Central Park of Culture and Rest Kirov, Elagin Island

Not long after we went to the Artillery museum we went to a park you had to pay for to enter. This was a very large park with a lake in it. I would like to think it was pleasant in the Summer time. Though in the winter time it was a bit intense. 

This is the only time where Sergey and Larisa probably deceived the ticket person on our nationality or age. I know when to keep my head down and my mouth shut. Also thank goodness, this wasn't the time Loki started to blab. 

Loki has a plastic disc, that he usually refuses to use. But We attached some rope to it, and both his grandparents would pull him. 

This is a sculpture of "The Dance" by Matisse. Next to a Sculpture of "The Kiss" by Klimt. 

I wanted to get in the middle of the sculpture and have my picture taken. 

This is how it turned out. So maybe next time we will come in the Summer and my son will be else where. Don't get me wrong, I love my boy but sometimes. 

This is a great shot of Larisa and Sergey. They at times with their interactions, remind me of my divorced parents. Everybodies parents disagree about paths, and maps and which way is which. 

I was surprised and amazed by the "Kiss" by Gustav Klimt. Didn't think to find this there. I suppose there could have been more sculptures, wouldn't find that out because we were on a mission. 

An interesting house, wish could have found out more about it. 

Sledges of a kind ! I didn't think we would get two. We got two. 

Loki in his carriage, Larisa is pushing him. I was in the other carriage being pushed by Sergey. Thank God, no one had a heart attack. 

Nature in the park of rest, there were several bird houses, several bird feeders. (Though fat pigeons rule many feeders.) 

The sledges are so that you sit on them and then they have these really long "tails" that you can then ride on as the pusher. 

Loki pushing grandma Larisa on the sledge. 

Loki and grandpa working together. 

Then this happened. Reindeer. One antler reindeer! 

Two one antler Reindeer. 

Remember it's in Celsius. Quick math lesson for those of you interested in doing the conversion. (http://www.aaamath.com/mea414x2.htm) 

Parting shot of the Lake. Frozen, though enjoy ice skating at the ice skating rink. Pay money to break your hip. 

Here is the website to the park. Though it's in Russian, maybe you will find a translation http://elaginpark.spb.ru/

We went to the artillery museum. On 1/25

We initially tried to go to the Artillery museum when Peter was with us, but the museum was closed for the holiday. It is situated out by Peter Paul Fortress and the compound is pretty large. Every once in a while we will go to the a museum and bump into a group of school children/teenagers or (my personal favorite) young boys/teens from the military academy. They don't wear uniforms, but they do have a certain look to them. Close cropped hair and lack of females, usually when they leave the don their jackets. They all have a uniform when they leave, long coats, and fur hats, usually wearing boots. Occasionally on weekends when we go out I see more of them, all wearing the coats (ankle length) and the "Russian" hats. 

Here we are at the entrance to the artillery Museum. It's actually fortified because it's part of the military. 

Have some tanks. And land to air guns. (Anti Aircraft Missles?)

Have giant erect gun to use against your enemies. 

This poorly lit, shot is of the entrance to the museum. Walk through the doors and you can go through security and a metal detector. Because nothing seems dangerous like accidently bringing your AK-47 into a museum crammed full of AK-47's. 

Then I found out you could take pictures of the exhibits in the museum. But on the other hand you CANNOT touch things that people have been handling and touching and having in their back yards for the past 200 years. So the next series of pictures are of us leaving the museum. Most the time you walk into the museum and go directly to the cloak room where you shed your piles of clothing. Though being in a drafty museum doesn't really make it comfortable. 

This is Loki standing next to a gun, (I guess it's a gun?) and then some missiles you use in different guns. I was trying to get the whole thing in the shot, but clearly had a difficult time. (Re Security Guard/Policia/Metal detectors.) Notice if you can that he is smaller than the tires and the cache of "bullets" missiles (?). 

Another shot. 

Who's that sexy looking fellow? Why it's Mikhail Kalashnikov! He has decided recently, 2009, he was born in 1919. He had also created other weapons for use. The counterpart that has been used in the states, is the M-16 rifle. This was created after the 60's. 

These next blurry shots are of a helicopter taking off not far from the museum. 

We were trying to show Loki and haul through the courtyard to the helicopter. 

Finally we departed from our destination in a Hover SUV. I did a seconds worth of googling and found out that Hover is an India based company. Which is part of Nissan Automotive, which makes sense because it looked like a Nissan. This taxi has a light on it, and GPS. Some are more advertised, phone numbers painted on the car. Other wise pretty much any private vehicle could be a cab. 

Here's some general information about the Artillery Museum: The official name is, Military-History Museum of the Artillery, Engineers, and Signals Corps. The website is, www.artillery-museum.spb.ru  ! Caveat it's probably in Russia with a wonderfully crappy translation into English. Usually you have to click the Union Jack to get to English translation.