I bit the bullet today and replaced the Rebel. Technically I bought a Canon 350D - that's the name for the Rebel XT outside of the US (don't ask me why it's different - the camera is exactly the same other than the name). I shopped around all afternoon yesterday for the best price, then got Gleb to go with me to the store today so that I wouldn't get screwed over. I ended up getting a really good price on a 2 GB memory card too, so I think it worked out. Even though I could have gotten it for a bit less in the US, getting it here and everything would have cost even more, so I think it's better this way. And now I have a kick-ass camera again - just in time for the trip to Moscow.
Which, by the way, is on for tonight. We're leaving at 11. Don't worry - I'm going with a group that includes two locals. And this line is supposed to be really safe.
I'll have my cell phone with me and will try to find an internet cafe at some point this weekend. I'll be back in St. Petersburg on July 4th. Happy Independence Day, everyone! Have some watermelon for me!
Friday, June 30, 2006
Thursday, June 29, 2006
I saw an old lady walking down the street this morning as I was waiting for the others to wake up. What was so unusual about this old lady? Thrown across her shoulder was a huge scythe. Imagine a female version of the Grim Reaper minus the hood and with an extra pound or two, and that's what I saw walking down the street. She was obviously on her way to do some major yard work. It's just another example of something ironic I've noticed about this city. Everywhere you look there are computer stores and DVD stands and internet cafes; yet simple tasks, like clearing a yard, are still done with the most simple of tools. It's kind of neat. It might take a little more effort to mow a lawn with a huge (and dangerous) reaper, but it's a lot cheaper and there is nothing else involved - no gasoline and no random little parts to replace.
I decided not to take a picture for two reasons. 1 - The batteries on my camera were dying. 2 - She didn't look all that thrilled and I didn't want to piss her off - especially since she was carrying a large (and I assume very sharp) lethal object.
After this humorous little incident, the others came downstairs and we got on a bus to St. Isaac's Cathedral. We went on a walk through the museum, then climbed up a couple hundred stairs to the collenade - one of the best views you can get of St. Petersburg. The weather was interesting - that cold, windy feeling you get just before it starts to storm, like any second you'll start to feel the rain coming down. It was great.
We had the rest of the afternoon off, and I've been bumming around, looking for a new Rebel and not having much luck. I'll figure it out though.
Tomorrow we're heading to Moscow for the weekend. It should be a lot of fun - Nastya and Katya are going to be our "guides". I'll talk to yall on the flip side...
I decided not to take a picture for two reasons. 1 - The batteries on my camera were dying. 2 - She didn't look all that thrilled and I didn't want to piss her off - especially since she was carrying a large (and I assume very sharp) lethal object.
After this humorous little incident, the others came downstairs and we got on a bus to St. Isaac's Cathedral. We went on a walk through the museum, then climbed up a couple hundred stairs to the collenade - one of the best views you can get of St. Petersburg. The weather was interesting - that cold, windy feeling you get just before it starts to storm, like any second you'll start to feel the rain coming down. It was great.
We had the rest of the afternoon off, and I've been bumming around, looking for a new Rebel and not having much luck. I'll figure it out though.
Tomorrow we're heading to Moscow for the weekend. It should be a lot of fun - Nastya and Katya are going to be our "guides". I'll talk to yall on the flip side...
Wednesday, June 28, 2006
Same old, same old (sort of)
I've had a couple more interesting days, like all the days in St. Petersburg thus far. Yesterday we visited the Imperial Porcelain Factory. At first I thought it was really boring - we went through the museum part with a guide telling us about the whole history of porcelain creation. Pretty stuff but not particularly interesting to me. The exciting part came when we got to go into the actual factory part. We didn't go to the mass production area, but instead got to see the creative production department, where all the master artists were creating one-of-a-kind pieces in porcelain. It was pretty cool. We even saw a lady creating a gold over-glaze. Wow.
After lunch we had free time/studio time. I'm not really taking studio classes with the others, but have joined them for a few activities (ie - the traditional wood painting). Yesterday they were getting stuff ready for our trip to the printshop. Elena let me make one too - we'll see how it comes out.
I'm entertaining the idea of getting something together to put into the final show. It's not a requirement for me like for the others but it might be fun. All this creativity is making me want to start painting. Who knows - we'll see how much time I have left after the trip to Moscow.
Today we took another bus trip - this time to the towns/palaces of Pushkin and Pavlovsk. Pushkin was the summer residence of the royal family, mainly used by Catherine the Great (though it was built before her time). It was really pretty, and a nice day for strolling through the gardens. The best part of Pushkin was outside the palace though. The reason the town is called Pushkin is because it is home to the Lyceum - the school set up by the tsar for elite education - where Alexander Pushkin was a member of the first graduating class. We went on a brief walk through the museum, and even got to see his bedroom at school. It's smaller than my closet! Really a very cool little side trip that I'm glad Elena came up with.
After that, we hopped on a bus for Pavlovsk, where we ate lunch and wandered through the English gardens before visiting the palace. This was the palace of Paul I (son of Catherine the Great) and his wife (after his death since he only reigned for about 5 or 6 years). I loved the gardens there. I've discovered that I really like the over-grown, natural-looking English-style gardens over the crisp and proper French gardens (like they have at Pushkin). I just like wandering about in the woods a little too much. And today was a perfect day for it.
Of course, right now it has started raining. I'm really not looking forward to the walk home. But I'll live - it's a nice little break from the heat.
After lunch we had free time/studio time. I'm not really taking studio classes with the others, but have joined them for a few activities (ie - the traditional wood painting). Yesterday they were getting stuff ready for our trip to the printshop. Elena let me make one too - we'll see how it comes out.
I'm entertaining the idea of getting something together to put into the final show. It's not a requirement for me like for the others but it might be fun. All this creativity is making me want to start painting. Who knows - we'll see how much time I have left after the trip to Moscow.
Today we took another bus trip - this time to the towns/palaces of Pushkin and Pavlovsk. Pushkin was the summer residence of the royal family, mainly used by Catherine the Great (though it was built before her time). It was really pretty, and a nice day for strolling through the gardens. The best part of Pushkin was outside the palace though. The reason the town is called Pushkin is because it is home to the Lyceum - the school set up by the tsar for elite education - where Alexander Pushkin was a member of the first graduating class. We went on a brief walk through the museum, and even got to see his bedroom at school. It's smaller than my closet! Really a very cool little side trip that I'm glad Elena came up with.
After that, we hopped on a bus for Pavlovsk, where we ate lunch and wandered through the English gardens before visiting the palace. This was the palace of Paul I (son of Catherine the Great) and his wife (after his death since he only reigned for about 5 or 6 years). I loved the gardens there. I've discovered that I really like the over-grown, natural-looking English-style gardens over the crisp and proper French gardens (like they have at Pushkin). I just like wandering about in the woods a little too much. And today was a perfect day for it.
Of course, right now it has started raining. I'm really not looking forward to the walk home. But I'll live - it's a nice little break from the heat.
Monday, June 26, 2006
The White Nights
Seeing as how the summer solstice was this week, making this weekend the longest of the year, my friends and I decided that it was the perfect Saturday to put our plan into action. Meaning we stayed out all night to experience St. Petersburg "by night." It was gorgeous. You've all heard me talk about how the sun never really goes down. What happens is there is about a four-hour sunset followed pretty much immediately by a four-hour sunrise. So basically it's really pretty for about 8 hours - the 8 hours during which I am usually asleep. Which is why I wanted to go exploring at that time. I never get to see the museum and the cathedrals and the bridges at that time of "night." We even got to see the raising and lowering of the palace bridge. They print the schedule for all the bridges, so that people don't get stuck on a different island.
Anyway, because of this little outting, I didn't really feel like doing much on Sunday. I slept until about noon, then ate some food and checked the email and wandered about some more. Ksusha was supposed to help me shop for a camera, but she missed the early train back to St. Petersburg (she had gone to visit her parents), so she didn't get back to the dorm until late. But I will get the camera eventually (hopefully for a decent price).
This morning I had my first individual Russian lesson. My teacher, Elena Romanovna, was one of the sweetest old ladies I've ever met. It was a lot more fun than class should be. And she was very nice about letting me change our class time for next week - since I won't be getting back from Moscow until 6 am on Tuesday.
That's right - the Moscow trip is on for this weekend. We're taking the night train, but it's a lot nicer than the Prague-Budapest one. And I'm going with the group - there will be eight of us looking out for one another. And Nastya and Katya are going too - so we've got some locals to help us out.
Right now I'm going to look for a book on Russian grammer - I should have gotten one weeks ago. An important purchase. And hopefully I can also find a book on symbols - I need to finish my wood painting :-D.
Anyway, because of this little outting, I didn't really feel like doing much on Sunday. I slept until about noon, then ate some food and checked the email and wandered about some more. Ksusha was supposed to help me shop for a camera, but she missed the early train back to St. Petersburg (she had gone to visit her parents), so she didn't get back to the dorm until late. But I will get the camera eventually (hopefully for a decent price).
This morning I had my first individual Russian lesson. My teacher, Elena Romanovna, was one of the sweetest old ladies I've ever met. It was a lot more fun than class should be. And she was very nice about letting me change our class time for next week - since I won't be getting back from Moscow until 6 am on Tuesday.
That's right - the Moscow trip is on for this weekend. We're taking the night train, but it's a lot nicer than the Prague-Budapest one. And I'm going with the group - there will be eight of us looking out for one another. And Nastya and Katya are going too - so we've got some locals to help us out.
Right now I'm going to look for a book on Russian grammer - I should have gotten one weeks ago. An important purchase. And hopefully I can also find a book on symbols - I need to finish my wood painting :-D.
Saturday, June 24, 2006
Man, it's been awhile...
Since my last post, I mean. This week has been so very busy. And every day was awesome! On Tuesday we had a couple of tours - one of the Summer Palace of Peter I, and one of the Menshikov Palace (he was the first major of St. Petersburg and one of Peter's best buddies). It was interesting to see the difference between the two places. Peter's palace was very subdued - not nearly as grandiose as Menshikov's. I guess someone had something to prove. Anyway, they were both pretty cool.
Wednesday we had a bus trip to the palaces of Peterhoff and Oranienbaum. It's amazing how much they have done to restore Peterhoff. There are pictures on display of what it looked like after all the bombing in WWII. There was nothing left. Luckily a lot of the items inside were evacuated to Siberia during the war, so many of the paintings and furnishings survived. There were so many people there, though. It was almost as bad as Versailles - nothing but tourists fighting each other to see pretty things. But the gardens were great - and the shade felt really good. It's been so hot here lately that I've felt like I am back in the south :-D.
Oranienbaum was a bit different. They are just beginning to restore the palaces there. There were hardly any tourists - mostly students getting in to see what is being done to bring the palace back to it's original state. The outside of the palace was completely enveloped in scaffolding. But once we were inside, it was just as awesome as any of the other palaces. And it was cool to see restorations as they are happening. I felt special again (not nearly as special as I felt yesterday, but I'll get to that in a second).
On Thursday we had a great tour of the Russian Museum (the first of three - it's really huge). One of the curators took us through the collections of Russian art, from early icons to the early 20th century artists. It's always nice to have someone who knows what they're talking about AND speaks English to teach our class :-D. One of the paintings we saw was "Christ and the Adultress" by Vasily Polenov. It was huge and had an awesome optical illusion - if you look at it from one side and then the other, it looks think the guy on the donkey is heading in two different directions. Too cool. I want to go back there and hang out with that piece some more. And it was only one of a lot of really cool paintings. I'm looking forward to our next two tours there.
Yesterday was really one of the highlights. We went to the restoration and storage facility for the Hermitage. It's a new facility - they only have one of the planned buildings completed. We got to see the first painting that they have "doubled" on their new equipment (doubling is when they replace the canvas on a painting - very difficult and risky procedure), as well as a lot of other works currently in the restoration workshop. Then we were taken through a bunch of the storage areas, and got to see a lot of pieces that are completely awesome but for various reasons are not on display. One was a sultan's tent from the middle east that was given as a diplomatic gift to Catherine the Great. Too cool. It was definitely one of the best days so far. In the afternoon we had a tour of the Scythian gold collection. The Hermitage own the largest collection of Scythian gold. It was really cool. They also have a lot of other really rare gold and jewels. For example, there are only 14 known pairs of Greek gold earrings in the world that have examples of microgranulation - the Hermitage owns 7 of those pairs.
The only thing that really was bothering me this week was the fact that we had a few leeches in our group. This group of four older Americans joined us for the week, and went on all our tours with us. They were the stereotypical American tourists - from the stupid questions and comments down to the gum. A lot of us felt like they were making the rest of the group look bad. But I didn't let them ruin the week. And they are on their way home on Monday, so we don't have to put up with them any more. Woohoo.
Today we had a masterclass in Russian wood painting. It was so much fun. And I felt like I was really good at it too. The teacher kept on saying it looked really nice. I'll be sure to take a picture of it and post it.
Speaking of pictures, I really did post pictures this time. I PROMISE - they're there. I double checked. So check them out ... here.
Tonight is gonna be a big night I think. Lots of stuff planned with the group. Should have a few more stories to tell after this...
Wednesday we had a bus trip to the palaces of Peterhoff and Oranienbaum. It's amazing how much they have done to restore Peterhoff. There are pictures on display of what it looked like after all the bombing in WWII. There was nothing left. Luckily a lot of the items inside were evacuated to Siberia during the war, so many of the paintings and furnishings survived. There were so many people there, though. It was almost as bad as Versailles - nothing but tourists fighting each other to see pretty things. But the gardens were great - and the shade felt really good. It's been so hot here lately that I've felt like I am back in the south :-D.
Oranienbaum was a bit different. They are just beginning to restore the palaces there. There were hardly any tourists - mostly students getting in to see what is being done to bring the palace back to it's original state. The outside of the palace was completely enveloped in scaffolding. But once we were inside, it was just as awesome as any of the other palaces. And it was cool to see restorations as they are happening. I felt special again (not nearly as special as I felt yesterday, but I'll get to that in a second).
On Thursday we had a great tour of the Russian Museum (the first of three - it's really huge). One of the curators took us through the collections of Russian art, from early icons to the early 20th century artists. It's always nice to have someone who knows what they're talking about AND speaks English to teach our class :-D. One of the paintings we saw was "Christ and the Adultress" by Vasily Polenov. It was huge and had an awesome optical illusion - if you look at it from one side and then the other, it looks think the guy on the donkey is heading in two different directions. Too cool. I want to go back there and hang out with that piece some more. And it was only one of a lot of really cool paintings. I'm looking forward to our next two tours there.
Yesterday was really one of the highlights. We went to the restoration and storage facility for the Hermitage. It's a new facility - they only have one of the planned buildings completed. We got to see the first painting that they have "doubled" on their new equipment (doubling is when they replace the canvas on a painting - very difficult and risky procedure), as well as a lot of other works currently in the restoration workshop. Then we were taken through a bunch of the storage areas, and got to see a lot of pieces that are completely awesome but for various reasons are not on display. One was a sultan's tent from the middle east that was given as a diplomatic gift to Catherine the Great. Too cool. It was definitely one of the best days so far. In the afternoon we had a tour of the Scythian gold collection. The Hermitage own the largest collection of Scythian gold. It was really cool. They also have a lot of other really rare gold and jewels. For example, there are only 14 known pairs of Greek gold earrings in the world that have examples of microgranulation - the Hermitage owns 7 of those pairs.
The only thing that really was bothering me this week was the fact that we had a few leeches in our group. This group of four older Americans joined us for the week, and went on all our tours with us. They were the stereotypical American tourists - from the stupid questions and comments down to the gum. A lot of us felt like they were making the rest of the group look bad. But I didn't let them ruin the week. And they are on their way home on Monday, so we don't have to put up with them any more. Woohoo.
Today we had a masterclass in Russian wood painting. It was so much fun. And I felt like I was really good at it too. The teacher kept on saying it looked really nice. I'll be sure to take a picture of it and post it.
Speaking of pictures, I really did post pictures this time. I PROMISE - they're there. I double checked. So check them out ... here.
Tonight is gonna be a big night I think. Lots of stuff planned with the group. Should have a few more stories to tell after this...
Tuesday, June 20, 2006
I stumbled upon an English copy of Gulliver's Travels in "Dom Knigi" (The "House of Books") the other day. I couldn't help but relate to the following passage (which goes for pictures as well)...
"I hope, the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on these, and the like particulars, which however insignificant they may appear to the groveling vulgar minds, yet will certainly help a philosopher to enlarge his thoughts and imagination, and apply them to the benefit of publick as well as private life; which was my sole design in presenting this, and other accounts of my travels to the world; wherein, I have been chiefly studious of truth, without affecting any ornaments of learning, or of style. But, the whole scene of this voyage made so strong an impression on my mind, and is so deeply fixed in my memory, that in committing it to paper, I did not omit one material circumstance; however, upon a strict review, I blotted out several passages of less moment which were in my first copy, for fear of being censured as tedious and triffling, whereof travellers are often, perhaps not without justice, accused." - Jonathan Swift
...this is kind of a long-winded way of saying, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
Also, if any of you have seen the movie "L'Auberge Espanole" ("The Spanish Apartment"), I am definitely feeling like Xavier right now. If you haven't seen it, you should (though I must warn you, it's very French and may offend some of the older generation - but if you're heading abroad, it's a must).
I guess I should catch yall up on what I've been doing over the last few days. Sunday I had a bit of an adventure - I decided that I had reached maximum shagginess and it was time for a haircut. I asked one of my roommates where I should go (she's a model, so I figured she was the one to ask) and she gave me directions to this salon on Nevsky. The girl at the front desk spoke English - but the lady cutting my hair didn't speak a word. I basically told her to make it look good, and that's what she did. I may have paid a little too much for it, but I think the mission was a success. And I definitely feel a lot better than I did with all the hair sticking out every which way. The rest of the day (like my whole weekend) was very lazy - I just lounged around and watched futbol.
I had to get up early on Monday to go to the University. I ended up standing in line for four hours (a great Russian tradition, I hear), to talk to the lady who could fix my schedule. She wasn't in (apparently she also doesn't keep regular office hours, or at least doesn't follow the schedule she has taped to her door), but another lady told me to show up next Monday for my first individual language class. So I guess that's settled. I'm going to be in individual lessons for the next four weeks, then I'll switch to group lessons for another month after the others in the art program have gone home.
I also managed to get a new SIM card for my cell phone, so that I can freely communicate with the others in my program (since I live in a different dorm). And it only cost me 150 rubles! (That's like 6 dollars, by the way). I don't know how much it charges me to receive calls or how much it costs for people to call me from the US, but yall are welcome to try. I do know that Russian cell phones can't be called from Skype yet :-(. But I do check my Skype voicemail everyday, so anybody is welcome to leave me a little motivational message ;-).
Last night (thanks to the ease of having a cell phone again), I met up with the rest of the group and we went to a private banya (bathhouse). It wasn't the tradition "naked-old-ladies-beating-each-other-with-sticks" kind - it was this little place that Nastya found where you can reserve the whole place for a group. It only cost us 200 rubles each. Well worth the small price - it was so relaxing! Gleb, Drew, and I were the only two who did the full submersion in the cold water after the sauna. It was really cold, but felt really nice (especially getting out). And it was a nice little introduction to what awaited me back at the dorm...
I hesitate to mention this last thing, for fear that I might receive an onslaught of "I-told-you-so's". But when I got home from the banya, my roommates informed me that there would be no hot water for the next month. "Why?" I asked. Katya's reply - "Because Russia is a great country." Har har har. Apparently this is not unusual - for buildings to shut down the hot water in the summer to "fix the pipes for the winter." I guess it's better that I didn't know about this ahead of time - otherwise I would have been dreading this day. But I'll live - I guess I'll just be going to the banya a bit more often. And Katya told me a story that assures me it could be worse - apparently they recently had a year with NO WATER in Vladivostock (where she's from). Hmmm. Sounds delightful.
Anyway, I'm going to go run a few errands before going home and cooling off in my nice cold shower. I'm posting some pictures on flickr, so make sure you check it too.
"I hope, the gentle reader will excuse me for dwelling on these, and the like particulars, which however insignificant they may appear to the groveling vulgar minds, yet will certainly help a philosopher to enlarge his thoughts and imagination, and apply them to the benefit of publick as well as private life; which was my sole design in presenting this, and other accounts of my travels to the world; wherein, I have been chiefly studious of truth, without affecting any ornaments of learning, or of style. But, the whole scene of this voyage made so strong an impression on my mind, and is so deeply fixed in my memory, that in committing it to paper, I did not omit one material circumstance; however, upon a strict review, I blotted out several passages of less moment which were in my first copy, for fear of being censured as tedious and triffling, whereof travellers are often, perhaps not without justice, accused." - Jonathan Swift
...this is kind of a long-winded way of saying, "What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas."
Also, if any of you have seen the movie "L'Auberge Espanole" ("The Spanish Apartment"), I am definitely feeling like Xavier right now. If you haven't seen it, you should (though I must warn you, it's very French and may offend some of the older generation - but if you're heading abroad, it's a must).
I guess I should catch yall up on what I've been doing over the last few days. Sunday I had a bit of an adventure - I decided that I had reached maximum shagginess and it was time for a haircut. I asked one of my roommates where I should go (she's a model, so I figured she was the one to ask) and she gave me directions to this salon on Nevsky. The girl at the front desk spoke English - but the lady cutting my hair didn't speak a word. I basically told her to make it look good, and that's what she did. I may have paid a little too much for it, but I think the mission was a success. And I definitely feel a lot better than I did with all the hair sticking out every which way. The rest of the day (like my whole weekend) was very lazy - I just lounged around and watched futbol.
I had to get up early on Monday to go to the University. I ended up standing in line for four hours (a great Russian tradition, I hear), to talk to the lady who could fix my schedule. She wasn't in (apparently she also doesn't keep regular office hours, or at least doesn't follow the schedule she has taped to her door), but another lady told me to show up next Monday for my first individual language class. So I guess that's settled. I'm going to be in individual lessons for the next four weeks, then I'll switch to group lessons for another month after the others in the art program have gone home.
I also managed to get a new SIM card for my cell phone, so that I can freely communicate with the others in my program (since I live in a different dorm). And it only cost me 150 rubles! (That's like 6 dollars, by the way). I don't know how much it charges me to receive calls or how much it costs for people to call me from the US, but yall are welcome to try. I do know that Russian cell phones can't be called from Skype yet :-(. But I do check my Skype voicemail everyday, so anybody is welcome to leave me a little motivational message ;-).
Last night (thanks to the ease of having a cell phone again), I met up with the rest of the group and we went to a private banya (bathhouse). It wasn't the tradition "naked-old-ladies-beating-each-other-with-sticks" kind - it was this little place that Nastya found where you can reserve the whole place for a group. It only cost us 200 rubles each. Well worth the small price - it was so relaxing! Gleb, Drew, and I were the only two who did the full submersion in the cold water after the sauna. It was really cold, but felt really nice (especially getting out). And it was a nice little introduction to what awaited me back at the dorm...
I hesitate to mention this last thing, for fear that I might receive an onslaught of "I-told-you-so's". But when I got home from the banya, my roommates informed me that there would be no hot water for the next month. "Why?" I asked. Katya's reply - "Because Russia is a great country." Har har har. Apparently this is not unusual - for buildings to shut down the hot water in the summer to "fix the pipes for the winter." I guess it's better that I didn't know about this ahead of time - otherwise I would have been dreading this day. But I'll live - I guess I'll just be going to the banya a bit more often. And Katya told me a story that assures me it could be worse - apparently they recently had a year with NO WATER in Vladivostock (where she's from). Hmmm. Sounds delightful.
Anyway, I'm going to go run a few errands before going home and cooling off in my nice cold shower. I'm posting some pictures on flickr, so make sure you check it too.
Saturday, June 17, 2006
Novgorod
Friday was nearly as cool as Thursday's adventures in the storage area. I woke up ridiculously early to meet the other art students at their dorm (it takes me about an hour to get there from my dorm), then we all got on a bus and drove for three hours to the city of Novgorod. Novgorod was once a capital of Russia, and its historic area has one of the largest concentrations of early orthodox churches in the country. This is because it's locations high in the European plains of Northwest Russia made it difficult for the Mongolians to attack, so it survided their invasion centuries ago. And though a lot of the city was destroyed during WWII, many of the early churches are still standing, and you can still see a lot of ancient icons and frescoes. I can't remember the names of all the churches we visited, but it was definitely awesome. One of them wasn't an operational church anymore, but they were excavating (I think that's the right word for what they were doing) inside, and we got to go in and see the frescoes that they had uncovered. Theodoros the Greek was documented as the artist commissioned for the frescoes, and it was neat to see them uncovering some of the more important images in Russian art history.
We also visited the Museum of Popular Wooden Architecture, which is this open-air museum where they've gathered together a bunch of examples of wood churches and houses from the 16th to the 19th century. They built these buildings without a single nail! It was awesome.
From there we walked across the river to the Novgorod Kremlin and visited the Museum of Russian Icons. That was really cool - they had the oldest surviving icon on display.
There was so much to see in Novgorod - we only spent 8 hours there, but we saw so much. And I felt like we got a lot of behind-the-scenes view of some of these places.
Hopefully the rest of our excursions will be as cool as this one! We still have a trip to Moscow in a few weeks (that will be a full weekend) and trips to Peterhof and a couple of other places. Everyone needs to visit this city at some point - it is simply fantastic.
Now I'm off to watch an airshow - the Red Bull plane is supposed to be flying here tonight!
We also visited the Museum of Popular Wooden Architecture, which is this open-air museum where they've gathered together a bunch of examples of wood churches and houses from the 16th to the 19th century. They built these buildings without a single nail! It was awesome.
From there we walked across the river to the Novgorod Kremlin and visited the Museum of Russian Icons. That was really cool - they had the oldest surviving icon on display.
There was so much to see in Novgorod - we only spent 8 hours there, but we saw so much. And I felt like we got a lot of behind-the-scenes view of some of these places.
Hopefully the rest of our excursions will be as cool as this one! We still have a trip to Moscow in a few weeks (that will be a full weekend) and trips to Peterhof and a couple of other places. Everyone needs to visit this city at some point - it is simply fantastic.
Now I'm off to watch an airshow - the Red Bull plane is supposed to be flying here tonight!
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