So I was taking you on a tour of the Summer Garden

So Loki wants to take pictures with the camera, and he does a pretty good job.

 These are his crocs, he is very proud of them. He love wearing them.

 I took this photo of him and Baba together. He enjoyed the fountains.

 This is Loki's scooter. He also loves his scooter.

 This is a photo of Baba (Larisa) and my arm. My arm is in the shot because I am trying to wrangle the camera free from Loki. It's the third camera I have had to buy in so many years.

 Dede, enjoying the fountain.

 Loki's scooter.

This was either a vegetable garden, or a herbal garden. It was interesting that most museums use grandmas to guard the treasures of the Russian federation. You can only get so close to the plots and flowers. You can't pick you can photograph.
I wanted to spend more time at this location, but it's kind of hard when your son is running away with his scooter to another fountain.
Most people will mill about the grounds leisurely. I believe the cost is free. There was a wide range of people touring the gardens. Nobody really talks or laughs, they keep to themselves and have mellow conversations. You can get drinks and ice cream during the walk and they have small garbage cans scattered around every where. The best thing about being in Russia is paying to use a toilet. You have indoor toilets that flush, you have to pay to use those. You have out door toilets, you have to pay to use those. I have seen more consumption of various kinds of liquid during this visit, then previous. (not always alcohol) time around. It's a very interesting time during the summer. I try to not have a huge eyes when walking around.
Yes it's true the russian government has banned any western or european union,  fruits, vegetables and dairy products. As most food products are imported, this is a huge burden on many people. Ourselves included. 

So they had to do another root canal

On my other moral the one in the way back. Meanwhile I am in a ton of pain. So I went out today in a rain storm and got just annihilated with fat rain drops.
Have you watched the news lately because if you haven't we are now facing a ban on all imported foods and produce from NATO/UN western countries. That's cool though we can still eat these lovely Russian ????? Well I am not sure what they grow over here other then a seething hatred for all things normal.
Anyway I will go back again on the 27th of August to finish up the root canal and other things. I do have more photos to post, I have just been distracted by all my dental pain and situations.

I went to a dentist in Russia.

Because I can't afford to go to the dentist in the states, so an international plane flight with a small child made the most sense.
So the cost of the dentist, was only 91 dollars, for an hours worth of digging and pulling out awful pulp. It went on and on. The dentist was very nice, and it was a she. I would have to say it was the most competent and least like going to a MASH clinic like I thought it would be like. They had a fancy X-Ray machine, that did things like make digital images of my rotten back teeth. She spent quite a while digging around and it was nice to know that I couldn't understand a thing they were saying. Which kind of relaxing, you can't hear what they are saying about your nasty awful teeth. It makes life more pleasant knowing they aren't judging you. But what's the purpose of saying that you are allergic to latex, if they use double latex gloves.
Other things that was interesting about the Russian dental office, they had a bowl of candy right out on the open for everyone to eat. Because nothing says job security like a bowl of candy. That my son decided to eat all of them. Job security is what I am talking about.
Which made the fancy job that they did on my glasses, look fantastic. I mean it's not that big of a deal that I won't be able to see past the front of my nose. In my mind I considered bringing my second pair, but I don't really like them. Also I meant to bring my sunglasses but they got left in the car at the airport.
So there are a huge list of things that I forgot from the states. But it was a really confusing trip to the airport. Why was the Seattle airport so far away from where you think it is.

This is the summer garden, it is close to the Hermitage

So the garden is filled with fenced in Green spaces. Because nothing says "Garden" like fences every where. Including signs that say, Stay off the Grass in two languages (English and Russian)

  

 The grounds are very large with wide open paths to walk through. One thought is that they were created to be so wide so that a carriage or small carriage could fit through.

 Loki still insists on wearing his crocs. They are not really for walking, and they are not really that well fitting. His grandfather bought him some "Russian" style sandals or as I refer to them as, Orthopedic children's shoes. It's cool he and mommy have a matching pair so that he wouldn't feel so out of place.

 Statues are every where and were added during the "Reconstruction period" which would be when in the Russian government. Possibly after the freedom of the Serfs, but before 1917 would be my guess. Certainly not during the time of Communism, and not during the time of WWII. Maybe Wikipedia will hold my answer.

 Here's my son plowing into someone on his scooter. Dude put your cell phone down, it's the summer garden.

 Here's one of the many, many fountains that dot the garden. Maybe not dot as much as dominate huge areas of walking path. 

 Here's me in all my american tourist glory. Hat check, bag over shoulder that's more of a satchel check, weird clothing style, of course. Also I am wearing sneakers, with ankle socks.

No I lied I have my orthopedic adult sandals on. So that's better than sneakers. Here's me with Baba - Larisa. We are getting our photo taken by Sergey. By the way it's almost 8 at night, and we would be out for another three more hours. Including another boat tour.

After the cruise we walked to the taxi

So this is Loki with his scooter cruisig through the crowd, and there was a large crowd.

So this is the crowd, and the this is cars approaching madly. Yes, there are a lot of cars, yes they are approaching us quickly. No this is unusual because it's night. Yes, it's like this during the day, but more buses.

 Loki took this lovely picture of Mommy.

 And this picture of Peter the great, and his horse. He had a favorite horse.

Just a classy family photo of an exhausted family.

So I am still talking about the River Neva

So, as I was saying, it was the Naval Holiday on the 27th of July. These photos were taken on the 26th of July. You will see that there are military ships with lights, and also some submarines. The ships were there mainly for the festival/holiday what have you. Not because of other activities as far as I can tell.

 This photo above, and the one below are of submarines. There were two submarines, and had men standing on top of one. As far as I could tell they were active duty.

 Also wouldn't you believe there were two cruise ships, a smaller one, and a Princess of the Sea or whatever those are called.

So Big Neva River Cruise

So we went on the Cruise at about 9 or 10 pm. Most people do activities later in the evening. Mainly because we have been having a heat wave of sorts.

 

 Here you can see the Rostral Column. This contains the hulls of ships that the Russian Navy had defeated.

 So there were actually people on jet skis. Who knew people actually Jet Ski?! Apparently they do here.

 The ships were docked for the Naval holiday. These were largely military ships.

 This is the 1917 Revolulotion ship. It still stands.