Novgorod

The group took a day trip to Novgorod, which is several hours on a bus. Lunch was great and, even though I've been there, I had fun.









































This one is essentially the pimp-ride of the Soviet era, a long black limo that bureaucrats and bigwigs got as a perk of the job. Now doing duty as a wedding transportation and I have to say it is much better than a stretch Hummer that is the usual fare.

"Daytripper"

A fairly large group of us took an elektrichka (suburban communter train) trip on Sunday to Vyborg, which is the last city before you get to the Finnish border. It was for a long time part of Finland, but was taken by the Soviet Union in the course of the Winter War of 1939-40 and WWII. It has an old castle from the 14th century and then an old town with buildings ranging mostly from the 18th to the early 20th centuries. I especially like the Art Nouveau style, which is represented below. The town is not large, there's not tons to do, and it rained most of the day, but it was still cool to get out and see something new.























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Also, Lenin:

Cruisin'

Last Thursday, June 12, was "Russia Day" a holiday of recent origin that marked the day that the Russian Federation claimed sovereignty from the Soviet Union. We took advantage of the day off to arrange a night-time cruise on the Neva, under the night skies and raised bridges. It was raining when we left the hotel at midnight, but by the time we made it to the center of the city and got on our boat, it turned out beautiful. The pictures won't do it enough justice - but here they are:

Pictures from Pavlovsk

The group went to Pavlovsk on Saturday morning, beautiful and sunny, but chilly. As I had already been to the palace before, myself and a couple of others skipped out and went for a walk in the large imperial park that goes with it. The pictures turned out pretty well, but they hardly do justice to the beauty of the day.

There was this tree, a huge hollow in the middle. It's amazing that its still alive!

And this picture of some crazy guy:

Also: baby ducklings:

A Room With a View. . .

. . .of a typical Russian apartment building, as seen from the window of our hotel. It may look like the projects, but people keep their personal spaces very neat and clean.

Tere!

Thursday night we left Petersburg headed for Tallinn. We left on overnight train from Vitebsky train station, which I had never been to before, and looks like it came from a Hollywood lot for old European train station.

When we arrived the next morning, we got a guided walking tour of the upper and lower parts of the medieval city, complete with great views from the upper to the lower town. The weather was gorgeous, as it stayed for the whole of both days.

Likewise, we climbed to the top of the tallest church steeple for a different view.

Tallinn had tons of little shops, restaurants, and cafes along the narrow, winding streets of the Old Town.  

The rest of the time we spent wandering around some in the new city, but mostly in the old town. Souvenirs, good found, friendly people and a neat atmosphere, relaxed despite the tourism, all added to the ambiance of the place.

Tallinn definitely gets a big recommend.

Going to the Big "V"

Last weekend I took a train to Vladimir, where I spent last year teaching English at the American Home. I found that little had changed. The Golden Gate is still where it used to be:

The Coffee Bean, the best coffee shop in Russia, is still open:

Sara is enjoying her year as "lead teacher," pictured here at said cafe:

Cafe Pizza is still in business:

Went to visit Nina Petrovna.  Her cats are as crazy as ever:

  Also, her blinni are as delicious as ever.

The only noteworthy addition is a large statue of Vladimir, the founder of the city, I guess.  Perhaps it is a different Vladimir:

In all, people haven't changed much, it was nice to see and talk with the people I knew from the American home and around town.  I have to admit, that even though I was only there for two days and the weather was horrible, I felt no small amount of nostalgia for my little slice of the "real" Russia.

Tsarskoe Selo

I've been to Tsarskoe Selo, also known as Pushkin, and its palace before. Our group went last Thursday and so I went along to just take pictures and have fun.

The results:

Also, I came away with a scarf for "Zenit," the local football team which won a major European championship last week and is kind of the talk of the town right now.

Making Change, Part XXXXII

So, if you've read my blog before, you've probably heard me complain about making change: breaking a 1000 ruble note (about 40 bucks) is really hard and cashiers generally complain if you don't have correct change.

For that reason, today at the grocery store I thought I was doing well. My total was 158.45 and I handed over 1,000 rubles. As I started to and over the 8 rubles 50 kopecks, the cashier, in a very sharp tone typical for Russian cashiers, informs me that she's "not interested in the little stuff," and gives me all the coins and everything.

I understand nothing about this place. . .

May 9 Holiday

In Russia, May 9, the holiday celebrating victory against Germany in the war is still a big deal. Our first morning here was the parade and such in Palace Square. The first picture is Nevskii Prospect, closed off to help get people to the square. The second is a picture of part of the parade, which was really hard to get a spot to see from, even for someone as tall as me.

Otherwise, things are going fine. The hotel/apartment where we are staying is spartan, but fine for six weeks. The other people on the program seem cool. We've had a couple of days to get acclimatized and now we have our first day of class at Smolnyi sobor' tomorrow.

End of the Semester and Back to Russia

I finished my first semester of grad school last Friday. It's so hard to believe the first year had come and gone, it went so quickly. I'm leaving on Wednesday morning for Russia. I will be in St. Petersburg from May 8-June 26 for a summer language program and hope to update some about the city and anything else I come up with. May 9th and Victory Day, plus trips to Tallinn, Estonia, Moscow and, hopefully, Vladimir are on the agenda, but no matter what I do I think it will be great.

Even greater, though, I'm off to exciting Morocco after Russia for about six weeks to stay with Molly and possibly teach English a little. No matter what I do, she and I are going to have a great time there!

Look for new updates from Russia soon!