I'm mildly ashamed to say that I forgot the cable to connect my camera to my computer, so the pictures and video that I took yesterday at Peterhof will have to be delayed til tomorrow. The good news, though, is that I was able to get said pictures, and I don't have afternoon classes tomorrow, so I should have plenty of time to upload everything here... provided I don't forget to put it all on my computer first.
Yesterday was wonderful- we did end up going to Peterhof gardens, and while it was overcast and windy, it wasn't actively raining. We managed to get going before 9am, and took the "ferry," a decently-sized hydrofoil taxi, arriving before they turned the fountains on for the day. There were people who had gotten there hours ahead of time, so we didn't have the best view, but I still managed to get some shots of the whole thing. We wandered around as a group (an activity I hate, because everyone has different ideas of how fast to walk and what's interesting) for a couple hours, then had lunch at the same place I went last time I was there. It was kinda neat, though, because this time I knew how to order in Russian and didn't have to wait for our shepherd/ translator.
After lunch, we were given an hour to walk around on our own- insufficient time in my mind, but whatever. I and a few others went in search of a labyrinth that we'd seen signs for, but after half an hour, we decided that the labyrinth was actually a cunning trick to get people lost in the gardens instead. At that point, the need for a restroom was becoming a pressing one, and I found a map of the east wing of the gardens that informed me that the bathrooms were closed for repair, but that I could walk half a mile back the way we came to find other ones. I walked down the first 50 yards of the path indicated, and found Russian port-a-potties clustered behind some shrubs. As I was staring at them, trying to determine if they were a) safe, and b) anything resembling sanitary, a cleaning lady came out of one and informed me I could enter. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I seized the opportunity, and was pleasantly surprised with a clean room that had both a toilet seat and toilet paper, an absolute rarity in Russia.
As our free time was nearing it's end, I hurried back to meet up with the group and, rather than taking the scenic, clean, and fast (though slightly expensive) hydrofoil back to St. Pete's, we decided to go overland. After crowding onto a bus, we arrived at the train station in a tiny, tiny town, one I wouldn't hesitate to call a hamlet even. There, we were informed that we'd just missed the train, and the next one would come in roughly an hour. One of my fellow adventurers looked at me, and we broke into the Vera Serdyutchka song title "Everything will be alright," the first verse of which starts with the lines "If someone tells us we missed our train/ we'll simply say we'll wait for the next one/ and in order to not be bored/ we'll pull some tables together and drink to love!"
Being as that we weren't drinkers, however, we settled for sitting on the steps and reminiscing about childhood cartoon series. After the requisite 50 minutes, the train finally arrived, we boarded, and I promptly fell asleep, ignoring the hard wooden seats and lack of anything resembling luxury. I was woken as we came to a stop, we hopped the metro, and made it back home by 6:30. I studied a little more, read a bit, and called it a day.
This morning, we had a different teacher for Russian class. I wasn't' as keen on her as our first prof, but she's plenty nice, and we went over a lot of stuff I needed to address. For the first time, however, we have homework, so I guess the honeymoon's over, and it's time to knuckle down. Don't get me wrong, it's not odious homework, but still, it's more than none. One week down, three left, time to get serious before this opportunity is gone! Cheers!
Yesterday was wonderful- we did end up going to Peterhof gardens, and while it was overcast and windy, it wasn't actively raining. We managed to get going before 9am, and took the "ferry," a decently-sized hydrofoil taxi, arriving before they turned the fountains on for the day. There were people who had gotten there hours ahead of time, so we didn't have the best view, but I still managed to get some shots of the whole thing. We wandered around as a group (an activity I hate, because everyone has different ideas of how fast to walk and what's interesting) for a couple hours, then had lunch at the same place I went last time I was there. It was kinda neat, though, because this time I knew how to order in Russian and didn't have to wait for our shepherd/ translator.
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| Stock photo of a rare, clear day at Peterhof. |
After lunch, we were given an hour to walk around on our own- insufficient time in my mind, but whatever. I and a few others went in search of a labyrinth that we'd seen signs for, but after half an hour, we decided that the labyrinth was actually a cunning trick to get people lost in the gardens instead. At that point, the need for a restroom was becoming a pressing one, and I found a map of the east wing of the gardens that informed me that the bathrooms were closed for repair, but that I could walk half a mile back the way we came to find other ones. I walked down the first 50 yards of the path indicated, and found Russian port-a-potties clustered behind some shrubs. As I was staring at them, trying to determine if they were a) safe, and b) anything resembling sanitary, a cleaning lady came out of one and informed me I could enter. Never one to look a gift horse in the mouth, I seized the opportunity, and was pleasantly surprised with a clean room that had both a toilet seat and toilet paper, an absolute rarity in Russia.
As our free time was nearing it's end, I hurried back to meet up with the group and, rather than taking the scenic, clean, and fast (though slightly expensive) hydrofoil back to St. Pete's, we decided to go overland. After crowding onto a bus, we arrived at the train station in a tiny, tiny town, one I wouldn't hesitate to call a hamlet even. There, we were informed that we'd just missed the train, and the next one would come in roughly an hour. One of my fellow adventurers looked at me, and we broke into the Vera Serdyutchka song title "Everything will be alright," the first verse of which starts with the lines "If someone tells us we missed our train/ we'll simply say we'll wait for the next one/ and in order to not be bored/ we'll pull some tables together and drink to love!"
I sang this for Russian class one year. Great song.
Being as that we weren't drinkers, however, we settled for sitting on the steps and reminiscing about childhood cartoon series. After the requisite 50 minutes, the train finally arrived, we boarded, and I promptly fell asleep, ignoring the hard wooden seats and lack of anything resembling luxury. I was woken as we came to a stop, we hopped the metro, and made it back home by 6:30. I studied a little more, read a bit, and called it a day.
This morning, we had a different teacher for Russian class. I wasn't' as keen on her as our first prof, but she's plenty nice, and we went over a lot of stuff I needed to address. For the first time, however, we have homework, so I guess the honeymoon's over, and it's time to knuckle down. Don't get me wrong, it's not odious homework, but still, it's more than none. One week down, three left, time to get serious before this opportunity is gone! Cheers!
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