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Nathan and I arrived on Thursday afternoon into Pulkovo Airport in Sankt (or Saint) Petersburg. We passed through a half hour of clouds descending into the city - no wonder its so dark here! The airport was surprisingly small for a city of 5 million people. There were only 4 luggage turners, to give you the idea. J (Nathan's dad) thought that many people might go to Finland to get cheaper flights - its only a few dozen kilometers away.
The drivers on the way back to their flat were exciting. You know what? I love lanes! Russians treat them more as suggestions than rules, hahaha...
After dropping our stuff off at the flat we had rich delicious hot chocolate at coffee house and the sky was drizzly pea soup and it was all very romantic for a New Mexican. (I'm glad the sun came out today!)
We've had a delightful past few days. On Friday night, we went to dinner at an important rabbi's house because J and S (Nathan's parents) were just officially converted in D.C. The rabbi's wife was a wonderful hostess and the dishes kept coming out - fish, salad, soup, stuffed peppers, chicken, pie, fruit, smoothies, chocolate pastry. Because they cannot drive (light a fire) on the Sabbath, we walked about an hour and a half through the city. Its easy to imagine all of the Russian novels set here (Avery - I just finished We the Living - so good!) - walking along the canals in the dark, passing the Church of Spilled Blood (see picture - thanks to thomashoven.com, and walking in a wool coat in September. Of course, everything about this Russia is much more modern and neon lit and doesn't look communist at all.
We got back to the flat around 1am and just lounged around all day Saturday, sleeping, walking, and eating mostly. Very Shabbaty activies.
Today, S took us to the Hermitage to see a Picasso exhibit that was leaving today. They had many many paintings, sketches, photos, and sculptures by him. They have a family pass, so we got to stroll right past the hundreds of people in line, get our coats checked, and enjoy. It's hard to imagine that people actually lived in the Hermitage. Sculpture, gold leaf, amazing parquet floors, thrones...all very worthy of a Winter Palace. We'll go back and get photos to post or you can google some images if your impatient.
That's most of it so far. More to come soon! And we'll remember that we have a camera, promise.
Yay! I'm glad you guys made it safely! The Hermitage, how super exciting, and FUCKING RUSSIA! There is a chick from Moscow in my Spanish class, but she doesn't have an accent so that made me sad. Just her being there has fucked my pronunciation. I have to constantly remind myself that in Spanish, e =! ye and b =! v. Also Spanish should not be spoken in a Russian accent.
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