Golden Ring Towns - Vladimir & Suzdal

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Hotel Vladimir was really nice, expecially hen you need a really, really long shower after 2 days on a train. Also the buffet breakfast was a pleasant surprise, after the woeful one I got from the Tomsk hotel. This one was the whole works, bread, cold meats and cheese, cereal, quiche, fruit, yoghurt or something like it, salad, tea/coffee and juice.

Enough about the hotel. The main drag of Vladimir was buzzing with activity. I'm sure I passed a lot of interesting things just because I couldn't read the signs to know what they were. I did have trouble finding an internet cafe though, there are a few free wi-fi places but where was the internet. It was like searching for Godo. It wasn't where the LP said it was. It took me until the 2nd day to stumble uppon one near the train station.

I did find Mr Lenin to add to my collection though. Another major achievement was getting the ATM machine to give me my money without an English option on the machine. Can't be that hard right? Well, it can...

Vladimir has its own selection of churches, monasteries and historical buildings and shops. However it has nothing on Suzdal in the church department...

DAY 2 - Suzdal
I did a day trip to Suzdal which is only about 35 km from Vladimir, so takes about an hour by bus. Suzdal is full of onions - onion domes that is. There are at least 30 churches in the small town, so that practically everywhere you look you will see a spire on the horizon. Usually you can see multiple churches from where you stand. Suzdal is really pretty and has a laid-back, country feel to it. Its hard to imagine crime happening there with all the religious reminders around every corner! I climbed a precarious wooden staircase up a bell tower to see the view of the domed horizon. On the way down I disturbed some birds which flew out from somewhere inside the tower and in turn scared me to death. So I was glad I didn't fall and land on my head at the bottom. Oh yeah - no internet in Suzdal either, no matter what the LP says. All I got was 'Nyet, nyet' (No!) when I ventured to ask. The ever-present Lenin was there though.

Did I mention the weather? Its really hot; like probably low 30s and doesn't even cool down much overnight. I went for a walk at 9pm (still light) and it was still extremely muggy. Despite the nice hotel, it doesn't seem to cater for warm weather (at least not in my room) as there is no A/C or fan. My room became unliveable, like a little sauna, so that I wanted to hop inside the mini-bar fridge. Last night I actually had to completely soak my tank top and go to bed in it, and had to wet it again in the middle of the night, otherwise I would have expired. I can't believe I was wearing my fleece a few days ago.

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