Friday after class (which btw was the worst thing ever simply because it was on. a. FRIDAY. (it was to make up for the Thursday we're missing this week when we go to St. Pete(!!!))) I went to Kolomenskoye, which used to be a retreat for all of the royals and is currently a park/museum thing (also, upon closer inspection of my bread, I thiiiink that it's also a bakery?? Idk. Limited grasp of Russian.). (I realized after looking up that info that I somehow missed visiting the most famous building in Kolomenskoye, the Church of the Ascension. Ah, well. The Church of the Beheading of St. John has a much cooler name anyway.)

the not-super-famous-but-still-pretty-cool church

I guess I did see the Church of the Ascension - that's it waaaaay off in the distance.

After seeing those churches, we climbed a giant hill (which conveniently had stairs) to find...another church!

The Church of the Beheading of St. John

#moresweatyselfies #chillinwithMoscow

Saturday was the ballet! My primary motivation for buying a ticket was dressing up fancy and taking glamour shots (I kid, I kid...kind of), but I did really enjoy the show. We saw Swan Lake - and I reallllly recommend reading a plot summary if you've never seen it before. Otherwise you might be a bit confused by the finer points. ("Is anyone actually a swan??")

fun tip, when asking a stranger to take your picture, make sure they have a fancier camera than you so a) they probably know how to take pictures and b) they won't have any interest in making off with yours

(Also, I'm going to tell you all my secret - I couldn't actually get a ticket to a show at the Bolshoi, so we went to another theater next door. It was about a fourth the price, and we still got our glamour shots.)

I'll be in St. Petersburg Wednesday through Sunday (OVERNIGHT TRAIN), so the blog next week will be a) late and b) excellent.

PS - For those keeping track, I have 18 days until I come home. ENCHILADAS AWAIT.