Blogs from Yaroslavl, Centre, Russia, Europe

I guess the Golden Ring can be described as churches, monasteries, churches, monasteries and probably some more churches :) The Golden Ring is made up of some of the oldest cities in Russia – Yaroslavl for example just celebrated its 1000 year existence in 2010. For this purpose Moscow freed up some money and invested in rebuilding churches, renovating buildings, … so Yaroslavl can boast with a neat and clean city center. Sometimes, however, these construction or renovation plans are not so well thought through. The new concert hall which was supposed to be built in Yaroslavl has a nice exterior, but apparently there is no more money for the interior . Nadia, my host, studied English and French – we had many interesting conversations about the Russian and Swiss mentality and given the... read more

Today's afternoon is the town of Yaroslavl, one of the oldest towns in Russia, founded in 1010 (yep, just missed the millennium celebration). Today the city has a population of 650,000 working mostly with oil refining and rubber tire manufacturing. The most amazing sight, in my opinion, was the Church of Elijah the Prophet. Built in 1650, this church has amazing frescoes, as Ernest's pictures capture I think. We listened to a male quartet sing in a small chapel that was really amazing. In addition, we were here on Friday, and as we had learned previously in our Russian tradition discussion, most weddings occur on Friday so they have the whole weekend to celebrate. As such, we saw several bridal couples and Ernest had to photograph them. Also, as a tradition, if the crowd yells "gorda" ... read more

Hello Everyone, I have spent two weeks enjoying Russian hospitality. We have travelled 1450 km. of rivers and canals, through four bodies of water and 19 locks. At one point we were at the 62nd parallel. That night, when it got dark enough to turn on lights, it started getting light again. Many of us had trouble sleeping. Although the Russians tend to be stoney faced most of the time--they come through when you need them. My plans were to arrive in St. Petersburg on June 5 and join the cruise on June 7 until June 17. My visa was issued for June 5 to 17. One week before I was to leave I was informed that the cruise I had planned to take had been cancelled, but they could get me on a cruise from ... read more

Yartek is a thirty minute walk from Yaroslavl Glavnyi station - it took us almost exactly fourteen hours to get from my new school to my old one. While we walked I showed Liisa, Claire, Tamzin and Orphais the places that mean something to me; the poliklinika where I took my shirt off for the three women to examine me when I was ill, the Tolbukhina block of flats where I used to live, the Shinnik football stadium, the shop where I bought my winter coat, and Pizzeria Tashir. If the lady with the lazy eye (who always used to make me hot drinks when I was cold) was on night duty at Yartek I knew she would help us to find a hotel. If she wasn't we would have to start looking for somewhere to ... read more

A last morning of being shouted at by Marina Ivanovna. My suitcase wasn't in the hall by 9 o'clock. I was going to bring it out of my room when I left at 9.15, the van wasn't coming to collect it until 3 so it made no difference, but it didn't stop her treating me like a mischief as usual. I dragged my suitcase through the snow on my own instead, so that I didn't have to go back twice. It was minus 9 this morning, and Chiara guessed closest again so she wins for the week. I will have to buy her a drink in Moscow! It is a beautiful day - the air is clear and it doesn't feel too cold. Our only lesson today was an informal speaking exam with Viktor. We each ... read more