spring spring spring

I went on another group hike yesterday through the woods north of Moscow. When all was said and done we had hiked 17 miles and my knees feel it this morning, let me tell you.

It was quite pleasant though. There are some regulars who I recognize now, and its generally a nice group. Yesterday me and this Irish guy were the only foriegners.

The forest smelled soooooo good. Flowers on the forest floor were in full bloom, as are lilac trees right now. I also noticed that what appears to be blue salvia grows wild in the forest here. One thing that struck me though, was the seeming lack of wildlife. I saw some scat I don't recognize, but aside from chirping birds, there were no animals, we were fairly deep in the woods for awhile, and even though there are populated areas, we were some distance from Moscow. Its just interesting because in Virginia I've seen deer, fox, and even bears not that far from populated areas. And then I started wondering if Russia even has deer this far north. It made me think of the t-shirt Sarah bought for a friend of hers that said "I have been to Moscow, there were no bears."

Perhaps the best part of the day was when we got on the train home. We were at the end of the line and got seats, as did a group of older women who also appeared to be out in the suburbs enjoying the days. Turns out this group of women is also some sort of singing group and the whole train ride home was filled with their voices, singing the always slightly melancholy Soviet songs of the 1940s and 1950s. It was lovely. Its moments like those that make me not want to leave this place.

PHOTOS!

I know that you guys just live for this stuff, so I sat online most of last night while I downloaded a whopping 21 pictures with through my pitifully slow internet connection. Waiting for the gratitude....damn.

Anyway, these are just some highlights from my last month in St. Petersburg with Marina & co. and Sarah's trip. Hey Sarah! We need to figure out how to swap all our pics.

Pictures here

Off to hike today.

tidbits of news

John gets here on Saturday (unexpectedly early, but that's more than okay). We will be travelling to Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia for a week. I realize its seems that I've had more than my fair share of vacations this year, I'm sorry, I'm just close to so many other countries and interesting places, and I feel like I haven't taken proper advantage of my geographical location this year. I promise to be boring when I get back to the states.

Speaking of boring, I've had a cracker jack few weeks in the archives. Some places I need to work in are closed all summer, so there's nothing I can do about it. I'm wrapping up in 1 archive in the next week I think, continuing in 2 others, and there is one more I need to go to, to see what they have. My material is starting to get repetetive (as in what it says doesn't surprise me anymore) and that makes me wonder if I'm almost done?!?! I think July will be more than enough time to wrap up, in the archives and the libraries and head home in early August.

If I can manage it, there is 1 more trip I want to take, up north to this island on the White Sea which has a monastery on it that used to be a prison. That will be a camping vacation though. I didn't drag my tent all the way over here for nothing. :-)

The idea of being in the home stretch is really strange and overwhelming to me...to go home again and to have it be home, because I've been so transient this year, I've lost track of what it is to have a home for more than a few months at a time. I sleep on the floor for pete's sake, and pay $550 a month to do it.

Of course that means I have to start writing this darn thing.

Where were you when the lights went out?

Okay, so I just stole that from Kim, who just asked me that question, of course we all know that its really the title of a Doris Day movie.

Yes, in case you didn't hear, there was a black out in Moscow yesterday. There was apparently panic in someplaces, most likely in the Metro when people were trapped underground in the dark (did I mention its been almost 90 degrees the past few days?), cabs were charging $180 bucks for rides to one of the airports, etc. etc. Mind you, this was not a city-wide black out. I, for instance, only heard about it, as I was in a quadrant in the center that was fine, although 2 blocks away was hit. And by the time I went home, my line of the Metro was up and running, and I didn't lose any of the food in my fridge. A fire in one power station caused the black out, and they wondered how it could happen. A fire in one power station caused the black out, and they wondered how it could happen? I guess they weren't paying attention when a small mishap at a power station in po-dunk Ohio sent the whole NORTHEAST plummeting into darkness. And Putin blamed the minister of energy Anatoly Chubais and he might even get fired, because, well folks, this is Russia. Lets all be glad its not 1937, because Chubais would already have had a speedy show trial and a bullet in the back of his head.

The weather's cooled a little, thank goodness, although I am enjoying the skirt and sandals weather after what feels like the-winter-that-lasted-8-years.

I'm never going to finish the story by the way, not in any detail. The last day in Piter, the weather sucked, we went to the Alexander-Nevskii monastery, saw a church service, went to the cupola of St. Isaacs to see the city view and bounced from 1 cafe to another, eating drinking and dodging the rain until it was time to catch the train. On her last full day in Moscow, Sarah finally saw Red Square, we went souvenir shopping and had pizza for dinner! Then I put her in a cab by herself the next morning, with a map of the airport drawn on a napkin, and much to the shock and dismay of everyone, sent her on her way! :-)

As for Sarah's impressions of Russia, well I hope it made a good and lasting impression, but for the final verdict you'll have to ask her. In the meantime, I've been getting to know some of the graduate students I failed to meet while in St. Pete's, went back up to St. Pete's for Sasha's dance recital. Got waaaaaay too drunk one Friday and had a wicked hangover, worked, worked some more, went on a few runs, strolled in the sun, oh, and worked.

Story, part II

Okay, I know I have to finish this, or I’ll never forgive myself!

Our first full day in Piter was spent at the Hermitage, taking in as much art as is possible in several hours (4, I think). There comes a point, however, when one’s brain simply cannot bear to look at one more painting, or it will explode. We finally went back to the hostel, got into our room and showered and rested for awhile. It had started raining so our sightseeing options were limited and after dinner we went on a boat tour of the canals. The boats were warm and sheltered and I did my best to translate for Sarah, and well, I don’t think a career as simultaneous translator is in my future.

Afterwards we went to Marina’s and I was sooooooo happy to see them. (Even though it had only been about 2 weeks) ?

The next day….oh yeah! It was Victory Day – May 9th, the end of the war in Europe (not official our Victory Day though, of course). We slept late enough that by the time we got out on the street, at about 11am, we thought we had missed the parade and were kind of bummed. We passed through Palace Square where they had a stage set up and people were milling, but decided to go to the Peter and Paul Fortress. We walked across the Trinity Bridge and the wind was nearly the end of us – we weren’t dressed for a gale! I hadn’t been to the fortress since 1997 and the memories were kind of vague. The fortress is built into the Neva River and was the official start of St. Petersburg – the fortifications to protect the new capital.

We went to the main cathedral, the city history museum, had lunch in a caf? and walked up to the ramparts to see the city. I was thrilled because the Rostrelli columns at the Vasilyi Island spit were lit. I’ll post a picture, its pretty awesome.

Everyday at 12:00 noon they fire a cannon from the fortress and you can hear it for quite some distance. We arrived just before noon, and somehow, even though we were expecting it, we weren’t, and it caught me so off guard and nearly hit the deck! I think I even screamed!

After the fortress we met Alina on the spit, and decided to head back to the hostel before more sightseeing. Turns out that was a good decision, because while we were on the bus heading up Nevskii prospect, we noticed that there were a lot, a lot of people on the street and hardly any cars – it turns out we hadn’t missed the parade! So we got off the bus and found spots on a ledge so we could see over the crowd. And suddenly, as if by a miracle (the miracle of planes salting the clouds to the tune of $300,000) the skies cleared, the sun came out, and it warmed up.

The parade was nothing short of remarkable and moving. Despite all the pomp and circumstance of Moscow’s official parade, I’m sure this one blew it out of the water. St. Petersburg had summoned all of its veterans and they marched down Nevskii, in uniform, according to their branch of service. Some had medals covering their entire chests. All were decorated, men and women, for their bravery and service. And there were several thousand of them, at my guess. People in their 80s, marching down the street sixty years after a horrible, horrible war – one that we can’t even imagine. And it was truly a people’s parade, not closed like Moscow’s. The streets were packed and everyone waved flags, cheered, applauded and cried thanks to the veterans. Its really difficult to describe how moving it really was, knowing how much the Soviets (in the inclusive, non-ethnic term that encompasses more than the Russians) really suffered during the Second World War, and the in the decades leading up to it at the hands of their own leaders. That they still had the energy to hold Fascist Germany at bay and gradually push it back, keeping them busy while we prepared to invade from the west, is really amazing. Twenty-seven million people died between 1941 and 1945. That’s 27,000,000.

[side note: you’re having a good day when one beer nearly wipes you out]

Zhenya had to go back to Moscow that night, so Sarah and I went with Alina back to Vasilyi Island to watch the fireworks salute. Marina came and joined us and at 10pm, when the fireworks were supposed to start it was still as light as day.

And believe it or not, they started the fireworks at 10, but they were really wimpy and generally sucked. Everyone started making comments about it, like how all the money got sent to Moscow and how the New Russians have better fireworks at their birthday parties. Basically, most people, including us, turned away from the river banks and left, despite my personal skepticism that it was over. We went back to Marina's to see the events on TV when lo and behold, we heard the fireworks at about 11:15. We dashed out of the apartment (and Sarah was like - why are we always sprinting somewhere in this country?) made it to the river and were able to see what was, indeed, a rather spectacular display.

...to be continued...

[in the meantime, I'm working, working working and sweating away in my apartment while it is about 90 degrees here in Moscow at 9pm]

Story, part I

Well boys and girls, I'm going to attempt to regale you with stories of the adventures of Sarah in the land of the Bolsheviks. (Anyone who took Schillinger's Soviet film class should catch that reference).

Let me tell you what, hurtling through the air in a big metal tube at 36,000 feet for 12 hours is WAY MUCH MORE FUN when your best friend is there with you too!

*disclaimer* This blog represents my opinions and memories alone. Sarah would probably tell a very different story. :-)

We got into Moscow on May 5 and we made it just in time before the enormous hassle that is 70 international delagations descended on the city. The highway leading into town was lined with cops and Volodya, the guy who ferries me to the airport and back said that the road would be closed on the 6th and that there would have been enormous delays. Of course I forgot the code to my door, but we were able to get up anyway. We spent that afternoon wandering in a bit of a daze. I tried to show Sarah Red Square, but it was closed for rehearsals. We had dinner and collapsed in bed rather early and slept for a long time.

What did we do the next day...oh yeah, that's right. We spent the morning wandering around the suburbs, trying to register Sarah's visa, and then walked over to this place called Sparrow Hills, which has an excellent view of the whole center of the city, and it was just nice enough to sit outside at a cafe and eat lunch. After that we had our appointment in the Kremlin for our personal audience with Putin. Not really, but we did tour the grounds after getting stuck in an Italian tour group and me yelling at a Russian man leading a English language tour group who was very suprised that I was able to yell at him (okay, I didn't yell, but I stuck up for myself in an assertive voice) in Russian. Also, a lovely day, except it was windy as all get out. We spent some time sitting on a bench, because we had spent most of the day walking, and finally got kicked out a closing time. We had dinner with my friend Zhenya and planned our departure for St. Pete's the next day.

That night Sarah and I went to see "Kingdom of Heaven" at the English language theater and to gawk at Orlando Bloom. The next day had the Tret'iakov Museum of Russian art and the Kolomenskoe estate park on our list. Along the way we had a wickedly expensive lunch at a cafe near the museum (but yummy!) and delightfully cheap and tasty pel'meni near Kolomenskoe.

Then we went home and waited for Zhenya to meet us for dinner before catching our train. She was quite late, it seemed and when we got worried and tried to call, I realized my phone wasn't working and that she had been standing outside of the building for more than an hour, hoping someone would look out the window. (I will never, ever live this one down). We had dinner and dallied a bit and then left for the train. We took our time walking to the Metro, which turned out to be a big mistake because once we got on the Metro, Zhenya and I both realized that we were cutting it really really close. We would look at our watches and then look at each other. To make a long story short, we had to run for our train. Really full out run. We only just made it.

Even though we rolled in at some ungodly hour, my soul just sang to be back in St. Petersburg again and at the prospect of getting to see Marina, Alina and Sasha again. Turned out our room at the hostel wasn't open yet, so we were cast out onto the street to have breakfast and wander around until museums and things started to open. Good thing its already light at 4am.

So I gave them a short walking tour of central Piter, showing off some of the highlights, a few churches, well interspersed with stops at cafes and then it was on to the Hermitage, or the "Museum with more art than you can possibly see in your lifetime".

Our story will continue with the Hermitage at a later date, maybe this evening, but I'm hungry and want dinner.

Update

Okay, I'm going to type a post on Sarah's trip to visit, as soon as I have the time, because I want to be thorough. But in the meantime, she is already home again and I am back at work.

To keep you amused until I can update you, on May 11 the government took away our hot water for 3 weeks, which they do to almost everyone on a rotating basis. For Sarah's last few days we had to boil water on the stove to take lukewarm sponge baths and wash our hair in water so cold it made the baby jesus cry. I think I'm going to join a gym for the next month so I can shower there!

back to the motherland

Well folks, its been an action-packed 10 days back at home and later today I head back to Moscow, with Sarah in tow.

I spent a week down in Danville with much of family, including my dad, and helped paint the outside of my aunt's house in preparation for my cousin's wedding in June. That was fun, although my hands started cramping after holding the paint brush too long! I also spent my birthday down there, in the company of family, and my dad made an awesome steak dinner to honor the occasion. Yummy.

The few days in Charlottesville were spent catching up with friends, running errands and meeting with my advisor. The only question I didn't want him to ask, which is of course one of the first ones he threw at me, was "so, do you have a thesis?" Um...No.

Then I trained up to DC and had dinner with college girlfriends and before I knew it, the trip was over.

That's okay because much of the time I felt guilty because I wasn't doing research.

But I do have to say that I am thankful I got to catch the Virginia spring still in its glory. Dogwoods and Azaleas, it turns out, are good for the soul!