Our trip from Kazan to Izhevsk took about six hours today. We left Kazan - which, incidentally is in Tartarskan, a republic in Russia with a different heritage and language - and drove along the best road we've driven on in Russia - much better than the road from Samara to Saratov. Half was four lane with interchanges and most of the other half was two lane with pretty smooth roadway. We passed sugar beet fields and truckloads of cabbages. Lots of fog which made us feel at home. Our driver had a radar detector - periodically along the road are little radar boxes with cameras. The landscape changed to more forested - birch forests and birch/pine forests and plenty of wide open Russia. Russia is large!
We stopped for lunch - you guessed it, melon and grapes. Mom slipped me a pretzel afterwards! There were two guys by the side of the road with a fire going and cooking meat. Truck drivers were stopped and buying a chunk of meat and a slice of bread.
I've attached a picture of a Russian trucker in memory of our Uncle Tim. Also have some pictures of some typical houses along the road. Our driver said he wouldn't eat the meat because you can't be sure what kind of meat it might be...we've been advised by mission rules to not eat from roadside vendors. Good advice, I think!
Also attached is a picture of our institute class that evening.
Man, did I find out something cool today! Izhevsk is the home of many factories that make stuff like tanks and firearms! The AK-47 was invented and produced here! We visited the Mikhail Kalashnikov museum - he's the guy who invented that famous rifle - and a whole bunch of others. Pretty neat museum.
We also visited Votkinsk where Tchaikovsky was born - he composed Swan Lake, The Nutcracker, and a bunch of other famous music/ballets/etc. We visited the home he was born in and after the tour was invited to have tea...which meant we went to the little kitchen/cafe and they fed us tea and homemade blini and pelmini - little crepe-like pancakes with a sweet buttermilk syrup and dumplings filled with meat with a tomato-horseradish dipping sauce. Both really tasty.
Tomorrow we go back to Kazan where we will spend two nights and attend church Sunday. Then home to Saratov
It was kind of nice tonight when one of the girls asked if we could stay in Izhevsk instead of going back to Saratov. Must be the games...
Here's two pictures of the Russian Orthodox temple outside our window of our hotel room. These beautiful buildings are a common sight where ever we go.
We visited a renok on our trip. Here's some pictures of a few items we found there. Sherry bought the hat she has on. I found some awesome tools - axes and sledgehammers and very cool hatchets - all with homemade handles that I loved! We saw some shoes made out of sheep hair. Supposed to keep you very warm. They smelled like sheep hair, though. I also found a neat cultivator that I know I could make. It would be very handy in the garden!
Today we drove back to Kazan. Here's some more pictures - one of a typical brick home along the highway. There is a stop sign - stop spelled in Russian is cton. There's us at dinner this afternoon - not sure what our hosts had - some sort of fish soup and then spinach soup. Mom tasted it. There's a picture of a block of apartment - there are miles and miles of them in Kazan - and everywhere else, too. We the USSR fell the government gave many of the apartments to the occupants...which allowed them to own soemthing. The apartment we have in Saratov was inherited by the landlord from his parents who received it when the soviet government fell. There's a picture of the mall we shopped in tonight. It's, unfortunately, just like a US mall. Then a picture of the Kremlin from our room.
Tomorrow we go to church and then drive part of the way home.
Here's a couple of pictures of our class tonight - we watched a video of a talk and then discussed it. President Kosmynin taught the class and here's a picture of him. Great guy - served 25 years in the Russian Air Force as a navigator - probably on a bomber. He used to fly 10 hour missions. Sure wished he spoke English! Luckily, his wife does a little so we can communicate.
This is so fun to read. Keep the updates coming. I have ancestry in Russia and have had no luck breaking through the line as its really hard to get information there. I love hearing all about the culture!
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