First visit to one of the golden ring cities: Sergey Posad

Finally! I visited one of the golden ring cities. It was a pity that I won't be able to take the trans-siberian... and I don't want to because you won't be able to take a shower. Besides, it would probably be more of "you see one, you see all" thingy. I would love to fly to lake baikal, but the air tickets costs 400 euros one way. Crazy fuck. So I have decided to visit all the Golden Ring cities instead:

• Sergiyev Posad
• Pereslavl-Zalesskiy
• Rostov Velikiy
• Yaroslavl
• Kostroma
• Ivanovo
• Gus-Khrustalny
• Suzdal
• Vladimir
• Rybinsk
• Uglich
• Alexandrov

First, I have to explain what is Golden Ring... According to wiki, it is a ring of cities north east of Moscow. These ancient towns, which also played a significant role in the formation of the Russian Orthodox Church, preserve the memory of the most important and significant events in Russian history. The towns have been called "open air museums" and feature unique monuments of Russian architecture of the 12th–18th centuries, including kremlins, monasteries, cathedrals, and churches. These towns are among the most picturesque in Russia and prominently feature Russia's famous onion domes.

Yeah actually i was thinking maybe I will not visit all of them because it seems like if you visit one of them, you visit all of them. Plus I am not an orthodox, this might not really interest me. But I have to visit at least vladimir and suzdal. Maybe I will do some community services here. I will ask if Grigory can introduce me some community service stuffs.

Anyway, Yesterday we had a farewell drinking party for Maxime. I think I am getting sick of vodka now. Just the thought of drinking vodka makes me wanna puke. But anyway, I drank 2 shots for show and then I decided to go back to my room but was pulled in by sashka to go drink with the slovakian peeps. This time I didn't drink, but I stayed till 2:30am. By the time I was in my room, it was already 3am. I lay on my bed and I could feel the alcohol within me. D: I couldn't sleep until 4:30am I think. Then I woke up at 6:30am to make breakfast, take a shower etc.

I was like a zombie this morning. I went to meet Karola and her parents and we head to the station. Her parents are really funny and cool. It was not difficult to have any conversations with them because they are really open minded people who dare to try new things and are not offended easily because of a joke.

Finally we arrived at the city... 1 hour ride. It was a pretty small city. We went to see the lavra, where the churches are, shop a bit, eat lunch and then head back to moscow at 2:39pm. The ride back was fking funny. I would say 2/3 of the passengers of the train doesn't buy train tickets at all. Everytime the security guard comes to check the tickets, you will see a bunch of people shifting from the tail of the train to the head of the train and then alight at the next station, run to the wagon which the security check is over. They run really hard and fast... you can imagine their facial expression. Some of them were grandma level, but they can run really fast lol. but that is not the funny part. The funny part was karola and her parents reaction. LOL. You have to be there to see how funny their reaction was. People on the train are really funny in weird ways. I really love taking the trains in Russia. You really meet all kinds of people.


TBC...