Julie,
Well can you believe it is the last international residency? As I sit here and contemplate it, I can't believe in the last 11 months I have been to London, Dubai, New Delhi, Shanghai, and now St. Petersburg. You have been such an amazing support through all of this. The other thing I have realized is how much closer this experience has made us. I've been here for a little over 24 hours and already I am wishing I were home with you and the boys. As much fun as it is to be in Russia, it will never be as fun as it would be with you. Having said that, I really think we made the right choice in you not coming. I want you to see Moscow--my home-- not St. Petersburg. (Plus I am VERY MUCH looking forward to our trip to Cancun!) My point in all this is that WOW! it has been a long journey and YES! we can see the light at the end of the tunnel.
I arrived in St. Petersburg last night around 6:30pm and as usual by the time I got to the hotel, unpacked, and took a deep breath it was time to go to bed--thankfully cause I was exhausted.
This hotel is definitely VERY NICE for Russia, but it doesn't get anywhere near matching the JW Marriott we stayed at in Shanghai. The rooms are actually kind of disappointing-- smaller rooms, small bathroom, weird half glass bathtub/shower, and two twin beds side by side instead of a king bed.
View from the doorway
Bathroom (that's the beday, not the toilet, I'm standing over the toilet taking the picture)
Notice the half glass shower thing... it only blocks enough water so your floor gets partly soaking wet :)
Bedroom-- two twins? huh? Aren't I suppose to feel like a king? :)
This morning we had orientation first at 8am followed up by a 2 hour GMI class. I learned two things, 1. Orientation is still boring, and 2. I still don't like GMI and will be very glad it is over after this term. I promise I am not trying to be negative, I think I am just becoming a little more opinionated about certain things so I can then translate that into being more decisive in some of my decision making.
After classes we were given box lunches and then it was free time and a group cultural tour. During the free time a big group of us decided to take a trip out to Peterhof to see the palace and we ended up having quite the adventure. I didn't even know the group was going to Peterhof until I got down to the lobby to go to the convenience store (had to buy some toothpaste cause I forgot to bring some) and I saw a big group of students. I ran back up to my room to get my camera and by the time I got back most of the group was gone except Dave Taylor and Johnson Tan who waited for me. They had said everyone was going to walk there so we started walking assuming we as 3 people could catch up to the big group. Apparently, however, we couldn't. We were never really sure we were going the right way but we were walking down the main historical street nevski avenue (невский проспект) so here are some of the things we saw along the way.
This is the Hermitage (Art/Cultural Museum). Our tour guide in our later tour told us that if you spent
10 seconds looking at each picture in there that it would take you 2 weeks straight to finish.
WOW! That's a lot of pictures.
After about a 40 minute walk we made it to the hydro foil boat in order to ride to Peterhof. This is where we caught up with the rest of the group.
The Hydro foil boat to Peterhof
Along the way there wasn't much to see, but this was kind of
cool to see the construction/maintenance area for a big ship.
After a 30 minute boat ride, we made it Peterhof. Luckily for all of this I had my student ID in my wallet, because student prices are half of the regular tourist prices. We were pressed for time, so we didn't spend a huge amount of time here, but it was definitely worth seeing. The palace is HUGE and the fountains are amazing to see.
Me at Peterhof
This is a view from the palace looking back toward the docks where the boat dropped us off.
This is a view from the docks toward the palace.
After Peterhof, we boogied on back to the hotel so we could make it on time for the cultural tour with the Duke group. We made it back in enough time to run an errand to the store for my toothpaste and then catch the bus. The bus ride was alright and the tour guide was a funny girl that spoke funny broken english, but driving around the city gets a little old after a while. Here are some of the sites we saw.
One of many monuments
The Moscow Train Station (i.e. the portal to my homeland in Russia)
Another monument
The Cathedral of Christ and the Spilt Blood.
After the bus ride, we took this boat through the river/canals of the city. It was a cool perspective, but I didn't take many pictures because you are so low all you can really see are the sides of buildings. All in all it was a busy day with a lot of walking and touring, but it was also A LOT OF FUN! I'm glad I got to see as much of the city as I did and especially right up front so I can be sure I got to do all I wanted to.
Here are a couple of videos I shot... hopefully they load.
Peterhof
Example of our boat tour
(very similar to the one we did in Denmark)
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