Now that look back on it, 2009 started as a sprint as I went through 3 FSUW relationships. The third of these was another wealthy Moscow lady (OK, parents had the money and she was just spoiled). Anyways, when I went to visit her, she took me on a short tour of the Golden Ring.

Sergiyev Posad Which is worth a stop because of the Trinty Larva which is one of the centers of the Russian Orthodox church. The city has fallen on hard times since the big military orientated factories closed and you do not need to get much off the beaten track to see this. Anyways, the monastery & Larva are worth a stop as it's a fairly easy drive north of Moscow.

Pereslavl-Zalessky would be the next stop on your drive north. A few old churches and boat museum (Peter the great had his little boat here) is all one has to see in this town known for getting flattened by the Mongols many years ago.

Rostov not to be confused with the bigger city sharing it's name on the Don. This is really a sleepy town on the shore of a big lake as we arrived after 6 PM and had a hard time finding a place still open to eat. Also, the town was down on it's luck as it was quite dead, but had a really nice Kremlin, very affordable hotels, and was nice for a walk along the lake down to a monastery (I'll need to check this last fact). Anyways, I would encourage someone to make the drive to see it as it's a nice break from Moscow.

Yaroslavl was the last stop on this trip and I'm happy I visited as it was probably my only chance to see the Volga. The city had a somewhat tourist feel along the embankment and a few sites to see in a walkable area. It was a bigger city with the drab Soviet style surrounding the historic core. I would not make this a destination city, but if you are spending the days to see the entire Golden Ring it's worth a stop.

The last part of the trip was spent in Moscow where I finally was able to get over and see Kuskovo which is one of the many estates of the Sheremetev clan. It's an old historic estate with a nice garden to spend an afternoon it.

It's nice to see you post yourself in this TR. For me it adds a better connection to the author. Of course I'm an avid magazine reader and heavy use of photos helps me get through all the words!

I'm curious, how did you find many of these out out of the way places? Did you seek them out before leaving, or did the girl/s inturp suggest these places?



I'd have to agree with you on that one as well, just don't tell Sparky, he's quite fond of that area.

It was a combination of the above as I usually invested in a good tour book before leaving and spent some time reading on Virtual Tourist about things to see. Some credit goes to Discover Ukraine when I visited that country as they put the trips together based on my specifications and I'll admit that I had a guide/terp with me both times as they were only charging $50/day plus expenses at the time (I was lucky as they usually stayed in cheap digs or sometimes just stayed with me if another bed was available. Also, a lot of props needs to go to the FSUW that I visited as they all went out of their way to show me a good time and many of them had their own cars so the were able to take me some out of the way locations. Overall, even if things fall apart with me and Natasha, I feel my experiences alone have been worth the time and expense invested.