In January 2010, Wellesley took me on a three week trip to Moscow to study Russian. I ordered in advance fancy warm leather boots with a soft faux-fur lining, brought along my over-sized sleeping bag coat, and thought I was good to go. However, when we arrived in Yaroslavl, a short car ride from Moscow, the winds of the Volga and the hovering clouds chilled my inner most organs -- I thought I would die of the cold and resolved to never again return to Russia in the winter. (In Moscow the sun had been shining, the skies and the temperatures were a mile -18 C, but I was told were were lucky that year).
Fortunately, the cold did not prevent me from appreciating at least a little bit of Russian history. The architecture of the 1000-year old city is superb in typical Russian-Orthodox style, with bulb-style cupolas (купол-луковица) pulled by crosses reaching for the heavens. Also, we had an opportunity to see the original Russian bells that used to be at the top of Lowell House at Harvard, until Russia asked for them back..(I had heard the bells being played in May 2009, at one of the House's traditional events, where students perform the 1812 Overture, ring the bells -- now electronic replicas -- and fire canons in good Tchaikovsky manner). However, when the car came to pick us up and return us to our hotel, I was the first inside, planting myself near one of the heaters vents.
