Saturday 15 November 2008

Odd Trip

Quote of the Day : "You don't look like you're going on a trip" - Turkish

We came, we saw, got tired and returned to Moscow.

Bykovo turned out pretty fun, I must say! It is located 34km, roughly an hour away from the city. We took a train from Kazansky Vokzal at 1030am. Our trip wasn't spontaneous, we had wanted to visit this region but it got postponed. I'm glad we finally made it today :)

We bought 2-way tickets! :)

In the train, headed south-east to Bykovo

The platform sign tells it all! ;)

There is an airport, aerospace factories but we went there to see the once famed, gothic-styled architecture named The Church of the Virgin of Vladimir which is tucked somewhere in the midst of a dacha (Russian=cottage) neighbourhood. Turkish and I walked a great deal to reach there. We took this tour with fools' courage, half knowing but more than half sniffing around for directions. But it was worth it!

Me sneaking up at someone's gate (Beware of dogs!)

One of the dacha I really liked, looks so cartoon-ish

Excellent view of the small roads

Very fancy gate, Turkish took this I think LOL

Turkish and I got damn excited to see the church's silhoutte at the far end. We were determined to get there. It is a modest Russian Orthodox church, if without its unique design. There were only 6 visitors in total, including the both of us. The church reminded me of a Disneyland castle for some odd reasons. We went inside.. not very glam interiors, no shiny-shiny sculptures nor altar, not even its ikonas. We couldn't linger too long because the caretakers were locking up for Lunch time. We left after sitting around its churchyard, enjoyed its beautiful view for a while.

We found it! The Church of the Virgin of Vladimir!

The sun peeked out at the right time when we got there

Front of the church, with me posing LOL

St.Nicholas and smoke effect from extinguished candles

More or less, in the spiritual hall..

Turkish and I *giggles*

I love this picture which I took! :) :) :)

Another which I took from a distance ;)

We proceeded to walk farther down to a nearby park, where the Vorontsov Family once lived and their mansion was built by the same architect, Vassili Bazhenov (who built the church). Nothing much to yell about its Neo-renaissance facade, porches and pillar upfront. In fact, it was a pretty big mistake that we even stepped into that territory. The estate serves as a sanatorium for TB patients now! LOL

My boyfriend navigating with the map

Baahhhh!! The sanatorium *gag*

Dried trees, all nude for winter's coming

We didn't stay for tea time nor dinner. As soon as we caught sight of buses which could take us back to Moscow, we quickly hopped on. There wasn't much traffic and we got to M.Vychino in 45minutes. I was exhausted. We vowed the next time we plan another trip to the outskirts, we ought to choose a more tourist-friendly spot!

Hitting the road to return to civilization! :)

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

eh.. the church looks like some mansion like tat.. quite nice! hehe.. it looks like u can dig around and find lotsa skeletons..

breaking from book*

ciao~ eh your comment box doesn't open to other kinds of identity ker.. only blogger and open ID.

Gorgeous Ol' Eve Loves Vanilla. You? said...

Hehehee you wanted to post anonymously issit.

Anonymous said...

no laa.. coz my site not hosted on blogspot anymore mar.. so i can't put my link properly like now.. hehehe.. but if i use the name/URL, den my photo wun come out.. haih.. wat to do, can't have both things at one time..

the pictures look nicer when i click them! bigger. hahaha.. clearer also.. how come can online so early one? intern no class ka? everyday do wat one?

Gorgeous Ol' Eve Loves Vanilla. You? said...

Wi-fi everywhere. Can always online when taking a break or a piss what LOL