Of Mutton Chops and Samovars
I went on a trip last week to Tula. For those of you who care, that is the birth place and death place of Tolstoy. His estate is amazingly beautiful, like Maine in the fall. No wonder he was inspired to write stuff. Among other sights in Tula is the Pryaniik Museum, the Samovar Museum, and the Weaponry Museum.
Pryaniik is the Russian version of Ginger bread. It can be made to commemorate any and every holiday, birthday, funeral, or just day. It's like fruitcake, only much much tastier. The museum had a 120lb gingerbread thingy that they made for Putin. Now that is how you honor a president.
the Samovar museum was awesome mainly because of the guide. He's this 60ish old man with HUGE civil war like mutton chops that would make most generals in the civil war jealous. He also absolutely loved the Russian tea pots. He loved each samovar dearly and individually. There was also a large floor to ceiling model of a samovar that we took a picture by.
Then we went to the weaponry museum and looked at knives, spears, swords, and other related pointy objects and guns, lots and lots of guns, including the famed AK47. Also at the museum we saw a flea that was horseshoed. The guy who made good ornate guns decided he wanted to make a statement about his unsurpassed skill by putting horseshoes on it. And he spent six years of his wonderful life completing this project. wow.
So, I'm now 22... I spent my birthday writing an essay on obligation and freedom and reading about presidential duties in Russian. wow.
But there was a cool part. About 4 of us had birthdays in the span of 5 days, so we had a party on saturday and I ate lots of Turkish Delights. They were delightful. I definitely would have betrayed my siblings and joined the Snow Queen for an endless supply of them.
Pryaniik is the Russian version of Ginger bread. It can be made to commemorate any and every holiday, birthday, funeral, or just day. It's like fruitcake, only much much tastier. The museum had a 120lb gingerbread thingy that they made for Putin. Now that is how you honor a president.
the Samovar museum was awesome mainly because of the guide. He's this 60ish old man with HUGE civil war like mutton chops that would make most generals in the civil war jealous. He also absolutely loved the Russian tea pots. He loved each samovar dearly and individually. There was also a large floor to ceiling model of a samovar that we took a picture by.
Then we went to the weaponry museum and looked at knives, spears, swords, and other related pointy objects and guns, lots and lots of guns, including the famed AK47. Also at the museum we saw a flea that was horseshoed. The guy who made good ornate guns decided he wanted to make a statement about his unsurpassed skill by putting horseshoes on it. And he spent six years of his wonderful life completing this project. wow.
So, I'm now 22... I spent my birthday writing an essay on obligation and freedom and reading about presidential duties in Russian. wow.
But there was a cool part. About 4 of us had birthdays in the span of 5 days, so we had a party on saturday and I ate lots of Turkish Delights. They were delightful. I definitely would have betrayed my siblings and joined the Snow Queen for an endless supply of them.