I know I haven't been writing as much I did when I first got here but I'm starting to get comfortable with Moscow and I don't find going out to a bar for a glass of wine or taking the 15 minute walk to the market all that interesting anymore. That and along with the cold and sun going down at 4 in the afternoon, we haven't been going out nearly as much as we did in the beginning.
This weekend Jim, Hildagunn and I went to Vladimir and Suzdal and THAT was interesting. In Suzdal we went to the museum of wooden architecture where they had actually managed to save wooden buildings from the 17th C. and had actually recreated a town. It was an outdoor museum so it was REALLY REALLY cold. It's colder in Suzdal then it is in Moscow. I think while we were there the temp was around -8 Celsius which is roughly 18 for us. SO FREAKING COLD! We also saw a lot of monasteries and visited the kremlin in Suzdal. At one monetary that was turned into a museum they actually have bell concerts where 8 times a day a single man goes into the bell tower and plays 19 bells on his own. NINETEEN...AT THE SAME TIME.... ALONE! Craziness! I got part of the bell ringing on video and it is so beautiful!
In Vladimir we only went to the Assumption Cathedral and actually got to watch an Orthodox service. I really enjoyed going to these cities because all of the churches and some of the monasteries that we visited I had actually studied with Dr. Steeves in his Russian Civ class and now I was actually able to SEE them with my own eyes and not just through a picture in a book or on a screen. I was so ridiculously happy Jim and Hildagunn were starting to get annoyed I think but they understood what it must feel like to finally see something that you never dreamed you actually would. Oh it was SUCH a wonderful day. I would write more but my battery is about to die. So I'll leave you with pictures instead. I know you all care about that more then what I'm writing. :)
Oh and I finally set the comment thing so that anyone can post comments even if they dont have an account with blogger. Just in case some of you want to post comments. :)