Why? It's the commingling of packing, sightseeing, souvenir shopping, traffic jams and cancelled flights!
We are all wound up and stressed-out.
We started with a group sharing and worship time, then hopped on the bus to Yuryev Monastery. This medieval compound contains one of the oldest churches in Russia. Along with 4 other churches but only 7 monks ...
We admired the Church of St George's relatively new frescos.
And then walked down to see the Volkhov River and Ilmen Lake.
Our last sightseeing stop was another wooden building preservation site. We wandered around in a drizzling rain, wondering what it would be like to live in a log house in December with a foot of snow on the ground.
Our lunch was across the street at a motel/restaurant with sympathetic decor to match the wooden structures.
Then it was back on the yellow bus once more, and a 4-hour slog north to St. Pete. We had rain, construction delays and traffic, but arrived intact.
Sadly, three of our group had cancelled flights, so our mighty tour leader Kent spent his whole dinner time on the phone with Lufthansa. The rest of us drove the wait staff crazy with our jumble of food and wine orders!
Within hours, the 18 of us on the official tour will be spreading out around the globe, laden down with memories, thoughts, photos and odd coins. And heavy icon books.
So this blog will continue for a few more days!
Thanks for reading and check in tomorrow for more.
