Excursions

Fridays are a little different from the normal routine. Instead of two separate classes followed by work with individual tutors, we have one class for a total of three hours. The topic is the broad one of Russian culture, and we alternate between lectures and excursions.

Topics that we’ve covered include a brief history of the time of Peter the Great; an overview of traditional clothing; fairy tales; icons; and food. The excursions are organized, for the most part, to correspond with the lecture topics, with the aim of giving us some background on what we’re going to see.

Here are a few examples of the places we’ve visited:

The Menshikov Palace (lecture focus: Brief history of the time of Peter the Great)

Peter the Great Museum of Anthropology and Enthnography, Russian Academy of Sciences, Kunstkamera

The Russian Museum (lecture focus: Icons)

The Russian Museum of Ethnography (lecture focus: Traditional clothing)

Dostoevsky Museum

The above pictures are of our excursion to the Peter and Paul Fortress. Before entering the fortress, everyone stopped on the bridge to toss coins at the rabbit. I missed the explanation but I'm assuming he brings good luck or grants wishes.

The two buildings we visited inside the fortress were the prison and the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the final resting place of tsars from Peter I to Alexander III. The cathedral is undergoing renovation so our excursion was accompanied by drilling, hammering, and shouting, which I think upset our guide more than the group. In typical fashion, just as our excursion was finishing up, the crew went on their lunch break.

My favorite moment of the day was the opportunity we had to hear the men’s choir sing. This happened in a small room off the main chamber, barely large enough to hold our group of twenty-something and the quintet. The men sang two pieces -- perfectly in tune, perfectly together, even throwing in a bit of Russian bass, which I had previously never heard live. I was entranced. When I first studied in Moscow, I went to churches fairly regularly just to hear the singing. It was always live and it was always the old slavonic chant. However, in churches, the singers are never visible. This was the first time I’d seen a group of this calibre singing this kind of music. Honestly, I was fascinated watching them breathe.

These excursions will continue throughout the year, and we’ve been told that our organizers will take requests. I’m thinking I may ask about the possibility of going to the observatory.