Dmitrov

Map

September 26–27, 2010

I once flew a helicopter over Dmitrov, but that doesn’t count.

Getting to Dmitrov from Moscow during the daytime is an impossible feat because of the traffic. So the best time to hit the road is at night. One hour—and you’re there.

There’s an icon on every post here.

To quote the poet Pushkin, “There’s Russian spirit.”

“Russia’s scent.”

Even the mermaid from that poem is here, sitting above Pushkin in the tree boughs.

The little red traffic light men are invariably crooked.

A street sign.

School St., Soviet St.

An exhaustive and detailed bus schedule.

“Administration” Stop

Dmitrov trash cans.

Trash dumpsters.

The modern convenience of asphalt hasn’t made it as far as the yards yet, just like in Sergiyev Posad.

The city’s inhabitants park right on the dirt hills in the yards.

And the hill in the very center of the city turned out to be a rampart surrounding the historic citadel.

The walls and actual structure of the citadel haven’t survived. All that’s there is the rampart, with church domes sticking out behind it. And that’s it.

Wake up, people of Russia! Send the corrupt politicians to jail!

Dmitrov is especially beautiful on a clear autumn day. The summer heat is gone, but the chill of winter hasn’t set in yet. Some leaves have already turned yellow, but the grass is still green.