Summer 2007 (July &August) - The Urieli Adventure - WOW!!

Somehow it all came together - with Sharon in Israel, Assaf, Joelle and Mischa in France, and Michal moving to Romania, the obvious place for the first UriFaR [ Uri eli Fa mily R eunion] vacation was to spend 10 days on the Greek island Naxos.

• Naxos Island

The kids went back, and Nili & Izzi went on to spend 6 weeks in Russia, from St. Petersburg (visiting with family for the first time), on to Moscow and then a 400 mile bicycle tour around the Golden Ring of Russia followed by a Trans-Siberian train ride to participate in a Yiddish program in Birobidzhan (on the Far East of Russia), stopping off briefly in Irkutsk for a visit to Olkhon Island on Lake Baikal - whew!

• St. Petersburg

• Moscow and Cycling the Golden Ring of Russia

• The "Vostok" train from Moscow to Irkutsk

• Lake Baikal, Olkhon Island, and Irkutsk

• The "Rossia" train from Irkutsk to Birobidzhan

• The Yiddish Summer Program in Birobidzhan

Finally, home again in Athens, Ohio with a 15 hour time zone lag behind Birobidzhan and straight into the Fall quarter teaching (for both of us) - no wonder that we are only now recovering enough to write this summary - it will be enhanced and updated periodically - promise. [9/30/2007]

Nili & Izzi somewhere on the Golden Ring of Russia tour (Photo by tour director Vladimir Filippov)