Our trip to Murom!

Events of July 11th:

Up at 7:00. Ran later than usual so there were more people and more cars. They don't stop for you when you want to keep your run going. They force you to run even faster - so you don't become road kill!

I had my last breakfast in Vladimir! SAD. But those strawberries are fantastic! I took the bus, as usual, to the American Home with my small bag of luggage. The big bag stayed in Vladimir until returning from Murom.

We had a class on things that were surprising to foreigners in Russia! This class could have gone on for a while. There are a great deal of surprising things here in Russia. Every day is full of surprising things!!

A press conference was held in the back yard and we discussed the role of the press in Russia today. A radio station and a TV station were represented. (We heard later that we made the news in Vladimir, although we never saw ourselves on TV). We ate lunch at the next door Traktir, filled out our evaluation forms. Downstairs, Alexei had organized a slide show of all of us as we trekked through Russia the last two weeks! Lots of pictures! We toasted with vodka and boarded the bus to Murom.

I met Irena Tolkachova and walked to her flat, a five minute walk. She and her older sister, Elena, served dinner with salads, bread, meat, potatoes, tea, cake. Elena played the piano extremely well - she had taught piano for 30 years!! Irena sang along on some songs. I hummed along a little, but most songs were not familiar. The TV is on all the time here. In two weeks in Vladimir, the TV was only on for 2 hours! I shared pictures of my family and trips around the US with map. I presented gifts, brochures, pens and was in bed by 11:00.