Sunday in the Suburbs

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It will be after Mother’s day when most of you read this blog, but know that I was thinking of all of our mothers out there today. This is clearly an American holiday not followed in Russia.

This morning started as a beautiful day. After breakfast we departed for a 40 minute bus drive out of downtown St. Petersburg to the Russian village (“suburb”) of Gotchina. Here there is a palace built by Catherine the Great for her lover. He, unfortunately, died fairly early on and the grounds were taken over by one of her sons, Paul (forgive me if I got my Russian history wrong). It is, like many European castles, a fascinating place to tour and learn about. During WWII the facility was largely cleared of its artwork and furniture prior to the invasion of Germany. While, St. Petersburg (then Leningrad) was never occupied by Germany, this palace/castle on the outskirts of the city was. As the Germans left the country at the end of the siege of Leningrad they basically planted bombs inside the building as they left. During the Soviet era little happened, but with return of Russia, the Russians are working very hard on restoring this property (albeit in typical Russian fashion (too long to explain here). The parks on the ground are a favorite of the locals and being Sunday, they were all out in the park with their kids (and their beers) and enjoying the beautiful day.

After dinner tonight we had the fortune of seeing a local production of the ballet Romeo and Juliet. It was kind of a modern dance based ballet interpretation and was interesting if not a little long. Afterwards, I broke my vow from yesterday’s posting and allowed myself to walk around after 9:00. In fact, a group of us stopped in a café for a snack and it was after midnight before we returned to the hotel. It was JUST starting to get truly dark at that point (at 10:30 when we left the ballet the sun was down but the sky was still obviously blue). The true “White Nights” don’t start for another four weeks, but they are getting very close).

I think I finally feel comfortable here. I still will watch very carefully where I am and who I am with (the alcohol consumption by people of all ages and in public is incredible) but the serious case of homesickness that I had the first day has more or less passed.

Tomorrow starts the conference here on campus and I don’t know that I will have as much to share in the next few days, but I will try to keep posting as adventures (and time and internet access) allow!

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Comments

[Doris Cwiakala]

Beautiful pictures
What wonderful pictures. Glad you are having some free time to sight see. Continue to be careful and safe. Aunt Doris