Day 11, 12/4/2011:
Arrived in St. Petersburg late last night. We spent the entire day on the train between Warsaw and here and got some serious rest that I've been deprived of lately. Today was spent around this beautiful city and of course the Leningrad Zoo. As one of the most northern zoos in the world it holds this fascination of not just being that, but from a bygone era. The steeples of Russian architecture can be seen beyond the walls when you're at the edge of the zoo and many of the worker's live on premise just as they did back in soviet communist days. One gets the sense that despite a whole new world here in Russia, they haven't changed that much after all of these years.
The zoo itself is pretty small as far as major zoos are concerned, but it does have a pretty cool program for breeding Red Sheep (called Urials) and Polar Bears. The wife really enjoyed the horse shows as well.
I have got to mention also this amazing hotel we're staying in, smack in the middle of St. Petersburg called the Emerald. Best and coolest hotel ever! I don't remember the name of the tiny restaurant where we had beef stroganov, but it put to shame any Americanized version I'd ever eaten before.
Day 14, 12/7/2011:
We've spent the last couple of days traveling. Taking our time and enjoying ourselves. We drive a whole day and a half to get to a place called Saratov, which is on the Volga Reservoir, which is part of the mighty Volga River. We've charted a boat to take us down to the Caspian Sea and over to Atyrau, Kazakhstan. The weather is freezing here and we had to buy some new coats. It's supposed to take us 2 days and then a quick flight to the other side of Kazakhstan to Almaty.
Day 16, 12/9/2011:
Arrived in Almaty this morning and sent our baggage ahead for our flight out tonight (I'm sitting at the airport waiting for our flight to Jerusalem) and headed to the Almaty Zoo. I'm surprised at the size and level of sophistication of this place. Maybe it's my Western mind and preconceived notion of what Kazakhstan must be like, but this zoo is first rate. It is very active on the international scene, with several programs dedicated to helping and breeding endangered species. A couple of pics and then off for the Holy Land! As you can see, Almaty is a very modern city.
My wife found all of Kazakhstan to be a mix of bewildering Russian signs with pockets of shopping and business districts with signs in Russian and English.
