Day 10 - St Pete

 We woke up to another warm and beautiful Sunday!  Had blueberries in our pancakes!  And got ready for church.

 The outside of their church.

 It was the last week for the summer students so they had a translator for the sermon, which was Jesus telling his disciples to follow him and the first place they went was back home.  They also had four give testimonies and a prayer of blessing for them returning.

 We left church and went to a fancy Chinese restaurant, with blonde servers, I thought that funny.  We ate a ton and for the first time had to ask for ice as they gave us not cold bottles of Coke Lite.  From here we went souvenir shopping, just a big strip mall with things priced in Euros, the outdoor market was closed for remodeling so it wasn't a fun experience just things we had to do :)

Back at the apartment, the guys left to go to the Banya (see below).  And we cleaned the house for a Frozen party!  The kids had gone down to the playground with one of the students and I joined them, there was a Russian boy who was super cute and a little annoyed that the kids couldn't speak to him.  When one of the Russian friends came he said to her-English?  She spoke to him in Russian and he said-Finally!  And then poured out a ton to her which she translated to say that he was playing war with a walkie talkie rock and it was Russia vs. USA!
The summer students invited their friends and they brought snacks and did nails and watched Disney Frozen, it was several of their first time to see it while others of us sang along.  We then chatted and enjoyed hanging out.

This is a banya, its kinda like a sauna or Turkish bath, and it makes Russian strong going from the hot sauna into the cold pool and back and forth.  There was also a sitting area.  There was a Brazil soccer team doing some camps who came, along with the US summer students and an assortment of guys living in St. Pete.  They had a good time.  

Day 9 - St Pete!

After Friday was a day full of art-man made beauty of buildings, paintings, dance, music and more, on Saturday we headed out of town to see the God made beauty of nature!  We got up, ate a breakfast, packed a lunch and got in the van and headed out of town.  Catherine says many of the US women don't drive in Russia but she was great.  Unfortunately there was a wreck and her GPS didn't put her on the fancy new toll road so it took 3 hours, but it was great to drive out of the city and into the forest; the kids did pretty good on the drive too.  We drove on smaller and smaller roads including 4 km of potholes and then a camp trail!  Past tons of dachas, family countryside homes built by themselves and often with outhouses.  We arrived to the guys campsite, in what is national forest land that is not regulated, so first come first serve camping and  huge trash pile behind the site.   After missing snake night in Austin, Caleb had caught a snake for the girls to see.    We ate our lunch.

And the whole place was covered in Strawberry and Blueberry bushes!  It was so awesome.  We spent the entire day picking and eating!

Our hands and faces turned purple.  I supervised the kids and didn't need a cup, all went straight into my mouth :)

This is a picture of where the guys were fishing and I love it because after we got home I noticed Abby enjoying her berries!  I think she and I consumed the most.

We headed back up the path to pick some more, when Caleb brought a frog.  Gloria enjoyed it for a while before releasing it.  Where Justin is squatting is a spring and he saw a gold fleck, so he tried to pan for gold here but he never found anymore.  The kids enjoyed exploring and having their secret spots.  Beside us was another group of Russian men with no shirts and cameo pants.

Lydia lost her tooth in the woods.  We asked Yulia what Russian children do, and she said they throw it in the grass and say-mouse, please take my milk tooth and give me a strong tooth.  We gave Lydia three options, she could do that, try her tooth under the pillow there or wait til we get home.  She decided to wait.

Up from the lake and the blueberry hill was a WWII monument.  It was crazy to think that the place we were standing had seen battle in that terrible time.

Back down the hill the kids found this great rock to climb on.  There were many rocks with this spongy moss that the girls were enjoying using as chairs, but this one became a massive playground.  They were being so silly and Gabriel threw Gloria's hat right at I took the picture and I captured it!

The campsite with Justin and their longest Russian friends, Kostya and Yulia.  They have a daughter who spends a month each summer at her babushka's near Sochi.

 I was there too.  Here we are eating our hotdog dinner. This was the worst day for my puffy eye but thankfully it got better quick.

Yulia made berry compote by boiling them, then adding sugar and cooling, it was yummy!  After an amazing day, we packed up and got back into the van.  Everyone was so kind and let me sit in the front.

We drove back down all the roads, past a car on fire, down the nice toll road and back into the city to their apartment.

Where all 8 of us took turns taking showers.  While waiting the girls enjoyed their kids indoor jungle gym.  We all slept great that night!

FB Status:  Nature day-we drove outside the city to a lake and caught fish, frog and bugs. We ate so many wild blueberries and strawberries off the bushes that we turned purple. Amazing day!

Day 8 - St Pete

Friday, Catherine amazingly kept the kids so Caleb and could go out on the town!  They watched a couple of movies, played at the park and had mac and cheese for lunch.  We got on a super crowded bus, like shoulders in my back as we all stood and tried to get in and out over each other, and headed to the center of town to the Hermitage!

It has as much art as the Louve in Paris.  If you look at every piece for 2 seconds you would be here for 20 years!  We got there early and waited in line for it to open.

I brought Rick Steve's book on St Pete and he had a self guided tour.  He got Carrie and I through Europe 14 (FOURTEEN-we are old!) years earlier and He got us through the highlights of this place.  The Hermitage was the Winter Palace (Peterhof which we had seen the day before was the summer palace) and residence for czars and governmental building.  Catherine collected lots of art.  After a day of taking a picture of everything that moved, we were glad for a day to check our bag and just walk and enjoy, we could have paid $8 for a picture license but they don't turn out that great inside anyway.

So after seeing rooms of fancy clothes, furniture, a peacock clock, decorations, tapestries and vases, we saw art.  Two daVincis (he only has about 20 paintings out there), a Michelangelo sculpture, Rembrandts, a wall and ceiling of Bible stories, then up another floor to modern art-Picasos, van Goghs and more.  We could have stayed for many more hours but it was getting crowded with tour and we were getting hungry so we got our bag and headed to the interior garden for a snack lunch.

After a few more photos, we headed out to

the Palace square.

From there we walked over to the Science Museum.  We had to cross the bridge, it was windy.

We saw the famous stick out place with lots of brides getting photos done.  In the Museum, Peter the Great had his collection of Anthropological displays from around the world.  And a room of science 'curiosities' also known as babies with deformities in jars!!  He bought the specimens from a man who worked in a midwife school.  There were also butterfly displays, I stuck to those.  After that we hurried home to greet the kids who were having rest time.  And Caleb and Justin headed out to go camping.

We got all gussied up for the ballet-Swan Lake at the Alexanderiski Theater!  We went to the big shopping area, that reminded me of Times Squares because of lots of ads, and had crepes in a fast food place.  I tried to order on my own but Catherine had to rescue me :(.  Then we got on the subway.  Abby likes to pack her own purse of toys and unfortunately Gloria lost one which made her unhappy for the evening.  Abby on the other hand was very forgiving...

The theater was beside a huge statue of Catherine the Great, so there are two great Catherines in this photo.

In front of the theater, we literally took time to smell the roses.

The big kids were feeling super silly, this was them falling while trying to get a picture.

A man saw us taking pictures of each other so he offered to get us all.  Here is the silly one.  They all were silly so we decided to go with it.

Inside the beautiful theater, there were lots of people from cruises here as well.  We were a little early so we got to see a museum with old costumes.

Fancy hairdos, fancy chandelier, and our booth of four chairs for six people.  The kids five and under got to sit on laps.  People have been asking so it was $116 for our four seats on two rows with our own little area.  The kids were a little loud and a little wiggly and we switched chairs several times but they were ok overall and we stayed for the whole thing including two intermissions.

We weren't allowed to take pictures during the performance but this was the bowing time.  It was beautiful-the costumes, the dancing, the music!  The girls first ballet was a real Russian one!  We kept everyone awake for the walk, subway and walk, when we saw a full moon and the sun still up, and had them in bed a little before midnight!

 While we were at the ballet, this is what Caleb was doing.  Catching fish in Russia!

He took this picture of his tent at 1am as the sun was setting but it still remained twilight until it rose again around 4am.

FB Status:  Art day! Caleb and I toured the hermitage (Catherine is the best for keeping the kids). Now we are getting ready for Swan Lake ballet-moms and kids!

Day 7 - St Pete

 After days of sunshine, Thursday was dedicated to Peterhof and it was chilly and windy.  But we got to the boat, which is conveniently located in front of the Hermitage (above)!  This was our big, expensive outing and it was wonderful!  We had a 30 minute smooth ride on the Hydrafoil even though the waves were pretty big.  A lady came in a tried to sell Russian books but we didn't understand her.  Then we arrived at the Peterhof, the Summer Palace.  And of course had to pay to get in.

 We took the walk from the ocean to the palace and it was windy so kids weren't too excited about pictures, but don't worry we took a ton anyway!  This is the front yard which has the main fountain of Samson wrestling a lion and spraying out 40 feet.  Its all painted in gold.  There are supposedly over 500 or 150 fountains on the grounds.  We stayed for six hours and only saw a portion of it all, and we didn't bother paying to go inside the building either.

 Family picture, facing towards to ocean with the Samson fountain shooting up.

 We left the main grounds and headed to one side.  This is called the lion cascade and was by the WC, which had a nice sign telling people not to squat on the potty.

 We continued walking by fountains and gardens and got to a big pond that was beside a cottage where Peter the Great actually stayed when he lived there and the big palace was built later (we think, we didn't have a guide so don't quote us)

 We climbed up the hillside and could see the ocean.  It was very windy but fun to look at the manicured stuff on one side the wild ocean on the other.

 Then we walked to a little cafeteria.  Our family got several things to share-chicken and buckwheat, meat pie and fruit pie, famous Russian soup Borscht, strawberries and salad and Sprite.  We ate it all. Gloria even looked around on everyone's plate for more buckwheat.  Outside the restaurant were pretty flowers.

 Now we headed to the other side of the grounds along beautiful tree lined paths, past more fountains, collecting nature treasures of tiny pine cones, hard small apples, feathers (of course), spiny fruit and a few flowers.  There was a maze and a fountain of Adam & Eve.

This is the chessboard cascade and we walked up and around to see the dragons on top better.  

 There was an aviary with swans and exotic birds but our favorite were the couple of place with mama and baby ducks.

 Then to the fun area.  There was a huge path with a 'trick' fountain but now the times were posted.  We stood and waited and a Russian lady talked to me.  She lived two hours away and had been to Peterhof 8 times.  Some people ran through the fountain and everyone laughed the whole time.  Then to this mushroom where the kids and Justin ran in and out.

 Another area of trick fountains with an operator.  The kids got a little wet but I was still cool so I didn't need to.  We said too bad we didn't come on a warm day but then the kids would have wanted to stay there the whole time and get soaked so it worked out.

 The picture of the trip!  All eight of us in front of the pyramid fountain, and we are all looking pleasantly at the camera!!

 Another nice walk back to the main area where we got a well deserved treat!!

 I went to buy ice cream for the kids and they looked so good I got one for myself.  I gave Catherine Gabriel's to hold while he was in the WC and she agreed so she ate it and got him another :)

 We had a lovely spot to sit and rest and eat and chat.  The ice cream brought the kids joy...

 and we had a nice cuppa tea, to warm us up and help us keep going.

 We had circled around the whole lower part (after buying a book we realized that we missed the whole back part) we ended up at the palace, which has its own church next to it.

 A couple of more photo opps

 while walking down the main canal

 back to the beach.  We had to use a different boat company to get back but we all enjoyed the trip and got back to their apartment and all 8 of us used the elevator (pictured below) to get to their apartment where we had leftover night of all the yummy stuff Catherine had cooked for us.  We played some games with the kids and then sent them to bed!

FB Status:  Peterhoff-the Versailles of St Pete, only more awesome!
In Austin today, our family missed pres Obama and LBJWC snake night, sad as our family likes both.