Dmitrov

Today, Sveta, Sophia and I headed off for a very relaxing day in Dmitrov.  This is only about 50km from Aksakovo and one of the best parts was that there was no traffic!  We were here once before, on our very first trip with Sophia at New Years.  It is much different to see in both seasons but I think I prefer summer (I didn't start the blog until after that first trip so I really don't have access to old photos to post.)

 Our first stop once we arrive was for a walk in the park.  Along the way we came across some interesting statues.  These guys are part of a Russian Fairy Tale, similar to the three bears but it also  has a monkey somehow involved.

 The monkey was hanging from a couple of trees.  I really should have taken a picture from behind the monkey too as it had the largest monkey bum I have ever seen!

A flowering Moose.  I guessed it by it's antlers... 

 I am pretty sure I have a picture of me beside this statue of a teacher.  Sophia liked it so much she had to take pictures with it on both trips by.

 While we were walking along, we found a little bridge with a bunch of lily pads and water lilies.  Sophia was so excited about that as it meant there must be frogs nearby!  

 These are locks that are dangling from this bridge.  They are placed there by newly married couples on their wedding day to symbolize their love being 'locked together.'  This one was for Pavel and Ekaterina (yes I did actually read that).

 I am thinking this statue if for one of the first leaders of this city, possibly of Yuri Dolgoruky who founded the city in 1154.  I enjoyed size of it, especially with Sophia being able to fit right between his legs!

 This is Assumption Cathedral and it gorgeous with it's gold roof.  Not so sure what that crazy girl in pink is doing though, of course another interesting pose.

 We even were around to hear the bells toll when it reached three o'clock as we were sitting on a lovely restaurant patio having a fabulous lunch.

 One of the highlights of lunch was the way the bill was given to us, inside this hollowed out book.  I thought it was a very clever.

The other highlight of the restaurant, besides the great food of course, was the washroom.  Yes, I am writing that correctly.  Apparently as I child I had a 'thing' for checking out the washrooms in many different places.  I am not sure if that is really the case or if it is just the ridiculously small size of my bladder that made me check them out.  Either way this one was very nice.  The walls were textured concrete, made to look like the bark of a tree and the whole place gave a vibe of the outside coming in.  The highlight for Sophia, and maybe me too, was the red toilet and red sink!  That is one color I have never seen in that situation before...

Both before and after our lunch, we walked down the boardwalk to check out the two ladies selling Russian crafts.  They are usually way cheaper in small towns like this and on the street versus in a store.  We managed to find a couple of good things for some souvenirs and a bigger Matroshka doll for Sophia which she was delighted about.  After that, Sophia found all these little fountains.  Since there were a bunch of kids playing in them, she thought she would too. I tried to convince her to step on one of the sprays which she tried to. I love how she got so distracted by the pigeons.  Really the attention span the size of a fly!

The weather may look like it was chilly but the street sign said it was 30 C.  I think it may have been a little cooler than that but it was the perfect temperature and the rain held off until we were home.  Tomorrow we are going to hang around home and take it easy.  It is supposed to be cooler and rainy tomorrow although warming up for the weekend.