Tues. Aug. 20, d

The Church of the Spilled Blood was the first stop in the afternoon. It was built on the site of an assassination of a tsar. (They all run together after awhile, because they only seem to use 3 names and most of them die badly. This one had his legs blown off.)


In the style of orthodox churches there are icons everywhere. Everything else is crusted in gold. There are no seats and the services last up to 4 hours.


Outside, there was a bridal car AND


The bride. I know she wasn't in the church - I don't know if she was just wandering around for photo ops.


At every place we visited there were people in costume willing to pose with you for a tip.


Across the street from all of this action was a bazaar. My friend who booked the tour had told me that I could bargain here and pay in dollars. It worked. The vendors asked, "How you want pay? Rubles? Dollars? Euros?" Then they would name a price. I offered lower and we dickered. I probably could have done better, but the tour was going to leave.

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