Happy New Year!

Happy 2013 Everyone!

It's the first day of the new year:-) I thought we'd ring in the new year with a short post to start the blogging year off on the right foot. As we've written about before, New Years is the biggest holiday in Russia so last night was an epic celebration for most people in St. Petersburg.  Our celebration was a bit more low-key, but still fun.  We spent New Year's Eve with some friends, playing games, eating pizza, and watching a movie, before heading out to walk around our island a bit and see what sort of celebrations were going on outside.  

We walked out to the edge of the island by the gulf and were able to see many of the firework displays going on around the city.  We could even displays from nearby towns and from Kronstadt looking out across the water.  There were plenty of people nearby who were setting off very impressive displays of fireworks as well.  I assumed that they had to have been professional judging by the quality and sheer quantity of the fireworks, but closer inspection revealed it was all the work of various individuals who had obviously invested some serious money in firework displays.  We weren't anywhere near the professional fireworks displays being set off towards the center or at the big gathering on palace square, so I can only imagine the level of merrymaking and pyrotechnics that were taking place there. It was great walking along the streets and seeing people out, all the while listening to the reverberation of fireworks echoing off of the buildings.  It was certainly a spectacle that would rival any Fourth of July celebration in the U.S.!

Here are a few photos from last night, as well as a few more from a hockey game we went to a few days ago.  Enjoy!

SKA, St. Petersburg's hockey team, was getting in the mood for New Year's as well.  The cheerleaders formed a clock on the ice and one of them even dressed up as a New Year's tree:-)

SKA was playing Slovan, a team from Slovakia which is new to the KHL this year.  We won 1-0 thanks to a goal scored by NHL star and current SKA captain Ilya Kovalchuk.

We were behind the fan section for this game, so we saw the usual flag waving, chanting, and singing of team songs.

The SKA bench.

Between the first and second periods a youth hockey team came out and played a short game.  It was fun to see these tiny little boys playing, complete with there Santa hats attached to the helmets.  Do not let their small size fool you- these kids could really skate!

Perhaps these kids will be the future stars of the KHL or Russia's Olympic team:-)

Me and our friend Jarod standing out by the edge of the island and looking back towards the city.

Someone nearby unleashed an impressive barrage of fireworks that lasted probably close to 10 minutes.  The next few pictures were from it.

Walking along the streets we saw all sorts of people setting off their fireworks as well.  This was in impressive explosion that we witnessed.  The air was full of the smell of sulfur!

Happy new year,

Matt