We have a bit of a slow start to the day. We awake to heavy rain and strong winds, so we take our time getting out of bed. Shortly before 10 AM we make our way down to the dining room for breakfast. We end up spending about two hours hanging out over our tea and chatting to the other guests in the half full hotel. We have a very nice couple from Italy that we get to know quite well over the next two days and another two people traveling together. We share some of our experiences traveling through Russia and it is amazing how many common experiences we have. The most important element is how much work Russia has to do to become more welcoming to foreign visitors.
Shortly before noon we head back up to our room and decide to just hang out as it is still raining. Finally just after 1 PM the rain stops and the sun peeks through the clouds. It is time to carry on with our explorations around Suzdal. We grab our rain jackets and head out. We make our way back to the center of town and then turn south and head over to the Kremlin. Along the way we pass by many of the same churches that we saw in the warm glow of the setting sun yesterday evening. It is amazing how different they look in this mid-day light.
The Kremlin is situated on a bend in the river and is surrounded by a small, white-washed stone wall. The Kremlin contains a number of buildings, many of which have been turned into museums. But the highlight are the two churches. The first is the Cathedral of the Nativity with it's distinctive (very faded) blue, star-spangled domes. Unfortunately it is closed, so we cannot get in to view the 13th to 17th century frescoes that line the walls.
There is also the beautiful wooden St. Nicholas' Church, with it's intricate carvings and roof and steeple decorations. It is also closed, so we cannot check out the interior.
We then head over to see what the museums have to offer. It turns out they have the same pricing structure as the monastery - a separate fee for each different exhibit. In fact, one of the exhibits is just one room and they expect you to pay a few dollars to go in. We just peeked in the door. In the end, we pay to see one of the museums, and it seems to be one of the better choices. The exhibits are very extensive spread over many rooms of the former archbishop's palace.
We wander around the grounds for a while, checking out the restaurant for future dining options and then head back into town. It is lunch time, so we begin the search for a place to eat. We are lucky. One of the first places we go into, while it has no menu's in English, has friendly staff of which one speaks pretty good English. We sit right down and begin a dialogue to see what they have. While she cannot really describe how anything is cooked, we can get the general jest of what is in a dish and the general cooking method (i.e., fried, baked, etc). We have a very pleasant lunch and leave behind a generous tip. It is amazing how, when you are starved for good, efficient and friendly service, you really appreciate service like this.
After lunch we spend a few hours wandering around the town and doing some shopping. As we walk by the Trading Arcades we notice some elderly people selling food on one of the low walls. We think they must be selling some form of pastries or baked goods and go over for a closer examination and discover they that are really huge mushrooms. They are just really big. We pick up a few souvenirs at some of the stores and then head back to the hotel for a short rest before dinner.
After about an hour's rest, we head out again. We had arranged to meet up with our new Italian friends at a restaurant for dinner and as we were still early, we decided to go back to the same place we had lunch and have a beer and sit outside and just enjoy the view of the many churches, chapels and cathedrals surrounding us. The evening has turned out to be quite a nice one.
As we approach our dinner appointment, we begin to make our way to the Kremlin for dinner at the restaurant in the building on the grounds of the old fortress. It is a very nice dinner with very good food, drinks ad company. In the end, however, we have a bit of a problem when it comes to paying the bill. They have served us the most expensive wine when we had asked for one of the cheaper ones. Part of the complication here is that everything is served and priced by weight. When you get the menu it has three columns - the first for the item, the second for the weights of the various ingredients (and this is not joke - they will even list the weight of the garnish, mayonnaise or other sauce included) and the third for the price. So, you do not buy wine by the glass, you buy it by the weight or volume. So, one glass can be twice as expensive as expected if you are not careful. We were firm and only paid what we believed we should pay.
We then took a slow walk back through the town to the hotel. It was a pleasant evening with a very nice night sky as we walked back in the midst of all these historical buildings.