Morning trips turned to the Circus

As Katie recently posted we go on morning adventures.  They are pretty great.  Katie and I go.  Jessica is usually with us.  The way I am going to do this post is look at the pictures on my memory card since the last time I added pictures because I posted a blog entry at the same time I uploaded pictures.

The first two pictures are of the day that it was really foggy.  Like incredibly foggy.  This a picture of the apartment building that is like right next to mine and you can hardly see it.  You can't even see that the building goes to the left also.

My next pictures were of the time that Katie and I went to Kazan Cathedral on Nevsky Prospekt.  We had talked to Jessica earlier about going there but then she ended up meeting us afterwards.

Kazan Cathedral was built at the beginning of the 19th century and was modeled after St Peter's Basilica in Rome.  Sveta told us earlier that the builder or somebody wanted to build another cathedral like this one but on the other side of the street so that there would be a nice place to gather.  That way the cathedrals would be mirrored by Nevsky Prospekt.  The mirroring cathedral was never built.  The cathedral was built in memory of the Russian victory over Napoleon in 1812.  It was really interesting to look at the pillars around Kazan Cathedral.   They were in various stages of weathering and restoration.  We actually arrived at the cathedral at like 10:30 am which was right in the middle of the morning service that they normally have there.  It wasn't like we interrupted anything but there were priests there.  There was also singing that was going on that normally isn't going on when you go to a Russian Orthodox cathedral.  We stuck around to take a look at all the different things on the walls and took a gander at the ceiling (because they are almost always decorated) and then went outside to meet Jessica.

Outside of Kazan Cathedral Katie and I met up with Jessica and then went to St Isaac's Cathedral which is right down the street.  When we went to the ticket office we showed our student cards and we got into the cathedral itself for free.  Then to go up the stairs on top was only 150 rubles so we were like okay.  So we went up this long circular staircase to the top and looked at St Petersburg from the top of St Isaac's Cathedral.  Sveta took us to see St Isaac's Cathedral the first Saturday we were here and said that we should really go up there because it is really cool.  Up at the top it was really windy.  There didn't seem to be a lot of wind on the street but once we went up there was a lot of wind and it was cold.  But it was totally worth it!  You could walk all the way around on top and so they had markers saying that this way was east and that way was west.  It was very informative.  It also really helped with connecting where things are here in St Petersburg.  One of the things that we kind of miss out on by taking the metro everywhere is the path actually to our destination.  For example: when I would ride buses on my mission I would know specific landmarks that were 5 minutes away or halfway to our destination.  Here it is just like we walk into a hole in the ground in one part of the city then we appear out of a different hole in the ground in a different part of the city and so trying to navigate St Petersburg by car would be really difficult.  Occasionally, I would be able to recognize some buildings but not really know how to get from one place to another.  I digress, St Isaac's Cathedral.  From being on top we were able to point out some more things that we still need to visit.  Part of the problem will be finding out what they are but it will be easier because I know in which direction from St Isaac's they are, which is really helpful.  We should really get on that.

The ceiling at St Isaac's cathedral was very similar to the ceiling at Kazan cathedral.  So I took one picture for both places.  Mostly I didn't want to take a picture while the ceremony at Kazan cathedral while they were having their ceremony.  It was in St Isaac's that I realized that the 'no pictures' signs that I thought I have been seeing are not actually 'no picture' signs but they are 'no flash' signs for cameras.  After that then I wasn't sneaky trying to get pictures at St Isaac's.  I took some pictures but my batteries were dying so I didn't take very many pictures.

One of the main doors at St Isaac's Cathedral. It isn't actually used but it looks really cool.

The next group of pictures was from when we went to the circus.  Now I have never been to the circus before. Here in Russia it is very much a kids thing.  There were a lot of kids in the audience.  But I loved the show anyways.  I especially loved all the acrobats and the people that were jumping and juggling.  There were enormous feats of strength also.  The first guys (orange ones) had to be incredibly strong.  It quite literally blew my mind.  I loved the circus and it made me want to go once I go back to America and see the difference.  However the part that I didn't really care for was when the lions came out or the poodles.  The poodles were kind of scary/freaky to look at and the lions looked really skinny.

 After the circus we were all hungry and so we went in search for food.  We walked down the street and I knew immediately where I wanted to eat.  It was right there in front of me.  I had heard a rumor while I was on my mission that there was a Carl's Jr. here in St Petersburg but I had kind of forgot about it.  But every time I would get off the metro at Nevsky Prospekt I would always see the advertisement.  The advertisment would perk my interest but we were always going some where else and so I never sought out the address.  Well, we happened to walk right by it.  So, naturally, I went in.  I went in alone but it was worth it.  I got a Western burger.  It tasted really good.  The BBQ sauce actually tasted like BBQ sauce.  It was awesome!  Then they were playing good music.  When I left they were playing "Where'd you go?" by Fort Minor.  Much better than the elevator music that was at the Teremok that everybody else went to.

Then the last picture to add is the bird that we made for one of my primary lessons.  It was unfortunate that when we actually made the birds though I couldn't find the googly eyes and so they didn't look as cute.  But they still liked the birds.  Success!

Victory Square

Today Katie, Jessica and I went with Sveta to Victory Square and the biggest cemetery in the world.  It was very much like our morning adventures but better because Sveta was there to be tour guide and explain the things that we were looking at.
Unfortunately I did not have my camera with me.  I brought Katie's though.
On Victory Square there was a big obelisk and a circle wall where there were bunch of plaques.  Sveta didn't really read them or translate them but I took pictures of them.  Again with Katie's camera though which I have not at this time.  But what Sveta did talk about was the blockade.  Leningrad was under siege for 900 days from 1941 to 1944.  It was forever and a lot of people died.  There were approximately two million people in Leningrad before the war and then after there were less than a million.
Sveta emphasized that one of the things that they can be really proud of was even though during this time they had little to nothing (125 grams of sawdust bread a day) they would still go to school and be cultural and have the opera and the theater.  This greatly affected the German soldiers.
Victory Square is in the south of the city.  We then went to the north of the city to go to the cemetery where most of the people (both civilian and military casualties) were buried.  There were more than 490,000 people that were buried in that cemetery.  I didn't see any individual headstones.  Instead there were marker stones that had a year, either a star for military or a hammer and sickle for civilian, and an oak leaf (which signified there determination to fight even to death) and then a number.  If a person had documentation that their relatives had been buried there then they could find out exactly where their relatives were buried but other than that things were kept quiet.

Moscow Conclusion

Sunday morning we got a quick breakfast at McDonald’s and then headed to the Kremlin.  There aren’t very many places that you allowed to go in the Kremlin but the armory is one of them.  In the armory they have a lot of relics from the 15^th to the 20^th century.  There were Bible covers and other religious paraphernalia and regular plates and goblets. We also passed antique clothes worn by royalty, Maria Fyodrovna was incredible skinny when she was coroneted, and a couple thrones and crowns.  I was impressed by the stagecoaches and the sled that royalty would ride in.  They were very big and looked somewhat comfortable with their big cushions.

Before we went into the Kremlin we saw our first “forever flame” of the day and our first one in Moscow.  Also situated by the Kremlin are some gardens and some fountains.  Russians do love their fountains.

We then met up with everybody else and we were all together for a little while.  We first walked on top of a mall that we had been to earlier which was pretty cool.  Then we walked down the street in search of the Pushkin State Museum of Fine Arts.  The problem was trying to get across the street.  It was a street with six lanes of traffic that seemed to be constantly coming.  There really didn’t seem like there was a break but Megan just wanted to run across.  That would have been really dangerous!  But instead of probably dying we went around the corner and actually found the place we were supposed to cross the street.  It was better this way because then we actually found the museum.  If we would have j-walked then we would have not found the museum probably.

I really enjoyed the Pushkin Museum.  It was a special collections art museum of paintings and figurines.  We all started out together on the main floor and on the 3^rd or 4^th painting I asked Marci, “So what do you see in this painting?”  She replied, “I really like these kinds of paintings.  This one is very calming with its color.”  Then we all seemed to go our own ways.  Some faster, some slower.  I enjoyed myself a lot in the museum.

There was an old guy (like 65 years old) in the coatroom that took me of guard.  He asked if any of us spoke Russian.  Everybody looked at me and I said I did.  So then he asked what some English word was in Russian that I don’t remember.  Then he asked what a Russian word in English was.  I translated the word to mean ‘be quiet’ but the dictionary he looked at said ‘shut up.’  At first I slipped and told him that that was a more vulgar way of saying it but then said that it was stronger.  ‘Be quiet’ was more pleasant to hear and he should say that.  I was totally taken by surprise because I didn’t expect a guy that old to speak English as well as he did.

It was at this time that the other group left to go to the open market and buy souvenirs while Katie, Megan, Jessica and I stayed close and went to the Cathedral of Christ Our Savior.  It was a magnificent cathedral.  We didn’t go inside because we were pretty sick of being inside but we saw it from the outside and it was really cool.  There were a lot of statues on the outside walls that we could see and were really cool.

Right there close there is a statue to Emperor Alexander II.  The sign says paraphrased, “He got rid of serfdom in 1861 and freed millions of peasants from many centuries of slavery.  He held many war and legal reforms for the instigation of self-ruling government and farming practices.  He fought many wars in the Caucasian area.  He freed soviet people from the ‘osmansky’ occupation.  He died on March 1, 1881 as a result of a terrorist act.”

We walked across this bridge to get a better view of the Cathedral of Christ Our Savior and plus to look at the city over water.  That was really cool.  Then we happened to run into a couple clear boxes that had various things from Italy.  There was one with a motorcycle and Vespa. In another there was a sweet Ferrari.  There were also two big heads; one made of grapes, the other made from macaroni.

We saw a couple more churches and then found the metro so that we could go somewhere else in the city.   I tried to ask a couple people where the nearest metro stop was but they just kept walking.  Then I asked this other guy with a little kid and he told me to keep walking straight until the light and then turn right and I would see it.  We rode the metro a little ways to Park Pobedi (Victory Park)

When we got off at Park Pobedi there were a bunch of exits and so I was looking out the exits and I saw this big bridge and I thought, “Oh! That’s cool!  I want to go see that.”  We went and saw this arch.  It was called the Triumphal Gate of Moscow.  It was about this time that I thinking this is awesome.  I don’t really need to go to Europe now.  I bet the Arc de Triumph looks a lot like this and so I have seen that and the Hermitage is comparable to the Louvre.  I am glad I came to Russia.  The Triumphal Gate was situated in the middle of a really busy street.  There were four lanes of traffic on each side that seemed to ALWAYS be flowing.

Also at this metro stop there was this huge monument to World War II.  It was at this time I kind of felt bad that I don’t know very much about WWII or The Great Patriotic War as Russians call it.  This was definitely one of my favorite places that I visited here in Moscow even though we only spent an hour here.  Marci, do you remember when Sveta was talking about the place “Poklonnaya Gora?”  Well this is where it was.  I didn’t realize it until I was looking at my pictures and read some of the signs I just took pictures of.  Poklonnaya Gora literally means “bow down/ worship hill.” So it is very important to Russians also.

I am getting ahead of myself.  There was a huge open square and on the left there was a big hill.  On the hill there was Moscow in flowers and a huge clock.  The really cool thing was that the clock actually worked!

Walking towards the huge obelisk on the left were monuments to each of the forces that fought in the war and the years in the middle.  For example there was the Black Sea group commanded by Admiral F. S. Octyabersky and the Baltic group commanded by Admiral V. F. Tributs.

Approaching the obelisk was amazing!  It was incredible tall!  Looking on Wikipedia it says that the obelisk is 141.8 meters tall, which is 10 cm for every day of the War.  In front of the tower is the Coat of Arms for Moscow.  Saint George is depicted being victorious over a dragon.  On one of the pictures you can see that the dragon has Nazi/Fascist swastikas and that the dragon has been cut into many pieces.  It showed that Russia won over Germany.

On the close inspection of the obelisk you can see different cities that were were very critical to the victory of the Soviet Union; i.e. Moscow, Leningrad (St. Petersburg), Kiev, Minsk along with many others.  They were the same ones that were given stones at the Kremlin and hung on banners in Chelyabinsk around Victory Day (May 9^th).

After admiring the obelisk I saw the second ‘eternal flame’ of the day.  I love this idea.  A symbol to remember WWII each Russian city has a flame that is supposed to be allows lit.

Then I went down some stairs because I saw this monument and thought it would be interesting.  It was!  It was also kind of disturbing.  I didn’t know what it was all about when I was taking pictures. Upon returning home I asked Oleg, my host dad, and he explained it.  He said that this monument was to remember the repression of Stalin on the Russian people.  He then had me look on Wikipedia to learn more.  On Wikipedia the article was called the “Great Purge” which was when Stalin purged the government of all the people that didn’t or wouldn’t see eye-to-eye with him.  The plates behind the people say “Let it be a sacred memory of them that will remain throughout the centuries.”

Another monument at this same place was to remember the countries participating Anti-Hitler Coalition.

Yet another reason I really like this part of Moscow was that the trees were absolutely beautiful.  The leaves were changing and there were wonderful greens, yellows, oranges and browns.  I also loved how far you could see.  There were plenty of apartment buildings but they were quite a ways in the distance.  I felt like I could farther than I have any other place in Moscow which made me feel less trapped in.

But then it was time to go back to the Hostel so that we could gather our stuff, go to dinner and make it back to our train at 9:27.

It wasn’t until I was leaving the hostel that I finally took a picture of it.  The hostel was called “Za Za Zoo” and they had a wall that you could write a nice note on.  Megan wrote two things.

For dinner we went to the restaurant Mu Mu.   It was like a buffet. There was a bunch of prepared food laid out and we just pointed what we wanted and then we were given some.  Usually you try and get combos so that it will be cheaper but I was super hungry and plus I was going to be on a train so I got everything.  Salad, soup, main dish, dessert and strawberry drink.  The salad was lettuce and tomatoes with olives and a nice dressing.  I had borsch for soup.  The only thing I was disappointed by was the chicken.  It didn’t taste that good. But the mashed potatoes and the chocolate cake were excellent.  Then my strawberry drink had actually strawberries in it and that was awesome.  In the picture with my food I am sporting my new Kremlin museum t-shirt.

We finished eating and then had a little bit of time before we needed to be at the metro station to meet up with the other group because they went to get Thai food.  We went to a convenience store and bought a couple liters of water which I was glad for.  Then with a little extra time we fast walked to GUM to try and find us some “I love Moscow” shirts.  But because we were running low on time and we weren’t finding any place where we could buy the shirts.

Getting on the train back to St Petes was kind of stressful.  My group ended up getting to the train station at like 8:45 which was a normal time.  But the other group (Marci, Courtney, Sydney and Ty) hadn’t come yet.  I was worried and so I stayed outside the metro stop at the train station until they came.  I wouldn’t feel good about just leaving other people in Moscow to fend for themselves to get back to St Petes, especially if I could have helped them.  When Jessica and Megan were freaking out that we needed to get on the train I thought of a Disney Movie.  “Ohana means nobody gets left behind.”  So everybody stuck it out because Megan, Jessica and Katie didn’t know where to go and so they had to wait for me to follow.  Then I saw the other group and I made sure that they saw me and then I was off.  I am a pretty good speed walker I have found out.  We walked straight but then hit a road block.  We were going the wrong way.  In front of us were the suburban trains that went only a short distance.  Then one of the security guards asked us where we were going and I said to Saint Petersburg. He pointed us in the right direction.  We passed through the door we were just about where we needed to be.  We were on platform 4 instead of 5 and so we made that quick walk and then made the longer walk to the 12^th wagon.  We got on the train and still had like 15 minutes or something.  Maybe only 10 minutes.  But we made it.

I had a top bunk going perpendicular to the direction of the train and that was SO much better than the train ride to Moscow.  I didn’t immediately go to bed but instead wrote down my comparison between Saint Petersburg and Moscow.  Then once I did that then I went and found Marci, Courtney and Sydney because I knew that they would still be awake.  I showed them my comparison and they approved.  Then we talked for a while longer.  Courtney then asked me if I would talk to the conductor lady to see about moving beds so that she was closer to Marci and Sydney.  I asked but the conductor said no.  It was then at that time that I laid in my bed and went to sleep.  And what a glorious sleep it was.  I was ready to go once we arrived here in St Petes at 5:15am.

We then found our way to the metro, waited like 20 minutes for it to open, and then rode that home.  I then walked to my host family’s apartment and got on the internet because by then it was like 6:30am and I thought that they would be getting up soon.  It took them longer to get up then I expected but I was happy with what I was doing.

I didn’t take a nap the whole day because I really didn’t need it.  I am not counting the 5 minutes that I was asleep at the old kg when we were waiting for lunch after teaching.  Then at night I didn’t go to bed until 11pm because I was talking to Oleg about my trip to Moscow.  You might ask when I caught up on my sleep.  I may have gone to sleep at 11pm but I didn’t wake up until 10:30am the next morning because I don’t teach in the morning on Tuesdays.

I believe that about sums up my trip in Moscow.  I was very glad that I went.  I learned a lot in Moscow.  Dima was a huge help and I am grateful for him.  I also left Moscow with questions and I have been able to get some answers to these questions here in St Petes.  I still have lots to learn though and am glad that I still have a couple more months to learn even more about Russia.  Russia definitely has a rich, fascinating history.

Moscow Day 2 - Thank you Dima!

I included some of the things that Dima taught us and so if it gets boring then skip to the next paragraph.

Saturday we stayed in the two groups.  Marci, Sydney, Courtney and Ty were all too tired to leave with Megan, Jessica, Katie and I because they stayed out really late. I worked things out with the former Sister Zakharova so that her husband would give us a tour and show us around Moscow some.  Dima was incredible nice and knew a lot of things.  He was the one that told us about Minin and Pozharsky above.  He also was able to take us to the open market so that we could get some souvenirs.

On the way to the market we passed these apartments/hotels that were built for the 1980 Olympics that were there in Moscow.  I realize now that I only took a picture of one of the buildings.  Dima was great on the market!  He was able to get us better deals on the things that we bought and was able to help us avoid fake products.  He would say things like “It’s no good.” or “Bad product.” “It’s a good price.” “It’s expensive but it’s a souvenir.”

There was a time when I got separated from everybody else and he was kind of worried for me. But then Megan got separated from the group and he was even more worried because Megan doesn’t speak Russian like I do.  We found her and then Dima helped her buy her souvenirs.  Dima helped everybody.  He saved me from buy poor quality shoes on the market.  I did buy some gloves and a present for my mom at the market.

Dima also prevented me from buying shoes on the market.  I currently walk around with holes in my shoes and so they get water inside very easily.  Well this weekend it has rained a lot.  So my shoes were wet.  I was picked out and they had ‘new’ shoes and new socks on me but we were beginning to discuss prices when Dima showed up.  He then talked about how you can’t trust the quality of things on the market.  There are no guarantees.  Dima said that he only buys clothes abroad in Europe.

After the market we saw what Old Moscow used to look like.  I have only a couple pictures because my batteries were just about dead.  Between that and the fact that it was raining I didn’t use my camera.  But I took a couple pictures on Katie’s camera.

From there we went back on the metro to go see another statue.  This statue was to the men that worked in the factories and the women that worked in the fields during Soviet times.  It was huge.  Dima had a lot to say about this statue.  It was built in Paris but then it was taken apart and brought to Moscow.  If you look really close at the statues of the man and woman you can tell that there lots of places where the pieces are coming together.  Paris, at one time, wanted to buy the monument but obviously that never happened.

At this time Dima told us a soviet joke about how Soviet people are tricky/ sneaky.  One of the things that made it funny was that he would say a line in Russian and then I would translate it for Megan, Jessica and Katie.  So the joke was told a line at a time.  Here is the joke.  During the cold war America and the Soviet Union both set off atomic missiles.  They meet in space and had the following conversation.  Soviet bomb said, “Hi.” American bomb said, “Hi.” Soviet, “Where are you from?”  “America.  Where are you from?”  “Soviet Union.  Let’s have a toast to meeting each other.” So then the Soviet missile pours two glasses of vodka and they drink them.  Soviet asks, “Where are you headed?” “Soviet Union.  Where are you headed?”  “America.  Look at us being good friends.  Let’s toast to our new friendship.”  So the Soviet missiles poured another glass of vodka for the American missile and the American drank it up.  Then the Soviet missile said, “It’s time for me to be going now.” American replied, “Me as well.”  Then the Soviet missiles proposed one last toast in hope that things would turn out well.  The American missile agreed and drank another shot of vodka.  Then the Soviet missile said, “American missile.  You aren’t looking too good.  Let me take you home where you can recover.”  “Alright.  Take me home.”

Dima then also gave the following analogy to compare Americans and Russians.  Americans are like peaches.  They are immediately sweet and tasty.  But if you eat more and more than you get to the big pit in the center.  Russians are like oranges.  You have to peel them and clean them before you can eat the fruit.  Then there are small, little seeds on the inside.

The last place that Dima took us was the center of the USSR.  This was the place where each of the different republics had a building and a shield on the main building.  There were 15 countries in the USSR but on the main building there are 16 plates.  That is because when the building was being constructed negotiations were being made with the Bulgaria but an agreement was never reached.  So now there in a empty plate which was supposed to be for Bulgaria.  Behind the main building there was a fountain with 15 women representing each of the republics in the Soviet Union.  This place did not function for governmental purposes because, as we all know, the Soviet Union broke up and so now they don’t need a building for each of the individual republics in Moscow.

Also on this complex was a rocket commemorating being the first rocket to go into space.  Dima was saying that the whole goal of Soviet Russia was to catch up to America and then pass them.  So this monument to space exploration was a shining moment in that attempt.

Before Dima left us he gave me some suggestions on places that we could go that would be worthwhile.  I really liked his suggestions and so those were the places that we went to.

The first place we went was Arbat Street.  Arbat Street is this really famous walking street where normally there would be street performers and all sorts of interesting people.  Unfortunately it was raining when we were there and so there weren’t performers and there were less people who were just as interesting though.

For example on the escalator leaving the metro before we got onto the street we saw a group of four girls about 15 years old and two of them were in costume. One was in an eeyore costume and the other in a bear costume.  We were behind them a couple steps on the escalator.  Then in front of the girls a couple steps was a group of boys about the same age.  One of them cat-called to the girls in costume and in response she just turned away from them and flipped them off.  I was surprised because that is a very American thing to do.  Russians have their own way of flipping somebody off but she choose the American way to do it.

On Arbat Street we found a Wendy’s.  It was so good!  I got a classic single with cheese and onions, a cup of chili, and a chocolate frosty.  I really liked it.  At this Wendy’s there were 3 floors.  You order on the main floor and then there is room in the basement and upstairs to eat.  Megan got her food first and decided to go upstairs to eat and so I followed.  When I walked up the stairs I passed this table with four girls about my age talking English with a guy.  I was immediately intrigued because the English sounded really good.  Then I sat down and overheard the girls’ voices more.  Then Megan said, “Wouldn’t it be funny if they were ILP teachers just like us?”  I thought in my mind that their English is too good to not be American and they don’t have strange accents so I don’t think they are from England.  So I finished my cheeseburger with onions and then went and talked with them as I at my chili.  Turns out they were some of the ILP teachers from Moscow that just happened to be eating at Wendy’s when we decided to go there.  How serendipitous!

We talked with them for only a couple minutes and then Megan and Jessica wanted to go and so we went down to the basement to go to the bathroom.  We then saw the other teachers again on our way out the door because they had come down the stairs by then also.  That was really fun.

We picked a bad time to leave though.  When we walked out it was raining.  As we walked farther down Arbat Street it just rained harder and none of us had umbrellas so we were all getting really wet.  We finally got smart and found some cover and made a plan.  The plan was to go back to the Hostel and look up some more things to do for tomorrw.  We walked back and the rain started to die down.  By the time we got to the end of Arbat Street it wasn’t even raining so if we would have just waited the 5 minutes under cover like we saw other people doing then we could have continued walking down Arbat Street.  But that didn’t happen.  We got back to the metro station and changed our plans anyways.

Dima explained that when Lenin had the metro built the original architects had three lines in place.  The lines were going this way, that way and the other.  Lenin was drinking some tea or coffee at that time and put his cup on the plans.  When he did this there was a circular line from the cup on the plans and so the architects thought that Lenin wanted a fourth circular line.  So that is what was made.

I really liked the metro in Moscow.  It wasn’t forever deep like here in St Petes. I liked that because then it doesn’t take forever to get from the surface down to where the trains are.  Another thing I liked about the Moscow metro was that the metro stations were really well decorated, especially the circular line.  That is why I really liked the circular line.

Once we got back to the metro station I expressed a desire to ride the circle line all the way around and look at each one of the stations.  I really enjoyed it and really enjoyed taking pictures of all of the stops.  Megan, Jessica, and Katie might have gotten bored with it but they didn’t have anything else to do so they were out of luck.  At every station I would hurry off and look around and then I would start taking pictures of all the things that were special about that specific station.  I would try and do all that before the next train would come.  Usually the trains would come every minute and a half to two and half minutes (1:30-2:30) so I had to be quick.  I didn’t always make it but I just had to signal to Katie to either get on the train or to wait.  If nothing else they would go to the next station and then I would come on the next train but that never happened.  I took more than 120 picture of the metro in the two hours we went around the 12 stops on the circle ring.

Dima told two stories about jokes that old missionaries would play on new missionaries.  The first one was that they would take missionaries from the office to the circle line of the metro and tell them that they had a long train ride ahead of them.  Then they would have the mission ride the line around two or three times.  Each time around is like 45 minutes so they would be on the metro for more than 2 hours while their trainers would come to the office.  Now the new missionary wouldn’t know that they didn’t actually go anywhere but would walk out and thing that they are a ways away but that’s not true.

The other story was that an old mission would ask his companion if he wanted to go to St Petersburg.  Then they would sit on the circle line for a while.  Then they would exit and announced that they were in Saint Petersburg when they were actually still in Moscow.  The sticker we found that said Moscow – Saint Petersburg was actually on a straight line and so was as ironic as it could have been.

After that busy day we went back to the hostel and ran into the other group.  We all wanted to animatedly recounted our adventures of the past two days since we haven’t seen very much of each other.  I was interested to hear what the other group had done and seen and hear how it went.  This is because when we are all together in a group I frequently take charge because I speak Russian and can read signs to get where we want to go.  I do not mean to demean the other group.  I consider them adept explorers that can find things also.

After we recounted our adventures then we talked about ideas and some plans for the next day.  Jessica really wanted to go to Tchaikovsky’s museum.  The only problem was that the museum was an hour and a half train ride away and being as we had a limited time anyways I didn’t want to have all that travel time.  The museum would have been really cool but there were other things closer that we could do.

Moscow Day 1

Moscow Day 1

Last weekend we went to Moscow.  We were able to leave Thursday night and get back Monday morning.  It was a lot of fun.  I did a lot and it was definitely worth it!!

We left on our train about 10pm and got in Moscow at the wonderful time of 5am.  On my mission I always traveled in “kupes” which are a pretty nice was to go.  This trip we rode “platzcart” which is cheaper.  The difference is that instead of having just 4 beds (2 upper and 2 lower) behind a compartment door you have 6 beds (3 upper and 3 lower).  The normal 4 beds and then instead of a door there are 2 more beds on the other side of the wagon.  We got our tickets late and so we were stuck on the beds on the aisle.  They are also shorter because they have walls on both sides.  This was a problem.  The train ride was not pleasant because the only way I could fit on the bed was if I bent my knees but then that wasn’t very conducive to sleeping.  The other thing that prevented sleep was these two young guys (about Katie age old) that talked the whole 8 hour train ride.  It was kind of ridiculous.  But at least I didn’t fall off my bunk like I was a little worried about.

It was still dark when we arrived in Moscow and we were hungry.  We walked down the street and went in the first restaurant that we saw.  It was called Chocoladnitza.  It was really good.  I ordered kasha (porridge) with honey and cherries with apple juice to drink.  The apple juice was really good but the foam on the top was kind of weird.  I really liked the kasha.

After breakfast we set out to find our hostel.  We took the metro to the right stop and walked to the hostel.  We first went to the wrong hostel.  But they knew where we were supposed to go and pointed us in the right direction.  It was probably the same company but just a different building and manager.

We arrived too early to check in to our rooms at the hostile so we headed on the town with our backpacks to see what we could see.  We headed in the direction that we thought Red Square was.  Luckily we were going in the right way.  That was when we lost Sydney, Courtney, Marci and Ty.  Marci and Ty ended up being right behind us and so they quickly found us.  After having six of eight present we split up again to go find Sydney and Courtney.  They were found at Red Square.

The first building on Red Square we saw was the Kremlin.  The huge red brick walls are hard to miss when there aren’t buildings in the way.  Then we saw St. Basil’s Cathedral.  When I was reading about St Basil’s and from other people’s descriptions I was expecting something incredible but it didn’t take my breath away the first time I saw it.  That was because it was stormy and overcast and so therefore lacked its luster.  But when I came back at night.  WOW!!!  It was awesome.  Between St Basil’s and the GUM (the mall opposite the Kremlin) being lit up it was fantastic!

The first building we went into on Red Square was a Russian Orthodox Church.  When I went in there was a priest who was chanting and swinging some incense or something around.  He continued to sing along with these other two women.  After the singing was finished we walked around a little bit and then we left.  We then left to go into our first museum in Moscow.  It was the Historical Museum built from 1874-1883.

We didn’t stay too long at the history museum because we really wanted to eat and put our backpacks down.  So we went back to the hostel and got things situated.  Timmy, the hostel coordinator, told us to go get lunch.  We decided to split up because we wanted different things.  Katie, Sydney, Marci, Ty and Courtney went to Teremok.  Megan and Jessica went to McDonalds.  I went to a nearby convenience store to satisfy my craving for bread and juice because I unfortunately left the juice and bread I bought for the train at the ILP apartment before leaving for Moscow.  I was very satisfied by my lunch.

With eight people it is difficult to find something that everybody wants to do (just like lunch) so we split up into two groups.  I went with Katie, Jessica and Megan.  We went back to Red Square and went into St Basil’s Cathedral.  On the way there we stopped at Gostiny Dvor which was this huge building that hosts different shows.   The show this week was a fur show.  There was so much fur!

Going to St Basil’s Cathedral was incredible insightful because there were explanations and guides for each of the facades.  The explanations would give some history and then tell who each of the people in the Icons were.  That way I knew that #13 was the Apostle John and #14 was the apostle Mark and so on and so forth.

Outside of St Basil’s Cathedral there was a monument to Kuzma Minin and Dmitry Pozharsky.  My new friend Dima told us the history behind this statue.  Back before the formation of the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union there were a bunch of small independent states.  In the early 1500’s Polish people started attacking some of these old states.  Minin was a merchant from Nizhny Novgorod and Pozharsky was a Prince in Moscow.  Pozharsky wrote a letter to Minin asking him to join forces against the Polish forces.  Minin accepted.  With his acceptance many other states joined also.   The combined forces repelled the Polish forces and that was the beginning of the Russian Empire.

We walked to the other side of the Historical Museum and found a line of street vendors.  We talked a little with them but weren’t ready to make any bargains yet.  Then we saw this mall that was almost completely underground and that perked my interest.  At that mall we charged Katie’s ipod in the Apple store for a couple minutes.  While there the salesman was very excited that we were from America.  He said that he really wanted to go to America.  Makes sense because Apple products are less expensive back in America.  There are less shipping charges.  After that mall we went and saw the GUM and St Basil’s all lit up with lights and then went back to the Hostel to go to bed.  St Basil’s, as I said earlier, was absolutely fantastic at night all lit up.

Peterhof Round 2

Jessica was really disappointed that we went to the Peterhof on the weekend that she went to her host family's dacha.  It was like the one place that she really wanted to go. I told her that I would take her once the leaves were changing colors.  She said, "Okay.  As long as the fountains are still on."

We decided to go on a Wednesday morning.  Katie and I were running a little behind schedule (like 5 maybe 10 minutes) for our meeting and Jessica called on time and asked where we were.  I said that we were on our way and that we would be there shortly.  When we got to the Peterhof Jessica was super excited.  The first fountain was on but then the next 3 fountains were off.  Jessica was very disappointed.  She really wanted to come when the fountains were on and they weren't yet.

Before entering the park we took some pictures of roses and then went to the ticket office.  We were expecting to pay the 100 rubles like we did last time but with our student card we got in for free.  I am not sure why but I didn't ask questions.

We entered the park and the main cascade was turned off which caused Jessica to be upset.  She really wanted to know why the fountains were turned off.  She made me go up to the nearest souvenir worker and ask why the fountains weren't on.  The worker said that they turn on at 11 am.  It was 10:50 am and so we had a little bit of time before they would turn on.
We walked down the Grand Cascade to get into prime position to see it turn on.  I don't really know what I was expecting but I was blown away by how the fountains were turned on.  At about 11 the music started and then shortly after the fountain proceeded to turn on.  It was really cool how the music coincided with different parts of the fountain turning on.  It was definitely my favorite part of going back to the Peterhof.

Another fun part of going to Peterhof again was that we weren't rushed to go here or go there.  We had more time and plus there were less of us to get together in pictures and keep track off.  (Not that I don't love all our ILP teachers).
One of the places that we spent more time was on the shore.  We had some fun on the rocks.  You can also see the tide coming in on the 5 pictures of Katie.  Look at them quickly.  It works.  The water moves.  It's cool.  Then we tried some jumping pictures.  Jessica was pretty proud that she timed her jump correctly.

Another part where we spent more time was in the 3 little pavilions around the gardens.  This first pavilion was actually the first Hermitage which was by far the coolest one.  Katie asked if we could inside the pavilion and I said I didn't know.  So then I went up to the ladies at the door.  They said that we needed to go get tickets but for students the tickets are free.  I was super excited because I love the word бесплатно which means free.  So we went and got tickets and then went inside.  The ladies were really nice and explained some things in Russian and then I translated for Katie and Jessica.  The little building was a place that Peter the Great would come and eat with his family and friends.  The really cool thing was that they would eat on the 2nd floor.  There was an ingenious contraption that allowed people to get to the second floor and for the center of the table to raise and lower as well as each of the plate mats.  We didn't go up the contraption because at the beginning of the 18th century there was a noble family that got stuck up stairs and couldn't get down for a while.  They then demanded that stairs be installed and so they were.  The contraption, I guess, doesn't work anymore but it looked really cool.  Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures inside else I definitely would have.
We then went into two other pavilions.  The first was about the yachts owned by the royalty.  It was cool to see but the women that were working there didn't volunteer information and so it was just a lot of looking.  Then the third one was Peter the Great's Study.  Again I only read a little bit and so we didn't really understand very much of what happened there.  Peter the Great had a really cool library though.

That was pretty much our excursion to the Peterhof.  We also found a place where we could have go on a bus from the Peterhof to the Hermitage in the center of St Petersburg.  We didn't end up doing it.  But I don't regret that.  That just about concludes Peterhof round 2.

Facebook

I have decided that I am going to coordinate which pictures I put here on my blog and which pictures I put on facebook.  That way there won't be duplicates and then I can make sure to explain things well.  Plus I find it incredible annoying to post pictures here on my blog because formatting them is ridiculous.  Hopefully this will work out.

Moscow in Short

I will write more about Moscow but I wanted to write a little bit now because I got back like 2 hours ago.  Well after a horrible train ride to Moscow things got better.  We had a good breakfast and found the wrong hostile but it was okay because the hostile knew where we should actually go for our hostile.  Then we started to explore. Fast forward: 637 pictures taken; a couple thousand rubles spent; historical places visited; art museums attended; and many cathedrals witnessed and a comfortable train ride I am back in St Petes.