St. Pete

Sorry I haven't posted in a while, but it's hard getting internet in Russia. They seemed to have skipped the desktop phase- there're wireless places everywhere, but nobody has actual computers for rent... so it's a long walk to the one cafe i can find.

St. Petersburg is interesting. It's like Amsterdam crossed with Prague (in a good way) then mixed with Moscow (in a not so good way), so it's a little odd. Russia is definetely not Europe. But that said, it's still an amazing place. The views of the Neva River are amazing, and the various palaces and churchs are incredible. I went to the Hermitage today, which more than lived up to it's billing. I probably only saw a quarter of the rooms, and since they only have 5% on display at any given time, I saw 2.5% of their collection in 8 hours. And that was walking fast, Audrey-speed. So, it's pretty impressive. Worth the trip to St. Pete's just for that. I'm headed back tomorrow, if anybody wants anything. They sell canvas copies of many of the prints that are quite good.

The city is huge, so just walking around is a challange. It's about the same latitude as Anchorage, so it's never really dark, and the people are going crazy, sort of like the people in Alaska do at this time of year. Last night there was a fireworks festival- funny, because it was too light to see ANYTHING. loud, though. So, lots of parties because of the "white nights" festivals. Good time to visit, but since I was in Anchorage around this time, the novelty isn't there. I think I'd rather come in winter, when the river freezes. Next time.