My. Feet. Hurt. So. Much.

I got up earlier this morning and made it to class with time to spare. We learned a few Russian folk songs then had a lecture (in English) about the political and cultural identity of Saint Petersburg. After class, the girls and I ventured to find this bar we heard of that was a haven for foreign students and had wifi. Unfortunately the place was a total dive when we found it, so we ate lunch elsewhere. The food was good and we had this beer that tasted like cherries. Only the Belgians could make something that good! A bunch of the guys joined us, bringing one of their Russian friends (Sonya), and we all had a beer together. Sonya was telling us about different Russian cultural things and I learned that he’s actually from the Caucasus, Kabardino-Balkaria to be exact. After a while, we decided to go down the Nevsky Prospect again with Sonya leading the way. After we met up with Sonya’s friend, we continued walking around Saint Petersburg. There were lots of police and the Russian version of SWAT everywhere today, more so than usual, and we never found out why. Lots of helicopters too. Strange…

We went to the largest bookstore in Russia, a three story branch of Dom Knigi (House of Books) where I bought a Russian language copy of Crime and Punishment for about 10 USD. After wandering around some more, we decided to go into an all purpose store in Park Kultury to get notebooks and pens for some people who didn’t bring any. After that, we went to the Church of Spilled Blood. It was absolutely stunning! There’s simply nothing in the states like the beauty of the Russian churches. It was insanely expensive to go in without out St. Pete’s student IDs (they get us in for free; we are getting ours tomorrow), so we opted to continue along our merry way. From there, we ventured to the Field of Mars (yes, like the Roman one). For being smack in the middle of a very busy and loud city, the field was very quiet. A big open space of well maintained grass surrounded by beautiful buildings served as our resting place for a while. Russian cities are full of monuments to World War II and the Revolution. In the middle of the Field of Mars, there was a marble circle with Russian inscriptions on the columns and an eternal flame in the middle, all dedicated to the revolutionary sacrifice of the people. 

Church of Split Blood

Field of Mars

After that, we crossed the street in between two mint green buildings and took a bridge across the Neva River to the Petrograd side. I thought I had seen everything in Russia (not really), but apparently people jet-ski on the Neva! Peter and Paul Fortress was just on the other side, so we crossed onto the mini island the fortress sits on and walked around to the Neva side. Another day I’ll pay to go inside, but I’m waiting for my student ID so that I get discounted rates. Apparently today was an unusually hot day for Saint Petersburg, probably 75-80 degrees F. Since it was colder this morning, we were all dying in the heat dressed like we were. Sitting in the shade of Peter and Paul on the bank of the Neva watching the barges and boats go by was awesome. After cooling down, we walked around Peter and Paul more to the Military Artillery Museum which shares the island. The museum itself was closed so we looked at the larger pieces of artillery displayed outside. Sonya is studying to be an engineer and to design and work with artillery weapons, so he was explaining the different pieces to us (in English because there was no way in hell we’d get that in Russian). Next thing I knew, everyone was climbing a WWII/early-Cold War era Soviet tank. Overjoyed at the prospect of climbing a tank and not giving a shit about seeming like a tourist at the time, I found myself on top of a green tank, grinning like a crazy woman. It was really fun and, honestly, for the first time here, I really had a good time. And that tells me I’m adjusting. 

Peter and Paul Fortress

The Green Building

Since it’s the start of White Nights (Byeli Vecheri) here in St. Petersburg, we didn’t realize that it was 8pm and we had yet to eat dinner. The sun reallyyyyy throws you off, whether you’re a native or not. So we walked up to the Petrogradskaya metro station and went to Chashkai i Loshka (Teacup and Spoon, the English makes no sense). Blini were on our minds and our new Russian companions seemed delighted by our enthusiasm for their suggestion of the legendary Russian food. Our spread was various, but I had two meat and potato filled blini with sour cream, one filled with bananas and chocolate, and a small pot of black tea. The blini were out of this world, and I only spent 172 rubles (approx. 6 USD). I think we were talking about going out to a club tomorrow night, and we were plotting locations on the handy maps they gave us yesterday. After dinner, at about 9:30pm, I caught the metro home (blue line to Gostini Dvor, switch to Green to Primorskaya, just like DC!) and now I’m ready to pass out. I’m sweaty, tired, and my feet hurt like hell, but I had such an awesome day! We literally walked from the top of NE St. Petersburg down to the southern part of Nevsky and back up further to the NW top of St. Pete’s. Map that, I’ll be it’s about 4-5 miles of walking. Just seeing the city and all the stunning architecture was worth the pain my feet will be in for the rest of the week! I’m starting to feel more at ease in the city, the metro is a piece of cake now, and I’ve been given the Russian stamp of approval for my manner of dress, so everything is going great!

I love and miss you all, and I should have a phone tomorrow, so be on the lookout for my phone number! In the mean time, shoot me an email or Skype message so I can read them when I get a chance to log on to the web.

Xoxoxo

P.S. I got placed into the middle of three groups for class. Yay!