Snow in the middle of summer?  Our Internet service has been down for the past week and a half so we have been slow getting new pics on the blog.   Wrong, cottonwood trees.  Not just one but the whole city is full of cottonwood trees.  For about three weeks you could hardly breath because of the cotton in the air.  

Our visa in Russia is only good for three months.  The missionaries before us are only required to leave the country, get a stamp on the passport and then can come back in.  Beginning with our group in April we have to fill out new papers and reapply for a new visa every three months.  On 21 July we will fly to Helsinki Finland to obtain that new visa.  The paper work proceeded us so we will just stay for two nights and then back to Russia.  We are hoping to attend the Helsinki temple while there.  We will take lots of pictures in Finland to update our blog when we return.

You guessed it, Merrilyn walking in tall cotton.  Notice the cotton still in the trees.

 Our "P" day Monday we went on a walking tour with a friend to show us the city.  This is a lake and park that is next to our apartment.  We go for many walks in the park.  In the evening they gather in an area and dance, very entertaining.

 Just a block from our apartment is a puppet theater.  We are going to attend a puppet show one of these days.

 This statue of justice is on top of the court houses.

 Tomsk is the seat for the Provence of Tomsk which is like our county.

 The is the administration building for the power company.

 It's hard to see but these are all locks.  When a couple get married they put a lock on this fence as a symbol of there relationship being locked together.  On our anniversary Merrilyn and I will add a lock to the fence.  This is the center but the fence is about 150 feet long.  I'm sure we can find a spot to put another lock.

 In the park they were offering camel rides.  No we didn't go, just watched.

 Our guide showing us the river and explaining what is on the other side.

 This is the oldest pharmacy in Tomsk.  You don't need a prescription to get medication in Russia, just the name of the drug.

 Vendors have these tanks at various locations throughout the city.  The liquid is a favorite of the Russians.  It is bread/sugar/water and some type of fermenting agent, perhaps yeast.  They say it has no alcohol but our mission president has asked us not to drink it from the street vendors.  You can buy it in the stores and is for sure alcohol free.  We haven't tried any yet but I'm sure we will before we leave.  Not a favorite with the young American missionaries.

 This is the oldest and biggest medical school in Siberia.  Tomsk has several universities, lots of students.

 You have heard the story of how children are brought into the world by the stork?  Russians have the story of babies coming out of the cabbage patch.

 This is a wooden German Catholic Church, still beingused today.

 Wooden carving in a park.

This was the home of Monet's wife at one time.  We are not to show pictures on any public media or use their names whether members of our faith or not.  Area office has asked us not to violate this privacy law when posting pictures on our blogs.  Therefore that is why we show no pictures of people except ourselves.  Distance shots don't count.

 This is a picture of a picture that we have handing in our apartment living room.  It is of old Russia.

 We have an open market here in Tomsk and we finally found it.  This type of market is called a Renick.  On the outside they have all the clothing shops with just a few fruit stands.

 Inside they have mostly fruits, vegetables, and meats.  We haven't ventured to buy any meat here, yet, no expiration dates.

The outside clothing stands.  Kind of, "if we don't have it, you don't need it" type of a place.  We are told that every large city has a Renick.  Just an up-scale flea market.

 It actually got hot today 90 F/32 C.  Nice smile Elder J.

 Yes dear, we see your legs.  Actually look at the dandelions, long stems.  Like Alaska, long hot days with water and sure enough, rapid growth.

 A better look that those nice legs, I mean the dandelions.

 They are working on this church but I really like the gold domes.

This was behind the church with the gold domes.

 While in Novosibirsk we went to an open shopping area which covers a city block. This was the dried fruit and nuts section.

 This was the meat section.

 Shop after shop both outside and inside.

 Vending machine egg dispensers.  They come 10 to a carton and that is true whether you buy in a regular store or out of a vending machine.

This store is called Bazar, we are starting to be able to read some of the signs.  We usually don't know what it means but this name had a familiar ring.

 This is the sun at 10pm in the evening.  The sun comes up at 4:30am and goes down at 10:15pm, similar to Alaska.

 This was June 3, rainy and the temp was 43 degrees, what would you expect in Siberia.

This week June 13 it has been and is forecast to remain in the high 70's, next week even into the 80's.

 We have been in Novosibirsk, our mission headquarters, this past week involve in some training.  July we get a new mission president.

 Another day in Novosibirsk and the temp was in the 50's.

 Beautiful flower arrangement outside one of the buildings in Novosibirsk.

 Novosibirsk is a city of a million and a half with most living in apartment buildings like you see here.

Lots of beautiful churches in Russia, we love the domes and architecture.  Notice all the electrical lines over the streets.  Trolley buses all over lots of public transportation, they even have a subway line going north and south then another going east and west.

 We went for a walk the other day and spotted this beautiful church.

 They allowed us inside and told us we could only take one photo.  Only a small area they would let us visit.

 On down the street they were having a outdoor concert with a children choir and this young men's singing group.  The young men were awesome.

 We found a museum and ventured inside.

 This is a mockup of old Tomsk when it was a military fort in 1608.

 While in the museum it suddenly began to cloud up and the rain began to fall.

 Looking over part of the city of Tomsk while raining.  By the time we got home we were soaked.

A cobblestone street.