July 24th: Back to Lermontov's Estate

It was great to sleep in! A driver named Anatoly picked us up at 11:00 and we were on our way to Mikhail Lermontov's estate. Lermontov is Russia's 2nd most famous poet behind Pushkin. Lermontov lived in the generation after Pushkin, early to mid-19th century. The road seemed smoother than I remember three years ago. But now we are riding in a Volga and not a cargo van. Anatoly, our driver for the day, was a smooth machina operator! Passing on Russian two-lane highways takes some finess. There are basically three lanes. One on the right, one on the left, and one gray area in the middle for passing. When you do pass, it is expected that oncoming traffic will give you enough room to pass. Lines on the highways are not as defined as they are in the US. The drive to Lermontov's took a little over an hour, still in Penza region.

We toured all the buildings except the private chapel, which was being renovated. We liesurely walked around the grounds and enjoyed the weather. It is a quiet place, good for writing poetry! We had a meal at the kitchen which provided us with a 19th century meal. AND, we had pie for dessert! Pie in Russia isn't like pie in America. The pie was mostly bread, circular in shape, but the inside was filled with.......CABBAGE! My sweet tooth wanted to scream! I was thinking sweet apple pie, maybe blueberry pie, or strawberry pie...but not cabbage!!

We arrived back in the city of Penza around 7:00 and went shopping at a new store reminiscent of Wal-Mart. It had an entire grocery store on one side and a warehouse side for non-edible goods on the other. It was a fairly new store and was in walking distance to their flat. Dinner was great again...red caviar!! Although I am not a fan, I learned how to eat it properly the Russian way....bread....butter....and a half inch thick smear of caviar!! K and S discussed a lot educational possibilities with our new videoconferencing scheme!