my own Europtrip

I'm wrapping things up around here. And believe me it's no small feat given the kafkian ways in which university bureacracy operates.
I'm going my home town, or shall I say - megapolis, St. Petersburg from where I plan to undertake a few trips - to Moscow and Kyiv at least.
I'm leaving behind the biting cold that hit the prairies last week (today is the first day it was somewhat warm, i.e. mediam risk of frostbites).
Over there, it's much different. there's been a flood in St. Petersburg the temperature has been no lower than +1.
But enough about weather.
I was in Russia last year but this time I'm coming to a somewhat different country:
after Beslan, Putin's personal failure in Ukraine, and the creeping authoritarianism that has been descending from Kaliningrad to Vladivostok.
I hope I'll be able to blog from there although internet is not so readily available (it's more expensive) over there.