Surviving Russia
So I have just returned from a 4 day trip to Kizhi, this little Island near Petrozavodsk that has churches and stuff built entirely without nails. We also drank water that's supposed to make one healthier from wells that looked like rusty nails. Went to a monastery on another island, and saw the tallest waterfall in Europe (which was about as tall as the "waterfall" I saw on my Geo class fieldtrip).
It was the typical sightseeing sort of thing, only Russian style-
the trip involved a 16 hour bus ride to Petrozavodsk, a two hour boat ride to and back from Kizhi, another four hours to the monastery and back on a lake with huge waves, and 16 hours once again. I still haven't decided yet whether the coolness of the trip outweighs the pain of sitting on boats and buses for so long.
The trip also involved a lot of peeing in the woods- oh yes, Jess has left her mark on Russia- in many places. We peed in the most beautiful woods (because the outhouses we stopped at were appalling). So while the Americans peed in the woods, the Russian ladies went to pick mushrooms. I swear that Russians were the inspiration for Tolkien's hobbits. They eat constantly and love mushrooms.
So I didn't enjoy the official sites we saw as much as the random quiet woods that we stopped at for 10-15 minutes. Russia has some beautiful scenery once you leave behind the cities. I frolicked ( it was not nancing!) on the rocks by the waterfall, since it was a wonderful break from sitting on a bus, forced to watch black and white war propaganda movies, soviet comedies, or forced to listen to bad Russian pop music.
In other news, I have developed a passion for hockey- Russian hockey, that is. I went and saw a Yaroslavl Lokomotiv's game and it was freakin' awesome. The crowd was basically all pro- Yaroslavl except two rows of Moscow fans. There were people chugging beer by the concession stands, and I almost suffocated on the trolleybus ride there. Russian trolleybuses are definitely more squished than sardines in a can.
It was the typical sightseeing sort of thing, only Russian style-
the trip involved a 16 hour bus ride to Petrozavodsk, a two hour boat ride to and back from Kizhi, another four hours to the monastery and back on a lake with huge waves, and 16 hours once again. I still haven't decided yet whether the coolness of the trip outweighs the pain of sitting on boats and buses for so long.
The trip also involved a lot of peeing in the woods- oh yes, Jess has left her mark on Russia- in many places. We peed in the most beautiful woods (because the outhouses we stopped at were appalling). So while the Americans peed in the woods, the Russian ladies went to pick mushrooms. I swear that Russians were the inspiration for Tolkien's hobbits. They eat constantly and love mushrooms.
So I didn't enjoy the official sites we saw as much as the random quiet woods that we stopped at for 10-15 minutes. Russia has some beautiful scenery once you leave behind the cities. I frolicked ( it was not nancing!) on the rocks by the waterfall, since it was a wonderful break from sitting on a bus, forced to watch black and white war propaganda movies, soviet comedies, or forced to listen to bad Russian pop music.
In other news, I have developed a passion for hockey- Russian hockey, that is. I went and saw a Yaroslavl Lokomotiv's game and it was freakin' awesome. The crowd was basically all pro- Yaroslavl except two rows of Moscow fans. There were people chugging beer by the concession stands, and I almost suffocated on the trolleybus ride there. Russian trolleybuses are definitely more squished than sardines in a can.