Some family time

After seeing Meg off in Moscow, I returned to Vladimir for a few days with my family. My brother came from St. Petersburg the next morning so we had a chance to hang out and catch up. During that week we made a day trip to Suzdal, which is about 45 min away from Vladimir and is an old historic town, which used to be the capital of the Russian kingdom at some point and was a home to numerous monasteries. Many of its old historic buildings are still preserved, so we walked around, went to a museum, and even visited an ancient church (build in the 12th century), which is now a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The night before I left we went to our cabin in the country, had Russian-style barbeque, and took numerous pictures of a seagull that made a nest in one of the trees, chasing the poor thing off her laid egg (This actually became a family obsession throughout the evening as we tried for hours to take a picture of the bird on her nest---she was very alert and would fly off the nest the second anyone would approach. My dad, who is an old-time hunter, had me put on a dark jacket (since seagulls apparently can recognize colors:), sit in hiding for about 30 minutes, and then go from behind the fence, where we were finally able to snap some shots of the bird on her nest). Here are some pictures.

View of Suzdal

Birdhouse on one of the trees near our cabin, which is occupied every spring with new tenants

View of the Russian countryside (I used to swim in this river every summer growing up)

With my bro (that's right, the t-shirt was a gift from me and the color is not accidental---Go Celtics!)

Finally, I was able to sneak up on the poor seagull and take some pictures of her on her nest

Red Square and other sites

After spending a day in Vladimir, we took a morning train to Moscow for about a day and a half before Meg's flight back to the US. After settling into our hotel, we decided to take a short nap, which actually turned into a few hours of hardcore jetlag-induced sleep. However, once we woke up and felt refreshed, we headed out to the Moscow city center to do some sightseeing. I had told Meg that a visit to Russia can be summarized by a picture of a person in Red Square---and we got it, so Meg can now officially say that she has been to Russia.

We walked around the square, which was already decorated for the Victory Day celebration (May 9th), went into my second most favorite church building in Russia (St. Basil's cathedral), witnessed the change of guard ceremony at the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier right outside of the Kremlin, walked through the Alexander Gardens (alongside the Kremlin wall) all the way to the magnificent Church of Christ the Savior (very tumultuous history) and then down Old Arbat, a very old cobble-stone street that is filled with artists (similar to Montmartre in Paris), and finished the night by eating at my favorite pancake chain.

St. Basil's Cathedral in Red Square

The Kremlin clock tower (we did hear it chime)

Church of Christ the Savior

On the banks of the Moscow river overlooking the Kremlin

Quick trip to the homeland

Even though it has almost been two months, I wanted to post a quick recap of my trip home to Russia in early May. Considering that this was a very unexpected trip (you simply cannot pass up a $230 ticket to Russia!), it didn't have a whole lot of adventures, but included a quick trip to Moscow, this time actually for fun, and not for an errand. My travel buddy Meg came along for a few days (hey, her ticket was only $213!), so it was fun to show her around my city and then spend a day in Moscow walking around some of the most famous sites. Here are some pics from Meg's 1 day in Vladimir---we walked around the historic downtown, went to a couple of museums, stopped by my favorite tea shop, and even had lunch at a Soviet-style cafeteria (a restaurant made to look like the caf with decorations and food).

The Golden Gate, the symbol of Vladimir, a former fortress now a museum

In front of the Church of Assension, a beautiful orthodox church in Vladimir