How to Get Lost

Ah, this feels like Russia. European Russia. The Russia of movies and “happy” stories. Soon enough we’ll be seeing the more wild side of this interesting country. But for now, this large square makes me pretty thrilled to be here. (And I can’t wait to review the movie footage.)

Here’s a shot of PART of The Winter Palace, which houses much of the Hermitage collection.

May 9 is “Victory Day” in Russia, the celebration of the liberation of Russia from the Nazis in 1945. On the flight over, my guidebook spent a few paragraphs talking about Russian History from WWII and specifically mentioned the Liberty Ships that brought supplies from the Allies into the northern port city of Murmansk. The book said that this had a profound effect on the success of The Red Army, especially early on in the war. Well, my dad was the signalman on one of those ships! Pretty cool!

So, after gawking about for awhile, we went inside the museum, where I spent most of my time looking up. But how can you help yourself with ceilings like this?

This is the larger of two throne rooms. Royal!

A wider view of the main throne room.

Fun with a digital camera…

The Russian Army ballroom. That’s not it’s real name, but the room was decorated with the various crests of the various armed divisions in Russia in the mid 19th century.

So, about 5 hours after entering, and without more than a 20 minute break, Geoff and I emerged from the Hermitage into the bright May sunshine. The weather is great – about 5 or 6C but SUNNY. Here’s hoping it holds!

I didn’t talk much about our hostel yet. We have two dormmates in our 6 bed room. This is Nick, from Enland, near Heathrow Airport. He’s travelling for the summer before entering a master’s program this fall.

We kept running into Nick all day. Quite fun, actually!

Our other roommate is an Aussie named Kelly. She’s also great – we really lucked out! Kelly just finished doing the trans-mongolian from Beijing. So, basically the reverse of what we’ve planned.

Overall things have been going really well – I got the best night’s sleep last night, even. The bunks are actually quite comfortable and everything is spotless. Plus, with a free phone and free internet, who can complain? Oh, and I agree with what Geoff posted about the breakfast. Nothing better than ham & cheese on whitebread in the morning! Just my kind of thing – and quite filling. I think we’ll be able to eat well and cheap here in St. Petersburg.

At this point, my feet are pretty sore. My shoes don’t hurt one little bit, I’m just worn out, and it’s only the 4th day of actually walking around! Sad. What would I be like had I not trained at the gym for the last two months? I think I’m just feeling a little run down from the mad pace we’ve kept up for the past few days, and a slow evening would do me good.