A Tour of Dubna

Yesterday was another great day in Russia!  The sun was shining, the sky was finally blue, and we were able to see many sights here around the city.

We spent most of the day in School 9.

These three students were our hosts for the day.  They stayed with us the entire time, taking care of anything that we needed, answering questions for us, and asking great questions too!

Last weekend here in Dubna they had a competition for English research projects.  Several students from School 9 did very well, and so their teacher had them share their presentations with us.

This girl gave an excellent presentation on the differences between Ded Moroz (Father Frost) and Santa Claus.  She actually answered many of the questions I'd been wondering.  I got a copy of her presentation to share with our 4th grade teachers!

After school we had a tour around Dubna, with a friend who had taken a group of Russian students to La Crosse last summer.  Here are some of the sights we saw.

Yet more things that La Crosse and Dubna have in common.  They both have 3 rivers that come into one.  And on this side of the river it is the Moscow Region, and on the other side of the river it is another region.  Just like Wisconsin and Minnesota in La Crosse! 

This is another cathedral that we got to see.  Although the building is not as old, the congregation has been here since 1134!  

We finally got to see the Rotunda!

And Dunba has the largest statue of Stalin in Europe.  See the blocks at the bottom that he's standing on?  I could barely reach the second row!

Apparently they like big things, this chair is gigantic as well.  The bottom rung of the chair was at least 10 feet tall.  The teenagers laugh about this chair because they think it is strange that it was built right by a cemetery, but it is actually at the driveway to a furniture factory as well.

This is a traditional house in Russia.  They are made of wood, and have beautiful windows!

This is a church recently built, but in a traditional style.  Before the churches were made of stone, they would have been made of wood.  

Details from the front of the church.  Beautiful!

School Number One

Today we were in School Number One, over on the Left Bank.  Dubna is divided into two halves, the Right Bank and the Left Bank, for the two sides of the Volga River.  From what I've seen so far, the majority of the city is on the Right Bank. 

School Number One.  Notice the blue sky?  We haven't seen it for a long time!  Today was a beautiful day, it feels like spring might be coming!

It was really interesting to see how they spell the phonetics of the alphabet!  They teach "British" english,  but some of these seem very different from how I would pronounce them.

Today I also had a great time skyping with a lot of my students...I really miss you guys!!

Tomorrow we are at our next stop on the whirlwind of trying to squeeze everyone in...School Number 9!

Vologda Lace

Vologda is known for two things - dairy products and lace!  An odd combination, I know.  Since we are from Wisconsin and know lots about dairy products already, I thought you would like to learn more about lace.

The lace from this region is hand made.  I remember my grandma making crochet doilies when I was growing up.  These are actually woven using bobbins and a large circular pad.

I think this technique would be very tricky to learn!  Each wooden stick is called a bobbin.  The artist makes pins to follow a pattern on the paper, and then uses the bobbins to weave the thread and make knots.

As they follow these patterns, the lace develops.  This is in a strip, but they also do circular patterns for table cloths, etc.

Here's a finished table cloth.  Incredible!

This is a zoomed in view of the table cloth.  When it is in larger pieces like this you can see the seams that divides it into quarters.  Then they are woven together.

Very interesting...this is an old school uniform!!!  Anna Z told us that her mother used to wear something like this when she was in school, and hated having to wear it.  Now the girls wear outfits like this for high school graduation.  Her mom thought it was funny that she was always trying to NOT have to wear the uniform, and now girls get to wear it as a special occasion!

The lace can also be woven into pictures.  

Here is a close up of the previous piece.  Every one of those threads were knotted by hand!

Sometimes they leave little loops in the stitches, which creates a snowflake effect.

This is the entire piece - it was a tablecloth.  I wish you could see how huge these pieces are - this table would seat 8!

And of course I couldn't help but include this one!  Even the flower bouquet was of lace!

Vologda!

This weekend we traveled by a sleeper train to Vologda.  The public transportation system is much more developed in Russia, and used often by people of all walks of life.  In the past week I have traveled by commuter train, subway, taxi, car, more subways, airplane, sleeper train, bus, and mini bus. Whew!  I'm tired!

Volgoda is an ancient city that was built around the same time as Moscow by Ivan the Terrible.  Actually, Ivan was planning on having it as the capital of Russia, but it during construction a rock fell on his head.  He took it as a sign, and decided on Moscow instead.

This is inside Vologda's Kremlin.  I always thought that the word "kremlin" was specific to Moscow.  Actually, many cities have them.  "Kremlin" means "fortress."  In ancient times these areas would have been the part of the city that was within the wall, providing the defense of the area, housing the church, and also the government seat.

We traveled to a nearby city for The Day of the Horse!  This was fantastic because rather than being the major tourist areas we were able to see everyday people celebrating life.  They had troikas, traditional clothing and singing, markets, sleigh rides, and even a camel!  (La Crosse is not the only place that has random things at our festivals!  I never thought I'd see a camel in the middle of Russia during winter!)

The troika is a common symbol in Russia.  It is a sleigh being pulled by three horses.  In this competition they had to do a specific routine, and were judged based on the horses' precision.  See how the two outside horses are arching their necks to the outside?  This is expected in order to be a traditional troika.

One of the choirs, in traditional clothing.

A common sight throughout Russia.  Many coats have fur, at least around the collar if not the entire coat.  Women's hats are very dressy and in this shape (usually fur).  Men also wear big fur hats as well.

We got to ride in a One Horse Open Sleigh!!!  Mrs Every and I couldn't help but sing Jingle Bells!

Another choir performing, while wearing traditional clothing.  I should have zoomed in on their hats - they're beautiful!

Why not have a camel in the middle of Russia?  It's a festival!

Next Stop....Vologda!

We leave this afternoon for Vologda, which is an ancient city in the North.  Its known for its decicious butter and sour cream, and also for its hand made lace.  Info on Vologda

I'm not sure what time we'll return on Monday but I will catch up again with posts then.  After Monday I should be able to blog regularly again!

Saint Petersburg - Part Four, Palace of Catherine

Yesterday we traveled about 45 minutes by subway and bus to go to The Palace of Catherine.  It was well worth the trip!

The front of the Palace

Our first day of sunshine, perfect for reflecting off the onion domes!

The ball room.  The Summer Palace (Catherine's Palace) is light and airy.  The ball room is full of windows and overlooks the grounds.  So beautiful!

The main dining room.  Much of the palace was destroyed in the 1940's during WWII.  It has been completely restored.  In this dining room table they remade the table, chairs, china, place settings, and even the table decorations according to old photographs.

A smaller dining room

An actual dress of Catherine the Great.  In this room was a painting of her wearing it!

Mrs Every in the hallway

One of the bedrooms

Again all of the floors were inlaid wood.  Each floor design was different.  I could do a whole blog post on the floors of palaces in St Petersburg!

Paintings of Peter and Catherine

Saint Petersburg - Part Two, The Winter Palace and Hermitage

Another place that I was really looking forward to seeing was the Winter Palace and Hermitage.  The Hermitage is an art museum that is one of the largest in the world - it's almost the same size as the Louvre!  Part of the Hermitage Includes the Winter Palace of Peter the Great and his wife Catherine the Great.  These two are heros in Russian History, and had the most lavish home I've ever seen!

Peter the Great

Catherine the Great, Later in her life 

The Winter Palace at Night

The Winter Palace from the square

A view of the entering staircase!

The Small Throne Room.  It didn't seem so small until we saw the main throne!

Before you enter the Main Throne Room there was this Hall of Heroes.  All of these men were heros in the war against Napoleon.  Each painting was over a foot and a half square!

The main throne and ballroom!  WOW!!!

A close up of the throne

Me with the throne

Details in some of the flooring.  All floor were made of inlaid wood, and the floor in every room was different.

The Peacock Clock was given as a gift to Catherine the Great.  It is in the picture below to the right.  It is at least 6 feet tall, built in the 1780's and still works!  They start it up only once a week because it is so fragile.  Wednesday was the day, and so we got to see it!  I wish you could see it in person, it was incredible.  Here is a brief video of all of the moving parts.  The best is the end when the peacock stretches it's neck.  It looks real!  Peacock Clock Video

Our Favorite, the Peacock Clock Room!

Staircase in the Peacock Clock Room

The Peacock Clock!

Then we began the art work.  I wish I had time to show it all to you - at one point our guide said, "And here is the Rembrandt Room."  We said, "Wow, and which one did he paint?"  Her answer was "All of them in this room!"

I counted 31 paintings by Rembrandt in this room.  Incredible!

We also saw Da Vinci, Michelangelo, Degas, Monet, Picasso, Matisse...the list goes on and on.  If I have time I'll make a whole separate post on these later!

By the end of the day we were completely exhausted, but thrilled as well.  What an incredible experience!