Miss Swan Goes to Russia: Part IV

Saint Petersburg - Where the Sun Don't Set

If Venice and Prague ever had a love affair in Moscow, the illegitimate child would be St. Petersburg. It's got the fairy-tale architecture of Prague, the canals and blatant tourist traps of Venice, and a touch of Moscow's edge. The best part? We were there during the White Nights Festival, the few weeks a year when the sun never really goes down.
 


The sun "sets" around 12:30 AM and the sky turns to dusk for a couple hours before it begins to rise again at 2:30 AM

 Top 10 "Plays" of St. Petersburg (apologies to ESPN)

10. Got upgraded to a sweet suite with balcony overlooking St. Isaac's cathedral.


DJ at the rooftop club, where they gave blankets to everyone because it was stinkin cold



2 girls packing for 3 days in 1 backpack...in a nice hotel. #outofplace

9. Scaled the hotel roof when my plane ticket flew off the aforementioned balcony.

Good idea: taking a birthday picture message for your friend.
Bad idea: using your plane ticket to write said message on a windy day.

8. Met Peter the Great himself, whose price for a picture with him was 300 rubles ($10)  or a "keeeeiss". Unfortunately, I didn't have the money and was fresh out of chapstick. 

Wait, another Peter?

Peters come in every color of the rainbow

7. Ran into one of my college friends who is serving a mission in St. Petersburg! The missionaries volunteer at the Hermitage for community service. Did you get that? The Hermitage. I picked beans for community service on my mission.

6. Took a hydrofoil boat ride out to Peterhof. The last time I was on a hydrofoil was a  grueling 3-hour ride from Japan to Korea. Everyone was throwing up while the Tortoro movie played on repeat. This trip was WAY better...no vomitting and no anime!

The statues all looked so naked and so helpless....

So we gave them a hand. And a leaf.



Much better.

Modest is the hottest

5. Tried delicious Georgian food. Wiki tells me that Georgian cuisine has influences from the Middle East and Europe, and I tell you, that makes for yummy food.

4. Visited the palace where Rasputin was killed. They poisoned him, and he lived. They shot him 4 times, and he lived. They tied him up and threw him in the river, and he died. After years of taking the animated film Anstasia as fact, I learned that Rasputin wasn't an enemy to the Romanovs, didn't have a sidekick white bat, and wasn't voiced over by Doc Brown. If you want a credible source on Rasputin's life, just listen to the Boney M song.

We didn't have time to go into the palace

Is that an entire Mondrian building I see? Heaven!

3. Saint Isaac's Cathedral - one of the most beautiful buildings I have ever seen.

I laid on the ground to snap this, and kids started taking pictures of me. Maybe I'll get on Flickr?

Views of St. Petes from the dome

2. Walking around the Church of the Spilt Blood, we stumbled upon a movie set. And oh, it gets better: they were filming. A kissing scene. On a bridge. In front of that gorgeous church.

Russian Jim Carrey, anyone?

You are singing the Tetris theme song in your head, aren't you?

1. On the way to Catherine's Summer Palace we had some quirky adventures. First, I tried to buy some cookies at a grocery store with no price tag. So obviously, NONE of the cookies were on sale, and the cashier had me put them back on the shelf. Really? Then, we then met a guy on the bus who was all like "I just met you, and this is crazy...but here's my SIM card. So call me, maybe". I guess that's how they do it here? #welcometorussia

No driving, biking, snow-mobiling, downhill skiing, sledding, snowboarding, skateboarding, rollerblading, dogs, swimming, fishing, drinking, camping, fire, littering, or 80's style boomboxes. 

The Amber Room - that looks like wood paneling on the walls but it's AMBER.

Golden oldies at the palace