Not two days ago, I had sat down to write a follow-up to Thursday's story of being sick. It was all about how I'd finally just faced the music, accepted that I was sick and took care of myself. I was very proud because I got tea, got aspirin and cough drops, and slept for like 20 hours straight. I wasn't happy about the fact that I was ill, but I was at least going to take care of myself.
Today, however, I'm feeling both not as good, and yet better, after a mere 48 hours. Today was Navy Day- a celebration and remembrance of people who serve or have served in the Navy. We had heard that there was going to be a big parade to kick the day off, and then we could take tours of the boats, so Petra (my Croatian friend) and I got up at 9:30 and took the bus down to the river. We didn't see anything, though, so we walked across the bridge to the other side of the river, just in time to see them start breaking down grandstands and camera crews.
Now, you'd think a river would be a good conductor of sound, so if there were any sort of hoopla/ parade/ celebration, we would have heard it, sine we got there 10 minutes before it was supposed to start, and Russians are certainly not punctual. Denied the pomp and circumstance, we briefly watched a ceremony on the largest ship, then wandered on. We hopped a bus and went to one of the larger malls in St. Pete's, where we killed a couple hours walking around, since the tours of the ships wasn't til 1pm.
After we got back, however, we learned that the ship tours were only for immediate family members of the crew. Defeated once again, we went and visited the bears in a nearby park, then wandered down to the "New Holland" island that someone had told us about - a place that was actually clean, had security, and had real grass and a community feel. By the time we had relaxed a bit on the grass and walked back over the bridge to a point where we could grab a bus back home, it was already 6:30pm.
Despite the nine hours of walking in hot sun, I had a good time seeing less well-known parts of St. Pete's, and hanging out with Petra. It's amazing to get to have honest conversation about everything from politics to women's issues with a woman who's as up-front and honest as I am, but from a totally different country and background. I will be very sad when she leaves (four days before we do), but I can finally say that Russia has given me something good in life, in the friends I made this time around. Cheers!
Today, however, I'm feeling both not as good, and yet better, after a mere 48 hours. Today was Navy Day- a celebration and remembrance of people who serve or have served in the Navy. We had heard that there was going to be a big parade to kick the day off, and then we could take tours of the boats, so Petra (my Croatian friend) and I got up at 9:30 and took the bus down to the river. We didn't see anything, though, so we walked across the bridge to the other side of the river, just in time to see them start breaking down grandstands and camera crews.
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| The Russian version of a news truck. |
Now, you'd think a river would be a good conductor of sound, so if there were any sort of hoopla/ parade/ celebration, we would have heard it, sine we got there 10 minutes before it was supposed to start, and Russians are certainly not punctual. Denied the pomp and circumstance, we briefly watched a ceremony on the largest ship, then wandered on. We hopped a bus and went to one of the larger malls in St. Pete's, where we killed a couple hours walking around, since the tours of the ships wasn't til 1pm.
After we got back, however, we learned that the ship tours were only for immediate family members of the crew. Defeated once again, we went and visited the bears in a nearby park, then wandered down to the "New Holland" island that someone had told us about - a place that was actually clean, had security, and had real grass and a community feel. By the time we had relaxed a bit on the grass and walked back over the bridge to a point where we could grab a bus back home, it was already 6:30pm.
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| The closest us civvies could get to the boats. Sigh! |
Despite the nine hours of walking in hot sun, I had a good time seeing less well-known parts of St. Pete's, and hanging out with Petra. It's amazing to get to have honest conversation about everything from politics to women's issues with a woman who's as up-front and honest as I am, but from a totally different country and background. I will be very sad when she leaves (four days before we do), but I can finally say that Russia has given me something good in life, in the friends I made this time around. Cheers!
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