Victory Day- https://picasaweb.google.com/116688804931583127655/VictoryDay
Part 2-https://picasaweb.google.com/116688804931583127655/2
Vladimir and Suzdal'-https://picasaweb.google.com/116688804931583127655/3VladimirAndSuzdal
If those don't turn into links, just copy starting at https and paste in your address bar.
After that we went to this small little church that was in the middle of a huge meadow. Apparently in the spring when it rains a lot the meadow floods (because it used to be the bottom of a river) and the church is completely surrounded by water, but it never gets high enough to reach the church. After that we went to Suzdal which is an even smaller medieval village in rural Russia. It's a very beautiful place, but it also has its share of ugly houses. The hotel we stayed at was in the middle of a neighborhood and it clearly stood out from it's surroundings. The hotel was very nice, the beds were very comfortable (of course anything is better than the beds we have at MSU), and they had toilet paper in the bathroom (you learn to bring your own wherever you go in Moscow). After we got settled in I went for a walk with Greg, Irina, and Dr. Efimov (the three leaders of our trip) we walked around the small village and saw many beautiful things. They had horses that you could rent, and some horse drawn carriages. There was a white kremlin there as well, and many more churches (3 or 4 if I remember correctly). We stopped before we went across the bridge to the museum of wooden architecture which we would visit the next day. We continued walking until we found the restaurant that the rest of the group was eating at. I stopped and ate there before we all headed back to the hotel for the private party and DJ that Dr. Efimov hired for us back at the hotel. The rest of that night we partied and danced in the hotel. It was nice to bond with the group.
The next morning we went for a tour of Suzdal with our tour guide who was with us around Vladimir. We rode the bus around to a convent (the russians apparently like convents because the orthodox church didn't have divorces, so the only way princes etc. could get married again was if their wife died or went into the church to become a nun, so they needed places to send their wives) which had many beautiful things to see. Most of the churches that we've been into have had beautiful fresco's painted all over the inside walls depicting different scenes from Christianity (the crucifixion, the judgement, etc.) and also iconostasis, the orthodox Christians really like their icons. (Icons are paintings depicting saints, or Jesus). Also the convent had bells, and a guy who was playing the bells. He had strings attached to his legs and his fingers in order to play as many bells as possible. I videoed him, so I'll put it on youtube or something and post a link on here to it. It was very, very cool. After that we went to see the white kremlin (all the medieval Russian towns had a kremlin, it was the center of the city and was used as a defensive post during attacks. 'kremlin' translates as fortress). After that we went to the museum of wooden architecture and saw an old wooden church that was built in the style of the old wooden churches (none of which survived because they had a habit of burning down. Being made of wood and all.) and two peasants houses, one 'well to do' and one not. The well to do peasants had it pretty nice. I learned that if the man of the house didn't like you, or if you came unexpectedly he would put away the salt. So if you like someone, make sure the salt is out for them! After that we got back on the bus and went to the hotel for lunch and then hit the souvenir stands and got on the road. Goodbye Suzdal!
This weekend was extremely busy and I'm just slowing down from it. I should have some time to catch you all up on the exciting things tomorrow. Talk to you then!!
TD
Hello all. I've still been recovering from the weekend. My calves are working overtime. On Wednesday I just went to class in the morning and then went to a stand in the university selling бутерброды (open face Sandwiches) I got a cheese one, and a salami one, put them together and BAM got a regular Sandwich. Good ole' American ingenuity. After that I went back to my room and took a nap and woke up and went to the school cafeteria and got some soup, potatoes and a small meatloaf thing with tomato sauce on it, and a cup of tea. It was good, not bad for 106 rubles. After dinner Brandon and I got together and finished our short homework assignment. Then I just relaxed in my room and popped out for a bit to study with the rest of our group in the lobby of our dorm and then went to bed.
Thursday
Today I went to class and then Brandon and I went to Subway for lunch, and then he accompanied me into the city to attempt to find the charger for my camera battery. No luck. Nothing. I am really upset that I can't find a charger in Moscow! I really can't believe it. We walked in a large Circle around New Arbat, and then down to ЦУМ (Tsum, another big mall like GUM) I thought that Tsum was a technology store, but I was sadly mistaken. After that I was really pissed that I couldn't find the charger so we hopped on the metro and went back to the university and I took a nap and then woke up and ate some of my food that I got from Ashan.