Stop #1: Semyonov and the Russian Countryside

This banner was fitting for my first stop on my search for the Russian Soul. It's
like they knew I was searching for it. 

Stop #1 on my search for the Russian soul was the town of Semyonov (Семенов) and the Russian countryside. Semyonov is known for its traditional handicrafts and matryoshka dolls.

The town is known for its matryoshka dolls. This one is rather large.

Even Russia has biker gangs.

We also went to the Dacha (Дача), a Russian house in the countryside which many families have and go to in the summer time to relax.

Katya's host family's dacha.

Us before everything went south.

I learned some lessons on this trip, the most important of which is that you should ALWAYS bring bug spray to the countryside. Always be prepared. I did discover however, that the bugs don't really bother the Russians - they are used to them and have their own ways to deal with them (like using small tree branches to swat them away). Ah well, there's always next time.

You don't know what it took to get us to stand still for this picture.
We were being eaten alive by камары (mosquitos, and flies)

My Russian papa is the cutest.

We survived, despite the bugs, hot and humid weather,
sunburns, no a/c on the train, etc. I even got flowers.