Foto

Old Ladoga at winter completely different from what's going on in summer season. In summer there are tourists, cars, medieval festivals (viking's meetings and something like this).
In winter fortress almost empty, half-buried in snow, its unbelievably fat towers seems to be lower, and being in the courtyard, looking from its walls at the frozen river Volhov valley, I starting to feel like on the other planet. It's a calm, cold and lonely place, place where Russia started, with a high barrow of prince Oleg (second prince of Rurik's dinasty, this family ruled Russia for 700 years and ended on the Theodor - son of Ivan the Terrible) standing on the river shore. Small half-ruined village with a slow provincial life, monasteries raising now from ruins, and two beautiful churches of XI and XII century - all of it seems to me nicer in winter, cause its undisturbed then.
And it's a first capital of Russia, and all that is my country now, it started here, now when Kiev is Russian no more everything became even clearer - Russia IS North, endless forests, and high barrows, and long rivers...
But I'm getting too epic, and it's no good.
Scanned photo.