Tempus Fugit
Door: Eline
Blijf op de hoogte en volg Eline
14 Maart 2013 | Rusland, Sint-Petersburg
(I actually have to check my photo’s to remember what I’ve been up to)
For the first time in my life I’ve cross-country-skied (that’ll be langlaufen in Dutch). And it was really great, of course I fell flat on my ass when I encountered the first tiny hill, but all in all it was a really nice experience, if there’s time (and snow) we’ll probably go again one of these days.
They day we went cross-country-skiing was February 23rd, which is in Russia also a holiday called: “День защи́тника Оте́чества” which translates to something like “Day of the Defenders of the Fatherland.” So we gave all the men in our class a little gift (fortunately there are 3 male studenst in our class), and in the evening set out to go see the fireworks. For which we were late btw, so we had to run up the incredible long escalator in the metro, in our thermo-clothing which we were still wearing ‘cause we’d been cross-country-skiing, but we were still in time to see some beautiful fireworks.
But the best day was the 26th, because my father and sister arrived that day!!! They were here only for a couple of days, so we had a tightly packed schedule. But I think we did well on seeing as much as possible in a short amount of time. We went to the Peter and Paul fortress and cathedral, to the Aleksandr Nevski monastery and the nearby necropolises, to the Hermitage, and to the Spasa na Krovi. Unfortunately my sister fell ill during their stay, so she missed out on the trip my father and I made to the zoological museum. And yes we were walking in the midst of little children over there, but I can honestly say that I really liked the museum; I mean who doesn’t want to see mammoths?
Monday morning before their flight we went shopping in a shopping mall. Unfortunately clothes for women are really expensive out here, even the H&M here is about twice as expensive as back home. Strangely enough my father, who abhors shopping, bought 3 pairs of jeans out here. At the airport an unpleasant surprise awaited my father and sister, their plane was delayed for about an hour. Since they only had little more than an hour for their transit in Zurich w=that was going to be a problem. Fortunately, they arrived safely home the same evening, although about three hours later than expected.
The 8th of March is another holiday in Russia, this time: “Междунаро́дный же́нский день” aka International Women's Day. I know it’s an international day, but it’s not like we even celebrate this day in the Netherlands (or is some cases: never even heard of it). Anyway on this day we were the recipients of small presents :D To celebrate this holiday, and because it was Friday night, we decided to go out. Apparently all females in St. Petersburg had decided the same thing. After we left the first bar we’d gone to we basically couldn’t get in anywhere else (without waiting in a very ling line). Well that’s not entirely true, for only 1000 rubbles (around €25) we could go to a gay bar, we declined. So after a nightly snack in de Coffee House, we ended up in our classmates’ kitchen with a bottle of wine ;)
The following day we felt like the long queues were still haunting us, ‘cause when we went to The Russian Museum of Ethnography, we had to wait in line outside. For a museum. Wtf? Although Sharony and I actually only came for one room (the remains of the cabinets of curiosities which Peter I had collected), the rest was really cool as well. But we did spent about an hour in the room that we came for, looking at deformed foetuses, children’s heads and so forth in formaldehyde and some other weird stuff, and no I’m not twisted enough to make pictures of that, I have my boundaries. But it was really interesting.
Last Sunday we went to Kronstadt, on Kotlin Island. It was a cold and very beautiful trip, can’t really say anything else about it. I did try out the extra detachable collar of my coat, which is really warm and makes me look like a little turtle. You can see for yourself, there are pictures.
I just realized I didn’t begin with our domestic problems this time. But then again they weren’t so bad the last couple of weeks. We lost electricity one night, but that was swiftly fixed the next day. The cockroaches are multiplying by the dozens I think. Time for more pesticide I guess.
Tuesday we went to the ballet in the Marinksy Theatre. They performed 2 one act ballets: “Свадебка” The Wedding and “Жар-птица” Firebird. I’d never been to the ballet before in my life, so it was quite interesting. The first ballet was more a classic ballet, and of course it was all very ingenious and beautiful, but not really my cup of thee. But the second ballet was incredible! It was very colourful and well I can’t really explain it, but I really really liked it. (Hadn’t really expected that to be honest). And of course the Marinsky Theatre itself is an amazingly beautiful building.
This week it’s “Масленица” (from 11-3 till 17-3), also known as Pancake week, which is something like Carnival. It’s a celebration of the imminent end of the winter, unfortunately the weathers gods haven’t picked up on that yet. That’s all for now, and when you have the urge to complain about the pitiful excuse for snow you have back home, think of me ;)
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15 Maart 2013 - 19:10
Gerdien:
Eline!! Wat een prachtige verhalen, heerlijk om te lezen wat jij daar allemaal uitvoert in St. Petersburg! Je vermaakt je goed zo te lezen en zo te zien :) super mooie foto's!
Geniet ervan! Dikke kus -
20 Maart 2013 - 21:50
Je Collega Die Je Nu Erg Mist:
Leuke foto's en jij op de skies?
Blijkbaar zijn de wonderen de wereld nog niet uit.
Hier in het koude kikkerlandje is het koud, soms wat sneeuw, dus nog steeds winter.
Leuk dat je vader en Marlies ook nog langs kwamen.
Veel plezier en tot gauw!
Je collega. -
29 Maart 2013 - 11:02
Johan:
Hurby en Marlies drie uur later thuis dan gepland...
Nee hè, toch niet weer dat Swiss? :-( -
08 April 2013 - 22:16
Marlies:
But the best day was the 26th, because my father and sister arrived that day!!! jaaaa :D Vet lief!!!!
xxx zus
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