Our Adventure in Novgorod

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This past weekend i went with liza to veliky novgorod (which means the great new city). it is actually one the oldest cities which had an independent government in russia. this is the city where the most revered alexander nevsky (basically the patron saint of russia, who i have seen depicted just like jesus, but with slightly shorter hair) was prince. liza and i arrived by electric train (4 hours from petersburg by this method) at about 1200 on sunday. at about 1205 it started raining. we got on a city bus we believed was heading toward our hotel, but instead of crossing the river, it turned left and headed out into the very soviet suburbs. liza asked the bus conducter it we were heading in that direction eventually, and she told us to get off at the next stop and take a different bus, which we did, in the rain. once we finally got to our hotel, we dropped off our stuff and set out for the kremlin. on our way, we came across a festival going on (the rain had been put on pause now). it was so neat, with reenactors dancing to accordian music going in and out of the russian speakers. there were also men dressed up as knights, who apparently had just finished their part. then we walked across a footbridge to the kremlin. we went into the st. sophia cathedral in the middle of the kremlin. then we stumbled upon an art exhibition which we found out was done by children as part of an art therapy method to overcome psychological disorders. the painting and things in there were absolutely amazing. then we left that to see the monument to commemorate 1000 years of russia, with 136 people who were important to russia's history (it was raining now). after that we went to a soviet world war II monument with tanks AND horses on it. then we took a walk up to a couple more churches (beautiful brick ones). and then went to the hotel and went to sleep. monday we went to a monastery just outside the city (another city bus trek), and a short 1 km hike up the road (in pouring rain) to the outdoor museum of wooden architecture. liza went to a cafe while i wandered around the buildings that had been transported from nearby. then we got on the electric train and came home. to summarize, despite the rain, cold, and wind, i really enjoyed novgorod. i hope you enjoy my pictures.

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Photos

churches
this used to be a palace, but something happened to it, and now there are only churches left.

dancers
here were the dancers we saw at the festival

knights
here were some of the knights left over from before. they were carrying huge axes and swords around and swinging them as if they were nothing.

kremlin
here we are on the footbridge, both of us limping due to strange nerve/tendon pains we were having.

st. sophia
this was taken in st. sophia cathedral, where alexander nevsky's brother is buried.

millenium monument
this was the millenium monument in the kremlin

pushkin
this is along the bottom row of the monument, pushkin is about the middle, with sideburns and small afro. yay!!

soviet monument
this is me next to the horse commemorating soviet soldiers in world war II, why there is a horse is beyond me.

mural
there was this cute mural of the whole city all along this one building. this is a little piece of that.

brick churches
we took a walk in the rain to find these churches a little off the beaten path. it was definitely worth it though, because they were gourgeous. here is the first one.

second church
here is the second church (literally across the street from the first)

my favorite
this was my favorite church from the whole trip. it is so cute and picturesque in its own little field.

our adventure to the monastery
the city bus let us off around the corner and we soon figured out how to get to the entrance of the monastery

monastery
for being a country without any religion for 70 years, this country certainly has a lot of working monasteries.

wooden architecture
more of the museum

wooden architecture museum
here is a church in the wooden architecture museum, when i was here, it was POURING rain. that was interesting