St Petersburg - General...oh, and a bit about a massage...

hello all.  sorry for the delay in posts.  took a brief, but amazing, weekend excursion up to St Petersburg (or St Pete's as some call it here).  incredible city.  extremely different feel from moscow, which is to be expected as it is much smaller, on the coast, looks like paris, and almost all signs are in russian as well as english.  a very tourist-driven city.  and so proud of it's history.  very fashionable as well.  i bought a cute pair of boots...tho they are italian, not russian.  but i bought them in russia, so that still counts, right?

here they are...i'm hoping i get the melissa soltesz stamp of approval.

so we arrived on fri am, and basically saw the sh*t out of some art until we left on sun eve.  oh, and we ate good things, too (gonna write a whole separate bit on that).  but the sightseeing was fantastic.  again, admitting how horribly ignorant i am about this country i'm in, i had NO idea there was a museum called the Hermitage.  and that is in a former palace (well, THREE) former palaces of romanov empresses of russia, and that it is in st petersburg.  oh yeah, and houses one of the finest collections of 19th and early 20th century french art that i've ever seen.  oh yeah, and it's the SECOND largest collection of artwork in the world after the Lourve.  well, i guess it was my lucky day, cuz i found all of that out, and got to see it all, too.

here is the Hermitage, the winter palace of catherine the 2nd (aka cathy the great), but was built in the late 18th century for peter the great's neice, i believe.  anyway, next to it are the "small palace" that catherine called her "hermitage" - her hideaway built in the early 19th century, another palace built during catherine's time, and a more modern palace for the romanov's in the late 19th century.  they were all art collectors, and we get to benefit.

here is the winter palace...the main building.  this is sat am, and it was snowing, so there is a snow plow pushing snow away from the front of the building.  the hermitage is one side of a HUGE piazza that is 2x the size of red square, if i remember correctly.  more photos of it later.  but it is kinda funny to see a snow plow in front of an 18th century pale green building.  

here is the library of tzar nicholas II (the one who was killed during the revolution of 1917), from the "new" palace as a part of the complex.  they have preserved the rooms more or less just like the romanov family used them.  and they are stuthe one who was killed during the revolution of 1917).  i would love to have a library like this.  i would read more.  and probably write more "correspondence." 

this is me on the grand staircase into the winter palace that catherine added on...it is called the jordan staircase cuz it leads to the exit along the canal in back of the building, and the royals thought they were just like jesus going to be baptized in the river jordan when they would process down the staircase to the water for religious ceremonies. eh, kinda...

this is winter sara in the plaza just out the front gates of the winter palace (where the snow plow was moments before).  the alexander column is in the background, which celebrates alexander I's defeat over napoleon in the great war of 1812.  and you can also see people dressed up like catherine the great, and peter the great.  and you can pay them to get a photo.  i did not do that, sorry.

this is winter sara and her colleague winter anne.

and these are more dress-up people!  this time with a horse and carriage!  so you can totally replay anna karenina.

we also went to the most beautiful church i have ever seen.  the church on the spilled blood (actually the church of the resurrection, but no one calls it that cuz it was built to commemorate the assasination of Alexander II, which happened on the spot where the church was later built.  they've even kept a section of the original road, where he was hit (by a bomb being thrown in his carriage), and put a canopy over it.  kinda morbid...but i suppose all cultures do slightly morbid things to commemorate their dead leaders.  anyway, here are some photos of the outside and the inside.  it is simply stunning.

and there is a gorgeous park off to the side...michealevsky park.  so we took a stroll there, too.  it is the summer garden to the summer palace that i think is now the russian museum.  lots of palaces-turned-museums here.  it was hard to keep them all straight, i'll be honest.  but they are all beautiful, and so ornate.  and we only saw a few of them!  there are more across the river!  and outside of town!  one could make a whole year of seeing summer and winter palaces.  no wonder the people revolted...the excess is just outrageous.  anyway, here are pictures from the park...

 
 i'm not sure what the ice sculpture says...i haven't learned to read in cursive script yet.  but that is me standing between two of the letters.

here are some "street scenes" from st pete's.  like i said in a facebook post...from 60 hours there, i can say it feels like the charming younger sister to moscow's gritty intensity.  (to which my sister replied that she was st petersburg and i was moscow.  well, fine.  i'd like to be charming and beautiful...but the people revolted against that charm and beauty and moved the capitol to moscow, which is where the real action is.  so i guess in the end, i win that one.  :)  ).

oh, yeah, and we saw the famous sculpture of peter the great...for whom the city is named.  he was a pretty enterprising guy, and wanted to make russia more connected with europe, so intentionally designed st petersburg to be a more european city.  congrats, sir, on a job well done.

ok, so last but not least, a story, specifically for my friends laura leonard and melissa soltesz, who should probably meet and hang out.  they both have terrific senses of humor, love to laugh and love wine.  and they both (hopefully) read my blog, so here you go.

saturday eve we returned to our clean and modern hotel in the historic district to relax and rest up before going out for the evening.  we had been slow-walking in museums for 2 days straight, plus in and out of the cold and staring at artwork.  we were beat, and sore and my lower back was killing me.  i read that the hotel had a spa with a sauna, and according to the posting in the elevator, they also had massages available.  done!  so i went to investigate.  first of all, the entry to the fitness center cannot be found without a gps, a map, speaking fluent russian, and three hotel receptionists.  once i finally found the small door marked "fitness," i entered the tiny fitness reception area.  tiny.  i mean, the size of an armchair.  there was a friendly, if strict receptionist and a large bear of a man in sweatpants and a white undershirt sitting in a chair next to the check-in station.  which pretty much means i was sitting in his lap while talking to the receptionist.  i asked if it was possible to use the sauna.  "now?!?" the receptionist asked.  um, yeah, now would be good.  so she asked my room number, gave me a towel, and a locker key and said "you will shower before."  yes ma'am.  then i asked about massages.  "now?!" again.  yes, sure, why not?  she looked at the man in sweatpants, he put down the paper, and gestured to me that sure, i can get a massage now.  ummmm.  he gestured that i should go thru the locker area and then find his office where he will presumably be waiting.  he seemed very nice, for wearing sweatpants and being about 300 pounds.  knowing melissa and laura would want to know what happens next, i thought, hey, ok, i'll try this out.  so i showered as instructed, and slipped and slid in the cheap slippers herr receptionist gave me and made my way to the massage office.  boris, let's call him, was there, again reading a newspaper.  "please, come in" he said. he pointed to the standard massage table in the middle of the room, covered neatly in a sheet and some towels.  "lay down.  on stomach.  face here." directing me to put my face in the divot in the table.  fair enough - seems very similar to massages i've had in the past, ok, it seems fine so far.  he left the room so i could undress and hoist myself onto the table.  since i was just getting a back massage, i kept the undies on, and draped my own towel over my lower half.  boris knocked, asked if "is ok?" to come in.  yes, is ok.  "all back? or low back?"  all back.  "you have some pain?"  yes, some, not so bad.  and the massage begins.  pretty normal.  warming up the muscles, etc.  so i start to relax.  and it really does feel pretty fabulous.  until he starts to dig into my lower back.  and then, starts to push into my glutius maximus...and then starts massaging my tail bone.  whoa.  um, how far you gonna explore down there boris?  thankfully, tail bone is it.  and then he asked me to turn on my side.  so i think, flip over.  "no!  side, side!"  ok, stay on my side.  and he stretches me over his beefy arm.  does this both sides.  it's also actually pretty great, so i start to relax again.  and then he does have me flip over.  so i make sure my towel covers my top parts and i settle down, a bit on edge, as not sure what part of "back massage" includes me actually lying on my back.  but all is well.  he massages my neck, and then stretches and pulls on my legs.  i notice he pulls the right one a lot harder than the left, and i'm thinking he's pretty smart, cuz my right hip was really sore and tight from slow-walking so much.  so i relax again.  and then he says "sit up! sit up 2 minutes."  so i sit up, holding the towel against me.  he rubs the oil off of my back and asks "not dizzy?"  nope, not dizzy.  then he leaves the room so i can dress again.  so yeah, overall a great massage experience.  but a little freaky there in parts.  which i kept thinking was like a metaphor for this whole experience.  i didn't want it to end, yet i also hated being on edge the whole time wondering what was coming up next.  it was simultaneously so familiar, and so foreign.  relaxing and terrifying.  and for about 25 minutes, i felt a microcosm of what my life will be like for the next year.  i won't want it to end, yet i will crave being at home in the US.  loving it, and hating it at the same time, and seeing things in a new light and learning to trust along the way.  i guess that is what the adventure is all about. but i still don't need to have my coccyx massaged.  that was wierd.