July 21, 2013 https://gruncleodd.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/07/DSCN1106-190x137.jpg

18 June – Afternoon. It’s time to recount my afternoon with Erin traveling to the Khamovniky neighborhood to see the house and garden where Count Leo Tolstoy frequently spent his winters in the 1880s and 1890s. We had no difficulty …

July 20, 2013 https://gruncleodd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/DSCN1063-190x142.jpg

18 June. Today is off to a fairly easy start. We’re leaving the hotel around 08:00 to try to get a good spot in the queue to visit Lenin’s Tomb. The mausoleum opens at 10:00 but the line often forms …

July 19, 2013 https://gruncleodd.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/07/Novodevichy_4-190x142.jpg

17 June. As I noted at the close of yesterday’s entry, I slept fitfully last night. The truth is I was awake at 05:00, wrote a bit, and tried exiting the cabin quietly in an effort to disturb my mates …