Russia: Part 2

My last post was about the first half of fall break in Moscow, Russia. This one will be about our time Saint Petersburg. Let's locate both cities on the map and then see what Larry discovered.

Saint Petersburg is the cultural capital of Russia and is called "The Venice of the North". The city is full of bridges and canals. Here's Larry looking at the view of the Neva River, the main river the city is built on. 

Chilling out with one of our interns, Edvardas.

Saint Petersburg collects statues of lions and lion-like animals. People also send them as gifts to the city, like this sphinx. 

Larry found some new friends.

We visited a museum dedicated to the Russian poet Anna Akhmatova, who lived and wrote under the regime of Stalin. The museum was located in her former apartments and we got to see how she and her family lived.  Anna and her family were persecuted by the Soviet regime. Her husband and son were imprisoned and she was accused of spying for the British. At one point she was required to stand at her bedroom window every morning and show herself to the KGB agents sitting outside. Here's Larry looking at the benches were they sat and watched for her.

It was sad but good to get a glimpse of how the Russian people suffered under the Soviet Union. Anna Akhmatova wrote a long poem about it called Requiem, which you can read here.  In order to smuggle the poem out of her apartment, one of her friends would come over to visit. They would talk very loudly about trivial things (in case someone overheard them and reported them to the government) while her friend memorized passages of the poem. Then they burned the papers in this jar. When complete, it was published outside the Soviet Union.

"The most beautiful thing about my apartment is the maple tree outside my window." -Anna Akhmatova

No trip to Russia would be complete without a visit to the palaces of the Tsars. Next time, I'll show you some pictures of Larry hanging out with the Romanovs!

Russia: Part 1

This is my long overdue post from fall break in Russia. We spent nine days in Moscow and Saint Petersburg. Larry had a lot of fun. Here are some pictures of his adventures.

We started the trip with an overnight train ride to Moscow. Here's Larry super excited for his first train ride.

One of the places we visited in Moscow was the famous Red Square. The Red Square is located next to the Kremlin, a walled fortress which contains the government's headquarters, museums full of artifacts from the Russian Tsars (emperors) and other sights. Once inside the Kremlin we got to see a lot of beautiful Orthodox cathedrals. However, Larry's favorite was St. Basil's Cathedral in the Red Square itself.  In his excitement to see St. Basil's up close, Larry jumped out of my pocket and nearly got himself lost. Fortunately, we were quickly reunited and proceeded to explore this stunning building. You can learn more about St. Basil's  and get a glimpse inside here and here, but one cool fact we discovered is that it took over 300 years to finish painting all the murals inside the church. 

Naturally, Larry couldn't pass up the chance to take a selfie with this beautiful church. (kindly photobombed by our friend Spencer who was also super excited to be there)

Next to St. Basil's is Moscow's posh shopping mall, GUM (pronounced goom). It was beautiful and SO big!

Here's Larry taking in a second floor view of one part of the mall. 

One of the highlights of Moscow was getting to visit the Tretyakov State Gallery. There was so much beautiful art, but the highlight was their collection of Orthodox church art and icons. We got to see the world famous icon of the Holy Trinity by Andrei Rublev.  

It's bad manners for llamas to take selfies with church art, so Larry posed with a postcard of the icon instead.  

After a fun time at the circus we walked around the city for a bit. This photo is kind of dark but you can see a ring of flags in the background.  These are the flags of member countries of the European Union and they were placed here as a symbol of friendship from Russia to their neighbors in the EU.

Moscow is an exciting, fast paced city and we enjoyed our time there. But the best part of the trip was yet to come. Stay tuned for Saint Petersburg! Until then, enjoy these photos of the Red Square and the city at night.

Kaunas

A couple of weeks ago, Larry and I joined some other LCC students for  a day trip to Kaunas. We saw and learned some really cool things! Here's where Kaunas is in relation to Klaipeda.

Kaunas is Lithuania's second largest city, with a population of about 300,000. Our first stop in exploring was this castle. 

Once inside, Larry met Duke Vaidotas who helped protect the castle against invading Crusaders.

Larry takes in a scenic view of the city

After the castle, it was off to the 9th Fort, where we learned about the Nazi and Soviet occupations of this part of Lithuania. The fort was used to hold political prisoners throughout several regimes. We also learned that during the War of 1812, Napoleon came through Kaunas on his way to invade Russia. Everyone's favorite part of the tour was getting to walk through a completely dark underground tunnel. Our guide wanted us to see what it was like for the soldiers who often had to navigate the tunnels with no electricity. Everyone screamed so loudly while walking through!

Part of the 9th Fort

This wax guard in the window also made everyone scream.

Next, we went for a walking tour of the city.

I enjoyed the fall leaves in the city square

and the view of the river.

While Larry enjoyed the flowers.

We loved Kaunas and would like to go back and explore some more. Next up: Larry goes on fall break to Russia!

Tallinn

This past weekend, Larry got the chance to visit Tallin, Estonia. Here are some pictures from his adventures. First, let's locate Estonia on a map:

Now on to some more pictures.

This plaque was a gift from the mayor of Vilnius, Lithuania. It commemorates both countries' involvement in the Baltic Way.

A scenic view of Tallinn

Larry ponders Boris Yeltsin's complex legacy in Estonia

Larry made a new friend,

found a fellow American,

found an unexpected tribute to home,

and sampled some delicious Estonian chocolate.

Some fun facts about Estonia:

1. Skype was created in Estonia

2. Estonian entrepreneurs have recently developed and sold a "facebook for engineers".

3. Every five years Tallinn hosts a centuries old, country-wide song and dance festival. (You can see videos of this festival  here, here, and here.)

Adventures in Klaipeda

Labas vakaras! Good evening! Larry and I have been super busy lately so we haven't been blogging. Here's a quick update on what Larry's been up to here in Klaipeda:

Watching the sun set over the Baltic Sea

Studying hard to learn Lithuanian!

Larry has learned some fun facts about Lithuania and Klaipeda.  

1.The Lithuanian language is at least 1,000 years old.            

2. Klaipeda is the main seaport city in Lithuania.

3. It is also the only Baltic port that does not ice over in the winter.

     

        Today, Larry attended an event on campus honoring the Independence Day of Ukraine. The official day is actually  August 24, but the school held its celebration day. While there, Larry tasted some delicious borscht and learned more about this awesome country. Here are some of his discoveries:

1. Ukraine is larger in size than France.

2. More people live in Ukraine than in Canada.

3. The tune for the Christmas song "Carol of the Bells' was taken from a traditional Ukrainian melody.

Larry chilling with the Independence Day sign

That's all for today. Tune in next time to see what happens when Larry leaves the country for a weekend!

Getting to Know Lithuania

Laba diena! (Good day!) Larry and I have been having a great time exploring and learning about Lithuania. Here's some of what we've been up to in the capital city of Vilnius and the city of Klaipeda, where our university is located.

Larry sampling traditional Lithuanian beet soup. It was really good!

Larry visits the presidential palace

We found some fun snacks in the grocery store. What could this be?

It's jam filled bear! Yummy!

We stopped to visit the castle of a famous Lithuanian duke and Larry got himself thrown in the stocks.

But the duke was merciful and released him to explore the rest of the castle.

Larry is loving his time in Lithuania. If you want to learn more about the places he has been, just follow the in text links. We'll be back soon with more adventures. Iki pasimatymo! (See you later!)

How it all started or why I decided to take a llama with me to Europe

     This past semester my roommate Lexi went on a spring break missions trip to Guatemala. She brought back two miniature stuffed llamas for me and our other roommate, Susie. Because the llamas were so little I began joking that I would take mine with me when I go to study in Lithuania this fall. It wouldn't take up much room in my suitcase and it could serve as a small piece of home and a reminder of two of my best friends. This eventually went from being a joke to a permanent idea. I would take the llama, now known as Larry, and have him help me record my adventures overseas. The plan is to take pictures of Larry at different European sites I visit. I decided to do a test run in April when I took part in a class trip retracing the Cherokee Trail of Tears. Larry went with me as we drove through five states, stopping at different historical sites along the way. Below are some pictures. I will probably structure my posts from Lithuania  very similarly to this one, giving a brief recap and then showing some pictures of the llama. I hope you enjoy this preview. Larry and I will return to blogging in August, when I leave for my semester abroad.

Larry visits Red Clay

Larry breaking all the rules

Larry enjoys a milkshake by the Tennessee River in Chattanooga