Ура! Ура! The first of May!

The 1st of May dawned cold and gray. The promised dip in temperature during the month of May came true... and all too soon. It is once again chilly and, at times, even snowy. My morning was spent volunteering in the Hermitage. I was on entrance duty once again, but I'm hoping that I'll get to go to the archaeology department at least once before I leave. On my way to and from the museum, I got to see various parts of the May Day parade.

The "Коммунистическая партия Российской Федерации; КПРФ" (Kommunisticheskaya Partiya Rossiskoy Federatsii; KPRF). Russia's Communist Party marching during the parade.

OMOH and мили́ция (militsiya) closing up the parade. There were hundreds of them on Nevsky Prospekt; it made me feel better that even the police were cold this morning.

And the police and OMOH vehicles closing everything up. Buses were ready right behind to begin their regular schedules once more.

It's been a lovely and eventful weekend -- Saturday was a day trip to Novgorod with the entire AIFS group. Novgorod is one of the most historic cities in Russia, with lots of irony in its "new" name.

Novgorod Kremlin

Millennium of Russia monument.  Shaped like a bell, it has over a hundred figures portrayed in relief - artists, poets, historical figures, scientists, etc.

Cathedral of St. Sophia. Sophia literally means wisdom - here, Holy Wisdom.

The Church that one can walk around three times for a wish to come true. It's also next to an archaeological dig site... that might explain why my friend found a hunk of mandible with half of a tooth in it.

This was 10 minutes outside of Novgorod, and it is an open-air museum of wooden architecture. This is just one of many various wooden homes and churches. They are all quite small and cramped inside, but look spectacular from the outside.

I really loved our trip to Novgorod. Novgorod is a very small and clean city, quite beautiful on a sunny spring day. It's situated right on the Volkhov River, so there was a tiny beach with a children's playground for when the water gets warmer -- the water looked very clean and we had a refreshing breeze by the water.

Until next time, пока!