A weekend in Yerevan, Armenia

(Note: I have not yet worked out why the vertical photos are so big.  They are all set to the same size.  Medium is too small and this is the next size up.  Will try to find out why, or what I need to do.)

A couple of weeks ago I took my husband Solihin to Yerevan, the capital of Armenia, for his birthday.  It is somewhere we had always wanted to visit, and from Moscow there are short and inexpensive flights so it was a good time to do it.

We arrived on a Friday night and after checking into our hotel went to eat dinner in the gallery overlooking what is usually the dining room, but that night was a private tango evening, so we were entertained by watching the dancers while we ate our delicious Armenian meal.  It also gave us a sense of the younger crowd in Yerevan.

After breakfast we noticed a huge street market setting up opposite the hotel, and I remembered that was one of the reasons I had chosen to stay there…so we wandered all morning, perusing the peculiar assortment of old things, the lovely textiles and carpets, the souvenirs, Russian booksellers etc.  It was sunny, but still a little chilly.

Street market in Yerevan

I loved the juxtaposition of the wigs, t-shirts and jeans!

 

Vintage sewing machines

old handmade leather shoes

We then walked through the city which has many large Soviet style buildings.  It was part of the USSR and there is still a very strong remaining influence.  As Armenians are Christian they were much more accepted by the Russians than, for instance, the Central Asian countries which are Muslim, and there is still a lasting relationship. We walked up to the Matenadaran, which overlooks the city and is a library for all the ancient Armenian manuscripts. There is a statue of Mashtots, who created the beautiful Armenian alphabet in 405, with a pupil in front of the building.

 

Statue of the founder of the Armenian alphabet

See how beautiful their alphabet is…

Very Soviet painting in the library

View over Yerevan from the library

Book from 1323

Yerevan’s Blue Mosque

We also visited the Blue Mosque and walked slowly around the city, stopping off for a delicious lunch.  We are both fasting for Lent, so vegan, but in Armenia there are lots of yummy choices to be had, and many places have Lenten menus, like in Russia, which makes it easier.

On Sunday we woke to a view of Mount Ararat from our hotel window, which had not been visible the day before. We had booked a car and driver to take us to some of the sites outside the city. He was a trained lawyer but cannot work as a lawyer, just in the hotel part time, and driving tourists around the rest of the time. He plans to marry and go and live in Moscow for 10 years to make enough money to come back.  One of his sisters went to university to be a diplomat but works for a telephone company, and his other sister trained as a doctor but does something else.  He said the economy is terrible, the government is corrupt, and even if well educated, like his family, there is no work and it is hard to make enough money.  On the outskirts of the city the poverty was much more visible, with buildings falling apart, derelict and abandoned factories, huge rusting structures left from Soviet times, and badly potholed roads.

Mount Ararat from the city

Interestingly he also told us that 90% of cars run on compressed gas.  Petrol is very expensive as they have to import it (from Russia).  So he had his car retrofitted for about $600 and runs it very affordably with a tank in the back.

Outside Yerevan with Mount Ararat

View from the Garni temple

The Garni temple

First we drove up into the hills and through villages, with occasional stunning views of Mt Ararat floating on the horizon. We first went to the Garni Temple which was dedicated to the sun god Mitra and built in the 1st century. It is in the most stunning setting, high on a cliff with views down the river valley to the snow capped mountains beyond.  I could only imagine how it will look in a few weeks when the almond blossom and wild flowers are out.  We were just a little too early as the snow has only just melted.

The Geghard Monastery

Stalls outside the monastery selling yummy treats made of dried fruit and nuts

From there we went to the Geghard Monastery, which again was set in a deep narrow rocky canyon, and made out of the rock beginning in the 4th C. It is amazing how all these different little churches are hewn out of the rock.  The only light is natural coming from openings in the roof or sides.  It is really an extraordinary place and when we arrived there was a service in the main church with a small women’s choir singing, and light streaming in from the window, quite magical.  When they had finished what seemed a very simple service, the women all kissed each other before leaving.  In the cliffs around the church are cave cells where the monks lived.

Inside stone church at Geghard Monastery

Sunday service

Small opening in ceiling provides the only light in another cave church

Beautifully carved cross in stone colored with cochineal hundreds of years ago

Inside another naturally lit cave church

Colored beehives lined up at the monastery

Steps up to the monks cells, which are carved out of the rock

From there we had to drive back into the city to get to the other side of it. We went to “the Vatican of the Armenian Apolstolic church”, a huge church complex called Echmiadzin.  We both liked the simplicity of the Armenian churches, compared to the Russian, with very little decoration, mostly natural lighting and candles.  As it was a Sunday there were lots of families visiting, and groups of soldiers lighting candles.

Inside the Armenian ‘vatican’ church

We then drove to Khor Virap Monastery which is close to Mt Ararat and of which there are many iconic photos, but unfortunately the mountain was getting a little hazy by the time we got there.  Very close to the Turkish border, as Ararat is now in Turkey, again in a beautiful setting, we arrived as a group of Armenian teenagers were singing and dancing a traditional circle dance next to the parking lot.  We climbed up the hill to the lovely old complex of buildings looking out across the plain to Ararat, which is actually in Turkey now, so we were very close to the border, which is closed.  The only land access is through Georgia or Iran.

Khor Virap monastery against the backdrop of Mount Ararat

View across the plain from monastery

Intricate stone carving

We loved the Armenians we met.  All very friendly and hospitable, and reading about other parts of the country made me want to see more some time.

 

 

Four days in the Holy Land

Last month we were invited to join three Russian colleagues to go on a spontaneous trip to Jerusalem for four days. We of course said yes.  We had gone with a larger group of Russians last year for the Orthodox Christmas in early January, but some different guided trips, with a strong Orthodox focus were planned for this visit.  We began at the church of the Holy Sepulcher, where Jesus is said to be buried. This church is home to several different Christian religious groups.  While we were standing in line to enter the tomb of Jesus, there was a candlelight mass being sung by Franciscan monks.  Later as it was getting dark we hurried to the Russian church of Mary Magdalene in time for their evening service, accompanied by the singing of Orthodox nuns, again by candlelight.  We came out in the dark to the glow of the golden dome of the mosque on Temple Mount high above the old city.

View towards Jerusalem with the golden dome of Temple Mount and the old city wall visible. There is a huge amount of new building going on around the city.

Orthodox Jewish tourist group on Segways!

Yummy looking breads and pastries

Lighting candles in church of the Holy Sepulcher

I love these old stone floors polished by millions of feet over the years

The golden Dome of the Rock

The next day we left the city and went to Bethlehem, driving past the sea level marker and continuing on down.  I felt a sense of visceral shock and pain as we saw and then passed through the wall separating Israel from the Palestinian territories, which Bethlehem is part of.  Last year we arrived to a packed Manger Square at Christmas with lots of singing and dancing, this year it was much quieter, although there were still lines of people waiting to go down to the cave where Jesus was born. As we had a guide we were shown down another set of stairs. While we were there a group from Poland began to sing which was lovely, until they were moved on by the guard trying to keep the lines moving. In the Church of the Nativity is the only icon with a smiling Madonna.  There are also incredibly old beautiful mosaic floors hidden below the current stone floors which were only discovered quite recently.  Parts of them are visible when wooden doors laid in the floor are lifted to reveal them.

Part of the wall separating Israel from Palestinian territory

People lining up to go down into the cave at the Church of the Nativity

The smiling madonna

Old mosaic floors under the stone floor of the Church of the Nativity

I do love cloisters! The Catholic church next door to the Church of the Nativity

Lovely stained glass in a chapel of the Catholic church

We then went to Jericho (apparently the oldest continuously inhabited city) and took a cable car up to the church on the cliff built where Jesus is said to have spent his 40 days in the desert.  This was also in Palestinian territory, and later we were taken to a family restaurant in the middle of Jericho for lunch.  It was great to be where all the big families were eating together and we had a lovely meal of grilled chicken, salads, beans and humus. There was quite a process changing guides as we left Israel and entered Palestinian territory,  and in Jericho also the car and driver had to be Palestinian.  Our ‘Palestinian’ guide in Bethlehem was Russian, married to a Palestinian, and in Jericho we had her husband as the guide.  Driving through the desert outside Jerusalem there were a lot of Bedouin camps visible from the road, although their numbers are apparently diminishing. Coming back into Jerusalem it was the start of Shabbat and the streets were full of people making their way to the Western Wall.  We joined them and it was quite moving to see how many people came, and to sense the feeling of celebration, festivity and joy present.  A group of men were even dancing and singing.

More of the dividing wall

It says it all – note the ubiquitous Coca-Cola sign

A camel in Jericho

cable car going up to the monastery above Jericho, it was quite dramatic

Palestinian girls looking down from the monastery

View going down

Rather smart taxi rank outside shops in Jericho

The following day we set off early across the desert to the Jordan River, to the place where Jesus was baptized, which is also the border with Jordan.  Last year we had joined the others in doing the ceremonial plunging into the river in the pouring rain as it was about to flood!  This time the weather was perfect, blue sky and very warm, but we chose not to do it again but enjoyed accompanying our friends as they performed the ritual. Then it was off to the Sea of Galilee and a number of churches on the edge of the beautiful lake.

The Jordan River, with Jordan (the country) on the other side

Minefields – we drove through fenced minefields to get to the Jordan river

Pilgrims

Our Russian-Israeli guide with the local border guard who said they like working there as they get to meet people from all over the world and have their photos taken!

The beauty of the desert

The Sea of Galilee

Beautiful peacock

Solihin in front of mural in the church by Galilee

Important reminder!

Star of David from Roman times

Another beautiful old floor in a Catholic church at the Sea of Galilee

Lovely koi pond in courtyard of same church

From Galilee we went to Nazareth and joined an Arab Orthodox service, which turned out to be a funeral/memorial.  It felt very different as all the prayers and singing were in Arabic, and none of the women had their heads covered, which unsettled the Russians.  It felt quite a special experience to be there at a service in one of the oldest churches in the world.  That night our three Russian friends went to the late night Orthodox service at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, which started at 11pm and finished around 4am.

We were due to leave Jerusalem the next day, so four of us got up early to go up to the Temple Mount.  We had to line up for about 40 minutes to go through security and then passed the Western Wall again on our way up to the Temple Mount.  As we came through the gate and walked into the open square I was moved to tears.  For me, this is Jerusalem, the heart of the city, the heart of humanity’s relationship with God, no matter what religion. It was also incredibly beautiful.  The most lovely early morning, with clear blue sky and the huge old and worn stones of the square, areas of shade with cypress trees and groups of people sitting together in the shade studying the Koran.  All you can see from there is the Old City and the Mount of Olives across the valley.  Solihin (who is a Muslim) went to do his prayers in the Al Aksar mosque, (after being tested on whether he really knew the prayers and was really a Muslim!) while I and my companions walked around the outside admiring the views and the buildings.  As we came around the Dome of the Rock (the place where Abraham is said to have been about to sacrifice Isaac) Solihin rejoined us with an old man who said that as I was his wife we could go to the office and ask permission to enter the Dome of the Rock.  Again, Solihin had to demonstrate that he knew the opening verse of the Koran and we were quickly taken into the sacred place.  It was in the midst of restoration, so not much was visible, but we remembered it from our first visit 27 years ago.  We went down into the Cave of the Patriarchs under the main floor, where a young woman was praying alone.  On our previous visit we had both had a deep inner experience while in the cave.  For me, the feeling of being in the central core of Jerusalem was deeply profound this time and I was so grateful for the experience of being there again so many years later, and for sharing it with these particular Russian friends.

Jerusalem city walls in early morning

The Western wall in early morning, from the women’s side. On Shabbat it was completely full

the Dome of the Rock

A group of women studying together on Temple Mount

Part of the Temple Mount compound

A group of men reading together

View of the Russian church from Temple Mount

St Petersburg and Catherine the Great’s domain

Last month we took the train up to St Petersburg to meet with a group of friends from England who were in town for the opening of an exhibition of our old friend Charles’s photographs http://www.charlesmarch.com  at the Marble Palace of the Russian Museum.  This was special indeed, and also the first event to mark the year of British and Russian cultural exchange.

We all stayed together in a lovely hotel across the square from the enormous St Isaacs Cathedral.  Apparently Hitler stayed in this hotel and planned to meet his top people there one year from that day, after conquering Russia….., which obviously never happened.  For most of our companions it was their first trip to Russia, and in the winter too, so everything was a bit of a novelty.  We were all hosted at a traditional  Russian restaurant the first night, and the next day we walked through the snowy streets, under the big archway to see across the enormous expanse of Palace Square where the 1917 Revolution started, and the vast facade of the green and white Winter Palace, or Hermitage Museum as it is now called. Note: There are a lot of pictures in this blog, hard to even begin to convey some of what we saw, but hope it gives some sense of it all.

St Isaac’s Cathedral

Coming into Palace Square with Alexander’s column and the Winter Palace/Hermitage behind.

The Winter Palace was the residence of  the Russian monarchy from 1732-1917. Catherine the Great (1762-1796) called it the Hermitage to signify that it was her place of retreat and sanctuary.  It is now a museum to show some (only 15% at a time) of her unbelievably huge art collection.  For each day of her 34 year reign she collected an average of 300 pieces of art!  An example: we were told there are only 12 Leonardo Da Vinci paintings in the world, the Hermitage has two of them.  She apparently saved a lot of European nobility from financial ruin as she could afford to buy what they could not afford to keep, particularly during the time of the French Revolution.  The Palace is extraordinarily ornate with lots of gold leaf, but also many windows looking out at the square, the frozen river Neva, and the internal garden.

Inside the Hermitage

The Litta Madonna – Leonardo

There is a novel called The Madonnas of Leningrad, by Debra Dean, describing the life of the Hermitage and its docents during the terrible 1000 day siege of Leningrad by the Germans during the second world war.  In the book there is a very evocative passage where a docent walks through the galleries and describes in detail all the pieces of art, as if showing them to a group, even though they are buried away for protection and she is walking through empty rooms.

One of the very ornate galleries

Loved this, but did not make a note of the artist

The Lute Player – by Caravaggio – Apparently once there was a concert where they played the music on the score in the painting and had the same fruit to create the smell of the scene in the painting….

A group of schoolchildren crossing Palace Square, from the window of the Hermitage

The Dance – Matisse
I love the movement and scale of this – huge

Beautiful jug – Picasso

another of Picasso’s jugs – I love art that you can use!

Another wing of the Hermitage

chandeliers at the Hermitage

The opening of the exhibition began with a typically Russian series of speeches, which the English contingent remarked on. It made us realize how used we have become to this culture of lots of speeches over our five years here!  There was a huge turnout and the exhibition was wonderful.  It was the first time I had seen the photographs displayed at a show and I loved them.  That evening we were all treated to a delicious Italian meal overlooking the golden dome of St Isaacs.

One of Charles March’s tree photographs from ‘Nature Translated’

The next day we were taken out to Tsarskoe Selo (the Tsar’s village) to visit the Summer Palaces outside the city.  It was the most exquisitely beautiful winter day; -21C clear and sunny, everything white and sparkling, just beautiful!  We were shown the palaces and then had a troika ride through the lovely grounds.  Something I have always dreamed of doing…horses with bells on pulling us through the snow.

Alexander Palace at Tsarskoe Selo

View through icy window

Another window view

Troika horses

Us on our troika ride – with heavy blankets over our knees – it was chilly, but wonderful!

Our friends’ troika

Crystallized snowflake branches

Catherine Palace at Tsarskoe Selo

Incredible ballroom and concert hall

Tiled heating stove

what can I say?

Part of The Amber Room

Tapestry

Hello Helsinki

On our way back from Lapland we had a couple of nights in Helsinki.  As we live (relatively) close, this is somewhere we had wanted to visit for some time, but were never able to, but the idea of Helsinki in the crisp, snowy winter was very appealing.  However, when we landed the temperatures were +6C and there was no snow at all. This is very unusual, and even the locals were saying how hard the winter is with no snow to reflect the light and brighten up the darkness of the very short days and the old stone buildings.

We stayed in a lovely old Art Nouveau hotel in the center so that we could walk everywhere, and set off the next day in the drizzle to explore.  We walked down to the port, visited the very gloomy Orthodox church and the very light and rather austere Lutheran cathedral.

Everywhere we were aware of design, from the old and new buildings, the shop windows, the displays, it was all a treat to see!  I went into one shop selling handmade items from various materials and was very tempted by a pack of several colors of wool to make patterned mittens.  That was until I saw the instructions were in Finnish, and as it has been so long since I have knitted, I decided to leave it!

We eventually stopped to rest our weary legs and had a lunch of wonderful salmon and potato soup with a chunk of lovely dark bread, and a glass of wine. Perfect. In the evening we ate in a restaurant that mentioned a group of creative people who had formed an artists community on a lake outside Helsinki in the early 20th century, and we then discovered that there was a special exhibition at the museum of their work.  So the next morning we set off to see it before we had to leave for the airport. We ended up at the wrong museum, the Museum of Finland, instead of the art museum, but we both chose a different area to go and see quickly while we were there before heading over to the right museum.  The show was lovely and well worth the visit.

We liked the city very much and wished we had enough time to venture outside the city.  It is handsome, with very solid stone buildings, but also many painted in rich and strong colors.  Everyone we met was very friendly and most seem to speak English very well, which made it all very easy to be there.  We look forward to returning at another time of year, and exploring further.

Our lovely stone Art Nouveau hotel

lovely shop window

cheese stall in the open market

Candles and icon in the Orthodox church

A marzipan nativity scene in a cake shop window

A man playing tunes on his bottles

A ‘grandmother?’ clock in the folk museum

Lovely Lapland

For Christmas we took a trip to Swedish Lapland, just over the border from Finland, in Junosuando, a village of 400 people.  We were staying at the in an old wooden rectory  (www.auroraretreat.com) run by a co-operative of three lovely ladies, who made us feel as if we were personal guests in their home. We arrived late at night, after flying to Helsinki, and then another flight to Kittila in the far north of Finland, before a two hour bus ride to the guesthouse.  It was snowing and on the way the bus had to stop as a reindeer was in the middle of the road frozen in the headlights!

The first morning we went out for a walk and to explore.  The temps were -18C, which we are used to, so after dressing up warmly we set off.  So beautiful, everything covered in snow, crisp and crunchy.  The wooden houses are all painted dark red, yellow, green or white.  Every house has the triangular lights which look like candles, or a lit paper star in many of their windows.  We learned that in December and January they never see the sun, but there is light, from about 10am to 3pm, with long extended twilight periods!

This is the moon at 10am, not the sun!

Our guesthouse was very warm and cosy, with woven rugs, lots of wood, candles burning all the time, little stuffed elves and gnomes around which are still very much part of the culture.  The food was fresh and delicious and we had moose, reindeer, salmon at several meals. We enjoyed the other guests, a family from England with 3 young boys, an Australian couple who work in Pakistan, a German couple and a Belgian couple, and did some of our activities with them.

The second day was to be our overnight in the wilderness!  After driving for 30 kilometers and with Henry, our guide, who was towing a sledge with our food, we started cross country skiing the six kilometers into the cabin at dusk, or 3pm. It was so peaceful and quiet. As there was no moon we needed to use headlamps to see for most of the trip.  Solihin had problems due to a damaged ankle and fell several times, and ended up walking the last little bit.

The wood stove was lit in the cabin and the big stove in the sauna, another wooden building down by the river, which was partially frozen.  Solihin and Henry went down across the ice to drill a hole to get water for cooking and the sauna. There is no electricity so the cabin was lit with candles, and we ate the second half of a delicious lentil soup we had started on the journey. The compost toilet was in the trees up behind the cabin, and you had to really want to go, as it involved putting on so many clothes and boots and then tromping up the hill through the snow to get there, before peeling half of it off to sit down!

We had a wonderful and very hot sauna, coming out into the snow to cool off.  I knew we should be rolling in it, but my arms went numb as I lowered myself and I was not brave enough!  I did rub snow on my body though and it was extremely refreshing!

At night we were so hot with the wood stove that I opened the door for a while, and we were actually relieved when the fire went out and our feather duvet kept us warm and cosy. We went snowshoeing in the morning. So peaceful, quiet and beautiful. Then I made a reindeer stew for lunch with the food we had been left. Henry returned to pick us up with a snowmobile and sled as Solihin could not manage the ski back.  I was rather disappointed not to be skiing, but the journey which had taken about 3 hours on skis, took only 15 minutes! On the way we were very happy to see a herd of reindeer in the forest.

It was Christmas Eve and Sven, the man who picked us up, told us of the tradition they have kept for 20 years in the village.  They freeze 350 buckets of water, but leave the center unfrozen and place a 32 hour candle in it.  They then line the streets of Junosuando with these ice candles and arrange to switch off the street lighting.  So, as we drove back into the village it was SO beautiful to see these candles, peoples windows and trees lit and every house with candles leading to the door and they lasted all through Christmas! On the drive back we saw a hare and a fox, separately, crossing the road.

We had a special dinner on Christmas Eve, beginning with mulled wine or glogg in pretty, old porcelain cups, with almonds.  Several of the people from the village came in to eat that night too.  Apparently in the afternoon one of the ladies had come as Santa Claus to bring gifts to the children!

We celebrated Christmas Day by going on a husky sledding trip.  It was wonderful!  There were four couples and each pair had six dogs.  As they were being harnessed and prepared there was non stop barking and howling from the dogs who were dying to get moving.  When we finally left they became quite silent as we took off across a frozen lake, and  I was quite overcome by the feeling of it all. We began with me seated on the reindeer skin, and Solihin driving, but both had a chance to mush and be passenger.  The landscape, and moving silently across it was incredible.  Whenever we stopped the dogs all started howling again….After 3 hours or so we stopped at a little cabin and sat round a fire on reindeer skins eating delicious reindeer stew and ginger biscuits.  We returned as the sun set across the frozen lake.  It was a wonderful way to spend Christmas day.

Our team taking a well-earned rest. See reindeer skin on the seat.

Later, as we were resting at the guesthouse, there was a call out to say that the Northern Lights were visible.  We all ran downstairs and got dressed, hurrying across the road to the middle of the frozen river.  What we see in photographs is not what we necessarily see with the human eye. We could see movement, some color and shifting light, but it was only when one of us took a digital picture at a very slow speed that you could see the full magnificence of these lights.  It was very exciting and the only time we saw them on this trip.

The Northern Lights

That evening we went to visit a Sami (indigenous Laplander) reindeer herder.  He showed us his herd, then lit a fire in the snow, spread out the reindeer skins for us to sit on, and told us stories while he cooked us a reindeer stew over the fire.  It was a really lovely evening and the end to a wonderful day.  The reindeer skins are very beautiful and incredibly insulating and warm, so it is easy to see why they use them for everything.

We were intrigued to see the famed Icehotel and had a chance to get a lift with someone.  It was incredible.  They build it every year from ice from the local river, and in May it all melts back into the river.  You can pay a lot to stay the night in a room which is constantly -5C (23F), and have to vacate it in the morning so people can come and look around.  It is really like an exhibition that people get to sleep in at night.  There are regular rooms, and then the luxury ones which have each been designed by a different artist with a different theme, and ALL made out of ice.  There is even a beautiful and simple little Ice church next door to the hotel, which had a rather solemn consecration ceremony while we were there, that was to be followed by a christening.  Apparently they used to have a rule that if someone was christened there the name must contain the word ice!  Like Alice…… The pews were made of ice, covered in reindeer skins.

The entrance to the Icehotel

A close-up of the entrance doors made of reindeer skin and antlers

A regular room, with bed covered with reindeer skin.

Hallway with ice chandelier, pillars and unicorn statue

Luxury room – Narcissus, and about a meter high

On our icy thrones in the Ice Bar

The consecration ceremony for the Icechurch

We loved the peace, quiet and the beauty of the winter landscape of Lapland, and the warmth, friendliness and generosity of the people.

Meet us in the Black Hills – Part 3 – The wedding

Finally, it was early evening, and time for the wedding itself!

The ceremonial site prepared
photo – Megan McIsaac

Handmade sign directing people to the wedding

When we arrived there were so many people there, all looking gorgeous.  We all waited in the shade of the circular arbor, as the drumming started and Sofiah danced in the circle, while all Matt’s men smudged the guests with burning sage. On a small hill outside we could see Solihin standing with Rebecca, whose veil was blowing out horizontally in the strong breeze.  He then did the Muslim call to prayer, and then they both came down the hill towards us, where Matt met them.

Sofiah dancing in preparation for the ceremony

Father of the bride leading her to her husband-to-be
Photo – Megan McIsaac

Beautiful bride
Photo – Bella Week

Like everything in this wedding, they planned all the details themselves. So, as they kneeled facing each other on their buffalo hide, Bob, Matt’s father read a poem on love, then Susan, his mother, sang a song she had written for them. I read what I had written on marriage. They spoke their vows to each other and exchanged the rings (which had been brought to them by nephews Liam and Finn) and then Jennifer, who is a celebrant, pronounced them husband and wife!  They walked out of the circle together to great cheering and ululating and then ran up the hill, where Matt picked her up and they disappeared over the top!  Rebecca had always dreamed of running down a hill to her wedding, and at least she got to run up a hill afterwards with her husband!

Amelia Barlow gives the water blessing
photo – Bella Week

Me speaking of marriage
photo – Megan McIsaac

photo – Bella Week

Married! with Jennifer, Lachlan and Vilislava looking on
Photo – Nicola Dale

Wedding guests
photo – Bella Week

More guests
photo – Megan McIsaac

And some more
Photo – Megan McIsaac

photo – Megan McIsaac

We then moved to the reception area, about a mile away, where the one long table for 150 people was set out in a horseshoe shape, with candles and little lights illuminating it; magical.  The champagne flowed, the food (prepared by a family friend) was delicious, there was dancing until 5am and such a feeling of joy and celebration.  The gift for the guests was a special hot sauce that Matt created, called Mustang, with labels that Miriam had hand printed with a horse.  This typified the wedding, from start to finish it was handmade, from the invitations that Rebecca made for everyone, to this hot sauce, every detail of the wedding was chosen and prepared by Matt and Rebecca and so was such a reflection of the special and unique couple that they are.

View of the reception area from the bluff above
photo – Peter Gibbs

Champagne time!

Niece Bella with the bunting my sister and mother made for the wedding, that was delivered by my brother Edward!
Photo – Peter Gibbs

All the specially made “Mustang” hot sauce
photo – Megan McIsaac

Miriam and Sarah, some of the sisters of bride and groom, and the hosts of the reception
photo – Megan McIsaac

Miriam making her epic speech!

Listening to Miriam’s speech

Toasting the newly-weds

Rebecca with her big sister Sofiah
photo – Peter Gibbs

The beautiful table in a beautiful setting

The gorgeous Mr and Mrs Burns

Meet us in the Black Hills – Part 2 – Final preparations

The day before the wedding a convoy of cars set off for the Wild Horse Sanctuary http://www.wildmustangs.com and the sacred site of the Lakota Sundance, where Matt and Rebecca had been given rare permission to have their marriage ceremony.  It was a hot afternoon, and driving through this beautiful land, with the herds of horses grazing, the Cheyenne River winding its way through the ravines, and then the Sundance site with its colorful Tree of Life in the center of the circular arbor, I was deeply moved by the beauty of the place, and what a privilege it was to be able to have the wedding there.

Our our way to the wedding rehearsal

one view from wedding site

Another view – the Cheyenne river

Wild horses in the sanctuary

Tipis at the ceremony site

Ceremonial Tree of Life

Buffalo skulls from Sundance the week before

Matt and Rebecca describing the order of events

Matt transforming for the rehearsal!

Sofiah and Amelia awaiting instructions

Planning in the shade

Cheyenne River next to reception site

Wild horses in the river by the reception site

sharing a glass of champagne after the rehearsal.

That night the Burns family hosted a barbecue at our house. There must have been 80 people. Despite the late arrival of the meat, (bison, of course, which was still in Matt’s car) and us forgetting to buy forks, a good time was had by all! It was a pleasure to meet and bring together our extended families and friends.

The morning of the wedding we held a foot-washing ceremony for Rebecca in the garden.  All the women in our house prepared a lovely summer brunch, which we took out onto the grass and sat on rugs around Rebecca. This is a tradition we have done for many weddings, as a preparation – to symbolically wash away the old that is no longer needed, and oil the bride’s feet to prepare them to walk into her new life.  I had collected wildflowers and sage to put in the water, and Bec chose henna oil, which opens the feminine aspect. Very appropriate! While we were massaging her feet, different women spoke to Bec of their wishes for her.  When we finished, she was taken into a shady spot under a tree and three of her friends gave her a full massage and manicure and sprinkled her with rose petals from the garden as she rested.

Our lovely breakfast

Our sacred oils and locally gathered sage with an antler I found on a beautiful morning walk, that later was included in Bec’s bouquet.

Bride’s footbath. (Actually the inside of a crockpot, the only vessel big enough in the house!)

 mama and little sister massaging Bec’s feet

Tender loving care

Part 3 – The wedding, to follow soon

Meet us in the Black Hills – part 1

In late June we left Moscow for the Black Hills of South Dakota, USA, and the wedding of our second daughter Rebecca to the lovely Matthew Burns. Leaving early in the morning, we had the longest, but probably the most trouble free flight, to the wedding, as many others had long delays. We left Moscow and landed in Paris, walked to our next flight, got on, landed in Minneapolis, walked to our next flight and arrived in Rapid City, SD at 3 in the afternoon, the equivalent of our midnight, after 19 hours of traveling. We rented a car and set off for Hot Springs, the closest town to our destination.  On the open road, driving through the grasslands, and seeing the Black Hills in the distance I felt so happy to be back in the States and to reconnect to the land.  The house we had rented months before was sold two weeks before the wedding, which induced momentary panic in our bride, as she knew the scarcity of any other possibilities in the area.  However, we were blessed by the Forest Service, who had just purchased a farm house, done it up and only that week released it for rent, so we were the first people to have the pleasure of staying there!  It was all on its own, on top of a hill with views out across wild meadows to a lake, heaven to us!  Large wraparound porch and plenty of room for my brother-in-law and his partner, my sister-in-law and niece, my eldest daughter’s mother-in-law and us, plus son and girlfriend, and eldest daughter and husband camping in the garden, and various friends spending a couple of nights in the log bunkhouse.

We woke at sunrise the first morning and went outside to take pictures, then Solihin suggested going for a hike up the mountain.  I was astounded.  This was the first time in our almost 40 years together that he was the one to initiate a hike!  So despite my thoughts of our warm bed and a little more sleep, we set off.  We followed an old track up the hill behind the house, and it was beautiful.  Wild flowers everywhere, views down in the next valley with buffalo grazing.  We saw a baby rattlesnake, and walking back we heard a snort in the trees by the path and saw a baby deer drop to the ground like a stone in response to its mother’s warning.  We were very close, but it lay flat and motionless and we walked on, leaving them in peace.  Each morning I would wake at sunrise, and then feel the pull to go outside, and either work on my writing for the ceremony, or go for a hike, always wearing boots in case of snakes!

Sunrise

Wild echinacea – it was everywhere

the next valley over

Wild yucca and sunflowers

beautiful rock

Baby rattlesnake

Baby deer hiding in the grass

We spent the first days visiting Custer State Park, and Wind Caves National Park and seeing the herds of buffalo, or bison (its official name), deer, antelope and prairie dogs.  Each day different people arrived, to our house, or one of the others rented in the vicinity.  We had glorious hot afternoons spent swimming in Cascade Falls, a river nearby and impromptu bouts of enthusiastic singing, barbecues, and planning sessions for the wedding.  Speaking of barbecues, Matt and Rebecca had decided that they wanted to feed the wedding party with a local bison, so in February Rebecca went out to hunt the bison for their wedding with a local hunter.  Matt and Rebecca named him Freedom, and were married on his hide, with the skull, and we all ate the meat every night, and for the wedding there was delicious bison tagine.  Freedom was gratefully celebrated throughout the week, and I think Rebecca must be one of the first brides to go buffalo hunting for her wedding!

View from the house

Native grasslands of Wind Caves National Park

Antelope

the road less traveled

Buffalo – a wondrous sight to behold

One of the activities during that week was the search for vintage cowboy boots and hats, with everyone taking a trek out to Buffalo Gap and the Trading Post, or to Wanda’s Finds in Hot Springs! Solihin managed to find a pair of beautiful boots for only $20, which he wore for the wedding and has since even worn in Moscow! Two days before the wedding there was a horse-riding trip planned.  Unfortunately, although it was one of my dreams to do a ride like that, I could not go, but Solihin and about 20 others went and had an amazing time, starting off at the Pine Ridge reservation and visiting Wounded Knee.

The Trading Post in Buffalo Gap

City Hall, Buffalo Gap

Main Street, Buffalo Gap

The church in Buffalo Gap

I have often wondered about the idea of “destination weddings,” but having the opportunity to experience this beautiful area that Matt and Rebecca have such a deep connection to and wanted to share with all of us, and having the time to be with all these lovely people, made me realize what a gift it was.  Many people said this was not somewhere they would ever have come, but they were so glad they had. We had actually  visited before, in 1991, our first summer living in the States, when we had workshops in Colorado and North Carolina, and so decided to drive from Oregon and get to know the country we had just moved to months before.  We drove back through South Dakota, visited Mount Rushmore and Crazy Horse (which by the way has not progressed in 22 years, we hear) and I realized that when we did that amazing trip, with four children and camping all the way, I was the same age as Sofiah, our eldest daughter!

Mount Rushmore 1991 – Me with Miriam, who was just two years old!

Same trip – Solihin with kids in Blue Ridge Mountains

 

Midweek we had a women’s circle for Rebecca at a lovely log house, sitting round a fire outside, after getting a preview of her gorgeous 1930’s vintage lace wedding dress.  As we went around the circle, with each woman speaking so movingly and personally to Rebecca, someone noticed what looked like a comet in the star-studded sky, and we all turned to look and saw it seemingly hanging in the sky for several seconds. We heard later, that the men, who were having a men’s circle up at the horse sanctuary, also all saw it!

Rebecca – beautiful bride to be – at her women’s circle

Susan Burns – mother of the groom

Fiona, Mabel and Xavier, nephew and nieces of Matt and Rebecca

My three gorgeous girls – Rebecca, Miriam and Sofiah

Precious sister moment

Revealing the wedding dress, slip and veil

lovely ladies round the campfire

Part 2 will follow soon……..

Visa dramas

Recently we have come face to face with the bureaucracy that exists here surrounding the matter of visas.

A couple of months ago a dear friend was visiting Moscow for a conference and came to stay with us.  She was due to fly out early on Monday morning when she discovered, to her dismay that her passport was missing, and must have been stolen as she traveled around the city.  She let the airline know she would not make the flight and we dropped her at the Australian consulate on our way to work.  By lunchtime she was already in possession of a replacement passport, but as they handed it to her they said that now she had to get an exit visa, and they couldn’t help her with that. She needed an exit visa despite the fact that she had a photocopy of her original visa, with dates of departure etc. 

And so began five days of visits to police stations, migration department etc.,  filling in forms, getting photos, dropping things off and coming back days later to pick them up, not knowing how long it would take…. We had left for our vacation on Tuesday, and were so grateful that we were able to call on people from work to help her and they provided a team of driver, interpreter, and a guy to organize it all, who came to pick her up, took her where she needed to go, conducted the meetings, helped her get what she needed, and commiserated with her!  She admitted that she had started to wonder if she would ever be allowed to leave the country, and wondered how we manage to live with this….she also commented that she could not possibly imagine handling it all without the help she had.  What do people do if they are traveling alone and know no one?  No officials speak any English, none of the information you need about where to go or what to do is in English….it would indeed be even more challenging. She finally left on Saturday, six days late.

Then recently we had another taste of this.  All our kids have been invited by our boss to come to Moscow in December so they can really get a feel for the work we are doing here, and participate in a conference and workshop, followed by the corporate ‘new year'(Christmas, to us) party. The company has been organizing all the visas, although I had the ‘pleasure’ of filling out the seven application forms.  All the forms were sent to a specialist visa company, then to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue the official invitations.  Finally the invitations were ready and express mailed to them all.  Four were going to one address in NYC, but only three arrived, the fourth got ‘held up by hurricane Sandy,’ and then officially ‘lost.’ By now there was no time to wait for another invitation as it cannot just be replaced with a new one, but the whole process of application to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs would have to be redone, so an expedited tourist visa was applied for at a cost of $500.  

One invitation went to Canada, which arrived, but when the application was expressed to the consulate in Seattle it was returned unopened.  Daughter M then drove three hours down to Seattle with application, was told she needed cover letters from inviting company, obtained cover letters and reapplied, paying $600 to expedite the visa as time was running out.    

Two invitations went to Costa Rica, which were held in San Jose, as they don’t deliver to outlying areas. Daughter S and husband drive three hours to San Jose to be told that the package was on a bus to San Isidro, another town!  A message was sent to the bus driver and they waited for it to return before the Russian consulate closed.  At the consulate in San Jose their papers were taken off to be examined while they were told to wait, in a room showing old war films.  Think how different the impression would be for visitors if they showed beautiful scenes of Russia!  They said that no one smiled, and finally they approved B’s visa, but not S’s!  It was her UK passport and they said that Russia and UK do not have reciprocity (which is not true) and that she would have to go to UK to get the visa!  Our people here tried to contact the visa people, the ministry of foreign affairs etc. and everyone said she should be able to get it but consulates can pretty much do what they want!  I was SO frustrated, and felt so impotent to fix it.  Eventually, after much back and forth, they decided to express it to the Russia consulate in England, again at vast expense, and finally the visa was delivered into her possession this week.

They all arrive next Sunday, and by tomorrow they should all be in possession of their Russian visas, despite the fact that we filled out all the forms back in September.  We should just stick to tourist visas in the future. Now we just pray that no one loses, or has their passport stolen while they are here!

We are going to Turkey for Christmas and New Year, and I love the simplicity of their visa system. When you arrive at the airport, before passport control, you go to a window and hand over $20 or €15 in cash and they put a stamp in your passport which is valid for 90 days.  Done in less than a minute.  Simple and quick, and brings in foreign currency at very little expense.

 One of the precious invitation.

Lake Baikal, Siberia

We left Moscow at 1.40am for the five and a half hour flight to Irkutsk in Siberia, which is still only half way across this huge country! It’s also five hours ahead of Moscow, so quite a time difference as well as cultural and landscape difference. We had been told that Irkutsk has the worst record for flight accidents in Russia, and that the small airline we were flying on also has the worst record; not a terribly comforting combination! However, we took off and landed without any problems.
We arrived to a snow-covered, -25C Irkutsk and went an hour by coach, with a police escort, to Lake Baikal, traveling through exquisite silver birch forests, mixed with some black pines, past lakes with people ice fishing, and the occasional cluster of houses, and hills, which were a novelty after the Moscow region, which is completely flat.
We drove along the bank of the Angara river, the only one that leads out of the lake, and were amazed to see clouds of steam rising from the water, which apparently maintains a year round temperature of 4C, to our hotel perched on the corner of the river and the lake itself.
Lake Baikal is the largest, deepest, purest lake in the world. It is also the oldest, at 25 million years. It has 20% of the earth’s freshwater, and 80% of Russia’s. It has some of the few freshwater seals in the world, nerpa, who are rather fat, but very cute. They look a little like a very fat elongated balloon with a face painted on the front!
When it freezes over, usually in January, the entire lake freezes in five days! Apparently you can stand on ice that is two meters thick and see down into the lake below, it is so clear. When the weather cleared we could see the snow covered mountains of Buriata, a Buddhist region, on the eastern side of the lake.
The first afternoon we went for a walk along the lakeshore, as it was to be one of the few opportunities to be outside in daylight, as it doesn’t get light until almost 10am and dark at 5pm. There is a strong indigenous culture in Siberia, and I bought a little shamanic totem of a bear made of charoite, a purple stone found only in Baikal. We walked for two hours, admiring the natural ice sculptures on the waterline, and enjoying the very fresh air.
On the first evening we were presented with a beautiful very large, and extremely heavy stone ball made of charoite, and a lovely book of photos of the lake. It holds a special place in most Russian’s hearts and is also considered a power site and the heart of Russia.
When meeting people from other parts of Siberia, Vladivostok, Krasnoyarsk, Novosibirsk, we were amazed to hear how long it took them to get to Irkutsk. Some were 24 hours by train, others had to fly to Moscow or another big city to get a plane there, others took a train to some city and then a flight…..the regional infrastructure is very poor and so for even many of the Siberians from other parts of the region it was their first time there. It was a good reminder of the size of Siberia, which is bigger than most countries! We kept remembering the stories, books and films that tell of prisoners being sent to penal camps in Siberia, and in the old days they had to walk there! Once there they rarely returned, and often the wives would follow their husbands and share their exile with them, so they would end up building their lives there, in such an inhospitable climate.
On our lunch break we took a walk around the snowy village of little wooden houses, some of which just had charred remnants standing. We we told that they actually stay very warm in the Siberian winters, which are often in the -40sC, due to their wood fires, but the downside is they often burn down. It’s a tough life and they only have six weeks of summer. Like many areas of Russia there are huge problems with drinking.
On the first evening we went to visit the museum about the lake, including a simulated dive in a bathysphere, followed by dinner with local folk singers. The second night we had a trip to the nerparium, to see some seals performing, they are very cute but it’s not something I enjoy very much. That was followed by dinner with Buriati throat singing and dancing, completely different to Russian, and felt and looked very Mongolian/Chinese. We were very close to the Mongolian border.

Solihin went with a group of men to the banya (Russian sauna) one night, and they all jumped into the frigid water of the lake! He said it was great and I really wanted to go but the sauna was booked for the rest of our time.
On the last day at lunch we walked along the edge of the village as it was snowing, so beautiful, and not too cold. The coldest place to be was outside the hotel in the blasting, icy, penetrating wind. Most days were sunny with blue skies, and that with snow is a lovely combination.
I asked someone why we had the police escort and they said that often in the regions of Russia people arrange it for guests as a hospitable gesture, and that it is quite common.
We were both touched by Lake Baikal and the people and would love to return and explore Siberia further.

First view of the mouth of Angara river leading into Lake Baikal

View downriver from our hotel

Baikal is famous for its dried fish

Local carvings and tree with prayer flags

Ice sculptures on bank of lake

Wooden village house on Lake Baikal

Burned out remains of wooden village house

View of village in the snow

View of mountains on eastern side of Baikal

Going to work at 9.45am with sunrise