Plyos (Плёс) and who gave that lady the microphone!?

I think it’s about time I stop playing games and catch up with these posts because there are three I want to write- this being the first of that series! We headed to Plyos (Плёс) for the day about 2-3 weeks ago and I’ve been ever so lazy to write about it since the internet=death with this modem. [I'll post pics later, please bare with me; I hate my internet and it hates me]

So we took a trip to Plyos and it was about 3 ½ hrs to get there, having stopped in a smaller village nearby because apparently there they sold cheap jewelry and we couldn’t miss out on that!

If you know anything about Plyos you know that the town is really small and not really a tourist attraction I would say. We only hit up two places while we were there- a museum of an artist from the town (Levitan) and a traditional Russian home (Русская изба) as well the back of the house functioning as a small museum of older Russian living. The population is ~3000 people and Plyos is also located along the Volga River. The town is said to have been built in the 15^th century and was mainly an “artist’s retreat’ as late into the 19^th century.

Rewinding a little, we met at the statue of Volkov in Yaroslavl before heading out. The morning was rather cold but then it warmed up which was really nice because around this time it is known as “Golden Fall” which is pretty much the time when the leaves turn golden and prepare to shed themselves off the trees as the almighty Russian winter makes its way.

When we got on the bus our group sporadically sat on the bus finding any empty seats still available, and then the joy ride began. Apparently, when Russians typically take a trip, the person in charge seems to find that talking on the microphone of the bus is a MUST. I swear…the lady kept talking nearly an hour well into the ride talking about Plyos, its history, any famous people, their history and any other related information she had stored in her head.

I wanted to blow my brains out because I had broken my headphones not too long ago and thus couldn’t pretend like she wasn’t talking, but I found a better outlet: sleep! So I slept most of the ride as my bus buddy, a woman I didn’t know so she really wasn’t a ‘buddy’, had her phone to serve her as an iPod.

I would have to say that the Levitan museum kind of creeped me out, mainly because the second floor was where he lived and you can peak into the rooms to see his canvas, sofa, and other things he used before he died. I don’t know why but these types of museums give me the creeps mainly because they’re set up to show visitors as if the person is still living there. I don’t really know too many museums I’ve been in like that besides one in France.

After we climbed up this small hill and saw the Assumption Church and then went up a little further to see a wooden church and a nice view of the town and the Volga. Plyos this year celebrated its 600 year anniversary which means they have 400 more years to get to where Yaroslavl is, I wonder what the world will be like then. None the less, it was a really nice town and I enjoyed the wonderful warm weather and walking around feeling like I was back at Middlebury because of the foliage.