It has been a while since our last post and we are now heading back into the school year. We start 3rd Quarter tomorrow and we are looking forward to the new year!
My sister was hear for a part of the break and we were able to see tons and tons of things with her. We were actually amazed at how much we did!
(Most of the pictures and all of the panoramas are hers, unless otherwise noted. I am very jealous of the panorama feature!)
The first day she was here we walked around and went inside the Kazan Cathedral and the Spilled Blood.
Photo by myself
I do realize we posted about a million Spilled Blood pictures but the new camera we have does a much better job so I thought I would share another!
Her second day we intended to go to a museum but it was closed. So we went to St Isaac's Cathedral and the Bronze Horseman and the Peter and Paul Fortress. We were able to take the then 3 day old metro station of Admiraltiskaya (above, all shiny and new). There is talk of connecting it to the line we live near but nothing is happening with that yet.
Beth and Matthew with the controversial statue of Peter the Great.
A panorama of the Peter and Paul Cathedral
New Year's Eve was rather epic for the three of us. We first went to see The Nutcracker at the Mariinsky Theater (above and below).
Photo by myself
Photo by myself
To get back home we took the metro too late and ended up having to come up on Nevsky Prospect where the party was in full swing. We grabbed a van and all headed home around 3 am. :-)
Next day was shopping at Galeria. We've posted pictures of Galeria before but Beth took this nice one of the inside of the mall.
Monday we went to the Smolney Convent (above) and a Siege Museum near the city center. We ended up walking the whole thing since it was Jan 2nd and most of that first week is a holiday. Smolney is also near the government center so very little public transport runs through there any way. It ended up being around a 3 mile walk but the museum was very interesting and had many objects and artifacts from the Blockade.
Then we were off to the Catherine Palace. I had seen the outside this summer but I had never been inside myself so this was new for me as well! The main staircase is above.
Bethany in the center of the Great Ballroom.
After a certain point your ability to take in gold shiny becomes maxed out at these palaces! :-)
During WW2, most of the city around the Palace (called Pushkin) was destroyed. The Palace itself was badly damaged and people rescued many of the works of art and such during the war. People still aren't sure what happened to all of the Amber in the Amber Room though it is assumed the Germans took it. The picture above is of the main staircase (the panorama above) after the war. Many years have been spent restoring these rooms and the Palace in general.
The gates at the front of the Palace
A Russian squirrel! They are very hard to find (a student who was born here told me she has never seen one!) and they have long feathery tufts on their ears. Officially the cutest animal ever!
We also went to the Ethnography museum. Above is a Vietnamese war god that greats you when you enter.
Photo by myself
Thursday was a free day at the Hermitage and since the museum is spendy and the three of us are cheap we got up bright and early to get in line.
Photo by myself
There were several benefits to this it turned out. 1) lovely pictures! 2) while we ended up pretty far back in the lines outside the gates (below)
Photo by myself
3) When the gates opened there were about 5 seconds of order before everyone started running for the offical lines by the actual museum entrance. The three of us bolted and actually made it very close to the front of the line. When we left the museum the line actually stretched out of the gates and past the Alexander Column!
So luckily we got in and had a free day at one of the largest art museums in the world!
Photo by myself
The bottom half of the main staircase
Photo by myself
Matthew with Zeus
Photo by myself
Photo by myself
My favorite room in the Hermitage. Also houses the peacock clock (two below).
Photo by myself
This hall was modeled after a hall in the Vatican.
More ostentatious rooms! :-)
Beth and me with the peacock clock
A series of Dutch paintings relating to food and hunting.
Beth and Matthew on a famous foot bridge
The three of us together on her last day!
As can be seen we all had a great time!
In other news, it is looking very positive that we will be able to stay for all of next year at least. Please keep praying as we begin the more official number crunching in the next few months!
Also, please pray for me as I begin to work on renewing my teaching license. It is a very unclear process and could have very negative consequences if done wrong.
