When I got back to the hotel during the height of the eclipse, I went into the gazebo that also serves as a grape arbor, hoping to use a hole in the tin roof as a "lens" to project an image of the sun on a piece of paper. Instead, I ran across a fantastic sight: there must have been a hundred images of the eclipse projected through the grape leaves onto the bench in the arbor! 

AImages of the solar eclipse of August 1, 2008 projected on a piece of white paper on a bench in a gazebo that also serves as a grape arbor in Baikonur, Kazakhstan. The images are formed as a result of the "camera obscura" effect, by light passing through small gaps between the grape leaves that grow on vines that surround the gazebo.

Last Friday there was an evening in Russia that attracted thousands of tourists from almost all of the world, the full solar eclipse, and even some celebrities from states have visited. The most suitable place for the observation was Novosibirsk, it was right on the way of the Lunar shadow and could provide hotels and other facilities for the eager tourists.