Novie Opit (new experience)

Yaroslavl: yar a slavl (n) 1: a grand adventure 2: a state of exhaustion reached after prolonged sleeplessness 3: an ancient and beautiful city in Russia

Our story begins Saturday morning at the Autovokzal (bus station). Despite losing my first ticket, I was able to buy another one and talk my way onto the bus with the help of the station manager. The trip took 5 hrs and included a stop in Ivanova - the most depressing city I've ever seen, whose main industries are fabrics and textiles. Yaroslavl is bigger than Vladimir, but smaller than Nizhny Novgorod.

We visited many churches, including "Elijah the Prophet" and another undergoing repairs where we befriended a woman working in the store, who has a daughter our age and gave us all small icons for our wallets. The Volga was beautiful, during the day and when we walked along it at night. To save money, we stayed up all night instead of getting a hotel. I have many stories from this trip, but for now, I just wanted to share pictures of the city.