Phew!  The Trans-Siberian Railway trip is officially over - we arrived in hip and modern Helsinki, Finland yesterday. Despite all the writing and videos on the train, we've fallen a bit behind - and we haven't even talked about Moscow and St. Petersburg.

We'll say more soon, but we both want to say a BIG thanks to Lilia, her sister Diana, and her friend Olga for showing us their Moscow.  Lilia is from Moscow but lives in Holland and recently did an internship at Microsoft in Seattle, where we got to be better friends.  We can't say enough about the generosity and hospitality of our Muscovite friends.

This is Sachi and Lilia over the Moscow River:

 This is Olga with Matt (a fellow American traveler) and Sachi in Moscow.

 And how can we forget Kuzya,the resident parrot, who can be bribed into speaking a few words for a pomegranate seed.