First of all, happy belated Mother's Day to all the moms out there who just love to read my blog!
This is my first of probably two or three updates today, but really, by the time you all are done with your day and look at my blog they should all be up (because I'm 8 hours ahead of Ohio/Michigan).
Next order of business...blogging. Last Sunday our group took a bus tour to the estate where Lev Tolstoy (Author of War and Peace, Anna Karenina, The Cossacks, etc.) lived and wrote most of his novels. It is located in a city called Ясная Поляна (Yasnaya Polyana) which is about 3 hours south of Moscow. It was very nice to get out and see some of the country side of Russia, which basically reminded me of Ohio or Indiana (Ha, who knew?!). So here are some of the pictures from the tour, and I'll narrate show it's like you get to go on the tour too!
Just a photo out of the bus window of the barren countryside in Russia.
A Gas Station on the way to Ясная Поляна. Gas prices here are about the same as they are in America (of course gas is sold in Liters and not Gallons, though).
Walking down the "alley of trees" to Tolsoty's estate.
A rock that reads: "Here stood the house in which L.N. Tolstoy was born." Of course, the building is no longer there, but it was still neat to see this memorial.
Group Photo!!!
Lev Tolstoy's house. It was actually quite big...but then again he did have like 13 children. Ha.
Lev Tolstoy's grave. It is not in a cemetery, but rather just on his estate. Also there is no headstone or bust or anything...just a "pile" of bushes that represent his grave and some flowers that people have placed there.
So that concludes the tour of Tolstoy's estate, but now I have a couple pictures of Red Square (Красная Площадь) at night and while the set up for Victory Day was beginning. Once again, ENJOY!!!
A huge banner that reads: "With the Day of Victory".
View across Red Square. On the left is the Kremlin, straight ahead is the History Museum (it looks like a castle), and to the right is GUM (ГУМ) which is the big expensive shopping mall. St. Basil's Cathedral is behind where I am standing to take this picture.
Ahhh, St. Basil's Cathedral (Собор Василия Блаженного). The Candy Land Castle that everyone knows...right?!?!
The Spasskaya Tower (Спасская Башня) of the Kremlin. The tower is basically Moscow's equivalent of Big Ben.
Well that is all for now, more to come soon...I promise!
Well that is all for now, more to come soon...I promise! Пока!!
Ben, another great post. You will qualify as a Russian Tour Guide by the time your are ready to come home. My favorite photo of the group is the "Candy Land Castle". So far, lots of cool pics. I wish I was there with my camera.
ReplyDeleteHave a good Day,
Perry
Ben; from my short time there,the photo's of Red Square,and St Basil's..I remembered what it was like to walk around ..the memories from my short time come back when i see the photos..enjoyed all...
ReplyDeleteDad
Hi Ben ....
ReplyDeleteYou get extra points for the start of this blog .... and, you know, you get never have too many points :)
The journey to Tolstoy's house and then Tolstoy's house - interesting. His home looked huge .... 13 children, is that true?
I gotta say, the night pictures of Red Square are awesome. The colors are so vivid, everything is so decorated in lights - hard for me to pick a fav.
Now, onto your next blog.
Love,
Mom
Ben,
ReplyDeleteSo glad you're back...missed the postings! Great pictures and the tour looked interesting...Red Square awesome. OK, 1 down and 3 to go!!
Love, Aunt Patti