It seems we have overstayed our time with the beautiful St. Petersburg weather we have been having. Today is grey and in the 60s compared to our sunny 80 degree days of late. We have been told by many St. Petersburgians that the weather was highly unusual and we have been very lucky. I guess the little bit of east coast summer that I brought with me has finally run out! So sad!
The Mariinsky Theater was AMAZING! The theater itself is stunning with gold leaf all over, crystal chandeliers on the walls and ceiling. I sat in a side box and had an excellent view of both the stage and the orchestra. We saw a ballet called Shyrol, which was a fairy tale adapted to ballet, with both classical ballet and traditional Russian dancing. The dancers were impressive and the conductor was fantastic. I recommended everyone to go to the Mariinsky and see a show if you’re ever in St. Pete’s!
After the Mariinsky we went to the Shamrock Bar across the street which is basically an expat haven; I heard no Russian spoken other than from the bartenders, who seemed to greatly appreciate our ability to speak and order in Russian. We had a couple beers and left in time to catch the last metro out. But lo and behold, since this IS Russia, the metro closed early for no reason and we were stranded. But everyone got home okay by hauling ass to get across the bridges before they closed and walking home. This marks the first time I have ever missed the metro on accident, and here’s to hoping it never happens again!
Yesterday (Sunday), we had an excursion to the town of Puskin to see Katarina Dvorets (Catherine’s Palace) and the surrounding gardens. We got to walk through the gardens first for a while and they were absolutely gorgeous! There were an endless amount of intersecting paths and beautiful wildflowers, with small ponds and rivers. There were also random buildings painted in the traditional white and blue style in the fields that dotted the gardens. It was a hot day so sitting on a bench in the gardens and Russian people watching was a worthy reward! The palace itself was the product of lots and lots of waiting. There was literally a line for a line. (So Russian!) But apparently the Thai princess was in town and she was at the palace that day, ergo everyone had to wait on the VIP guest to be done. It was fine though, we just got more time to walk around. The inside of the palace is amazing! It’s all marble, gold leaf, tons of mirrors, very intricate wooden floors, and the beautiful Amber Room where the walls are panels of valuable amber. The palace was completely looted and then destroyed by German bombers during the Siege of Leningrad in WWII, and since then it has been painstakingly restored to the original appearance. A job well done too!
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| Kara and Hannah climbing the hill |
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| Hannah and I stopping to smell the roses |
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| Kara and Lindsay chillin |
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| beautiful garden buildings |
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| Gardens |
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| Catherine's Palace |
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| More Catherine's Palace |
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| Inside the Palace |
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| Inside the Palace |
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| on the road home |
Everyone slept on the way home from Pushkin, and when we arrived back in St. Petersburg, we decided we were worthy of dinner, ice cream, and beer! (The three main food groups here!) We hit up a Chainaya Loska for blini for dinner (on the cheap) then scouted out the Baltika 7 tents in front of Moskovskii Vokzal (Moscow Train Station) at Ploshad Vosstaniya. Ice cream and a pint of beer ensued, which were both very well deserved. Yesterday was very hot and very sunny! A lot of our host families hit the dachas in the country for the weekend and we stayed in the city to roast for the weekend. No matter, I’m in love with St. Petersburg!
I have internet access about once a week when I go to the Coffee Haus up the street from my apartment, so it seems like any Skype dates will have to wait until I go to Moscow and have internet in the dorms. But hopefully I will get to talk to everyone one way or another! And now I’m off to find Hannah and Kara to go in search of dinner at Jean Jacques Rousseau up at Petrogradskaya. Hopefully the rain will hold out!
Love and hugs to all!
Xoxo
P.S. I now have about five coins worth about 70 kopeks and I have no flipping idea what I’m going to do with them. They’re basically 1/3 of a cent. Geeze…
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