For our October break, we were told not to leave Russia since it would be challenging to get back and would have required another round of quarantine. So we decided to take an epic Frumkin family road trip around Moscow’s Golden Ring. We rented a car and drove through the countryside to visit a handful of small cities and towns, rich in history and loaded with onion domes. Many onion domes belonged to well-maintained beautiful churches in historical centers along our route. However, we could spy onion domes throughout our trip in rural locations. Many of these have fallen into disrepair, but were still a beautiful sight.

Along the way we enjoyed passing by the expanses of birch forests some still lush with golden leaves and some which had already dropped leaves in preparation for the inevitable- winter is coming. Google maps lead us astray a few times along some bumpy roads in the middle of nowhere. This water-logged horse was as surprised to see us as we were to see him.

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We spent our first night in Nizhny Novgorod but in the morning it was quite rainy, so we decided to get going on our drive and explore Nizhny on our way back. We made a quick rainy stop in Vladmir to check out three Unesco World Heritage sites, including the beautifully carved Cathedral of Saint Demetrius.

After the rainy day of driving, we were happy to arrive in the town of Suzdal where we stayed for two nights in a rental house just across the river from the Kremlin. Suzdal is a UNESCO World Heritage site and has a rich history that dates back over a thousand years.

Mr. Smart found some friends and had fun hiding in the tiger blanket on the couch by the banya (a.k.a sauna). For Mila, the most memorable aspect of the house, and possibly of the whole trip, was the aggressive cat duo (named Ribbon and Tiger by Mila) who kept trying to break into our home every time we opened the door.

Alden injured his toe the morning before we departed on our trip and was walking with a dramatic limp. This put a bit of a wrench in our plans to walk around all day and look at old buildings. Luckily we met a woman who had two horses and offered to give the kids a ride through the town.

Our home was just down the street from the wooden architecture museum which was a fun place to explore. It contains 18th century churches, houses, mills, and barns which were all lived and worked in before they were moved to this site in 1968.

The abundance of onion domes and interesting old architecture in Suzdal was notable. Being the off-season during a pandemic, it was a pretty sleepy town, but we enjoyed wandering around and checking it out.

En route to Yaroslavl, we stopped in Rostov Velikiy, a town founded in 862 on the banks of Lake Nero, a lake estimated to be around 500,000 years old which is supposedly home to a sea monster. We did not get a glimpse of the sea monster, but we did catch our first snowfall of the year as we explored the Kremlin. The snowfall, resulting puddles, and glowing sky were quite a sight. A more comical sight was the vending machine at the entrance. After badgering me to buy a crappy plastic toy encapsulated in more plastic from the machine targeting tourists with children, Mila was quite disappointed to discover that all the toys had been replaced by masks and gloves.

After our days relaxing in small towns, we made our way to the city of Yaroslavl, named after its founder, Yaroslavl the Wise. Legend has it that in 1010, after spotting the prime spot located at the confluence of the Volga and Kotorosl rivers, the young prince came ashore and ordered the locals to adopt Christianity. They were hostile and sent a ferocious bear to attack him. He had no fear and killed it with an axe. The locals left and he founded the city, building the fortress.

I was curious yet skeptical to visit the Museum of Music and Time, but it turned out to be one of the highlights of our time in Yaroslavl. The small museum offered an interesting tour of the collection of many clocks, 2,000 bells, 600+ irons, a variety of musical instruments, and a handful of religious icons. The museum’s founder was a hypnotist and sleight-of-hand magician who built his collection over years while traveling the world. His children have continued to add to the collection and oversee the museum. It was quite interesting and fun to hear the guide play the various instruments, operate the gramophones, and play songs on the wall of bells.

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We took a walk on the embankment and visited the park at the confluence of the rivers, the site of the infamous bear fight. Throughout the day, Mila was pretending to be a spy. Can you find her spying in one of the photos?

After two days exploring Yaroslavl we headed to Plyos, stopping for lunch in Kostroma. We didn’t spend much time there, but we did manage to witness a pigeon spectacle, see some cool statues, and pick up a few souvenirs from some vendors in the park.

Our next stop was Plyos, a tranquil town on the banks of the Volga made famous by landscape painter Isaak Levitan who spent three summers painting over 200 paintings inspired by the surrounding landscapes. It was rainy during our visit but we strolled the embankment, Simon scoring some smoked fish and Mila convincing him to also buy a cat magnet at one of the few open stalls. We visited the home and attached museum that shows some of Levitan’s paintings and those of his friends. We also climbed the hill for a nice view of the town and river to the site of an old wooden church.

When I told my parents that we were going to tour the Golden Ring, my mom told me I had to go to Palekh and take lots of pictures so she could go vicariously with us. Palekh was known as one of the centers of icon painting, but after the Bolshevik revolution, artists switched from painting icons to painting laquered boxes using motifs from Russian folktales. My family has collected these boxes for generations, so it was quite interesting to visit the local museum and learn more about the history and techniques. Unfortunately for my mom, photography was not allowed in the part of the museum that contained the boxes. Mila decided to carry on the family tradition and spent the rest of her birthday money on a beautiful box painted with images of Snegurochka, the snow maiden, feeding forest animals.

After Palekh, we spent a night in a fancy hotel in Nizhny Novgorod, where the kids were thrilled by the three queen sized beds and the free cake and cookies. We were exhausted and ready to get home so we didn’t get a chance to explore Nizhny as we had hoped. As we drove through the birch forests, I read a bit about birch trees and learned that hugging a birch tree is considered good luck in Russia. I had hoped to get a family glamour shot of us all hugging birch trees, but alas, it was raining and didn’t come to fruition.

This weekend, as Simon and I strolled the banks of Kaban lake back in Kazan, we came across a lone birch tree which had been spared when the walkway was constructed. So hopefully this hug brings us good luck as we navigate our remaining time in Russia. We have told our school that we will not return next year. Though we are not yet sure what our next steps will be, we hope to make the most of our time left in Russia.

P.S. Just got an email from the Russian police that Simon got 6 speeding tickets on our trip!!! Fortunately they were about $6.50 each but I guess he should listen to my backseat driving more carefully.