We woke early again, which was fine because we got great sleep in a super comfortable bed (except for the hot temperature so we took out the woolen filling in our sheets). Breakfast was great but we ate all the poppyseed sweets the night before so they didn’t have any more. We were late to the bus because some of us couldn’t get up…Adeel, and were taking a shower when we were leaving the hotel.
We drove to where we were sightseeing in Suzdal and stopped to take a group photo in the morning light:
It was somewhat misty in the morning, and a bit colder than the day before, quite a bit it seemed.
Then we stopped in front of an ancient village, er rather about 17th and 18th century Russia.
The EntranceThe layout of the village. All these buildings were actually standing in the 18th century, and were transported here from areas around Suzdal.Here’s what the village looks like. I don’t remember much from here because I was too occupied noticing how cold it was. The pain in my hands was pretty distracting.A Loom. This is how people made money back in the day. They definitely had a market for warm clothes. They did it by hand though, no machines. Tough work. After knitting the hat I’m wearing, I can appreciate the frustration, patience, and feeling of accomplishment these women must have had.This was apparently the “safe” room in the house where the inhabitants stored their valuables. The really creepy mannequin is supposed to show us how short the people were, and what clothes they wore. But it just creeped us out as we were reminded of all the scary little girls in pop culture recently: The Ring, FEAR (videogame), Grudge.Windmills! It gets pretty windy here. But the windmills grind the grain up into really fine sandlike particles. The workers keep them in wood barrels until the grain cools before pouring them into sacks.A sweet pic of me and the windmill. I guess I’m not wearing my hat today.The inside of the mill. The triangular shaped object spins when the mill spins and grinds the grain in the barrel beneath.I’m not sure if these were 18th century seesaws or just for the little kids who were bored, or for American tourists like us, who want to try everything out. Anyway, we had a lot of fun.This swing definitely looked like it was from the 18th century, as it was breaking when we swung on it. So we only used it for photos.Go Bears! I guess Berkeley has really left its mark everywhere around the world.Cute couple on a bridge over the water.So this picture pretty much sums up our entire trip. If you don’t know him already, Chris Horvat is a man of many talents, including (obviously) modeling. The moment captured here is locally referred to as “The Precious” here in Russia.But those two words always bring another reference to mind (LoTR), and I was forced to reveal what lies beneath. By the way, that’s a flower made out of wood.
This bridge took us to the Suzdal Kremlin:
The Suzdal KremlinA shot of the Kremlin as we were leaving.Original bronze doors with bible scenes once stood in the doorway of the church in the Kremlin.The Tsar’s Lantern. Apparently this means the largest lantern in Russia.Beautiful murals decorated some of the church’s walls. A male choir sang for us and were quite good. They are famous in Russia and often give concerts here as the acoustics are really good.Inside the main room of the Kremlin. The architecture used new design/technology that eliminated the necessity of a central supportive beam.A Good Thanksgiving Table. I can’t believe I’m missing the best holiday ever. Oh well, better get over it.Old map of America. There’s California to the left, separated from the rest of America by a large body of water, i.e. California is really an island. I’m not sure what information they used to create this map. Obviously, a not too reliable source; they probably didn’t have wikipedia back then.Spanish Jesus! This is the only non-white Jesus we have seen the whole time in Russia.The original clock on the Kremlin building. Instead of numerals, it has Russian letters to designate the time.Tres amigos, err in Russian: Три друзья.A shot of the Kremlin as we were leaving.We then visited an old Abbey that turned into a prison during Soviet time. Even though these walls date back to when Suzdal was still being attacked by other provinces, they were built after the last attack and so never got to test their strength.These were the prison cells. How cold it must have been with windows like these. After WWII this prison was transformed into a juvenile hall type building for delinquents.The bell tower in the Abbey. We listened to a 10 minute concert of one man playing all the bells. It was pretty cool watching him, but the music wasn’t too great.
We then drove back to Vladimir where we were given a treat: Traditional Russian Dancers.
Group Photo, again! Outside the restaurant where we were going to eat a traditional Russian lunch. Yes, Chris is about to consume Dian’s head.We sat down at our tables and had no idea why they were set up this way. Until these people walked in…The Russians started their show after we had finished 2 courses and were waiting for the main course. It went on for longer than we expected, about an hour; but it got more and more fun as it progressed.More than just dancing, there were little guitars, percussion instruments and two accordians. The two accordians played the background music the whole time.And then they involved us into the show! We think Adeel was some sort of prince and all the girls were trying to grab him but that his character didn’t want them or something.This dance involved lassoing a member of the audience, bringing them out to the circle, and then dancing for a little. Then the new person would lasso another and bring them out.They even got to play instruments for part of the show. At this point, we were all either laughing in amusement, in shock, or laughing at each other. It was great.I even got to show off some of my dance moves; or rather, be lead around by my partner and try to imitate as best I could.We would all run to the center, shout something in Russian, then back out and do it again. Then run around the circle to the beat while the people in yellow & black or blue & white would sing.
Then they pulled us all out into the main room for the final dance. Normally they move the guests out doors at that point and we dance outside, but it was too cold so we got stuck performing for all the other guests in the restaurant. When we got out onto the dance floor we were shocked by the BEAR that was standing in the center. It may have just been a man in a bear suit but probably it was a real bear. We had no idea what the point of the bear was, but it made everything more ridiculous and hilarious so we just went with it. We ran around holding hands in a circle and then ran to the center, hugged the bear, and ran back out. Then we played some games. The first was a blindfold game where the person in the center would get blindfolded and then another would spin him/her around and push him/her towards the circle and the blindfoldee would try to grab someone. Then they (yea bad grammar but I hate typing him/her) would blindfold the next person and the game would continue. Chris rigged it so he grabbed me, then blindfolded me and pushed me into the bear AHHH! But I didn’t get bitten, and one of the female dancers saved me. Next, duels took place. Chris and David put pillow cases on their heads, looking like KKK members and would swing stuffed pillow case at each other until someone’s hat fell off. This went on for a couple of rounds. Next, there was a woven wooden shoe attached to a string and the person in the center would swing it around trying to rope the feet of a member from the circle. We roped Dian, and just about fell over laughing when he began to swing the shoe. His intensity and focus were so absurd, and he got the shoe spinning too fast to see, at which point he let loose and it flew into someone. After all this, we were led back to our tables and got to feast on the rest of the food, which we had almost forgotten as we were having so much fun.
What was really admirable though was that these performers are actually factory workers or other local workers who do this in their spare time. They get paid for it, but mostly they do it for the fun of it, and to share the culture with us foreigners.
Outside the restaurant. This is some sort of small resort because there is this pond area as well as other buildings like a bar, bed & breakfast, and others.
After a long day we all piled into the bus to travel back to Moscow. In about 30 minutes the inevitable happened:
Our bus driver got pulled over and had to bribe the cop. Fortunately he got off only paying 100 rubles, approximately $3.30. So now with bus drivers we are 2 for 3 getting pulled over. The one that didn’t get pulled over, to his credit, was the “best bus driver in Russia.”
On the way home I relaxed and read about Roland, Eddie, Susannah, Jake, Father Callahan, and Mia. As I was pretty close to the end of their tale, at least while I’m in Russia, I decided to finish the book. Just as the light faded, I closed the pages to the biggest cliff hanger in the whole series. Just one more part left. It will be a good gift for when I return home. I hope my mom will have finished it so I can snag it before Spring semester begins. Because, I’m getting close to the “clearing at the end of the path,” (Stephen King) and even though I kind of don’t ever want to get there, I’m super curious about what Roland and his katet will find.
It has been too long since I’ve last posted, my apologies. My classes have sped up, and along with spending more time on them I’ve been sightseeing more in Moscow instead of sitting at my computer. Shame on me. On another note, if anyone would like a picture from my blog, send me an email describing the photo, and from which post, and I can send you the full size version. It may take a few days but I’ll get to it eventually.
Anyway, October 3rd came early. We had to be on the bus by 7am or something like that. A 4 hour drive followed. But no matter, I sat in the last row and stretched out until Natalie figured out that I had too much space compared to everyone else and stole the right 2.5 seats. But there was still enough room and I was able to get a decent 2 hours of sleep. Prior to us sleeping though, our tour guide, a friend of Elena Pischik, gets onto the bus and tells us he brought wine and bread & cheese for our morning meal to start the adventure. Naturally, I passed on the wine, but took the bread and cheese for when I woke. And when I did, I found the wine (and little sleep the night before) had quite an effect on our students:
Austin passed out (not unusual)Chris serenaded in his sleep by the music from his headphones.Will quite obviously out cold. Reminds me of Chip & Dale, the chipmunks.Dian, not looking very comfortable.Lenny, the sleeping king. Wherever we go, he always falls asleep at some point, in some of the most ridiculous positions.David and Nikolai looking comfy.Natalie soundly asleep.
We finally arrived at Vladimir and faced the golden gate:
This gate was originially built into a wall that surrounded Vladimir. It has been standing since the 12th Century.A view from the top of the Golden GateThe protective wall, and what’s left of the ditch for the moat on the right.Apparently the wall didn’t work too well as this diorama shows of the Mongolian Invasion. This happened multiple times as exlpained by our tour guide. The diorama needs some technology updating; we were laughing more than taking it seriously. The language they used to describe the warriors was absurd as well: the “valiant” Russians and the Mongolian “horde,” “ruthless.”A Soviet Cosmonaut suit. Note the American/Soviet arm patch.A red church outside the walls of Vladimir.Looking down from the Church’s balcony. It is now a museum for blown glass. USSR made it mandatory for all glass making factories to be at least 150km away from Moscow because they kept blowing up. Vladimir is the closest city that fits this rule and so the glass making factories were moved here.Close-up of the Glass centerpiece.Old Style Matroshka DollsThe red vase with the gold lining was made by cracking the glass in cold water and then filled the cracks with gold (big & small).The Blue Glass Light is beautiful but note the green glassware. It has uranium in it to make it that green color. Way cool. Then they outlawed working with uranium because of some health reasons.A glass flower on that centerpiece a few photos back.This monument represents the unity of the three types of soviet people: worker, warrior, and baker/farmer or something.Group Photo! as we headed over to St. Demetrius CathedralSt. Demetrius Cathedral has a lot of lions on it. No one knows when it was built but at the end of the 12th century there are repors of the St. Demetrius icon being brought to the cathedral. There is no explanation yet of why there are so many non-christian carvings on the church.Looking out over the countryside from St. Demetrius Cathedral we see Russia’s rural beauty, as well as a Nuclear Power plant to the left.As the sole physicist of the group, Chris ponders nuclear power for us.Another view from St. Demetrius, a horse and his rider over the countryside.
We then took a bus ride to one of the active monasteries in Vladimir
Visiting one of the active monasteries in Vladimir, containing the Bogolyubovsky Cathedral behind me. Nice hat eh?Group Photo! Our tour guide was super cool and offered to take group photos of us most places we went. He also said we should contact him about coming back to Russia because he can get us visas.The lower stones here are part of the original cathedral built in the 12th century.Andrei Bogolyubsky, the ruler of Vladimir during the 12th century, had problems humbling himself to others. Some think after examining his body that his neck bones were fused and so he didn’t have a choice. Naturally, he was assassinated because of this issue as well as some other diplomatic ones. He was super short though like 4ft (they have his body inside, he was entombed and his body was preserved somehow, so I saw what was left of his hands and feet, that’s what stuck out from the clothing under the glass cover) and his exotic look comes from his mom being part of the nomadic group called the Kipchaks who lived in felt tents and roamed Russia.The entrance to the staircase that spirals upwards into Bogolyubsky’s chamber where he was assassinated.In order to enter this active church women must wear skirts. So Natalie, Natalie, and Christina got to play dress-up.As we walked out into the grassland to see the Church of Pokrov-on-Nerl I stopped to take this photo. I think it’s one of my favorite photos of Russia so far.The sun/sky combination was good for photos today. The Church of Pokrov-on-Nerl stands at the end of this path.Church of Pokrov-on-Nerl. When the water rises in the early Spring, it looks like this church floats on water, or is submerged depending on your taste.Up-close. The decorations are asymmetrical. Most of the churches here had asymmetrical aspects about them; maybe it was a style of the time. Our tour guide said it was unknown why this was the case.They were selling photos of the church. Here is one where the Spring melt has flooded the grass. From afar, it would look like the Church of Pokrov-on-Nerl was underwater, or floating, especially if there was fog, which apparently is common.These four had cold hands and bought gloves made out of sheeps wool from a street vendor. Unfortunately, the wool would rub off onto everything they touched. Eventually, they were spitting it out of their mouth, and everyone had it on them (we played an unofficial game of making sure everyone had some sheep on them).Me standing at the edge of the water. A good day to wear my boots I’d say. Oh, and it was pretty cold.
Then we drove to our hotel which was fantastic. All you can eat dinner buffet style, comfortable beds, and all you can eat breakfast, as well as ping pong tables, a disco, gym (I was able to ride a bike for 20 min!). They had these poppyseed mini-cinnamon-like pastries with lemon. They were to die for. I think I ate 10 of them. We kept hoarding them. If there’s one thing Russians do well, it’s poppyseed. I’ve never had better poppyseed bread/pastries/sweet buns anywhere else, and I’m loving it. It’s a pretty good motivation for running in the cold mornings.
I hope tomorrow I will have time to post the Suzdal day as well as the lunch back in Vladimir with Russian dancing and us dancing with them.
