No sooner had I posted my calendar of Russian art, music and theater around the United States in February than I discovered one more good one to bring to your attention. My thanks to Steve at "A Dad's Journey Through International Adoption" for highlighting this event.

The Russian Center of San Francisco is hosting its 19th annual Russian Festival 2007 from Feb. 9-11 and it is promising food, tea, singing, dancing and Russian arts and crafts. The festival will be open Friday evening from 5:30-9:30 p.m., Saturday from 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7:15 p.m. The price is $10 for adults, $6 for seniors and students and, best of all, kids under 12 are free. The Center's festival page also has a coupon for two-for-one admission on Friday.

As I was preparing for my second adoption, my agency introduced a new requirement that families create a Russian resources list, a reference file of the Russian speakers, food, culture and education that I could draw on before and after the adoption (more about that later). And had I lived in San Francisco, I definitely would have put The Russian Center on it. It was founded in 1939 by Russian émigrés, and now offers a Russian pre-school, folk dancing classes, rhythmic gymnastics and a museum on the contributions of Russian émigrés to America.

San Francisco, of course, has long-standing ties to Russia. Russian fur traders operated in and around the city from the early 1800s. When their bones were discovered at the top of one of San Francisco's promontories, it became known as Russian Hill. Don't go looking there for the city's Russian community now, though. Today's Russian immigrants live mostly in the Richmond District, which is north of Golden Gate Park and south of the Presidio. I've heard that the Cinderella Bakery Delicatessen & Restaurant there (which is Russian despite its Disney name) is worth a stop.

I just keep piling up reasons to add a San Francisco leg to our California trip this year …