Porkrovsky Monastery Suzdal

Hey guys,

Some of the more memorable moments from our trip:

Live fish brought to the table at dinner our first night...tobogganing down the hill from the Great Wall...the Forbidden City...walking through hutongs at night...bargaining...looking for camera batteries...looking for soldiers in Tienanmen square...border crossings...bogie changing...dinosaur bones in Ulaan Baator...illegal photos...horseback riding...ger camp...buuz making...archery ...

... surrounded by a wall, at least the most important ones. There is a good distance between each of these monasteries so by walking amonst them, I got my share of the work out. It seems to me that I have been walking between 12-14 hours each day, now that is exercise......not. There is the Deposition Church were unwanted Tsar's wives and left here. The Alexandrovsky church, intercession, and ...

... me off to Andrew, ignoring the fact that my dad insisted on speaking in very poor, loud Russian to a dog and waving at every babushka he saw, and finally realizing that Andrew's "classical" music was actually the string quartet tribute to Nirvana of all things, we arrived in Ivanovo.

Nous voila a Vladimir chez notre 2e hote, de nouveau tres accueillante. Irina est donc venu nous attendre a la gare puis nous a emmene faire un tour de Vladimir by night. C'etait tres sympatique. La ville est beaucoup plus petite que Moscou et St Petersbourg, et aussi beaucoup moins touristique ! Nous sommes partis sur la ...

... I enjoyed the shredded beats, didn't like the meat. Our entree was a Russian dish that was similar to ravioli with meat. Suzdal is also known for its honey beer. It was kinda expensive, so I didn't try it. The silence of the town gave me the impression that it had been deserted. Took the 3pm bus back to Vladimir. Marisa went to teach and I walked around this average Russian town. There were no tall buildings, but many soviet-style governmental ones. Statues of ...

... compartment. I placed my backpack on one of the upper beds and took my seat by the window. After watching a scenery of trees, wooden village houses and frozen lakes for 3 hours, I arrived in Vladimir. As I was sitting at the Moscow train station cafe reading my LP, a middle aged man with a mustache came up to me and tried to make conversation in Russian. When he realized that I hadn't gotten anything that he just said, he told me ...

After Moscow we drove out to a small town called Suzdal for one night to stay in a wood lodge. The town was very quiet with one main street and about 30 cathedrals....and dont forget the museum of wooden architecture!! So not much to report, but it was nice to see parts of Russia away from the main cities. We also stopped in Vladimir for lunch at a soviet era packcake house (Yum).

... towns on the Golden Ring....it isn't, it's a run down mess....only good thing was staying in the old Kremlin. Yesterday moved onto Suzdal....lovely. Got to fly time is running out. Been having trouble finding internet places hence lack of blogs. Had trouble downloading photo's so not sure when next ones will be. Also Nat's mobile not working at all so if you need to contact us for emergencies use Gordon's Bye for now Nat & Gordon

... after brekkie back to bed for nap. Before go walk into town and get lunch via old ladies (babooska) stalls and supermarket. Call into Vladimir and main cathedral after on way from Suzdal. Pretty good and oldest Cathedral in Russia. Off on the mini bus and traffic even worse than yesterday. Dust clouds due to guys using the 'fourth' lane and even one crazy guys using the hard shoulder of the other direction of traffic to get to Moscow. See Police car ...

... in at midnight and asked in halting Russian (placed under this pressure of the moment, I forgot half the phrase I had painstakingly learnt!) if there was a room. There wasn't. But, miracle of miracles, the manner of this refusal wasn't the 'Nyet!' accompanied by the glare and turning away we'd received in Moscow. He actually SMILED, looked HELPFUL, and indicated for us to sit down. 15 minutes later a kindly old chap showed up and gestured for us to follow him. Follow him we ...