arrived! He's very cute and I like him



First of all we watched through the menu of course!!



But then we heard a nice Italian music and -- do you guess what -- Rangler asked me to dance with him! That was wonderful!! I like to dance so much!! And he dances very good





It was good to have some mojito after dancing..



.. and some rest



Before we left the cafe I decided to prove if the columns are strong enough!! Haha! The waiters looked at me so strange I think they were afraid that the column isn't strong enough!! 

Kristl and many of her friends did a nice thing today - they made curd dumplings themselves!!! It took much time! We wanted to help them, but Kristl advised us not to come too close cause flour was everywhere in the kitchen and we could make us dirty.

But when everything was ready we came to watch it -- of course!



The curd dumplings you see on the photo need to be boiled or freezed

Today Charity Bear got his Travel Tag and tomorrow he's going to start his journey. We all wish him good luck and nice trip!!

Today we went to the post office, cause Bumba was leaving to visit Drakie in Honiton and Charity Bear was starting his journey to the US.

It was snowing heavily the whole day, so all the cars were driving very slowly..





I had nothing to do so I decided to explore the car.. and met someone new - a rat that lives on the torpedo She suggested to lie there with her and have some rest - cause it's very warm there



Really.. It's very pleasant to lie and do nothing when everybody is hurrying somewhere..

When we came home, Kristl showed us her album for stamps!! Well actually it is not her. As she said one of her grand-grand-relatives was collecting stamps, she doesn't know who.. And she got 2 big albums full of stamps and one where there was free place. As she gets now quite many letters and greeting cards in the envelopes with stamps she decided not to throw away them, but to put in this album.

But there she found many stamps that just lied in a small envelope.. We had to put them in the album!!





We worked assiduously and as a reward everybody got a stamp! I've chosen a stamp from Armenia with folk costumes, it looks very good! I'll put it in my journal with some views of Moscow!

Today it was snowing heavily and everything in the street was white.



We watched it out out of the window - so it's warmer 





I and Rangler wondered how some guys managed to play hokey an skate in the yard???



As you can see they had to clean the snow all the time!

In the evening Kristl showed us a daily newspaper. First we could understand why - we still can't read in Russian



But showed ud what we could understand - a number - today fell 10 cm snow!! That's very much!

Wow!! Today it was great!! Toay wewent for a walk to the centre of Moscow!!! It was incredibly there! The snow was everywhere and it made everything look so wonderful!


We took the underground to the station 'Teatral'naya' (Theatre station) and first what we saw was the Bolshoi Theatre!



It is being restore now - that's why there's a big advertisment poster.

Near the Bolshoj we saw TSUM - a big and very famous shopping centre in Moscow:



As we came nearer to Kremlin we saw a big re builing - the State Historical Museum!


Next to it we saw Uglovaya Arsenalnaya Tower (the Corner Arcenal Tower):



Between the Museum and this tower there's a passage to the Red Square. Here you can also see Nikolskaya Tower:



As we came there the passage was open for the tour groups only, so we went to the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier and the eternal flame:



The Kremlin walls were covered with snow, it looked beautiful!



We found a memoral stone for Kiev as a hero-city. Kiev is the capital of Ukraine and I was in Ukraine before I came here. I was glad to find this memorial.



Then we went further and saw a grotto!



We saw another big tower and wanted to watch it closer



There was a bridge connecting this tower with a small one. Kristl told these are Troitskaya (big) and Kutafya (small) towers



Can you see a building behin the wall? It's Terem Palace!



We found the tour centre and souvenir shop near the wall



There was a plan of Kremlin - we studied it quite long!



Then we came back to Nikolskaya Tower and went to the red Square





There we saw beautiful Kazan Cathedral



Also the most famous shopping centre - Moscow GUM and a skating rink in front of it





We crossed the Red Square an came to the Spasskaya Tower



and of course we saw St. Basil's Cathedral!!





Here we are near the road that is going down to the Moscow River, the cathedral is on our right side



And here's the view of the Red Square - as we came here



On our way back to the Underground station we went near GUM an I saw wonderful things there!!!

jewelleries!!!





ties in the nests!!





and even snow



As we went near the skating rink I wanted to skate there.. But there were too many people and I thought - it might be dangerous for a small TV

Today Squiggles has arrived!! We're glad to meet him!

Today I'm leaving Moscow to visit Cosmica in Novosibirsk. It's a bit sad cause today Snowy and Elisabeth have arrived, but I want to see more interesting things!!

I'll miss Moscow and everybody there, especially Rangler, I liked the time we spent together and I hope to meet him again.. I think he likes me too..  but I'm looking forward to see new places!





Good Bye, Gina!!! Good luck! And have a nice trip! We'll miss you here too.

Hooray! I've arrived to Novosibirsk and met Twitchy and Isambard.
We are going sightseeing soon.

I didn't know that the Russians celebrate St. Valentine's Day, it was a surprise for me! And what is more Vika announced that we were going to prepare hand-made Valentine Cards. We took some magazines, some beutiful paper, some dried flowers and get down to work. About tow hours and - hooray! - we have several wonderful and unique cards!
It'll be great to repeat the process one day 

On Sunday we went skating to Zaeltsovsky Park. It is a real forest I should say! But the one adapted for skiers, scaters and other extremals.
The photo session was not very long because someone (we all can imagine who it was really) forgot to charge her camera...