Unexpected things in Russian North

by Tatyana Leonteva (Russia)

I didn't expect to find Russia

Travelling is usually considered as something huge, something that costs a lot of time and money. Actually for me travelling is discovering something new in the world around me. It can happen somewhere far from hometown, in other country or even on another continent. But something outstanding can be met when you make just five extra steps from the common trail; when you decide to choose another way home from work instead of the one you used to walk every day. Once I’ve been to the small town called Dmitrov, which is just 100 kilometers away from my home. There I’ve discovered wonderful old churches, beautiful landscape views and funny “Frog’s museum”. I spent just hundred rubbles for the road and one Sunday, but my soul filled up with new impressions and knowledge. So, was it a travel? I bet, it was. I sincerely think, that the most incredible things happen during travelling , when you don’t expect to find anything special. It makes every little unpredictable somewhat seem surprisingly amazing. About two years ago on winter holidays my family and I had an awesome trip to Russian North. There we walked on the White Sea, which was covered with thick layer of ice; we saw big research ships, which I’m pretty sure were patiently waiting for new expeditions and discoveries; we were surrounded by giant trees covered with pure white snow. It was a fabulous trip! I’ve brought a huge bag of colorful emotions from it. But there were two moments, which made that trip truly fantastic. We visited the place called “Maliye Korely” – it’s an open-air museum which presents old wooden buildings made in the northern region. It is located near Arkhangelsk city. Actually I didn’t expect a lot from Maliye Korely: the entrance tickets to the museum were pretty cheap and I really can’t say that it’s position is popular and touristic. So I thought it would be another boring spot with a few old buildings in it. But Maliye Korely turned to be a great natural park with diverse landscape and excellently preserved samples of the architecture of Russian North. It took a few hours to compete the entire museum. Throughout the park colorful performances were met. Animators dressed for fashion of the XIX-th century entertained guests with games which were popular in Russia centuries ago. It was an amazing feeling - suddenly to plunge into the past. One more unpredictable thing happened to me during that trip. We were slowly moving in our car along the river in Arkhangelsk city. It was a really cold northern evening. Suddenly someone in our car shouted: “Stop the car! It’s a camel over there!” The first thing I thought was: “Come on, you must be kidding me! Camel? Here, in Russian North, in winter?” But then I looked through the window and couldn’t believe my eyes: gorgeous fluffy camel was slanting behind the river Severnaya Dvina. It turned out that it was a steppe camel, which is totally used to live and work in the cold environment. But the fact, that I suddenly mat this exotic animal during the frosty promenade in northern Russian city still makes me think, that it was some kind of miracle.