Novgorod

St. George's Monastery in Novgorod

Millenium Monument and LEAVES!

This past Sunday three of my friends and I took advantage of the opportunity to go to Novgorod, a town outside of Petersburg. Novgorod technically means “new town,” but having been founded in 859 AD it is actually Russia’s oldest city. Just a three-hour bus ride away, it made for the perfect and much needed day trip.

St. George's Monastery 

As beautiful as Petersburg is, one cannot overlook the pure beauty of nature. After being in Petersburg for about five weeks surrounded by the smells of exhaust, cigarette smoke, trash, urine, dog poo, and body odor. I almost forgot what fresh air smells like. Yet as I walked off the bus and went out of my way to step on that crunchy looking leaf, it all came rushing back to me. In Petersburg I always feel like a fish out of water, gasping for air, but never satisfied. But in Novgorod my lungs felt INCREDIBLE. Every hour on the hour I couldn’t help exclaiming, “It smells like FALL!”  For those that live in the Northeast, you know that smell.

Museum of Wooden Architecture

Our first stop at Novgorod was a St. George’s Monastary located just outside the town and down the Volkhov River. The monastery was built in 1119…..a mere 650 years BEFORE the United States was even founded. Down the road is the Museum of Wooden Architecture, an open-air museum of peasant houses (or Russia’s Old Sturbridge Village as I like to call it). We treated ourselves to some Russian shish kabobs, bread, and honey beer (it rivals Harry Potter’s butterbeer). Our last stop was the Kremlin, built around the same time as the town’s founding, 860. This structure is incredible complete with Cathedral of St. Sophia and the beautiful Millennium Monument unveiled in 1862 commemorating Novgorod’s 1,000^th anniversary…making Novgorod 1,150 years old. America won’t be this old until 2910.

Volkov River

The Kremlin Square is beautiful located just on the river and the all trees are changing colors. Outside the Kremlin it is somewhat like a carnival, complete with popcorn, ice cream, cotton candy, and a strange petting zoo with snakes, a komodo dragon, and an anteater like animal. It gave me a small taste of what I am missing at Glastonbury’s yearly fall Apple Fest. We had an absolutely incredible day. The weather was perfect, the sites were beautiful, and it’s sometimes nice to get out of the Petersburg Bubble and enjoy some fresh air.

Friends Kristin and Stephanie in front of the Kremlin