Our first day we toured the city kremlin, "fortress," which looks a lot like the one in Moscow. It was drizzly rainy the whole day, but by evening cleared up and was lovely. The next day we toured a 12th century monastery and the spent a few hours at a folk festival.
The festival was easily my favorite part. Russians dressed up in traditional clothes, performing songs and dances for each other, not for the tourists. There were exhibits of traditional peasant houses and crafts (like making shoes from tree bark).
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| This is the saddest dog in the world. In the driving rain, the best place for him to lay down was the middle of a muddy patch. |
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| It's Troy at the monastery. I'm rockin' the sweater vest. |
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| Me in front of the statue commemorating the 1000th anniversary of Novgorod (the statue was erected in the 1800s) |
And here are some of the folk singers performing.
