Uglich!

Wednesday already! Time accelerates in proportion to how much we look forward to an activity and then engage in it. Today we took off a day from volunteering to visit Uglich, one of many, many historical cities and towns all around Yaroslavl. It was a 2 hour drive in a 15 passenger van (again, very un-American . . . the insurance underwriter in me kept thinking of all that could go wrong on snowy roads with a full complement of occupants!). Uglich is, I take it, best known as the birthplace of The Time of Troubles. Something one wouldn't expect the local Chamber of Commerce to promote, but apparently it is quite the draw for many Russian tourists.

As I understand (and I will acknowledge that I may not understand this accurately), Ivan the Terrible's son Theodore succeeded his mad papa in 1584, but his brother-in-law Boris Godunov ran the show. There was one potential complication, as Ivan the Terrible's seventh (and last) wife had a son, Dmitry. They were banished to Uglich when Ivan left for the hereafter. And then, in May 1591, in Uglich, young Tsarevich Dmitry unfortunately had an epileptic fit during which a knife he was playing with slit his throat. Imagine!

A great hue and cry ensued, including a riot by the good people of Uglich, which resulted in quite a lot of them being beaten or otherwise compelled to death, with a good number more being exiled to Siberia, many sans tongues and ears apparently . . . along with the church bell, which had called all the good people to the town square when it was discovered that Dmitry had had his accident. The bell amazingly was granted a pardon a few hundred years later, and was returned from Siberia to Uglich, where it now resides in the small church near where the accident occurred. Our guide, Irina, showed us that the bell's tongue still speaks, as she rang the bell for our benefit. Kind of wild to think that the same sound called so many people to the scene of a tragedy (and an ensuing greater tragedy) over 400 years ago.

The church within which the bell resides, sits beside the Volga (interestingly and understandably many Russian towns were established beside rivers where streams or other rivers joined, creating essentially a peninsula, which made defense much more practical due to the ready-made moats surrounding the village. Some villages that didn't have the advantage of waterways, nevertheless achieved a similar insularity thanks to the taiga, the unimaginably dense Russian forest. These land-locked villages simply carved a single road through the forest, and left the impenetrable forest to guard the other approaches):

In addition to the bell, the church (like so many in Russia) is covered in frescoes on the interior, many of which include depictions of the Uglich riot and resulting mayhem, while others deal with the more typical religious themes and personalities:

Following lunch came the true highlight of the Uglich trek, a visit to the Museum of Vodka! And, of course, a sampling of the national beverage. We each got a shot glass filled with a delicious plum-infused vodka. I have to say that I understand better now why the drink is so popular. When we wandered back into the snowy cold, I felt markedly warmer throughout. Very medicinal and therapeutic!

After a stop at the local Whole Foods for tasty meat pies and other staples to sustain our crew on the 2 hour return drive, we headed out through the taiga once more.

Upon arrival in Yaroslavl, we stopped to secure my train tickets for the overnight train to St. Petersburg. That will be a whole new level of adventure, as I will be completely on my own. Must keep  practicing: "I don't understand" "Please" "Help Me!"