Yesterday several of the teachers and I went to the city of Murom. We were invited by the students and professor of English at Murom's university; it is a tradition that every year students from Murom come to the American Home, and teachers go to visit Murom and stay with families there for a night. We left bright and early on a bus--it takes about two hours to get to Murom from Vladimir. Murom is an ancient town with a rich history, and, although I had been there before, it was cool to see the city again. We teachers judged presentations that the students made in English, and then we went on an excursion of the city. Then the group broke up, and I went with our hosts to see more of the city. We first went and saw a brand-new bridge that spans the Oka River. A nice bridge is a big deal in Russia, and Putin attended the opening ceremony of this bridge. Then we met up with a group of medieval war reenactors. The were dressed up like Russian warriors from the 11th Century, which means chain mail, armor, and battle axes. I tried on chain mail and a helmet. I thought about trying to do some ax fighting, but decided to save that for another time. After some more sightseeing, which included riding a Ferris wheel and a swinging ship, we headed back to my hosts' house. I stayed with a great family in a beautiful little wooden house, and we of course had a nice dinner and interesting conversation, which was aided by a little cognac. I'm off to Moscow in a few hours to board a plane for Irkutsk--it's the start of my Lake Baikal adventure. Here are some pictures of our Murom trip: