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Monday 17 & Tuesday 18 September
Our first day on the Golden Ring tour and the rain came back. We had a very wet stop in Vladimir, where we saw the Assumption Cathedral and a glass art gallery. Lunch was planned in a local Ukraine restaurant, but the electricity was out, so we moved to Suzdal for a very late lunch.
In Suzdal the rain stopped and we had some time to explore the town, the shopping centre and local streets.
Dinner was in the resort where we stayed, and very friendly.
Day 2 out of Moscow was still grey. We spent the morning sightseeing in Suzdal – the monastery and a wooden village and had lunch at a local home – enough to feed an army!
It was a long drive to Kostroma, where our accommodation was a Soviet style hotel with the most amazing red-and-white bathroom.
At last, I got to see the mighty River Volga, the river of the boatmen and the music that my dad loved. This wide river freezes solid in winter – amazing!
We had another day on the mighty Volga River – more churches and monasteries. By now we are experts in Russian Orthodox Churches and Cathedrals (count the domes), iconostases and the story of Jesus and the history of the church that they tell, as well as Russian weddings.
