So I sort of ended last time with us getting to Moscow on the train from Piter.
I'm back in Moscow.
But in between those stops in Moscow, lots of stuff happened. I'm not going to write about it though.
Anyways, got on a train in Irkutsk on Monday. Got off in Moscow on Thursday. It was sort of a long time. Mainly I told a lot of different people a lot of lies about myself. It was a good time. One babyshka even believes that am Russian and live in Moscow with my mother and brother in our 2-room apartment. Brilliant!
So now I am in Moscow till my flight back to the U.S. on Monday afternoon.
Today I found an ice rink on the 7th floor of a shopping mall in Moscow. In the middle of the rink is a bar. Not like a bar. But A BAR. Where they serve drinks and shit. I love this country!
Also Red Square is blocked off. I didn't know why. Didn't feel like asking the hordes of policemen everywhere. I just found the answer. Good work google.ru Because there is a costume ball on the ice rink in honor of the final episode of Tatianin Den'.
Nothing else important to say.
Friday, January 25, 2008
Sunday, January 13, 2008
часть первая
So I’m going to go back and try to fill in the blanks/holes/novels worth of stuff that happened that I didn’t have time to write about in amazing Novosibirsk basement internet cafe.
Right now I am sitting in Sonya’s cozy little room on the 7th floor of a stately and majestic apartment building in Irkutsk. Yes. We made it.
So we were in Helsinki with Laurel from January 3-7. Finland is a very orderly place. There is not garbage on the streets. All of the people walk around saying “Hey” to each other because “Hey” means “Hello.” But it is a very short and abrupt “Hey” and it is very strange when there are grandmothers in the grocery store saying “Hey” to each other. Also we got really good at saying “Hey” and so the people at the grocery store would speak to us in Finnish and not English.
Speaking of English, everyone in Finland seems to speak English. I guess if your language only allowed you to communicate with 6 million people, it might be useful to know a second language.
Enough about orderly, stately, and majestic Finland. Back to Russia.
We took an 8 hr. train from Helsinki to Piter. The train was full of Russians rejoicing about the beauty of the motherland once we crossed the border. Then there was a small russian boy who refused to praise the motherland because he was too busy shooting people with the toy pistol and telling everyone that he wanted to eat a sandwich. He was pretty awesome.
Arrival in Saint Petersburg at approximately 2 p.m. Only 23 hours until our train leaves for Moscow! So we walked around for a long time and, actually I don’t really remember what we did. We went to McDonalds and I ate a BigMac. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Later when I was dying of meat poisoning or something, it didn’t seem like such a great idea. So then we bought tickets for the night tour which began at 11:15 and ended at 5:30 a.m. So it’s sort of like a hotel except somehow a narration of St. Petersburg will occur for five hours. Oh man. This was complete misery. Maybe if I hadn’t been completely exhausted and freezing cold the whole time, it would have been enjoyable. But I was cold and sort of drifted in and out of crappy sleep for five hours. The first hour was good. Susanna and I had just eaten blini and drank tea and I had bought chocolate and ice cream. So we were pretty awake. Oh yes. That building IS quite interesting. The tour guide was a little too over the top. Sort of like an auctioneer person who just talks way way way too fast. And on the left...and on the right...and on the left...Pushkin...Pushkin....on the left....Leningrad Blockade...on the right....on the left...Pushkin...etc. Exhausting. Every once in a while she would begin reciting poetry. In a very strange, deep, eerie voice. It was so out of control.
At some point, Susanna and I stopped exiting the bus when it would stop for picture taking opportunities and just slept. Except I would still wake up every once in a while, completely shivering (half of this was due to actual cold, half due to BigMac meat poisoning). Whenever I woke up, we were in the same exact stop we had been in last time. At least that’s what it seemed like. Or else maybe all of the damn buildings and canals look the same at 4 a.m. Also there was a cafe stop at 2 a.m. Susanna took a picture of me drinking my chai. I look like I am about to die. Very flattering. Some of the other tour bus rider people went not for chai, but shots of vodka. We were on the bus for a really long time. The tour guide was CRAZY. Then the tour ended at 5:30 in the morning.
Metro opens at 6. Train leaves at 13:00. Only like 7 hours left. We decided our bar/cafe hopping which we had done the night before before the tour began could not continue. First of all, it’s expensive. Second of all, eating all the time is enjoyable up to a certain point, but after that point just becomes miserable. Especially when you’re eating BigMac’s or cake or other useless food. But we did go to one cafe. And I ate cake. It was good. There were bums hassling the manager because he wouldn’t let them hang out in the cafe or something. This was only the beginning of our growing relationship with the quality Russian bum population. Then we rode the St. Petersburg green line metro from one end to the other. Cold and tiredness to an extreme level. I always thought it was cool when everyone sits there on the metro with their eyes closed until their stop is announced and they open their eyes and gather themselves to carry on with their lives. Oh man. I sat there with my eyes closed because it was essentially physically impossible to open them due to above stated cold and tiredness. It was so miserable. But the whole time it was actually just really funny. In a way that soon, (like now) we will look back and lack at how ridiculous and miserable and funny the whole experience was.
No one really wants to read about Susanna and I being homeless in Piter. Just wait ‘til we’re homeless in Kazan. So quickly, I shall finish up Piter. Then we got off the metro and walked to a grocery store to buy groceries for the trains Piter to Moscow and Moscow to Kazan. While we were walking to the grocery store, there was a huge patch of ice. We both slipped and like hugely fell and landed on the ground on top of each other. Misery. Bought groceries. Went back to train station. Only 3.5 hours before train leaves. Sat in the blini restaurant called “Teaspoon” for a really long time. Drank tea. Peaked in my ailments as a result of BigMac consumption. Extreme shivering and just like coldness to the core. Me being eternally cold might not be related to me eating the BigMac. It could be related to the fact that it is winter in Russia. And thus, cold. Oh well. Not important.
Got on the train to Moscow.
Right now I am sitting in Sonya’s cozy little room on the 7th floor of a stately and majestic apartment building in Irkutsk. Yes. We made it.
So we were in Helsinki with Laurel from January 3-7. Finland is a very orderly place. There is not garbage on the streets. All of the people walk around saying “Hey” to each other because “Hey” means “Hello.” But it is a very short and abrupt “Hey” and it is very strange when there are grandmothers in the grocery store saying “Hey” to each other. Also we got really good at saying “Hey” and so the people at the grocery store would speak to us in Finnish and not English.
Speaking of English, everyone in Finland seems to speak English. I guess if your language only allowed you to communicate with 6 million people, it might be useful to know a second language.
Enough about orderly, stately, and majestic Finland. Back to Russia.
We took an 8 hr. train from Helsinki to Piter. The train was full of Russians rejoicing about the beauty of the motherland once we crossed the border. Then there was a small russian boy who refused to praise the motherland because he was too busy shooting people with the toy pistol and telling everyone that he wanted to eat a sandwich. He was pretty awesome.
Arrival in Saint Petersburg at approximately 2 p.m. Only 23 hours until our train leaves for Moscow! So we walked around for a long time and, actually I don’t really remember what we did. We went to McDonalds and I ate a BigMac. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Later when I was dying of meat poisoning or something, it didn’t seem like such a great idea. So then we bought tickets for the night tour which began at 11:15 and ended at 5:30 a.m. So it’s sort of like a hotel except somehow a narration of St. Petersburg will occur for five hours. Oh man. This was complete misery. Maybe if I hadn’t been completely exhausted and freezing cold the whole time, it would have been enjoyable. But I was cold and sort of drifted in and out of crappy sleep for five hours. The first hour was good. Susanna and I had just eaten blini and drank tea and I had bought chocolate and ice cream. So we were pretty awake. Oh yes. That building IS quite interesting. The tour guide was a little too over the top. Sort of like an auctioneer person who just talks way way way too fast. And on the left...and on the right...and on the left...Pushkin...Pushkin....on the left....Leningrad Blockade...on the right....on the left...Pushkin...etc. Exhausting. Every once in a while she would begin reciting poetry. In a very strange, deep, eerie voice. It was so out of control.
At some point, Susanna and I stopped exiting the bus when it would stop for picture taking opportunities and just slept. Except I would still wake up every once in a while, completely shivering (half of this was due to actual cold, half due to BigMac meat poisoning). Whenever I woke up, we were in the same exact stop we had been in last time. At least that’s what it seemed like. Or else maybe all of the damn buildings and canals look the same at 4 a.m. Also there was a cafe stop at 2 a.m. Susanna took a picture of me drinking my chai. I look like I am about to die. Very flattering. Some of the other tour bus rider people went not for chai, but shots of vodka. We were on the bus for a really long time. The tour guide was CRAZY. Then the tour ended at 5:30 in the morning.
Metro opens at 6. Train leaves at 13:00. Only like 7 hours left. We decided our bar/cafe hopping which we had done the night before before the tour began could not continue. First of all, it’s expensive. Second of all, eating all the time is enjoyable up to a certain point, but after that point just becomes miserable. Especially when you’re eating BigMac’s or cake or other useless food. But we did go to one cafe. And I ate cake. It was good. There were bums hassling the manager because he wouldn’t let them hang out in the cafe or something. This was only the beginning of our growing relationship with the quality Russian bum population. Then we rode the St. Petersburg green line metro from one end to the other. Cold and tiredness to an extreme level. I always thought it was cool when everyone sits there on the metro with their eyes closed until their stop is announced and they open their eyes and gather themselves to carry on with their lives. Oh man. I sat there with my eyes closed because it was essentially physically impossible to open them due to above stated cold and tiredness. It was so miserable. But the whole time it was actually just really funny. In a way that soon, (like now) we will look back and lack at how ridiculous and miserable and funny the whole experience was.
No one really wants to read about Susanna and I being homeless in Piter. Just wait ‘til we’re homeless in Kazan. So quickly, I shall finish up Piter. Then we got off the metro and walked to a grocery store to buy groceries for the trains Piter to Moscow and Moscow to Kazan. While we were walking to the grocery store, there was a huge patch of ice. We both slipped and like hugely fell and landed on the ground on top of each other. Misery. Bought groceries. Went back to train station. Only 3.5 hours before train leaves. Sat in the blini restaurant called “Teaspoon” for a really long time. Drank tea. Peaked in my ailments as a result of BigMac consumption. Extreme shivering and just like coldness to the core. Me being eternally cold might not be related to me eating the BigMac. It could be related to the fact that it is winter in Russia. And thus, cold. Oh well. Not important.
Got on the train to Moscow.
Saturday, January 12, 2008
Helsinki-Piter-Moscow-Kazan-Novosibirsk
Something should be written. This underground internet cafe is full of teenage Russian boys playing Warcraft III and just generally taking over the entire place. I'm in Novosibersk. The past, I don't know how long it's been... Well, we left Helsinki on Monday morning. And now it's Saturday evening.
БЕЗ СЛОВ. As in, even if I had all the time in the world, I would never come up with the right words to explain the past week.
Highlights:
We abandoned the all night internet cafe option in Piter (so I'm sorry for those people I promised long e-mails to and never recieved them). We bought tickets on a 6 hr. night tour of St. Petersburg. Which was originally concieved as a way to see the city during the White Nights of summer (as in it's almost always daylight). Well, winter nights are not really optimable for sight seeing. Especially when you're already exhausted, like EXHAUSTED, like EXHAUSTED. Anyways, we rode on a bus for 6 hours around Piter. I swear every time I woke up we were looking at the same god damn street and the old, but extremely energetic and LOUD tourguide was reciting some ridiculous Pushkin poem.
The bus abandoned us at 5:30. So then it was a rough 7 hours till our train left for Moscow. I don't really remember what we did. At one point, tired of walking from cafe to cafe and drinking endless amounts of tea, we got on the green metro line and rode it from one end to the other. It was miserable.
Train: Piter to Moscow
Train Stations in Moscow: Our train never showed up on the list of departing trains. Like we thought the train didn't exist.
**Intermission: This stately and majestic tall Russian woman in heels and a long shuba is trying to wake up the drunk man asleep at the computer surrounded by empty Baltika beer bottles because she paid for internet on that computer. The man really isn't moving anywhere. I think she found another free computer in the nest of teenage Warcraft players.**
So we ran around the train station asking people if our train existed. And they kept saying it did, but it was still never displayed on the board. Also during this time, while I was buying return train tickets from Irkutsk to Moscow, Susanna befriended some bums.
Then our train really did exist. It was just FULL of school kids. And then this was the greatest train ever because we were going to sleep (IN A BED!!!!!!) for the first time since leaving Helsinki. The train was FULL of school kids. Right. I already said that. And then like an hour into the ride. They all had to change wagons (train cars) so there was an endless marching of children through our wagon. And they all looked at us, as if we were the weirdo's. No. You are members of a freaking endless children's army marching through the train. You are the weirdo's. Also the middle aged Russian woman chaperoning the kids hated us. Most middle aged Russian woman glare at me a lot. I wonder why.
Running out of time.
So then we took the train from Moscow to Kazan and slept in a freaking bed. Then we got to Kazan and it was... -20 Celsius. Which is just plain cold. And we were homeless for like 7 hours until our next train left at 2 a.m.
So we just loitered about for a long time. Susanna and I are really good at this now. It was cold. We went to the Kremlin and the central shopping center place and then to dinner and then bought food for the train and then back to the train station. And then further craziness occured which may or may not be recorded at a later date. And then we got on our train from Kazan to Novgorod.
Kazan to Novosibirsk.
Now we're in Novosibirsk. This morning when we were kicked out of our hotel at 7 a.m. because we didn't want to pay more money it was -28 Celsius. COLD. So now we have wandered about for a long time and spent like 4 hours in the Novosibirsk Regional Studies Museum. And now I think we are going to dinner and probably going to sit there for a VERY LONG TIME. And then our train leaves tonight. And we'll be in Irkutsk Monday morning.
There is a mass migration of all the Russian boys who just finished their Warcraft games. Except a bunch of new boys just showed up. There is so much handshaking occuring amongst them it is ridiculous.
БЕЗ СЛОВ. As in, even if I had all the time in the world, I would never come up with the right words to explain the past week.
Highlights:
We abandoned the all night internet cafe option in Piter (so I'm sorry for those people I promised long e-mails to and never recieved them). We bought tickets on a 6 hr. night tour of St. Petersburg. Which was originally concieved as a way to see the city during the White Nights of summer (as in it's almost always daylight). Well, winter nights are not really optimable for sight seeing. Especially when you're already exhausted, like EXHAUSTED, like EXHAUSTED. Anyways, we rode on a bus for 6 hours around Piter. I swear every time I woke up we were looking at the same god damn street and the old, but extremely energetic and LOUD tourguide was reciting some ridiculous Pushkin poem.
The bus abandoned us at 5:30. So then it was a rough 7 hours till our train left for Moscow. I don't really remember what we did. At one point, tired of walking from cafe to cafe and drinking endless amounts of tea, we got on the green metro line and rode it from one end to the other. It was miserable.
Train: Piter to Moscow
Train Stations in Moscow: Our train never showed up on the list of departing trains. Like we thought the train didn't exist.
**Intermission: This stately and majestic tall Russian woman in heels and a long shuba is trying to wake up the drunk man asleep at the computer surrounded by empty Baltika beer bottles because she paid for internet on that computer. The man really isn't moving anywhere. I think she found another free computer in the nest of teenage Warcraft players.**
So we ran around the train station asking people if our train existed. And they kept saying it did, but it was still never displayed on the board. Also during this time, while I was buying return train tickets from Irkutsk to Moscow, Susanna befriended some bums.
Then our train really did exist. It was just FULL of school kids. And then this was the greatest train ever because we were going to sleep (IN A BED!!!!!!) for the first time since leaving Helsinki. The train was FULL of school kids. Right. I already said that. And then like an hour into the ride. They all had to change wagons (train cars) so there was an endless marching of children through our wagon. And they all looked at us, as if we were the weirdo's. No. You are members of a freaking endless children's army marching through the train. You are the weirdo's. Also the middle aged Russian woman chaperoning the kids hated us. Most middle aged Russian woman glare at me a lot. I wonder why.
Running out of time.
So then we took the train from Moscow to Kazan and slept in a freaking bed. Then we got to Kazan and it was... -20 Celsius. Which is just plain cold. And we were homeless for like 7 hours until our next train left at 2 a.m.
So we just loitered about for a long time. Susanna and I are really good at this now. It was cold. We went to the Kremlin and the central shopping center place and then to dinner and then bought food for the train and then back to the train station. And then further craziness occured which may or may not be recorded at a later date. And then we got on our train from Kazan to Novgorod.
Kazan to Novosibirsk.
Now we're in Novosibirsk. This morning when we were kicked out of our hotel at 7 a.m. because we didn't want to pay more money it was -28 Celsius. COLD. So now we have wandered about for a long time and spent like 4 hours in the Novosibirsk Regional Studies Museum. And now I think we are going to dinner and probably going to sit there for a VERY LONG TIME. And then our train leaves tonight. And we'll be in Irkutsk Monday morning.
There is a mass migration of all the Russian boys who just finished their Warcraft games. Except a bunch of new boys just showed up. There is so much handshaking occuring amongst them it is ridiculous.
Sunday, January 6, 2008
Helsinki, Finland
Well. I'm not in Russia. I'm in Helsinki, Finland. Susanna and I took a brief break from Russia to meet Laurel who spent the semester studying in Paris. But we're going back to Russia tomorrow. If they let us past the customs control and border guards.
Important Observations About Finland
1. In Finland, they don't speak Russian or English. They speak a crazy language. It is called Finnish. As far as I can tell, every letter begins with H and is like 8 billion letters long and has long streams of a's all joined together. Example of a Finnish word. Haaalaaajkaaaamaaaanjaaaaa
2. I have now ridden on the most northern most metro in the world. Helsinki is the proud owner/location of such a metro. It only has one line. Also the cars are all bright orange. It was awesome.
3. Also this has nothing to do with Helsinki, but if anyone is ever going to be in Piter you need to stay at the Crazy Duck Hostel because that is the GREATEST place EVER. And by greatest, I mean craziest. And I was telling Susanna that they needed to divide the sleeping arrangements organized by insanity level and then we realized they probably did divide the hostel by insanity level and were placed in the crazy room. Crazy.
4. We saw some churches in Helsinki. They were stately and majestic. One of them is called the "rock church" and it is underground awesomeness. There's also a very pretty Russian Orthodox church on top of a hill.
5. We were multiple times mistaken for being both Finnish and even Russian. Some guy in this huge underground mall asked us in russian if we spoke russian. Because we look so russian with our coats and boots and stylish russian-ness. Awesome moment number 1. And then the waitress at the restaurant talked to us for like 3 minutes in Finnish and we all smiled and nodded and then she came back and kept speaking Finnish and then we ordered. And she said "Wow, you don't speak Finnish." And we said "No." And then she said "And I just went on and on speaking in Finnish to you." And we said "Yes." Awesome moment number 2. And then I tried to pronounce some italian pasta dish thing, and Laurel and Susanna laughed at my failure.
6. Also Susanna and I bought ice cream and ate it on the street when it was like negative 1 billion degrees which it always is. Which is like completely only a thing that Russian people do. So that was awesome. And all the hearty Finns looked at us.
7. Susanna likes to remind us that Finns are very hearty. They're also friendly. And very Finnish. But mostly hearty.
8. They also do nordic walking which means they stride about the city with nordic ski poles. Strange. Yes. A hearty, finnish activity. Most definitely.
9. Tomorrow night the Crazy Duck Hostel is full. So Susanna and I have planned our night in Piter to include depositing of luggage in luggage lockers at the train station, then wandering until it gets dark or cold, then going to McDonalds till like 2 a.m., then going to internet cafe from like 2 till 6, then going back to the train station and leaving for Moscow. I wonder what kind of people hang out in a 24 hour internet cafe on Nevski Prospekt at 4 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. I will soon be able to tell you.
Important Observations About Finland
1. In Finland, they don't speak Russian or English. They speak a crazy language. It is called Finnish. As far as I can tell, every letter begins with H and is like 8 billion letters long and has long streams of a's all joined together. Example of a Finnish word. Haaalaaajkaaaamaaaanjaaaaa
2. I have now ridden on the most northern most metro in the world. Helsinki is the proud owner/location of such a metro. It only has one line. Also the cars are all bright orange. It was awesome.
3. Also this has nothing to do with Helsinki, but if anyone is ever going to be in Piter you need to stay at the Crazy Duck Hostel because that is the GREATEST place EVER. And by greatest, I mean craziest. And I was telling Susanna that they needed to divide the sleeping arrangements organized by insanity level and then we realized they probably did divide the hostel by insanity level and were placed in the crazy room. Crazy.
4. We saw some churches in Helsinki. They were stately and majestic. One of them is called the "rock church" and it is underground awesomeness. There's also a very pretty Russian Orthodox church on top of a hill.
5. We were multiple times mistaken for being both Finnish and even Russian. Some guy in this huge underground mall asked us in russian if we spoke russian. Because we look so russian with our coats and boots and stylish russian-ness. Awesome moment number 1. And then the waitress at the restaurant talked to us for like 3 minutes in Finnish and we all smiled and nodded and then she came back and kept speaking Finnish and then we ordered. And she said "Wow, you don't speak Finnish." And we said "No." And then she said "And I just went on and on speaking in Finnish to you." And we said "Yes." Awesome moment number 2. And then I tried to pronounce some italian pasta dish thing, and Laurel and Susanna laughed at my failure.
6. Also Susanna and I bought ice cream and ate it on the street when it was like negative 1 billion degrees which it always is. Which is like completely only a thing that Russian people do. So that was awesome. And all the hearty Finns looked at us.
7. Susanna likes to remind us that Finns are very hearty. They're also friendly. And very Finnish. But mostly hearty.
8. They also do nordic walking which means they stride about the city with nordic ski poles. Strange. Yes. A hearty, finnish activity. Most definitely.
9. Tomorrow night the Crazy Duck Hostel is full. So Susanna and I have planned our night in Piter to include depositing of luggage in luggage lockers at the train station, then wandering until it gets dark or cold, then going to McDonalds till like 2 a.m., then going to internet cafe from like 2 till 6, then going back to the train station and leaving for Moscow. I wonder what kind of people hang out in a 24 hour internet cafe on Nevski Prospekt at 4 a.m. on a Tuesday morning. I will soon be able to tell you.
Tuesday, January 1, 2008
Novgorod and Piter
So last blog entry was lame. I fear the same will be said of this entry. Um. We rode the elektrickha to Novgorod. So it stopped like every approximately half second in the middle of nowhere so that some drunk man or crazy grandmother could get on or off. There were a lot of both drunk men and crazy grandmothers on the elektrichka. One of the crazy grandmothers talked to Susanna. She was crazy. Another of the grandmothers decided she needed to call every single person whose phone number she had and wish them a happy new years in a VERY LOUD VOICE! So then we got to Novgorod. And found our hotel. And I went to buy us water. And I walked past the shaslik cafe which had a disco ball and lots of drunk dancing occurring. I also walked past a store called “The World of Belarusian Cosmetics.” Then on Friday we went and wandered around the Kremlin which is very old and stately and majestic. And there was lots of wind blowing and snow whirling and cold ness occuring. It was pretty cool. Then we went in this church thingy. Susanna says it is properly translated as “The Church of the Holy Wisdom.” It was big and old and had lots of icons and stuff. Wow, this is such descript writing I’m doing. I guess if I knew more about art or icons or religion or really any sort of general cultural knowledge it might have more of an impact on me. But anyways. I don’t know anything about these things.
Then we went to a museum. And Susanna got yelled at for having her nose too close to the display case. This is the most brilliant thing ever. We were just generally frowned at by lots of grandmother/guard women. There was an icon section of the museum. Oh man. I am tired of icons. So I sort of looked at some of them. I also made myself read all of the explanations in Russian so that it would take longer. I also strategically placed myself so that the grandmother/guard women could not see both Susanna and I at the same time. Which caused them to freak out and do their absolute best to reposition themselves so they could see us at the same time or else do some secret code signal thing so that another nearby grandmother/guard women would move her position to be able to watch me and then the first one could concentrate on keeping Susanna at a safe distance from the display cases. Then we went to another church. And we crossed the footbridge over the river in a huge whirling snow storm and it was awesome. And the other church was very old and deserted and had the only remaining icons/paintings/artwork of Theophanes the Greek (Woohoo! I know something!) Anyways. I liked it better. Because it wasn’t trying hard. And it wasn’t full of people. Actually Susanna and I were the only ones there.
Then we tried to find a cafe. Except one cafe had only food and no tea. Another had only drinks and no food. A third had both on the menu but then the women told us they didn’t have tea. Hello. We are in Russia. How do you not have tea? Then a fourth had a coat room guy who I saw when I was halfway through the door and so we immediately abandoned that plan. If there is a coat room at the restaurant, that place is way above our budget. Also sometimes at the really fancy places, the coat room man puts your coat on you. Those places are especially expensive. And especially out of our budget guidelines. Anyways we abandoned fourth cafe with coat man. Then fifth cafe which had everything we wanted except then the waitress told us they didn’t have blini. But we were tired of looking. Plus the only other people in the little cafe was a wedding party of like 8 people. And I really wanted to eat in the cafe with the nevesta. I am obsessed with brides now. It is very strange. One time in Moscow at Victory Park there were 6 of them just wandering around near the statue monument thing. It was so awesome. There is a super secret picture of me taken there with like 3 different brides in the background. Also sometimes they have little mini white shuba (fur coats) that are pretty dang cool.
Nothing else important happened in Novgorod. We took the train to Piter on Saturday morning. Found the Crazy Duck Hostel. Which has turned out to be like the CRAZIEST place ever. I could literally write a book about the crazy shit that goes down here. Actually now that I try to write, I’m not sure what to say. We are in a room with 8 beds. At least 3 different people are guaranteed to be sleeping at any given time. Which means the room is always not lit. Which means the level of byez poryadok (mess) is completely ridiculous. Like at any given time people are sleeping. It is RIDICULOUS. There are people from Finland who sleep all day and party all night. Except the one snores. Like REALLY loud. Like it is impossible to sleep. IMPOSSIBLE. So you just have to hope that you have gotten enough sleep while he has been out partying and so when he returns at like 8 a.m. and begins to snore it will be okay that it is impossible for you to sleep. Also there are people from Brazil. The boy is ALWAYS in bed. Or in the hostel. I’m not sure if he ever really leaves the hostel. Like seriously. Also there are Ukrainians who are very, very nice and know way more about America then Susanna and I combined. I don’t have a favorite NBA team. I don’t know anything about Sequois National Park. I know little about Mexican immigrants in California. Who is my favorite American actor? I don’t know. Not Tom Cruise. What is my favorite band? Is Nirvana popular in America? What about The Doors? Sometimes we try to ask questions about Ukraine, but I don’t really know enough to form any sort of intelligent question. But they really are very, very nice. Then there are also a large number of completely out of control Australians who are not staying in our room but they just sort of take over the kitchen/rest of the hostel. They are I would say very drunk very a lot of the time. They’re just complete loons. This paragraph has very inadequately conveyed the insanity of this hostel. There are also some other people. The Australians think they are French. I think they are Russian. So we’re not really sure.
In Piter we have...
-wandered around for a long time in the rainy muck looking for internet and grocery stores.
-gone to the Russian Museum which was very big and stately and majestic and full of priceless cultural art masterpieces which I know nothing about. But the palace it is housed in was pretty awesome. Actually I spent most of the time looking at the ceililngs in the different rooms. The rest of the people really were missing out by focusing on the actual art and not the awesome gold ceiling. One of the rooms had really pretty red walls and then the gold ceiling stuff. Also my general rule for appreciation of art is the bigger it is, the better it is. This is a very incorrect appreciation. After all, the small art requires fine hand control and delicate brush technique. But the big art is where it’s at. Go big or go home.
-went to one of the neighboring palaces with the 3 Ukrainians and wandered the grounds for a really long time.
-stood on Nevski Prospekt and listened to Putin’s New Year’s address to the country and was surrounded by like 8 trillion people and fireworks and lots of hooligan-ness. I would say без слов. It was pretty great.
-Today we found the Chijik Pijik statue. And wandered more about Nevskii. And saw the rink on Palace Square. And ate blini.
And tomorrow I think we are going to the Hermitage to further my art education and deep insights about brush technique. And maybe the PeterPaul fortress thingy. And then on Thursday we are leaving for Helsinki. The Finn man (in like the one time in which we were both awake at the same time) told us it is a very expensive city. Woot Woot!
Also Dimitri Medvedev is 5 foot 4. This is very funny. You should laugh.
Then we went to a museum. And Susanna got yelled at for having her nose too close to the display case. This is the most brilliant thing ever. We were just generally frowned at by lots of grandmother/guard women. There was an icon section of the museum. Oh man. I am tired of icons. So I sort of looked at some of them. I also made myself read all of the explanations in Russian so that it would take longer. I also strategically placed myself so that the grandmother/guard women could not see both Susanna and I at the same time. Which caused them to freak out and do their absolute best to reposition themselves so they could see us at the same time or else do some secret code signal thing so that another nearby grandmother/guard women would move her position to be able to watch me and then the first one could concentrate on keeping Susanna at a safe distance from the display cases. Then we went to another church. And we crossed the footbridge over the river in a huge whirling snow storm and it was awesome. And the other church was very old and deserted and had the only remaining icons/paintings/artwork of Theophanes the Greek (Woohoo! I know something!) Anyways. I liked it better. Because it wasn’t trying hard. And it wasn’t full of people. Actually Susanna and I were the only ones there.
Then we tried to find a cafe. Except one cafe had only food and no tea. Another had only drinks and no food. A third had both on the menu but then the women told us they didn’t have tea. Hello. We are in Russia. How do you not have tea? Then a fourth had a coat room guy who I saw when I was halfway through the door and so we immediately abandoned that plan. If there is a coat room at the restaurant, that place is way above our budget. Also sometimes at the really fancy places, the coat room man puts your coat on you. Those places are especially expensive. And especially out of our budget guidelines. Anyways we abandoned fourth cafe with coat man. Then fifth cafe which had everything we wanted except then the waitress told us they didn’t have blini. But we were tired of looking. Plus the only other people in the little cafe was a wedding party of like 8 people. And I really wanted to eat in the cafe with the nevesta. I am obsessed with brides now. It is very strange. One time in Moscow at Victory Park there were 6 of them just wandering around near the statue monument thing. It was so awesome. There is a super secret picture of me taken there with like 3 different brides in the background. Also sometimes they have little mini white shuba (fur coats) that are pretty dang cool.
Nothing else important happened in Novgorod. We took the train to Piter on Saturday morning. Found the Crazy Duck Hostel. Which has turned out to be like the CRAZIEST place ever. I could literally write a book about the crazy shit that goes down here. Actually now that I try to write, I’m not sure what to say. We are in a room with 8 beds. At least 3 different people are guaranteed to be sleeping at any given time. Which means the room is always not lit. Which means the level of byez poryadok (mess) is completely ridiculous. Like at any given time people are sleeping. It is RIDICULOUS. There are people from Finland who sleep all day and party all night. Except the one snores. Like REALLY loud. Like it is impossible to sleep. IMPOSSIBLE. So you just have to hope that you have gotten enough sleep while he has been out partying and so when he returns at like 8 a.m. and begins to snore it will be okay that it is impossible for you to sleep. Also there are people from Brazil. The boy is ALWAYS in bed. Or in the hostel. I’m not sure if he ever really leaves the hostel. Like seriously. Also there are Ukrainians who are very, very nice and know way more about America then Susanna and I combined. I don’t have a favorite NBA team. I don’t know anything about Sequois National Park. I know little about Mexican immigrants in California. Who is my favorite American actor? I don’t know. Not Tom Cruise. What is my favorite band? Is Nirvana popular in America? What about The Doors? Sometimes we try to ask questions about Ukraine, but I don’t really know enough to form any sort of intelligent question. But they really are very, very nice. Then there are also a large number of completely out of control Australians who are not staying in our room but they just sort of take over the kitchen/rest of the hostel. They are I would say very drunk very a lot of the time. They’re just complete loons. This paragraph has very inadequately conveyed the insanity of this hostel. There are also some other people. The Australians think they are French. I think they are Russian. So we’re not really sure.
In Piter we have...
-wandered around for a long time in the rainy muck looking for internet and grocery stores.
-gone to the Russian Museum which was very big and stately and majestic and full of priceless cultural art masterpieces which I know nothing about. But the palace it is housed in was pretty awesome. Actually I spent most of the time looking at the ceililngs in the different rooms. The rest of the people really were missing out by focusing on the actual art and not the awesome gold ceiling. One of the rooms had really pretty red walls and then the gold ceiling stuff. Also my general rule for appreciation of art is the bigger it is, the better it is. This is a very incorrect appreciation. After all, the small art requires fine hand control and delicate brush technique. But the big art is where it’s at. Go big or go home.
-went to one of the neighboring palaces with the 3 Ukrainians and wandered the grounds for a really long time.
-stood on Nevski Prospekt and listened to Putin’s New Year’s address to the country and was surrounded by like 8 trillion people and fireworks and lots of hooligan-ness. I would say без слов. It was pretty great.
-Today we found the Chijik Pijik statue. And wandered more about Nevskii. And saw the rink on Palace Square. And ate blini.
And tomorrow I think we are going to the Hermitage to further my art education and deep insights about brush technique. And maybe the PeterPaul fortress thingy. And then on Thursday we are leaving for Helsinki. The Finn man (in like the one time in which we were both awake at the same time) told us it is a very expensive city. Woot Woot!
Also Dimitri Medvedev is 5 foot 4. This is very funny. You should laugh.
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