A Weekend in Petersburg (Part 2)

1.Тсарское Село

(I was kind of excited..)

LalalalaLALALAlala

We spent most of Saturday at Tsarskoe Selo, a huge estate with two palaces that served as the summer residences of the Romanov Tsars. While walking through Catherine's Palace, or Great Tsarskoe Celo, I couldn’t help but comment on Empress Elizabeth and Catherine II’s minimalist tastes and humble interior design choices. “There’s nothing like 100 kg of decorative gold to make a person appreciate the simple things in life”, said lots of people throughout history, probably.

The feature that made me feel most at home though? The Amber room. It’s hard to say if it was the thousands of individual amber pieces painstakingly pressed together to form breathtaking mosaics, or if it was the $12 million that went into its recreation. It’s just so hard to choose because these are both details – amber and millions of dollars - that I frequently encounter in my everyday life.

“Russian Tsars: Just Like Us, A Little Different” - a title of a book someone should write.

This isn't a photo of the amber room. No photos are allowed in the amber room.

2. Fall Leaves in Alexander Park.

We walked through part of Alexander Park, and then paused for a while as Irina made a crown of leaves with her daughter. I didn’t participate in the crown making process, and still don’t understand how they did it. This was naturally followed by a leaf crown photo shoot, in which every member of our group was forced to wear the crown and pose in various places/positions. I was first and, as soon as I emerged from the wooded area onto a pedestrian path, wearing my leaf crown, it was like I had transformed into a beloved fairytale princess. The older women walking along the path paused, holding their hands to their hearts, and gasped with delight at my crown. I’m not kidding. If you want to feel appreciated in Russia, make yourself an oversized crown of leaves. If, like me, you don’t know how to make a crown, then steal one from a child. A couple of Chinese tourists snapped a photo of me, too. Again, I’m NOT kidding. It was my movie star moment.

3. The Church of Our Saviour on the Spilled Blood.

I found a bit of peace in the Church on Spilled Blood, built on the spot where Alexander II was assassinated. We visited the church on our first day in Petersburg. Our train arrived that morning at 6:30 AM. By the time we made it to the church, my feet hurt, I was grumpy, and even though I was seeing all of these beautiful things, none of the beauty was registering with me. I was pondering what the point of travel even was if I couldn’t feel anything. I think I was probably just hangry. (For those of who who are unfamiliar: hangry = hunger combined with an irritability that can quickly turn into anger, due to the discomfort of said hunger. It’s a dangerous place to find yourself in.) Anyways, I was feeling self-pitying and hangry and cold, but then I saw this one mosaic inside the church and I was interested in life again, and in the man in the mosaic, and in how he was feeling, and in what his relationship was like with God, and in Alexander II, and if his death was painful, and if he was a kind person or not, and if Jesus liked Alexander II, and if Jesus loved the man in the mural, and how I felt about Jesus, and, anyways… I really loved that mosaic. As I thought these things, I absently brought my hand to my neck, before realizing that I didn’t bring along the celtic cross that I usually wear. I wouldn’t consider myself a religious person, and I’m not really sure how I feel about, well, about most things actually, but I awfully missed my cross in that moment. I don’t know exactly what it symbolizes for me, but there’s something astoundingly comforting in the knowledge that so many people, for so many centuries, built their entire lives around the Church, and the cross, and the idea that God is everywhere and in everything. I’m still figuring out how I feel about a lot of things, but I know that I love my cross necklace; I love the smell of candles being lit in a church; I love the old woman who was reading scripture in the corner, and who insisted I sit down in words overflowing with such gentleness that my eyes filled with tears and I forgot that, just a moment ago, I had been considering how many children I would willingly push down the stairs if it meant I could eat a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

^^ This is not "that one mosaic". I think I was so overwhelmed in my mosaic moment that I forgot cameras existed, so if you would like to see it, then click on the included hyperlink to someone else's photo.

4. On Saturday night, Genevieve, Patrick, Maureen, and I ate at a Georgian restaurant around the corner from our hotel. When I say around the corner, I literally mean around the corner. We walked outside, took five steps, turned a corner, and there was the door to the restaurant. We’re so adventurous! I realized that I love Georgian food. I don’t know where it’s been hiding all my life. So far, Russia has been worth it just for the Georgian food. I also love Georgian wine, and felt very grown up as I drank a glass of Georgian wine with my dinner. Mom, I’m so sophisticated now! I’m a true lady.

5.<<Ьахчисарайский Фонтан>> в Мариинском Театре

On Sunday, we saw a matinee of “The Fountain of Bakchisarai” (boy, is that a mouthful) at the Mariinsky Theater. I cried when the curtain came up, both because it has always been a dream of mine to see Russian ballet in person, and also because the lady in front of me was blocking my view. I stood up against the wall for the rest of the ballet, which was four acts in 2 hours and 50 minutes, and I could see perfectly well and was in absolute bliss, aside from my tired feet.

For all you ballet fans out there, here’s a clip from the 1953 film version of the Fountain. I couldn’t find a great stage version. Anyways, my favorite role is Zarema. If you would like to see her then go to 15:45, in which she flips out because her main man doesn’t care about her anymore, and she’s trying desperately to get him to notice and admire her again. She flips out again around 21:35 and it’s even better because she stabs the new love interest. What better way to handle scorned love than a nervous breakdown followed by a good ol’ stab in the back?

We were sooooo so lucky because Victoria Terefkina was dancing Zarema. She’s one of Mariinsky Theater’s top two prima ballerinas right now. I couldn’t find a clip of her dancing Zarema, but here’s a clip of her dancing Odile, the Black Swan, in Swan Lake. She’s fantastic. Here’s one more of her dancing Raymonda because I just can’t get enough.

6.мороженное

Idk I just really love ice cream...