Saturday May 31st: The temple

Saturday May 31, 2014 I woke up really early again, so I decided to go for a walk in the morning. I discovered a HUGE park just up the street from my house with a track going around it, and a golf course in the middle (complete with fake palm tress…). I did some other errands, and read a little, then decided to take a nap before going to the temple. I left around 1:45, and made it in plenty of time for the 3pm session. I wasn’t sure if I’d be able to find it, so I wanted to give myself time. It took about 40 min to get there, and wasn’t far from the metro stop. It’s beautiful! It was nice to have a place so “familiar” when everything is new and different. It’s big, and the block it’s on includes a visitors’ center, an MTC (missionary training center), housing for missionaries (both those in the MTC and those who work in the temple—older couples), and also housing for visitors who come to attend the temple. And an institute building for religion classes for the college-aged youth. I had the best time there, and met some great friends! I’ll include a photo. We attend the temple to receive instruction, and listen and learn, and since it’s kind of a personal, spiritual experience, I don’t usually meet new people there. But I guess being in a different country made that different. I saw a mother and daughter walk in, and I could instantly tell they were American (it’s so weird how that’s always so obvious). We started talking, and they were there visiting a senior sister missionary from there area who would be coming home soon. The daughter (Nicole) was originally going to go on the trip with a friend who was the missionary’s granddaughter, but the friend couldn’t make it in the end, so the mom (Libby) came on the trip instead with her daughter. They were so fun to get to know! I also met another American (Kathleen) who was on a trip through Europe and had already been to Israel, Turkey and Italy. She was planning to do the camino de Santiago de Compostela the following week with her daughter, but her daughter ended up not coming to Spain. Anyway, the four of us ended up spending the rest of the evening together. We went and chatted in Libby and Nicole’s room (they were staying in the temple housing), and then they invited us to join them for a going away party that night for some of the missionaries. We got to meet the temple president and his wife, and I met the couple that’s in charge of the singles, and they invited me to come to a family home evening group there on Monday nights. I haven’t been around for one yet, but I’m excited to go and make more friends!

Madrid

Thursday May 29, 2014 I just made it through the longest day of my life! I left this morning for Madrid. Well, actually yesterday morning, but that was that last morning that I was in a bed. So it seems like this morning. I got up around 4am Wednesday after going to bed at 1. Dad took me to the airport, and then I flew to Phoenix, then Charlotte, then Madrid. I felt really good when I got to Charlotte, but that 8ish hour flight to Madrid was so tiring. I slept a little, maybe two hours, tops. It wasn't terrible, but I was ready to be done with being squished into a little tiny seat. When we landed, the first thing that surprised me was that Madrid doesn't look very big from the air—it just looked like a normal-sized city. The foliage was a little different than I've seen before, and it was pretty brown and desert looking. The airport was really uneventful, which was nice. I just showed them my passport and walked right through customs. Unlike Mexico, which has that annoying red/green light that will tell you if you are going to be searched or not. Then I took the metro to meet Susana, who is renting me the apartment. I felt dumb trying to figure out how to buy my ticket and where to insert it in the machine, but I eventually figured it out. The metro was pretty easy to use, except that my suitcase weighs 50lbs and a couple of the stops (I had to ride 3 lines) didn't have elevators. A few nice people helped out a little bit when they saw me struggling to lug my suitcase up the stairs. Two women and one man (I had to do it 3 times). I thought it was different that more women helped... Anyway, I got here around 8:30am Thurs morning, I found Susana, and was excited to have someone welcome me here. The apartment is smaller than I expected. It's basically a normal-sized bedroom with two little closets off to the side. One closet is the bathroom and the other is the “kitchen.” The kitchen has a sink, a very mini fridge (even smaller than most you find in hotels—like the size of a cooler), and a microwave. I had a little panic attack when I saw there was no place to cook. I DO NOT want to have to use the microwave. But then Susana said that her mom had burned out the microwave, and she needed to get rid of it, and wanted to buy a hot plate. I was VERY happy about that! So I will be able to cook a little in my closet. Really, it has exactly enough space for one person to stand in it. We went to the bank so I could withdraw the money to pay Susana, and I had my second little panic attack because I couldn't get it to work. My credit card didn't work in Russia, so I've had that in the back of my mind. I had gone to Safe before I left, and they told me that I could use my ATM card here, no problem. But that I just can't use the credit card. Well, after deciding to go to a second bank and try, Susana decided to wait to talk to banker, and while she was waiting I went and tried again. And success! I realized I was trying to withdraw the limit here, which is 400 euros, but the limit at hime is $500, and 400 euros is roughly $600! Crisis averted. Then Susana took me to breakfast at one of the little cafes on our street (she's just about 2 blocks down the road). All of their breakfasts include bread and sugar. So I asked for eggs and they had them. They brought me an omlette (tortilla francesa) with tomatoes. It was pretty good. Then we ran a couple more little errands, and then I just couldn't make it any more so I came back to my apartment to take a nap. I slept from 12:30-3:30. That was the first time I had laid down on a bed in 23 hrs! It was really hard to get up, but I made myself because I want to be able to sleep tonight. When I got up, I decided the first order of business would be to find internet access so I could at least let mom know I made it safely (by this time it was Thursday morning at home). I walked in the direction that Susana had said there was a Starbucks, and I found it! It's just a couple blocks from here. When you buy something they give you a code to get online for 45min. (and they also give you one to use the bathroom). I just bought yogurt because they don't really have anything I want at Starbucks (except internet!). It was fun being able to message people and post some pics on facebook. I spent as long there as I could. I think it was even longer than my 45min but my phone battery started to go, so I decided it was time to move on. I was basically just killing time trying to keep myself awake. So, then I decided to go on a walk to downtown. Susana had showed me the general direction and said it was about a 20 min walk. I pulled up a map on my phone for the general idea. I'm not sure I found the exact center, but I got a good view of things. Then I just kept walking towards the parque del retiro, and ended up at the Prado. And lo and behold, it's free every day from 6-8. By then it was 7:30, but I got to look around for half an hour. Then I went to a cathedral next door. I walk by the real academia and had to snap some photos, and then it was on to the parque. I walked through about half of it, and then decided I should get some food, so I ate at a little cafe overlooking the water. It was so european. There was even a man serenading on the violin. I loved it! Then I decided to walk back. It was after 9 by then, and still plenty light. I was going to take the metro, but didn't see any stations because I walked back a different route. I made a big loop (and did all this without a map because my phone was dead). Towards the end I started to get a little nervous, but then I saw some familiar places, and realized I just needed to go back a block and I'd be back on the road I started from I was pretty impressed with myself. I didn't get back until almost 10:30. It was just getting dark, and the streets were filling with people getting drinks and eating in cafes and tavernas. It's so true—they really do eat dinner at 10pm! So, now it's 11pm and I'm exhausted. Hopefully I can sleep through the night and feel good tomorrow. Susana is coming in the morning because the lady that was going to clean my apartment couldn't make it until today. While she cleans we're going to go buy a hot plate. Then maybe I'll go grocery shopping and do some hot yoga. And spend some time at Starbucks again. I need to get going on my sumer school class. And I want to go to the temple, either tomorrow or Saturday. Es todo por ahora. Buenas noches. One more thing. I can't believe how quiet it is. I live off a 4 lane main road, and I do hear some cars, but they're quiet. They don't honk. It's great! It would be like having an apartment on Cirby Way at home. Busy, but not too loud. Friday May 30, 2014 I slept until 5:30 this morning, so I was pretty excited. I'm getting closer to feeling normal! Susana came around 9 and we went and ran errands together. When I first got here I had a little twinge of regret that I'd decided to get an apartment alone rather than live with a family. I want to get the most out of living here, and really get a feel for life, and improve my Spanish. But Susana has been wonderful, so it's like I got the best of both worlds. I've only been here two days, and I've spent the first half of each day with her. We've mostly been doing things to get the apartment ready (she hasn't had anyone in it in a while), but she was great at showing me around and teaching me how to use the bus system, and little things like that. She has twin girls that are 12, and we've made plans to do things with them too, so hopefully that will happen. This morning we went to El corte ingles (a HUGE department store). We got some things for my “kitchen.” And actually, I'm already used to it—it doesn't seem so small anymore. One of the things that has most surprised me is how different the Spanish is. I guess since I have friends from Spain, and have watched things on TV, etc in Spain Spanish I thought I'd be totally fine with it. But it's different when you get Spaniards talking to each other. They go so fast (which they do in Mexico too, but I'm just so much more familiar with the accent), and some of them have such pronounced accents. The lady that helped us in the store was hard to understand. I bet I understood 80-90%, but it's weird to feel like I'm learning a language again! I expected mostly to just not catch a word here and there, since they have such a different vocabulary, but every once in a while I'll miss an entire phrase, or a couple times, even a whole sentence. After our errands I came home and took a nap again. I didn't set my alarm this time, and accidentally slept 3 hrs. I got up at 5, so hopefully I'll be able to sleep tonight! Then I went grocery shopping. Again, since I've been in so many countries, I think I feel like it shouldn't feel foreign. But it is! And I don't like feeling foreign—I can't wait to feel like a native! But I have to tell myself it's only my second day. It's ok that I'm not sure if I order my food before I sit down, or which floor is the ground floor in the elevator (some have 0, or some have B—I don't know what happened to PB...), or how I print the produce ticket at the grocery store. I feel like a little kid learning a language, just observing everything before I try myself. I had to laugh at myself yesterday because it was pretty cool so I'd brought my little rain jacket, but then later it warmed up. At home I would have tied it around my waist, but I guessed that was probably a pretty American thing to do, so I just held it while I looked around to see what everyone else did. They were all holding their jackets, or just carrying them folded over their arms. So I did that too. Then as I got to the more toursity area, I saw some Americans with sweatshirts tied around their waists. They just looked so American. I guess what it comes down to is that I don't want to look like a tourist! Speaking of tourists, another thing that I've found very surprising is that I haven't seen very many. I live really close to downtown, but this area just has madrilenos (people from Madrid). As I got closer to Sol (the area downtown) there were hostels and hotels and more tourists, but still not too many. I've heard that they'll come later in June and July. I guess I had anticipated a much more international city than I've been exposed to so far. I'll have to see how that changes as I get to know more of it. And I bet when I go to church there will be lots of foreigners. I can't believe it's only my second day. It is actually starting to feel so much more like home already. I'm getting settled into my apartment, and it feels cozy and comfortable. I can't wait to make more friends and go do things with people. I live in the theater district and there are tons of plays and concerts. It looks like they're pretty cheap too, so I hope to take advantage of that! Food is NOT cheap. I bought one bag of groceries, and I was trying to be really conservative. I bought lentils and some veggies and eggs, and it was 25 euros, which is roughly $35. I guess that's not terrible, but I always shop at Denio's and get my produce so cheap. I'll have to see what the farmer's markets are like here. I just got to Starbucks to use the internet again. It's almost 9:30pm and the streets are more crowded than I've seen them all day. Everything is open, people are eating, strolling, and kids are even out and about. I saw some girls writing on the sidewalk with sidewalk chalk, and kids playing in the sidewalk playgrounds (which are pretty cool by the way—the sidewalks are really wide to allow for restaurants to have outdoor seating, and every few blocks they have little playgrounds with little slides and other playground toys. Anyway, I should hurry up and post this. I can't promise this will be the norm, but I'm trying to get everything down while it's still new. Once I'm used to it, it won't seem like anything to write home about! Here are some photos. I can't figure out how to rotate them on my Mac... David?

The Market

Aren't our kids adorable? I was just trying to take a picture of me, the snowman, and the twins, and was suddenly surrounded by some of my favorites. The little boy in the front (Sasha, surprise, surprise) says Merry Christmas in the most adorable accent every time he sees me. I got it on video, so hopefully I can post that sometime soon!

This past weekend our Saturday activity was going to the Tretyakov art gallery in Moscow. It was really really amazing. The best part was that Gulya has been showing us prints from there during our culture classes as she taught us about the history of Russia. It made me feel pretty intelligent when I recognized a lot of the paintings and even knew a little about the history of some of them.

We were going to go tour a submarine after that, but when we got there we found that it would be a 90min wait, so we decided to leave. Lisa (my cousin) and I were together, apart from the rest of the group, so we just went and shopped around the nearest market for a little while. We each bought a pair of rabbit fur socks, and that's all. If any of you know Lisa, you know how miraculous that is. Let's just say, I think everything ever made that turns out ugly is sent to Russia to be sold in the market. At home, when I go shopping in a coat or boot store (which is the bulk of what there is at the market) I think most things are cute and then I find one or two things that are ugly. Not so here—we play the "find the one thing in this booth you might be caught dead wearing" game. My theory is that during communism there wasn't much variety—cars were all the same color, everyone lived in the same drab apartment buildings, wore plain black coats, etc. So, now that there is more variety available, they still haven't caught on to the idea that certain things are fashionable and others aren't. I kind of forgot about fashion, and got used to the black Russian boots with buckles and the long shiny coats with ugly fur on the hats and sleeves. But then we went and toured Sweden and Finland and I remembered there are cute things in this world. And I bought some for myself. That was fun.

Unfortunately I forgot my camera on Saturday, but one of the other girls took these pictures in September. The fall coats are definitely less ugly than the winter ones, but it kind of gives you an idea of what the market is like.


The fun thing about the market though, was that I could speak some Russian. I don't get a chance to speak much at all during the week because we're either in our apartment or at the school teaching English, but I got some practicing in at the market. It was tons of fun. I found myself asking if they had things in other colors and if I could try them on. Of course it starts getting really fun when it's time to leave...(I only have 2 weeks left!) Hopefully someday I'll have more of an opportunity to speak it. I feel frustrated sometimes that I didn't get to learn much Russian, but then at the same time, I can understand enough to get by, and communicate enough to get around the city. I know what Russian sounds like, which is a big part of learning a language for me. And now I know I'll really learn it, eventually. We were walking home from church on Sunday and a woman stopped us and asked us something in Russian. I didn't understand what she said, so I said we didn't speak Russian, but she just kept on talking. She said she spoke German, and asked if we were American. I said yes, and then she asked if we were there learning Russian. I felt embarrassed that I could hardly speak it so I said "no, we're here teaching English." I thought it was funny that I had said we didn't speak Russian and she still kept on chatting. It was fun though. It's not too often you meet chatty, smiley Russians on the street, so I thought I'd take advantage of that one!

Thanksgiving weekend in Russia

We had a fun Thanksgiving weekend. Our home teacher, Dean Meservy (& his wife Shaura) invited us over to spend the evening with them. We still had to teach that day, but he came and got us that night. We were going to take the bus into town, but he insisted on picking us up. It was really nice of him, but he got stuck in traffic and was about an hour late. We left our school at 6 and then didn't get to their house until 8pm! I felt so bad for them, but Moscow traffic is just like that—bad! Anyway, the meal was so nice, and the best part was that after we ate they let us decorate their Christmas tree. They'd bought beautiful Russian ornaments that were hand carved and then painted. I coveted them, but I haven't found any like that. It was nice to decorate and listen to Christmas music because it helped me feel like it's actually Christmas. There are trees up in the city, but it still doesn't feel quite like it does at home during Christmas time.

On Friday we didn't have to teach so we went into the city.



We went to Arbat Street, which has vendors and shops and walked up and down the street shopping and taking in the sights. This picture is in front of the wall of peace. We stopped at My-my's (pronounced moo moo's) for lunch. It's a popular Russian cafe that was decorated with a cow theme (hence the name—that's what cows say in Russian). I lucked out because I went for fish, salad and potatoes, but the girls that got what they thought was a chicken drumstick ended up with the outer skin of a chicken stuffed with what we call meat surprise. It's a Russian favorite, but not so surprisingly, not our favorite.

Then we went to red square to the Tchaikovsky conservatory to see what they had showing that evening. It's a music school so the tickets are sometimes a little cheaper than the full-on professional concerts, but we'd heard they're still amazingly good. I somehow always get dubbed ticket-buyer, so I went to the first window, and couldn't understand quite enough to buy tickets, so I called a friend and she translated for us. I absolutely detest having to do that. I want to be able to be completely self-sufficient, but Russia is just not tourist-friendly and my Russian's just not good enough. So, although I felt humiliated, I passed the cell phone through the little window, and then they passed it back. Their tickets were a little over $40, so we opted not to do that, and they told Julia I could just go to the next room where they possibly had some cheaper ones for the smaller theater. We found the booth, and by then I decided just to ask from the start if the ticket vendor spoke English. She said no, but told me to try the next window. I went to the next window and the woman said no, she was sorry, she only spoke Russian and...Spanish! I was so excited. It turns out she had lived in HONDURAS (of all places) for about 10 years. I was elated that I could finally communicate with ease! The girls were all surprised because one minute I was speaking my broken Russian and then the next I was going off in Spanish. But, they loved me for it because not only did I get all 10 of us tickets for an AMAZING Mozart and Mendelssohn concert that evening, but our tickets were under $4! That's one thing I love about Russia.



On Saturday we headed to Vladimir. It's a three hour bus ride from Moscow. It was beautiful. During the 12th -14th century it was the capital of the 2nd most powerful Rus state (after Kieven Rus). We went into the main church there (the one pictured above, in the mist) and happened to be there for part of a service. I LOVED the music and could have stayed there for hours listening. It's not very comfortable though, because they don't believe in benches so everyone just stands there. There's always a choir singing from one of the balconies, and then a priest who conducts the meeting. While we were there he walked around spreading the incense, and all everyone would cross themselves and bow as he passed. It was really neat to see in action, finally, after all the times we'd been in the churches!



Then this morning (Sunday)after our restful night in a hotel that I'm sure was probably built in the 70's and not touched since then (it rivaled some of the cockroach and spider hotels I've stayed at in Latin America) we took a taxi about 40 kilometers outside the city into Suzdal. It was so so so gorgeous. I just wanted to come back some summer and spend a few months there learning Russian and maybe studying painting. The town is known for the churches—-there are 4 monasteries and 30 churches just in the little town. The churches each have a winter meetinghouse that's small and easier to keep warm, and summer one that's larger with high ceilings to keep cool, and a belfry. We were lucky that it wasn't snowing, but it was bitter cold. I told Gulya I just couldn't believe people can actually live in Russia. She just laughed at me and told the store owner where we were standing what I'd said. They laughed together at me. I don't think Gulya realizes I understand Russian. But that's okay. Anyway the river was frozen and it was just gorgeous—so picturesque I can't even describe it. Walking around that beautify town with all the churches made me feel sorry for those people. Obviously they have a love of religion and they just had to abandon it all during communist times and watch their church houses being used for storage rooms. But now most of them have been beautifully restored, as you can see.

Oh, and this monastery is where the tsars would send their old wives when they were ready for a new one. They had really high morals so they only believed in having one at a time...

Let it Snow!

Today was magical. It was the first snow day of the season. There's something about the snow that's magical to everyone. The kids could hardly keep their faces away from the windows, my teachers had an extra bounce in their step on the way to classes, and even the guards were light-hearted. On our way back to the school after lunch I could see out of the corner of my eye that all three of them, lined up along the fence, had snowballs in their hands as they watched us walk up the steps into the schoolhouse. I could tell they were debating whether or not we would take it well, so I told the teacher with the best aim to chuck one at them. She did, snowballs flew, and we ducked into the schoolhouse as quickly as possible. Everyone who saw us laughed. I love seeing those stout-faced Russians break into a hearty laugh—there's not much more rewarding than that. But also pretty high on the list are the children all bundled up for recess.

Lions and Tigers and Russians

On Saturday we went to the circus. It was amazing! I had so many mixed emotions during the entire performance. By the time it ended I was completely tense. It smelled delicious when we walked in—like kettle corn and cotton candy. It was starting as we crawled across people to get to our seats, and I suddenly felt like I was in Vegas. The scantily clad women with large feather headdresses in bright colors were dancing up the aisles, music was blasting, lights were flashing and confetti was falling from the ceiling. It was probably just an ordinary circus show, but I haven't really been to many circuses. They had some of the usual acts—horses, lions and tigers, trapeze fliers, clowns between the main acts, contortionists, etc. The shows were pretty spectacular. But the whole time my body was so tense because I was pretty sure I was going to witness someone's death right then and there. The acrobats were amazing, but they had no form of netting or anything, and they were swinging and tossing each other through the air. It was pretty unreal. And then the one that almost made me throw up were two guys who ran around in a contraption that looked like those things hamsters run around in, except that there were two, and they had to coordinate with each other. They had one net at one end of their contraption with a little mattress that I'm sure would have done almost nothing if they'd fallen. They were walking around in the middle of them, then they went to the outside. Then one of the men jumped rope on the outside of one of them. It was the worst because we were so close to them I could see their expressions. I could tell how much they were straining and feel that with any false move, they were gonners. At one point one of them even put a black bag over his head and walked along the outside. That was where I almost threw up.


The act that got me thinking the most was the lion and tiger act. So, I have to preface my description of it with a short description of what is going on right now in our teaching. As I've stated before, we live in a very wealthy area, just outside of Moscow. We all came into this teaching gig with the idea that we would be serving in Russia, helping kids learn English who might not otherwise have that opportunity. Our training consisted of a day or two listening to classes about what teaching would be like, but by no means are we professionals. In fact, two of the girls in my group just turned 18, and haven't even started college. But they do a really good job. All of them try their best and put a lot into their lessons. But last week our coordinator visited our classes, and all she had to say were comments like, “Why don't they all know the words to the songs?” “They should be speaking more English,” “One of the teachers talks too fast,” “The school is upset because you broke seven chairs, two tables, a sink and a curtain...” and so on... And then later that night I got home to an email about one more thing, and then on Sunday I got a phone call about a few more things...

So, back to the lions and tigers. As I was watching them and feeling incredibly sorry for the poor, skinny, very likely sedated animals, I watched the lion tamer crack his whip whenever they made a wrong move. And that's when I realized what was missing. In the US whenever I've been to Marine World or other such shows with live animals, they've always had a large bag of fish or steaks, or some kind of animal treat. In a nutshell, I could see in the circus act what was making it so hard this past week for my teachers. Russians are just not big on positive reinforcement.

But, all in all, I just have to say that the circus was so good, I could hardly believe it when I looked at my watch at then end and saw it was 10pm, making for a three hour show! So, next time you're in Moscow, I'd recommend a trip to the circus. But you might want to bring along a barf bag, just in case.

Our vacation: St. Petersburg

Since we've been home a few days now I figure it's high time to write about our vacation. Gosh, when I was in Latin America I loved writing about all my adventures. But for some reason when I'm not in a third-world country things just don't seem quite so exciting. It just feels like normal life. But here goes...

We started on Halloween day. Which I must say, was quite a day. We decided to dress up and give our students a taste of how we celebrate it in the US. We raided our drama box and came out with some pretty nice costumes. I was Winnie-the-Pooh. I must admit it wasn't the most flattering costume... I found a Pooh head and then a random bear body that I stuffed with a pillow. I was huge. The kids loved it, and the part I loved the most was that the Russian teachers loved it too! They're almost always really serious, but that day they kept staring at us and smiling and laughing. And one of the teachers even swatted my huge belly and laughed as she walked by. It was definitely a bonding moment for us all. Pooh, Russian teachers and me.

So, back to the vacation. We started by leaving our house at 9pm the night of the 30th. Well, even that requires a little bit of an explanation. You see, if you read the previous entry you'll remember that our house is surrounded by guards and gates. And last time we got locked out. Well, this time when I pressed the buzzer, the gate wouldn't open, so we were locked in, luggage and all. “No problem,” I thought to myself, “I can just make a quick call...” Oh, but then I remembered my phone still had no minutes on it. We decided our best bet was just to wait until the driver came to pick us up (yes, the school provided us with our own personal driver for the evening). I heard the car drive up, but there still were no guards to let us out. He rang the bell, and no one came. So, I mustered up my very best Russian and all my courage and opened the window. I yelled below that he should call Gulya because we didn't have a key. He made some calls, Gulya called me, I explained, she called the guards in the other guardhouse, and lo and behold, someone finally came to let us out!

We boarded our train at about 12:45 and left at 1am. It was my first ride on a sleeping train. It definitely wasn't my most comfortable night's sleep, but compared to a few that awaited me on that vacation it was divine. The train was divided into compartments of 4. There was a table in the middle with benches on either side. Then along the hall there were two seats with a little table in the middle. When night came the whole thing converted into a sleeping space for 6 people. The two lower benches were beds, with benches above them that could also be folded down and converted into beds. Then the table and chairs along the aisle folded into a bench/bed with one folding down from above. I got an upper bed, and was somewhat concerned I might fall off in the middle of the night, but then I remembered my dad teaching me about packing things on top of the car and how heavy things don't fly off.

We arrived in Saint Petersburg at 10am. We had to get moving pretty quickly because that was our only day there. We started with a visit to the Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood which was built in the late 1800's, taking 24 years to complete but ironically 27 years to finish the restoration work before it reopened in 1997. It carries such a long name because it marks the spot where Alexander II was blown up by a terrorist group in 1881.

We also wandered through another cathedral...but I can't remember what it was called. They all start to run together after a certain point. But the highlight of that trip (besides finding an English bookstore for the first time during my stay in Russian and loading up on Tolstoy and Dostoevsky) was our visit to the Winter Palace. It was used by the tsars of Russia for the last 200 years of their rule. I can't even begin to describe how spectacular this building was. I felt so small as I climbed the red-carpeted spiral staircases that I later found out was merely a side entrance. We couldn't help but grab a partner and dance in the coronation room while one of the girls whipped out her video camera and another hummed the appropriate tune from the move Anastasia. We were so enthralled in our dancing that the other girls didn't notice one of the Russian guards sitting on the side of the room motioning for us to come over. I braced myself for getting chastised once again (we can't seem to do anything right in this country), but the guard was smiling at me as I approached her and in her broken English she informed me that it was not the coronation room where Anastasia would have danced, but the ballroom next door! And the best part of the palace was that it not only let us see the grandeur of a Russian palace, but it now is a museum as well. Peter the Great began an art collection that Catherine the Great added to, and so it went through the ages. Now it fills not only the Winter Palace, but 4 other buildings, equally extravagant and massive that link together, forming the Hermitage. The Winter Palace alone has 1057 rooms and 117 staircases. And besides all the artwork on display in these five buildings, there is 20 times as much in storage in the vaults below. Needless to say, we spent a lot of time there and barely scratched the surface. I loved it!

Well, since this is getting so long, I'll post about Finland, Sweden, Estonia and Latvia in separate entries. I'll just stick to some highlights. And I'll add pictures soon...