We vodkad and drank other non-intoxicating liquids: We vodkad and then vodkad some more

Yes - we spent some wonderful time in Russia. First we spent four days in St Petersburg (but I'll leave Jack to write about that)... and then we were in my noble home-town Novosibirsk (Jack was there for a week and I spend an extra week). As our taxi pulled up at my parents' house we saw yet another taxi in front of us and then realised that it was actually my parents, who arrived at the exact time as us (they just got back from their European holiday).

And thus the drinking began...On the day after our arrival we slept ... and drank and then slept some more. And then it was my birthday... lots of preparations and then of course drinking and eating... and then the same over and over the course of the evening. I won't bore you with all the stories, but I'll just say that we had a fantastic time and parents' flat looks very nice and cosy and it was great to see them all together. So here be pictures...:

Here is everyone for my birthday.

A bit later in the night...

Still later in the night - trying on my Mum's winter fur coat... mmmm warm and fluffy!

And finally all of us together :-)

We also went with Dad and Grandma to the zoo... it is actually considered to be a very good one and the forrest in which it is, is not too bad, but some of the cages are pretty small. Although I've seen smaller ones here in the Leipzig Zoo and in the Berlin one also. The funniest things are not the monkeys but the cafes and rides that are also within the zoo grounds. Here is one example of a traditional Russian house with a Coca-Cola signature...

We visited my cousin Andrei and his family one of the sundays. Him and his wife Sveta have their own house just outside of main Novosibirsk. They have four pigs, a whole bunch of bunnies, two dogs ('Малыш, Грэй' - Baby and Gray) and two cats - Muska 1 and Muska 2 (daughter of Muska 1). My nephew Alesha is growing and becoming very dictatorial - giving commands here and there.

This is Gray...

Andrei, Jack and a baby bunny... his daddy became very yummy dinner the following weekend.

Alesha... very cute sitting on the couch.

Muska 2

We also went fishing and Jack caught a "big" fish :) To be fair - the second and last one that Sveta caught was even smaller and both of them got fed to Muska 1 and Muska 2 respectively.

Later in the week we went to my uncle Yakov and auntie Larisa's dacha (countryhouse) in Yagodnaya (Berry Village). There we spent a considerable amount of eating and drinking... and berry picking and berry eating.

We also made shashliks... what you can see on the stove was only for us (ie. 6 people... I think that's about 1,5kgs per person... very yummy though)

In the evening we were involved in the illegal activity of fishing with a net (с бреднем)... My Dad and uncle Yakov look like two Karlsons only without the propellers.

And what did we catch? about two dozen smallish fish and a biggish судачок.

I also got to catch up with my school friend Sveta, whom I know now for 18 years... not a bad record I think. And of course we met up in the old time favourite bar 'Hammer and Sikle', drank some beer and shared stories.

After Jack left to go back to Berlin, parents, Gleb and I went to Akademgorodok (nearby university town) to walk around the nice forrest and go to the beach on Obskoe Sea.