Almost there!

I know, I know, I haven't posted in a while, but to be quite honest, life hasn't been so interesting as it was before. We are winding down. Only one more day to go! I can't believe it!!! Tuesday I walked up to the top of Saint Isaac's Cathedral. There were more than 300 tight, circular steps, so it took a while!

There is "150" or about half way!

 The view from the top was amazing! One can see the entire city from up there because, in Petersburg, there are no skyscrapers.

Wednesday we went to Pushkin's apartment and saw some of his original works. Thursday we went to the "Rooftop" which is a popular...you guessed it! roof in Petersburg. It was more or less our farewell night out all together.

Friday we slept in and then I went to the bookstore, the hermitage, and Nevsky Prospect for the last time. In the evening we all met up for Chelsea's birthday at a nice Russian restaurant. There our professor passed out our graduate certificates and grades. I am now officially a junior!!! 

Well, that's all for now, folks! See you all soon!

What a good day; yay!

Didn't do much Sunday. I only went to the supermarket to get some food, and then rested. This morning I met up with Valya. We went to a cafe where her aunt works. Afterwards we went together to my excursion, which was the Blockade Leningrad Museum. It was very interesting. It was all about the 900-day siege of Leningrad (Now Saint Petersburg) between 1941-44. Afterwards I went to the mall with Austin, Megan and Chelsea. Not an extremely exciting day, but interesting, nonetheless.

At the cafe

On a balcony overlooking Nevsky Prospect

USSR (CCCP) vs. the Nazis

Valya at the museum

 What really made my day, however, is the fact that Austin and Megan found me Dr. Pepper, which is unbelievable in Russia!!!!!!!!!!!!! The ingredients are in a different language, however, so it must have been imported here for some reason.

Dr. Pepper!

Us enjoying our DP! Yummy!!!

Just another day...continued

First of all, here are pictures to make up for yesterday:

At Repin's Estate

On the way to the beach

According to Austin, "Some very big shoes to fill"

Part of our group at the beach. The old guy that took our picture got his thumb in the way -P

Girl's pic!

 

Yesterday we also visited Lenin's Shalash museum and a barn--both places where he hid out during the revolution.

     Yesterday was quite the day! After all of those places that we went (Which totaled 8 hours) we finally made it back to the university--and it started to rain. Made it back to the apartment and rested for a few hours, and then off to the festival!!!

     I met up with Megan and Austin (two people from our group) and we went down to Palace Square, where it was still raining. Unfortunately one must have special tickets to enter the Square, and they are only given out to graduates and their parents. Fortunately, however, because of my wheeling and dealing, the three of us ended up with tickets that some students didn't need, and we paid less than $9! It was insane at the Square! There were at least seven or eight Russian pop stars there and thousands of people! One plus was that there was no alcohol allowed in the Square, so things were actually calmer there than the other parts of the city. After the concerts it was still raining but we walked down to a special place on the river the was roped off by hundreds of police. From there we watched some amazing fireworks and the sailing of the Scarlett Sails. It was absolutely beautiful.

 

 Not sure yet what I am going to do today. So just another adventure waits around the corner!

Just another day in the neighborhood!

Mariinsky Theater was amazing! I went with my professor. He knows the deputy director of the theater and she gave us two box seats parallel with the conductor! We saw Verdi's Requiem, which was really quite amazing! Afterwards we went down to the Palace Square to see the preparations for the festival tonight.

 Today we left on a bus at ten o'clock and went to see Repin's estate. Repin was a very famous painter in Russia, and his estate was in Russia, but during the Russo-Finnish war it was taken over by Finland. The land was not returned to Russia until after WWII. Talk about the country coming to you, not you coming to the country! One day you're Russian, and the next, you're Finnish! I am going to let today help me overcome my urge to go to Finland. No, it isn't Finland anymore, but it is as close as I am going to get this year! After Repino we went to a public beach with...sand!!! Lots and lots of sand! We live just off the Gulf of Finland and this is the first time I have seen sand since we have gotten here!   

Post more later. Time for the festival!

Tired, with cause.

Thursday went by pretty fast. Had a 9am class again. Afterwards I went to Galleria, which is a very large, very Western shopping mall. Went back to the apartment and rested until 9pm, at which time our group went to Coffee House and then on to the midnight boat ride. Every night the seven bridges on the main river, Neva, open and close twice. We took a boat out and watched. It was beautiful. They were all lit up. The longest day of the year is approaching, and tomorrow night there will be a large festival on Nevsky Prospect. This is to celebrate not only the longest day of the year, but also to celebrate all of the graduates in town. Also, Valya will be coming here to Peter tomorrow, so I am very excited! Anyways, last night we went to see the bridges go up. The boat left at 12:50 (the bridges open at 1). We didn't get back to the apartment until a little after 3am because the bridge to our island only goes down at 3am and then not again until 6am, so I am pretty tired.

Tonight I am going to go to Mariinsky Theater. I am very excited. Mariinsky is one of the most theaters in Petersburg. Hope you all are doing well. Nine more days!!!

What's new, part 2

Saturday we went to Tzarskoye Celo, which was Cathrine the Great's summer palace. Not only was the palace absolutely gorgeous, but the gardens were as well.

 The inside of the palace was beautiful. There is a complete room made out of Amber that was really, really neat. I was I could have taken pictures, but none were allowed.

   

  Sunday we went to the Hermitage, which was completely amazing! It contains one of the largest collections of Rembrandt's. I also had the great privilege of seeing three of Leonardo da Vinci's artworks!

 The complete inside of the palace was made of gold and marble with statues everywhere. The floors were also made out of wood in the shapes of flowers, etc.

Reception room of the Tzars in the Hermitage

     Monday we went to the Marble Palace, which is made out of 32 different types of marble (Don't ask me what kinds because I have no idea. I didn't even know there was more than one kind of marble. I always just thought that marble was marble!). Cathrine the Great gave this palace to her favorite count. In the palace was an exhibition of Modern Art, and in it I saw (guess what!) a Picasso. Didn't really care for it at all, whatsoever, but it was interesting to see.

 
    Tuesday we went to Dostoyevsky's apartment and then to another palace. Unfortunately Tuesday the apartment was closed due to electrical failure.

Dostoevsky's musuem

      Today (Wednesday) after class we went to the apartment of Nabokov, who is a more contemporary writer from Russia. Nabokov, however, lived in American longer than he did in Russia. Nabokov did not simply translate the books he wrote from English to Russian, or Russian to English, but he rewrote each book so that it could be understood by both cultures. Too bad none of his books are very moral! So that is my life. I am finally, finally caught up! Now I have some homework to do for class tomorrow. I hope everyone at home is having a wonderful week!

~Abby

 

What's new, part 1

      Wow! I can't believe that mom and grandma have already been gone a week from day! Some hours and minutes here go very slowly, and some days go very fast. The latter was the case while mom and grandma were here.
     Saturday after Peteroff I went to the hotel where mom and grandma were staying. Didn't do much that evening. I stayed the night with them, and then Sunday after breakfast we took a boat tour around the canals and the Neva river. It was so beautiful.

  After the canal ride we stopped at Saint Isaac's Cathedral. It was gorgeous inside. Many of the pictures were mosaics, rather than painted.

After Saint Isaac's we stayed at the hotel and rested until it was time to leave to go to the Russian Folk show. It was really interesting. There was a mix of singing and dancing.

After the show was sad, however, because we went back to the hotel and stayed together until about 11:30pm, when they sent me home.

    Monday after class we went to another art gallery, which is in an old palace.  Tuesday was "Russian Day" so we had the whole day off. Didn't really do much but catch up on sleep and walk to the supermarket. It was really nice! They had a lot of stuff going on in palace square like concerts, etc, but I just wanted to relax for once!
     Wednesday we visited another island (which is still part of Saint Petersburg). Saint Petersburg, interestingly enough, is made of 42 islands, or 101 if you count the ones that are separated by only small canals. On this island that we went to was a small amusement park. Most of the rides and such were in English. It was so funny!

Thursday we went and saw the Bronze Horseman, which is the Symbol of Saint Petersburg. It is a statue of Peter the Great. Catherine the Great had the statue made, and it says "To Peter the First" and underneath it only says "Catherine the Second," which forever puts Cathrine's name next to Peter's. Quite the move on her part, considering that she was German, not Russian. The rock base of the statue is rumored to weight around 1500 tons, and it was brought from Finland, I believe. It is quite the amazing statue.

 After seeing the statue we went to a play at Mali Theater. It was interesting, but hard to understand.