May 10th: Happy Mother's Day!

 

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От: Jillian Kubiak '11
Отправлено: Пн, 5/11/2009 12:46
Кому: mevans21@blogger.com
Тема: May 10th: Happy Mother's Day!

            HAPPY MOTHERS DAY!! Just an FYI the hostel is out of phone cards so if there are any mothers that have not received a phone call it is not because we do not want to talk to you but it is physically impossible at this point. Ps, on the same note, I love you mom, you are amazing and beautiful and I miss you!!!

            Ok so today we got up way to early to go to Tsarskoe Selo, which translates to the Czar’s Village. This location contains the palaces of Catherine the Great and Alexander I and lots of other monuments and parks and cool deserted buildings. So basically, we spent eight hours walking around different old stuff that was actually pretty neat. Half of that time was spent retracing our steps because our adorable Buddhist guide Mitya kept taking us in circles. I think he was a little confused but that is ok because I think that my blisters have officially turned in to calluses. Either that or I’ve just become oblivious to pain.  

            It was really cool though because for lunch we ate on top of this 265 year old church. The walls were crumbling and the stairs were treacherous, it was awesome. Then just as we were about to leave the police showed up and said something in Russian that seemed like “get off the condemned building”. Oh well, then to get back, after a couple wrong turns we took the oldest train route in Russian history. This line was built to bring the Catherine the Great from Tsarskoe Selo to St. Petersburg and we enjoyed the view of the outskirts of the city tremendously through our closed eyelids, we were a little exhausted.

            Tonight was a very special night because we had a concert to go to. One of our favorite guides, Nick, was playing a concert with his band at one of the top Jazz clubs in the city. We had tickets so all 23 of us crammed into this tiny club. It was actually an amazing concert, especially coming from a person who is not at all a fan of Jazz music. Even the locals that I talked to at the club were praising the band saying that they had here about them but hadn’t been able to see them live because they only play a few exclusive concerts a year, so we felt very special. Anyways the owner complained about selling our tickets to us because we are Americans and he said we do not smoke and drink enough so we all just had to prove him wrong. The night ended off with all of us up on stage taking a group picture with the band and Nick promising to sign our CDs we bought. Overall just your average Sunday in Russia, where anything can happen.

 

Jill