Okay, now it’s time to talk about Tula.
Jordan, Logan and I have wanted to go to Tula for quite some time now. We wanted to go a few weeks ago, but tickets were sold out. When we returned from Vladimir and Suzdal, we bought tickets for Tula, so we could ensure that we got there.
We had all agreed to meet at the metro at 5:30 a.m. And yes, waking up was brutal. Jordan and I got to the metro at 5:30, to discover that it was locked. Luckily, the metro opened 10 minutes later. The metro didn’t start running until 6:00 a.m., though. We sat at the metro for a while and waited for Logan to arrive. As time continued, we realized that he wasn’t coming, and it had reached the point where if we didn’t leave, we would miss the train to Tula.
We messaged Logan once we had Wi-Fi on the metro, and explained our situation. It turned out that he had accidentally slept through his alarm.
The train ride to Tula was interesting. I felt like I was watching late-night television at a homeless shelter. There were weird, stinky people sitting all around us. People came into the train cars, one at a time, selling their wares. The wares were relatively useless and as random as the infomercials you see on late-night TV. People were selling cheese graters, toothbrushes (with banana technology, whatever that means), tablecloths, and toys. The best part was that there were some performers who came through the cars.
Three hours later, we arrived in Tula. It was cold, but not unbearably so. We wandered the town, anxious to see what we came for. Tula is home to the Tula Arms Plant, a weapons manufacturing plant, founded by Peter the Great in 1712, which if you didn’t catch that, is older than America has been a country. We were excited to see the plant and the museum. Sadly, the plant is off-limits to visitors, and the museum wasn’t as cool as we had hoped. The building is under construction, so only two floors were open for viewing.
Even though the museum wasn’t all we had dreamed it to be, I still had a great time in Tula. It was fun to get out of the bustling city and wander the rustic town. There were lots of interesting places to see and it was fun to photograph the city.
The train ride home was far better than the ride to Tula. The seats were comfortable and the train was mostly empty. I loved it. I slept well, and we arrived in two hours instead of three.
Now I’m done with all of my weekend trips. I’m down to seven days before I am home! I’m so excited to go home.
Oh, side story. So I was chilling on a park bench today and saw the most Russian thing. A little girl was playing with her dad at the park. The dad put a piece of cardboard on the carousel before he would set his daughter on it. Gotta make sure those ovaries don’t freeze at a young age!
Okay, that’s all for now. I’m going to try to post a couple more times before I come home, but we will see what happens.
All my love,
Madison
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