Day Three

May 27, 2008

Well. Day Three. . . . about 12 hours of walking (so far, the night is young).

After my buffet breakfast-- a massive room filled with Austrian waltz music and an interesting buffet of somewhat familiar foods-- I took off for the Hermitage and several massive churches. . . only to discover that today is the St. Petersburg Birthday Bash! 305 years old (I believe Northampton celebrated 350 years about five years ago). In any case, the streets were absolutely packed with people-- kids, couples, families, police everywhere, gothic vampires (complete with casket-shaped backpacks), long, long-legged women with way-tight jeans and other gold-and-silver fashion statements, boys that all looked *really* Russian (somehow it is that Illya look. . . I tried to get some pics, but there are about three really typical faces. . . or, in my spy mind, perhaps they are really all the same guy following me because I am so important), and in general a great big party. I sat at a Japanese street-side cafe and drank beer and whiskey for a bit to get out of the crowds of people, and watched a really long (about 3 hours) parade . . . really tacky, it reminded me somehow of the floats that they made in "Animal House"--think the float that became a tank and you get the idea), and the whole thing was surprisingly pretty lame. . . but the people-watching made it all worthwhile. Such a throng of folks would be hard to imagine-- I will try to upload some pics when I get a better computer situation.

And oh my gawd! the size of everything! It is incredible-- every building is about three times the size of Seelye, and many, many are about ten times that size. The Hermitage, the world-famous museum (http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html) is absolutely huge. . . and it used to be the palace of the tsar. Wow! Trying to walk from one room to the other would have been a late-night challenge! And most everything around it is equally huge. Unfortunately, never got inside as I couldn't make my way down the sidewalk within about a half-mile of the place because of the crowds for the parade. Finally I just found a nearby park and drank beer with bad teenagers. There is quite a scene of dis-affected (and affected) yewts here, all costumed up in various ways (including anime) and drinking and scowling and otherwise being bad. Ahhhh, it always makes me feel good to know that the kids are still pissed off and hanging out together.

And yes, even in Russia (especially in Russia???) you can drink in the streets, no problem. I don't quite know how to choose beer yet, but so far pointing works.

I am slowly getting used to Cyrillic. . . not so hard, though the "faux amis" are confusing (the "B" that is a "V", the "H" that is an "N" and the like), and the difference between script and print, but I am slowly getting there. . . (ÂÁÒ, for example). . . and then, of course, even if I get the spelling, it still is Russian. . . duh! Not much English around compared to other parts of the traveler's world.

So, I am slowly getting used to be all by myself, on the road again. Rather lonely, lots of walking and looking and trying to figure things out. Tomorrow I will go find the Buddhist temple, which turns out to have been founded by Geshe Wangyal's main teacher. . . Geshe Wangyal was the slightly wild and amazing teacher down in New Jersey that hooked Thurman, Kirtz, and many other friends of ours. I even saw a picture of Thurman online at the temple website, helping to dedicate a plaque or something: http://www.marhotin.ru/marhotin-datsan-eng/

Hopefully I will make it there tomorrow, as well as actually get inside of the Hermitage. . . tho I would rather go drinking with Russians than look at old paintings. . .

Meanwhile, I cannot get in touch with the Intourist folks who are suppossed to deliver my train ticket for Mongolia, and that worries me a bit. We'll see on Monday when I get to Moscow.

OK, I will check out for the moment.

Miss everybody much-- wish that Maki was here to wander with me. . . I bought a sailer hat for the birthday of St. Petersburg-- the theme was "Water, Water, Water." I just figured out why by finally looking at a map-- St. Petersburg is just about next to Finland and Sweden and on its way to the Atlantic Ocean!

I forgot-- it is now nearly 11:00 pm, and it is still light outside. The sun goes down around 10:00-- really, sunset is at 10:15-- and the light lingers for at least another hour or two. I haven't been up late enough to see it get dark! But the sun is up around 5:00 am! It must be that "land of the midnight sun" effect north of the arctic circle. . . "white nights" they call it here. I believe St. Petersburg is just outside the arctic circle-- which migh explain why it is so damn cold! When the bright sun is shining all day long you can get sunburned, but turn a corner into the shade of some massive building and get a breeze off one of the rivers/canals and you need flannel shirts and winter jackets!

Brrrr. . . they say all night sunshine makes you crazy.