St. Petersburg at Night

Most people who visit St. Petersburg, especially for non-business related reasons, come here during the summer.  It is the  "White Nights", when we have only 4-5 hours per day of partial darkness.  The weather is nice (at least for this part of the world!), the days are long, and there are people everywhere having a good time.  But what you miss when you come during the summer is seeing the city buildings lit up. 

To me, the city is much more beautiful at night. Maybe it's because you don't notice the dirt!  Here are some recent photos that I've taken while walking home in the evening.  The streets look deserted, and they are as compared to the summer time, but it's still pretty safe as compared to a lot of cities.

Here are a few pictures of the Winter Palace, which is one of the main buildings within the Hermitage Museum.  The Hermitage is one of the oldest and largest museums in the world.  It was founded by Catherine the Great in 1764.  The Winter Palace was the official residence of the Russian monarchs from 1732 until the 1917 revolution.



In the square



Cool entrance doors




View of the Hermitage from Nevsky Prospect, near the Neva River



I'm loving this picture of St. Issac's Cathedral & the Astoria Hotel.  The Astoria Hotel has an important spot in history;  Adolph Hitler was planning to throw a victory party at the hotel, assuming that Leningrad (what is now St. Petersburg) would fall to the Germans during WWII.  The hotel still has the letter requesting the party, and the invitation. 

Russia did NOT fall to the Germans.  The siege of Leningrad lasted from September 1941 to January 1944 - 872 days - with over 1.2 million casualities out of 3 million residents.  If you are interested in history, it's an amazing story to read & provides some insight into the Russian people & their culture. 

Picture of the Senate Building near my apartment

St. Petersburg City Hall building.  During the day, it's jammed with people & cars, lots of activity and politicians milling about.



A view of St. Isaac's Square (Исаакиевская площадь).  You can see the statue of Nicholas I.  The building is an apartment & office building





The Bronze Horseman (Peter the Great) at night.  Love it!



This is the Admiralty Building.  Peter the Great was obsessed with building a strong Navy.  Built in 1704, it's been damaged quite a bit over years - most of the statues were damaged in the mid 1800's for being "Pagan" per the Orthodox clergy, and the building suffered from bombing during WWII.  Today, the building is used as the Naval headquarters for the city & as a school for Naval cadets.





Side view of the Admiralty Building




Random building along the Moika Canal



Academy of Arts building (St. Petersburg University), taken from across the Neva River

Animal Friends around the World

I realize that this might seem like a strange or goofy post to some people.  But I can't resist taking pictures of various furry (or not so furry) creatures when I'm traveling.  They always bring a smile to my face, or make me laugh.  And there's nothing wrong with that, right?

Unfortunately, there are no animal pictures from Russia.  Probably something I should work on.

This post is for my Mom, the biggest animal lover I know.

TURKEY


I love that this kitty was just lounging around on ancient ruins

Was licking it's lips.  Maybe an afternoon snack from a passerby?

In the hunt


 AMSTERDAM


Looks like the morning after a good night........Appropriate for Amsterdam!

I love this one.  There was a concert going on in Dam Square.  He was listening



FRANCE



This beauty had a loud scary bark & was guarding his home in Bayeux (Normandy), France



An appropriate sourpuss look in Paris



In Versailles........It's hard to see him in the right window. 

 SPAIN

Posing for me in the garden at the Real Alcazar (14th century palace in Seville)

This was taken at the coastal city of Cadiz, Spain, which is the oldest city in Western Europe. 
And the fish is apparently very good!

There were dozens of peacocks walking around the Real Alcazar in Seville. 



Just hanging out on a gorgeous tile wall in Seville



GREECE

Walking near the Parthenon in Athens

In Ancient Agora, in Athens

Hiding under a tree & trying to catch some shade

ITALY

In the Villa Borghese Garden in Rome

This boy was so sweet, and just wanted some of our pizza in the Piazza Navona in Rome. 

Siesta time in the piazza!

Favorite Trips: Sochi, Russia

Do you know where Sochi is?  It's in Southwest Russia, near Georgia & the Caucasus Mountain range on the Northeast coast of Black Sea.  Both Vladimir Putin & Dmitri Medvedev have homes there.  And the 2014 Winter Olympics will be there, from February 7-23 2014.  Work on your Russian Visa now!

I had an opportunity to visit Sochi in October 2012, for a work-related meeting.   It's a place I had never heard of until I moved to Russia, and a place I would probably never had visited if it wasn't for this meeting.  It's a popular resort location for Russians, with a very humid, almost sub-tropical climate.  But it's expensive, like everything in Russia but even more than normal.  Would I go back on my own dollar?  Probably not, but I'm glad I had the chance to see it. 

The Sochi Seaport.  It handles all of the ferry traffic & you can take a cruise to Turkey from here. We were taking a cruise on a speed boat around the Black Sea

Me driving the boat, and posing for the Captain :)

I loved this mosiac that I spotted while walking through the city.  TThrought Russia, there are plenty of stone & granite statues of Lenin - I think every town & city of any size has at least one!  But this was the 1st mosaic I've seen.

This is the Sochi Train Station.  Built in the 1950's, but I think the architecture style is less typical of what you normally see from the Stalin period.


We stayed at the Grand Hotel & Spa Rodina, right on the Black Sea.  Gorgeous!!  Crazy expensive!!  I had a glass (or 2 or 3) of not-so-great Pinot Grigio at the bar for $25/glass!  The resort was originally built in the 50's, during Stalin's years, as a medicinal & relaxation sanatorium for the USSR's political & social elite.  It's famous for one of their frequent guests, Yuri Gagarin, the Soviet astronaut who was the 1st human to travel into outer space in 1961.  It's been renovated quite a bit since those times & was a really nice place to stay.

Our beach on the Black Sea.  The water was a little rocky & starting to get cool, but still surprising that no one was hanging out at the beach.

The pool.  Again, where are the people? 

 Views from their gardens

A beautiful sunset.

Remembering to Stop & Look Around

Life moves pretty fast. If you don't stop and look around once in a while, you could miss it – Ferris Bueller

I walk to work every day.  It's an pretty easy 15-20 minute walk through a park and the city.  I'm usually carrying too many things - a purse, a gym bag, a briefcase, lunch.  I need to work on that before I cause permanent damage to my back!

But Ferris is right.  So many days, I just rush along the streets, looking down so I don't slip on the ice, and avoiding direct eye contact with anyone (and no smiling!) to avoid being tagged as "the American".  How many of us forget to actually look around?  We're so busy getting from point A to point B, that we sometimes forget to stop, breathe, see the beauty in front of us.

I know I need to work on this.  So I took my time walking home from work the other night & took some phots of what I saw

What will soon be a new Four Seasons Hotel, very close to our apartment.  They are restoring an old palace that was originally built as the residence of Princess Ekaterina Alexandrovna Lobanova-Rostovskaya in 1820.  They have been working on this project since befor I moved here (2 1/2 years ago), but Russian contruction projects are notoriously slow.  Hopefully it will open soon so Pat & I can sit at the bar enjoying a cocktail & doing some great people watching!

This crazy guy is standing on the Moika River (really just a canal), painting a watercolor.  The ice can only be a few inches deep, because on the other side of the canal it was already starting to break. 

View of St. Isaac's Cathedral from Alexander Garden or Park (Александровский сад).  I walk through this park twice per day.  Pretty amazing...

The Bronze Horseman, also in Alexander Garden, as the sun was setting....  The statue is of Peter the Great, on a horse, on a single block of granite.  It's named after Alexander Pushkin's famous poem. It's a VERY popular spot for brides & wedding pictures all throughout the year

Have a nice weekend!

Favorite Trips: Helsinki, Finland

I love to travel.  I have always loved going on trips, seeing something new & different from my day-to-day life.  I get this from my Dad.  Trips to go camping, vacations to Disneyworld, and even weekend family trips to a hotel where my brother & I would swim in the pool all weekend (Sharon, PA!).  But travel became an meaningful part of my life during my pre-teen & teenage years.  During this time, our family visited a number of cities in the Northeast, often including a MLB game.  We went to Boston, Baltimore, Washington DC, Toronto.  I loved these trips!  Seeing new places, trying new foods, escaping everyday teenage life.......

As I've gotten older, I've been fortunate to be able to travel beyond the US & start "seeing the world".  The more you travel, the more you realize that there is so much more to see, to learn, to experience.  So I hope I've only just started this journey.

I also love solo trips.  As much as I enjoy traveling with my husband, friends, or family, I really do love to take a trip all by myself.  You can do what you want, when you want to do it.  You can plan you trip or just wing it.  You don't have to worry about accomodating anyone.  And it's a great time to think. 

Two weeks ago, I took a solo trip to Helsinki, Finland.  There is a high-speed train called the Allegro that travels several times a day between St. Petersburg & Helsinki.  The train is very convenient because passport control is completed while you travel (3 1/2 hours), saving a lot of time & hassle.

This is the Helsinki Cathedral, in Senate Square.  Built in 1830-1852, as a tribute to the Grand Duke of Finland, who also happened to be Tsar Nicholas I of Russia. 

Helsinki has a great open market in their Market Square.  They sell traditional & local foods, crafts, furs, and souveniers.  It's open year round & is a great place to explore in the summer.  In the winter, it's much smaller but still interesting to walk through.  The sign on the tent says that it's 18C in the tent!

Man on the marina.  It was 15F outside.  I saw him running down from the building on the left, most likely from a sauna.  He got in the water & swam around for a few minutes before going back.  Crazy!

Esplanade Park, right in the city center.  I love the lights.

Hotel:
I stayed at the Hotel Haven, which I'd recommend for anyone interested in being in a very central location.  But there are lots of different options at different price points.   

Food:
I had some great meals at Ravintola Aino (traditional Finnish food) and Havis (seasonal Finnish & Scandanavian seafood, and a great blini & caviar menu), which is in the Hotel Haven