A picture is worth a 1000 kopecks.
Saturday, June 21, 2008
We found Starbuck's...
...and my Russian friend Aleksei (wearing an MHS ballcap!). (By the way, they're building a second Starbuck's about 4 or 5 blocks from this one!)
At the Cosmos...
...Cornelius is briefing the group before venturing into Moscow subway after dinner.
Sleeper train, first day in Moscow, et al...
We made it successfully to Moscow after a relatively smooth sleeper train operation. The day before we spent some free time going from the hotel to the center of St. Pete using public transportation (bus>metro). Getting 3 dozen people from point A to point B-- and the majority have never been to Russia-- was an endeavor. But it worked! Thomas and Travis were very helpful in using their Russian to accompany one of three groups (makes a teacher proud...sniff). We had free time because we had to check out of the hotel early, then wait for the train to Moscow.
The train ride went well, though, as usual, I got about an hour of sleep. We were all dog-tired when we arrived in Moscow, but we were picked up brought to the hotel Cosmo (on the north side of the city) and given breakfast (coffee!!!). After that, wen had a short city tour on the bus followed by some free time to wander Red Square. Some in the group queued up right away to see Lenin, others,like me, just meandered and grabbed a bite for lunch. After we checked in, we had some down time. I was in a deep sleep when the maid knocked on my door to change out the pillows at 3pm. Why, I have no idea. I was so out of it, I wasn't even sure where I was.
Now it's after 7, we've eaten, and we're off to the Arbat (shopping district). I'll try to post more pics, but it's a crapshoot with the Russian cell providers.
That's it for now!
The train ride went well, though, as usual, I got about an hour of sleep. We were all dog-tired when we arrived in Moscow, but we were picked up brought to the hotel Cosmo (on the north side of the city) and given breakfast (coffee!!!). After that, wen had a short city tour on the bus followed by some free time to wander Red Square. Some in the group queued up right away to see Lenin, others,like me, just meandered and grabbed a bite for lunch. After we checked in, we had some down time. I was in a deep sleep when the maid knocked on my door to change out the pillows at 3pm. Why, I have no idea. I was so out of it, I wasn't even sure where I was.
Now it's after 7, we've eaten, and we're off to the Arbat (shopping district). I'll try to post more pics, but it's a crapshoot with the Russian cell providers.
That's it for now!
Friday, June 20, 2008
Thursday, June 19, 2008
Today (Friday)
This morning we have to pack up and be out of our rooms by 9. We're going on a canal tour and then will have some free time to wander before we come back to the hotel for dineer and leave for the train at 8pm or so. We're taking the night train to Moscow and will be there by 7am tomorrow...
It's the sleeper train, four to a compartment, and not my favorite mode of travel (four to a compartment and I don't sleep very well in the submarine-sized bunks), but the kids in the group will like it!
That's it for now. I'm off to breakfast...
More later!
It's the sleeper train, four to a compartment, and not my favorite mode of travel (four to a compartment and I don't sleep very well in the submarine-sized bunks), but the kids in the group will like it!
That's it for now. I'm off to breakfast...
More later!
Siege of Leningrad Museum
I took this rather poor quality of a picture at the end of our visit yesterday afternoon to a Siege of Lenigrad (former name of St. Petersburg) museum. Everyone was watching a video of film footage from that time. It was a very moving experience-- difficult for most young Americans today to fully comprehend how amazing the survival of this city really was.
The Bronze Horseman
Pushkin was moved enough by this monument to Peter the Great (from Katherine the Second) that he wrote about it. We were killing time before a folk show started, so we took a picture in front of it yestderday evening. It's another of the many iconic landmarks in St. Petersburg. (By the way, not everyone in the group is in the picture, as some went walking around on their own.)
Small world...
...the folks in this picture are connected through my friend Julia, whom I met when she and her daughters moved to Mansfied, TX, little more than 4 years ago (I met her daughter when she was in jr. high as the first Russian-speaking ESL student in the school district). In the photo are (l-r) yours truly, our Russian guide (Andrey), Neal, and Natalya (Neal's wife)...
Here're the connections: Natalya is good friends with both Julia and Andrey. During our city tour the day before yesterday, we were off the bus at one point to take pictures, Andrey was on the phone with someone and asked me if I knew a woman in Mansfield named Julia (kind of an odd question from a guy you've know briefly and who lives in St. Petersburg). He had been talking to Natalya, who--obviously-- is in Russia with her husband. We met inside St. Peter and Paul Cathedral yesterday (and took the picture outside afterward). But wait! There's more...
I actually had "met" Natalya at a store in Arlington, TX, when my friend Aleksei from Moscow was visiting a year and half ago and we were shopping there (I bought him a cowboy hat for his birthday) and it was Natalya who rang us up... Coincidence? (You decide for yourself.)
Wednesday, June 18, 2008
We got our bags last night (well, all but one...)...
Eleven suitcases showed up at 8pm; only one of our group is still missing his-- turns out it was sent to the wrong hotel (part of the mix-up that was the bureaucratic Gordian knot we tried to unravel after our arrival to St. Petersburg), but it should be here today....
Last night some of us got out for a bit with Cornelius for an abbreviated "walking tour" in the heart of St. Petersburg (he said he was going to read us some Pushkin under the Pushkin statue in a little park in town-- I thought he was kidding; he wasn't). He cracks me up-- while he was going on about Pushkin and his wet nurse (you had to be there), I laughed so hard that I almost had an accident. After our short "tour" we were rained on. It had to have been in the low 50s, and it was windy and wet. Not the best weather in which to wander the city.
Yesterday during the day, we went on a city tour and then to the Hermitage museum, both went by kind of quickly-- there's just so much to see in a short amount of time! I did, however, learn how to say "hitchhike" in Russian after a conversation with our bus driver, Konstantin. The most fun I have here is listening to how everyday Russian is spoken!
I think our kids in the group especially are starting to see the cultural differences (and oddities) a little more clearly-- this is much better than my prattling on in class...
Gotta run for the bus now. More later!
Last night some of us got out for a bit with Cornelius for an abbreviated "walking tour" in the heart of St. Petersburg (he said he was going to read us some Pushkin under the Pushkin statue in a little park in town-- I thought he was kidding; he wasn't). He cracks me up-- while he was going on about Pushkin and his wet nurse (you had to be there), I laughed so hard that I almost had an accident. After our short "tour" we were rained on. It had to have been in the low 50s, and it was windy and wet. Not the best weather in which to wander the city.
Yesterday during the day, we went on a city tour and then to the Hermitage museum, both went by kind of quickly-- there's just so much to see in a short amount of time! I did, however, learn how to say "hitchhike" in Russian after a conversation with our bus driver, Konstantin. The most fun I have here is listening to how everyday Russian is spoken!
I think our kids in the group especially are starting to see the cultural differences (and oddities) a little more clearly-- this is much better than my prattling on in class...
Gotta run for the bus now. More later!
Yours truly at 6:30am...
...after 4 hrs sleep, a shower w/ Russian soap, shampoo, and a borrowed shirt (and a few text msgs w/ my wife).
Tuesday, June 17, 2008
Russia on one pair of underwear...
For now. I was grody when I took this pic at dinner in our hotel at 9. Maybe we'll get bags tomorrow on the next British Air flight. We don't have them because of the storm that kept us on the runway in Newark for 2.5 hrs! So we literally ran through Heathrow airport in London (and our bags were checked through)... 80% frustration, 20% learning experience. The Russian system for reporting a lost bag involves a customs stamp on two of the exact same forms, then a third exact same form in another office. Each person had to go through this, one-by-one. We were at the airport until 6:30 or 7 after a 4pm arrival! The only thing that compares to this is a trip to a Russian post office. The folks here are learning quickly that there's one way...and the Russian way.
It took us 24 hrs...
...but we made it to the baggage claim in St. Petersburg at about 4:30pm. We got only 2 suitcases!...
Monday, June 16, 2008
LONG layover in Newark...
At ticket counter, which didn't open until 3:30. We got here at 11. We don't leave for London until 6:30...ugh!
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