Ded Moroz lives under the power lines

We recently visited Ded Moroz' Moscow estate.  Ded Moroz, whose name means "Grandfather Frost," is the Russian (actually, Soviet) counterpart to Santa Claus.  He lives in Veliky Ustiug, a town about 1000 km from Moscow, but has an estate on the outskirts of the city.  This is the view of the gate to the estate.  Upon seeing it, my heart sank and I wondered whether we'd just squandered a day's outing.

It was nicer inside.

This is the home of Snegurochka, Ded Moroz' granddaughter.  She has long blonde hair and wears a blue robe and accompanies him to all his appearances.  We would have gone inside, but tickets required $25 plus a long wait in line.

So we watched the live show instead.  N was completely mesmerized by the dancing animals and would have been happy to stand out in the cold for hours.

She got back at us by being very uncooperative when we attempted to get a cute photo of our kids with the carved bear.