Moira,
My brother lives just outside of Philadelphia and was selected by the U.S. State Department to go to Russia to portray Benjamin Franklin at several appearances during his stay there. Rob was recommended to do this from a man named Ralph who is widely known in our area who also portrays Ben Franklin but was not interested in making this trip. Rob's main occupation is being a musician, his part-time job is giving tours of the historic areas of Philadelphia, dressed up in Colonial times attire. Rob just started portraying Ben Franklin less than two years ago at the urging of Ralph who I named above. Rob was on Good Morning America back in January of this year portraying Ben as well. If you would like to see a tiny little clip of that, I can e-mail it to you.
Rob said his flight from New York to Moscow was a direct flight, but he has to make a stop on his flight home where some unrest is taking place in the Southern Caucus of Russia.
Rob was happy to find out that there was a McDonalds restaurant just three blocks from his hotel in Russia. He also has been studying Russia for the past 6 weeks while trying to prepare for this adventure of a lifetime.