Voronezh Days (Day of the City)

 This is us walking on one of the streets they closed in the city for the celebration. It was packed with people. For the celebration the people just come out and see the city.  It's like a huge party all day and night and continued on to the next day and night. All the children get out of school for that day and most people have a BBQ or some other type of party with friends and family. After the celebration during the day everyone goes to their different places to watch the fireworks and some even light lanterns like the ones from the movie tangles. People even watch the show from the river in boats. It's a beautiful experience that can't quite be captures with pictures.

 These are some of the people in the military walking down the street as part of the parade that they did. The men in this group were very young. In Russia it's required that all men serve in the military for at least one year.

 Here is a girl's drum line.

 This is Lennon Square.

 (left to right) Victoria, me, and Brittany at Lennon square.

 This was a presentation on the steps of a ballet theater next to Lennon Square. A choir was singing and they released a bunch of gold confetti into the air.

 Me in front of the statue of Lennon. My camera was being mean to us that day and wouldn't focus sometimes. Must not be used to the Russian climate yet :)

 This is a bungee jump they had on the street for people to do. Reminds me of something we used to do back home in Emmett, Idaho.

 All along the street they had booths and different groups performing music. This was a group of Native Americans doing some of the music that is native to their tribe. I wish I could've asked them what tribe exactly they were from but they had a huge crowd around them and they probably didn't speak English. Who would've thought you would see Indians in Russia.

 This is a mechanical bull that people could ride. I was not expecting to see this at all but it made me laugh. Almost would have rode it if I hadn't been in a skirt.

 This was a random paper that anyone could paint on if they wanted to. A few of the teachers wrote some things in English on it for fun.

 This is me at the WWII monument. They had flowers everywhere here and it was quite lovely. Didn't have enough time to get any really good shots of the place though.

 Here is some of the art that was shown in one of the parks during the celebration. It looks like giant snowballs.

 Here is one of the biggest cathedrals in Voronezh. You can see this one from almost anywhere in the city. It was beautiful to look at.

 When going into cathedrals the women have to wear a head covering so we all took scarves to wear over our heads. We weren't allowed to take pictures inside but it was gorgeous.

 (left to right) Me, Mikah, Victoria, Susie, Brittany, and Chance. This is just outside the front door of the cathedral in an archway and we just had to get a picture of everyone together.

 Here is a random art statute in the city. Not sure what it's supposed to be or what it's supposed to mean but I thought it looked pretty amazing.

 My first time trying sushi. It wasn't what I expected but it wasn't that bad either. I just might try it again sometime.

 Susie bought some cotton candy. It was huge so she shared it with everyone. It tasted like banana :) It was fun watching them make it and watching it get bigger and bigger.

 These are some flowers that were planted just after you enter the city from one of the bridges. It says "I love Voronezh"

 One of the view of leaving the city right before we get to the bridge.

 Here is one of the views from off the bridge. The water looks nice from far away but once you get close it looks neon green and seems to glow a little. Wouldn't want to go swimming in it or eat any of the fish out of it :)

 Here is what a main part of the city looks like when you're coming into the city from one of the bridges.

At the end of the day they had a firework show much like what we do back home for July 4th. The fireworks got so loud and everyone was cheering that a lot of the car alarms went off and were going off throughout the show. They were beautiful and I wish I could've got better pictures. I did get a video but I can't post it until I get back to the United States because the internet over here is kind of crazy.