The infamous honey festival in Moscow ends next week. When I say infamous, I mean only recently. Apparently local honey used to be exported, leaving none for the local community. Given the hundreds of stalls, each with at least 8 different kinds of honey, and the crowds at every stall, it's an appreciated-and popular-time of year. The stalls give samples of everything--from dark brown to white in color, syrup to paste, flowers to trees.....it was all quite overwhelming! We haven't bought this much honey in.....well, forever. We wandered, and tasted, watched, and purchased. Jesse even managed to save one or two bees from drowning in the sticky samples--an ironic death for a bee!
The weather was amazing, and the trip back to the car took us through a GORGEOUS park--Tsaritsyno Park. Among other buildings, we wandered around the palace of Catherine (or is it Katherine??) The Great--one she never completed because she apparently didn't much like it. On one of the last beautiful weekends, the park was crowded, and we unknowingly became part of another Russian tradition. Understandably, the park is a popular stopping point for wedding pictures. The decorated vehicles, the limos, the wedding parties, and the bride and groom wander the park--stopping often for the photographer and videoman. Izzy kept count. 27 brides on Saturday. Meaning 27 dresses, too--one should make a movie about that!! The dresses were beautiful with a definite Russian flare. Only one bride seemed to literally be falling out of her top :D We enjoyed watching brides being carried across bridges, being helped up the stairs, stopping in arches. They would occasionally remove their stole/shall/jacket.....they all had one. This did bring us some confusion. After all, it was 65degrees out. Why all the layers?
As we walked around the festival and park, one thing became obvious--we were tourists. Not just because of Jesse's pack, or my Keens, or Izzy's yelling in English. Nope, Addy gave us away this time. Our good-ole, Colorado native wore a t-shirt and shorts all day. 65 is gorgeous weather!! HOWEVER, if you're Russian, you wear a hat, a coat (some even wore down) long pants with the optional boots--gloves on the little ones. There is definitely superstition here about covering your head and keeping the drafts away. Funny to pay attention and find that Addison truly was the only one in shorts and t-shirt. Tourists!!
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