A few Russian Friends and Aquaintances

A few of my new Russian friends. As foreigners you are not always greeted with open arms in Russian and people can be cool and in some places even rude, however my experience showed that many just need time and a bit of encouragement to open up. The first is a father and daughter who we met on the train to Moscow. He is in the credit business and she is a 14-year old student who just wanted to practice her English and learn more about the West. She ended up adopting us and we played card games with them and they taught us a Russian game. The cat is the cat from hell at the Petersburg hostel and while it had attitude and a face only a mother could love, it jumped up and looked for some attention while I was working on my blog. The bear is a mascott in the same hostel and has been either a victim of too much love or the cat from hell. My guess is the latter.
The biker is just and neet icon and we did not end up on intimate terms, fortunately.
The girl in front of the iconic church is another Russian icon and one of my "trophy" photos. It was a chance encounter and brief but left a lasting expression. Her smile says it all. Russian women love to pose.
The nice blonde lady with Boo is the Food Services Manager at a new Marriot Courtyard Hotel that has only been open for a month in St. Petersburg. I dropped by for the food and beer and she was a bonus. She dropped by to chat each of the three nights that I ate there in the bar and it was the last night that I ended up with food poisoning from the salmon.
The lady with the jewelry sold me a silver filigree and amber crucifix and chatted for quite a while and saw that it was specially packaged and gave instructions to not open it before I got home so that its special powers from the amber where not disipated.
The last group is the university students who were junior Provodnistas on the passenger cars on the way to Moscow. Alex dropped by first to chat and practice his English and then to play chess with Greg.
There were many more but for the most part, we found the Russians to be very warm and friendly when given the chance.
Oops, almost forgot to mention the very special Russian-Canadian widow in her 60s who I sat with on the plane ride home. She was very charming and interesting and is looking for love so if anyone knows a nice single man in his 60s and willing to travel to Markham, I have her number! Sorry, no picture available.