Well a quick note before we head to the airport in 5 hours...
Went to the town of Pushkin to see Catherine's Palace or Summer Palace. Nice little hut that burned out sometime during WWII. You can blame either the Nazis or Red Army. They have restored about 1/4 of the building so check out the staircase, amber room, picture room and all of the guilding and beautiful china. Toughest part was getting in as we had hired a van and a guide but when we got there we had to be quiet so that we could pass as Russian (to not pay twice as much admission) and then had to wait over 2 hours to get into the palace.
Headed home and wanted to hit happy hour at the Idiot. We had our first and last shot of vodka but washed it down with lots of good Russian drafts. Walked Hannah's friend Katie to the Haymarket metro and then had a very nice italian meal at Tektro, a reasonablely price place with tasty pizza and a cuttlefish and baby octopus spagetti dish.
Back for our last ice cream and packing...
Friday, May 2, 2008
Thursday, May 1, 2008
May 1, 2008
May Day in Russia!!! Turns out that this is now Labor Day in Russia. The army gets to march on Victory Day, May 9th. Plan is to watch the parade, help the local economy, rest, eat dinner and go see the Kirov Ballet. I didn't figure it out until later but today was also important as St. Petersburg Zenit, an underdog in European Soccer played this evening for a chance to move onto the semifinals.
Well the plan was to walk down Nevsky Prospect and see if a parade was happening. We started walking and there were 2 police people (Men uniforms with big hats and the lady's uniform included a miniskirt, high heels, and cap) on every corner. Nevsky was going to be shut down sometime soon so we walked through Palace Square which was quiet but a stage had appeared overnight. We decided to hit the blini stands for breakfast. Sam got the peaches and pineapple at the first one and the rest of us decided to go to the next stand were they had plain cheese. Great fast foot which we would like to bring to the USA!!!
Next we headed down Nevsky just in time to see the parade heading our way. Turns out that this was a lot like our Labor Day parade. First a pretty good 20 piece band led the parade followed by a drum core made of long legged women in miniskirts who also happened to play drums pretty good. Next came 4 or 5 groups of disgruntled unions with signs, Hannah said, demanding more money or better working conditions. Next came the Russia First Party (Putin's). It was the largest and most organized. Next came the socialists followed by the communists (the want a reunited Soviet Union). Next a small scary group that was either neonazis or anarchists!!!
Well, we along with the rest of Russia decided to let them be and to go help the economy by purchasing souvenirs and food. Someone told us about going to the new fashion mall instead of the street stands. The mall had the nicest stuff and it was the least expensive. Got our dolls and stuff and headed back to the hotel to rest. The only thing we couldn't find was a soccer T-Shirt or scarf for Howard. Hannah and walked down to the Haymarket where she knew there were soccer stands. The M size shirts were all sold out (see above) so we got a scarf.
Hannah liked a restaurant around the corner, ???, for its good, wholesome food. We went there for an early dinner. They had the smelts on special so I got that with a bowl of tomato soup. Well when I eat smelts from Wholey's, i eat the whole fish in one bite. They brought out a bowl of water with a napkin indicating that I would need to wach my fingers. The fish came out and 3 times larger that I expected so I started eating them with a fork. The owner came over and politely indicated that I was suppose to use my hands to debone the fish, I think she didn't want me to choke. I figured it out and they were very tasty.
On to the Mariinsky Theatre for Prokofiev's Cinderella. This is a ballet none of us are familiar with but the story is exactly as you would expect with the great style of Prokofiev music and the world reknown Kirov Ballet. Beautiful hall arrange similar to Carnegie Hall and we had the next to last row on the floor. It was somewhat difficult to see but it was a great production that we all liked.
Back to the room with a snack of packaged ice cream products for dessert and to catch the next UEFA game.
Well the plan was to walk down Nevsky Prospect and see if a parade was happening. We started walking and there were 2 police people (Men uniforms with big hats and the lady's uniform included a miniskirt, high heels, and cap) on every corner. Nevsky was going to be shut down sometime soon so we walked through Palace Square which was quiet but a stage had appeared overnight. We decided to hit the blini stands for breakfast. Sam got the peaches and pineapple at the first one and the rest of us decided to go to the next stand were they had plain cheese. Great fast foot which we would like to bring to the USA!!!
Next we headed down Nevsky just in time to see the parade heading our way. Turns out that this was a lot like our Labor Day parade. First a pretty good 20 piece band led the parade followed by a drum core made of long legged women in miniskirts who also happened to play drums pretty good. Next came 4 or 5 groups of disgruntled unions with signs, Hannah said, demanding more money or better working conditions. Next came the Russia First Party (Putin's). It was the largest and most organized. Next came the socialists followed by the communists (the want a reunited Soviet Union). Next a small scary group that was either neonazis or anarchists!!!
Well, we along with the rest of Russia decided to let them be and to go help the economy by purchasing souvenirs and food. Someone told us about going to the new fashion mall instead of the street stands. The mall had the nicest stuff and it was the least expensive. Got our dolls and stuff and headed back to the hotel to rest. The only thing we couldn't find was a soccer T-Shirt or scarf for Howard. Hannah and walked down to the Haymarket where she knew there were soccer stands. The M size shirts were all sold out (see above) so we got a scarf.
Hannah liked a restaurant around the corner, ???, for its good, wholesome food. We went there for an early dinner. They had the smelts on special so I got that with a bowl of tomato soup. Well when I eat smelts from Wholey's, i eat the whole fish in one bite. They brought out a bowl of water with a napkin indicating that I would need to wach my fingers. The fish came out and 3 times larger that I expected so I started eating them with a fork. The owner came over and politely indicated that I was suppose to use my hands to debone the fish, I think she didn't want me to choke. I figured it out and they were very tasty.
On to the Mariinsky Theatre for Prokofiev's Cinderella. This is a ballet none of us are familiar with but the story is exactly as you would expect with the great style of Prokofiev music and the world reknown Kirov Ballet. Beautiful hall arrange similar to Carnegie Hall and we had the next to last row on the floor. It was somewhat difficult to see but it was a great production that we all liked.
Back to the room with a snack of packaged ice cream products for dessert and to catch the next UEFA game.
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