Winter in Moscow, 1993

 

 

Sergiyev Posad, Russia

The Trinity Lavra of St. Sergius

 

 

We snapped this photo of the fish and meat market, open air, and the woman was upset with us. It was so soon after the fall of the Soviet Union that I can't blame her for being nervous about it. Luckily, Brett was fluent in Russian and brave from his two year residence there, so he handled the situation for us.

 

 

Sergiyev Posad (Russian: Се́ргиев Поса́д) is a city and the administrative center of Sergiyevo-Posadsky District of Moscow Oblast, Russia. It grew up in the 15th century around one of the greatest of Russian monasteries, the Troitse-Sergiyeva (Trinity) Lavra established by St. Sergius of Radonezh. The town became incorporated in 1742. As the town's name, alluding to St. Sergius, had strong religious connotations, the Soviet authorities changed first to just Sergiyev in 1919, and then to Zagorsk in 1930, in memory of the revolutionary Vladimir Zagorsky. The original name came back into official use in 1991. Population: 113,581 (2002 Census).Tourism associated with the Golden Ring plays a role in the regional economy. There is also an important factory of toys.

The Moscow – Yaroslavl railway and highway pass through the town, which we rode from Moscow. That was an adventure in itself. The train was cold, and old; we huddled on benches without backs with other people traveling with every sort of bag. I loved it! These pictures were taken in 1993, obviously during the winter. The sky was overcast for our entire stay,with the exception of one morning. It made it difficult with my little camera to get the best of pictures, but I'm grateful for what I was able to do there.

Concord and Lexington, Massachusetts

 

 

 

 

The Battles of Lexington and Concord were the first military engagements of the American Revolutionary War. They were fought on April 19, 1775, in Middlesex County, Province of Massachusetts Bay, within the towns of Lexington, Concord, Lincoln, Menotomy (present-day Arlington), and Cambridge, near Boston. The battles marked the outbreak of open armed conflict between the Kingdom of Great Britain and its thirteen colonies in the mainland of British North America.

About 700 British Army regulars, under Lieutenant Colonel Francis Smith, were given secret orders to capture and destroy military supplies that were reportedly stored by the Massachusetts militia at Concord. Through effective intelligence gathering, Patriot colonials had received word weeks before the expedition that their supplies might be at risk and had moved most of them to other locations. They also received details about British plans on the night before the battle and were able to rapidly notify the area militias of the enemy movement.

The first shots were fired just as the sun was rising at Lexington. The militia were outnumbered and fell back, and the regulars proceeded on to Concord, where they searched for the supplies. At the North Bridge in Concord, approximately 500 militiamen fought and defeated three companies of the King's troops. The outnumbered regulars fell back from the minutemen after a pitched battle in open territory.

More militiamen arrived soon thereafter and inflicted heavy damage on the regulars as they marched back towards Boston. Upon returning to Lexington, Smith's expedition was rescued by reinforcements under Lieutenant-General Hugh Percy. The combined force, now of about 1,700 men, marched back to Boston under heavy fire in a tactical withdrawal and eventually reached the safety of Charlestown. The accumulated militias blockaded the narrow land accesses to Charlestown and Boston, starting the Siege of Boston.

More of Boston

 

"One if by land, and two if by sea."
The enduring fame of the Old North began on the evening of April 18, 1775, when the church sexton, Robert Newman, climbed the steeple and held high two lanterns as a signal from Paul Revere that the British were marching to Lexington and Concord by sea and not by land. This fateful event ignited the American Revolution.

 

On the night of April 18, 1775, silversmith Paul Revere left his small wooden home in Boston's North End and set out on a journey that would make him into a legend. Today that home is still standing at 19 North Square and has become a national historic landmark. It is downtown Boston's oldest building and one of the few remaining from an early era in the history of colonial America.

 

 

Utah State Capital

 

 

 

 

The Utah State Capitol is the house of government for the U.S. state of Utah. The building houses the chambers of the Utah State Legislature, the offices of the Governor of Utah and Lieutenant Governor of Utah, along with other assisting offices for the Government of Utah. The capitol is the main building of the Utah State Capitol Complex, which is located on Capitol Hill, overlooking downtown Salt Lake City.

The Neoclassical revival, Corinthian style building was designed by architect Richard K. A. Kletting, and built between 1912-1916. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places during 1978. Beginning during 2004 the capitol experienced a major restoration and renovation project. The project added two new buildings to the capitol complex, while restoring many of the capitol's public spaces to their original appearance. One of the largest projects during the renovation was the addition of a base isolation system which will allow the building to survive as much as a 7.3 magnitude earthquake. After completion of the renovations, the building was rededicated and resumed normal operation during January 2008.

Concord, Massachusetts

 

 

 

The Old Manse, Concord, Massachusetts

 

 

 

You can really feel the life of this place. I went focusing more on the history, but left loving the literature and people of its day. My favorite detail was all of the little verses inscribed into the glass of the windows by Nathanial Hawethorne and his wife. Some of them are painfully tender, such as the one put there after Sophia's miscarriage. Definitely a "must see."