June 14, by Joan and Karl

Today we traveled into the countryside of Russia. Our car and driver took us to the center of Russian Orthodoxy: a series of onion domes and churches which is also a working monastery and academy. The name of the town is Sergeiev Posad. If people say that religion is dead in Russia; they need to go to Sergeiev Posad. The monastery was extremely crowded with pilgrims coming to see the icon and remains of St. Sergeiev. There was a fountain with water that is supposed to be good for you; people were lined up to fill up their bottles with it.  I splashed some on Karl. Don’t know if it did him any good.

We managed to find our way into the church during a church service; the monks were singing very beautifully from both sides of the church while the congregants were receiving communion. Afterwards the priests served tea at the back of the church. In the corners, congregants were lighting candles, which looked like a real fire hazard! Very cool, and a real treat since most churches in Russia are museums, not working monasteries.

The physical crowds and obvious devotion to the religion was quite overwhelming. Monks were everywhere. They all had long beards and when we asked why, we were told that monks try to look like Jesus so were beards. Priests take care of communities, so they can marry and do not have beards.

We found our way to another church on the same grounds; this one was put up by Peter the Great in very rococo fashion. We were trying to take a picture in front of some icons –we of course had paid for the privilege –and the guard promptly stopped us.

Lunch is another adventure, since our guide is an ascetic. We do not believe he eats. We are supposed to follow suit and tour from 9-6. We differ, so are continually asking about when we eat. Today we started at a restaurant near the monastery only to be told it was full, then drove to a hotel, only to be told that restaurant was full, and, finally drove about 40 miles down the road to the next stop. We found a perfectly delightful restaurant with excellent food!

The next stop was a highlight; an iron museum (as in ironing clothes, not just the metal iron!). Boris, who was our tour guide and owner, claimed that there are only three other iron museums in the world.

On our long drive to Yaroslavl, we drove by lots of rural dachas. Dachas are very primitive. Basically, Russians, outside Moscow, are really still poor. As we drove down the road, we would find individuals sitting on the side of the road with a small bucket of their produce; some potatoes or berries, for sale. The dachas are falling apart.  You might think they are abandoned, except that there are satellite dishes on the roof.

At one point, we almost got sent to the gulag in Siberia. We were driving along and then got pulled over by the police in a very rural area. Fortunately, the police just wanted the driver’s papers and didn’t ask to see ours.

Once in Yaroslavl, we checked into the best hotel in town. Of course, the deli was closed, the ATM machine did not work and only 2 of our 3 rooms were ready at 6 pm. It was an exercise in not understanding each other, as we thought the we were being given two rooms instead of three. Instead, we were actually being given the best rooms in the hotel, two of which were essentially three bedroom apartments! We figured it out by actually going to see the rooms and by having the woman at the desk draw us pictures. No worries; the world cup was on and we watched Japan versus Cameroon. What is the line on that game?????