Russia - Warm days are here...

Its warm, actually its bordering on hot. The weather turned around in less than forty eight hours. I missed it. Actually, I'm hoping that this gorgeous day will hold through until tomrrow when I go to Peterhoff. I slept most of today. I was exhausted, well wasted would be a more accurate description but not completely from alcohol. Everyone here in this program reaches a point, veteran or not, that they just need to catch up on sleep. I hit that point last night.

A brief synopsis as time is scarce, I need to eat and then head to the Marinsky Theatre for M. Butterfly, stopping first at the Synagogue as I think the one on the other side of the street from the Marinsky is the oldest in St. Petersburg.

I couldn't sleep a wink on Thursday night. It was terrible. I woke, came here and posted and then set out on a walkabout about... I went to the Michalevsky castle where an exquisite collection of russian sculpture from the 20th century was on display. The throne room of Paul the 1st was beautiful as was the 18th century painting of his coronation.

From the palace I strolled through the Summer Gardens, (today would've been the day, alas) and took pictures of the long tree lined paths and the gorgeous statues that dove tail bushes and trees. There's a large monument to Krylov who translated Aesop into Russian and wrote many of his won fairy tales. The base of the statue is wreathed in the animals he created, his imagination, molded into bronze. There's one figure that I couldn't tear my eyes away from: a monkey clutching a cello, coming out of the base, screaming. I was enamored of him... not sure why... maybe because he had such a life like look in his eyes, or maybe that simian/human link, not sure, but he fascinated me.

From the gardens I crossed the Troitsky bridge and walked down to where the Aurora is moored, it was closed, so I took some picks of the old battle cruiser that Lenin sailed down the Nevya firing on the witner palace to kick off the 20th century's communist revolutions. I made a U turn and walked to the Mosque, which too was closed... DAMN!!! Denied, twice, between the gorgeous weather that went overcast and these two closures I was definately verkakt!

I headed back down the Troitsky and into Mars Field to see the eternal flame to the fallen heroes of the soviet union in defense of Leningrad. Mars field is gorgeous and a little desolate, you feel a little like your on Mars. It reminded me of Brenda's poem Mars Field Speaks to V. Vvedensky. From the field it was a hop skip and a jump across a canal to spilled blood, and finally, after a year of waiting, I made inside the massive doors of "Spas Na Krovi" WOW! Can I say that again? Do I need to whip out the HTML tags to emphasive the WOW?! The inside is covered with mosiacs depiciting the bible, the birth and ascencion of Christ. Its massive, its gorgeous, its breathtaking and I shot an entire roll in there... Its unbelievable. To think that this church was in complete disrepair and never fixed following the war which featured a massive shell piercing a 6 square meter hole in the largest kupula. Reconstruction started in the 1970s, it was used as a storehouse for a ballet at one time as well. Finally, in 1997, restored to its original glory, the mosaic frescoes rebuilt, it openned its doors and its glory to the world. its very impressive, which also makes me curious now to see St. Basil's in Moscow as I think it was you Zach who said that Spilled Blood is more impressive.

By this time I was exhausted, completely and thoroughly. I mean trashed. I went to sleep for two hours, the dogs, my footsies, were barking loudly. I woke up and then went to the student reading... Sam Amadon was brilliant. From there it was dinner at zoom, then some running about, mobile calls and confusion trying to round up stray sheep and it was off to the waterfront for the party. All the high schools graduated last night. It was a zoo!!!!!!!!!!! There were fireworks over the Admiralty and Peter Paul Fortress, we sat at the beer garden nearest the Dvoretsky Bridge and drank beers and talked loudly as the crowd thickened with revellers... from there it was a split decision between Fort Ross and the club Red Line, I opted for the quiet of Fort Ross, after a few hours and a trip to KFC with some hungry people that wanted an escort, it was finally to bed at 5am.

Now I'm up, I'm hungry and off to get some Pelmene before the opera... mas later...

I have some stuff to put up that I've been scribbling... I hope everyone is well at home...

udatchey vsem!