St. Petersburg

  St. Petersburg, North-West Russia, Russian Federation
Friday, July 11, 2008

Hey momma!

I'm in St. Petersburg. Lisa kept her family's opinions of this place
secret until a few hours ago... she admitted that both her and her father
dislike this city. I immediately understood why.

The two big cities in Russia could not be less alike. Nikolai (Lisa's
father) told me that when the Mongols came into Russia about 900 years
ago, they destroyed everything except a few hidden villages that they were
unable to find. Moscow was one of these small villages, that from there
grew to be what it is today. I have fallen in love with Moscow; I
desperately want to go back there and spend the rest of my precious time
there (even the rest of the month, though I know it is a good idea to take
this opportunity to see Europe). I LOVE Moscow. The people are very rude,
but I have learned not to take it personally. The food is OKAY (more about
that later) [EDIT: Lisa's mother's cooking was wonderful, it was the restaurants that weren't awesome]. But the feel of the place is unexplainable. It is magical.

St. Petersburg is beautiful, it's fine. But it lacks the feeling of
Moscow. I think maybe it is "The Master and Margarita" that helped build
my conception of Moscow so greatly - almost every scene in the book has a
real life counterpart; there is a place to visit for every chapter.

We visited Peterhoff (please google for more information, I am running out
of time) today, and though it was beautiful, it was filled with tourists.
I couldn't really enjoy it after the experience I had with Lisa and her
father walking through the alleys and kiosks of Moscow.

Peterhoff Fountains1

This place reminds me of Catalina. It has a main street that is pretty, but it feels a little
empty too... It is just a tourist attraction, as far as I have understood
it in the two days I have been here.

Big square

Soon we will be back to Moscow and then we fly to Germany. It turns out
that Spain will be too much for us. We will land in Koln, drive to Paris,
and drive back. What route is yet to be decided, but the choice is
entirely ours. Her parents have been great about this; they really trust
me, which I really appreciate.

I'm out of time, mom. I'll write back tomorrow. Please forward this to dad
and Nancy and if you don't have Nancy's email, please remind dad to
forward it to her.