kiri thinks: St. petes, day one. :D

St. Petersburg, Venice of the north, You won my heart today! :)

This. place. is. beautiful.

Coming here I didn't really know what to expect. You know me, not studying up on ANYTHING. I figured it would be just like Moscow, really busy, really crazy, and really up to date. I was wrong! And I'm soooo glad I was! :D

When we first arrived here I walked out on the balcony ( which looks like it might just fall apart..) and at first glance, everything was smug. The sky was filled with smog, the ground was filled with liter, and I wasn't quite sure how I would feel about the day. But after stepping out of our first metro station onto Nevsky Prospect, ( a street) I knew the day was going to be wonderful! Immediatly I saw a canal, a book store, cobble stone roads, a painter, and a teal and yellow building. Hello?! What more could I have asked for?! It was MARVELOUS! :D

Our first stop of the day was the Hermatage, other wise known as Anastasia's winter palace. We got there, and were so overwhelemed.. ITS HUGE! We split up, took off, got lost, and had a ball! I'm not sure exactly how many rooms are in the palace, but I remember looking up once, and seeing 247 above one of the doors.. and we hadn't even gone through half of ONE of the wings! Each room show cased something new, some were filled with french paintings and sculptures (including Vincent Van Gough!), some with row after row of portraits, some were beautiful ball rooms and thrown rooms, and others were filled with windows and mirrors that seemed to go on forever. Each room was filled with its own kind of beauty. And each one of them was very inricate. Every cieling had its own design, whether they had hand painted monets, or hand carved flowers and babies.. Every floor had its own rythm; circle after circle, or gold shimmer..Every wall played part with its cieling bringing your eyes to do crazy dances between which may be more beautiful.. It was a treat to behold! I kept wishing however that my dad was there in place of me. Though I appreciated the expeirence, and loved seeing the architecture, and feeling the ambiance of "Anastasia", I know my dad would have been in travelers heaven. He doesn't travel anymore, but I've always considered him a travler. He has such a fine way of appreciating history, hard work, and people. I went through the Heratoge today for you Dad. And I embraced and loved every moment of it. :)

After exploring and re-exploring this Palace, we regrouped and went the "Cathedral of Spilled Blood". This is the church where Alexander the Second was attacked, and later killed during his reign. On the outside, you see the beautiful onion domes russians are so famous for, but the inside is where the real treat is to be had. I didn't go in, but Jenny and Areil did, and they said its breath taking. Every wall, and every cieling is covered with handmade mosaic tiling. I couldn't imagine its beauty..

However, while they were inside, I became the happiest girl in Russia! :D For a couple of very good reasons. :) First off, all the roads are cobble stone, and as you probably know, I LOVE cobble stone. Second, there was this old man who just decided to start singing opera. He just...bellowed out this marvelous happy notes, from his tiny little body, and I coudln't help but grin from ear to ear. Third, on the other side of the cathedral there was a young man playing the guitar slash harmnica AND singing. HE WAS SO GOOD! In fact, after he started singing "love me tender" in English, I was sold and bought one of his CD's. It was surprsingly only three bucks, and had TWENTY songs on it! I can't wait to share it! Fourth, all the while this was happening, I kept seeing people with boquets of...fall leaves! So me and Janelle went walking around to discover where they were getting all these ginormous beautiful leaves, and through a beautiful gate, we found paradise! ;)

Inside the gate was a little park, with walk ways, and tons and tons of trees! And what were the Russians doing? Posing. :) haha, all over there were girls "playing" in the leaves, taking pictures of each other. It was too fun! So of course Janelle and I had to join in. You know, "When in Russia, do as the Russians do.." ;)

So while we were taking pictures, I saw this guy.. wearing a HAT of leaves! It was so cool! So I walked over to him and asked where he got it. Immediatly he put it on my head and sayed, "Yours! a present from Russia!" :D :D :D I was so stoked! I kept that thing on for the rest of the day! :D aah, I wish I wasn't so tired, and that I was better at writing so I could express to you how beautiful these moments were, and how HAPPY I was. I probably said, " I am just so happy right now!!" about a million and one times to Janelle, as I skipped around smiling from ear to ear. It was such a blessed place! and EVERYONE seemed to enjoying themselves. :D

After this, we walked over to this little souvineer market, where I found exactly what I was looking for for my little sister, and for a bunch of other people. I can't tell you what they are for its a surprise..but.. I LOVE THEM! and, also, I got a beautiful scarf for myself to keep me warm! :D its half wool and half silk. and it reminds me Noahs Ark. Not for any particular reason though.. haha :)

Eventually we had to leave this small lovely market or else we would have all been broke.. so we headed over to this BEAUTIFUL church called "Kazan". We were allowed to go inside, with scarfs over our heads and... i loved it. Inside there were tons of candels, icons, people praying, and of course beautiful artistic decor and structure. The feeling was so peaceful there as well. It was a very neat experience for me.

Soon we began to get hungry so we ventured off into the streets again and found the coolest little blini shop. Its a tad under ground, so you'd miss it if you weren't looking, but that only makes it cooler. :) I had a ham and cheese one, and of course, a chocolate one. Both of them were SO good, AND really cheap! I probably spent..five dollars all together. Made me happy :D

While we were eating, we were hoping the sun would go down so that we could see the bridges at night, but it was still up when we finished, so we decided to take a small detour. We walked a few blocks and saw the hotel where Hitler was going to throw his victory party after he defeated St. pete's (which he never did.). That was a weird feeling.. And then we saw st. Isacks Cathedral. Which, of course is also beautiful. After this Areil and Jenny were craving some sweets so we stopped in at our favourite cafe and they orderd some dilicious pistachio cheese cake, and white chocolate cheese cake.. I kid you not, this place is THE place. Not only is it super quaint and lovely inside..but the food is spectacular! A tad pricey, but incredible just the same. :)

And, after all this.. we finally made it to the bridges at night. It was a sight to behold! so full of beautiful buildings, perfectly blue water, lots of laughing, and ambiance street lighting. :) A great ending to a beautiful first day in St. Petes. :)

I wish you all could have been here with me today. I fell in love. St. Petersburg has such a fluency of beauty coursing through its streets..

its.. absolutly. beautiful. :)

(no time to edit, so i hope you don't mind the roughness, and the zero line breaks..haha)