Beginnings

This Satellite imaging thing at maps.google.com is just about the coolest thing ever. And it seems to have much of the planet covered. So, I looked up the cities where John and Hanna are from.

This is the satellite photo of Astrakhan, Russia. This is where John is from. I believe the hotel we stayed in is just to the right of the island in the river in the middle of the image. I'm not sure exactly where John's orphanage is. I put a message on the astrakhan yahoo group to see if anyone knows. That appears to be the airport at the bottom of the image. The airport where the bathroom was a hole in the floor, where stray dogs loped in and out of the terminal! The hotel was a fairly short drive from the airport, and the orphanage was maybe 15 minutes from the hotel.

This is the satellite photo of Kostroma, Russia. This is where Hanna is from. This photo was taken while crossing the bridge across the Volga in the middle of the photo, travelling from right to left. The first hotel we stayed in is on the right bank, not far from the end of the bridge. The second hotel we stayed in is somewhere on the left bank. The orphanage where Hanna was is, I believe, somewhere about in the middle of the image, up and to the right of the bridge. Historical note: The Ipatevsky Monastery sits at the confluence (the "Y" in the image) where the Kostroma and Volga rivers meet, to the north of the bridge I mentioned. We could see it from the bridge. This is where Mikhail Romanov was when he was tapped to be czar, the first in the Romanov dynasty.