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Published: November 2nd 2010
Things are continuing to improve with Violet's health, slowly but surely. Sunday was the first day her temperature and blood work were normal, which prompted the doctor to speculate on when we could leave: possibly but Friday, but don't count on it.
I've continued my daily peregrinations around St. Petersburg. Vi had given me the task of finding presents for our doctor's two children, a boy of 12 and a little girl of 2 1/2. Yesterday (Monday), with that aim in mind, I visited the Gostiny Dvor, a huge shopping complex right on Nevsky. I read that it has been a market for over 300 years and is in fact (it is claimed) the first fully enclosed market in the world. It's laid out like a slightly lopsided square, with stores all around the edges on two levels but nothing in the middle. At least, they don't want you to see what's in the middle and all the windows that look out over the interior are artificially frosted. But I found one with an unfrosted corner and the answer is ... some terribly dilapidated buildings.
Happily there is a big children's store in GD with an extensive toy section. After noting some ideas and checking back with Violet, I returned there this morning and bought a plush beaver for the girl and a trivia game with questions about nature for the boy.
My afternoon trek was to visit some off-the-beaten-path churches and palaces that I hadn't seen before. St. Pete's is full of them! I knocked off about six in one afternoon, each one another little gem and each one in that unmistakeable St. Petersburg style. My last stop was the Michalovsky Gardens, an extensive park in the heart of downtown that once was reserved for the use of tsars. The park has such beautiful buildings around it: the sprawling, beautiful Michalovsky Palace to the south, now the Russian Museum, which I may visit later; the imposing Engineer's Castle to the east; and the utterly breathtaking Church of the Spilled Blood to the west, which we had visited earlier as part of the tour. After the revolution, the Michalovsky Park was turned into a public park and many of the special features were removed. Now they're endeavoring to recreate it as it was in the time of the tsars. As I always do, I took lots of pictures and then retraced my route using map and pictures with Violet later.
With over a week in St. Petersburg under our belts, our fluency in Russian is really coming back. Violet still understands better than I do, but I'm very confident now talking to sales clerks and nursing staff. Cyrillic looks absolutely normal as well.
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Htran
non-member comment
Great spirit
It’ great to know that Violet’s condition is getting better. We had little snow before a cold Halloween night, so enjoy your good time there David! Is there snow in St. Petersburg? Hope you will be home soon, David & Violet. Good thinking that you didn’t get a video game for the boy, eh! Cheers, HT