We all slept late, packed a lunch, got in the van and headed to the center of town again. Justin is a pro at parallel parking and we never had to circle too much to find a space. We walked to the Alexanderisk Park for our picnic. It was so nice, lots of families walking and sunning. Everything was green (it has rained the whole month before we arrived) and the trees are tall and shady and the weather was cool! After eating we played some frisbee.
We paid for the WC (again nice) and then over to St. Isaacs. This one is also a museum with a small working chapel. The inside is huge, the doors are huge too.
The dome with dove.
Lots of tourists getting tours.
Catherine took the kids back to the park to play at the playground (which is pictured below, the kids were hidden by the trees) and Justin, Caleb and I went up the 211 steps to the cupola. The views of the city were great, we got to see all that we had already toured. It was crowded and high and windy and I was so glad that we didn't bring the kids!
Walking back down.
Where we found the kids. They had spoken to some Russian children in English and their parents were surprised that their children knew so much English!
We walked some more while the kids played, to the Peter the Great on a Horse Statue.
In Russia, when you get engaged you register and the government gives you a day to get married about 6 months in the future on a weekday. They have a small ceremony in a government office, then spend the day taking pictures all over town before having a party. We saw groups having pictures everywhere. The girls enjoyed spotting the princesses :) We headed back home for rest.
Then walked to their neighborhood cafe which sells cheap and yummy Russian food. We got herring and beet salad. They use lots of beets so everything is purple. I also got potatoes and beef kebabs. Catherine took Abigail (who took a huge liking to her Uncle Caleb, see above) and Gloria to the park, for ice cream, hamster time in the apartment and bed, while the big kids and us went to English Movie Night.
They do this several times a week. Russian come to improve their English. We had introductions and vocab words and then watched a tv show (movies are too long, they just started Person o Interest, they had just finished Downton Abbey). Then group discussion about other words before getting into groups to have discussion questions. Gabriel and Lydia played in another room for most of it. The summer students, they had 12 this year who were taking Russian in the morning and then making friends and doing English and Bible Discussion groups in the evenings, had brought lots of new friends. The room was loud, there were three groups this big, and Russians tend to talk quietly. The Americans could easily be heard from each group :) But it was a great night to getting to know some locals. The American team use this as a time to help Russians with their English and discover if any of them are interested in knowing more about Jesus and being part of a Bible discussion group.
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