May 4, 2013

Today was a bit of a "lazy" day in Yaroslavl. We had the option to sleep in and/or have a late breakfast as we were not to meet until 10:30. I was up and down for breakfast at 8:30 and then spent a little time trying to catch up on the blog, work on pictures, etc. We met and walked a few blocks up the River. At the corner where we turned there was a cute set of wooden sculptures - a bear and a windmill - in someone's yard. After another few blocks we found ourselves at the Puppet Theater, cutea large building on its own square. Children and little carts pulled by donkeys were in the center of the square. We met the Assistant Director of the Theater who gave us an introduction. A woman from Moscow started the theater. During WWII, the theater company would visit the troops and those in the hospital to cheer them up. Over the years, the company has grown and now has 17 actors (all university educated) and 100 people who work there (making puppets, building sets, etc.) Another of the "actors" gave us a tour of the puppet museum which was delightful with beautiful and whimsical puppets of all sorts. The modernistic sculpture on the walls of the lobby was actually an abstraction of marionettes. We were able to see a short part of a rehearsal which was fun with a talking chicken, moving eggs, and a dog.

We then had some free time so I wandered a bit on the streets of Yaroslavl. As I am wearing Rieker shoes, I found a Rieker shoe store and decided to see what they had and how Russian shoe prices compared. They didn't have my shoes, but the shoes they did have were priced around $90-100. Back to the hotel for another bland and uninteresting lunch, a chicken cutlet and some potatoes. The afternoon was free time. One of the other women on the trip, Marilyn, and I went to the Clock and Music Museum that I had read about in Lonely Planet. It was just on the next block from the Governor's House we had been at the day before. The actual museum building is a small old house set among some larger buildings. On entry, the man at the desk spoke no English, but some French, and I was able to determine that he considered my a "pensione" and I was getting a senior citizen discount. We were directed to join one of the groups getting a guided tour. Of course, the tour was entirely in Russian, but it was fun try to figure it out. I could pick up about 3-4 words, disconnected. We started on the ground floor which was a small room. Under the staircase were several shelves filled with old irons. There were display cases filled with bells of all sorts. One room upstairs had a whole wall of hanging bells; the guide played several melodies. The main room was filled with Victorian amend art deco clocks, furniture, gramophones, and several other instruments which were decorated. It was quite delightful. There was a small pond outside with a fountain (an 18" boy peeing into the fountain and next to him a statue of little black sambo). Next door was a Russian restaurant recommended in Lonely Planet; there was an outdoor eating area with the remainder down a flight of stairs. The restaurant was filled with the aroma of freshly baked bread. I wanted to stop for tea, but Marilyn was not interested in doing so, so we left. We started walking back and came to the large central square and were fortunate enough to see a rehearsal for the upcoming May 9 celebration. The "director" was this lithesome man wearing red shoes shouting at everyone. At one point, we could tell it was the march cadence "Left, Left, Left, Right, Left." It was mostly people in military uniforms and some young people interspersed who had no uniforms. There was a sort of formation thing they did with umbrellas. I think we missed an act of children with blue banners because they were rolling them upas we approached. I would have to say they still have quite a bit of work to do before May 9.

We walked back to the center. I wanted to find the Jewish Synagogie which was, as it turned out a few blocks from the puppet theater. It was locked, had no signage, but had a fence around the premises with the iron in the pattern of menorahs and there were Star of David decorations in the windows.

Then back to the hotel for some free time, packing, a late 8 PM dinner, and a 9:30 departure for the train station. Marilyn and I were to be train cabin mates.