Day 2: Zvenigorod Research Station

Today we visited a local forest (Zvenigorod Research Station, just outside of Zvenigorod) and bog (Sima Lake) about 50 km outside of Moscow so that we could see the local natural flora. Julia's grandson, Boris, joined us (Igor, Julia, Travis, Brian, and I) on the excursion. Boris is about 13 years old and has an interest in botany. It was also a great opportunity for him to practice his English. Here are a bunch of pictures from our excursion:

Overlooking Moscow River, upstream of Moscow and nearby to Zvenigorod

Snacking on Rumex acetosa, a local edible native that is invasive in the US. It was a little sour and slightly lemony. These leaves are often collected by locals and made into soups. Mushrooms and wild berries are also often collected. We naturally had to sample some of the edible berries we found throughout the day as well :)

Melampyrum nemarosum, locally called Ivan and Mary (inspired by the dichotomy of the foliage color change from upper to lower).

Understory (no typo this time! refer to 1st day blog post) of pine forest, which also has lots of different types of ferns, including Athyrium felix-femina.

Walking along narrow boardwalk over the bog (photo by Brian).

Drosera rotundifolia, a small carnivorous plant. It has sticky glands covering it that insects get stuck in.

Swimming in Sima Lake, the exposed lake within the bog! (which might or might not be entirely legal... but we're scientists so it's okay)

After our visit to the forest and bog, we went to a local monastery called the Savvino-Storozhevsky Monastery, located in the town of Zvenigorod. It was founded in the very early 1400s.

Main monastic building. Lots of images of Russian Orthodox saints and figures can be found inside. No photos inside out of respect.

Breads and pastries made by the monks. We purchased some of these. They were yummy!

After our visit to the monastery, we went to a local park for what could be called a Russian-style picnic BBQ, all prepared by Julia's wonderful family. Igor grilled shashliki (also called shashlyk), which is similar to a shish kabob, and some sausages. They were all quite delicious! Julia's two daughters prepared many local dishes to accompany our shashliki, including a potato and mushroom pie, roasted eggplant and onions, marinated mushrooms (yummy!), and much more. It was a great and fun end to an exciting day. We felt very welcome and absolutely loved Julia's family!