st. petersburg

by the time i got to st. petersburg both loaves of peanut and jelly sandwiches i brought were gone, and so i got the chance to eat some russian food. for breakfast we had a strangely cooked omelet that was a bit rubbery, with cheese on top, of course tea, and then a stack of crepe like pancakes with strawberry coulee on top, quite delicious!

after breakfast we had a guided bus tour of the city where we saw many beautiful streets and canals... st. petersburg is made on 42 different islands which are separated by canals and bridges over the neva river delta. the land was originally swampy and they had to bring fertile soil to the area in order to settle the city. originally, it was such a damp and bitterly cold place people were brought in chains to settle the city. however, soon it became the cultural capital of russia, and then the actual capital for awhile.

on the tour, we saw the fortress of peter and paul and st.isaac's cathedral which is the 3rd largest cupola in a cathedral after st. peter's in rome and st. paul's in london... the cathedral had an interesting history of being destroyed and used for other things. during soviet times the holy spirit dove at the top of the dome was removed and replaced with a huge pendulum which came all the way to the floor proving that the earth rotates. the mosaics which replaced the oil paintings in the cathedral (the paintings started to be ruined because there was no heating system, so they were replaced slowly with mosaics) were so beautiful! they had to create 12000 different mosaic colors to reproduce the oil colors ...

in the afternoon, we went to the beautiful church of the spilled blood, which was completely covered in intricate gold and brightly saturated mosaics. the amount of detail and intricacy of of the patterns was simply breathtaking. it was one of the most impressive places i have ever seen. then we visited the kazan cathedral which was built to celebrate the victory over napoleon. the interior was dim and mysterious and filled with religious russian orthodox believers going around from icon to icon praying. the priest was preparing for a mass and the air was filled with incense and singing voices.

that night, we all went to a traditional russian dinner party. we were served borsht (very tasty), herring salad (not so much), a main dish (kind of like salesbury steak), dessert, and of course vodka! our tour guide taught us how to drink vodka russian style. 3 rules, never drink without good company, good food or for a good reason. first, only a boy can pour the shot (a small half inch) and then everyone toasts, "nasdroyva" clinks glasses, drinks the shot, and then smells rye bread. when smelling the bread, no taste of vodka hits your mouth and you only experience the bread. very tricky! the dinner was really fun and we were delightfully entertained with traditional music!

on wed. we first took a tour of catherine's palace, an amazingly huge palace about an hour from the city. the inside was decorated with carved wood with gold leaf in russian baroque style and each room was more magnificent than the last. the most impressive room almost completely covered in large pieces of amber (the current room is a reproduction, the original amber panels were lost in WWII when the nazis occupied the palace, the original panels have never been found)....

during our free time, we went to the russian museum where we saw more russian art masterpieces, and in the evening we took a canal tour of the city. it was cold on the boat, but the lights of the city were very beautiful! under each bridge we had to hold our breath and make a wish until we passed to the other side.

our final day in st. petersburg we spent at the state hermitage museum which is inside the winter palace and 4 other attached buildings. it is the 3rd largest art museum in the world and holds amazing masterpieces. the palace itself was simply breathtaking with gold everywhere, spectacular chandeliers and intricate and beautiful wooden inlay floors. i felt like i was in a fairlytale.

we started with a guided tour of the most famous works of the italian rennaissance (paintings from davinci, titian, rafael, a great unpolished sculpture of a crouched boy by michelangelo) and then to other masters carravaggio, rembrandt, vandyke, rubins, rodin, the second biggest collection of french impressionists (cezanne, renoir, monet, etc) and then the largest collection of matisse (dance and harmony in red, 2 of my favorite paintings which i never thought i would get to see!) and then many works by picasso... the museum was phenomenal and i could have spent much longer than 5 hrs there! the guide said that if you look at each piece of art for 30 sec. it would take 3 yrs of constant walking to see everything there, amazing.

after the museum,we got on the bus and rode the 17 hrs back to oulu! it was a long trip and the border formalities were rather extensive. we had to get out of the bus 2 times to go through customs and had our passports and exit migration cards checked a total of 6 times. 5 times on the russian side. but finally, we all made it through and safe back to oulu.

this weekend, i have a lot of catching up to do... now, it is crunch time! i hope all of you have a very happy thanksgiving (i will be having a makeshift one with friends here, but it is not the same as my mom's delicious food and family's company) take care and send me an email update! i would love to hear from home.

nasdrovya!