Mina rakastan Suomea

I cannot get over how beautiful and peaceful and balanced and still full of life and art and culture and food and....wow....Helsinki is amazing.... The Baltic Sea from the Island Fortress Suomenlinna--built to defend the city of Helsinki in the 18th century.
My host, Inkeri, took me on a 20km bike ride through the northeastern part of Helsinki along the Vantaanjoki (The River Vantaa) and through some beautiful woods full of pines and birches....past a public farm where the sheep adored me.... across bridges and past waterfalls and mills...







Ny next host, Howard, who is originally from Taipei and refuses to be photographed, took me on an amazing tour of the architecture of downtown Helsinki...these first few pictures are of this beautiful Luthern Church to which photos cannot deliver justice. It is built in a circle into the bedrock of the city--the sanctutary is a doomed circle of stone and copper and steel and light--the light is amazing! Oh--and the light in this city! The light! Oh the light!


THE church in Helsinki....towers above the harbor....beautiful...
Howard and Jukka's apartment....I know, right...
Some more pictures of the city--me trying desperately to capture--fumbling around, really to photograph some of the incredible detail and care and balance and beauty I see in the architecture, planning, art and the land all around me here...

Look at these details in the decoration of the buildings....or the care put into the window boxes or just the stunning harbor and the perfect sunset....I can't get over it...



(and if some of the pictures are, like, cut in half--please forgive me inaptitude with using blogger....just click on the pic and have a closer look)









Have I mentioned that I LOVE Finland and I am going to move here? I'm serious...

Good bye Moscow...I'm going North to the Sea...

Yes, I am taking the train on Thursday night to Helsinki.... from there by ferry to Stockholm, then by train again to Oslo and then by Finnair, the 2nd safest airline in the world, home to New York. I have made some great theatre contacts and seen some amazing theatre... BUT more importantly I've reconnected with Russia and my dear friends here and grown.... here are some pictures and stories: The view from my window this afternoon: It's snowing in Moscow....pretty, huh?



This is the Белый Дом (The White House) or the Seat of the Government of the Russian Federation as seen from the window of Aleksei's Skoda... Putin's in there right now, working his magic....planning the "победу России" (The Victory of Russia)... That's his Party's ad campaign...huge billboards all around the city that say "Putin's Plan--Russia's Victory"

This is me and Ilyusha--Tatyana and Aleksei's five year old son...

Hanging out at the soccer (футбол) field

and in the woods not far from where I'm staying with Tatyana and Aleksei.

this is Illyusha on his scooter..... the other day it was raining and I was babysitting Illyusha...he really wanted to go out and ride his scooter....the rain had stopped so I said okay. There, of course ,were plenty of puddles for him to ride his scooter through. Despite the fact that I had expressly forbidden Illyusha to go riding through the puddles, he did so...numerous times. Finally I said, "Illyusha! Did you not hear me? I said do not ride through the puddles." He answered, " Yes. I heard you." I asked him, " Then why aren't you obeying me?" He responded, " I am, but my scooter's not." Pretty smart kid, huh?

Here are some pictures of the day I spent out at Tatyana and Aleksei's дача (summer home) about 60 kilometers outside of Moscow.




Ludmila Petrovna (Tatyana's mother), Tatyana, Aleksei, Me and Illyusha....

Tatyana and I....

The picture Illyusha took of me while I was trying to get my camera back from him...





The picture I took of Illyusha when I got my camera back....

Ludmila Petrovna really loves арбуз (watermellon)

The Moscow River at sunset.... And what happens when I try to smile while taking a picture of myself..... this was to satisfy everyone who complained....

Some pictures of fall around the city.....



I love the Soviet Architecture and Art....

There are seven of this Soviet Era "skyscrappers" in the center of Moscow....

Abandoned ski lifts just a few blocks north from where I'm staying....
Останкино.... The tallest free standing structure in Europe, I believe....
Me smiling....or trying to, rather...



The Cathedral of Christ the Savior--the largest Orthodox Cathedral in the world. It was originally built in the late 19th century to honor all those who had fallen in Russian wars up to that point, particularly from Napolean's invasion. In the 30's Stalin had it blown up in order to build the gargantuan Palace of the Soviets, which was never built. Under Brezhnev, they built an enormous outdoor swimming pool where the Cathedral stood. Finally, after years of fundraising and government support, the Cathedral has been rebuilt....

A statue of the poet, Маяковский (Mayakovskii)....with another of those Soviet Skyscrappers in the background...

About a week after I got here, Masha (Tatyana and Aleksei's daughter) and I took the overnight train to Пенза (Pensa), about 300 kilometers southeast of Moscow to visit her now fiancee Andrei.... Here's a cool playground outside Andrei's family's apartment....

Andrei, Masha, me and Natasha (Andrei's mother)
In Natasha's kitchen: The mug reads, "I am a patriot..."

The Russian countryside from a train window and Masha hiding in her bed on the train....

Masha and I hanging in Moscow.....


I'm sad to be going, but excited to see another part of the world and to get back to the States and to my friends, family and my writing there...

Good bye Moscow for now....I sure do love you....

I'll be back!