First day down, several to go....

Our first real day in St. Petersburg has gone off without a hitch. Originally, the plan was to wake early and get the most of the day. That plan was thwarted, however, when Mom decided that she couldn't sleep past 4am. I hear her rummaging around in the other room...and once I determined it wasn't a murdering robber, I thought my clock had stopped in the middle of the night. But, no in fact, my mom just thought it was a good idea to wake up and make herself some tea and read a book in the middle of the night. So, of course...both of us climb back into bed (her on the pretense of reading)...and promptly fall asleep until 10:30am.

After we finally pulled ourselves out of bed we headed for no destination in particular. We walked down the street past the massive Kazansky Cathedral, which we stopped in to catch the last bit of the morning liturgy. Russian orthodox churches conduct the majority of their service behind the icon screen--with the priest(s) venturing out at various times during the service. Everyone must remain standing (has to do with your spiritual complacency if you sit while praying) and an absolutely beautiful choir sings throughout the entire thing from a balcony waaay above the cathedral floor. The cathedral itself is covered in ornate icons and murals--all hand-painted--absolutely beautiful...and cavernous. Wish I had pictures to share with you guys...but of course, its an operational cathedral, and no pictures are allowed.

We then walked along the gribodoeyva canal toward the Church on Spilled blood (the church was built around the cobblestones where one of the tsar's sons was shot...and the cobblestones and blood are preserved inside under a religious altar). Spilled blood isn't a "church" anymore, just a tourist site...and I've already got pictures galore...so we skipped the touristy thing. We walked through more of the main neighborhoods and stopped off at the Mikailovsky Castle (a branch of the Russian museum) for some photograph and painting exhibitions.

In Russia, there are two prices: one for Russian Nationals, and the other for foreigners. Entrance to musuems for russians is generally around 50 cents, american. Entrance for foreigners is anywhere from 10-15 dollars. Last time I was here, I had a student card froma russian university...which entitled me to the 'russian' price. But this time, obviously, I don't. Last time, it was almost IMPOSSIBLE to get the people at the ticket desks to give me the russian price (even though I was entitled to it)...and this time, we have little conversations about how I really should have a student card, and it's a shame that they have to charge me so much!! I don't know what happened to the Russian people in the two years since I've been here last....but it's nice to be treated humanely.

We ventured to the Anna Akhmatova museum next and had a great tour around her apartment and discovered that they have a little book made from birch bark on display that they recovered from the "northern camps" (GULAG). Written in beautiful, miniscule script, was a collection of Akhmatova's poems that the prisoner(s) had recalled from memory and written down to help them in their troubles.

We wandered back on Nevsky Prospect and ate lunch at Stockman's (a cop-out, I know...for those that aren't familiar with St. Petersburg, Stockman's is a scandinavian department store--and the closest thing to "Western" you can find in the city. There's a cute cafe in the middle of it that serves sandwiches--not typical russian fare). Went home, and promptly fell asleep for three hours (guess we were jet-lagged).

Woke up, dragged ourselves down the Moika river to the Cafe Idiot (after Dostoeyvsky's "the Idiot"). On the way there was happened to look into a cafe called "Zoom" and saw an actual poetry-reading going on. It feels like the St. Petersburg that I've read about in books--not the one I lived in two years ago. Maybe it's something about the holiday (the russian new year was last night--according to the orthodox calander)...but everything seems a little nicer than it did when I was here last. The women who sit in the museum rooms (they have old babushki sitting in each museum room to make sure you don't touch anything...generally they fall asleep or scold you for one thing or another) were not only helpful...but they were excited to speak to me, and excited that I knew a little bit of Russian (something that I've not encountered much here).

We had an absolutely wonderful dinner at the Idiot of black bread, cheese, butter, mushroom soup and blini. Had an initial language problem when I ordered a "seagull" to drink instead of a pot of tea. (Okay...so for those that I was in St. Petersburg with, YES i did order a "chaika" instead of "chainik" AGAIN in the same place...deal with it...I'm amazed I remember these words two years later...). The two shots of complimentary vodka to start out the meal were greatly enjoyed by mom!

And now, we're back in our little apartment that is scandinavinly-decorated (IKEA furniture abounds) comfortably reading and planning tomorrow. Despite the rain, wet snow, and late/early sunrise/sunset, the colors here are still quite amazing. The pictures don't do the light justice--and it's just so hard to explain what happens to the sky when the sun never reaches past 15 degrees above the horizon. The buildings here are built to make the most of that type of light, and everything positively glows (when it's not dark, of course).

Tomorrow, I meet with Konstantin. We've planned to meet outside the most famous Russian book store, Dom Knigi--and then make our way to the "international pen club" club, and have tea and coffee while Konstantin recounts his experiences. I'm looking forward to it, and from what I can tell from him through our phone calls, so is he.

Hope that everyone is well at home. We're thinking of you!

Allison's tally:
Total cups of tea consumed so far: 10 cups
Total mayonnaise consumed: About 2 tbls.
Total hours of being in Russia: 30 hours