May 6

Breakfast buffet at the Park Inn. Several of walked from the rear wing where we were staying to the front wing thinking that breakfast would be in the same dining room as dinner the night before.. As we were turning around my father and Mahin appeared, I said Good Morning and inquired of my father as to how he was feeling. . He then said he had to go back to his room because he had forgotten his wallet. Mahin just continued walking. I attempted to say good morning to her and she told me not to speak to her and made some other comments I won't repeat. Well, we met some of our group going back and realized that breakfast was in the same wing we were staying in. So we all turned around and walked back. For the first time, Mahin seemed oblivious to my father because she just charged off into the breakfast room. I waited at the elevator for him since he did not know where we really were eating and escorted him to the correct room. He still chose to eat with her.

Most of us had brought our luggage down before breakfast since we would be departing by bus right after the meal. It took a bit of time to get the luggage and the people loaded up, but then we were off for a several hour drive to Veliky Novgorod. The drive was uneventful through rural Russian countryside. We did pass a number of war memorials , decorated in anticipation of the May 9 Russian holiday. This is when we learned that some of these memorials were actually near graves as bodies continue to be unearthed, approximately 4000/year. Many people disappeared during the war and were accused of being deserters. In many cases, the bodies have been identified and honor has been restored to those once accused of being deserters who were in fact defending their country and died for it.

We checked into our hotel and had lunch there. We were going to be visiting a school after lunch and were told, only then, that it is customary to take candies to the children. There was a small store, sort of like a glorified 7-11, down the street that several of us visited . Amazingly half of the merchandise in this store was candy, not fancy candy, but candy bars, bags of candy, etc. We had no trouble finding candy, made our purchases and then back.

We took the bus to the Sergey Rachmaninov Novgorod Music School for Children. Rachamaninov was born near Novgorod. Times were hard in the 1870s and, when Rachmaninov was nine, the estate was sold, his parents separated, and he went with his mother and five siblings to live in St Petersburg. The school is named after him and is the children's music school for the city. Very few children from the school go on to become professional musicians. Several of the students performed for us playing violin, piano, clarinet, saxophone, and accordion respectively. After, we heard a presentation about Rachmaninov; The facility has a small museum paying tribute to Rachamaninov with pictures of his family and early life and his piano. Since 1993 every autumn and spring the Rachmaninoff's Memorial Days are held, including a program of concerts, exhibitions and master-classes. Two other related events are held twice in five years: the International Contest of Young Pianists for pupils of ordinary non-professional children's music schools and S.V. Rachmaninov International Festival. The latter traditionally presents eminent masters of musical arts, who have been recognized by the critics around the world as the living symbols of 'the best of everything in musical arts'..

After the concert, we were given the option of returning to the hotel by bus or walking back. I chose to walk. There is a historical area in a large park-like setting across the street from the music school. I wasn't sure if we would be coming back or have time to walk around, so I decided to do that and then walk back to the hotel. (We did return the next day, but no real time to wander around and see all that was there.) The first place I visited was a small crafts shop and after walking through I did not see anything to buy.

This area is known as Yaroslavovo Dvorishe (Yaroslav's Court). There is little left of what was once a magnificent palace and market place built by Yaroslav the wise in the early 11th Century. The white arcades next to the river overlooking the Kremlin represent the area where the market place once stood that surrounded the palace, which was destroyed centuries ago. Behind this there are various churches filled with yet more icons and pieces of frescoes. The courtyard and marketplace were connected by a bridge over the river to the Kremlin on the other side. Many churches were built in this area. This was the traditional way of rich merchants both to perform their Christian duty and fulfill their social obligations. Besides, the strong basement rooms of the churches served as safe storages for the goods and money. After wandering around the churches, what was the market place, and a war memorial that was being painted and decorated for the May 9 holiday,

I ended up on the walkway next to the Volkhov River and passed the end of the bridge that goes across to the Kremlin. There were some shops and buildings. I saw a Baskin-Robbins and thought I would go inside. It was a warm sunny day and ice cream sounded really good. I had not been in a Russian Baskin-Robbins. There were not 31 flavors, maybe only 12-15. I was able to read the labels and as many Russian words are based on English, especially with signs, I started to figure out the flavors. Imagine my delight when the first flavor I read was "French toast." I love French toast and have never had or seen French toast ice cream. I ordered myself a scoop in a cup and proceeded on with my walk, in my own sort of heaven.

I did not have the best map and the walk was further than I had guessed. The walkway went along the river and was a pretty walk with the river on one side and various buildings along the way. I arrived at the Alexander Nevsky monument. After I walked past it the concrete riverside walkway ended and turned inland into what looked like a swamp. The path turned into a a rather flimsy looking wooden bridge floating on top of the muddy water and saw a woman coming from the opposite direction pushing a baby in a pram making her way across the structure - quite amazing. I was not quite sure where the path went if I crossed over the bridge, so I turned inland and found myself in a residential area. At that point I really wasn't sure where to go. I approached two young women walking my way and in my best Russian asked them where the hotel was and showed them the map. They were accommodating and pointed in the direction I should go and then directed me up to the main street about two blocks away as the best way to go. I continued on my way and found that the street crossed over sort of a river and an embankment that looked like the embankments I had seen in other towns that were built around the medieval cities. The street then passed next to a very large park with what appeared to be a stadium next to the river. There was a playground for children and lots of families and people in the park. I saw a war memorial in the park with large letters on it that in Russian stated it was a memorial to the soldiers lost in the war in Afghanistan. As I contined through the park, the area began to look a little familiar and I could see the hotel (the Park Inn by Radisson Velkily Novgorod) on the far side. The walk was probably close to two miles and I was glad topla be back.

Dinner that night was in a small restaurant in the basement of the hotel near the spa, the Austrian-style beer cellar Bierstube, which was a nice change of atmosphere. We were entertained during dinner by three women musicians playing classical music on string instruments which was quite delightful. The spa looked tempting, but I passed and back to the room to retire for the night.