Today's our last day in Russia! We leave tomorrow at 3 am and will be in transit for a day and a half? two days? dunno. And with time zone changes...
Anyway, last night we went to the opera, which was really good. Today we're free (for the first time in Petersburg)! I'm not gonna do much, maybe get some delicious bliny at a kiosk for lunch, maybe run and buy a backpack to carry home all the stuff I bought here. It's snowing! Second time since we've been here, and it might stick! It's almost pretty outside our window, except that it's mainly just slummy.
I'm really excited to go home, but Russia actually has been a blast. It's been quite the experience. Luckily I knew mainly what to expect. I have some more great pics, but I don't have time to post them. Plus I've grown to hate Ideal Cup (Идеалная Чашка), the place in Petersburg from where I've been uploading pics. It pretty much sucks. Also my plug-in for my computer is not working well, so I think I'll just run out of batteries until I'm home.
Hermitage was great again yesterday. There were some really nice babushkas working the coat-check at the opera - which was shocking. We ate at an Irish pub for dinner; I felt like such an ex-pat. It was really sweet. Some of us took the bus home, or at least tried, but we ended up going the wrong direction! When we got to the outskirts, the driver told us "Last stop!" and we had to get off. We ended up getting on the right bus then, but it was kind of an adventure.
That's about all I have to say about the rest of the trip for now. Unless I get on the internet during our 6 hour layover in Frankfurt, this will be it!
As they say in this country, do svidaniya (до свидания), and see you in America!
Saturday, January 27, 2007
Friday, January 26, 2007
the pretty part of town
pictures and stories from the last couple days
St. Isaac's
sun dog over St. Isaac's square (I'm not positive that's it's real name, but it is the square St. Isaac's is on)
St. Isaac's almost glows at night. It's very pretty.
Ella (Marc's daughter - Marc's our prof, btw) in the subway
The Petersburg subway is nowhere near as nice as the Moscow one. It's really small, and you basically can't get anywhere on it. It's also not pretty.
me in the Hermitage
The Hermitage is the second largest museum after the Louvre; it's collection, however, is nonetheless too large to be all displayed at any one time. If you spent one minute in each of the pieces, you would be there for 12 years. It was built as a palace by Catherine; part of it is preserved as the Winter Palace. I like this place much better than the Russian Museum (tho the Russian Museum had some very nice art). The Hermitage has (I think) 3 da Vinci's. Very nice collection. And it had some ancient art from Iran (Babylon, etc), which you almost never see, so that was nice.
Winter Palace inside the Hermitage
me with a statue in the Hermitage
Hermitage ceiling
The floor in the Hermitage was also really interesting. Most of it was wooden mosaic.
Susan (the art major) with a statue
She knows how to appreciate art.
Before I move on from the Hermitage, I want to mention that I had there the worst pizza that I've ever had in my life. And it cost 100 rubles! Not a good deal at all!
the Neva
Marc told me that you can't call all the little rivers that run thru Petersburg "the Neva", because they're actually just canals. So our trip to the Hermitage was the first time we saw the real Neva. It was very pretty and the surface was pretty much all frozen.
sunset on a bridge over the Neva
dunno, but it's pretty
the Neva again
now a quick recap of the days:
The Hermitage was beautiful, but we only spent 2-3 hours there, so Susan and I are going back today. It has an enormous and very nice collection.
We went to Playing the Victim in the evening. I liked it, but it strayed a lot from the script, which I liked better. And the theater was freezing the entire time. But it was still a good play.
Yesterday we went to a theater school (did I mention this was a Russian Theater trip?) and talked with a bunch of students from Arkhangelsk (Archangel) who had come to Petersburg to do some special training. That was really interesting. It was almost all one on one, and I got to practice a lot of my Russian, because Helen (the girl whom I spoke the most with) had only been studying English 1/2 a year. That was a blast. Then after that we saw a play put on my Petersburg acting students. It was well-done (I thought) for a student play, but it certainly wasn't of the same quality as the other plays we've seen (obviously).
Today, as I mentioned, I'm going to the Hermitage, and tonight we're going to the opera Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar). Tomorrow is our last day here!
Anyway, to recap, the area of Petersburg around the Neva is way prettier than the rest of it. St. Isaac's is gorgeous.
I got yelled at twice in the last two days by babushkas in Russian (babushkas by default never speak English) for things that I had nothing to do with. One babushka yelled at me because Sean left his dirty clothes in a pile on the floor in the bathroom. I told her the clothes weren't mine and she said "I didn't say they were". Brilliant.
Then today there was a new group of Australians in the room next to us. They went to breakfast room (which closes at 11) and were trying to get it open, when a babushka appears and starts screaming at them for trying to open the door. None of them speak Russian. Then she called in a back-up babushka to help her yell at them in a language they don't understand. I tried to intervene and tell them that the Australians thought it was 10:30, not 11:30, but then both babushkas start yelling at me! I've only met 2 or 3 nice babushkas in this country. And they're all about 4 feet tall. In America (as Susan put it), grandma's get nicer as they get older; in Russia, however, they get meaner. We joked that because the Hermitage is so big, they make sure everyone's out by closing time by unleashing a roomful of babushkas who'd been couped up all day and unable to yell at anyone (so they're ravenous). Everyone would run for their lives out of that building.
St. Isaac's
sun dog over St. Isaac's square (I'm not positive that's it's real name, but it is the square St. Isaac's is on)
St. Isaac's almost glows at night. It's very pretty.
Ella (Marc's daughter - Marc's our prof, btw) in the subway
The Petersburg subway is nowhere near as nice as the Moscow one. It's really small, and you basically can't get anywhere on it. It's also not pretty.
me in the Hermitage
The Hermitage is the second largest museum after the Louvre; it's collection, however, is nonetheless too large to be all displayed at any one time. If you spent one minute in each of the pieces, you would be there for 12 years. It was built as a palace by Catherine; part of it is preserved as the Winter Palace. I like this place much better than the Russian Museum (tho the Russian Museum had some very nice art). The Hermitage has (I think) 3 da Vinci's. Very nice collection. And it had some ancient art from Iran (Babylon, etc), which you almost never see, so that was nice.
Winter Palace inside the Hermitage
me with a statue in the Hermitage
Hermitage ceiling
The floor in the Hermitage was also really interesting. Most of it was wooden mosaic.
Susan (the art major) with a statue
She knows how to appreciate art.
Before I move on from the Hermitage, I want to mention that I had there the worst pizza that I've ever had in my life. And it cost 100 rubles! Not a good deal at all!
the Neva
Marc told me that you can't call all the little rivers that run thru Petersburg "the Neva", because they're actually just canals. So our trip to the Hermitage was the first time we saw the real Neva. It was very pretty and the surface was pretty much all frozen.
sunset on a bridge over the Neva
dunno, but it's pretty
the Neva again
now a quick recap of the days:
The Hermitage was beautiful, but we only spent 2-3 hours there, so Susan and I are going back today. It has an enormous and very nice collection.
We went to Playing the Victim in the evening. I liked it, but it strayed a lot from the script, which I liked better. And the theater was freezing the entire time. But it was still a good play.
Yesterday we went to a theater school (did I mention this was a Russian Theater trip?) and talked with a bunch of students from Arkhangelsk (Archangel) who had come to Petersburg to do some special training. That was really interesting. It was almost all one on one, and I got to practice a lot of my Russian, because Helen (the girl whom I spoke the most with) had only been studying English 1/2 a year. That was a blast. Then after that we saw a play put on my Petersburg acting students. It was well-done (I thought) for a student play, but it certainly wasn't of the same quality as the other plays we've seen (obviously).
Today, as I mentioned, I'm going to the Hermitage, and tonight we're going to the opera Nabucco (Nebuchadnezzar). Tomorrow is our last day here!
Anyway, to recap, the area of Petersburg around the Neva is way prettier than the rest of it. St. Isaac's is gorgeous.
I got yelled at twice in the last two days by babushkas in Russian (babushkas by default never speak English) for things that I had nothing to do with. One babushka yelled at me because Sean left his dirty clothes in a pile on the floor in the bathroom. I told her the clothes weren't mine and she said "I didn't say they were". Brilliant.
Then today there was a new group of Australians in the room next to us. They went to breakfast room (which closes at 11) and were trying to get it open, when a babushka appears and starts screaming at them for trying to open the door. None of them speak Russian. Then she called in a back-up babushka to help her yell at them in a language they don't understand. I tried to intervene and tell them that the Australians thought it was 10:30, not 11:30, but then both babushkas start yelling at me! I've only met 2 or 3 nice babushkas in this country. And they're all about 4 feet tall. In America (as Susan put it), grandma's get nicer as they get older; in Russia, however, they get meaner. We joked that because the Hermitage is so big, they make sure everyone's out by closing time by unleashing a roomful of babushkas who'd been couped up all day and unable to yell at anyone (so they're ravenous). Everyone would run for their lives out of that building.
Thursday, January 25, 2007
short post
So I haven't written for a while. I don't have much time. I will load pictures tomorrow - and write more.
Hermitage was great, going back tomorrow for more.
Hope you're doing better, Anna.
Two good plays in a row and then a student-run play today which was okay.
Like I said, not much time to write, but I wanted to let you all know I'm not dead.
Check again soon!
Hermitage was great, going back tomorrow for more.
Hope you're doing better, Anna.
Two good plays in a row and then a student-run play today which was okay.
Like I said, not much time to write, but I wanted to let you all know I'm not dead.
Check again soon!
Monday, January 22, 2007
from the camera of a young adult
Pictures of Petersburg
Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood
The outside was definitely (in my opinion) prettier than the inside, but it was all beautiful.
Apparently this building was hated by Petersburgers (??? I have no idea what you call them) and decried as a "scar on the face of Petersburg". I thought it was gorgeous, but it certainly does stick out in a fairly Western-looking city.
inside
You can't really tell, but the colors were all really bright, mainly light blues. And everything was mosaic tiles.
outside
nothing to say except that it's really freaking beautiful
above the entrance (вход)
I don't know what she was supposed to be, but she was standing outside of the church all dressed up. Then she got a phone call. You can see her talking on her cell in this pic.
another picture of the whole church
It snowed… sort of. Then the snow stopped. Nothing stayed once it hit the ground. It's still pretty warm here - especially during the day. There are four horses overlooking the Neva.
The children's park next to our hostel. Russia definitely should win a prize for most depressing parks.
Church of the Savior of Spilled Blood
The outside was definitely (in my opinion) prettier than the inside, but it was all beautiful.
Apparently this building was hated by Petersburgers (??? I have no idea what you call them) and decried as a "scar on the face of Petersburg". I thought it was gorgeous, but it certainly does stick out in a fairly Western-looking city.
inside
You can't really tell, but the colors were all really bright, mainly light blues. And everything was mosaic tiles.
outside
nothing to say except that it's really freaking beautiful
above the entrance (вход)
I don't know what she was supposed to be, but she was standing outside of the church all dressed up. Then she got a phone call. You can see her talking on her cell in this pic.
another picture of the whole church
It snowed… sort of. Then the snow stopped. Nothing stayed once it hit the ground. It's still pretty warm here - especially during the day. There are four horses overlooking the Neva.
The children's park next to our hostel. Russia definitely should win a prize for most depressing parks.
Sunday, January 21, 2007
quick birthday post
It's my bday!
Thanks everyone for the bday wishes.
We went to the worst play ever today. All but four of us walked out of it.
Today a group of us went to the Russian Museum. It was overall disappointing, but had some nice paintings by Repin. My favorite (one of my favorites ever) is Sadko by him. Anyway it seems all Russian art museums are terribly lit. Sunlight and electric light manage to always glare every picture no matter where in the building.
Yesterday a group of us went to the Church on Spilt Blood, which is really beautiful. I'll put up pics tomorrow. We also ate at the Literary Cafe or something like that. It's the last place Pushkin was before going out to his "fateful duel". It was really good food, and there was live music (violin and piano) and it overlooked the Neva.
Oh and I almost forgot: Today Marie, Kira and I met a young man named Viktor. He was really nice and talked to me a lot in Russian, and I understood all of it. But best of all he handed us some pamphlets. Turns out he's a scientologist! In Russia! It made my birthday.
That should do it for now. More tomorrow (hopefully with pics).
I'm no longer a teenager. And I'm in Petersburg.
Thanks everyone for the bday wishes.
We went to the worst play ever today. All but four of us walked out of it.
Today a group of us went to the Russian Museum. It was overall disappointing, but had some nice paintings by Repin. My favorite (one of my favorites ever) is Sadko by him. Anyway it seems all Russian art museums are terribly lit. Sunlight and electric light manage to always glare every picture no matter where in the building.
Yesterday a group of us went to the Church on Spilt Blood, which is really beautiful. I'll put up pics tomorrow. We also ate at the Literary Cafe or something like that. It's the last place Pushkin was before going out to his "fateful duel". It was really good food, and there was live music (violin and piano) and it overlooked the Neva.
Oh and I almost forgot: Today Marie, Kira and I met a young man named Viktor. He was really nice and talked to me a lot in Russian, and I understood all of it. But best of all he handed us some pamphlets. Turns out he's a scientologist! In Russia! It made my birthday.
That should do it for now. More tomorrow (hopefully with pics).
I'm no longer a teenager. And I'm in Petersburg.
Friday, January 19, 2007
photos
most recent pictures, as promised…
church in Novgorod. It was really beautiful; this picture doesn't really do it justice, but after I took it, our tour guide told us we weren't supposed to take photos in there.
two churches in Novgorod
Novgorod has zillions of old churches. The Church in the foreground is supposed to magically be able to make you have a good marriage if you run around it three times, so all the girls booked around it. Except as soon as they started running, some random stray Doberman started chasing them. It just wanted to play, but it was pretty funny.
Novgorod beach
There's a pretty sweet statue of a guy on a horse if you look closely enough.
Church of Saint Sophia, Novgorod
Moscow subway - we FINALLY did do the circle line. In fact, I got separated from the group and had to finish the line and walk back to the hostel myself.
Red Square at night - You can see Saint Basil's in the background.
another Moscow subway shot
Church of the Archangel, view from the theater within the Kremlin Wall, Moscow
Oh and PS, there apparently weren't any Roma in Moscow - they've all been kicked out. Everyone I saw whom I thought were Roma were actually just dirty old people (бомж).
church in Novgorod. It was really beautiful; this picture doesn't really do it justice, but after I took it, our tour guide told us we weren't supposed to take photos in there.
two churches in Novgorod
Novgorod has zillions of old churches. The Church in the foreground is supposed to magically be able to make you have a good marriage if you run around it three times, so all the girls booked around it. Except as soon as they started running, some random stray Doberman started chasing them. It just wanted to play, but it was pretty funny.
Novgorod beach
There's a pretty sweet statue of a guy on a horse if you look closely enough.
Church of Saint Sophia, Novgorod
Moscow subway - we FINALLY did do the circle line. In fact, I got separated from the group and had to finish the line and walk back to the hostel myself.
Red Square at night - You can see Saint Basil's in the background.
another Moscow subway shot
Church of the Archangel, view from the theater within the Kremlin Wall, Moscow
Oh and PS, there apparently weren't any Roma in Moscow - they've all been kicked out. Everyone I saw whom I thought were Roma were actually just dirty old people (бомж).
Petersburg
Alright, so are little deeper recap of what's happened:
We took a bus to the train station in Moscow, but the bus was SO small! We had so much luggage and so many people. The aisles were completely full, and we were all carrying stuff on our laps! It was actually pretty funny.
The sleeper-train to Novgorod was nicer by far than the couchette to Prague! Keith and I volunteered to room with some random Russian. We also ended up rooming with Bob, an ex-prof on the trip. Our Russian roommate was named Sergei, and he spoke perfect English. He talked about going on digs around Novgorod to find planes and tanks from WWII that have been stuck in the mud (Novgorod is surrounded by swamp). He showed us pictures. He was really apathetic about the catastrophe and loss of human life; he showed us a picture of a plane cockpit with the pilot's hand still holding on to wheel, but he was nonchalant about that and was mainly interesting in the fact that the plane's clock had frozen so you could tell the exact time of the crash. After talking about the digs, conversation got really freaking dull, and I fell asleep with my head on the little table in the room. I was out hardcore, and I didn't even realize it.
Bob and Sergei talked for hours and after I woke up from my short (about 1/2 hour) nap, I couldn't go to sleep again till we were only 2 hours away from Novgorod.
Our hotel in Novgorod was quite nice. We got breakfast once we got in. It was really gross, but it was free, so that was nice. We had canned peas and hot dogs. That was literally breakfast. Odd. That day we toured Novgorod. It was beautiful. Our tour guide was insane. She was this Russian lady Marc (our prof) knows from doing orphanage work in some little town outside Novgorod. She was… long-winded. Very long-winded. Very. She just kept rambling on about everything.
Actually before we met up with her, we went around the city museum, which was interesting - all kinds of artifacts from ancient times (Novgorod is the oldest city in Russia).
We did spend the night in Novgorod. I slept really well, cuz Keith and I roomed together, and neither of us snore. Plus I was exhausted, cuz I'd slept about 8 hours total the last three days.
The next day we basically did nothing till we left by bus for Petersburg.
Yesterday we went to this really strange play, which started out with some fat guy in a kilt getting naked. Strange. Then the rest of the play was the actors just yelling at each other. The acting was actually pretty good, tho.
After the play Keith, Marie and I wandered around looking for a Kofe Hauz with WiFi, but we couldn't find one ever; the ones in this city don't have WiFi. Right now I'm in "The Ideal Cup" (Идеалная Чашка), which isn't that far from the hostel and does have WiFi (100 rubles/hr - yes, I broke. I'm spelling it correctly now).
Anyway, so we did end up at a Kofe Hauz, and I had the best bliny in the world. (Bliny, by the way, is like a crepe, except Russian). Mine was covered with chocolate and had ice cream and pirouettes. Delicious and only 120 rubles.
Today we went down Nevsky Prospect, "the main drag of Petersburg," to quote Marc. I bought Anna a sweet gift. Really sweet. You'll love it! … Or else.
Anyway, it was kind of interesting, kind of boring, until Sean (the guy who was stuck in Germany), got mugged and had his wallet stolen. He's having a bad time.
That basically takes me up to where I am now. No pictures from Petersburg yet, but I'm gonna upload my pics from Novgorod in a second.
We took a bus to the train station in Moscow, but the bus was SO small! We had so much luggage and so many people. The aisles were completely full, and we were all carrying stuff on our laps! It was actually pretty funny.
The sleeper-train to Novgorod was nicer by far than the couchette to Prague! Keith and I volunteered to room with some random Russian. We also ended up rooming with Bob, an ex-prof on the trip. Our Russian roommate was named Sergei, and he spoke perfect English. He talked about going on digs around Novgorod to find planes and tanks from WWII that have been stuck in the mud (Novgorod is surrounded by swamp). He showed us pictures. He was really apathetic about the catastrophe and loss of human life; he showed us a picture of a plane cockpit with the pilot's hand still holding on to wheel, but he was nonchalant about that and was mainly interesting in the fact that the plane's clock had frozen so you could tell the exact time of the crash. After talking about the digs, conversation got really freaking dull, and I fell asleep with my head on the little table in the room. I was out hardcore, and I didn't even realize it.
Bob and Sergei talked for hours and after I woke up from my short (about 1/2 hour) nap, I couldn't go to sleep again till we were only 2 hours away from Novgorod.
Our hotel in Novgorod was quite nice. We got breakfast once we got in. It was really gross, but it was free, so that was nice. We had canned peas and hot dogs. That was literally breakfast. Odd. That day we toured Novgorod. It was beautiful. Our tour guide was insane. She was this Russian lady Marc (our prof) knows from doing orphanage work in some little town outside Novgorod. She was… long-winded. Very long-winded. Very. She just kept rambling on about everything.
Actually before we met up with her, we went around the city museum, which was interesting - all kinds of artifacts from ancient times (Novgorod is the oldest city in Russia).
We did spend the night in Novgorod. I slept really well, cuz Keith and I roomed together, and neither of us snore. Plus I was exhausted, cuz I'd slept about 8 hours total the last three days.
The next day we basically did nothing till we left by bus for Petersburg.
Yesterday we went to this really strange play, which started out with some fat guy in a kilt getting naked. Strange. Then the rest of the play was the actors just yelling at each other. The acting was actually pretty good, tho.
After the play Keith, Marie and I wandered around looking for a Kofe Hauz with WiFi, but we couldn't find one ever; the ones in this city don't have WiFi. Right now I'm in "The Ideal Cup" (Идеалная Чашка), which isn't that far from the hostel and does have WiFi (100 rubles/hr - yes, I broke. I'm spelling it correctly now).
Anyway, so we did end up at a Kofe Hauz, and I had the best bliny in the world. (Bliny, by the way, is like a crepe, except Russian). Mine was covered with chocolate and had ice cream and pirouettes. Delicious and only 120 rubles.
Today we went down Nevsky Prospect, "the main drag of Petersburg," to quote Marc. I bought Anna a sweet gift. Really sweet. You'll love it! … Or else.
Anyway, it was kind of interesting, kind of boring, until Sean (the guy who was stuck in Germany), got mugged and had his wallet stolen. He's having a bad time.
That basically takes me up to where I am now. No pictures from Petersburg yet, but I'm gonna upload my pics from Novgorod in a second.
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