Tolstoy Estate

These pictrues are taken at the Leo Tolstoy Estate which is located about 3 hours bus ride from Moscow.  Then we rode a small van a few miles out of town and walked about 1/4 mile to the Estate.  The top left picture is a memorial we passed on our walk to the Estate, on the right is a large pond as we entered the Estate and adjacent is the actual spot where Leo Tolstoy was buried.  Just as he wanted it to be, with no names or markers, just a private little plot.

Summer Adventures

Summer in Moscow has been wonderful!  We are sorry that it has been so long since we have posted anything on our blog.  I guess we have been busy and enjoying our time here.  The weather is amazingly pleasant.  This is a park that we walk through on our way home from church on sunday. Often there are Grandpas showing their grandchildren remote control speed boats on the lake--this one is really fast!!   Moscow has many beautiful parks to enjoy and  they stay green because of the frequent rain storms.  Sometime we get caught without an unbrella and get a little wet while walking home. 

On the 15th of February, the Russians celebrate women's holiday. They take a three-day vacation Thursday Friday and Saturday, and then have all employees work on Sunday make up for the day taken off. Not too much sense, but a great time when they show respect to the women with lots of flowers and niceties.

We had a lot of fun out in the mountains riding on the sleigh and roasting weenies around the fire having sandwiches and drinks. It was a fun event with Bob and KLynn.There were three other young families with children so there were lots of activiies.

Inside the Cathedral of the Resurrection

Even though oneCathedraldiffer significantly from the othersin the type and qualityof theirart work ormosaic workit all centers aroundstories in the New Testamentand some oldTestament depictions.

Picture on the right here is looking straight up into the dome of the cathedral and the art Work is amazing and goes clear up into the dome.

The exterior of this cathedral was so decorative and immaculate but it was hard to believe the details on the outside of the structure

This cathedral was built in the 17th century and yet as you can see it has weathered the storm of time without virtually any deterioration. These types of cathedrals are symbols of National Russian architectur of the time.

This is a more traditional Cathedral in St. Peter'sburg call the Cathedral of the spilt blood. Interesting enough its real name is Cathedral of the Resurrection.One of their ruling leaders was killed on this very spot and they built this magnificent Cathedral where he was killed, thus the Cathedral of the spilt blood.

The picture on the left shows the Extremely expensiveOr for mental decorations even on the outside. Underneath each dome On the inside There are places repeats to stand and worship as there are no benches in their cathedrals. One can hardly fathomat great expensein building these structures.

On the left we are in Hermitage and if you look closely inside the cage behind us is a medal pheasant in a tree that rotates in a full circle built by a watchmaker as a circulating clock.
On the left is another cathedralThe Kazan and as you can see it is huge. They charge an admission but you can go in virtually anytime of the day if you pay the admission price, even though there may be services taking place.

Millions of dollars are raised each year from tourists.