{"id":338,"date":"2009-10-30T22:24:24","date_gmt":"2009-10-30T22:24:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/lebca.wordpress.com\/?p=338"},"modified":"2014-11-11T20:50:46","modified_gmt":"2014-11-12T04:50:46","slug":"vladimir-suzdal-day-2-4-october-2009","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/vladimir-suzdal\/vladimir-suzdal-day-2-4-october-2009\/","title":{"rendered":"Vladimir & Suzdal Day 2, 4 October 2009"},"content":{"rendered":"
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.<\/p>\n
We drove to where we were sightseeing in Suzdal and stopped to take a group photo in the morning light:<\/p>\nIt was somewhat misty in the morning, and a bit colder than the day before, quite a bit it seemed.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
Then we stopped in front of an ancient village, er rather about 17th and 18th century Russia.<\/p>\nThe Entrance<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe layout of the village. All these buildings were actually standing in the 18th century, and were transported here from areas around Suzdal.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nHere’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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThis 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWindmills! 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA sweet pic of me and the windmill. I guess I’m not wearing my hat today.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe inside of the mill. The triangular shaped object spins when the mill spins and grinds the grain in the barrel beneath.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nI’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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThis 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nGo Bears! I guess Berkeley has really left its mark everywhere around the world.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nCute couple on a bridge over the water.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSo 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBut 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
This bridge took us to the Suzdal Kremlin:<\/p>\nThe Suzdal Kremlin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA shot of the Kremlin as we were leaving.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOriginal bronze doors with bible scenes once stood in the doorway of the church in the Kremlin.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe Tsar’s Lantern. Apparently this means the largest lantern in Russia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nBeautiful 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nInside the main room of the Kremlin. The architecture used new design\/technology that eliminated the necessity of a central supportive beam.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA Good Thanksgiving Table. I can’t believe I’m missing the best holiday ever. Oh well, better get over it.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nOld 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nSpanish Jesus! This is the only non-white Jesus we have seen the whole time in Russia.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe original clock on the Kremlin building. Instead of numerals, it has Russian letters to designate the time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nTres amigos, err in Russian: \u0422\u0440\u0438 \u0434\u0440\u0443\u0437\u044c\u044f.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nA shot of the Kremlin as we were leaving.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWe 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThese 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
We then drove back to Vladimir where we were given a treat: Traditional Russian Dancers.<\/p>\nGroup Photo, again! Outside the restaurant where we were going to eat a traditional Russian lunch. Yes, Chris is about to consume Dian’s head.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWe sat down at our tables and had no idea why they were set up this way. Until these people walked in…<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThe 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nMore than just dancing, there were little guitars, percussion instruments and two accordians. The two accordians played the background music the whole time.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nAnd 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThis 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nThey 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nI 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\nWe 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\nOutside 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.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
After a long day we all piled into the bus to travel back to Moscow. In about 30 minutes the inevitable happened:<\/p>\nOur 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.”<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
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.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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 […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":356,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-338","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-vladimir-suzdal"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=338"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1452,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/338\/revisions\/1452"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/356"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=338"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=338"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lebca.com\/fromrussiawithlove\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=338"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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