Vyborg

Hello again,

Summer marches on and things have finally settled down into a routine for us.  As Amanda wrote in the last post, we have a weekly routine built around tutoring and baseball, as well as working on a few other important projects (school, Russian language, going to the dentist, etc.). All of these things are going well and prevent us from going out of our minds with too much free time:-)

Summer is of course also a great time for us to get outside of St. Petersburg, and while our big trip for the past year was to go to Stockholm, this past Saturday we went for the day to the Russian city of Vyborg, which is something that I had wanted to do for a while. Vyborg (pronounced VEE-berk) is a city that has traded hands many times throughout its long history. The city dates back till the 1200s when the Swedes built a fortress and since that time it has been part of Sweden, Russia, Finland, the Soviet Union, and now Russia again. For the most part, it has been a Finnish city and was forcibly taken by the Soviet Union from Finland during the Winter War that formed part of World War II.  Because of this, Vyborg is probably the most Scandinavian city in Russia which gives it a different feel.  It is also one of the last places in Russia before one crosses over into Finland.

Vyborg is a small city of about 80,000 and the historic old city is quite small, but the city has several points of historic interest, the main one being the castle. Vyborg castle is the only medieval castle in Russia and the original structure dates back to the late 1200s, although most of the modern structure dates from later renovations in the 16th and 19th century in addition to modern restoration efforts.  We have driven through Vyborg while taking the bus to Helsinki, but had never actually stopped to visit.

Vyborg is located about 80 miles north of St. Petersburg, and takes about 2 hours to get there by elektrichka (the electric commuter trains that run from St. Petersburg to nearby areas). What follows are some pictures and my commentary to describe the sites that we took in:

The elektrichka departing from the Finland Station in St. Petersburg.  We were able to take the express train there so it only took an hour and a half, although the return trip was over two hours.

The city is built along the water and connects to the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic Sea, just like St. Petersburg.  The Vyborg castle is on the right in this photo.

An old tower from the 1500s.  Now it is a restaurant.

A house from the late Medieval/early Renaissance period with yours truly in the foreground.

A nice scenic shot that is a perfect copy of the one photograph from Vyborg that our St. Petersburg travel guide included in a short section on the city.

The historic clock tower.

The clock tower, looking up from the base.

The cathedral ruins.  The cathedral, which served as a Catholic, Lutheran, and Orthodox church over the years (reflecting the dominant Christian tradition of the power controlling Vyborg), was destroyed in the Second World War.  The Clock Tower was originally a belfry of the church.

A view of the clock tower through the cathedral ruins.

This square vaguely reminds me of a square in Riga, Latvia.

The castle!

We climbed up the main tower in the castle, which offers a wonderful view of the city.

Vyborg from the top of the castle.

The courtyard of the castle and the edge of the old town. Amanda took this photo and its one of my favorites.

Amanda on top of the tower.  It was windy:-)

The interior of the top of the tower.

The castle tower as seen from the courtyard beneath it.

The castle is built upon a hilly island.  A stone surrounds the base, while the tower and other walls are built at the top of the hill.

Walls from the side of the castle.

More walls.

The path leading out through the main entryway.

The Vyborg castle does various medieval times/reenactment things throughout the year.  On the day we were there we got to see a woman in costume who had an owl with her:-)

And to wrap it all up, an Orthodox church.

Vyborg was a fun and inexpensive day-trip and a good way to spend a Saturday in the summer:-)

Thanks for reading,

- Matt

Summer!

For us, summer is a blessing and a curse. It's nice to have the time to travel and get things done that we have put off (dentist, repairs, etc) but we also both go crazy if we don't have something to do. :-)

Luckily, there are a few things that we have been involved in that have helped us keep our sanity this summer. Matt is tutoring one of our upcoming 7th graders twice a week. He's been working with the student on reading comprehension, how to tell what is important, context clues, etc using the history text.


Another "event" we've involved ourselves in this summer is baseball. Twice a week anyone who is in the city can show up at a park on our island and our friend Jarod organizes a game. Sometimes we have huge teams and sometimes the teams are small but it's a lot of fun and we also pull in students from Russian school and from homeschool groups in the city. Matt has been catching and I have been making sure no one gets hurt thus far.

The two boys at the forefront of the picture are Korean and Japanese and they are very good! It was actually quite a surprise! 

Matt catching

Jarod pitching

One of our favorite 8th graders and one of the smallest 5th graders. :-)

I love how we play within this complex of apartment buildings. It really is very pretty in its own way.

This year we were able to go with another family to the beach here in celebration of the Fourth of July. It was a wonderfully clear day and we grilled and the kids played in the water (we're a little too creeped out to get in the water ourselves!).

In a weird turn of events a bride and groom rented a horse to drag out into the water and take pictures with. She did not seem to confident on the horse! :-P

The boys grilling

Matt, Marc, and his youngest son playing football

Lovely view

Their daughter made a very elaborate fort, complete with landscaping. It was very impressive by the time it was done. 

Today we went to see the "International Buddy Bears." As stupid as the title is it is actually a very cool project to promote peace and nations working together. Countries can get a fiberglass bear and they have someone paint it in a way that represents their country. They were very cool and we loved seeing the different ways people chose to represent their country. 

Matt and the US bear

Ukraine

Chagall was from the Ukraine and so it has a very Chagall-esque style

Sri Lanka

Cuba, complete with cigar

Malta

If you click on it you can see the detail work. The island itself is the necklace the bear is wearing.

Moldova

While Moldova may not stand out in your mind this was by far the funniest bear we saw. The guy on the stomach is pointing it out on a map and saying "Here's Moldova!"

Palestine

Probably my favorite. I like that they have a bear and I love the detail work on the clothing.

Georgia

One of Matt's favorites

Spain and Italy

North and South Korea

Russia!

Me and Australia

The bear on the right is Kazakhstan.

If you click you can see the necklace and eyes have the tiniest fine lines and detailing.

Myanmar and Namibia

Venuzela

Romania

The style of the pictures is very much like icons. St George slaying the dragon is on the right arm.

Turkey

Matt's favorite. Again, unreal detail and very pretty.