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.

Day 6 - St Pete

 Another beautiful sunny morning.  Justin and Caleb went to the summer students' last Russian class. Catherine and I took the four kids on the subway.  We walked through their neighborhood.  The whole city is full of canals.   Lots of people were sunning, there were ducks and you can see the rows and rows of apartments that are all over the city.  We went down the long escalator (the subway goes under the river) to the station.  It is super easy to pay and get on, and the trains come very quickly, we never had to wait.  People are very helpful to those with children.  A random guy picked up Abby's stroller and carried it down for us.  Another girl offered her seat to a family.  The subway is quiet though and our kids most sat and looked around too.

 We walked to a big mall that had a McDonalds!!  The kids got Happy Meals and I got a Greek Mak because they don't have them in the states :)  Everyone enjoyed their meal.  When I was in the bathroom, Gloria fell and busted her chin, we had a bandaid and it wasn't too bad!  The guys met us here and then we went to the Oceanarium.

 The children and adults both loved the tanks of fish and other animals.  Though it was called an Oceanarium, there were also freshwater fish, like these pirañas.  There were English translations (all good, nothing funny to take pictures of) and Caleb enjoyed teaching as well.  Catherine thought it was funny that Lydia knew more about the animals than she did.  Once she pointed to a coral and said, cool that looks like a brain and Lydia yes that is why it is named a brain coral :)

 This place had a wave come over every minutes and the first time really surprised the children.   A ray splashed me and the eels were cool.

 In the tunnel there was a moving walkway.  The place was fun of Russian tourist with their children too.

 The last part was a seal tank with three swimming seals.  We sat and rested awhile watching them.

 After exiting through the gift shop, we went to a cafe in the same mall and got yummy ice cream.

Back home for Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2, spaghetti dinner and apartment park time.  Their apartment was on the 6th floor and was about 800 square feet.  Gabriel had a bunk bed, so Lydia slept on the bottom.  Gloria slept on an air mattress in Abigail's room, and Caleb and I had the bed couch in the living room.  We were definitely together but it never felt like we were on top of each other.  Also one bathroom but we made it work, especially since the weather was so lovely we were out most of the time.  After we put the kids to bed the grown ups played Ticket to Ride, a train game, I smashed them :)

Catherine's FB Status:  Feel like we are super moms taking four energetic kids on the metro at rush hour by ourselves and keeping them all together, safe, quiet and calm 
Fun day at the Oceanarium. A must do and so much more interesting when your brother is a marine biologist like mine. My nieces knew more about species of fish and coral than me!

Day 5 - St Pete

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.

Day 4 - St. Pete

 The kids woke up super early today.  We had plans to stay close.  They have an apartment park, which we spent a lot of time at later in the week and then this neighborhood park.  We brought bikes and scooters for the kids and they played on the track and playground.  It was warm.  A set of American brothers also showed up~small world!  We also discovered that Putin isn't outside the Russian male norm for doing things shirtless.  We saw lots of guys shirtless including one who came to the adult exercise equipment in this work outfit, took of his shirt, exercised, put it back on and left!

 The blue van.  We stashed the bikes and walked to their neighborhood mall which was by Abby's preschool.

Several times I forgot to take a picture of our food until it was all gone!  Like at this restaurant, we got crepes and potato cakes.  Like Ikea, they had a kids supervised playroom.  We let the kids play while we drank hot tea and talked.  Then we walked around the mall some.  Catherine and I stood at a ticket seller to look at ballet tickets.  The ones online were so expensive but after looking at a ton with a helpful lady, we got a good deal!  We were very impressed with both Catherine and Justin's Russian.  They are amazing and it was so great to have translators, we never felt lost.

Walking back to the apartment through the tall birch trees.  We tried to rest before heading to the central of the city for a boat tour, which is something I really wanted to do.

We just missed the 6:30 English tour so we walked around for a while and

stopped in a cafe for a treat.  The girls shared this lady bug and I got a smoozie.  The bathrooms in Russia were really nice and I love the half or full flush option :)  After we all went to the bathroom we went back to the boat for the 8:00 tour.

Of course it was still super sunny and a lady spoke in English about all the things we passed on the canal out to the Neva River.

We saw all the main sites (and more) and enjoyed the nice sun and cool breeze.  However, the early morning and busy day was too much for Gloria and the child who hasn't napped since she was 2 and takes a long time to fall asleep in her bed, fell asleep on my lap rocked by the waves of the river.  She continued to sleep while Caleb carried her in his arms.

Thankfully we had Abby's stroller and she slept all the way to the bus stop and on the bus ride home and up to the apartment!

FB status:  Russians-they look like us but dress a little different, lots if random English words on clothes but not many on signs. People are polite on the subway and often carry flowers around!

Day 3 - St Pete

 Our first full day in Russia.  We woke up and had a yummy breakfast.  We left for church at 10:15 and drove into the center of the city.  There are about 10 Russian Baptist Union churches and they go to one right off Nevsky Prospket.  It meets by the Swedish House in a Swedish Lutheran church.  It is on a walking street with super cool benches (see above).  During church, there was about 30 minutes of singing in Russian-something that is always very touching for me, hearing people of a different tongue sing praises to the same Jesus!  Then the children were called forward for a blessing (see below) and dismissed to their class.  Catherine went with them to translate and they had a story and then did crafts.  They played an introduction game and both girls were very proud they said-Meenya zavoot Lydia/Gloria-my name is L/G!  We sat through a 40 minute sermon in Russian!  Lots of time to think and pray.  The church is about a third Korean families, business people working for Korean companies.  They were very welcoming and after communion, the children returned, more singing and then they handed out sandwiches and had tea.

 We walked down the road to a Russian countryside restaurant.  There were stuffed birds inside and a large tree.  The kids got a box meal that included a toy.  I got pasta.  It was yummy.

 We continued walking to the Kazan Cathedral, which is a working Russian Orthodox church.  There is a famous icon which people stand in a long line to see touch and kiss.  We didn't, but we did enjoy the inside.  Gloria (being my tactile girl) really wanted to light a candle.  I told her that the candles were for people who that is their home church :)  There was also a cat that some children were petting but ran away before Gloria got there so this was our moment of leading an upset child through a historical place!

 The outside is a lot like St. Peter's in the Vatican, which I remarked and then later read that is it is modeled after.  There was a lovely garden with fountain.  From here we walked on, and stopped to get ice cream.

 Then to the Church on Spilled Blood.  It was built over the place where a czar was mortally wounded hence the spilled blood.  It is dedicated to Jesus, not a saint and the entire thing is mosaics-very beautiful!

The mosaics are a mix of Bible stories and Russian saints.  It was neat to walk through and talk about the stories with the kids.

After all the walking, we hopped in the car and went to see their new apartment.  They will be moving this fall as Gabriel's school will be moving to a different island and they need to be close to it.  It was also nice.  Back at their current home, Catherine had another crockpot ready for us!  After baths, the kids did an Agency D3 VBS song (they got to do the same VBS we did while they were in Turkey for a meeting) then to bed!

FB status:  Got to attend a Russian church thus morning, worshipping with followers of Jesus in another language is always amazing even if I don't understand a word.

St. Peterburg, Day 1 & 2

 Our trip!  We flew out of Houston on July 4th.  Jim & Gail were gracious enough to take us and pick us up from the airport.  We got there in time for a quick cheesecake birthday celebration!

 Us with our stuff.  We traveled pretty light, had to do a bit of laundry there and brought back clothes we didn't wear-long sleeves and swimsuits.  The weather was wonderful, mostly 70s!

 On the plane!  We had three and one for this long leg.  We got served lots of food, watched movies and slept a decent amount.  Once the tv was on the girls didn't bother looking out the window much, but we did fly over lots of islands and ice.

 Frozen brings the world together.  While we were waiting at the Moscow airport a little girl came up to us and watched Lydia & Gloria play with their Frozen activities.  She said Hi and I said do you speak English and she said Nyet.  But she pointed and said Anna & Elsa and then came and played with Gloria for the next 20 minutes!  Next leg was a short one and we were two and two.  Gloria and I sat by a lady who was an English translator, so we had a nice chat.

 The whole family was waiting for us and we got all our bags and got into their van and had a humorous exit to the airport, cars were pulled all over everywhere to pay their ticket and there was some honking.  We drove through the beautiful city to their apartment where Catherine had a crockpot of dinner waiting.  They have a hamster which got a lot of love!  Gloria and Abigail were wearing matching clothes unplanned!

We gave the kids matching pjs, the kids went to sleep and then adults were in bed around 11pm and the sun was still shining.
A very pleasant and easy trip to get there.  Overall the kids were great.

FB status of the day:  We made it!! Girls were great on the flight and all slept. St Pete is interesting and cool!