A day in St Petersburg

The morning started with a call from President Pieper at 7:00 am. We finalized the last details needed for the articles Salt Lake needed, and I was free of work responsibilities for the day.

After a very careful trip to the bathroom--it's really gross, just trust me on this one (on my first train ride as a new missionary, I was given a strict "Don't touch ANYTHING in there!" which has stuck with me ever since--it was back to my bed to try and sleep a bit more before folding up my sheets and rolling the matress back up. Eli and I sat and waited as people filed passed, hoping we'd see Dima. He came passed and said, "Well, let's go!" He took us to the metro, bought us two coins for the ride, then took us to a bookstore where I could buy a map. He pointed in the direction of the Winter Palace, offered to meet up for lunch, and went on his way.

The day started out nice as we set off down the street to (hopefully) find some yummy Russian bread. This was not to be, but we did find a Carl's Jr, which is VERY rare, so we made a mental note to stop back later. The sky was getting cloudy, and we decided a tour of the city on the bus sounded quite nice. We bought two tickets for a bus leaving in one hour, then headed off for Carl's Jr.

The tour was nice, as it saved us from the rain. We saw the ship Avrora and took a lot of pics there, then it was off to a beautiful white church. We found the most beautiful icon, and wanted to buy it, but there was no one there. When we finally did get someone's attention, she took so long that it was too late to buy it, and we went off for the rest of the tour. Still hoping I will find that one again some time!

After the tour was over, we went to the Kazan cathedral--absolutely gorgeous!! And then it was off to the cathedral of the spilt blood. So bright and colorful!

We decided the hermitage would be our next stop, and braved hours in a line to get in. Russians--100 rubles, foreigners--350 rubles...hmmm

There were the most adorable girls in the line behind us--one from Italy, the other Russian. The little Russian girl would ask her mom, "And how do you say ---- in English?" The mom would give the phrase, and the little girl would go over to her friend, repeat the phrase, and the little Italian girl would answer. Then the mom would repeat in Russian her answer. The most adorable thing I have ever seen in my life! Everyone was so entertained by this! After about 10-15 minutes of the back-and-forth, the little girl finally asked how to say "play" in English, and they went off hand-in-hand, navigating around the puddles left by the days storm.

The hermitage is enormous!!!!! I think you could walk through it for a week and not see everything! It was amazing! "No wonder the Russians rebelled against the royalty and wanted to overthrow them," Eli said. Seriously. Most of the rooms were bigger than entire Russian apartments I had been in.

We saw some Russians taking pictures and decided to strike a pose like they do. Absolutely hilarious! They are so serious about it, putting on a face like they are Vivienne Leigh playing Scarlet in Gone with the Wind. I think ours was a worthy immitation ;)

We decided to try and find the white church again (try going to a city and asking where a white church might be some time--it's loads of fun). After much wandering, and realizing how late it had gotten, we gave up the search and went for Swedish pancakes. I got mine with banana, whipped cream, and chocolate syrup. It was pretty much a banana split and as delicious as it sounds!

Then it was off to find a Ukrainian kitchen for dinner--which we did, and it was totally worth it! Ukrainians know their borscht, I'll say that much! And the place was beautifully decorated!

Then we had cheesecake at shokoladnitsa, because when you find cheesecake in Russia, you eat it! haha Divine!

We then went for a one hour boat ride on the river--very pretty, but very cold as it was 10:00 pm by now. Then it was off for hot tea, which turned into hot chocolate with ice cream somehow, at the 5:00 tea time place. I should have sprung for the tea. It was like drinking hot hershey's syrup. blech. Yet we drank the whole thing....

We power-walked to try and ease the guilt of these last few hours of splurging, and opted to walk to the train station instead of taking the metro. The night had suddenly turned warmer (not warm, but not cold) and was quite pleasant. By 1:00 am Wednesday morning, we were back on the train, meeting new Russian friends. Zhenya was on the bunk below me and was very nice. He is an ice skater here in Russia, but his dream is to live in America--he has been there for shows, but has little hope of ending up there, he said.

We again made the beds, this time gracefully climbed in (it's amazing what you can learn in a day--who knows how many talents you will have in the evening that you didn't possess when the sun came up).

After a peaceful sleep on the train, I woke up and chatted with Zhenya and the other guy across from us. They were very nice, and it was so fun to just chat in Russian! They complimented my ability to speak, said I could already live in Russia, and that it was decided--I would be staying! We all laughed.

We finally made it home, completely exhausted, with just enough time to grab a hot shower, clothes, and be off to a meeting with President Pieper.