Suzdal

KUNMING: So visiting Moscow this time I finally got to do the one thing I really missed out on last time - visit a golden ring town. With a little bit of time on my hand I was able to hit up Suzdal, often regarded as the prettiest. I started early and in typical Russian style they refused to sell me a ticket for Vladimir on the train. Luckily there was a bus leaving from upstairs. After a little bit of uncertainty - I was far from convinced I was on the right bus - it finally departed and three hours later I was in Vladimir. Another hour later and I was trekking through the snow towards Suzdal.

Unfortunately I got a little lost and for the better part of an hour I was wandering around taking photos of traditional Russian houses and their wooden adornements, wondering is this all there is? But I followed my instincts in the direction of some onion domes and emerged on a street full of horse drawn sleighs. Evidently I found high street Suzdal. So I wandered down to the Kremlin, dined on some sort of sizzling chicken in a hot clay dish, watched the end of a local ice hockey game and then found some accomodation. It was getting late. It was snowing outside so finding a bed was something of a priority. Unfortunately I'd left my passport back in Moscow and they refused to give me a bed. Knowing Russia, and the fact that no only sometimes means no. After much tutting, some toing and froing the manager, it turns out, had called his friend.

This kindly gentleman and his wife collected me and took me on a merry tour. At this stage I was a little worried. I had a bottle of vodka in my bag, but was rather keen on some dinner. Eventually we reached their house where they parked me in their living room, intimating through a brief game of charades that this was where I would be sleeping. So there I was, sitting in a rural Russian living room, staring wistfully at a bottle of cheap vodka wondering what I was doing for dinner. Then the kindly mother came in and gave me some tourist guides and maps. But still no dinner. Then after sitting around for about fifteen minutes Dad comes in and invites me into the kitchen. Turns out they've got a three course spread that includes sausages, home grown potatoes, bread, Russian salad and desert laid out for me. Then the next morning I was greeted with a feast of fried eggs and home made jam.

Then armed with the tourist information from the previous evening I was able to locate some of the more beautiful monasteries in town before heading over to the sublime museum of wooden architecture which I had only glimpsed in the distance the day before. Unfortunately this was the day my camera developed the spot that is now plaguing about half my pictures. I made it back to Moscow late and exhausted.