There’s a Secret in St. Petersburg
This week’s adventure began Friday evening. We had all agreed to meet at the metro at 8 p.m., and then travel to the train station together. Against all odds, we were all there on time. One metro stop into the journey, Logan realized he had forgotten his passport. I can completely understand how he forgot it. We were traveling within the country, and it’s not like we bring our passports with us when we drive from Wyoming to Arizona. With the current political situation, however, passports are used for everything, everywhere you go. Passports are honestly the equivalent of driver’s licenses here. In order to pick up a package, you need to bring your passport. Get stopped by a cop on the street? Better have your passport. Anyways, Logan forgot his, so he ran back home to go get it. The rest of us continued to the train station. Logan ended up missing the train, but our local coordinator traded his ticket for another one, so he arrived in St. Petersburg only an hour after us. It worked out just fine.
As soon as we stepped onto the train, I felt my skin moisten from the humidity, and definitely not in a good way. The train car was dimly lit and had the early scent of body odor. I was in an upper berth in a car filled with random people. Jess and Elizabeth were nearby, but I had the joy of sleeping right across the aisle from some random Russian dude.
A few of us stayed up for a little while, but as the other passengers began going to bed, we decided to follow suit. I parkoured my way up to my berth. Let me tell you something, trains should ask for your height when purchasing a ticket because short people like me really struggle. I tried putting my sketchy sheets on my bed while crouching (because there’s not enough room to sit up in bed) on it. It was quite an adventure. Being on a sleeper train suddenly helped me to understand references in TV shows and movies in regards to trains.
I struggled to try to fall asleep and stay asleep on this train ride. I definitely slept more than I did on the busses last week, but it certainly wasn’t the best sleep I’ve ever had. My clothing had stuck to me because I was so sweaty and gross. Here’s another thing, many Russians do not bathe regularly, so imagine a week’s worth of B.O., then heat it up, make it sweat, and let it fester for 8 hours in a small, confined space with no ventilation. Multiply that by about 100 people, and you have the train I was sleeping on.
An angry Russian woman woke us up an hour before arriving in St. Petersburg. Let me tell you, 4:00 a.m. comes early when you didn’t sleep well. The first thing I saw, of course, was the Russian dude in the berth next to me, shirtless and putting on pants. Yikes. I immediately pretended I was still asleep because let’s be honest, there’s nowhere to hide when you’re stuck in a tiny upper berth.
The Nightmare of Finding Our Hostel
We chose to make our way over to our hostel, so we could get changed, brush our teeth, and drop off our bags. Our local coordinator booked our hostel, so we had no clue what we were getting into. She didn’t give us clear directions, so we went off of what we had and searched for our hostel. The address took us into a weird alley, so naturally, I began to get nervous. There weren’t signs advertising this hostel anywhere. We split up into different sides of the street, so we could look at different buildings. Thank goodness we did, because the only sign advertising Hostel Arina was spray-painted onto the sidewalk in Russian. Thank goodness too, that Jordan speaks Russian and was able to decipher what the paint said. The sidewalk paint said that the hostel was behind some locked gate. Super convenient, right?
We tried lots of different codes, but none matched up. Luckily, someone came out for a smoke and let us into the first gate. What we saw next was quite disheartening. A torn couch and door with what looked like bullet holes sat just outside the entrance. We rang the bell for Hostel Arina, and the owner let us in. We walked up the dimly lit, creepy staircase toward our hostel. A heavyset woman in her 50’s or 60’s let us into the quiet hostel. Here’s where things get dicey…she didn’t speak a lick of English. Jordan’s Russian vocabulary is fairly limited, so communicating that we would be staying there and that we needed to leave our bags there was pretty difficult. She then explained that she also spoke Spanish. So Jen, Paul, and I began working together to understand what she was saying with our minimal Spanish skills. If Logan hadn’t missed the train, he would have been a huge asset in this situation. Logan served his mission in Puerto Rico, so he is fluent in Spanish. Against all odds, we used a combination of Spanish and Russian to explain to Gallarina (that’s her name) what our situation was. It was pretty stressful but somehow, we figured it out.
After getting changed, brushing our teeth, and applying deodorant, we headed back to the train station to pick up Logan. On the way out of the building, however, we were greeted by a pack of rats. I hate rats. I hate mice. I am terrified of those rodents! I proceeded to run out the door in order to avoid the hoard of diseased creatures.
We picked up Logan and he didn’t need to go back to the hostel, so we went straight to a café for some breakfast. It was kind of a buffet of sorts. I got a scone, some hash browns, and peach juice. It was a simple meal, but it was pretty tasty.
The Hermitage
Once we had refueled, we hit the streets and headed toward the Hermitage Museum. The sun was beginning to rise as we walked across the canals, leaving a tinge of pink in the calm water. The city glowed orange and pink. The absolute beauty of the city blew me away. The Hermitage was closed when we arrived, so we wandered around for a while, and then returned to explore the museum. We branched off into groups in order to get the most out of the place. We saw lots of clothing and paintings from different eras, then made our way to the classic art pieces. The artwork was stunning, but one thing that really frustrated me was the lack of labeling things. You didn’t know where you were or what you were looking at half of the time. I saw a Michelangelo statue and a DaVinci painting, which was fantastic. What breaks my heart the most, however, is that I missed the entire Rembrandt room, simply because I didn’t know it was there. When I went to the Louvre, I knew exactly where to go and what I was seeing, because everything was clearly labeled. I will forever be disappointed that I missed the Rembrandt room.
We spent about two hours at the Hermitage, then called it quits and went to lunch. We were all starving, so naturally, food was our top priority. The group journeyed out to the main street, where lo and behold, a pizza and pasta bar awaited. It turned out to be a fantastic experience. There were English menus and some of the workers even spoke English. We got a big table in the back and began eyeing the menu. There were some twelve-inch pizzas on the menu, so we assumed they were personal pizzas, as is normal in the US. As we ordered, the waiter looked at us as if we were crazy. Evidently, they thought the 12” was large enough to be split between a family. As the staff brought out our pizzas, they all looked at us as though we were the fattest Americans they had ever seen. They really thought we wouldn’t be able to finish them, but by golly, we ate every piece of those delicious pizzas.
St. Isaac’s Cathedral
The group split again as we had different places we wanted to visit. My group went to St. Isaac’s Cathedral. It is the fourth largest cathedral in the world, and it certainly didn’t disappoint. We chose to not go inside the cathedral that had been converted into a museum. We instead took a staircase to the top of the cathedral. The view was beautiful. You got an amazing look at what was all around you. I loved it up there and could have stayed at the top of that cathedral for an hour, listening to the Russian announcements and the wind quietly whirling in my ear. It was a moment completely free of stress. There was no worrying about meeting up with the group by a certain time or finding our way to the next location. It was blissful.
After St. Isaac’s cathedral, Logan, Jordan, Paul, and I moseyed over to another cathedral. We passed a souvenir shop and stopped inside. They had a great collection of items. I was really tempted to buy this beautiful ornament while I was there, but convinced myself to wait until I return to St. Petersburg next month. Part of me regrets not buying it, but I know I will find something just like it or better when I return- and hopefully for a better price.
We then decided to walk back home. And to my surprise, the walk home was pretty lengthy. I didn’t realize how far we had walked until it was time to go back to the hostel.
Everyone slowly trickled into the hostel, where we began settling down for the night. There was a bit of drama when it came to showering. The drama centered around the fact that the shower didn’t work very well- especially if two people were showering at once. Bailey and I had to serve as translators between Gallarina, the hostel owner, and the girls who were showering. Somehow, we got it all worked out.
Everyone was super tired and went to bed pretty early, so Jordan and I opted to watch Zombieland on my iPad in the kitchen. We only got about 20 minutes into the movie when three guys came in and wanted to talk to us. They were from Eastern Russia and didn’t speak much English. Plus Gallarina wanted to get involved, so it was a collaboration of Russian, English, and Spanish. Paul emerged from his room after a little while and joined in on the festivities. It was pretty funny sitting back and watching this spectacle. The guys invited Jordan and me to go night biking with them through St. Petersburg, but we politely declined. I could see that going poorly in so many ways. Gallarina kicked us out of the kitchen shortly after, because apparently the couch is her bed. Oops. I took that as being a good time to hit the hay.
The Peterhof Palace
We woke the next morning and packed our things. Thankfully, Gallarina was kind enough to watch our things…for a small fee of course. We left the hostel and went to the café where we ate before. Yes, we are adventurous. It was cheap though and nearby. The food wasn’t as good as it was the morning prior, but it was fine, nonetheless. After eating, we headed to the metro station. The metro was beautiful, but not nearly as spectacular as the metro system in Moscow. Admittedly, it’s hard to beat the majesty of the Moscow metro system. We took the metro to the train station, then from the station, went to the Peterhof Palace. Luckily, there were some really nice people who directed us on how to get to the palace once we were in the town of Peterhof.
The entrance is beautiful, full of pretty fountains and gardens. We walked the area rather quickly, however, and got bored. Everyone had talked up the Peterhof, so I was surprised by how little there was to see. By the way, it is significantly colder at the Peterhof, than it is in the rest of St. Petersburg.
We moseyed the grounds for a few minutes when I saw a dog. Those who know me know that I have a very deep love for dogs. I don’t care if they are sleek and well trained, or if they are matted and crazy. I love them. I approached the dog pretty cautiously. I didn’t want to get bit by some rabid creature. She was intently watching a cat in a tree, but once I pet her, she was interested in me. She didn’t oppose me touching her, so I went all out. This dog got some serious love. I would have cuddled with it if it weren’t for the potential fleas and ticks. The poor thing had obviously not been loved on in a long time, and I was more than happy to give it to her. I think the rest of the people in my group thought I was a nut because of how happy I was to be petting some random stray dog. I just couldn’t contain my excitement. When I walked away the dog followed me for a minute, then returned to cat watching. Confession time: I am a crazy dog lady. There is no getting around that fact. I will probably end up with 6 dogs when I have a house of my own. I can’t help it. Okay, that’s enough of my crazy dog lady talk.
After perusing the front of the palace, we went out on a limb and decided to walk over to the side of the palace, where we discovered that you have to pay in order to see the rest of the palace. That explained why it was pretty boring in the front.
The fee was small, but the payoff was immense. The property was absolutely gorgeous. There were spectacular fountains everywhere and immaculate gardens and forests. I was stunned. The further we walked, the colder it got. We realized then, that the Gulf of Finland is right there on the property. Naturally, I ran down to the beach to investigate and take pictures. The beach area was beautiful. A little lighthouse sat on the shore a little ways away. We began walking away from the beach when I realized that I had to touch the water. I sprinted back and stuck my hand in the water. I fully expected my hand to freeze instantly, but the water was surprisingly warmer than my hand. It was kind of nice. I then decided I needed more pictures by the water, so I forced everyone to stay by the cold ocean. I think poor Jordan and Logan wanted to punch me out by the time we left the cold sea breeze. I just couldn’t leave the ocean having not photographed it thoroughly.
A little marching band paraded through the property periodically. It was a cute little band, but the performers looked as though they hated their lives.
Jordan, Logan, and I wandered the grounds for a while, and it was great. We saw some amazing things and had some great laughs.
When it was time to leave, we had hardly seen the whole place. I was okay with it though. We went on a hunt for a café but had no luck with English menus. Sometimes you can get away with not knowing the language, but sometimes it just doesn’t work. We all ended up buying a Snickers to tide us over before going back on the train to St. Petersburg. The train ride took about 40 minutes, and we were standing for most of it. I was super tired and started falling asleep standing up. Luckily, we were able to get some seats shortly after that.
Back to St. Petersburg
We were all a bit hangry when we arrived in St. Petes. We ended up trekking across the city to go eat at the place where we ate the day before. The service was good and I got to charge my phone and relax, so it all worked out. Jess and I then decided to hit up Starbucks after eating, so I could get a hot chocolate and she could get some coffee.
Everyone got changed into their comfy clothes, brushed their teeth, and hung out in the kitchen with Gallarina. She told me that I look like Britney Spears. I’m really hoping she isn’t referring to Britney circa de 2004 (you know, the bald days). I took it as a compliment and carried on. I think she liked me. I made her laugh a few times while we stayed there, so it was kind of a bittersweet feeling saying goodbye to her.
It was finally time to go to the train station, so we headed out. This train was much better than the last one. I was seated next to people I knew, the bus wasn’t sweltering, the lights weren’t dim and unwelcoming, and the people were kind of friendly. Jordan, Jess and I decided to watch Zombieland together; and seeing that we had only watched a few minutes of it the night before, we didn’t mind starting over for Jess.
After the movie, we decided it was time to go to bed. I slept a little bit better than I did on the last train, so that’s good. I also got to sleep on the bottom berth, which was great, so I didn’t have to do some crazy stunts in order to reach my bed.
We arrived in Moscow around 6:00 a.m. and we were all exhausted. Luckily, we all had time to go home and shower before it was time for work, which was much better than last week when we went straight from the bus to work. Casey, an ILP representative came up from Orem and had interviews with each of us that morning. He then sat in on our classes and evaluated our teaching and students. I feel like I did pretty well, considering that this class is normally pretty wild. I then commuted to the next school, where my tank finally hit empty. I was yawning all through class and didn’t have the energy to teach as well as I normally could. The class turned into more of a friendly chat, rather than something lesson-based. It worked out fine because my kids were still talking and learned some new vocabulary. I think I need to implement this more often because I started to connect with my kids a bit more than usual. They need friendly conversation as well as a structured school conversation.
After teaching, we had a pizza party. Success! We plowed through five boxes of pizza in a matter of minutes. It was fun to sit back with the team and laugh about our experiences here.
When I returned home, I was exhausted. There was no reviving me from the weekend. I went to bed as soon as I could.
So that was my vacation to St. Petersburg for you! I loved it there. The city has more of a European vibe than Moscow, which was kind of refreshing. I love the Russian atmosphere of Moscow, but it was great to see more color and vibrancy in St. Petersburg. I am anxious to go back to St. Petes for a day next month before embarking on our long vacation.
All my love,
Madison
0 Comments