The Eternal Flame at Victory Park
Many people brought flowers to the recent Victory Day celebration. The city of Karaganda sent more than 45,000 to war. About 18,000 of those died, and 1,600 remain today.

Soviet Flags
The Victory Day ceremony was the only place I've seen Soviet flags flown here in Kazakhstan. In the Russian-speaking world, WWII is known as the Great Patriotic War.

Me with Ivan Petrovich
Anatoly and I spoke with this veteran for some time. He is 86 years old, and served as an artilleryman in four campaigns: Finland, Poland, Germany, and the Far East.

Preparations at Victory Park
We arrived at the park a bit early and saw the soldiers and officials getting ready for the event.

A View of the Crowd
There were a lot of people at the celebration, young and old, though you can only see a portion of the crowd in this picture.

Karaganda State University
One of Anatoly and Vitaly's friends is a director of the local university's archaeology museum, so Scott and I were invited for a behind-the-scenes tour of this museum, which is not open to the public!

A Look at Some Pottery Not on Display
We were actually able to touch these bronze-age ceramics from Kazakhstan.

Scott and Anatoly, With a Friend
This skeleton of a 15-year-old girl from the copper-age was found with bracelets on her wrists and ankles.

Scott and I in a Yurta
This Yurta in the archaeological museum is an example of the type used by the nomadic Kazakhs.

A Better Look at the Yurta
This colorful dwelling was designed to be mobile.