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Our next stop was Kurganinsk, Vladimir Loginov's home. The next morning found us in Sochi!
Volodya's trusty Mitsubishi, fully loaded, at a zapravka (gas station; they simply didn't exist in Soviet times). Volodya and his minivan stand ready for more Caucasian adventures!	After getting acquainted over dinner in Kurganinsk at Antonina Mikhailovna's with her circle of friends, some of his paid a visit to this lovely church ...	and the rest toured Nikolai's and Tamara's highly productive, diversified garden and orchard	During our morning in Sochi, we enjoyed brunch in an Armenian restaurant, then the popular Riviera Park. Here are busts of authors such as Gorky and Pushkin; also trees planted by cosmonauts and heads of state	We paid our respects to Russia's sacrifices in the world wars at this Sochi war memorial
Our evening in Novo-Sin'kovo included a garden tour and a chilly evening picnic in a tent
We all thoroughly enjoyed our stroll in Sochi's worldfamed, century-old arboretum, where more than 1700 varieties of trees from all 5 continents are collected	This peacock seemed perfectly at home here; a tiger cub carried in by a young Russian visitor perhaps less so	En route by air to St. Petersburg, we noted that indeed the Black Sea is really azure ... and incredibly beautiful!	Soon after our arrival in St. Petersburg, Svetlana provided superb guide service for a city tour, including St. Isaac's Cathedral, shown here	From our rooms atop an art academy near Nevsky Prospekt, we could walk to many of the St. Petersburg sights, including the Engineer's, aka Mikhailovsky, Castle, built for Tsar Paul 1
One of our last days in Russia was spent at Peter the Great's and Natasha's country places near St. Petersburg
After a hydrofoil ride to Peterhof, part of our group, led by Shoshana, had lunch at the restaurant in Peterhof's Grand Palace. Here's the view of the Grand Cascade from above.	Detail of the palace church, taken by Mark or Romie Georgia to whom credit goes for most of the photos on these pages	One of the numerous gilded classical statues in the park, whose layout of gardens and fountains rivals that of Versailles. The statues were all buried in the palace grounds before the siege of Leningrad by the Nazi	Part of Monplaisir, Peter's smaller palace where he preferred to stay. It is closest to the Gulf of Finland, the way to the West whose technologies and much more Peter sought	From Peter's palace to a "palace of a country place" shared by Natasha Krestiankina's family with a cousin. Boris Pasternak stayed here in 1921 for a summer. It's in Taitsy, not far from Peterhof
Our evening in Novo-Sin'kovo included a garden tour and a chilly evening picnic in a tent
Igor, Shoshana, Lena, Natasha, and Albina in a leafy bower at the dacha. Albina Kochegina joined the group for the local train ride to Taitsy. Natasha and Albina took part in the Ecology Action workshop in Willits in 1995	floral border is ... an old bedspring providing shade for the lettuce! Not shown are extensive double-dug veggie beds	Natasha made her soup of Biointensively grown veggies and herbs including sorrel, dandelion, and nettle. Both Natasha and Albina have taught GB to young teens for many years	Back in St. Petersburg for a brief visit with Volodya Shestakov at the Center for Citizen Initiatives. Volodya's wonderful networking has been key to the early and ongoing achievements of Biointensive for Russia	Alexander Sergeevich (Pushkin) and Mark Georgia point our way home after a remarkable tour. For more photos, visit Shoshana's BfR Tour. Join us, next time

Biointensive for Russia
831 Marshall Drive
Palo Alto, CA 94303 U.S.A.
(650) 856-9751  cvesecky@igc.org
http://biointensiveforrussia.igc.org

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