Russia Postcard

http://cruiseweb.com/cruise-lines/uniworld-rive cruises/destination-russia

Russia News

Russia wants Alaska back

3-31-2017

Russian nationalists are calling for the territory, Alaska to be returned. “If Russia was in possession of Alaska today, the geopolitical situation in the world would have been different,” Sergey Aksyonov, the prime minister of Crimea said. Russians settled in Alaska in 1784. They set up trading posts and spread their religion. By the 1860s, Russia had lost the Crimean War, and was in a difficult financial position.

Murderer tells police: 'I may be one of Russia's worst serial killers, but I was a good husband'

3-29-2017

A serial killer has told police, “I may be one of Russia’s worst serial killer, but I was a good husband and father.” Mikhail Popkov, the serial killer, also said, “I performed well at work, as a police officer.” Popkov confessed to killing 82 women between 1992 and 2010. Popkov raped almost all his victims: ages 17 to 38. Popkov said, “I have a double life. In one life I was an ordinary person. In my other life, I committed murders.” His wife Elena, and his daughter, Ekaterina, refused to believe he was a serial killer. Ekaterina said, “I do not believe any of this. I always felt myself as 'Daddy's girl'. For 25 years we were together, hand in hand. We both collect model cars, so we have the same hobby. I wanted to be a criminologist, so I read a book with tips of how investigators catch serial killers and there were also basic classifications about murderers.  Daddy doesn't fit any of these classifications - he doesn't look like some maniac. I want to look into his eyes and understand if he really could be that killer.”

St.Petersburg metro explosion death toll rose to 14

4-1-2017

The death toll rose from 11 to 14, which three of them died from their injuries. 11 died on the spot where the explosion exploded,1 died on the ambulance, and 2 died in the hospital. At least 45 people were injured. A suspect has been named as a 22 years old called Akbarzhon Jalilov. The first device exploded between Sennaya Ploschad station and Tekhnologichesky Institute station. The second device was later found at Vosstaniya Square, and is made like a fire extinguisher. It was dismantled quickly. The officials believe a suicide bomber is behind the attack which lead them to radical Islam.

Russia Journal

Our final destination is Russia. We arrived at Russia the next day we left Cyprus. We went to the Orthodox Church, the main stone building of ancient Russia. It is brightly painted. The Orthodox Church is the second largest Christian church, and the oldest religious institution in the world. The church teaches that it is the one holy Catholic and Apostolic church made by Jesus. We learned from the church manager that Aristotle and other Italian architects brought the Renaissance trends into Russia. The next architecture we visited is Russia ST. Petersburg. Saint Petersburg is the second largest city in Russia, and the country’s culture heart. It has the Mariinsky Theatre that hosts opera and ballet shows, and the State Russian Museum with Russian art. Both of the buildings reminds us of onions.

We visited a Russian traditional clothing shop. All the clothing are handmade. Russian people painted the fabric themselves and sewed it with the embroidery. Traditional clothing are mostly designed for holidays or carnivals. The clothes could also be worn casually. Some Russian traditional clothing are made for theaters, dance studios, and churches. A lot of the clothing are used as costumes. We tried some Sarafan dresses, Kokoshnik tiaras, and Russian blouses. The following pictures are the clothes we bought.

After buying some traditional clothing, we went to the Lotte Hotel. There is a book in our room that introduces everything about Russia. The book is about 300 pages thick. We read through the section about Russia’s education. The book says, “Russia has the most college-level or higher graduates in terms of percentage of population in the world, at 54%. As a result of great emphasis on science and technology in education, Russian medical, mathematical, scientific, and aerospace research is generally of a high order. Since 1990, the 11-year school education has been introduced. Education in state-owned secondary schools is free. University level education is free, with exceptions. The oldest and largest Russian universities are Moscow State University and Saint Petersburg State University.” We also read the section about Russian traditional clothing. One of the pictures in the book is the same as the red sarafan dress we bought. We would be leaving Russia in five more days. We really don’t want our adventure to end, but we need to go back to Taiwan. Our next trip would be a few months later. We would be going to other countries in Europe. The trips would be longer next time. Even though we would be going to new countries, we would never forget our adventure to Luxembourg, Finland, Cyprus, and Russia.

Cyprus Postcard

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/travel/destinations/europe/cyprus/paphos/

Cyprus News

Illegal bird hunting

3-24-2017

A video was posted online, showing illegal capture and killing of thousands of birds in Cyprus. This video was filmed by a member of the British animal rights charity, the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds(RSPB). The NGO estimated that last summer more than 1.7 millions of bird was illegally trapped. Natalie Stylianou is a member of BirdLife Cyprus, said it’s quite difficult to take photos and videos of these illegal activities because some hunters re aggressive. Birds are mostly captured in Dhekelia sovereign.

Mom claims she found woman trying to snatch her daughter from cot

3-22-2017

Siobhan Prescott said a worker was attempting to pick up one-year-old Harper. Siobhan woke up to find the woman, dressed in a maid’s outfit, standing over the bed at a five star hotel in Cyprus. Siobhan said: “I was napping when a maid sneaked into the room and tried to snatch my baby. The only reason I woke up was because Harper screamed out, otherwise she could have been the next Maddie McCann.” Maddie McCann was another girl who got kidnapped at a hotel and went missing. She was never seen again. Siobhan said: “I am lucky to have woken up, but if I hadn’t God knows what would have happened.”

Cyprus Weather

3-31-2017

Showers and storms can be expected over the weekend, and there will be a slight drop in the temperature on Saturday. Saturday and Sunday will be cloudy at times, with showers and storms. It will be  mostly at lunchtime and afternoon. The temperature will drop a little on Saturday and rise again on Sunday. There will also be a chance of fog. The weather will be clear on Monday with some clouds in the mountains. The temperature is expected to rise further during the week.

Cyprus Journal

We’re in Cyprus now! It’s really pretty. Cyprus has a long history of art. The history of art can date back to about 10,000 years. In order for us to understand the history of art better, we visited the Nicosia Municipal Art Centre. We learned a lot there: The history of art began with a painter called Vassilis Vryonides; the founding fathers of modern art are Adamantios Diamantis and Christoforos Savva. After visiting Nicosia Municipal Art Centre we went to Aegeon Tavern for lunch. It’s a nice little Greek restaurant. We ordered Moussaka, which is minced beef with eggplant and potato, topped with white sauce, and served with Greek salad garnish. Very delicious. We ordered Baklava for dessert. The Baklava is one of the most famous Greek desserts. It is a juicy filling made with crushed nuts, syrup, cinnamon, honey, and nutmeg in between layers of pastry.

After eating we went to check in at the Four Seasons Hotel. It is a five star hotel. On our way there we saw many churches. We found out that 78% of the people in Cyprus are Christians after doing some research. The room in Four Seasons is so beautiful! It has a perfect view of the ocean from the windows. We relaxed and went to the swimming pool. The temperature was warm, but we shivered when our toes touched the water. We realized that barely anyone was at the pool. We went back into our rooms and slept until dinner.

After dinner we went back to the room. We turned on the TV and watched a documentary on Cyprus. Just like we did in Finland. This time, the documentary is about the government of Cyprus. Cyprus is a presidential republic. The head of state and the government are elected for a five-year term. We fell asleep with the TV on after 30 minutes. Either that we probably ate dinner too late, or that the bed is too comfortable.

Finland Postcard

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