Okay, so we got to Novodevichye, not terribly far from downtown Moscow, but very green and very pretty. "Novodevichye" in Russian translates to "New Maiden Convent;" for the record, it's where Peter the Great had his older sister locked up. We had our picnic under the trees within the convent walls. Here Dino pours a little refreshment; after all, it's our first day in Russia, and it's been a blast so far. The little chapel in the background was a very pretty building; we never did find out exactly what it was. What with all the rain, the ground was a little muddy in places, but we found benches and there were stones and we had blankets, so it was all just peachy.

After our picnic, we explored the large cemetery attached to the convent grounds. The list of people buried here is a real second-rate Who's Who of Russian History; Nikita Khrushchev, for one; Stalin's second wife Nadezhda Alliluyeva; revolutionary Vera Figner; and such writers as Chekhov, Gogol and Bulgakov. Here Ringleader Frank talks in front of Chekhov's grave, while Dino listens. Novodevichye cemetery is a huge place, and if ya don't know exactly where the grave you're looking for is, ya probably won't find it for at least an hour, if ya happen ta be lucky. We weren't too particular.

Dino puts flowers on Gogol's grave. Many of the individual graves are fenced in, like this one, and some even have benches within the fences where the family of the departed can sit and think, and talk, or whatever suits them. The really famous people of the past century are buried in the middle of Moscow, between Lenin's Mausoleum and the Kremlin Wall. Stalin, Brezhnev and Gagarin, to name just three, are buried there. But since ya can't take cameras in to the Mausoleum, and ya gotta see Lenin before ya can see the rest of the graves there, we don't have any pictures.

Pally James Dean looks on as Gene Kelly shows off a few steps outside Sergeyev Posad, the center of the Orthodox Church in Russia. It's a huge place, and ya can see the relics (and kiss the coffin) of St Sergius of Radonezh, who is very important in Russian Orthodoxy. Most Orthodox churches tend to be very dark, with most of the light coming from tiny windows high up and candles reflecting off all the gold inside. They also have a very distinctive scent, from the age and the candles. Sergeyev Posad was very crowded that day and if ya happen ta be a chick, and planning ta go to Russia, I recommend packing a lotta skirts and always keepin' a scarf along, 'cause if ya wanna go in ya gotta wear a skirt and keep your head covered. . .