http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/RussianWeddingReception#
The wedding reception was very nice. We first checked our coats – this is common practice where ever you go in the winter – the shopping mall, schools, museums, restaurants. Only tourists tip the coat check attendants. Tipping is an interesting situation – you must be careful not to insult as some services are part of a job well done, not an extra service. That is another story. Next we waited in the foyer for the bridal party. Since we (those on the bus) arrived at the same time as the limo I expected a short wait but after 20 minutes, figured they were finishing their champagne or something. We were given a glass of wine while we waited. The reception director (or perhaps mistress of ceremony) told us what to do, where to stand, when to cheer – all in Russian with a new interpreter to explain to the expats. We cheered as they entered the restaurant. Then Olga's parents presented Olga and Ray with a very decorative loaf of bread which had a portion of it hollowed out to hold salt. Then they each broke off a piece of the bread as in a contest to see who would get the largest portion. Salt went everywhere, everyone cheered and Olga got the biggest portion of the loaf. This means that she will be the boss of the family. We don't remember what the salt meant.
Next the witnesses made an arch for the newlyweds to enter into the reception hall. Since everything was contained in a compact space, they actually processed around the area one complete time and then went into the dining room. I guess in larger venues, the procession into the dinner hall takes longer. But music played, people clapped and we all followed to take our places at dinner. Each place was set very formally (see the pictures), there were lovely flowers decorating the tables and the rest of the space on the table was filled with traditional antipastos, salads, etc. There were plates of sausages (like summer sausage we get from Wisconsin); traditional Russian winter salads made from potatoes and canned or preserved vegetables with mayonnaise (the ones I had here at other places were very good); red caviar on toast-like crackers; pickled or smoked fishes including herring; fresh vegetables – tomatoes, cucumbers, sweet peppers with a few lettuces; all kinds of pickles and olives; and other dishes I cannot remember. I was full just sampling all the choices. There was also water, fruit punch and kvass (a traditional non-alcohol drink made kind of like beer. I have not met an American or Canadian who likes it!), plus baskets of bread. Meanwhile, champagne was served (a very traditional European start to a meal). Next we were served our choice of wines. John and I laughed out loud when we saw that they served Yellow Tail wines. We were not at all trying to make fun but first of all, they are expensive in Russia, and secondly we have enjoyed many other wines in Russia (I must admit, most of the reds have been from Chile, not Europe, but still they are much better than Yellow Tail and cheaper!). Perhaps they were trying to make us feel at home since we can buy Yellow Tail at World Market, Target and sometimes Wal-Mart. Once everyone had wine, very cold vodka was poured into the 'shot' glasses at each of our places.
Throughout the meal, the mistress of ceremony sang songs, told stories, asked questions of the participants and the sweet young girl tried to translate. However, we got the gist of the comments – how lucky Ray was to have a lovely bride, the family was thrilled to have such a good provider for their daughter, life would be filled with happiness and children…all predictable sentiments for a wedding anywhere. Every few minutes there was a toast – we drank whatever beverage we wanted. However, the tradition in Russia is that if you are toasting a lady, it is rude to drink only a sip of the vodka. So the whole shot was downed. I had two. Enough. We had speeches/toasts from the witnesses, the parents, the grandparents, the 'second' mama (remember they don't have Godparents) and most of the guys in the office. There was lots of laughing, although I must admit, Olga seemed a bit overwhelmed. I suspect Ray planned most of the reception, however I understand the father did buy the wines and vodka. We took a break for the first dance – really just like what we do in the US. We danced a while and then returned to our seats. They do have a tradition to pass the tray for the bride and groom to see who gets the most money (almost like pinning dollars on the bride's veil as is done at some ethnic weddings). We also had a visit from "Peter the Great" with some proclamation about the wedding. I really didn't get that but the Russians seemed to enjoy his visit. I don't have a picture of him but he really did look like the pictures of Peter in the museums. We 'played' instruments along with the mistress of ceremonies; she played the keyboard, guitar, and accordion. Then we went outside for the fireworks. By now it is after 10:30 and some of the Americans are in great need of meat – they had entirely too much to drink for the novices they are (compared to the Russians). Finally we were served the main course – a goose and suckling pig, which were presented to the reception prior to serving. Meanwhile, even more toasts were made. The meat was very good. Soon however it was almost 11:30 and our drivers were engaged until only midnight, so some of us began to leave. I suspect that was very rude but we had no idea the dinner would last four hours. John and I stayed for the next shift of people to go home (we were sober) and were lucky to see a lovely presentation of the desert – a cheese cake presentation with something like sparklers. Unfortunately we didn't get to try it because we too had to leave.
I am sure this wedding is much fancier that the norm. We have seen several 'receptions' at a restaurant on our street and normally there are about 15 people there, not the 50 at this wedding. The meal was quite extravagant and at an especially nice place. I am sure Ray wanted it to be a very special.
Question of the day:Have you heard if the schools are good?
Basically everyone in Russia can read (pretty much a literate society). School starts with preschool because most women work but it seems like the kids are less regimented at school than are our children. From what I am told, every child starts Primary school (our 1st grade) knowing their numbers, colors, letters, etc. and they can do basic reading. For the first three years kids have 'classes' for only about 3 hours a day and the rest of the time is play time – including arts. As a matter of routine, the children attend museums, plays, concerts. Every time I have been to the Hermitage or the Russian Museum, there have been groups of Russian children – all ages from preschool through college, with a guide being instructed about something. In the middle grades, the school day lasts from about 9 to 3 and then it is even longer for high school. Parents can request their children have early lessons for special things – extra help, a foreign language, music lessons, but I think they pay for those. Families also choose the type of school to send their children – German school concentrates on German language, culture and history; English school concentrates on the same for England or the US. There are schools that specialize in many things: science, military, math, trades, and the arts for example. It is my understanding that much of Europe educates the same way. Children determine early on what they are most interested in and focus on that without compromising literature and language. Now whether or not they are good according to our standards is up for much debate. John will tell you their translators are excellent learners. Their English is very good (why they were hired in the first place). But a couple has admitted to me that they understand very little about math. Since they were concentrating on languages, they didn't really do any math or science in high school. Some are better 'self-starters' than others which is rather foreign to their culture of from Soviet times – do what you are told and do it a specific way. So they seem to be evidence that Russian schooling is good. But one might argue that their ambition is really what makes them good. Nevertheless, the fact the literacy is so high makes me think they do something right. No one I know sends their children to Russian schools. I must say that I don't know that many with kids, but ex-pats I have met , not just the English, Canadians or Americans, sends them to the Anglo-American school at a tuition cost of $20,000 per child per year borne by the companies who have sent the families to St. Petersburg. There is also an International School in town which is just starting since there are more and more foreigners in town. I understand Russians with money often send their children to European boarding schools (as do the rich Europeans).
More on colleges and universities next
Take care
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
2008-11(Nov)-28 Russian Wedding
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/RussianWedding#
HI everyone,I guess you all understand my long absence. Since we found out John's project has been put on hold, we have been to Alabama for ten days, and are now half way through our European holiday. More about that later.
Now I would like to share our experience at a Russian Wedding. Charles Ray is an American who John has worked with only briefly. However, he invited us (all the expats working in the office and their spouses who were in Russia). This man is in his 40s and the bride, Olga is 29. Charles has been working in Russia for more than 10 years and Olga worked with him at the International Paper Mill in Svetogorst which is on the Russia, Finland border. In fact, most expats who work there live in Finland, the Russian workers live all around that part of Russia. I had only met him once briefly and so I was delighted to be invited. We received an invitation that was rolled up like a diploma and decorated with lace. The wedding was Friday, October 24.Some of the things I understood about Russian weddings proved to be false (or perhaps there is as much variety in Russian weddings as there are in ours). The occasion was on a Friday night so some people only went to the reception only. John didn't want to rush and he thought we would be waiting outside for the couple to come out of the palace, so only I went to the actual wedding thinking I would be outside on the street until the newlyweds came out. The couple chose the wedding palace on our street for their vows, so I just walked over, with my bouquet of flowers in hand (no yellow flowers and always odd numbers). It was cold enough for coats and gloves but not freezing. Once I got there, I couldn't find anyone I knew. So I called John who called some of the guys he knew was going to the ceremony and I learned we were supposed to go into the building with the family. Inside was a beautifully decorated space that looked like it was built in the late 1700s, and it really reminded me of an antebellum mansion. It was beautiful. Everyone was required to check their coats and go to a 'waiting room'. There were at least five wedding groups inside. When it was time for Olga and Charles, they and their witnesses (best man and maid of honor, I guess) went into one room and their guests to another. Beautiful, traditional music played over an excellent sound system. About thirty of us were in pews or standing. Then double doors opened and they entered together with the witnesses, they walked up to the official who was a lovely woman in her 40s dressed in a dressy pink suit. There was also an interpreter to translate everything into English. Olga's family does not speak English, although she does. I don't really remember all that was said – stuff about family, children, happiness, commitment, long life, trust, etc. Not a word was mentioned about God although it was not 'anti-religion' either. It was much 'softer' than I expected a civil ceremony to be, and it was longer. The parents were recognized (no one from Charles' family came. I don't know anything about his situation). Then they had to sign the marriage certificate. It all lasted about 10 minutes - pictures were taken the whole time. Once they were pronounced married, all the congregation offered congratulations and gave them flowers. Pictures continued on the main staircase of the building as we were hurried out. The next wedding group was ready to have their ceremony - They were rushing up the other staircase so I couldn't get a clear picture.
After the wedding we boarded a bus for the Peter and Paul Fortress, the oldest part of the city. John and I went there in January when we first toured St. Petersburg. On the fortress is a fabulous church where the czars were buried. In fact, about 10 years ago the remains of the last czar, his wife and three of their five children were discovered near the Ural Mountains and entombed with the rest of the czars. My next note will describe the wedding reception, but I have included pictures taken outside the fortress, including the fireworks that were set off halfway through the four hour dinner reception.
Question of the week:
Are you doing any reading?
Can you find English language best sellers? There are two English bookstores that I have found. I bought the "Amber Room" for a book club I was joining and the price on the paperback was $5.99. I paid the equivalent of $12 (300 rubles) for it. However, there are a few English books in the larger Russian bookstores and plenty of guide books in English. Also there are plenty of dictionaries - Russian/English, Russian/German, Russian/French, Russian/Polish etc. You can also find current best sellers in Russian - with the same covers on the books. The Russians are avid readers-many read books on the subway (the Metro) - more so than magazines or newspapers. However, the newspapers are posted on boards on the street. I have read several books mom gave me - I don't watch TV! see ya
HI everyone,I guess you all understand my long absence. Since we found out John's project has been put on hold, we have been to Alabama for ten days, and are now half way through our European holiday. More about that later.
Now I would like to share our experience at a Russian Wedding. Charles Ray is an American who John has worked with only briefly. However, he invited us (all the expats working in the office and their spouses who were in Russia). This man is in his 40s and the bride, Olga is 29. Charles has been working in Russia for more than 10 years and Olga worked with him at the International Paper Mill in Svetogorst which is on the Russia, Finland border. In fact, most expats who work there live in Finland, the Russian workers live all around that part of Russia. I had only met him once briefly and so I was delighted to be invited. We received an invitation that was rolled up like a diploma and decorated with lace. The wedding was Friday, October 24.Some of the things I understood about Russian weddings proved to be false (or perhaps there is as much variety in Russian weddings as there are in ours). The occasion was on a Friday night so some people only went to the reception only. John didn't want to rush and he thought we would be waiting outside for the couple to come out of the palace, so only I went to the actual wedding thinking I would be outside on the street until the newlyweds came out. The couple chose the wedding palace on our street for their vows, so I just walked over, with my bouquet of flowers in hand (no yellow flowers and always odd numbers). It was cold enough for coats and gloves but not freezing. Once I got there, I couldn't find anyone I knew. So I called John who called some of the guys he knew was going to the ceremony and I learned we were supposed to go into the building with the family. Inside was a beautifully decorated space that looked like it was built in the late 1700s, and it really reminded me of an antebellum mansion. It was beautiful. Everyone was required to check their coats and go to a 'waiting room'. There were at least five wedding groups inside. When it was time for Olga and Charles, they and their witnesses (best man and maid of honor, I guess) went into one room and their guests to another. Beautiful, traditional music played over an excellent sound system. About thirty of us were in pews or standing. Then double doors opened and they entered together with the witnesses, they walked up to the official who was a lovely woman in her 40s dressed in a dressy pink suit. There was also an interpreter to translate everything into English. Olga's family does not speak English, although she does. I don't really remember all that was said – stuff about family, children, happiness, commitment, long life, trust, etc. Not a word was mentioned about God although it was not 'anti-religion' either. It was much 'softer' than I expected a civil ceremony to be, and it was longer. The parents were recognized (no one from Charles' family came. I don't know anything about his situation). Then they had to sign the marriage certificate. It all lasted about 10 minutes - pictures were taken the whole time. Once they were pronounced married, all the congregation offered congratulations and gave them flowers. Pictures continued on the main staircase of the building as we were hurried out. The next wedding group was ready to have their ceremony - They were rushing up the other staircase so I couldn't get a clear picture.
After the wedding we boarded a bus for the Peter and Paul Fortress, the oldest part of the city. John and I went there in January when we first toured St. Petersburg. On the fortress is a fabulous church where the czars were buried. In fact, about 10 years ago the remains of the last czar, his wife and three of their five children were discovered near the Ural Mountains and entombed with the rest of the czars. My next note will describe the wedding reception, but I have included pictures taken outside the fortress, including the fireworks that were set off halfway through the four hour dinner reception.
Question of the week:
Are you doing any reading?
Can you find English language best sellers? There are two English bookstores that I have found. I bought the "Amber Room" for a book club I was joining and the price on the paperback was $5.99. I paid the equivalent of $12 (300 rubles) for it. However, there are a few English books in the larger Russian bookstores and plenty of guide books in English. Also there are plenty of dictionaries - Russian/English, Russian/German, Russian/French, Russian/Polish etc. You can also find current best sellers in Russian - with the same covers on the books. The Russians are avid readers-many read books on the subway (the Metro) - more so than magazines or newspapers. However, the newspapers are posted on boards on the street. I have read several books mom gave me - I don't watch TV! see ya
Saturday, October 25, 2008
2008-10(Oct)-25 Novgorod Kremlin
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/NovgorodKremlin#
This will be my final installment on Novgorod, the oldest town in Russia. The pictures you will see are from the Novgorod Kremlin, the old walled city. About 30 of us took the bus ride from St. Pete city center to Novgorod. The first picture is of three of the lovely ladies who work for BE&K. The one on the left is John's translator, Nina; the one on the right, Natasha, took me shopping when we were setting up the apartment; Julia is rather young, still in school and working too. She is like the office aid - she does a variety of things as they are needed. It is very unusual for university students to work but she got special permission, in large part because she is working for a US company. She is fluent in Spanish and although not as good as the translators, her English is very good.
It was a lovely fall day - overcast but not raining. As we were driving in, I thought the actually town was rather dreary. It is a fairly large city of over 200,000 people, and it appeared to be still in the soviet times. The buildings, whether 50 or 200 years old, looked like they were in need of a facelift. There was some new buildings construction going on, but nothing like you would expect in such a large city.
However, in the old city center, almost every building was in the process of being repaired. Most buildings looked like the ones in St. Petersburg but on a smaller scale. They were constructed of brick, stuccoed and then painted. In 2009, the city will celebrate their 1150th anniversary, so the city is trying to get ready for a big celebration.
The bus was parked in an area across the river from the Kremlin. Here seven very old churches are displayed in a garden-like setting. Apparently seven different noblemen built these churches as a gift to the town. I guess like keeping up with the Jones' in medieval times. Most had been 're-stuccoed' but the one I found most interesting was not. Close to the river, it looked like they were building a grassy pavilion with arches around the perimeter. We learned that this area was severely damaged in WWII and the pavilion area was being built in the location of a large indoor market that had been destroyed by the bombing. Prior to the war, the building had arches all around the outside. There is a large shopping center in St. Pete, Gustini Divor, that looks very much like this. I guess that was a common Russian style. Later I'll show you guys what the shopping is like here - there are indoor markets that are like a farmers market inside and there are stores that look like Whole Foods (upscale food mart in the US) - and everything in between, including Walmart look-alikes!
Back to Novgorod, we took several pictures prior to walking across the bridge to the Kremlin. The community was 'founded' in 859 and the walls to protect the city were built later in that century. Because it was an important medieval city, it had many large buildings, a huge bell tower and a beautiful church, St. Sophia. The present church was built about 1050 which replaced one built in 980. The frescos were first painted in the 1200s, and they have been repaired and repainted over the years because of fires. The most recent repairs occurred after WWII but the church received only minor damage. However, a Spanish unit took the cross off the top of the church to Spain. It has been returned and is now presented inside the church - almost like an icon.
There are several Saint Sophia churches in Russia. I always thought Sophia was a person who became a saint but our guide tried to explain that Sophia is the wisdom of God in Jesus. Being simple-minded, I didn't understand that so maybe this will help: In the mystical theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church wisdom is understood as the Divine Logos who became incarnate as Jesus Christ.In the Holy Family, Sophia is often seen as being represented by the Theotokos (Virgin Mary). Sophia is expressed as the Holy Wisdom of God and the saints, obtained through humility, and Mary the Theotokos is the first and greatest of all saints. In Eastern Orthodoxy humility is the highest wisdom and is to be sought more than any other virtue. It is humility that cultivates not only the Holy Wisdom, but humility (in contrast to knowledge) is the defining quality that grants people salvation and entrance into Heaven. The Hagia Sophia or Holy Wisdom church in Constantinople was the religious center of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly a thousand years.(from Wikipedia)
After seeing the church, we walked to the large sculpture that was unveiled in 1862 as a tribute to the most important Russian historical figures. There were many other buildings and a WWII memorial. I had to take more construction pictures - three guys 'laying' round stones in the sand one at a time to make a patio; the large palace that dozens of guys were working on - taking off old stucco, re-plastering with new stucco and painting all at the same time; and the two guys hanging from ropes and painting the church.
Here is information from UNESCO: there is a good picture of St. Sophia there
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=42622&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Novgorod is the oldest Russian city, it being mentioned in chronicles since 859 A.D. The city itself was built gradually from the end of the ninth century, subsequently taking the name Novgorod (The New City). During the middle of the tenth century, Novgorod became a prosperous medieval city, situated on the trade route between the Baltic and the Byzantine empire. Its historical monuments were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992.
AND MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veliky_Novgorod
Question of the week: Are there any antiques stores like we have in the states?
There are lots of antique stores that sell all kinds of items. However it is against the law to remove anything from Russia that is over 100 hundred years old, even if you bring it in with you. So I guess, if your wedding ring belonged to your grandmother from Canada, and you wore it over her, you would have to give it to the government when you left. That may be an extreme example, but it is my understanding that old items are confiscated often. The law also says you cannot take any art from the country without papers. I bought two paintings at the craft show a while back and the artist had to go to the organizer of the show to get papers saying the date I bought them and the price I paid. Then of course the paper was stamped - EVERY official document (even some sales receipts) have to be stamped - purchase orders, delivery tickets to name some. There are lots of notaries here. But back to the antiques question, please remember we live in a very expensive part of Russia, the stores are quite fancy - like the ones in the French Quarter in New Orleans. I have not been shopping in rural areas and I expect that is where we could find some old things at good prices. That having been said, the vast majority of the citizens of Russia have only had the things required to get by. Even today that is true. Although the standard of living is improving, this is still a third-world country. We in the US have a closet full of clothes. Russians may have a handful of outfits. Some of them may be rather expensive, but to them less is more. Their homes/apartments are small and there is no where to put much stuff. Items that were owned by the elite were very nice and still command a very high price.
Until Next time: Hugs to all, Terri
This will be my final installment on Novgorod, the oldest town in Russia. The pictures you will see are from the Novgorod Kremlin, the old walled city. About 30 of us took the bus ride from St. Pete city center to Novgorod. The first picture is of three of the lovely ladies who work for BE&K. The one on the left is John's translator, Nina; the one on the right, Natasha, took me shopping when we were setting up the apartment; Julia is rather young, still in school and working too. She is like the office aid - she does a variety of things as they are needed. It is very unusual for university students to work but she got special permission, in large part because she is working for a US company. She is fluent in Spanish and although not as good as the translators, her English is very good.
It was a lovely fall day - overcast but not raining. As we were driving in, I thought the actually town was rather dreary. It is a fairly large city of over 200,000 people, and it appeared to be still in the soviet times. The buildings, whether 50 or 200 years old, looked like they were in need of a facelift. There was some new buildings construction going on, but nothing like you would expect in such a large city.
However, in the old city center, almost every building was in the process of being repaired. Most buildings looked like the ones in St. Petersburg but on a smaller scale. They were constructed of brick, stuccoed and then painted. In 2009, the city will celebrate their 1150th anniversary, so the city is trying to get ready for a big celebration.
The bus was parked in an area across the river from the Kremlin. Here seven very old churches are displayed in a garden-like setting. Apparently seven different noblemen built these churches as a gift to the town. I guess like keeping up with the Jones' in medieval times. Most had been 're-stuccoed' but the one I found most interesting was not. Close to the river, it looked like they were building a grassy pavilion with arches around the perimeter. We learned that this area was severely damaged in WWII and the pavilion area was being built in the location of a large indoor market that had been destroyed by the bombing. Prior to the war, the building had arches all around the outside. There is a large shopping center in St. Pete, Gustini Divor, that looks very much like this. I guess that was a common Russian style. Later I'll show you guys what the shopping is like here - there are indoor markets that are like a farmers market inside and there are stores that look like Whole Foods (upscale food mart in the US) - and everything in between, including Walmart look-alikes!
Back to Novgorod, we took several pictures prior to walking across the bridge to the Kremlin. The community was 'founded' in 859 and the walls to protect the city were built later in that century. Because it was an important medieval city, it had many large buildings, a huge bell tower and a beautiful church, St. Sophia. The present church was built about 1050 which replaced one built in 980. The frescos were first painted in the 1200s, and they have been repaired and repainted over the years because of fires. The most recent repairs occurred after WWII but the church received only minor damage. However, a Spanish unit took the cross off the top of the church to Spain. It has been returned and is now presented inside the church - almost like an icon.
There are several Saint Sophia churches in Russia. I always thought Sophia was a person who became a saint but our guide tried to explain that Sophia is the wisdom of God in Jesus. Being simple-minded, I didn't understand that so maybe this will help: In the mystical theology of the Eastern Orthodox Church wisdom is understood as the Divine Logos who became incarnate as Jesus Christ.In the Holy Family, Sophia is often seen as being represented by the Theotokos (Virgin Mary). Sophia is expressed as the Holy Wisdom of God and the saints, obtained through humility, and Mary the Theotokos is the first and greatest of all saints. In Eastern Orthodoxy humility is the highest wisdom and is to be sought more than any other virtue. It is humility that cultivates not only the Holy Wisdom, but humility (in contrast to knowledge) is the defining quality that grants people salvation and entrance into Heaven. The Hagia Sophia or Holy Wisdom church in Constantinople was the religious center of the Eastern Orthodox Church for nearly a thousand years.(from Wikipedia)
After seeing the church, we walked to the large sculpture that was unveiled in 1862 as a tribute to the most important Russian historical figures. There were many other buildings and a WWII memorial. I had to take more construction pictures - three guys 'laying' round stones in the sand one at a time to make a patio; the large palace that dozens of guys were working on - taking off old stucco, re-plastering with new stucco and painting all at the same time; and the two guys hanging from ropes and painting the church.
Here is information from UNESCO: there is a good picture of St. Sophia there
http://portal.unesco.org/en/ev.php-URL_ID=42622&URL_DO=DO_TOPIC&URL_SECTION=201.html
Novgorod is the oldest Russian city, it being mentioned in chronicles since 859 A.D. The city itself was built gradually from the end of the ninth century, subsequently taking the name Novgorod (The New City). During the middle of the tenth century, Novgorod became a prosperous medieval city, situated on the trade route between the Baltic and the Byzantine empire. Its historical monuments were inscribed on the World Heritage List in 1992.
AND MORE INFORMATION CAN BE FOUND AT
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Veliky_Novgorod
Question of the week: Are there any antiques stores like we have in the states?
There are lots of antique stores that sell all kinds of items. However it is against the law to remove anything from Russia that is over 100 hundred years old, even if you bring it in with you. So I guess, if your wedding ring belonged to your grandmother from Canada, and you wore it over her, you would have to give it to the government when you left. That may be an extreme example, but it is my understanding that old items are confiscated often. The law also says you cannot take any art from the country without papers. I bought two paintings at the craft show a while back and the artist had to go to the organizer of the show to get papers saying the date I bought them and the price I paid. Then of course the paper was stamped - EVERY official document (even some sales receipts) have to be stamped - purchase orders, delivery tickets to name some. There are lots of notaries here. But back to the antiques question, please remember we live in a very expensive part of Russia, the stores are quite fancy - like the ones in the French Quarter in New Orleans. I have not been shopping in rural areas and I expect that is where we could find some old things at good prices. That having been said, the vast majority of the citizens of Russia have only had the things required to get by. Even today that is true. Although the standard of living is improving, this is still a third-world country. We in the US have a closet full of clothes. Russians may have a handful of outfits. Some of them may be rather expensive, but to them less is more. Their homes/apartments are small and there is no where to put much stuff. Items that were owned by the elite were very nice and still command a very high price.
Until Next time: Hugs to all, Terri
2008-10(Oct)-18 Hat Show
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/HatShow#
Hi everyone, this email will interest the ladies I am sure...the guys - well I don't know.
On Wednesday I attended a hat show at the British Consulate. It was a fund raiser for EveryChild, an international organization dedicated to assisting children around the world. It is a British charity and there is an office in St. Petersburg working with children in institutional care primarily, but also with others. A very sweet young lady explained their work in St. Pete and I was impressed. Orphanages are very active here. Even though the abortion rate is very high, there are many unwanted children, particularly those with problems. This group works to provide basic needs for children - get them off the streets, provide shelter and basics and get them educated. If you are interested in supporting them, please let me know. My neighbor across the street is from the UK and can get you more information.
Back to the hat show. The designer is a woman who thought she could design and make hats. So she gave it a try. Now, several years later (and freedom from the soviet rule) she has two shops in the business center of St. Pete selling GORGEOUS hats and furs of every description. These are not cheap - the hats retail in the 10.000,00 ruble range ($400) and the fur coats in the many thousands. Amazing when you consider she was probably almost penniless before the soviets fell. I think you will enjoy the pictures.
Tonight we had dinner at the apartment of a colleague of John who works for BE&K East but is from Poland. His name is Marek (Polish for Mark) and his wife is Mariola (a Polish derivative of Mary). They have two sons in Poland and a daughter who studies at a university in Poland in architecture but is spending this year in Valencia, Spain. I was delighted to go to the dinner; John was pleased as well because he had visited them in Poland and Mariola is a wonderful cook. We had a wonderful evening. We arrived at about 5 pm and were greeted warmly - wine for all.
Also attending the meal was Marina (BE&K driver/translator), her daughter Ritta, her friend Lenny, and a Polish paper engineer who is working on the project with John and Marek. The eight of us sat around a table; Marek and Mariola served us Polish soup first- two sausages (one like a hot dog and the other like Polish sausage), hardboiled egg in a creamy broth with lots of spices. It was tasty - maybe not a soup I would want to eat often, but it was good. Of course we ate every bit they served us to show our appreciation for them having us! Also on the table were slices of several kinds of bread, olives and red (bell) peppers. The peppers here are so good - a very common condiment to meals.
Next we had the main course - served family style: a salad (finely chopped lettuce with cucumbers, onions, green/yellow/red peppers and a mild vinaigrette dressing); spaghetti with a meat sauce; rice with peas, peppers and spiced with seasonings (with a touch or curry); pork chops with a plum sauce; pan-fried chicken cutlets. Of course we had a serving of everything. All was good - my favorites were the rice and the chicken, John especially liked the pork. We ate way more than we would normally eat because we wanted Mariola to know how much we appreciated her cooking, and of course, because it was good. I will say that only the pasta and rice dishes were similar to what I have eaten in the US, but all was tasty. We sat down at 5:30 and remained at the table for about 3 1/2 hours - we had drinks of frozen vodka, flavored vodka, mixed drinks, more wine, juices, coke. As the conversation flowed, we toasted, told jokes, ate additional portions. Very pleasant and very relaxing. At about 9, they served us desert and coffee/tea (or more drinks if we preferred). We left at 9:30 as Ritta is only 6 and her mom, Marina wanted to get her home.
The conversation was delightful - Mariola, of course, speaks Polish and she knows a bit of Russian. She is taking English lessons and really is learning but she is rather embarrassed by her lack of ability to speak. I think she does great - way better than my Russian (which consists of understanding a word or two- Mariola can say English phrases). Understanding the words is much easier than trying to speak them. I am beginning to read words in Russian - menus and signs but cannot put more than two words together. Marek can speak pretty good Russian and rather good English; their Polish friend works with John and he speaks good English and Russian, plus is a terrific engineer - he sat next to me and was great to translate when the conversation was in Russian or Polish; Marina is the BE&K driver who most often takes me shopping so I know her well had Polish neighbors as a child so she remembers some Polish; her boyfriend, Lenny does not speak any English or Polish and neither does Ritta. Still, our time this evening went by so fast I was very sorry when we had to leave. We talked about travel, children, the soviet times in Russia and in Poland, the Catholic Church and its importance in Poland, paper mills, weddings, cooking, customs; we had lots of laughs. Ritta was playing with a Barbie doll, which of course, we all knew about. Mariola and Marek's second son is getting married next August and we were invited to the wedding in Poland and I really hope we can attend. What a thrill that would be.
We are going to a Russian wedding this week! I'll let you know about it later
Question of the week: Do people have pets?
I have seen very few dogs. A few with their owners on the street; a few rare strays in the park, but I think relative to the population, very few. However, I have been told that the people in the sleeping district have dogs - at least one on every floor of the high rise. Remember that the sleeping districts are in the 'suburbs' and most of the buildings were built in soviet times and look to me like housing projects that have been neglected for years. Honestly, Cabrini Green (in Chicago) was in much better shape, from the outside, than these 'apartment' buildings look. I have been told the apartments look very nice inside, even though the outsides look terrible (remember, the government owns the exterior of the buildings, the individuals own the insides) However, where we live, downtown, there are lots of cats. I've been in a dress shop where they roamed freely; they are in the parks and on the streets. People feed the strays - a lady on our street built a lean-to shelter for some against a building next to the sidewalk. I don't know how they stay warm in the winter. I guess I will soon see.
Hugs to all
Terri
Hi everyone, this email will interest the ladies I am sure...the guys - well I don't know.
On Wednesday I attended a hat show at the British Consulate. It was a fund raiser for EveryChild, an international organization dedicated to assisting children around the world. It is a British charity and there is an office in St. Petersburg working with children in institutional care primarily, but also with others. A very sweet young lady explained their work in St. Pete and I was impressed. Orphanages are very active here. Even though the abortion rate is very high, there are many unwanted children, particularly those with problems. This group works to provide basic needs for children - get them off the streets, provide shelter and basics and get them educated. If you are interested in supporting them, please let me know. My neighbor across the street is from the UK and can get you more information.
Back to the hat show. The designer is a woman who thought she could design and make hats. So she gave it a try. Now, several years later (and freedom from the soviet rule) she has two shops in the business center of St. Pete selling GORGEOUS hats and furs of every description. These are not cheap - the hats retail in the 10.000,00 ruble range ($400) and the fur coats in the many thousands. Amazing when you consider she was probably almost penniless before the soviets fell. I think you will enjoy the pictures.
Tonight we had dinner at the apartment of a colleague of John who works for BE&K East but is from Poland. His name is Marek (Polish for Mark) and his wife is Mariola (a Polish derivative of Mary). They have two sons in Poland and a daughter who studies at a university in Poland in architecture but is spending this year in Valencia, Spain. I was delighted to go to the dinner; John was pleased as well because he had visited them in Poland and Mariola is a wonderful cook. We had a wonderful evening. We arrived at about 5 pm and were greeted warmly - wine for all.
Also attending the meal was Marina (BE&K driver/translator), her daughter Ritta, her friend Lenny, and a Polish paper engineer who is working on the project with John and Marek. The eight of us sat around a table; Marek and Mariola served us Polish soup first- two sausages (one like a hot dog and the other like Polish sausage), hardboiled egg in a creamy broth with lots of spices. It was tasty - maybe not a soup I would want to eat often, but it was good. Of course we ate every bit they served us to show our appreciation for them having us! Also on the table were slices of several kinds of bread, olives and red (bell) peppers. The peppers here are so good - a very common condiment to meals.
Next we had the main course - served family style: a salad (finely chopped lettuce with cucumbers, onions, green/yellow/red peppers and a mild vinaigrette dressing); spaghetti with a meat sauce; rice with peas, peppers and spiced with seasonings (with a touch or curry); pork chops with a plum sauce; pan-fried chicken cutlets. Of course we had a serving of everything. All was good - my favorites were the rice and the chicken, John especially liked the pork. We ate way more than we would normally eat because we wanted Mariola to know how much we appreciated her cooking, and of course, because it was good. I will say that only the pasta and rice dishes were similar to what I have eaten in the US, but all was tasty. We sat down at 5:30 and remained at the table for about 3 1/2 hours - we had drinks of frozen vodka, flavored vodka, mixed drinks, more wine, juices, coke. As the conversation flowed, we toasted, told jokes, ate additional portions. Very pleasant and very relaxing. At about 9, they served us desert and coffee/tea (or more drinks if we preferred). We left at 9:30 as Ritta is only 6 and her mom, Marina wanted to get her home.
The conversation was delightful - Mariola, of course, speaks Polish and she knows a bit of Russian. She is taking English lessons and really is learning but she is rather embarrassed by her lack of ability to speak. I think she does great - way better than my Russian (which consists of understanding a word or two- Mariola can say English phrases). Understanding the words is much easier than trying to speak them. I am beginning to read words in Russian - menus and signs but cannot put more than two words together. Marek can speak pretty good Russian and rather good English; their Polish friend works with John and he speaks good English and Russian, plus is a terrific engineer - he sat next to me and was great to translate when the conversation was in Russian or Polish; Marina is the BE&K driver who most often takes me shopping so I know her well had Polish neighbors as a child so she remembers some Polish; her boyfriend, Lenny does not speak any English or Polish and neither does Ritta. Still, our time this evening went by so fast I was very sorry when we had to leave. We talked about travel, children, the soviet times in Russia and in Poland, the Catholic Church and its importance in Poland, paper mills, weddings, cooking, customs; we had lots of laughs. Ritta was playing with a Barbie doll, which of course, we all knew about. Mariola and Marek's second son is getting married next August and we were invited to the wedding in Poland and I really hope we can attend. What a thrill that would be.
We are going to a Russian wedding this week! I'll let you know about it later
Question of the week: Do people have pets?
I have seen very few dogs. A few with their owners on the street; a few rare strays in the park, but I think relative to the population, very few. However, I have been told that the people in the sleeping district have dogs - at least one on every floor of the high rise. Remember that the sleeping districts are in the 'suburbs' and most of the buildings were built in soviet times and look to me like housing projects that have been neglected for years. Honestly, Cabrini Green (in Chicago) was in much better shape, from the outside, than these 'apartment' buildings look. I have been told the apartments look very nice inside, even though the outsides look terrible (remember, the government owns the exterior of the buildings, the individuals own the insides) However, where we live, downtown, there are lots of cats. I've been in a dress shop where they roamed freely; they are in the parks and on the streets. People feed the strays - a lady on our street built a lean-to shelter for some against a building next to the sidewalk. I don't know how they stay warm in the winter. I guess I will soon see.
Hugs to all
Terri
2008-10(Oct)-16 Novgorod Wood Village
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/NovgorodWoodVillage#
We took many pictures on our trip to Novgorod so here is another group - this Wood Village was recreated on a site of an old city, Vitoslavlitsy. The structures are period 1300 - 1800, all of wood. We had a lovely tour guide who was a resident of Novgorod who spoke very good English and had quite a nice sense of humor.
As she told it, the first structures the communities built were chapels or churches. Chapels were small and typically were used as meditative or resting places. The churches were larger and more grand. Of course, in rural areas, more grand still means a wood structure with perhaps, a dirt floor. We are talking about rural areas in 1400 here, not 1700 when Peter started building St. Petersburg as a copy of the great European cities. Russia has been a Christian country (except during the Soviet times) with their roots coming from the Eastern Orthodox tradition (remember, in about 1000, the Great Schism divided the medieval Christians into followers of the Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) churches).
Most of the structures were closed to the public. There were 'interpreters' in native costumes who explained to the Russian visitors what kind of lives people had then, you could peek into windows but really the insides were about the same as the outsides - logs, stripped of their bark and placed together perfectly - no nails. Absent also was any mud as filler for the spaces between the logs. As best I can tell they just fit together. All the intricate designs were made with hand tools and remember that we are very far north, so there was limited times to build with all the cold weather. Another interesting tidbit was that the villagers were taxed by the number of windows on their houses, so only the 'wealthy' had many windows. Probably a good thing since it got so cold. The roofs were also made of wood - looked like wood slats.
We did go into one house. The ceilings were extremely low and you climbed up to the top level to get to the living quarters. The ground floor (it actually was dirt) was used for storage and to house the animals when it rained or was cold. Upstairs there was a storage area for crops and one room for living. There was a clay stove/fireplace for cooking; people slept on hard wood benches; the very young and the oldest people (you know, the ones in their late 30s or 40s) slept in a small loft or above the stove to keep warm. Our guide said that the houses typically had an icon (religious painting) to remind them of their faith and 'charms' to keep away bad spirits. I guess in case God was too busy, when the pagan spirits were acting up!
I did find it interesting that these buildings were reconstructed on site and they did use nails - even if we knew how to build such structures today, it would have cost a fortune in man-hours to do. Even in Russian wages!
Now for the next question: DO you cook dinner for John every night?....:)
Of course, I am Betty Crocker (or perhaps Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray or Paula Dean) now! I do cook a couple of times per week. But actually we have left overs at least once from the cooking I do on Tuesday nights, we go out for pizza on Thursdays with co-workers, we usually do something with other couples on the weekend so I am not really cooking much - but enough for me - since most of you know I do not like to cook. We certainly are not starving here.
Hugs to all, Terri
We took many pictures on our trip to Novgorod so here is another group - this Wood Village was recreated on a site of an old city, Vitoslavlitsy. The structures are period 1300 - 1800, all of wood. We had a lovely tour guide who was a resident of Novgorod who spoke very good English and had quite a nice sense of humor.
As she told it, the first structures the communities built were chapels or churches. Chapels were small and typically were used as meditative or resting places. The churches were larger and more grand. Of course, in rural areas, more grand still means a wood structure with perhaps, a dirt floor. We are talking about rural areas in 1400 here, not 1700 when Peter started building St. Petersburg as a copy of the great European cities. Russia has been a Christian country (except during the Soviet times) with their roots coming from the Eastern Orthodox tradition (remember, in about 1000, the Great Schism divided the medieval Christians into followers of the Eastern (Greek) and Western (Latin) churches).
Most of the structures were closed to the public. There were 'interpreters' in native costumes who explained to the Russian visitors what kind of lives people had then, you could peek into windows but really the insides were about the same as the outsides - logs, stripped of their bark and placed together perfectly - no nails. Absent also was any mud as filler for the spaces between the logs. As best I can tell they just fit together. All the intricate designs were made with hand tools and remember that we are very far north, so there was limited times to build with all the cold weather. Another interesting tidbit was that the villagers were taxed by the number of windows on their houses, so only the 'wealthy' had many windows. Probably a good thing since it got so cold. The roofs were also made of wood - looked like wood slats.
We did go into one house. The ceilings were extremely low and you climbed up to the top level to get to the living quarters. The ground floor (it actually was dirt) was used for storage and to house the animals when it rained or was cold. Upstairs there was a storage area for crops and one room for living. There was a clay stove/fireplace for cooking; people slept on hard wood benches; the very young and the oldest people (you know, the ones in their late 30s or 40s) slept in a small loft or above the stove to keep warm. Our guide said that the houses typically had an icon (religious painting) to remind them of their faith and 'charms' to keep away bad spirits. I guess in case God was too busy, when the pagan spirits were acting up!
I did find it interesting that these buildings were reconstructed on site and they did use nails - even if we knew how to build such structures today, it would have cost a fortune in man-hours to do. Even in Russian wages!
Now for the next question: DO you cook dinner for John every night?....:)
Of course, I am Betty Crocker (or perhaps Martha Stewart, Rachel Ray or Paula Dean) now! I do cook a couple of times per week. But actually we have left overs at least once from the cooking I do on Tuesday nights, we go out for pizza on Thursdays with co-workers, we usually do something with other couples on the weekend so I am not really cooking much - but enough for me - since most of you know I do not like to cook. We certainly are not starving here.
Hugs to all, Terri
2008-10(Oct)-15 Novgorod Countryside
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/NovgorodCountryside#
This time I want to tell you about our trip to Novgorod, a city about 164 kilometers (102 miles according to the conversion chart that is a favorite on my computer - I convert everything - sizes for sheets, rugs; temperature outside and baking in the oven; distance; money - rubles to dollars) that we visited a couple of weeks ago. The city is one of the oldest in Europe - a religious and political capital and the fourth largest in the continent in the middle ages. The modern city has grown around the walled city (the Kremlin, which is the Russian word for fortress, castle, etc. I always thought the Kremlin was the buildings that comprised the government complex in Moscow and didn't realize it referred to the walled fortress of the city) so coming into the town we saw county places (dachas), most of which look to us like shacks of varying sizes. But remember the soviet run government has been gone only 15 years (actually less time for the country places) and building materials are hard to get for common folk since most don't have cars.
You guys only think we have bad traffic in the US. We were in a bus (like a charter bus that was very nice) and the trip there took at least 3 hours. Russia is the fastest growing auto market in the world (or so I have been told) but the roads are like county roads at best. There is one 'interstate' around St. Petersburg, the Ring, but even it has huge traffic jams. The trip home from Novgorod took 5 1/2 hours because they were repairing a strip of the road about a quarter of a mile long and they had traffic backed up for miles and miles. Half-way there we stopped at an "Away from the wives cafe" where we had a potty stop. I had no idea what to expect and the worst was confirmed. Suffice to say there was no running water and no seats. I have since learned these accommodations are fairly standard in the far east, India and rural eastern Europe. When I left Alabama, I never dreamed I would think our public rest rooms were something I would miss, but boy do I! Some of our group took pictures inside but I was too disgusted. Just use your imagination. And to think, most of the inhabitants of the world are used to this! Boy are we lucky to be Americans.
While in Novgorod, we visited the Kremlin and the wood village (more about those places next time). While at the wood village, we saw yet another wedding. I asked the translators the significance of the man with the whip and the woman with the leaf broom leading the way and I go the typical husband being the master and wife, the slave comment. Someone else wondered if they were Jewish. However it appears they must have reserved the guides from the wood village to walk along side them in costume. The family and guests walking behind the bride and groom were dressed normally.
The leaves are changing here and in fact, many trees are bare. Collecting maple leaves is done here just as I did when I was little. Jana found this collection that had been stringed into a crown and she modeled it for us. Jana was married this year on July 9, our anniversary.
Finally, for our construction friends - the scaffolding used here on many of the buildings being renovated here are made from trees that had recently been cut down. In many cases the scaffolding went up 3-4 stories. Didn't look too sturdy to me, but John said it was stronger than tying them together. Some reassurance!
This fisherman was kind enough to pose for me as we were walking across the Volkhov River. I loved the blue boots. I'll be sending another message soon - I have been busy lately
Question of the Week: Have you eaten at a McDonalds?
I got a coke when I was here in January (with no ice). However, the place is always packed. It is on Nevisky Prospect, the main street in the center of the city. The menu is really very much like the US menu. There is also Carl Jr (Hardees), KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, to name a few chain restaurants. Honestly, we have not eaten at any of these chains. Mostly we try new restaurants, our 'regulars' or I cook. One comment however - there is no 'diet coke', it is called Coke Light. At a restaurant, when you get a coke, it is in a small bottle. Foreigners are advised to drink it as it is served - if you ask for ice you don't know what kind of water was used to make it. Russians (and most Europeans) don't use ice much so it is very unlikely they used bottled water to make the ice. Although the water is purified by the city, the pipes are very old, and bacterias have been found in the drinking supply. Locals are probably 'used' to it so it doesn't affect them the way it might affect visitors. At first I used bottled water to brush my teeth, now I only do it half the time because it is too much trouble. So far, no problems; John however always uses bottled water.
Until next time, Terri
This time I want to tell you about our trip to Novgorod, a city about 164 kilometers (102 miles according to the conversion chart that is a favorite on my computer - I convert everything - sizes for sheets, rugs; temperature outside and baking in the oven; distance; money - rubles to dollars) that we visited a couple of weeks ago. The city is one of the oldest in Europe - a religious and political capital and the fourth largest in the continent in the middle ages. The modern city has grown around the walled city (the Kremlin, which is the Russian word for fortress, castle, etc. I always thought the Kremlin was the buildings that comprised the government complex in Moscow and didn't realize it referred to the walled fortress of the city) so coming into the town we saw county places (dachas), most of which look to us like shacks of varying sizes. But remember the soviet run government has been gone only 15 years (actually less time for the country places) and building materials are hard to get for common folk since most don't have cars.
You guys only think we have bad traffic in the US. We were in a bus (like a charter bus that was very nice) and the trip there took at least 3 hours. Russia is the fastest growing auto market in the world (or so I have been told) but the roads are like county roads at best. There is one 'interstate' around St. Petersburg, the Ring, but even it has huge traffic jams. The trip home from Novgorod took 5 1/2 hours because they were repairing a strip of the road about a quarter of a mile long and they had traffic backed up for miles and miles. Half-way there we stopped at an "Away from the wives cafe" where we had a potty stop. I had no idea what to expect and the worst was confirmed. Suffice to say there was no running water and no seats. I have since learned these accommodations are fairly standard in the far east, India and rural eastern Europe. When I left Alabama, I never dreamed I would think our public rest rooms were something I would miss, but boy do I! Some of our group took pictures inside but I was too disgusted. Just use your imagination. And to think, most of the inhabitants of the world are used to this! Boy are we lucky to be Americans.
While in Novgorod, we visited the Kremlin and the wood village (more about those places next time). While at the wood village, we saw yet another wedding. I asked the translators the significance of the man with the whip and the woman with the leaf broom leading the way and I go the typical husband being the master and wife, the slave comment. Someone else wondered if they were Jewish. However it appears they must have reserved the guides from the wood village to walk along side them in costume. The family and guests walking behind the bride and groom were dressed normally.
The leaves are changing here and in fact, many trees are bare. Collecting maple leaves is done here just as I did when I was little. Jana found this collection that had been stringed into a crown and she modeled it for us. Jana was married this year on July 9, our anniversary.
Finally, for our construction friends - the scaffolding used here on many of the buildings being renovated here are made from trees that had recently been cut down. In many cases the scaffolding went up 3-4 stories. Didn't look too sturdy to me, but John said it was stronger than tying them together. Some reassurance!
This fisherman was kind enough to pose for me as we were walking across the Volkhov River. I loved the blue boots. I'll be sending another message soon - I have been busy lately
Question of the Week: Have you eaten at a McDonalds?
I got a coke when I was here in January (with no ice). However, the place is always packed. It is on Nevisky Prospect, the main street in the center of the city. The menu is really very much like the US menu. There is also Carl Jr (Hardees), KFC, Burger King, Pizza Hut, to name a few chain restaurants. Honestly, we have not eaten at any of these chains. Mostly we try new restaurants, our 'regulars' or I cook. One comment however - there is no 'diet coke', it is called Coke Light. At a restaurant, when you get a coke, it is in a small bottle. Foreigners are advised to drink it as it is served - if you ask for ice you don't know what kind of water was used to make it. Russians (and most Europeans) don't use ice much so it is very unlikely they used bottled water to make the ice. Although the water is purified by the city, the pipes are very old, and bacterias have been found in the drinking supply. Locals are probably 'used' to it so it doesn't affect them the way it might affect visitors. At first I used bottled water to brush my teeth, now I only do it half the time because it is too much trouble. So far, no problems; John however always uses bottled water.
Until next time, Terri
2008-10(Oct)-08 Smolny Palace Views,
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/SmolnyPalace#
This past weekend was a busy one - the weather continues to be wonderful, which makes me nervous for the upcoming winter. Between the two of us, we took over 200 pictures which I do not intend to bore you with. I will break this down into a couple of emails and try to keep the pictures to 20 or so.
On Saturday, we took a road trip with the office to the oldest town in the area - buildings date back to 1000. I'll tell you about that next time. On Sunday, we walked miles! After church and breakfast at a new place, we went to the Church of our Savior on Spilt Blood which is a memorial to one of the czars who was loved (one of the few) but was assassinated at that spot. This is probably the most visited spot in St. Petersburg after the Hermitage. We finally went inside. The entire church is full of mosaics with detail in tiles looks like a painter decorated the walls, not someone placing tile pieces. We didn't have a camera, but we are planning to go back when the sun is not shining to see how different it will look in subdued light. We'll take pictures then. Just so you know, since John has a work visa, we are considered residents (who pay taxes!) and we get the Russian prices to enter attractions - 100 rubles ($4) and 50 rubles to take pictures! Tourists pay 2 or 3 times as much.
In mid-afternoon we walked about 20 minutes to a palace east of our apartment on the Neva River that was built by Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. It is a 'compound' of buildings that has included a cathedral, monastery, a girl’s school. In fact it is most famous as a place in the 1800s where middle class girls were educated. I have mentioned before that all Russians are educated - even the poorest read. There are lots of bookstores; newspapers are posted on big boards around the city. One of John's drivers complained that TV is making reading less popular. Don't Americans know it. Back to Smolny. We did not go inside - we wanted a view of the city before it was freezing cold and while the sun was out (soon we'll be in 20 hour darkness). We climbed all the way to the top of the bell tower. I wish I had counted the steps, but it was a long way up. John admired the construction. It is so amazing that there was no cranes, no electricity, no computers...and they made fabulous buildings. The stucco is painted blue with white trim and gold accents - it is a stunning picture. As we were leaving we saw a bride and groom taking pictures in front. If you want to learn more about Smolny, use this link. Then try some of their links. I am hoping we will go to a concert in Smolny sometime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smolny_Convent
I also made John take a picture of the soviet-style building across the street. And this is definitely one of the more attractive ones. He was a little hesitant because about three months ago, he was at the other end of this street, close to our apartment and was waiting for someone. He took out his phone to call the person and a man in a uniform quickly came up and started fussing at him - "no pictures!" He wasn't taking any but a Russian friend pointed out that they were at the corner where the KGB complex for St. Petersburg is and it would be best to keep his hands in his pocket. Since then he has avoided taking pictures of government buildings.
Question of the week: What is an average day for you when John is working?
No, I do not watch soap operas and eat bonbons. But I do play more computer games than is healthy. I am also eating entirely too much. But besides that, I am trying to walk a couple miles 4-5 times a week - in the Garden by my home or on errands. Other ladies in our group shop twice a week for shoes, handbags or clothes but I haven't done that yet because I don't plan to buy anything like that here and because it has been so pretty weather wise, I wanted to learn my way around. I take Russian lessons twice a week and do homework. I have read several books since I got here; have done two puzzles which I intend to glue on boards for fun decorations in John's office. I cook dinner on Tuesdays for the 'bachelors' guys and a gal whose spouses are not here. I clean our apartment (it is entirely too big) which is a chore because the air here is so dirty - so much construction going on that I sweep several times a week. That is why Russians take off their shoes at home. The International Women's Club has lots to do and I am getting involved and meeting women from all over the word in addition to a few Americans. This week I went to the Hermitage (largest museum in the world) with 10 other ladies.
Tomorrow I am going to see how Imperial China is made. Shopping takes either alot of money or alot of time. Good prices on groceries (which are high compared to the US) can be found at the big stores (their version of Walmart) but they are in the suburbs and with no interstates, it takes at least an hour to get there; another to get back. We have a pool of drivers we can schedule but you can really only get about two stops accomplished in a day. If you shop at a local market, it costs more and then how do you get your groceries home? You are on foot. So you can only buy two bags at a time. Plus you haul them upstairs! I must admit that I have been bored a good bit. But then I remind myself to get out and learn something!
I wish you would do something about the economy. We may not afford to come home!
Love, Terri
This past weekend was a busy one - the weather continues to be wonderful, which makes me nervous for the upcoming winter. Between the two of us, we took over 200 pictures which I do not intend to bore you with. I will break this down into a couple of emails and try to keep the pictures to 20 or so.
On Saturday, we took a road trip with the office to the oldest town in the area - buildings date back to 1000. I'll tell you about that next time. On Sunday, we walked miles! After church and breakfast at a new place, we went to the Church of our Savior on Spilt Blood which is a memorial to one of the czars who was loved (one of the few) but was assassinated at that spot. This is probably the most visited spot in St. Petersburg after the Hermitage. We finally went inside. The entire church is full of mosaics with detail in tiles looks like a painter decorated the walls, not someone placing tile pieces. We didn't have a camera, but we are planning to go back when the sun is not shining to see how different it will look in subdued light. We'll take pictures then. Just so you know, since John has a work visa, we are considered residents (who pay taxes!) and we get the Russian prices to enter attractions - 100 rubles ($4) and 50 rubles to take pictures! Tourists pay 2 or 3 times as much.
In mid-afternoon we walked about 20 minutes to a palace east of our apartment on the Neva River that was built by Elizabeth, the daughter of Peter the Great. It is a 'compound' of buildings that has included a cathedral, monastery, a girl’s school. In fact it is most famous as a place in the 1800s where middle class girls were educated. I have mentioned before that all Russians are educated - even the poorest read. There are lots of bookstores; newspapers are posted on big boards around the city. One of John's drivers complained that TV is making reading less popular. Don't Americans know it. Back to Smolny. We did not go inside - we wanted a view of the city before it was freezing cold and while the sun was out (soon we'll be in 20 hour darkness). We climbed all the way to the top of the bell tower. I wish I had counted the steps, but it was a long way up. John admired the construction. It is so amazing that there was no cranes, no electricity, no computers...and they made fabulous buildings. The stucco is painted blue with white trim and gold accents - it is a stunning picture. As we were leaving we saw a bride and groom taking pictures in front. If you want to learn more about Smolny, use this link. Then try some of their links. I am hoping we will go to a concert in Smolny sometime.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Smolny_Convent
I also made John take a picture of the soviet-style building across the street. And this is definitely one of the more attractive ones. He was a little hesitant because about three months ago, he was at the other end of this street, close to our apartment and was waiting for someone. He took out his phone to call the person and a man in a uniform quickly came up and started fussing at him - "no pictures!" He wasn't taking any but a Russian friend pointed out that they were at the corner where the KGB complex for St. Petersburg is and it would be best to keep his hands in his pocket. Since then he has avoided taking pictures of government buildings.
Question of the week: What is an average day for you when John is working?
No, I do not watch soap operas and eat bonbons. But I do play more computer games than is healthy. I am also eating entirely too much. But besides that, I am trying to walk a couple miles 4-5 times a week - in the Garden by my home or on errands. Other ladies in our group shop twice a week for shoes, handbags or clothes but I haven't done that yet because I don't plan to buy anything like that here and because it has been so pretty weather wise, I wanted to learn my way around. I take Russian lessons twice a week and do homework. I have read several books since I got here; have done two puzzles which I intend to glue on boards for fun decorations in John's office. I cook dinner on Tuesdays for the 'bachelors' guys and a gal whose spouses are not here. I clean our apartment (it is entirely too big) which is a chore because the air here is so dirty - so much construction going on that I sweep several times a week. That is why Russians take off their shoes at home. The International Women's Club has lots to do and I am getting involved and meeting women from all over the word in addition to a few Americans. This week I went to the Hermitage (largest museum in the world) with 10 other ladies.
Tomorrow I am going to see how Imperial China is made. Shopping takes either alot of money or alot of time. Good prices on groceries (which are high compared to the US) can be found at the big stores (their version of Walmart) but they are in the suburbs and with no interstates, it takes at least an hour to get there; another to get back. We have a pool of drivers we can schedule but you can really only get about two stops accomplished in a day. If you shop at a local market, it costs more and then how do you get your groceries home? You are on foot. So you can only buy two bags at a time. Plus you haul them upstairs! I must admit that I have been bored a good bit. But then I remind myself to get out and learn something!
I wish you would do something about the economy. We may not afford to come home!
Love, Terri
2008-10(Oct)-01 John Bday
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/JohnSBirthday#
Hi everyone, we celebrated John's 60th birthday Saturday, which was the height of our week. I sent an invitation by email to the office distribution and the office 'manager' went around to all the translators and explained what "Shhhh, it is a surprise!" meant. We had about 30 to come. I fixed three big pots of soup; a few other wives brought food and we were very glad a few translators brought authentic Russian salads. I even baked my first real caramel cake, John's favorite. It actually turned out pretty well. And YES Jane, I did make traditional, cooked caramel icing. There is no powdered sugar in Russia. But it did take all day, because I only have one cake pan (I baked three layers) and had to make two batches of icing. My arm was sore after all the beating by hand!
The party was not actually a surprise, because one of the people invited apparently did not get the explanation about the surprise and he left for his holiday in Spain Saturday. So he apologized to John for missing the party. He is Polish and like most eastern Europeans, takes social invitations very seriously. By the way, everyone here takes wonderful vacations - even the least paid people save up for trips all over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The translators, who are mostly in their twenties, have been to far more places than have I.
Back to the party, John was a sport, never letting on that he knew. I did wonder why the honey do list was tackled without comment, however. For his birthday present, our kids sent him a 'video' to music of current pictures (remember we now have four kids and a dog - Clare's Scout) which he enjoyed. The celebration was at our apartment; the young people you see in the pictures are the translators; the older folks are management. Only one translator was brave enough to bring their spouse/significant other. Although many Russians speak a bit of English, they are rather intimidated by Americans, and are embarrassed that their English is not perfect. I think that is true for many aspects of their behavior. I guess in their culture, especially in Soviet times, you did what you were supposed to do perfectly, no more and no less. So speaking in broken English implies you haven't mastered a task. This is contrast to Americans who take risks more freely. Thus I think we should really respect Russians who come to the US - takes alot of courage for someone unaccustomed for doing something out of the ordinary! Russian lives have changed so much in the past 12-15 years. It is like going from the 1940s to the 2000s in ten years. At least in this big city, they seem to be adjusting very well to all the changes.
From the pictures, you can see the ladies really don't dress that differently than we do - I would call their outfits a little 'funky', definately more flashy than Americans in general. But of course they are much younger than we are. At the office, they have meetings to discuss clothing choices - especially in the summer they dress in a more revealling manner than we would consider acceptible. Shoes for women are very important - there are shoe stores everywhere and most women wear high heels, even when walking in the street. And remember most people do not have cars so they walk, take the bus or ride the train everywhere. Shoes are removed upon enterring a home. The streets are dirty (especially here since everything is under construction it seems) and there is so much rain and snow. That is why you see people in sock feet in the pictures. Hey kids, mom needs socks for Christmas!
Thank you to everyone who sent John a birthday card! Michael forwarded all the cards sent to Sylacauga, and we have received many here in St. Pete. I have emailed each person as the cards arrived - there seems to be no explanation for how they are coming. Today we received one sent on 9-2; we got one over a week ago that was postmarked the same day. So I expect more will be coming - Rachel's isn't here yet and she mailed hers fairly early. If you sent a card to St. Pete and haven't heard from me that it was received, please let me know. I'd like to see what percentage of cards made it!
The last three pictures were taken Monday at a luncheon for a club I have joined - International Women's Club - 200 members in St, Petersburg. More about that another time.
And finally, question of the week! Do they have pizza?
We get pizza almost every Thursday or Friday night. It is thin crust and it has some different toppings but at Robertinos', it is very good. I have seen several Pizza Huts and there is actually a Papa Johns on our street, but friends say it is not as good as Robertino's
We are going there now!
Love, Terri
Hi everyone, we celebrated John's 60th birthday Saturday, which was the height of our week. I sent an invitation by email to the office distribution and the office 'manager' went around to all the translators and explained what "Shhhh, it is a surprise!" meant. We had about 30 to come. I fixed three big pots of soup; a few other wives brought food and we were very glad a few translators brought authentic Russian salads. I even baked my first real caramel cake, John's favorite. It actually turned out pretty well. And YES Jane, I did make traditional, cooked caramel icing. There is no powdered sugar in Russia. But it did take all day, because I only have one cake pan (I baked three layers) and had to make two batches of icing. My arm was sore after all the beating by hand!
The party was not actually a surprise, because one of the people invited apparently did not get the explanation about the surprise and he left for his holiday in Spain Saturday. So he apologized to John for missing the party. He is Polish and like most eastern Europeans, takes social invitations very seriously. By the way, everyone here takes wonderful vacations - even the least paid people save up for trips all over Europe, North Africa and the Middle East. The translators, who are mostly in their twenties, have been to far more places than have I.
Back to the party, John was a sport, never letting on that he knew. I did wonder why the honey do list was tackled without comment, however. For his birthday present, our kids sent him a 'video' to music of current pictures (remember we now have four kids and a dog - Clare's Scout) which he enjoyed. The celebration was at our apartment; the young people you see in the pictures are the translators; the older folks are management. Only one translator was brave enough to bring their spouse/significant other. Although many Russians speak a bit of English, they are rather intimidated by Americans, and are embarrassed that their English is not perfect. I think that is true for many aspects of their behavior. I guess in their culture, especially in Soviet times, you did what you were supposed to do perfectly, no more and no less. So speaking in broken English implies you haven't mastered a task. This is contrast to Americans who take risks more freely. Thus I think we should really respect Russians who come to the US - takes alot of courage for someone unaccustomed for doing something out of the ordinary! Russian lives have changed so much in the past 12-15 years. It is like going from the 1940s to the 2000s in ten years. At least in this big city, they seem to be adjusting very well to all the changes.
From the pictures, you can see the ladies really don't dress that differently than we do - I would call their outfits a little 'funky', definately more flashy than Americans in general. But of course they are much younger than we are. At the office, they have meetings to discuss clothing choices - especially in the summer they dress in a more revealling manner than we would consider acceptible. Shoes for women are very important - there are shoe stores everywhere and most women wear high heels, even when walking in the street. And remember most people do not have cars so they walk, take the bus or ride the train everywhere. Shoes are removed upon enterring a home. The streets are dirty (especially here since everything is under construction it seems) and there is so much rain and snow. That is why you see people in sock feet in the pictures. Hey kids, mom needs socks for Christmas!
Thank you to everyone who sent John a birthday card! Michael forwarded all the cards sent to Sylacauga, and we have received many here in St. Pete. I have emailed each person as the cards arrived - there seems to be no explanation for how they are coming. Today we received one sent on 9-2; we got one over a week ago that was postmarked the same day. So I expect more will be coming - Rachel's isn't here yet and she mailed hers fairly early. If you sent a card to St. Pete and haven't heard from me that it was received, please let me know. I'd like to see what percentage of cards made it!
The last three pictures were taken Monday at a luncheon for a club I have joined - International Women's Club - 200 members in St, Petersburg. More about that another time.
And finally, question of the week! Do they have pizza?
We get pizza almost every Thursday or Friday night. It is thin crust and it has some different toppings but at Robertinos', it is very good. I have seen several Pizza Huts and there is actually a Papa Johns on our street, but friends say it is not as good as Robertino's
We are going there now!
Love, Terri
2008-09(Sept)-23 St. Catherine’s, Art Institute
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/StCatherineSArtInstitute#
We had a pretty quiet week - with the LSU-AU game as the main event of the weekend. Because we still do not have internet, we could not watch the game (we will be using something like slingbox to get American TV), our friends who do, taped the game and we watched it at 10 Sunday morning. The kids were great to keep the results a secret, although I bet they would have done something if Auburn had won!
Before the game, I went to Mass at St. Catherine's. This is the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Russia - in St. Petersburg, on Nevsky Prospect (the main street in the city center) close to the Neva River and the Hermitage. It was first built in 1705, and was a grand, beautiful church. With the revolution, Catholicism was persecuted. With Soviet times Catholicism was banned. During those times, the building fell into great disrepair. It, like a majority of churches was used by the state for offices, warehousing, events - at different times in the 1900s. I was told that the last fire (1984) of the interior of the structure was probably a blessing as the building was almost completely restored as a hall for the Philharmonic Orchestra. If the building was given to the Orchestra, it most likely would not have been returned to the Catholic Church. The Soviets 'allowed' religion (especially in the 70s, 80s and 90s. However, there was someone at the door taking names of those who entered. So most people would not risk being recognized as a religious person. Today, after my Russian lesson, I was waiting for my driver in front of a Russian-Orthodox church and saw many people, including a few young people going in and out of the church in the middle of the afternoon. However, it is fair to say that many here are not believers, and most of those that believe in God do not participate in any religious activities.
Back to St. Catherine's, currently, only 1/3 of the interior of the building has been restored. However, it is beautiful, as the pictures show. Parts have been patched rather than repaired. In other places the ruins remain; almost a reminder of what once was. If you want to learn more details, these sites say it better than I can.
http://www.catherine.spb.ru/page_e.phtml?query=interior_eng
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_of_St._Catherine
There are four Masses per Sunday - I think there are two in Polish, and one each in English and Russian (or maybe two in Russian and one in Polish, regardless; we attend the English Mass). We have not had the same priest more than a few times. Apparently priests do alot of traveling! There was a Canadian of Asian descent who sounded like an American (from Vancouver, I think); An Irishman (surprise, surprise); several from Africa; a couple of Americans. The congregation seems to have many Afrikaners, Indians, Asians, and Americans. Also there are many tourists there in the summer. One Sunday, a group of men from Italy presented the music on pipe instruments. The men were all ages - twenties to seventies, it seemed to me. They played and sang in lovely harmony.
Saturday, two of my friends and I returned to the craft show at the Art Institute- I bought two paintings from an artist that I plan to bring back with me, and a bit of jewelry. Mainly I wanted to see the inside of the building again - there is an incredible contrast between the vendors/ all the foot-traffic of the buyers and the incredible ceilings, floors, walls - paintings and sculptures, doors - all of it is amazing. Of course I didn't concentrate on what I needed to buy, especially with Christmas coming. So I guess I'll just have to return next month!
I did get a couple of questions from my last email, so I thought I'd answer one this week: Are you picking up any Russian?
I try to go to Russian classes twice a week. Because the alphabet is different (Cyrillic) it is pretty hard. However, many words are similar so that helps. I do recognize some words on signs - I know the word for home, purse, pharmacy, restaurant, saint, petersburg, stop, flower, rainbow, prospect (large street), Russia, wine, metro (subway), cafe, road, river, bar, zoo, please, thank you - I can recognize them, not speak them! So far I have been to 6 lessons; I actually have homework after class. But I really cannot read or speak enough to get out of trouble. On the street level of our building, there is a small market. I normally get vegetables there. At first I pointed to the tomatoes and used my fingers to tell the young man how many I needed. Today I actually asked for four tomatoes (pomadors) in Russian. I recognized the cost and then I think he asked me to say it in English - 20 rubles. Progress!
Until next time!
We had a pretty quiet week - with the LSU-AU game as the main event of the weekend. Because we still do not have internet, we could not watch the game (we will be using something like slingbox to get American TV), our friends who do, taped the game and we watched it at 10 Sunday morning. The kids were great to keep the results a secret, although I bet they would have done something if Auburn had won!
Before the game, I went to Mass at St. Catherine's. This is the oldest Roman Catholic Church in Russia - in St. Petersburg, on Nevsky Prospect (the main street in the city center) close to the Neva River and the Hermitage. It was first built in 1705, and was a grand, beautiful church. With the revolution, Catholicism was persecuted. With Soviet times Catholicism was banned. During those times, the building fell into great disrepair. It, like a majority of churches was used by the state for offices, warehousing, events - at different times in the 1900s. I was told that the last fire (1984) of the interior of the structure was probably a blessing as the building was almost completely restored as a hall for the Philharmonic Orchestra. If the building was given to the Orchestra, it most likely would not have been returned to the Catholic Church. The Soviets 'allowed' religion (especially in the 70s, 80s and 90s. However, there was someone at the door taking names of those who entered. So most people would not risk being recognized as a religious person. Today, after my Russian lesson, I was waiting for my driver in front of a Russian-Orthodox church and saw many people, including a few young people going in and out of the church in the middle of the afternoon. However, it is fair to say that many here are not believers, and most of those that believe in God do not participate in any religious activities.
Back to St. Catherine's, currently, only 1/3 of the interior of the building has been restored. However, it is beautiful, as the pictures show. Parts have been patched rather than repaired. In other places the ruins remain; almost a reminder of what once was. If you want to learn more details, these sites say it better than I can.
http://www.catherine.spb.ru/page_e.phtml?query=interior_eng
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_of_St._Catherine
There are four Masses per Sunday - I think there are two in Polish, and one each in English and Russian (or maybe two in Russian and one in Polish, regardless; we attend the English Mass). We have not had the same priest more than a few times. Apparently priests do alot of traveling! There was a Canadian of Asian descent who sounded like an American (from Vancouver, I think); An Irishman (surprise, surprise); several from Africa; a couple of Americans. The congregation seems to have many Afrikaners, Indians, Asians, and Americans. Also there are many tourists there in the summer. One Sunday, a group of men from Italy presented the music on pipe instruments. The men were all ages - twenties to seventies, it seemed to me. They played and sang in lovely harmony.
Saturday, two of my friends and I returned to the craft show at the Art Institute- I bought two paintings from an artist that I plan to bring back with me, and a bit of jewelry. Mainly I wanted to see the inside of the building again - there is an incredible contrast between the vendors/ all the foot-traffic of the buyers and the incredible ceilings, floors, walls - paintings and sculptures, doors - all of it is amazing. Of course I didn't concentrate on what I needed to buy, especially with Christmas coming. So I guess I'll just have to return next month!
I did get a couple of questions from my last email, so I thought I'd answer one this week: Are you picking up any Russian?
I try to go to Russian classes twice a week. Because the alphabet is different (Cyrillic) it is pretty hard. However, many words are similar so that helps. I do recognize some words on signs - I know the word for home, purse, pharmacy, restaurant, saint, petersburg, stop, flower, rainbow, prospect (large street), Russia, wine, metro (subway), cafe, road, river, bar, zoo, please, thank you - I can recognize them, not speak them! So far I have been to 6 lessons; I actually have homework after class. But I really cannot read or speak enough to get out of trouble. On the street level of our building, there is a small market. I normally get vegetables there. At first I pointed to the tomatoes and used my fingers to tell the young man how many I needed. Today I actually asked for four tomatoes (pomadors) in Russian. I recognized the cost and then I think he asked me to say it in English - 20 rubles. Progress!
Until next time!
2008-09(Sept)-15 Peter’s First Home
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/StPetersburgEmail91608#
I had hoped to send wonderful pictures of Peter the Great's first home in St. Petersburg. It is a 'modest' home - two stories, almost Georgian (US) looking from the outside. Alas no pictures were allowed. Few comments: It was about the size of the houses in Williamsburg, Va. It had beautiful original inlaid wood floors. We had to wear lovely booties to protect them. Most of the other palaces in this part of Russia are not original as they were badly damaged in the wars, so to see such an old building completely in tact was a treat. The kitchen was in the middle of the first floor and was completely tiled with hand-painted Dutch blue and white tiles (fireproof, I assume). In the US, kitchens of the 1700s were usually at the end of the house or a separate building because of the possibility of fire. The czar had his own potty throne, also inside. No mention was made as to how/who had to empty it. I cannot imagine it was just left alone, but you never know. I assume everyone else used an outhouse. Peter's rooms were downstairs, Catherine's were upstairs, including a nursery. They were decorated similarly to the finest US homes of the time - but the woodwork was more ornate than I remember seeing anyplace. In Peter's study there was a wall-sized set of three dials - wind indicators that looked like large instruments on a car or airplane. There were a barometer, wind speed indicator, and wind direction indicator - all were attached to a wind vane on the roof of the house. This home was on the Neva River, next to a canal. Peter was interested in navigation - in fact he worked in a shipyard as a young man, so water navigation was interesting to him. He made St. Pete a very important seaport of the time. It still is - and some of the most important vessels are the cruise ships that dock here all summer.
After our tour, we were walking home (about a mile but we walk alot so it really doesn't seem far), and decided to stop for a drink at a crazy looking bar we had noticed several times in the past. However when we got there, the sidewalk was closed as they were removing downspouts from the building. Sam, Justus, and Joe - more OSHA violations! Four stories, and ropes/plywood seats - as the big pipes were cut and dropped, another bloke ran after them to keep them off the street.
You may (or may not!) find it interesting to hear how the old buildings were constructed. Peter wanted St. Petersburg to be as beautiful as the other large cities of Europe. I do not know how buildings were constructed in Paris (since I have not been any other places in Europe) but I have been told that the Russians used a method to imitate that construction. The exterior walls were made of common brick and mortar - usually 2- 3 feet thick. You might assume the buildings have large stones or bricks as the facade, but they don't. A decorative top coat of mortar (I guess) was applied. Then the buildings were painted, some to look like stone, but as time went on, the colors chosen were often the favorites of the czarinas. So Catherine's Palace in Pushkin is robin's egg blue, the Engineers Palace is a peachy-pink, the Hermitage (museum) is a pale green, the Russian Museum is yellow. Because of the two world wars and neglect during Soviet times, the buildings deteriorated - many badly. The current St. Pete governor has made it a priority to get as many buildings refurbished as possible. Every block has one or more covered with green netting in the summer as workers scrape, re-mortar, sand and paint the exteriors. You may also notice that many buildings have a different material - truly a brick or stone at the bottom a couple of feet high. That is because the weather here is messy, especially in the winter; now they salt the sidewalks to make them safer in freezing weather. So the rain, snow and salt especially deteriorate the bottoms of the buildings. I have seen a couple of buildings with granite bottoms - these have been added in the past few years.
We saw a new building under construction (very rare as most buildings are renovated, not replaced). Notice the concrete construction. John thinks a brick face will be added, then probably the same 'stucco' finish since this construction allows for a thinner wall than all brick (probably quicker and cheaper too). The second picture you see of a building with netting is actually our building - notice the pinkish-purple on the right side. When we got here from Alabama, the netting was gone and we were surprised to see this color - the inside courtyard of the building is a beige color. John is at the front door of the building in the next picture - you can see the building repairs have been sanded and they need to paint the sidewalk level next.
Finally, it has gotten a little cold here - 2 this morning (35 F). The government provides steam heat for the city but it has not been officially turned on. However, since they are replacing the steam line on our street, we think they have been testing it: our apartment has been rather comfortable in shirt sleeves. We have been told to be prepared to open our windows in the winter because once the steam heat is turned on, the buildings get very warm. The last picture shows the sand that covers the new steam line which has been installed this summer on our street. It looks like pavers will be installed next. Hopefully we will have a pleasant pedestrian walkway to look at next summer when the grass grows back.
I have a new computer - hopefully there will be no problems with the pictures in the next email. And once again, if you are tired of my ramblings, let me know and I will remove you from the distribution. The list seems to be growing - I hope you continue to find it interesting. If you have any questions you would like me to address, let me know and I'll look into it. Several of you have asked about the political climate. That is one thing I do not know about since I don't understand Russian - I check CNN every couple of days to get my news!
Take care, Terri
I had hoped to send wonderful pictures of Peter the Great's first home in St. Petersburg. It is a 'modest' home - two stories, almost Georgian (US) looking from the outside. Alas no pictures were allowed. Few comments: It was about the size of the houses in Williamsburg, Va. It had beautiful original inlaid wood floors. We had to wear lovely booties to protect them. Most of the other palaces in this part of Russia are not original as they were badly damaged in the wars, so to see such an old building completely in tact was a treat. The kitchen was in the middle of the first floor and was completely tiled with hand-painted Dutch blue and white tiles (fireproof, I assume). In the US, kitchens of the 1700s were usually at the end of the house or a separate building because of the possibility of fire. The czar had his own potty throne, also inside. No mention was made as to how/who had to empty it. I cannot imagine it was just left alone, but you never know. I assume everyone else used an outhouse. Peter's rooms were downstairs, Catherine's were upstairs, including a nursery. They were decorated similarly to the finest US homes of the time - but the woodwork was more ornate than I remember seeing anyplace. In Peter's study there was a wall-sized set of three dials - wind indicators that looked like large instruments on a car or airplane. There were a barometer, wind speed indicator, and wind direction indicator - all were attached to a wind vane on the roof of the house. This home was on the Neva River, next to a canal. Peter was interested in navigation - in fact he worked in a shipyard as a young man, so water navigation was interesting to him. He made St. Pete a very important seaport of the time. It still is - and some of the most important vessels are the cruise ships that dock here all summer.
After our tour, we were walking home (about a mile but we walk alot so it really doesn't seem far), and decided to stop for a drink at a crazy looking bar we had noticed several times in the past. However when we got there, the sidewalk was closed as they were removing downspouts from the building. Sam, Justus, and Joe - more OSHA violations! Four stories, and ropes/plywood seats - as the big pipes were cut and dropped, another bloke ran after them to keep them off the street.
You may (or may not!) find it interesting to hear how the old buildings were constructed. Peter wanted St. Petersburg to be as beautiful as the other large cities of Europe. I do not know how buildings were constructed in Paris (since I have not been any other places in Europe) but I have been told that the Russians used a method to imitate that construction. The exterior walls were made of common brick and mortar - usually 2- 3 feet thick. You might assume the buildings have large stones or bricks as the facade, but they don't. A decorative top coat of mortar (I guess) was applied. Then the buildings were painted, some to look like stone, but as time went on, the colors chosen were often the favorites of the czarinas. So Catherine's Palace in Pushkin is robin's egg blue, the Engineers Palace is a peachy-pink, the Hermitage (museum) is a pale green, the Russian Museum is yellow. Because of the two world wars and neglect during Soviet times, the buildings deteriorated - many badly. The current St. Pete governor has made it a priority to get as many buildings refurbished as possible. Every block has one or more covered with green netting in the summer as workers scrape, re-mortar, sand and paint the exteriors. You may also notice that many buildings have a different material - truly a brick or stone at the bottom a couple of feet high. That is because the weather here is messy, especially in the winter; now they salt the sidewalks to make them safer in freezing weather. So the rain, snow and salt especially deteriorate the bottoms of the buildings. I have seen a couple of buildings with granite bottoms - these have been added in the past few years.
We saw a new building under construction (very rare as most buildings are renovated, not replaced). Notice the concrete construction. John thinks a brick face will be added, then probably the same 'stucco' finish since this construction allows for a thinner wall than all brick (probably quicker and cheaper too). The second picture you see of a building with netting is actually our building - notice the pinkish-purple on the right side. When we got here from Alabama, the netting was gone and we were surprised to see this color - the inside courtyard of the building is a beige color. John is at the front door of the building in the next picture - you can see the building repairs have been sanded and they need to paint the sidewalk level next.
Finally, it has gotten a little cold here - 2 this morning (35 F). The government provides steam heat for the city but it has not been officially turned on. However, since they are replacing the steam line on our street, we think they have been testing it: our apartment has been rather comfortable in shirt sleeves. We have been told to be prepared to open our windows in the winter because once the steam heat is turned on, the buildings get very warm. The last picture shows the sand that covers the new steam line which has been installed this summer on our street. It looks like pavers will be installed next. Hopefully we will have a pleasant pedestrian walkway to look at next summer when the grass grows back.
I have a new computer - hopefully there will be no problems with the pictures in the next email. And once again, if you are tired of my ramblings, let me know and I will remove you from the distribution. The list seems to be growing - I hope you continue to find it interesting. If you have any questions you would like me to address, let me know and I'll look into it. Several of you have asked about the political climate. That is one thing I do not know about since I don't understand Russian - I check CNN every couple of days to get my news!
Take care, Terri
2008-08(Aug)-26 Vborg, Art Institute
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/RussiaEmail82608#
Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day and we went on a road trip to Vyborg, RU. It is about 2 hours away via rather scary roads filled with fast cars and all kinds of trucks, especially ones filled with cars. Cars are shipped from Finland and I am sure we saw dozens of trucks filled with new cars for the growing Russian middle class. However I have still not seen a single pick-up truck. Sam and Justus, in the past couple of weeks we saw all kinds of interesting construction vehicles of varying vintages but were not able to get a clear picture to share. We'll keep trying.
Vyborg is a very old village that was a part of Finland until Stalin. After WWII this region was actually supposed to go back to the Finns but at the last moment, the Russians decided to keep the area - we are told, to spite a local Finn leader. The area was beautiful - reminded me of the NW of the US - as the pictures taken from the top of the old fort and the bell tower of the church show. There were a steady stream of visitors at the fort, few at the church site. In both places we had to climb stairs, very 'rickety' at that. We would never see a tourist site like these in the US- not at all safe, but we had no mishaps. Perhaps we are just wimps as a lovely lady in pumps and a beautiful outfit climbed down from the bell tower as we went up and she was smiling! I must say we were huffing and puffing from the climb. However once up there it was beautiful. The tower is all that is left of the Church, except for part of the brick sides of the building. In the fort there was an art show of local painters and an exhibition of painted trays - even the guys enjoyed looking at them. At the top of the fort there were a bunch of people - we had a chicken wire fence to keep us on the walkway- they were renovating the exterior of the tower so that is the green mesh stuff you see. Below was a bridge across the inlet and we saw two weddings - Remember I told you that after the ceremonies, wedding parties go around town taking pictures? Well one of the pictures is as the groom to carries the bride across a bridge. In St. Petersburg, there are many lovely SHORT bridges. However, this one was 1/4 mile or more and the groom needed help from the best man (the guy with the ribbon) to make it across. John was able to photograph the 'exchange'! We had a lovely lunch at a spot outside the fort - traditional fare that we are getting used to. It tastes fine and it is much healthier than what we Americans eat, but it is still different.
On Sunday after Mass we met our Russian traveling buddy. Elena grew up in St. Pete and studied languages at the University here. Her major was Polish and Slavic languages. Of course she took English in school since she was a child. In the 1990s she went to work at a paper mill on the Russian side of the Finish border as an interpreter (International Paper had recently bought the mill). She met Mark, her now husband there. Mark is from Tennessee and now Elena is a US citizen. Mark will be working at one of the mills BEK is working on but currently he is in Tennessee because there are no golf courses here and he wants to get in all the golf he can before he comes to Russia to work (there is only one golf course here we understand - and 6 million people). So Elena is great to have along - she understands us and the Russians understand her.
She told me about a monthly jewelry craft show and we drug John along. I thought it would be a few booths - Boy was I mistaken. It was in the Art Institute where there are classes. The building is huge and pretty on the outside but absolutely stunning inside. It has not been restored and does need work but the walls were painted with intricate scenes; there were wood sculptures in addition to marble statutes; a series of wrought iron gates/fretwork lined one hallway; the floors were beautiful wood inlays and tile work. All the people seem oblivious to the beauty around them. They were buying jewelry, hats, scarves, paintings, etc. We had enough battery to take a few pictures. Elena told me we would go next month - it is at an exhibition hall so it is 'easier' to shop - more open space!. I can't wait until it comes back to this place again.
Last weekend we went on a different road trip. I'll tell you about it in the next email!
John and I will be in Alabama late Tuesday night for about 10 days (two Auburn games!) Clare and Rachel are coming home too - I am excited to see them
Love to all,
Saturday was an absolutely beautiful day and we went on a road trip to Vyborg, RU. It is about 2 hours away via rather scary roads filled with fast cars and all kinds of trucks, especially ones filled with cars. Cars are shipped from Finland and I am sure we saw dozens of trucks filled with new cars for the growing Russian middle class. However I have still not seen a single pick-up truck. Sam and Justus, in the past couple of weeks we saw all kinds of interesting construction vehicles of varying vintages but were not able to get a clear picture to share. We'll keep trying.
Vyborg is a very old village that was a part of Finland until Stalin. After WWII this region was actually supposed to go back to the Finns but at the last moment, the Russians decided to keep the area - we are told, to spite a local Finn leader. The area was beautiful - reminded me of the NW of the US - as the pictures taken from the top of the old fort and the bell tower of the church show. There were a steady stream of visitors at the fort, few at the church site. In both places we had to climb stairs, very 'rickety' at that. We would never see a tourist site like these in the US- not at all safe, but we had no mishaps. Perhaps we are just wimps as a lovely lady in pumps and a beautiful outfit climbed down from the bell tower as we went up and she was smiling! I must say we were huffing and puffing from the climb. However once up there it was beautiful. The tower is all that is left of the Church, except for part of the brick sides of the building. In the fort there was an art show of local painters and an exhibition of painted trays - even the guys enjoyed looking at them. At the top of the fort there were a bunch of people - we had a chicken wire fence to keep us on the walkway- they were renovating the exterior of the tower so that is the green mesh stuff you see. Below was a bridge across the inlet and we saw two weddings - Remember I told you that after the ceremonies, wedding parties go around town taking pictures? Well one of the pictures is as the groom to carries the bride across a bridge. In St. Petersburg, there are many lovely SHORT bridges. However, this one was 1/4 mile or more and the groom needed help from the best man (the guy with the ribbon) to make it across. John was able to photograph the 'exchange'! We had a lovely lunch at a spot outside the fort - traditional fare that we are getting used to. It tastes fine and it is much healthier than what we Americans eat, but it is still different.
On Sunday after Mass we met our Russian traveling buddy. Elena grew up in St. Pete and studied languages at the University here. Her major was Polish and Slavic languages. Of course she took English in school since she was a child. In the 1990s she went to work at a paper mill on the Russian side of the Finish border as an interpreter (International Paper had recently bought the mill). She met Mark, her now husband there. Mark is from Tennessee and now Elena is a US citizen. Mark will be working at one of the mills BEK is working on but currently he is in Tennessee because there are no golf courses here and he wants to get in all the golf he can before he comes to Russia to work (there is only one golf course here we understand - and 6 million people). So Elena is great to have along - she understands us and the Russians understand her.
She told me about a monthly jewelry craft show and we drug John along. I thought it would be a few booths - Boy was I mistaken. It was in the Art Institute where there are classes. The building is huge and pretty on the outside but absolutely stunning inside. It has not been restored and does need work but the walls were painted with intricate scenes; there were wood sculptures in addition to marble statutes; a series of wrought iron gates/fretwork lined one hallway; the floors were beautiful wood inlays and tile work. All the people seem oblivious to the beauty around them. They were buying jewelry, hats, scarves, paintings, etc. We had enough battery to take a few pictures. Elena told me we would go next month - it is at an exhibition hall so it is 'easier' to shop - more open space!. I can't wait until it comes back to this place again.
Last weekend we went on a different road trip. I'll tell you about it in the next email!
John and I will be in Alabama late Tuesday night for about 10 days (two Auburn games!) Clare and Rachel are coming home too - I am excited to see them
Love to all,
2008-08(Aug)-18 Beach
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/RussiaEmailGulfOfFinlandBeach#
In the next email, you will see pictures of a beach on the Gulf of Finland. Our Russian friend, Elena was excited to go to the beach and we were glad to join her and others. We had a full van of us. This trip was actually the weekend before we went to Vborg (I sent out the Vborg email first - who knows why). Both places are north of St. Pete, but this beach is near Zelenogorsk, 30 minutes closer to St. Petersburg. The beach here reminds me very much of Wind Creek on Lake Martin: the trees are close to the water's edge; families picnic and camp in the trees; the sand is brown, not white like at Gulf Shores. Of course the water is very cold - remember how far north we are. We ate at a 'Fishing' restaurant where a pond is stocked with fish. The fish was smoked, served whole, and was delicious. We ordered potatoes (boiled as the Russians like and French fries which have become popular too) and 'vegetables'. Vegetables means tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, dill, maybe olives - all fresh and delicious. Of course the beer was great - served in big pitchers. We girls enjoyed a mixed drink with mint and fresh strawberries in it- very yummy, but potent. Two was enough! A very fun Sunday afternoon.
I have not had good luck making tossed salad here - the first 'head' of lettuce I bought at a supermarket looked like a small package of green leave lettuce - but it was still planted in a small cup of dirt and alive. "Very fresh", I was told by the interpreter. I didn't think it tasted like anything special and it was rather pricey. I did get one good head of iceberg lettuce at a fresh market (a farmer's market held inside a big building). But the next time I bought 'lettuce' at the grocery store it was actually a leafy cabbage, and yesterday I found iceberg lettuce and took it home only to find it was full of bugs on the inside - into the trash it went. So obviously lettuce as we know it is hard to come by here. I guess we'll just eat the tomatoes and cucumbers instead of salad. Since most are imported, I assume they will be available in the winter too.
It is already getting cold - a high today of 54 with no sun and wind - kind of scary!! I noticed the leaves were turning on some of the trees in the park today. Traffic is much worse now than it was in August. Those on Holiday (remember Europeans take long vacation, no matter what there occupation is) have returned; the families with dachas in the country (suburbs) are back in town. It is interesting that most regular people live in high-rise apartment buildings - dull, depressing things. these buildings are gathered together on the outskirts of the city center and called 'sleeping districts'. Many, even some with limited means, have dachas where they go to escape the city on the weekends, holidays and summers.
In the next email, you will see pictures of a beach on the Gulf of Finland. Our Russian friend, Elena was excited to go to the beach and we were glad to join her and others. We had a full van of us. This trip was actually the weekend before we went to Vborg (I sent out the Vborg email first - who knows why). Both places are north of St. Pete, but this beach is near Zelenogorsk, 30 minutes closer to St. Petersburg. The beach here reminds me very much of Wind Creek on Lake Martin: the trees are close to the water's edge; families picnic and camp in the trees; the sand is brown, not white like at Gulf Shores. Of course the water is very cold - remember how far north we are. We ate at a 'Fishing' restaurant where a pond is stocked with fish. The fish was smoked, served whole, and was delicious. We ordered potatoes (boiled as the Russians like and French fries which have become popular too) and 'vegetables'. Vegetables means tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, dill, maybe olives - all fresh and delicious. Of course the beer was great - served in big pitchers. We girls enjoyed a mixed drink with mint and fresh strawberries in it- very yummy, but potent. Two was enough! A very fun Sunday afternoon.
I have not had good luck making tossed salad here - the first 'head' of lettuce I bought at a supermarket looked like a small package of green leave lettuce - but it was still planted in a small cup of dirt and alive. "Very fresh", I was told by the interpreter. I didn't think it tasted like anything special and it was rather pricey. I did get one good head of iceberg lettuce at a fresh market (a farmer's market held inside a big building). But the next time I bought 'lettuce' at the grocery store it was actually a leafy cabbage, and yesterday I found iceberg lettuce and took it home only to find it was full of bugs on the inside - into the trash it went. So obviously lettuce as we know it is hard to come by here. I guess we'll just eat the tomatoes and cucumbers instead of salad. Since most are imported, I assume they will be available in the winter too.
It is already getting cold - a high today of 54 with no sun and wind - kind of scary!! I noticed the leaves were turning on some of the trees in the park today. Traffic is much worse now than it was in August. Those on Holiday (remember Europeans take long vacation, no matter what there occupation is) have returned; the families with dachas in the country (suburbs) are back in town. It is interesting that most regular people live in high-rise apartment buildings - dull, depressing things. these buildings are gathered together on the outskirts of the city center and called 'sleeping districts'. Many, even some with limited means, have dachas where they go to escape the city on the weekends, holidays and summers.
2008-08(Aug)-15 Summer Garden
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/RussiaEmailSummerGarden#
Hi everyone, I have been here a week or so and finally am sleeping through the night. I guess I have adjusted to the 9 hour time difference!
Our apartment is beginning to feel like home after more trips to IKEA and other stores. I now have all the basics for the kitchen, decent towels, etc. This weekend we are getting one new mattress, a rug for the living room....each shopping trip is an adventure - we need a driver and an interpreter in case anything happens. At each store 'security' greets you (the opposite of the Walmart greeter) and if your bag is too big, you must check it. Which is a little confusing because many people bring bags in with them since you must buy the bags you take your items home in.
I have been grocery shopping and have identified stores I like better than others. Containers are smaller - only small bags of chips, one liter of milk (at home I buy a gallon at a time; so far, no skim milk that I have found), small boxes of cereal (but we have bought Special K, honey nut cherrios and Kellogs corn flakes). You can get the cleaning stuff you need-just takes experimentation to figure out what you have bought! The fresh fruits and veggies seem to be even more flavorful - perhaps not so many preservatives? You can buy them from stands on the streets in our neighborhood, along with fresh flowers. Everything is expensive - I paid about $5 for strawberries I served as desert to a group of guys from the office, and three spider mums cost about $12 from the flower stand. But I guess that is what we would pay on the streets of NYC. However, beer is cheap. John says it is the best he has ever had and he is enjoying it.
I took the pictures that are coming next email while walking to and in the Summer Garden yesterday. This park is 250+ years old and has lovely trees, wonderful statues. It is on the Neva River, in the older part of downtown. We live close to it as well. The flowers here are not as pretty as some I have seen here but there is a lot of shade, so that may be why. One display of begonia and hosta was especially pretty. However they have many of the same flowers we do - petunias are in flower boxes along the main roads (Prospects), you see dusty miller and ordinary begonias in one of the pictures, there is lots of astilbe. While I was in the park, I noticed a wedding party. In St. Pete, once you decide to get married, you apply at the government office. They give you a date and time to come back for the ceremony. - I understand there is an allotted amount of time (15-30 minutes) for each wedding and there will be weddings going on all day at the office. So your family and friends wait outside while the ceremony takes place and then you all go to places around the city for pictures and 'toasts' at each spot. I didn't want to take too many pictures of the party in the park so as not to insult them, but you'll find a couple coming. On Monday I walked in the gardens closer to our apartment and saw another wedding party - they were sharing champagne, juice, chocolates, and fruit as they went from one spot to the next taking pictures. There are huge limos to drive them around. Finally there is a celebration at a home, hall or restaurant. When we told the interpreters that work with John about Rachel's wedding, they were amazed that we expected a couple hundred people to come. Twenty is a big crowd for a wedding. Also, since you really don't know exactly when the wedding will be until a few weeks before, there is not time to plan much. You are very lucky if it is not raining on your day! One of the ladies from John's offices married last month on a Tuesday. She came to work the next morning (albeit about 30 minutes late!)
The other pictures are on the walk to and from our apartment. Pay attention to the U turn picture. We cannot get over the craziness of the driving here. If you are at an intersection that does not allow a left turn, you just drive a little up the street and, when the oncoming traffic clears, make a U turn, go back to the intersection and turn right! I noticed about six cars in line to do just that and hope the picture shows what I am talking about
Love to all, Terri
Hi everyone, I have been here a week or so and finally am sleeping through the night. I guess I have adjusted to the 9 hour time difference!
Our apartment is beginning to feel like home after more trips to IKEA and other stores. I now have all the basics for the kitchen, decent towels, etc. This weekend we are getting one new mattress, a rug for the living room....each shopping trip is an adventure - we need a driver and an interpreter in case anything happens. At each store 'security' greets you (the opposite of the Walmart greeter) and if your bag is too big, you must check it. Which is a little confusing because many people bring bags in with them since you must buy the bags you take your items home in.
I have been grocery shopping and have identified stores I like better than others. Containers are smaller - only small bags of chips, one liter of milk (at home I buy a gallon at a time; so far, no skim milk that I have found), small boxes of cereal (but we have bought Special K, honey nut cherrios and Kellogs corn flakes). You can get the cleaning stuff you need-just takes experimentation to figure out what you have bought! The fresh fruits and veggies seem to be even more flavorful - perhaps not so many preservatives? You can buy them from stands on the streets in our neighborhood, along with fresh flowers. Everything is expensive - I paid about $5 for strawberries I served as desert to a group of guys from the office, and three spider mums cost about $12 from the flower stand. But I guess that is what we would pay on the streets of NYC. However, beer is cheap. John says it is the best he has ever had and he is enjoying it.
I took the pictures that are coming next email while walking to and in the Summer Garden yesterday. This park is 250+ years old and has lovely trees, wonderful statues. It is on the Neva River, in the older part of downtown. We live close to it as well. The flowers here are not as pretty as some I have seen here but there is a lot of shade, so that may be why. One display of begonia and hosta was especially pretty. However they have many of the same flowers we do - petunias are in flower boxes along the main roads (Prospects), you see dusty miller and ordinary begonias in one of the pictures, there is lots of astilbe. While I was in the park, I noticed a wedding party. In St. Pete, once you decide to get married, you apply at the government office. They give you a date and time to come back for the ceremony. - I understand there is an allotted amount of time (15-30 minutes) for each wedding and there will be weddings going on all day at the office. So your family and friends wait outside while the ceremony takes place and then you all go to places around the city for pictures and 'toasts' at each spot. I didn't want to take too many pictures of the party in the park so as not to insult them, but you'll find a couple coming. On Monday I walked in the gardens closer to our apartment and saw another wedding party - they were sharing champagne, juice, chocolates, and fruit as they went from one spot to the next taking pictures. There are huge limos to drive them around. Finally there is a celebration at a home, hall or restaurant. When we told the interpreters that work with John about Rachel's wedding, they were amazed that we expected a couple hundred people to come. Twenty is a big crowd for a wedding. Also, since you really don't know exactly when the wedding will be until a few weeks before, there is not time to plan much. You are very lucky if it is not raining on your day! One of the ladies from John's offices married last month on a Tuesday. She came to work the next morning (albeit about 30 minutes late!)
The other pictures are on the walk to and from our apartment. Pay attention to the U turn picture. We cannot get over the craziness of the driving here. If you are at an intersection that does not allow a left turn, you just drive a little up the street and, when the oncoming traffic clears, make a U turn, go back to the intersection and turn right! I noticed about six cars in line to do just that and hope the picture shows what I am talking about
Love to all, Terri
2008-07(July)-16 Apartment, Herbert’s Party
http://picasaweb.google.com/terricallaway/RussiaEmail71608#
I started this email the first days of July while still in the hotel and was planning to send it once we were in our apartment. But as far as I know, we still do not have internet in our apartment and I am back in Alabama today. TIR (This is Russia) - nothing is easy there.
So, here you go...
I believe you have asked that I keep up with you while John and I are in Russia. I hope to send an email occasionally (with pictures); if you know of someone else who might like to receive these notes, please let me know. If you are not interested, also let me know - I'll be happy to remove you (I certainly understand that you already have too much email traffic!)
St. Petersburg is an interesting place. When you consider that the city is only three hundred years old (Peter the Great was trying to make it as grand as Venice, Paris or Rome), it is amazing how big the city center is - several square miles of beautiful old buildings that are less than about 6 stories tall. The buildings are very ornate, often brightly colored. Each block has several such buildings with at least a couple courtyards. In the old days, the courtyards were the gardens; now they are typically parking spaces. These structures were mostly 'palaces' of the contemporaries/aristocracy of Peter or is descendants. The whims of the rich became summer homes, winter homes, churches, offices - all built by peasants or slaves for the enjoyment of the very rich. (no wonder there was a revolution) Now if the buildings are not churches, museums or special buildings, they are either offices, apartments or businesses - or a mix of all three. Some of the attached pictures show buildings from the street and the 'party' pictures attached shows them from the roof tops. John and I celebrated our 31st anniversary at a ship restaurant across the Neva River from the Hermitage museum - the largest art museum in the world, that started as a palace for one of the czars.
While my January trip was to visit, this trip was to get John settled. We have a fabulous furnished apartment by Russia standards, actually it is pretty fabulous period: the main floor is very traditional: gorgeous moldings, two old marble fireplaces, inlaid wood floors, a tiny typical European kitchen, sauna in the guest bathroom. Upstairs is a very modern European master bedroom suite with another marble fireplace and skylights.
Although the furniture is pretty nice, the kitchen was not well equipped so I have been shopping - there are several 'malls' I have visited that are similar to basic malls in the US but the grocery store and/or 'walmart' type stores are in the mall as well. There are two IKEAs here and a several locations of a store that looks alot like Home Depot - even down to the orange tops on the workers. We have to bring a translator with us to shop so we can read labels and find the items/food you want. By the time we get a driver, and go to the suburbs through tough traffic (not interstates) we can only go to one mall. Rarely can you find all you were looking for - typical Russians have only a fraction of the stuff' we consider necessities.
Our building has a guard 24/7 (security is an issue here - I have no intention of going out after dark alone). We have access to drivers to take us where we need to go - there is no way I would drive here - they make New York drivers look meek and polite. Plus there is no place to park.
Because it is summer, it basically never gets dark so at 11 pm it feels like 8. Also, it rains alot and the showers come up quickly. That coupled with the cold in winter take their toll on the buildings - so you see netting on at least one building on every block - they are renovating the exterior. Most are brick with an ornate stucco finish. Right now ours is being redone and should be complete by October. I'll send a picture later.
I am taking Russian lessons at John's office - many thanks Pat for the cds. The alphabet is Cyrillic so the sounds are different than ours, but many words are similar. - "cton" sounds like 'stoap' and means 'stop' ("c" is the 's' sound, "n" is the 'p' sound). I can read better than I can hear or speak - I know about 2 dozen words so far.
The food in the restaurants is good, very European as I understand it. Lots of cheese, fresh fruits and veggies. I ordered a shrimp salad that was very tasty - a bit scary to look at though. Jane, I thought of you as the presentation was something else!
Jill, show Joe the scaffolding picture attached - we saw this walking from the hotel to our apartment one evening - it looked like the guy was holding on for dear life three stories up!
I'm glad to be home for a few weeks - I am scheduled to go back Aug 6. Hugs to all
I started this email the first days of July while still in the hotel and was planning to send it once we were in our apartment. But as far as I know, we still do not have internet in our apartment and I am back in Alabama today. TIR (This is Russia) - nothing is easy there.
So, here you go...
I believe you have asked that I keep up with you while John and I are in Russia. I hope to send an email occasionally (with pictures); if you know of someone else who might like to receive these notes, please let me know. If you are not interested, also let me know - I'll be happy to remove you (I certainly understand that you already have too much email traffic!)
St. Petersburg is an interesting place. When you consider that the city is only three hundred years old (Peter the Great was trying to make it as grand as Venice, Paris or Rome), it is amazing how big the city center is - several square miles of beautiful old buildings that are less than about 6 stories tall. The buildings are very ornate, often brightly colored. Each block has several such buildings with at least a couple courtyards. In the old days, the courtyards were the gardens; now they are typically parking spaces. These structures were mostly 'palaces' of the contemporaries/aristocracy of Peter or is descendants. The whims of the rich became summer homes, winter homes, churches, offices - all built by peasants or slaves for the enjoyment of the very rich. (no wonder there was a revolution) Now if the buildings are not churches, museums or special buildings, they are either offices, apartments or businesses - or a mix of all three. Some of the attached pictures show buildings from the street and the 'party' pictures attached shows them from the roof tops. John and I celebrated our 31st anniversary at a ship restaurant across the Neva River from the Hermitage museum - the largest art museum in the world, that started as a palace for one of the czars.
While my January trip was to visit, this trip was to get John settled. We have a fabulous furnished apartment by Russia standards, actually it is pretty fabulous period: the main floor is very traditional: gorgeous moldings, two old marble fireplaces, inlaid wood floors, a tiny typical European kitchen, sauna in the guest bathroom. Upstairs is a very modern European master bedroom suite with another marble fireplace and skylights.
Although the furniture is pretty nice, the kitchen was not well equipped so I have been shopping - there are several 'malls' I have visited that are similar to basic malls in the US but the grocery store and/or 'walmart' type stores are in the mall as well. There are two IKEAs here and a several locations of a store that looks alot like Home Depot - even down to the orange tops on the workers. We have to bring a translator with us to shop so we can read labels and find the items/food you want. By the time we get a driver, and go to the suburbs through tough traffic (not interstates) we can only go to one mall. Rarely can you find all you were looking for - typical Russians have only a fraction of the stuff' we consider necessities.
Our building has a guard 24/7 (security is an issue here - I have no intention of going out after dark alone). We have access to drivers to take us where we need to go - there is no way I would drive here - they make New York drivers look meek and polite. Plus there is no place to park.
Because it is summer, it basically never gets dark so at 11 pm it feels like 8. Also, it rains alot and the showers come up quickly. That coupled with the cold in winter take their toll on the buildings - so you see netting on at least one building on every block - they are renovating the exterior. Most are brick with an ornate stucco finish. Right now ours is being redone and should be complete by October. I'll send a picture later.
I am taking Russian lessons at John's office - many thanks Pat for the cds. The alphabet is Cyrillic so the sounds are different than ours, but many words are similar. - "cton" sounds like 'stoap' and means 'stop' ("c" is the 's' sound, "n" is the 'p' sound). I can read better than I can hear or speak - I know about 2 dozen words so far.
The food in the restaurants is good, very European as I understand it. Lots of cheese, fresh fruits and veggies. I ordered a shrimp salad that was very tasty - a bit scary to look at though. Jane, I thought of you as the presentation was something else!
Jill, show Joe the scaffolding picture attached - we saw this walking from the hotel to our apartment one evening - it looked like the guy was holding on for dear life three stories up!
I'm glad to be home for a few weeks - I am scheduled to go back Aug 6. Hugs to all
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