One time, they gave me a Russian visa- Part 3

Thursday Night
I forgot to mention in the other post that before we left St. Petersburg we took a cruise on the rivers and canals (remember, it's the Venice of the north).  It was cold but pretty, although at that point I was really exhausted and might not have appreciated it as much as I should have.  I'll have to go back and do it again in the summer.

Friday
We got to Moscow on Friday morning and just like in St. Petersburg, we went straight to a city tour.  It was a Friday morning in Moscow though, so it was mostly just sitting in traffic.  our tour guide went so far as to fill us in on the cars that people in Russia drove so that we would know what we were spending the majority of our time looking at. Moscow has a population of 10 million, and with tourists and people there on business, the population is probably closer to 15 million on any given day.  I believe New York has about 8 million people, so Moscow is huge.  Our first stop on the tour was the Red Square, which is right in the heart of the city.  Unfortunately (or fortunately, as it turned out later) there was a big festival in Red Square that weekend so we couldn't actually get into the square.  So we detoured through a giant and totally outrageously priced shopping center to get to the other side of the square.  Seriously, this mall had Porsches sitting in the middle of it.

On the other side of the square was a big garden with a war memorial, but we also could not get into that, because there was a military ceremony going on.  There was a huge military presence in Moscow, and particularly around the red square.  I don't know if it was because of the festival going on that weekend, or because the Kremlin is right there or what, but the military was everywhere.

Then we waited in line (or in a clump, because Russia really does not do lining up very well for some reason) for the Kremlin for a while.  It may have been the 2 functioning metal detectors, out of the 6 available ones.  This was about the time when I once again wished I had brought my coat, because as it turned out the tour of the Kremlin was all outside. 

Entrance to the Kremlin.  Our tour guide tried to tell us that the wall surrounding it was over 2200 km long, but I think she meant 2200 m, because this was in the middle of Moscow, and the city isn't that big

Entrance to the building where the President does his thing.  If I learned nothing else the entire trip, I sure as hell learned that the double-headed golden eagle is the official symbol of the Russian state; I heard it about 40 times from various guides.

Russia has it's own liberty bell, except that they had to outdo us and actually take a chunk out of it.  This is the Tsar bell, and it was made for a niece of Peter the Great. It's also the biggest bell in the world, and was never actually rung- it broke while it was being made.  Probably because it was so gigantic and heavy.

Cathedral Square in the Kremlin.  It was interesting to see several old cathedrals just down the street from the current State buildings.

After the tour of the Kremlin we waited in the cold for a bit longer- to the point where I was ready to hitchhike to our hotel and just go to sleep- then finally got back on the bus and continued our tour.  We drove through more of the city and saw where the 1980 Olympics were held.  We also went to the campus of Moscow State University, which is at the highest point in the city, so there was a cool overlook where you could see the entire city.

The giant stadium in the foreground was used for the 1980 Olympics.  An interesting thing about Moscow for me was that even though it's such a huge city, it's layed out totally different from most modern cities I've seen. There are only a handful of "skyscrapers," and none of them would begin to compare to buildings in Chicago or New York.

This was supposed to be a statue of Columbus, but somebody decided that Russia should get it instead, so the head was changed and now it's Peter the Great

Eventually we got around to checking into our hotel, which was also built for the 1980 Olympics and was really nice.  We got a whole hour to relax (or should I say frantically shower and change and eat) before we headed off to the Moscow State Circus.

Now, I've never been to a circus before and the motivating factor for me to go was that it's apparently world famous, and we took the subway there, which is also world famous for its artwork and architecture.  The subway was nice enough although we didn't hit any stops that were really beautiful; I guess some of the other stations are breathtaking though.  Mostly it was just incredibly crowded at 6pm on a Friday.  So we got to the circus and I was prepared to be highly offended at the misuse of animals.  It was pretty good though, and the only thing that was really disturbing were the dancing bears. So sad. But there were also lots of really great human acts, including a fantastic group of African dancers and a girl who did that thing where you wind yourself up in fabric and then pretend to fall out of it but catch yourself by your feet when you're 50 feet in the air. Then we braved the subway back and left from our hotel to take a night bus tour of the city.  This is kind of where my night broke down, because people were highly drunk and obnoxious as I tried to enjoy the city and we didn't get back til 2:30am, and I am just too old for that.  But it was nice to see Moscow at night.


Saturday
We checked out of the hotel, sat on the bus for an hour while the hotel and our leaders searched for 2 missing passports (my worst nightmare) and then headed back to the red square.  We were actually allowed in this time, and it was a gorgeous sunny day, so it was worth the wait.

Obviously I was ready for this picture to be taken... Luckily St. Basils' is prettier than me on any day, so check that out instead of my awkardness

The war memorial was also open, so we saw the Eternal Flame.  It was really beautiful.

Then, as most of our group went to check out a bunker known as the Cold War Museum, Erin and I went on a hunt to find signs of America in Moscow.  We were pretty successful.  Burger King? Yup.

Dunkin Donuts? Yup, and way classier than any Dunkin Donuts I've ever seen.

And of course, Starbucks.  My incredibly expensive latte was so worth the price after 2 months away.  Are you seeing how excited I am, Finland? Why don't we push up the arrival of Starbucks from next spring to NOW!

After our pilgrimage to Starbucks we found some Russian souvenirs and then tried to avoid being trapped by portable fences and military people as they set up for the festival on the square.  I think I went through 5 or 6 metal detectors that night.  But it was all worth it when we finally saw what this festival was. 

The lights show was about 20 minutes long, and each piece of music highlighted one of the buildings on the square.  It was really cool.  Finally we made our way back to the buses one last time, and headed to find our night train back to Finland.

Then I collapsed.

Great trip, but extremely long and busy.  I would love to go back someday, and I would really love to go when it's not quite so cold.  Or at least when there's snow; this was just an awkward, ugly, in-between seasons time and even though everything was beautiful it probably wasn't the ideal time of year. So that was Russia, and eventually I'll get the motivation to update on things in Finland. Eventually.

One time, they gave me a Russian visa- Part 2

Tuesday Cont'd
After the bus tour of St. Petersburg we checked into our hotel, which ironically enough was called Hotel Moscow.  

We had some down time there and then in the evening we went to a dinner party that was held in an old palace (seriously, everything used to be a palace).  We learned how to make toasts before each course with Russian vodka and ate some Russian food.  Then a madrigal-type group came in and sang some songs and showed us some funny games.  It was really entertaining.

Wednesday

On Wednesday we woke up and went to Catherine's Palace, which is a huge estate in a suburb of St. Petersburg.  One weird thing I noticed was that as we left the hotel at 9am the sun was just rising.  Very strange.  But by the time we got to Pushkin, the suburb that the palace was in, the sun had disappeared and it was snowing!  Which was beautiful, but a little chilly for those of us who didn't bring their winter coat because the weather said it was supposed to be in the 40s all week.  So we took a tour of the palace and learned lots more about Russian history.  There is also a really famous room in the palace called the Amber room, which we were strictly forbidden to take photos in.  Apparently this room was entirely paneled in amber and it was really beautiful. But the Nazis invaded and camped out in this palace during WWII and the amber paneling disappeared.  To this day nobody knows what happened to it.  So when I become a treasure hunter I'll find it.  But we weren't allowed to take photos in this room that doesn't even have the original amber paneling.  Lame.

The outside of the main entrance to the palace

This room was entirely mirrors and gold and candelabras.  A little overwhelming.

There were lots of beautiful murals on the ceilings

Maybe one of the 2 Catherines that lived here, maybe Elisabeth, Catherine I's daughter?  I should have been taking notes.

Once we were through the tour we had some time to explore the grounds, which were really pretty.  This palace was used in the summer, and I wish I could see it in the summer because there were such beautiful lawns and plants everywhere.

Yeah that white stuff would be snow

After that we went back to our hotel and had some down time, which meant nap time!  Then that evening we went on a (Hummer!) limo tour through the city.  Not normally something I would be all about, but I'm glad I went; it was definitely a party!  

Afterwards we went to a club, and I got to experience the Russian nightlife.  I heard some crazy things about some of the other clubs in the city, but this one was pretty standard.  Then I went to bed.


Thursday
On Thursday we went to the State Hermitage Museum, which is right in the center of the city.  It's one of the biggest art museums in the world, and our tour guide told us the average tour is about 7 km of walking.  We saw lots of Russian architecture as well as Italian, Spanish, French, and Dutch artwork.  It was interesting and extremely long.

This was one of my favorite things; the picture doesn't show it very well, but the ceiling was painted to look 3 dimensional, which it did, but it was all actually flat. Neato.

Oh, did I mention this used to be a palace?

Look closely at the 2 pictures above; one is the ceiling and one is the floor, and they're exact mirrors of one another

Oh, just another Da Vinci, no big deal.

The outside of the State Hermitage.  It was on the Palace Square right in the middle of St. Petersburg

We had some free time after the museum, so Erin and I walked back over the the fortress of Peter and Paul, because we had heard that all the members of the Romanov family were buried there. Including Anastasia!  So we looked around the cathedral, and of course all the plaques were in Russian.  But we found dates on each sarcophagus.  None of them were remotely close to 1917, which was when Anastasia died.  So she is buried there, but not where we could see her. Bummer.  The cathedral was really nice though, and it was crazy to be walking among Tsars!

The giant fancy red one is Peter the Great (it's all about him in this city)

And after that, we bummed around the city center for the rest of the day and then took a night train to Moscow, which wasn't nearly as terrible as it could have been considering that I do not generally sleep on public transportation.  I'll do Moscow in another post, though.  

One time, they gave me a Russian visa- Part 1

In case you've just stumbled across my blog, let me fill you in.  I was in St. Petersburg and Moscow last week, and it was pretty great overall.  There were a couple little annoyances with some of the immature people in our travel group who only wanted to party, but fortunately the trip itself was still good.  Let me break it down a little- I'll do a couple posts on the different places I went, and I'll just post a couple pictures of highlights from the trip, and you can find the rest on facebook or wait til I get home.


Monday (the 17th)
We met on campus and took a couple buses to Helsinki.  It was the first time I've left Jyväskylä since I got here and it was nice to see some of the Finnish countryside.  It reminded me of everywhere from Michigan to Colorado to Maine, but there were also some distinctly European features, like the houses, which were small and cute and all different from each other- no cookie cutter subdivisions here!  Once we got to Helsinki we had about an hour to wander before our boat boarded.  Erin and I set off to find a really pretty building we had passed, and found that the downtown of Helsinki is ridiculously cute.  

I found a pet reindeer

Then we found the building we were looking for. Not sure what it is, but it's nice (although in retrospect it's nothing compared to anything in St. Petersburg)

Eventually we made it back to the docks, where our boat to Russia was waiting.  They finally gave us our passports back (Erin and I were 2 of 5 Americans, so it wasn't hard for the tour guides to find our blue passports among all the red European ones) and we went through customs-my worst nightmare.  Seriously, I get nervous just doing Canadian customs, and this is Russia!  But they let me through, and we boarded the boat.  

It was a pretty uneventful night, although we did see a really fantastic variety show that included some Russian dancers, a Russian singer, and a saxophone player who got assisted by a very persistent amateur dance couple from the audience who refused to leave the dance floor.  Then we settled into our hot and tiny room that was right over the engine for a good nights' sleep.

Tuesday

Woke up and had a wonderful breakfast on the boat as we watched the sun rise.  Then headed out to the upper deck for the first scenic views of Russia.

Once we got off the boat we went through more customs, which made me want to pass out again.  Erin and I made the mistake of going through the same line, and the 2 of us combined probably took about 10 minutes, while 20 European passengers probably could have gotten through in the same amount of time.  But we got in!  We met our fantastic tour guides, who made the week way more entertaining, then we went straight to a bus tour of the city, which was really interesting and a little overwhelming.  We hit the biggest sights and stopped at a couple places.  The one I found most interesting was the Fortress of Peter and Paul, which was built as a fortress but never actually used as one.

The Cathedral of Peter and Paul (more on that later)

Yup, it was a fortress

We saw lots of palaces, lots of cathedrals, a couple lighthouses, and a battleship as well.  This was also the first time that St. Petersburg was introduced to me as "the Venice of the North."  I had never heard that before, but I've certainly heard lots about it since then.  It's a little true though, St. Petersburg has lots of rivers and canals, and its pride is all the drawbridges running through the city.  I was probably less impressed by that than I should have been, since Chicago also has lots of drawbridges (is that not normal for cities?).  As we drove through the city, we got a history lesson on Russia and the dynasties of Tsars, which was helpful because it's been a while since I had a world history class.

St. Isaacs' Cathedral- PS sorry about the random black smudges on any pictures that I used the zoom on; my camera is on its last legs and has something permanent on the lens.

Lighthouses done in ancient style, with the fronts of conquered boats attached (well that's how they did it in ancient Greece anyways; these were just models)

the cruiser Aurora, which was a functional battleship but is now a museum.  That you get yelled at by scary Russian guards if you try to take pictures in.

Smolny Convent. Used to be a palace (like most other buildings in the city). Pictures can't do justice to the beauty of these grounds, even on one of the 50 sunny days of the year in St. Petersburg

Then, thank goodness, we went to our hotel, and I will continue the adventures in my next post.

Am I really almost half done here??

I was Skyping with my Mom this past weekend, and she mentioned something about how I was almost at the halfway point here.  I played it cool like I do, but seriously?? I can't believe that in 2 months I'll be going home.  The past couple weeks have definitely been a little tough at times but the terrible "W curve" or "Culture shock" that everyone warned me about hasn't really panned out (yet!).  I've been sick for the past week and a half, which has just gotten to be obnoxious.  I never get sick at home, and when I do I turn into a total baby about it because I'm not used to it.  So being here and being sick has been tons of fun.  


Classes are still going well; my Finnish history class ends this Friday, and my cross-cultural psychology class started the other day.  I'm learning a great Finnish lullaby to perform for my music class, and in the last 2 days I've (finally) learned how to go grocery shopping and can sort of understand what food I'm buying!  A Finnish friend and I had a discussion about our favorite foods, and after he had no idea what hummus or guacamole was, I said I loved asparagus.  He also had no idea what that was, but told me about a great dish he makes that has a green vegetable that looks kind of like the stalk of broccoli but it's longer. Sooo I google translated "parsa" and evidently we were on the same page and they do have asparagus in Finland! So that's on my list next time I go shopping.


Oh, and I'm still taking Chinese, but I ask myself every day why.  It's kind of a disaster (which is too bad, because it's a really interesting language, the teacher just can't get it together), but we got to use sweet brushes to learn how to write the characters for numbers so it's not a total waste of time.


It's getting colder here, and I've heard that the first snow is coming in the next couple weeks.  It's also getting darker earlier, so here is the Finland that I was expecting!  But people still find things to do- for example, last week the entire student body (ok, only 5000 of us) had a giant bar crawl along the main street in town, and the point of the whole thing was to earn a "degree" by  drinking enough drinks (don't worry, Mom, there were non-alcoholic choices too).  Of course, being the good student I am, I graduated with honors.

Also I'm sure everyone knows about this by now, but in less than a week I'm going to Russia!  Pretty much so that I can pretend to be Anastasia.  I'm going with the Exchange Student Network at the university, and we're going to St. Petersburg and Moscow for a week.  Russia has never been at the top of my list of places I want to go, but I'm really excited for it, and it looks like it's going to be awesome.  There's lots of tours and performances we can go to and it's pretty much nonstop for the whole week.  Well, when I say I'm going to Russia, that is if they let me in.  They're Russia, after all, so I had to apply for a visa just to visit for a week.  And since I'm American the visa application was terrifying and at least twice as long (and expensive!) as it is for people from Europe. Great.  But hopefully there won't be any problems with that, and I'll be gone from the 17-23 of October.  After I'm back I'll do my best to update a little more regularly so that you don't have to read a book every time I update.


I'll leave you with a couple more pictures of town and the lake(someday I'll take some real pictures and do a big picture post- promise!)

See why I'm never leaving??