I totally forgot to tell you about the best part of Novgorod!
While we knew we were going to have a 'banya' (a sauna), we really had no idea of the key difference between a Russian banya and your run of the mill Swedish-esque sit around and get very sweaty.
Basically, the Russians are slightly crazy, and they've worked out a way to make the sauna a much more envigorating experience... You start with the normal sit in the banya and get as hot as you can, then leave the banya and wake yourself up either by rolling around in the snow, or, as we did, tip a freezing cold bucket of water all over you.
Then it's back in the banya, and that's where the fun starts. The key difference is the use of moistened birch twigs (complete with leaves) which one person whacks the other with as hard as possible! It sounds really, really horrible, but is actually good! It's all about improving the circulation apparently. It's also very tiring to actually give the slapping with the birch (exercise in a sauna has got to be an extreme sport), but you come out feeling totally awake and refreshed. It was great for my cold - pretty much banished it.
I love trying different country's baths and having now done Russia, Morocco, Turkey and Japan and seen how extremely different they are, I can't wait for the next one!
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