Preparation....South Korea's Got Seoul!Well, we're here.....We are gloopy....Have a great weekend!Hello, Friends!Snow! Snow! Snow!Another Monday....Where is the sneg of yesteryear?!?Merry Christmas!С Новым Годом!Наш Рай!Back to School.....NovgorodAnother week has passed......Very quickly....
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St. Petersburg (Saint Petersburg), Russia
Last week, Zoe's parents came for a whirlwind visit to Russia - only two days! - on their way to London. It was really, really great to see them! We did our best to run around and show them the sights.... first, a Russian feast at one of our favourite restaurants on Nevsky Prospect, Дом Астёра - or, the Actor's House. It's connected to a theatre, and we think it used to be a drama school..... in any case, it's quite difficult to find, and rather imposing (with a scary bust of Stanislavsky on the wall as you ascend a massive staircase) but the food is great! So we ate up a storm, and then escorted Jim and Di back to their hotel on Vasilevsky Island. Te next day, they visited the Church on Spilled Blood while we were at school, then we met up for some fine Russian pies, then a walk to Palace Square along the bank of the Neva River. After that, the Hermitage - where Jim was able to see his favourite painting, 'Lot with his Daughters' - and then we got tickets to a concert at the small hall of the Philharmonic, which was lovely..... although, in retrospect, a string quartet may have been slightly too sleep inducing for those who had travelled about 30 hours the previous couple of days! The following day, Zoe took her parents to the markets near our place, where they were able to sample some of the delights of Russian cuisine - kvas, bliny, and more pies! They also got to see our room (which was a highlight, I'm sure!) and take a mashrutka! It was really great to see them, and talk with them about our travels so far - we hope the rest of their journey is going well!
I've been reading through some past entries, and I realised that I haven't mentioned any of our cultural escapades! We've been attending quite a few concerts - as well as the string concert, we also attended a concert at the Winter Festival, which was AMAZING! The grand hall of the Philharmonia is so beautiful as well, it's really lovely to hear music there. We saw another concert there last week, and we've got tickets to a concert in St Isaacs church this weekend. It's so incredible here - we could literally see a different play, opera, ballet or concert every night of the week! And it's not very expensive...... we even forked out 120 roubles (about AUS$6) to see a Russian play, which was really fun (if incomprehensible). We saw The Master and Margarita, which I haven't read, and Zoe had only read a third of it. So, naturally, we were pretty confused.....the set was really cool though, and they had all these crazy giant, plastic heads of Lenin and Stalin lying around the stage, which at one point they all put on, and ran about the stage screaming. ??? Apparently the theatre company that we saw performing is also quite controversial, as the director of the company only hires men, and all the female roles are played by men. So it was a fun experience - definitely worth six bucks, in my opinion!
In other news, Sam arrived yesterday! It's great to have him here with us, and he's even staying our floor of the student house! Hooray! So far, we've made him taste Soviet Champagne, and treated him to a couple of 'Zoe and Meg Feasts' - incidently, last night's 'feast' was truly spectacular, involving nearly a whole cabbage, onion, potato, beans, and a lot of pepper. It was actually pretty good.... We also took a trip to Novgorod last weekend! For more information on our fabulous adventure, see the entry entitled 'Novgorod'!
That's all for now - we'll write again soon!
Love, Meg and Zoe
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