We arrived in St. Petersburg Monday morning on an overnight train from Cherepovets. I am really going to miss my host family, it was such a good match and we had a great time together. We are staying at the St. Petersburg Hotel and we are thankful for these accomodations during our last week in Russia. We have two rooms with the girls in one and the boys in the other.
It is Wednesday and so far we have toured quite a bit of the city. Yesterday we visited Petergof, which according to Robin greatly resembles Versaille. Everything is big and grand. There were many statues and fountains to see and the weather was beautiful. Last night after our Rotary meeting we went on a city excursion in search of something to eat and drink. It was fun walking around the city but I do believe we were a bit lost. Sarah volunteered to ask a bus driver where we could find a bar and with five words of Russian got us pointed in the right direction. "Itvinitz, gdye horosho bar, spasiba." (Excuse me, where good bar, thanks.) It worked and using hand signals we were pointed to a main street. At the same time John was texting someone who lives here in hopes of finding the street. Needless to say we finally found a cafe that we decided looked good and we stopped. The menu was in Russian but we had been walking for so long that we decided we would figure it out. The waiter took pitty on us and found a waitress that spoke a little English. We ordered an appetizer of garlic bread and cheese and a few drinks... piva and vina (beer and wine). I ordered a BLT because even though we had eaten dinner I was still hungry. NO surprise there. Sarah wanted fries and it was really funny because she was pointing to the picture and the waitress kept saying what sounded like "free", and we thought, "Wow, why are they free". We finally realized that she was saying "frite" which is the word for "fries" but without the 't' sound. Anyway, we did not get free fries but we did get free champagne. Come to find out there is a little dance floor inside and free champagne for the ladies until midnight!!! It was a good trip out and only just starting to get dark on our way back. It is only dark for a few hours here this time of year which is strange for us but I do not think it has really bothered any of us all that much.
I am really looking forward to getting home. Only a few days left and it has really been a trip of a lifetime but it has been a long trip and we have done so much. I have really tried to do everything because I do not want to miss anything but I am starting to feel tired and will need to sleep for about a week when we return!!! I will also have to detox from all of the caffeine.
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Here we are: Ann and Olga.
ReplyDeleteWe are really proud of you, guys!!! Especially of Sarah's Russian. And it's no wonder after such applied communication with the Russians in Cherepovets. It turned out that it had been absolutely necessary :))))
But still there is a question that is bothering us a great deal: Why were you alone? and Why there was nobody who accompanied you all in such a big foreign city???
Hi this is Mike,
ReplyDeleteWe were accompanied during almost every moment in St. Petersburg, but this was one late outing after the Rotary Club meeting where no local Rotarians were with us.