Traveling with Lyn: Wrapping up Moscow

Asia, our guide, tells us that Russians believe that brakes and seatbelts are for cowards.That is abundantly obvious when you're watching traffic in downtown Moscow. Another bit of important trivia is that the average temperature in Moscow is below freezing.

For my friends of education, here are a few tidbits of information you might be interested in. When a baby is born , it is registered in a national registry . Six years later, when the child is expected to begin school, authorities check to make sure it is attending school. Russians are very proud of the fact that every child goes to school from ages 6 to 17. Public education is free. College must be paid for unless the student has been deemed gifted. At Moscow University 70 percent of the students pay their own tuition . 30 percent have seats that are given to them as gifted students.

Most schools have two sessions of classes. A morning session and an afternoon session. Grades one through four go to school four hours a day Monday through Saturday. Grades 5 through 12 go to school 5 hours a day Monday through Saturday. There are three months for summer break.

Here are some other highlights of the last couple of days.

Fast food restaurant

Moscow Circus

This is the entrance to the Moscow Circus. No photos are allowed inside. The performance was wonderful. All large cities in Russia have a special building for their circus.

The following photos were taken inside the Kremlin walls. It was eerie being there. Kremlin in Russian means "fortress". All old Russian towns had/have a Kremlin.