|
  | |  |
Wrecked at Peterhof
Entry 4 of 7 | show all | print this entry |
|
Saturday--June 30, 2007
Well--we have had a very interesting day. First of all, it was actually sunny out for a good part of the day so we decided it would be great to go to Peterhof while the whether was still nice. Peterhof is located in the city of Petrodvorets and was built by Peter the Great. It was modeled in the Baroque/Rococo style of architecture and is incredible to look at. Not only the buildings, but the grounds are beautiful. It is a big park with several fountains and is located on the Gulf of Finland. It is very similar to the Palace at Versailles that Louis XIV built in France just a few years earlier.
We decided to take a marshrutkas to Peterhof. It is about a thirty to forty minute drive and the marshrutkas is similar to a mini-bus or a big van. The grounds were all that we thought they would be and more. I will post some photos now that I found on the web and post the ones we took at a later date as I am unable to upload them to this computer. Anyway, we toured the gardens and viewed the Grand Palace. We also were able to see the much simpler Montplaisir that was on the Gulf of Finland. It is surrounded by the Bath House and the Catherine House (where Catherine the Great lived before she had her husband murdered).
 
While this sounds exciting, the true excitement really began on the way home. We were feeling quite jubilant about how easily we were able to find the marshrutkas and navigate through our journey. We had seen them on the street and Melanie in particular was intrigued. We were even happier because we figured out how to catch it for our thirty minute drive back to St. Petersburg. In fact, we were feeling so good that we had the ipods on and were rocking out. I was listening to a little Blues Traveler and dozing off and Melanie was listening to Sugarland and also dozing off (although she was not sure about the dozing). All of a sudden the van jolted and rocked hard. There were 14 passengers in the van and many were being jolted from their seats. I was not, but Melanie realized she really was dozing when she awoke on the floor of the van. A Volkswagen coming from the other side of the road had rammed into us and hit our marshrutkas. Our driver managed to get us off the road and from what we were told later, a concrete trunk hit our backside (where we were sitting). Keep in mind we had no idea what was going on at the time. All I knew was that we had to get out of the van b/c we smelled something funny and I was afraid it might be gasoline. I checked to see how Melanie and our other seat-mates were, encouraged Melanie to get up and we all got out. The only serious injury was this one older woman who had a very bad head wound and some cuts on her legs.
People's reactions to the accident were very interesting. A soldier and his girl were on the bus and her back was slightly bleeding. I gave them tissue but I was very surprised when they started kissing and walked away without offering help to anyone. Several others walked away as well, but a witness who happened to see the accident stayed the entire time and helped the poor woman with the head wound. She was wearing a Nesquick hat and that is how I will refer to her because I do not know her name. The older woman also had a companion who helped although he did smoke a cigarette when he was kneeled down by her with his hand on her head. Melanie and I were the only other people who tried to help. We retrieved cushions that had been knocked over from the bus and gave her my jacket b/c she was cold. Melanie held her hand and she tried to talk to us, but we tried to convey that we did not know what she was saying. The Nesquick lady was the most helpful and also tried to talk to us, but quickly realized we had no clue as to what she was saying. The marshrutkas driver probably would have helped as he brought out a first aid kit, but he was way too stressed out and was busy with the police and the driver of the concrete truck. Unlike in the US, the police were surveying the scene and smoking cigarettes not even offering the old woman help. In their defense though, we found out later that an 18 year old boy who was driving the Volkswagen had broken his leg and some of the police and the ambulance were with him. Still--many of the cops just stood there even when the Nesquick lady yelled at them to do something.
Finally, an ambulance came for the old lady and we had to figure out what to do to get 30 miles back to St. Petersburg. We had a train to catch at 10:00 and did not want to miss it. The driver tried to put us on another marshrutkas but we would have had to sit on the floor and was just not very keen about that idea. A man wandered on the scene and spoke a little English. It was he who told us what happened. He and Nesquick also made sure we were put on another marshrutkas (although people had to double up) to make our way back to town.
Although this was a very stressful accident, we were lucky that God was with us. We also learned much about the character of Americans. Many of the Russian cops were taking pictures with their cell phones while smoking cigarettes. In the US, the cops would have helped those injured before that. Also--I really believe there would have been more people than Nesquick that would have tried to help that old woman. I felt very proud at that moment to be an American. Granted we would have been taking pictures because there would be lawsuits later; however, most Americans would have been helping the old woman.
We made it back to St. Petersburg and did not have time to visit the defenders of Leningrad Cemetery and Memorial that we had planned. We did finally catch our train and sat in a first-class sleeper. Although we splurged and spent more money than we needed to for this luxury, it was well worth it and probably well-deserved on this day.
|
|
If you like this entry, search for other entries by tenvols, from Russia or try a new search. |
| |
Back to Entry - Back to Home
|
4 votes 
