Moscow, Russia

These famous domes belong to Saint Basil's Cathedral in Red Square. The cathedral seems enormous in photographs, but when you walk close to it you discover that it is fairly small. It takes up about as much space as a large elementary school.

This is Russia's version of the Liberty Bell. The Tsar of Bells, as it is called, never rang. It cracked in a fire and has been on exhibit in the Kremlin ever since. The Kremlin is an ancient fortress that stands on a hill in the middle of Moscow. It has been the center of Russia's government for hundreds of years.

This bell tower at the Novodevichy Convent is considered one of the gems of Russian architecture. The bells of Russian Orthodox churches are not part of the church. They are housed in separate buildings that can be as beautiful as the church itself.

This royal coach in the Kremlin's Armory Palace Museum belonged to Empress Catherine the Great. Imagine how many horses it took to pull it! Coaches such as this one were used only in summer. In winter, the empress traveled by sled.

This is Catherine's coronation gown. It is over two hundred years old and embroidered with silver thread. Time has tarnished the silver. Imagine how this dress sparkled in the candlelight when it was new. Look at Catherine's tiny waist! Could you fit into a dress like this? In the Kremlin museums you can also see Ivan the Terrible's throne, Peter the Great's coat and stockings, and some of the magnificent Fabergé eggs created as Easter gifts for Nicholas II and his family.

The Netherlands

Eric and Doric were fortunate to visit the Netherlands when the tulip season was at its heights. These are some of the tulip fields around the town of Lisse. The acres of flowers, grown in wide rows according to variety and color, extend as far as you can see.

This is a real windmill at the Keukenhof, a famous botanical garden in Lisse. Windmills are a common sight in the Netherlands. Some may be several hundred years old and they still work! Most of the Netherlands lies below sea level. Windmills are used to pump the water out to keep the land dry.

You would need big feet to wear this shoe that Doris is sitting in! These days it is rare to find a Dutch person wearing wooden shoes, or klompen, as they are called in Dutch. Most are sold to tourists. However, wooden shoes worn with thick socks are practical footgear for farmers who work in wet, muddy fields.

Dutch cities are built around a network of canals. This canal is in Leiden, where Eric and Doris stayed during their visit. They walked past that red boat every day. Some people live on canals. In Amsterdam, Eric and Doris stayed with their friends Wendy and Joris in their houseboat on the Brewer's Canal.

Berlin, Germany

Eric and Doris met this panda at Berlin's world-famous zoo. There are always long lines to see the pandas at American zoos. In Berlin there was no line at all. Eric and Doris could spend an hour watching the panda up close.

This is the Brandenburg Gate. It seems strange to have a gate in the middle of a big city. The Brandenburg Gate was originally part of Berlin's city wall. During the Cold War the gate became part of another wall when the Berlin Wall was built to separate East and West Germany. That wall is gone, too. Today, the Brandenburg Gate is a monument to Germany's past and its future as a united nation.

This is a section of the Berlin Wall, which was built in 1961 to prevent people from leaving Communist East Germany for better lives in the West. Most of the wall was demolished in 1989 when the Cold War ended. A few sections such as this one were preserved as memorials. Artists were invited to decorate these parts of the wall with murals celebrating peace.

This is Checkpoint Charlie, a carefully-controlled crossing point between East and West Berlin. Berlin was a divided city from the end of World War II until 1989. Nearly fifty years! Today people and cars pass freely along the street where the old checkpoint used to be. The sign is preserved as an historical memorial. Look at the words on the sign. They are in four languages: English, Russian, French, and German. Since Berlin is a German city, why are the German words the smallest and why are they on the bottom of the sign?