Victory Day long weekend

This weekend the Russians are celebrating Victory Day - 70 years since the WW II surrender of Germany. Yesterday we went to a memorial service in a park hosted by the French Embassy followed by a reception at the French Attache's residence. It was our first official function and it was wonderful to be a part of it. Although ... everything was in French and Russian so I only understood some of it. Between the French and Russian, Craig managed to understand most of it. My Russian is better than my French.... A point not missed by a French gentleman who said "You're from Canada and you don't speak French"?

Last night we went to Canada House at the embassy....where they celebrate TGIF. Craig is their newest bartender - and of course he loves it!  I tried some great Russian vodka (Beluga)! Afterwards we walked to an Italian restaurant where I had delicious ravioli with wild boar (540 Rubles = $13 or so).

Today we joined the masses for the Victory Day Parade. I'm not sure how many people were downtown but I imagine hundreds of thousands. The closet experience I've ever had is Canada Day
on Parliament Hill. I got up close and personal with a large Russian man! Luckily Craig was directly behind me when everyone started pushing forward. When the tanks drove by the whole ground shook....I didn't realize tanks could move so fast! Below are a few pictures. The second last one is the planes forming "70" in formation. We weren't at Red Square because it was closed to the public but Putin was there speaking and troops were marching. We could see that on a big screen. All very cool to be a part of. Wish I had a picture of the crowds, but we couldn't get up high enough to get a good photo.