It's been a little while since I last posted. This last week has been fairly busy for me between our excursions, my midterm and then my final. Not sure why they decided to have our midterm the week before our final, but oh well! The final went well. I had to write 5 pages (in Russian of course) in 2 hours on the development of large cities, the problems/benefits of immigration and comparing Putin's stance vs. Obama's stance on illegal immigration. I also had to talk about pollution and social ecology, comparing Moscow and Los Angeles on how the cities are fixing the problem of pollution. Kind of random topics...but it went well I think.
I'm all packed up and ready to go to St. Petersburg! I am so thrilled to head there, because it's the one time of the year that Белые Ночи (Beliye Nochi)/ White Nights will be occurring. St. Petersburg is the northern-most city in the world, and 2am won't look any different from 2pm. During this time there are festivals, concerts, etc. Should be a great week with no class to worry about! Since I was studying so much this week, I'm afraid there won't be much in the way of educational/historical enlightenment in my blog post. There will, however, be pretty pictures.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. I didn't go in here, either. They have a very strict dress code...no jeans I guess. It was just as pretty from the outside, though! The church was built under Alexander I after Napoleon retreated. Stalin wanted it demolished (USSR was officially Atheist) and changed to the Palace of the Soviets as a monument to socialism. That plan backfired due to a lack of funding. The professional demolition crew refused to blow it up, so Stalin's henchmen, unskilled in the art of demolition, attempted to do it themselves and failed miserably. In 1990 it was rebuilt.
Russia's version of Paris's lock bridge. Really cute. Newlyweds come to 'lock their love' and throw the key over the bridge into the water.
I'm all packed up and ready to go to St. Petersburg! I am so thrilled to head there, because it's the one time of the year that Белые Ночи (Beliye Nochi)/ White Nights will be occurring. St. Petersburg is the northern-most city in the world, and 2am won't look any different from 2pm. During this time there are festivals, concerts, etc. Should be a great week with no class to worry about! Since I was studying so much this week, I'm afraid there won't be much in the way of educational/historical enlightenment in my blog post. There will, however, be pretty pictures.
This is the statue at the Memorial Museum of Astronautics. I didn't go in the museum.
Cathedral of Christ the Saviour. I didn't go in here, either. They have a very strict dress code...no jeans I guess. It was just as pretty from the outside, though! The church was built under Alexander I after Napoleon retreated. Stalin wanted it demolished (USSR was officially Atheist) and changed to the Palace of the Soviets as a monument to socialism. That plan backfired due to a lack of funding. The professional demolition crew refused to blow it up, so Stalin's henchmen, unskilled in the art of demolition, attempted to do it themselves and failed miserably. In 1990 it was rebuilt.
View from the cafe some of us sat in while a few others went in the Cathedral.
This statue was originally a 'gift' to America. It was Christopher Columbus. However, seeing as it is potentially the ugliest monument of all time, America said no thanks. So Russia took it, removed Christopher Columbus' head and replaced it with Peter the Great's. Peter the Great wasn't a huge fan of Moscow. Muscovites aren't huge fans of this statue.
Russia's version of Paris's lock bridge. Really cute. Newlyweds come to 'lock their love' and throw the key over the bridge into the water.
P.S. Remember Sasha from a few posts ago? We got married! You may call me Katya Neverova now.
It was kind of funny seeing this lock, though. Even though Sasha and Katya are pretty common Russian names...and I did joke a lot about getting married here since I'm known as such a Slavophile amongst friends.
How is it that when you pack to leave, somehow nothing fits in the luggage that fit perfectly fine before??? It's like all my things have expanded... The mysteries of life.
How rude of the US to give back the Columbus statue. No wonder we don't get along too well. Hurt feelings from way back!! So glad you were joking about getting married. I had to read that twice!! Enjoy St. Petersburg!
ReplyDelete