Kolomenskoye Park is a breathtaking 390 hectare scenery overlooking the Moskva River that was used to be a royal estate located a few kilometers southeast of the city center in Moscow. I was given the privilege the other day of visiting this beautiful place and even tasted some honey at the Honey Festival which happens once every September at the beginning of autumn. Mrs. Svetlana, my Russian Language teacher brought all of the beginners on a field trip including Noah and myself to practice what we have learned in our class. Basic sentences like:
Russian- "Я хочу купить этот мёд в эту банку."
English- "I would like to buy this honey in this jar."
Russian- "Можно попробовать этот мёд?"
English- "May I try this honey?"
We rehearsed these dialogues in class and I felt more confident as we headed to the Honey Festival. Hopefully I'll be able to share more of what I've learned in my Russian class soon, but for now I'll just show you what I've seen at the Honey Festival.
This is the Church of the Ascension which was built in honor of the birth of Ivan the Terrible in the year 1532, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
We had our lunch by the banks of Moskva River before heading to the Honey Festival.
My impression of honey has changed after today. My whole life I thought that there was only one type of honey—the extremely expensive one that you can buy at the supermarket—but boy, I was wrong. They actually come in different varieties! This is especially because in a cold place like this, having four different seasons, flowers can bloom at their fullest giving plenty of time for the bees to do their jobs.
I think this structure is dedicated for when they're having tiangges or bazaars showcasing their specialty products. This time the spotlight was on the honey.
I felt like I was a kid again as I saw the different varieties of honey on display at the stalls. Different colors of amber, gold, white, and different consistencies from gooey to runny. I've always dreamt of being in a room full of honey to slurp the sticky sweet hunny like Winnie the Pooh. Today, that dream just came true.
Can you spot Winnie the Pooh?
But I need to warn you that eating a hefty sticky honey like Pooh Bear may cause dizziness because that's what Noah experienced. Oh, bother.
I ended up buying two jars of honey and Noah bought a pack of honeycomb.
This honey has a thin consistency and it has a flowery aftertaste like jasmine which Dad liked. It only costs 570 rubles (PhP 420 / USD 9).
I never knew that white honey existed until I saw this one. It said it contains МОЛОЧКОМ (malachkom) and I'm not quite sure what it exactly means. Maybe milky? For МОЛОКО, that one I know. This honey has an extremely thick consistency and it tastes like condensed milk, but not quite. Mom liked this in particular and I also liked it. Maybe I can combine this with butter on sour dough bread. What do you think? It has a nougat aftertaste. It costs 800 rubles (PhP 600 / USD 12) I thought it was expensive? But I think it's worth it.
This honeycomb is light and sweet, but you can't eat the whole thing because it's beautifully lodged in beeswax.
I took a picture of the honeycomb with a macro lens.
It was brave of me taking this picture because I have trypophobia or fear of small holes, nonetheless, I overcame my fear. It gave me chills but it also left me in awe of what bees can do and how the Lord created them in a marvelous way.
The best part of this trip was tasting all the honeys, the white condensed milk-like honey as my favorite. Unfortunately, when you're in a class field trip like this you're like in a moving train—everything is in a rush and you can't keep your iPhone steady and the honey-tasting was overwhelming. Overall, this trip made me appreciate the Lord's Creation of bees because if not for them, I won't have a taste of this sweet golden syrup to please the rumbly in my tumbly.