ONIONS WITH EVERYTHING

Food was always going to be "interesting" for me on this trip. With my vegetarianism and general food fussiness and Juris' unwillingness to sit down for a meal, Russia was always going to be a culinary challenge.

The first Russian meal was taken at 7am in some motel on the road after only 10hours of our journey. Faced with a menu that appeared only to contain the names of Russian cars from the 1950s I asked Juris if there were any scrambled eggs. His request was returned with the reply "three fried eggs".

I grabbed that option and then attempted to get something to go with it, and ended up with fried potato chips. I don't mean long straight "French Fries" style chips, I mean literally small odd shaped chunks of potato fried. A slightly strange choice but tasty and welcome after a night spent on homemade cheese sandwiches that were becoming a little jaded. Juris opted for a soup which looked very much like a Moscow Minestrone.

I can't remember eating much else for the day, but did manage tea and chocolate on arrival at the hotel. Breakfast was at 07:30 and was pre-chosen to be fried eggs. I suppose we were a little late to the breakfast room, and that might explain that my fried eggs were cold, but extremely yellow and very tasty. There was cheese sandwiches, Yoghurts and teas and coffees to share for the table. I should correct my last blog on location; our hotel is in Alexandrov and not Vladimir.

After breakfast we headed off on a marathon that lasted 13hours (Vladimir and Suzdal) and I believe covered almost 300Km. Lunch was taken at a very large supermarket in Vladimir. I got baked Salmon, boiled potatoes with mushroom sauce, vegetables and an Angel Delight with a drink of Pineapple juice for less than £5.00.

And what about the ONIONS. Well those of course are the Onion domes (or cupolas) and we saw several dozen of those. Suzdal (Су́здаль) is quite extraordinary with countless walled monasteries each containing several onioned places of worship. It was explained to us that churches were generally built as pairs; a large grand one for summer use and a much smaller heated one for winter use.

Our guide took us around The Saviour Monastery of St. Euthymius and right on cue a small choir appeared to give us a song, and by sheer coincidence this was available on CD if we were interested. Mmmmm five young Russian men in Black Dresses; they've got to be haven't they! The sounds of these five were quite exquisite, ranging from the pretty one who had clearly had some kind of an accident around puberty, to the deepest bass who clearly had NOT had any kind of pubertical problem. It filled the vaults and rose up into the cupolas and was truly moving.

At the same location we were treated to a display of bell ringing for midday. 18 bells were rung and all by just one man using ropes and foot pedals.
Suzdal also has (The Museum of Wooden Architecture and Peasant Life which was quite remarkable and even the churches within it had onion domes fabricated from layers of moulded bark. Wooden structures only last about a century in Russia because of the humidity.

A steaming day ended in the steamer; the Russian Sauna or Banya. Only a few of us opted for this, but did include the courier and one driver and about 4 of us including Juris and I. No clothes were to be worn at all, and the driver appeared with a large carrier bag that contained much alcohol and some Russian Suchi (yuk!).

Anyway we sweated in an extremely hot sauna room within a large specially built complex in the hotel garden (Ostrov Hotel). This includes showers, cold tub, dining room, lounge, beds and a changing room. All very relaxing. Soaking in cold water were the birch twigs which you beat the skin to stimulate the blood. Most of the others beat themselves, but Juris and I chose to beat each other instead. I did use the cold shower but not the cold tub. The green tea was very refreshing, but after an hour I felt faint and left Juris probably to return far too late and far too Vodka'd.

We have a 7am breakfast tomorrow so I suspect the Mercedes will be Sprinting over hundred more of these horrid holey kilometres. But if today's collection of shots is to be believed then it will be worth it.

The Transfiguration Cathedral at the Saviour Monastery of St. Euthymius, Suzdal Church of the Transfiguration from Kozlyatievo (1756) within the Museum of Wooden Architecture and Peasant Life, Suzdal Cathedral of the Nativity of the Virgin, Suzdal The Church of the Intercession on the Nerl in Bogolyubovo Bogolyubovo convent, near Suzdal

From Russia [a PICASA album by RedSimon]

RUSSIAN FOOD FACTS

Our journey yesterday (Thursday) was again very long, and once again we had to eat on the road. In fact we called in at a large Supermarket at 18:30hrs and were given one hour to eat and shop.

Juris found a place in the Food Court which did meals by the weight. Take a small plate and pile it up with half a kilo of food for 90 Rubbles, or take a larger plate and fill this with a whole kilo of food for 140 Rubbles. I took the larger plate and helped myself to fish baked with vegetables and cheese on top, and then piled on sauted whole new potatoes, broccoli and a cheese/carrot salad. Juris saw that my plate was not full enough, so having filled his he piled on mine a chicken leg and others.

I wanted a piece of Apple Strudel and Juris told me this also had to be piled on the same plate - it all came under the same weight. In fact our plates were only weighed by eye, and if you kept your pile quite short you were spared the weighing scales. 260Rubbles for 2 meals and a soft drink, hardly a fiver!

Eating eventually leads you to the toilets. I've been spared any really horrible toilets, but I do think that putting your used toilet paper in a bucket is totally inhuman. Almost as bad is the quality of the toilet paper. It is a ghastly beige colour and very thin.

I feel sure that the paper from the bucket is 'recycled' by washing and joining back together! At one place, having paid the attendant to enter the toilets she then offered me about 4sheets of toilet paper rolled together; there was none in the cubicle!

Thursday had started by visiting Rostov (Ростов), a really ancient walled monistical community, and totally gorgeous. Several magnificent cathedrals are contained within this citadel and onion domes of every hue thrust into the sky. Such communities were always solidly constructed for defence, and needed to stand up against possible Mongol hordes as well as neighbouring 'Russian' kingdoms seeking expansion.

But it didn't always work, and in Vladimir (Влади́мир) it was explained that when the population sheltered in the Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir (see photo) against attack, the aggressors lit fires around the church and caused the death of many inside from the heat and smoke; the church survived and was redecorated later (in gaudy baroque).

This part of Russia benefitted from having rich fertile black soil, unlike much of Russia to the north and west which has the much less good sandy soil so typical of the Baltic. With such soil, a rich agricultural thrived and on its back the monasteries built good businesses and very comfortable gilded communities for themselves. Take a look at Fountains Abbey, it was the same there as well.

In Yaroslavl (Яросла́вль) about 50 churches were built in only some 70years. Even now the street plan of Yaroslavl is like a wheel with roads going from the hub to the 'tyre' and each road ends with a church. It was impossible to visit all of Yaroslavl, or to take in all of its features.

Yaroslavl (Яросла́вль) celebrates a 1000years of history in 2010 and many domes were being freshened, interiors cleaned, and resoration work was all around. UNESCO is granting Yaroslavl the status of World Heritage site, with a certain amount of controversy and disapproval of some works currently ongoing.

This town lies on the River Volga (and Rostov is connected by River/canal too), some millions were spent on new facilities to encourage the river steamers to bring new visitors into Yaroslavl, but it hadn't worked. Unfortunately, between the lovely churches and historic aspects of Yaroslavl is a modern reality of a large city with Chemical works and heavy industry, and the thoughtlessness of Lenin and Stalin of how to combine history and industry; it is quite nasty in parts.

Enjoy !!!

The Church of St. Gregory of Nazianzus. 1670–1680s, Rostov Veliky (Ростов Великий) Rostov Kremlin. Church of Resurrection of Christ (1670), Rostov Veliky (Ростов Великий) Golden Gates of Vladimir (Zolotye Vorota). Supposedly the earliest stone structure still standing in Russia, originally constructed in 1164. Originally it sat in the middle of an immense defensive city wall instead of a traffic island. Dormition Cathedral in Vladimir (Успенского собора во Владимире). Built 1158-60 and 1185-89, the building survived being set alight by the Mongols in 1239 even though the people sheltering inside it did not. Yaroslavl Churches: [Left] Church of Archangel Michael in Yaroslavl (Церковь Михаила Архангела. Западный фасад), [centre] Redemeer Church of the Transfiguration On-the-town, [right] New Cathedral on the site of the Dormition Cathedral

From Russia [a PICASA album by RedSimon]