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!