st petersburg

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anyhoo so i just got back from st. petersburg, and i loved it. i actually miss it, i wanna go back, and i think i will because honestly, when am i going to have another opportunity to do that. it was great to see t. tanya. i cant believe it had been 16 years since we last saw eachother. she recognized me right away at the train station. and she took me everywhere, russian ppl truly are so nice. i'll break down the trip:
Thursday-we went to the Church on the spilled blood. kirill lives walking distance from there, he lives in a central location. his house is parallel to the neva river. anyhoo, so the church is beautiful inside. instead of frescos it is all doen with mosaics. its really nice. it is kinda sad because during the soviet union it was shut down, used as morgue during ww2, a vegeatble market at one time, and a storage unit for theater props. but when they were doing the restorations in the 70's they found a bombed lodged in one of the cuppolas that had never blown up. its amazing that nothing ever happened.
then we went to the kazanski sobor which was just as beautiful, but a little bit more traditional. that night, t. tany atook me to the symphony where we listened to shostakovich. and the conductor was shastakovich's son. it was amazing. i really enjoyed it. i do remember there was some steady tambourine playing haha. like someone played it for a minute straight. i have a new found appreciation for tamborine players.
Friday-yussopovsky palace. that was also beautiful. i wont go into too much detail because then i would be here forever and the computer lab isnt opn long enough. but yea the palace was really nice. i cant imagine that people lived there. and then in the evening we went to the priemiere of the ballet, Sparticus. it was great. oooh, i totally i forgot to write about the bridges. i saw the bridges open at 1am. it was soo cool, as the daughter of an engineeer i was impressed. it was really cool. and i liked it A LOT. i felt like a little kid, it was amazing. its cool cuz kirill lives in such a central location in st. pete.
Sat-i went to the cemetary to lay flowers at t. olyas grave. the cemetary was nice, but sad.
and then t. tnaya and i went to the peter and paul fortress. it was really cool, i saw the church where peter the great is buried and the lat royal family. and then in the evening we went to see a play. i was really happy that i was able to actually understand the entire play cuz it was russian.
sunday-andrei svensson took us on the boat that he used to work/live on. it was built with the blue prints of peter the great and its modeled after his first wooden ship. he gave us a tour of the boat. it seems like a pretty cool idea-live and work on the boat and then in the summer u get to travel and race the boat in finland, holland etc, then in the evening we jsut hung out at home
then we went to the RUssian Museum
kirill, his wife rita, their daughter angelina, are super nice and were very hospitable with me. their apt is cute but i know it was a little tight with me and t. tanya staying there, but it was nice and i had fun with them
monday-alexander nevsky lavra- i saw the monastary. and the graves of tchaikovsky, dostoevsky etc
then in the evening i went back to moscow and here i am in moscow, i miss u all and more later.

shot shot yes kez si rumen

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