Why the US and Russia will never get along

I had my eyes opened on my trip.  Russia is a great place.  The people are friendly and nice.  I will go again in march, and have nothing but positive things to say from my trip.

But

There are some things, that stand out.  I know understand why the 2 greatest nations will never be friends.

1. Fur Coats, 80% of the female population in Russia are wearing fur coats.  In the US, 50% of the female population are through paint on fur coats.
2. Waiting in line, they don't, we do.  There cutting in line is just done with shopping cart if necessary.  Here not so much...
3. Language, so they don't teach English any more than we teach Spanish in our schools.  We both pretend but it really doesn't happen.  You can't be friends if you can't have a chat.
4. Cold, I'm from Minnesota so the weather there was fine.  Also some of the customs and ideas the flow from a cold climate make sense to me.  If you are from Florida, they will not.  To much of the US is warm.
5. History, they have it, we want it.
6. Similarity's, there is so much that is the same it is uncanny.  People are just people after all.  But when you are told a group is evil and you learn they are just like you, then you ether admit it is all a lie, or you ignore the obvious.  Clearly more people ignore.
7. Did I mention Fur coats?
8. Also, many Fur hats.  The hats the have there are warm comfortable and soft.  But they are also a dead critter, and again we run into the PETA nightmare that is Russia.

SmugMug

So I'm uploading all of the photos taken to my mothers SmugMugg site.  So that beyond my commentary any one interested can look through all of the pictures that I took in there full detail.  The only problem is that to upload them all its taking about 30 seconds a picture, and since there are 1121 pictures it should take about 9.5 hours or so to upload them all.

Mom is that enough pictures for such a trip?  Was this a little better than they last time I went some where?

Post Production

So The trip is over, but I have have so many pictures I will have to do a bunch of updates to share them.On the last full day we went to a few different places. One of them was a large shopping center under red Square.  I don't know the name of it but its 3 stories underground, and its main entrance is from the metro.  Masha was trying to find a gift for her mother, but the thing she was interested in they didn't have the right version of.  The shopping center was very interesting, it was very large.  Just a little smaller than the Rosdail mail.  Totally underground, you can see the top of it on Google Earth, but it looks like a dome on the ground, which is a skylight.

We walked allot in Moscow on our last night.  Mom, don't be to upset, but I have things to tell you that might make you a little crazy.  We had a wonderful time.  I did not have a single moment of unhappiness or disappointment.  Masha was more wonderful than I could have expected or hopped for, and Russia was far more friendly and fun than I had anticipated.  It was very safe.  If you could see a monument you could see a police officer, and if you are in St. Peters or Moscow then you can see a monument.  I don't think I was ever out of shouting distance from an police officer for if I needed one.  Never was I given an unfriendly look, and many times people approached me and asked me questions in Russian, so I look enough like I belonged that people did not assume I was an American tourist as apposed to a Russian tourist.  I had a strange sense of belonging that I'm not used to.  I'm not sure if its the more social attitudes of the people or just being with Masha.

The only thing I will say is without an interpreter, it would be a difficult trip.  In Moscow many people speak English, but in St. Peters there was very very little.  If any one wants to go, I'm happy to go along, and I'm sure I could convince Masha to come again.  

So Chicago cancled my flight to minneapolis, so I got to spend an extra day on the trip.  I'm about to board a plane to Minneapolis finaly, and get home.

Moscow The Next Day

There is definitely something different about Moscow.  I would say that I liked St Peter's better.  Its a nice place, and everyone is friendly, its something about the buildings.  Mom you may not like this news, but I have committed my spring break to Masha.  I will come back in March to visit Иваново.  I'm not sure just what.  In both city's there are police everywhere.  An officer or a guard on just about every other street corner.  With so many monuments, and historical structures, it only makes sense, and most of them are in positions near such monuments and structures.  In St. Peters, there was never a problem with taking a photo of a building of any sort, however in Moscow some buildings are active government buildings, and guards are quick to let you know not to photo the building.  Of course we usually got a few pics first.  We didn't even get to find out what this building was, but its not to be photoed.

It seams each day we spend more time together and less time sightseeing.  Thursday was cold, and snowy and Mashas mother said to be careful and better to stay in and watch movies, so we did, one of these movies was Russian film called Moscow Vacation.  Today we are setting out to find an open air art market, a flash drive so Masha can have all the pictures also, and some other things.

Here is a picture of our final day in St. Peters, it was a very magical sky that night.

Moscow

So I made it to Moscow safe and sound.  The hotel is well, a little different.  They are very good extortionists here.  One hour of Internet at this hotel will pay for a month of Internet in MN.  And Masha says the same for her hometown.

So for those that are worried.  MOM... I made it safe, and sound, my computer is fine, and everything is going great.  Moscow does not feel quite the same as St. Peters.  I liked it better there.  It is still a very nice place people are friendly.

Some thing a little interesting about Russian theater.  Since there are no black people here, black face is still alive.

When I get back home, I will have to make a few large updates to this to bring any one interested up to speed.  Pictures and such will be coming then.

Another day...

No pictures just now, I don't have time to put them all online.  I will tell more about today latter.  We attempted but did anything but see the Hermitage museum.  We tired but did anything but stay warm.  It was the coldest day by far.  Tomorrow is the last day in St. Peters.

There is so much to tell, I feel like I will be updating this for weeks after I get back home.  We are averaging about 150 pictures a day.  So really I'm only showing a very small fraction of whats going on.  Of course many pictures are duplicities when there is a blurring or some mistake, blinkin and such.

Another Show

Our next day we sort of took a break from vacationing.  How does that work anyway?

We went to the Nutcracker.  It was another production of the Marinski theater.  This time our show was in the the propoer theater.  The one we tried to go to first the day befor.  We were a little late.  It was my fault for loosing our room key so we had to search for it.  We did not find it until we returned, and had to have the frunt desk let us in.  Of course it was in my coat pocket the entire time.

Again no camears allowed.  oops...

About the Opera

We went to an opera called "Christmass Eve". It is a story written buy a Ukranian man long ago. Here there is much respect for composers and writters of the past. There is a statu of the writter of this story only a block from our hotel.

After going to petergof, our goal was to get back to the hotel and get dressed up nice to see the show. Well, of course, life is always an adventure. We missed our stop, and took the bus to far, and had to walk about a mile to Petergof. We lost a lot of time doing this. We were the very very last people to go through the musium. They were clossing the doors behind us and turning lights off after we finished with each room. The gaurd left us alone in the queens ballroom, and we danced.

As for the show, we got there just in time. We did not get to stop at the hotel, we did not get to dress up. We arived at the wrong theater just at the time the show was starting, so we had to run to the correct theatoer, it is the same company and just a block down the street. We arived they took our coats, and the show didn't start for another 10 minits. They were more late then us, so it worked out very well.

The production value was fantastic.

The show started with the narator coming out from behind and starting the storry some. He had a bottle of some kind of drink and asked it anyone would like to drink with him, and a few did. It looked like ether wisky or apple juce. Here are a few pictures from the show, and yes, No camears allowed...

петергоф and a Show

Noon in St Peters

On friday we sent of to see Petergof, a spot I recomend anyone who visits St. Peters to see.  We took the metro to a station that ran busses to Petergof, and then we took a buss.  We road the buss, and road it and road it, and then after some time the driver asked us were we where going.  Masha told him, and he pulled over and let us out saying we missed it, and should have told him.  So we walked back the way we came for a bit.  It was a very nice walk, large trees along the raod, and then we came acrose a random monument.

We finaly made it to Petergof, and payed to have a picture taken with some actors.  Then they tried to be sneeky.  The actor took Masha and said let us have a picture dancing.  So the took up a pose and I took the camera from the photographer and took the picture.  The man told us we must pay again for the second picture.  Masha said why would we do that, and he told us to just go.  I told her she should have said, we would have payed but he did not take the picture.  There where no cameras allowed inside of the palace, but that did not stop us.  They had a coat check, and when we got to the next room Masha asked where was the camear, and I said in my coat pocket.  So we pretended she was cold and had them give my liner back to us.  We snuck pictures every chance we got.  It was a buetifuly ornate building with lots of gold sculptures. here are a few of our picturs.

Then we went to a show, more about it latter.

New Years Day

Маша says that we made a mistake.  We should not have come to Peters in the night, better to have come in June when it is daytime.  The day time is very short here.  We missed it on new years day.  After staying up late, buy the time we got ready to go, it was already dark out.  So you might notice many night photos.

We have tickets to a couple of shows at the Mariinsky theater.  We tried to get them on new years day.  We must go to a booth and give them the conformation number to get the tickets.  We walked to this place, and it was closed.  On the way there we came across the Kazansky Cathedral.  It is a wondrous Russian Orthodox Cathedral.  From the outside it looks like a relic, something very old, and in a roman like style.  We saw people coming in and out of it so we went inside.  The inside was very much alive.  We walked around looking at the many paintings and statues, and then a service started.  It reminded me of Johns wedding a little, there were some strong similarity's.  One things that I like about the Orthodox church is how the priest stands facing the alter with the people.  In this Cathedral, an area was sectioned off, and the priest was literally among the people.  I could not take any pictures inside, there were some signs saying no photography, and it was a service an all.  I thought it was interesting, and maybe Rachel could enlighten me, but they had 3 gates.  One was small and not very 

fancy, One was very large and grand and in the center, it was the gate that the service was in front of when we were there.  The last was very ornate, but not so large.  I'm sure there is a meaning for each.  The structure of the building is very interesting.  From the outside it looks like a large crescent shape, like a young moon.  But inside the space open to use was in the shape of a cross.  After we finished exploring it we went on to where tickets could be picked up.  When we got there it was closed.  A woman there told us to go to the theater, it would be open.

For the record and to be perfectly clear, yes, Steve has been to the Kazansky Cathedral.

We walked a long way along this canal, to get to the theater.  It was very beautiful, but also very cold.  We had a few funny run ins with drunks.  We were taking a picture and a drunk man started peeing into the canal.  Further down, a drunk crossing a bridge that we were taking a photo on, stopped and offered to take out picture.  Маша ignored him since I don't understand Russian I did the same.  She took my picture, and with night photos some times they are a little blurry so you must try again.  The drunk was kneeling under to not be in the photo and standing just to the side, so his shoulder and parts of him are in a few pictures.  He was being silly and was quite funny.  He was chatting to us the hole time, rattling on in Russian.  Finally I told him in Russian "I'm sorry, I do not speak Russian", and he said to me in Russian "What, you do not speak Russian?" he then turned to Маша and said "What is he, Italian?".  It was funny, and we continued on our way leaving the drunk man on the bridge.

We walked along this canal for some time, and then we finally made it the the theater, and it was closed.

There are many monuments to great composers, and streets named for them.  There is clearly a love of great music here, and a deep respect for its creators.

Маша Attacks the conservatory.

This is a very wondrous city with many sights and interesting things.  We came across this palace randomly.  It was just on the way home.  Such grand entryways, are not uncommon here.  It really is an interesting city to see.

Happy New Years World

Happy New Years World

I will tell about my new years eve and my new years day.  It was very interesting.  We discussed and decided to spend new years together in the hotel room, and have a private celebration.  We asked the reception for the location of a grocery store so that we could buy supplies.  They directed us to a large mall, some 12 Kilometers past the last metro stop.  The mall operates its own buses to bring people from the metro to the mall.

 

The mall was very large, about the size of the Rosedale mall.  It had a giant IKEA attached to it, and there was as Masha calls it, an "ice riding field" inside the mall so people could skate.  It was a very nice mall.  Like how US malls have large department stores attached this mall did also, only they were not department stores, it was the IKEA, and a very large grocery store.  In the mall we found Europe’s answer to Best Buy.  A large, and very pink store, called "Media Market" (pink in the same way Best Buy is blue).  Here we found the camera that I got to replace my lost one.  We had looked at cameras in some touristy areas around the center of St. Petersburg, but at Media Market the same camera cost 1000 rubles or more less than at these shops.

 

The grocery store was a lot of fun for me.  It was exactly what you would expect of a large grocery store.  Other than the products being quite different the organization and function are identical.  Many of the products are very familiar and some are so very different.  They had a stand at the entrance of the store where they bagged and sealed anything you may have bought in a different store at the mall.  I hardly know where to start about the things that are different.  Butter is as good as any place to start.  The butter itself is the same, but it is not packaged by the stick like it is for us.  It is in packages that are almost precisely the size of two sticks of butter.  At home there are many drinking products in plastic containers, some in glass, and a few in cardboard.  Here almost all are in cardboard some in glass, and a few in plastic.  The most noticeable difference was the packaging of frozen foods, particularly vegetables.  The part of the store with such items was the same.  Large freezers with the tops open, frosted around the inside edge, very much the same.  However here there are loose vegetables, pees, chopped carrots, broccoli, whatever, and scoops.  You take a plastic bag, and you fill it with the scoop, and then bring it to a stand.  The stand has a bunch of numbers you can press, to correspond with the different products.  You places your item on the scale, push the button and the price prints out on a sticker.   

After we bought our goods, Маша wanted to take my picture, so  I pulled the camera out and she snapped a couple befor a sucurity guard came and told here to stop.  She didn't, and took another.  He came back and said it again.  She ignored him, and took another.  He then said in Russian "He girl, can you under stand Russian?", and she said in English "yes, yes we understand"

I have noticed a few things about Russia, and I will list them at some point, but I think they are the fundamental resons our countrys do not seam to get along.  One is lines.  People to not wait in lines nicly, they barge.  You must hold your spot firmly and not leave any space between you and the next person or you will lose your spot and some one will barge infront of you.  Yes, even with shopping carts.  I watched Маша do this at one point, and I thought how rude of here.  Then I noticed it was how every one was acting, so I adopted the methodology.  It helps so that we do not get seperated on escalateors.  The metro is very deep and there is a long excalator ride up and down to use them.

I see many nice things here.  Some kind gestures that when I mentioned Маша told me they were not kind.  Here there is a large moffia, and they use invalids and homelesspeople to beg for moeny.  I don't exactly understand how it works but she told me it was some kind of slavory.  So the guesture is kind when they give the oneleggad man money, but it is not kind since he is being used and it is not helping him.  But still there are many kind things, an olderman got on the metro and a younger fellow gave him his seat.  A man fell down and hit his face on the floor.  To other men helped him up, and a woman gave him some tishue from her pag to wipe the dirt from his face.  The people seam to have much more intuition to eachother, it is not a colection of individuals as it is in the US.

So our shopping trip was fun, we walked about 2 miles, took a train about 6 then road a bus for 5 bought many supplies and carried everything back on this same trak.  We unpacked out things, and prepaired for our celibration.

Our dinner consisted of, "Red Fish Children", two traditional russian salads (in the same bowl, on red, one green), smoked sammon, and some kind of Russian salami.  We had grap juice and pinable juice.  The hotel gave us a bottle of shampain, and shmpaine glasses, but Маша does not drink so we did not open it, we had the grap juice in the shampain glasses, I was going to make a joke about us having wine, but then I desided not to.  Also, mom, sorry about the joke with the mineral watter.  When we told you we were having champain, and we showed you the funny bottle, it was minreal water.  Маша is like you mom and likes mineral water a lot.

More to come at a later dae.