Вечером на Опере

(For non Russian readers the title: Night at the Opera)

Tonight was we went to the 3^rd and final show of the semester, the opera Brothers Karamazov based on the novel by Dostoevsky.  I was quite impressed by the show.  The singing was top notch, the orchestra was very good and well synced with the actions on stage, and the stage very well set up for the show.  It was a modern arraignment of the 19^th century story about Feodor Karamazov and his estranged sons or as the program put it “a mystery opera in 2 parts”.  But I love the fact that I saw a Russian opera, written by a Russian, based on a Russian novel, with Russian actors, in Russian, in Russia!

The main action took place on a stage with a 4 sided revolving building with different sets on each face.  When a scene changed settings instead of dropping the curtain and resetting it, all that happened was the sets rotated as the singing and action continued.  While the singing was in Russian, and as anyone who has seen opera before can attest to this, it is basically impossible to hear every word said even if one speaks the language fluently.  Thankfully I finished reading the novel Brothers Karamazov a few weeks back, bought a program and also was able to read the provided subtitles so I understood what was going on.  However some of my fellow students had a hard time following the plot, and I can see their point.  The subtitle system worked fairly well, there is a screen suspended above the stage which showed 2 lines of text at a time, and while not an exact translation of the script, it gave the gist of  the lines being sung on stage.

Some of the translations where quite funny to see, both occasionally because of bad translations (and if I notice it with my limited Russian it must be!) and just to see absurd lines in print.  My favorite line to read on the screen was “I despise epileptics and prophets.”

I also remembered to bring my camera this time to the gorgeous Mariinsky Theater and took some pictures of the inside.  These pictures do not do it justice (the lighting inside is really weird) but here they are anyways to get a general idea of its layout.  For this show we had orchestra level seating on old fashioned wooden chairs on the very gently sloped orchestra level and for the ballet I was seated on the 3^rd level in the middle.  However there are very few bad seats in that theater and amazing acoustics for everyone (no amplification needed for the opera singers, chorus or orchestra!)

 

As always a comment about the weather is well in order.  When we left for the show it was 0 degrees outside.  This is by far the coldest temperature I have ever felt (until Wednesday morning as i post this it is -6 outside) and I do not have the means to express how cold this is and how it feels.  Additionally we have had snow in some form every day for 9 days in a row now, and the snow on the ground and everywhere else is here to stay until well after I leave.  Thankfully it will be getting warmer next week (back to the 20s!) but I will be below freezing the rest of my time here. 

Of additional note, the Neva River, which St. Petersburg was built around, has started to freeze.  Right now it is covered by a patchwork of broken slabs of ice and liquid water is still visible in places, but within a few weeks it will be frozen solid and suitable for walking or even driving on.  Here is what it looks like from a moving bus at night (well 5:20 pm but here that’s as good as midnight here):

I now only have 2 more Russian classes and 2 more history classes and my learning here will be complete.  I will have verbal and written Russian finals plus 2 history essay tests next week and that will complete my time here.  There are only 2 activities left for us now, on Saturday we will go to Pushkin palace and park and on our last Thursday we are going to dinner and then bowling as a celebration for the end of finals and last hours in Russia.

I have now seen my 5^th different Russia from the end of August to beginning of December.  Sp far I have not really felt homesick or an intense desire to get out of Russia while here, but I am now ready to come home.  But I miss everyone and many things back in SoCal and look forward to seeing and sharing stories and mementos of my time here with all of you!

A Cold Day with Mr. Pushkin

Yesterday we went to the Alexander Pushkin Apartment and Memorial Museum.  Situated in the center of town in a great old building once split into spacious apartments, the museum had been there for almost 90 years now to preserve the last home of Russia’s most famous poet and one of its greatest authors.  We toured exhibits about the fatal duel Pushkin fought with a man out for his wife’s affection and saw the living quarters of him, his wife and 4 children.  The interior was almost exactly like that of the Dostoevsky apartment a few weeks ago, though it was better furnished and larger (as a result of his greater success during his lifetime I assume).  I like Pushkin's work quite a bit, especially some of his short stories and in Russian class here we learned part of one his poems in the original Russian! 

This excursion, unfortunately, was my least favorite of all those we have been on so far for a few reasons.  The tour guide did not mention anything about Pushkin’s works, not much about events of his life not related to his fatal duel and never even said his profession!  We had one of the shortest tours I have been on; in fact we spent more time in the lobby, coat check, and gift shop then on our actual tour.

After leaving the apartment I spent the rest of the day going around downtown and the south of the city doing a bit of shopping and exploring before the cold and dark made us beat a hasty retreat back to the dorm. Of note today is the first day I have seen the canals through the city completely frozen over, and the Neva River is starting to freeze in places now as well. Here are some pics from the day:

Literally right outside my front door!

The museum complex 

A "cold greeting" from Alexander Pushkin

In Other News:

Until just a few hours ago it has been constantly snowing since last Monday, making it 7 straight days of snow, with about a foot and a half of snow on the ground.  The temperature has also dropped significantly over the past few days.  Saturday and Sunday had highs in the teens, but tomorrow the high is 6…  But that thankfully looks to be the coldest day of my remaining 13 days here.  I have been enjoying the snow, learning about the different kinds, techniques for walking on it and why it is preferable to rain. On balance I have learned a lot about winter weather here and I will never be able to complain about being cold again at home I think!

This week is my last week for classes and the following week I have a final each day Monday-Thursday.  On Tuesday we are going to see a Russian Opera “The Brothers Karamazov” which should be the most unique performance I see here (and by far the hardest to understand). This weekend we are going on the last major excursion of my time here, to one more royal palace on the outskirts of town: Catharine Palace in the village of Pushkin.  After that I will be mostly studying for my all important Russian language and history finals and trying to finish my almost exhausted checklist of places to go and things to do.  Today also marks my second to last Sunday here, only 13 more days until I pack up and return home. 

But until next time, I promise to remain warm!

A White Thanksgiving

During the last few days winter has really come in full force.  Tuesday night brought my first (and looks like last for a while) blizzard with nearly constant snow, temperatures in the 20 and at time quite high winds.  Luckily I have been able to w slowly adapt to the weather from the 40s in September to now the teens or single digits forecasts this week.  Most scary of course is the prospect of -1 F, which is forecast as Sunday night’s low. I do not intend to go out into that low, but I have been enjoying the snow.  

The type of snow here is a lot like sand, so I have had very little difficulty walking over it thanks to all my time walking and running at the BEACH.  (And yes I really want to see the sun and the beach at this point)  Here are some pictures I took when we want out to look at the snow after class today:

The Reason we have Double windows!

But of course today is Thanksgiving and like all Americans everywhere, we celebrated!  While we did have to go to class, and of course Russians do not celebrate it, Thanksgiving is far too important to miss and or Resident Director (although she is British) did not let us down.  This evening we went to the American owned restaurant in town called “The Other Side” and had a Thanksgiving dinner.

The food was pretty good, but not as good as it would be at home of course.  They did a good job doing the traditional American food s but still with Russian aspects. After we all had a toast with some pretty good Russian champagne, we had turkey, sweet potatoes, stuffing and corn for the main dish and followed it with a very good pumpkin cheesecake.

While it was a good evening, I would have of course preferred to be home with my family for thanksgiving, and to see my friends who have returned home for the break as well.  But I will have to settle with the thought that I celebrated a very American holiday in a very American way in Russia and from this point on every thanksgiving I can look back at today and remember my time in Russia. 

I have had quite a lot going on this year and much to be thankful for but, as always, it is the people in my life for and to whom I am most grateful. After today I have only 16 days left in Russia and only a week more of classes before the all important finals week (the “study” in Study Abroad!).  While Russian history and language will occupy much of my free time after this weekend, I am still going to make time to visit and experience as much as possible.

Happy Thanksgiving Everyone!

~Matthew

Up, Down and Around Downtown

This weekend I decided to put in some real time in exploring downtown Saint Petersburg (called either “the center” or Nevsky Prospect). 

On Saturday we had an excursion to the Yusupov Palace, near downtown on the Moyka River.  This is the former home of the very wealthy and well connected Yusupov Family.  It is an immense building with multiple ballrooms, secret passages, a decent sized theatre, and art galleries but it still has touches that make it seem like a home.  Of special note: the basement of the palace is where 5 conspirators plotted to, and after considerable effort, succeeded in killing the “mad monk” and imperial adviser Rasputin.

After visiting there a small group of my friends here decided to return to Peter and Paul Fortress in the very center of the city.  We visited there before, on the second day in country, but it was nice to return and see the fortifications and museums at leisurely place and without all of the anxiety of the first week.

On Sunday I decided that I am finally comfortable enough with the city and my Russian to set off on a day of exploration and discovery on my own.  I ended up taking two large circles and walking by most major landmarks and attractions of the city, visiting small places that I have neglected to visit before and just enjoying a rather cold and slightly snowy day.  Not much of note happened as a just observed Russians enjoying their Sunday as I was.  My major accomplishment was going out for 5 hours and not once using English or having any communications problems in stores or the café I ate at.  Here are some of the pictures from my frosty day:

Christmas!

Engineer's Castle 

Speaking of weather, and just for the record, Russia can GET COLD!  While it has not really been lower than 30 degrees F while I have been outside, the wind can be brutal near the water, snow can get blinding at times and it’s only going to get colder.  I think I have adapted pretty well to the conditions here despite it not being out of the 40s or seeing the sun for weeks now.  But to my minor shock, Saturday night’s weather forecast (with wind chill) is -.4 degrees F, time for a true test of my accumulated knowledge about this “weather”.

And a bit of a sad note as well.  This Thursday is of course Thanksgiving and while I knew it would happen someday, I still deeply regret not being home with my family for this holiday.  On Thursday I will have my usual Russian class, but in the evening the will venture out to the American Restaurant in town for a Thanksgiving dinner with my friends here and I hope that will be fun.  We will be like the millions of Americans not home for Thanksgiving before us, and with an ad–hoc family have a good meal and a lot of fun. 

Russian Snow, Spanish (Russian) Ballet

When I woke up this morning it was dark (one of the issues of living so far north) and it was not until just before I left for class that I noticed something odd going on outside.  Sometime in the night it had started to snow, not an unusual occurrence, but it had not stopped.  So now I get to see snow actually piling up on the ground, covering the roads and not just landing and melting!  

View Out my Bedroom Window

It snowed throughout class and for the first time I got to act an elementary school student in a place that actually has weather, look out the window and think about playing in the snow. Thankfully for both my sanity and my need to learn Russian today was a half day of Russian classes so by 11:45 I was out walking in the snow with some friends to lunch. 

My mistake of the day was to walk in front of the girl from Wisconsin; she had plenty of snow and knows how to use it against people who do not understand it.  And hilarity ensued:

With the rate it snowed all day and looking at the weather forecast it looks like this snow might even stick around on the ground for a while which should be fun.But even if it is gone by tomorrow, we still ventured to the ballet tonight amongst this mysterious white and wet substance.  Tonight we went to the Mariinsky Theater and watched the Mariinsky Ballet Company’s performance of a ballet adaptation of Cervantes’ Don Quixote. Our resident director was previously ballet dancer who performed in the Mariinsky Theater many times and knew how to pick a good show!

The show was only a tiny part of the plot of Don Quixote, and of course you do not watch the ballet to learn the story, but for the art dance and musical qualities.  The sets where beautiful, the costumes amazing, the orchestra better than the one we heard 2 weeks ago at the concert hall and the dancers where very good.  I was impressed by everything and had a very positive experience in the beautiful theatre.

At the end of the show we learned that the guest of honor for the night was the President of Slovenia, and he had been sitting in the box just under our seats!  Next week we are going to an opera in the same theatre based on Dostoyevsky’s The Brothers Karamazov and that should be just as amazing.

One more day of class (my electives) and then a weekend full of new sights and fun as the end of my time here draws nearer with each early sunset.

“Finnished” with Helsinki

After a leisurely breakfast and packing we once again hit the streets of Helsinki for a last look around.   Today was very, very sunny and in fact I wished I had brought my sunglasses just to be able to use them for a few hours in Finland!  We set out on the excellent light rail system once again and ended up strolling around the downtown area, around a nice park and to a fun café. 

We passed the Olympic Stadium where the 1952 Summer Olympics where held and saw a stature dedicated to Finland’s most famous athlete Paavo Nurmi the “Flying Finn”.

For lunch a friend and I went to a very nice Greek restaurant and I had some amazing lamb there.  Finland has been a good place to get the western food and products we have been craving.  Despite the relative modernity of St. Petersburg, Helsinki seems to be decades ahead of them in development and I can’t help but imagine how much of a paradise Finland must have been to Americans living in Russia even 20 years ago it must have been.  Even today the there seems to be a difference of night and day between the cities, before it must have been verging on the absurd.

At 2:30 our entire group met up once again at the train station for our trip (for want of a better term) “home” to St. Petersburg.  I say goodbye to Helsinki and it joins London and Strasburg on my list of cities to one day return to, of course after I have seen the rest of the places on my list first!  I also now am now interested in seeing the rest of the Baltic Sea countries and the rest of Scandinavia as well, I am sure I will some day.  While I had never even considered a cruise as a good idea before, I can now see the appeal of a Baltic Sea cruise.

I can already see how I will have to deal with some culture shock when I return home after my time here in Russia.  Just seeing things that used to be normal, everyday places and occurrences for the first time in months reminded me of how diffident life here in St. Petersburg really is.  Just little details: potable tap water, wide availability wireless internet and friendly, English speaking people reminded me of what it is like to be home and what I will soon return to.  I have just 4 weeks left in Russia and a long list of things yet to see and do but I know I can and will do it all while still acing my classes! 

And when those 4 weeks have passed, I will happily to return home with more knowledge, new perspectives, new friends, and a greater appreciation for my life in SoCal.

[And, YES I know my title is a terrible pun but it could not be avoided ;) ]

“Q: So what do you know about Estonia?”

A: Ummmmm, its capital is Tallinn and .........?

{This exchange, of course, occurred before our tour and day in the capital of Estonia Tallinn}

Promptly at 7am, with sunrise still hours away, we set out to see a new country, this time by boat.  I really did not know what to expect out of the ship we were going to take from Estonia to Tallinn, “ferry” is a very ambiguous term.  Well it turns out that we basically took a 2 hour cruise on a full equip Baltic cruise ship.  My group chose to sit in the bow are of the ships which was set up like a 4 story night club complete with booths, bars and a stage (empty for this trip).  The ship has 3 other bar/club areas, a restaurant, business class center, shops, a grocery store, slot machines, a playground, and even kennel on board.  I went up onto the cold and windy top deck to watch the sunrise (well watch it get light anyways, the sun was MIA) and even was able to check my email and chat online with some people on the ship's free wireless internet.

View from our Booth on the Ferry

Gulf of Finland at "Sunrise"

We arrived in Tallinn at around 10:30, pulled Estonian Kroons (soon to be a dead currency replaced by the Euro) from the ATM, and then our group set out on a walking tour of the city.  I thought Helsinki was a small city; Tallinn barely meets the definition of a city and several Orange County cities have larger populations, but is still the capital of a European country!  Old town Tallinn, which is surrounded by the old city walls, was a lovely place to walk around and learn about Estonian history and culture.  Estonia has had very little time as an independent country; instead it has spent its existence as a German, Swedish, Russian, Polish or Soviet territory so it has little culture of its own.  However it is quite a good place to experience the best of German, Swedish, Russian and Polish food and traditions all at once. 

As a testament to the small size of Estonia (population around 1.5 million) we saw their president’s car parked outside of a church and were able to walk right up to the front door of their parliament building.  For the record Tallinn is the 6^th national capital I have visited, but I have not yet made it to D.C., which I know is shameful and will hopefully be corrected in the coming year.

After the tour we had 6 hours to wander the city, find food, and buy souvenirs, I very pleasant way to spend an afternoon.  The only hard part was when the sun went down at 4:30 and the temperature dropped into the 30s but by now I am used to that sort of thing!  Overall Tallinn was a very nice place to be, but I wish it was less touristy and offered more historical information instead of just endless shops full of kitschy souvenirs.  Unfortunately for Estonia they have no heavy industry and no natural resources besides timber, so their economy relies on tourism from Baltic Sea cruise ships to bring in foreign money.

At 7pm we had to say goodbye to Tallinn and return on a different, less impressive, but still huge ferry back.  While I had fun in the Estonian capital, I don’t see myself ever going back as I have been there, done that and literally bought the tee shirt.  There are many other places like it throughout Europe just waiting for exploration! Tomorrow we have the morning and early afternoon free to spend in Helsinki and we will get back on the train to St. Petersburg.

Me and my Roommate Corey, Cold but Happy on the Ferry Back

Storming the Fortress of Finland!

Thanks to a favorable time difference and no need to get anywhere fast in the morning I was able to get a very restful night’s sleep in the hostel and have a nice (and very big and not Russian!) breakfast.  My favorite part of breakfast was that all the dishes and flatware where from IKEA, how Scandinavian of them!

Full of food and in good spirits to be in Finland and because it was not raining we set off for the docks and our ferry to Suomenlinna Island and Sea Fortress.  The group leaving kept getting better, and after we by chance met another group of people from our program over 20 ended up on the same ferry and we would continue to run into them all over the place.

Oh NO! Vikings!!!!

And now a little history lesson: Suomenlinna Sea Fortress was originally built by the Swedes to protect the city of Helsinki and to act as a base in their wars against Russia in 1748.  By 1808 Finland became part of Russia and the Russians garrison the island until Finnish independence in 1917.  It suffered serious damage from a combined French and British fleet during the Crimean war and this is what the current state of the fortress most accurately reflects.

We walked all over the rather small island walking on, in and even under the battlements.  While it is not exactly a full sized medieval castle (still a life goal) nor is it in the pristine condition of Peter and Paul fortress in St Petersburg it was a great way to spend a few hours.  I got many good pictures of the fortifications and of my friends having fun all over the island and UNESCO world heritage site, here are just a few:

After we left on the ferry off the island, and ready for lunch we headed to the huge downtown Mall called Forum, and their food court. While this might seem like a silly thing to do, considering how much Russian food we have been eating it was amazing.  I had Chinese food for the first time in several months, and it was very good!  After that we checked out many of the cool and relatively expensive stores around Meterhiem Street in downtown Helsinki including the world famous Finnish department store Stockmann.   In all of our time at stores amoung the hip young European clientele I bought a new pair of knit gloves since my $1.20 Russian ones where just not doing it anymore, so I wonder how $2.80 Finnish ones will do (but don’t worry I have a much nicer pair of American gloves for when it is really cold). The balance of the day was spent walking around, taking pictures, eating lots of great food and generally enjoying life in this happy city.  The downtown really is a small area, easily traversed by foot while still somehow keeping a big city feel.

I now understand and can plainly see why Finland is so consistently at the top of international quality of life surveys.  The only real problem is the very short days, sunrise around 9 and totally dark out by 4, and cold/ rainy weather this place would be a paradise.  Interestingly I was not very cold today, most of the chill in the air comes from the cold winds from the Baltic, but they did not bother me at all, even out on the water. 

But I did get a rather nasty windburn, basically feels like sunburn caused by the cold and constant winds, but it goes away within hours instead of days.  At first I thought it was sunburn because it felt like one, of course I am the only person on Earth who could get sun burnt in Northern Europe in November on a cloudy day with 7 hours of sunlight.  Tomorrow we have another early morning, we will take a 2 hour ferry trip across the Gulf of Finland (or the Finnish puddle as some Russians call it) to Tallinn Estonia.

Matt of the Even FURTHER North

"Peace Love and Flowers in Finland"

First a brief explanation of the title for this blog post.  In response to criticism by a Ms. Alexandra Carter of Huntington Beach CA, who stated my titles where too related to conquering things, I have attempted to at least once be more happy and at the same time counteract her assertion.

Stage one of the day began at the lovely, very dark hour of 5am.  It was pouring rain, sunrise almost 4 hours away and we set off for Finland train station on the metro.  Happily everyone woke up at the right time and made it with the group or alone to the station and our chronically on time departure.  Once again my 6 hour ride on the Russian train system did not disappoint.

While Russian trains are not as new or have the amenities of French trains, like what I traveled on last month.  They are clean with wider seats and more leg room then a plane, none of the hassles of Airport security, plenty of room and time to get up and walk or even stand up for extended periods talking with people.  I was interested by the way they handled customs and passport control on the train (this was my first international land border crossing).  At the last stop before the Finnish boarder the train took on a team of Russian customs and border guards who processed our passports and visas, swept the train with the cutest little drug finding terrier I have ever seen.

Once we crossed the anticlimactic boarder fence (it was a 5 foot snow fence) and entered Finland and had the same process with the Finnish customs and immigration service.  I found it slightly humorous that American citizens crossing into Finland (a European Union country) have less hassles then Russians leaving Russia do at the border. Now with 2 little stamps with trains in my passport I was all set to enter a Scandinavian wonderland.

While the forest and fields we passed on either side of the boarder looked identical there where many little differences between the countryside of the 2 countries.  Finnish barns where all freshly painted in bright colors, Russian ones are bare wood, Russian country roads dirt (now mud) and Finnish roads perfectly flat white cement but the climate was the same for both.

The second I pulled into the quite modern looking railway station (despite its antique brick construction and art deco clock tower) I realized the Finland is going to be a bastion of Western Europe in the north (albeit with the accompanying prices).  We had a 1,5 hour bus tour to get the highlights of the city and to see some of the biggest sights out of the way right at the beginning.  We saw a really interesting Lutheran church built literally IN a rock, the Finnish parliament and Senate buildings and statues of most famous Finns (Their national athlete, hero, composer and author).

Memorial to Finnish National composer Jean Sibelius

Church built in a Rock!

After that we checked into our hostel and this was the most disappointing part of the trip for me.  It was a very nice place, but too similar to our living arrangements back in St. Petersburg, I was looking for more of a hotel like the very nice ones we had in Moscow and London.  Regardless we hit the town, did some sightseeing, watched sunset start around 3:30 and enjoyed the clean, safe and welcoming streets of the city.  All official building and street signs where in Finnish (an impossible language) and Swedish (easy enough for English or German speakers to fake) but literally everyone we encountered spoke English and we very happy to help.  I observed cashiers at retail stores switch between Finnish, English, Russian and German in a 3 min period.  And also for the first time I observed English being used as an intermediate language among Europeans who did not speak each other’s mother tongues.

Conveniently, as a rather small city most major sights of the city are easily reached by foot or the very efficient light rail system which is equip with free, fast Wi-Fi in every tram! and operating on what amounts to the honor system for payment.  I loved the many lakes waterways, canals, harbors, inlets and bays around the city as it meant that I was almost never out of sight of water.  After the early sunset we went off for a dinner of Finnish food but not before I think I saw the northern lights.  While I am not sure that is what I saw, I do clearly remember seeing about 6 parallel green lines briefly in the sky.

Finlandia Hall

For dinner I decided to go as Finnish as possible and had reindeer with elderberries, pickles and potatoes!  While it will not go down as my favorite meat it was very good and part of the experience at Zetor, our eclectic restaurant similar to Joe’s Crab Shack for décor.  And with that we called it a day, but not before setting plans to explore the island and fortress of Suomenlinna on Friday.

Onward to Finland!

Tomorrow, at the lovely hour of 6am, we will depart on a 6 hour train ride for a long weekend in Helsinki, Finland and Tallinn, Estonia.  Thursday, Friday and Sunday morning we will be in Helsinki and on Saturday we will take the ferry across the Gulf of Finland to Estonia.I really have no idea what we will be doing there in the large blocks of free time we have, but that is OK!  Random fun in interesting, and quite friendly, places can be a very good thing.


Additionally I have never been to a country where I did not speak at least some of the local language, but I speak no words  of Finnish and no Estonian. This is also the first time I will ever cross an international boarder by land and cross one by sea.

I am all packed and ready for a rather cold and rainy weekend.  Unfortunately their weather is basically the same as what we have in St. Petersburg so no respite from the cold and rain/snow but I have gotten used to that by now.

But now off to bed, and a very early (and very dark) trip to the apply named Finland Station!

(As before I will keep good notes and take a lot of pictures to update my blog upon my return and post them on the days that the events actually occurred)

Night in the Zal, Day with the Fleet

Saturday, for some odd and purely Russian reason we had class again!  I fail to see the point of having a 4 day weekend if we have to make up our Friday classes the next day.  I did not mind however as I had lectures for my two elective history classes and I enjoy that professor and his style of lecturing in addition to the contents of the class.  At lunch I had a chance to go out and buy a new pair of dress shoes, both to wear here and to replace my ones at home (from freshman year of high school!)  After class, it was time to get dressed up and go out to the Mariinsky Concert Zal (Hall) for a night of Russian orchestra with all Russian composers!

The hall itself is only 5 years old and quite impressive, and smaller then I would have thought for a city the size of Saint Petersburg (maybe 500 seats).  The concert was very good with a few different Russian (or perhaps European?) details.  Instead of receiving a program when walking into the theater, it is necessary to buy one, however at 30 rubles (1 dollar) it was silly not to!  Additionally, at the end of the show the crowded started to clap in unison and that seemed to be a signal of some kind because at that point the conductor recognized the first chair of each section to bow independently.  I thought it was a nice gesture and a fitting ending.

After the concert when we emerged from the concert hall still thinking of music and art, there was some nice snow falling it was just a small magical moment (or maybe movie scene).

The next day myself and a group of my friends decided to finally go to the central history museum of the Russian Navy.  It was quite an interesting place to visit, with most of the exhibits consisting of models of famous or important ships of Russia’s past.  They had an interesting small but seaworthy ship on display, and after a bit of translation we realized that it had been personally built by Peter the Great for educational reasons and is in fact the first ship of the Russian Navy!

The Soviet Navy portion of the museum was full of patriotic posters and venerations of the rile Sailors played in the revolution(s) of 1917.  Interestingly, almost all the paintings on the wall where of sailors heroically charging up beaches or costal bluffs, and none of them had sailors actually sailing!  In the room devoted to World War II, their example of an American ship was a model of tiny patrol boat which was placed next to a massive modern Soviet battleship; of course we do the same thing in US museums.

Once again a Russian museum failed to let me spend money in their gift shop/bookstore.  All of them sell the same generic Russian souvenirs and have very little having to do with the contents of that museum.  They need to work on merchandising like American attractions! (Or maybe we have just taken it too far?)  Regardless it was a fun place to visit on a very cold day with lots of snow.

I have another short week this week, on Thursday we are leaving bright and early for Finland and Estonia.  I am still not sure what there is to do in either of these places but it will be fun to add two more countries and two more national capitals to my ever growing list of places I have been.

Until then I will remain here trying to not be cold and to enjoy the snow!