I'm terrible at updating

I thought I'd be better at this than I am. I only get about a half hour to an hour of internet time a day, and by the time I read and reply to emails, my time is over.

Life have been crazy and busy! This is my last week in the 'burg, and I'm rushing around trying to see everything there is to see.

Our group went to Novgorod on Saturday. It's so beautiful there. Novgorod is one of the oldest cities in Russia, and has absolutely beautiful architecture. I was very sad that the St. George Monastry had a fire last month, and a bunch of the beautiful centuries old frescos were destroyed.

We had a nice lunch at the restaurant that everyone goes to when they go to Novgorod. It involved honey wine and blini so I was an extremely happy camper.

Afterwards our guide took us to look at the excavation site that is inside the kremlin there, and it was really interesting to see centuries of bricks and stones under cross section.

On Sunday I went to Peterhof. If you've ever seen the pictures of all of the swanky gold fountains-that's Peterhof. The weather cooperated that day so it was absolutley a perfect day for walking around. I was able to take about 100 great pictures. It was nice just to be outside and enjoying the pretty scenery.

After we (my friend Veronica & I) walked around for hours, we met up with two more friends, and had Chinese food there! What a treat! I love Russian food, but after a solid month of it, I was really excited for a different cuisine. It tasted *NOTHING* like American Chinese food (which apparently tastes nothing like real Chinese food, so I suppose it's a fair trade), but it was still delicious.

Yesterday I went to the Russian Museum, which unlike the Hermitage, houses art by Russian artists. To drown out the hundreds of tour groups, I put my ipod on and wandered around for a good 5 hours. I loved being able to just relax and just enjoy the art. I also mailed out my postcards from the post office in the Russian Museum. If they don't manage to make it to the U.S., it's the Russian Museum's fault.

A Russia Sized Post

I've been absolute crap about writing here. Here's a giant update about what life's been like in Petersburg.

Let's see, well, I went to the Hermitage on Thursday. Along with about half of Russia and a good quarter of Europe. It was absolutely mobbed. I think I may have heard every language that has existed on Earth. It was Russia Day so I think of ton of people had off of work, and decided to head to the museum. Despite the massive size of the Hermitage, I had to do a lot of pushing and shoving to see the exhibits that I wanted to see. I love the art that's there, but I'm such a sucker for the building itself. I spend a good part of my time there looking at the walls and ceilings, and completely missing the art. The Hermitage is housed in the Winter Palace-aka the former home of the tsars of Russia. My true Russian geek self comes out and I get all giddy thinking about all of the famous people that have walked those halls. When I walk down the massive hallways, I can't help thinking, "Wow, Nicholas Romanov walked here. His children ran down these hallways."


On Friday I went with two of my classmates to Peter & Paul Fortress. The day was absolutely beautiful (a real treat this week), and we got to take beautiful pictures of the city from the beach at the fort. I finally got to see the exhibit that houses the remains of Nicholas II and his family, the last ruling family of Russia. It was closed the last time I was in Russia, and I was so upset at having missed it. Luckily, the room was open this visit, and I got to see the marble stones to each family member and the icon for their status as martyrs.



After the fortress, we ate lunch at a Georgian restaurant. It was amazing. Some of the best food I've had here. I ordered chicken tabaka, which took nearly an hour to prepare, but it was absolutely delicious. It was in some kind of garlic oil sauce, and was well worth the wait. From there, we wandered around a bit more, and then I headed over to the dorms which house a lot of the Arizona kids because one of the girls was kind enough to let me borrow her shower since I am still lacking hot water at my apartment. The hot shower was divine. After a week of freezing cold showers, the hot shower ranks up there with one of the best experiences of my life.

Yesterday we had a boat tour of the canals of St. Petersburg. Like Venice, St. Petersburg is a series of small islands so canals criss cross the city. To make it a true Russian experience, a few of us bought some booze for the boat ride. I chose to celebrate it with strawberry champagne. In a can. Yeah. It's about as good as you'd imagine any kind of two dollar nonbeer alcoholic related beverage in a can to be.

After the canal tour, a few of us grabbed lunch and wandered around the city. The night ended at a bar so we could watch the Euro Cup. It's always fun screaming and yelling at the television, so it was a good night.

The Joys of St. Petersburg in the Summer

St. Petersburg isn't all sunshine and piroshkis. For a few weeks each summer, the different areas lose hot water while the pipes are being repaired/cleaned/something I don't really understand happens. Of course this would happen while I'm here. This means no hot water for approximately 3 weeks. To coincide with this, the weather has been absolutely awful-ice cold rain, grey skies-just the right combination to make sure that you never really feel warm. Blergh.

Despite all that, I'm having a grand old time. I got to see a ton of sights over the past few days including the uhmmmm dismembered and jarred man bits of Rasputin (sorry mom!). It was...interesting. Also got rid of the nasty pickle habit I've developed since being here. Less disgusting sights have included the Battleship Aurora, which fired the first shots of the Russian Revolution, and the cabin that Peter the Great lived in while the city was being built. I know, it sounds a little boring, but it's great stuff for a Russophile like me.

Tomorrow is Russia Day so we have no classes tomorrow or Friday. There's loads going on in the city, so it'll be a good time for certain. There's some kind of music festival going on, so of course I'll be there. Our group is doing a boat tour on Saturday through the canals of the city.

I got to Skype with the Mama Llama today which makes me really happy because it was weird to go from talking to her half a dozen times a day to not at all.