Yes, I am still writing about our vacation experience. For some reason it's just difficult for me to update my blog and keep it updated.
After our Baltic Cruise, Chelsea, Nusly, Hailey and I all stayed in St. Petersburg to finish up our vacation. Since this was our 3rd time in St. Pete we decided to take it easier and just hit all the spots we didn't have time for the first or second time. We stayed in a hostel for two nights, my first hostel experience ever, and it was so much fun! We almost didn't find them because it's on the 4th or 5th floor of a building that looked like all the others. We counted the steps one day and there were 120 steps. It was a long upward walk. The place was in the middle of all the tourist attractions, had free wi-fi, clean sheets, 3 real bathrooms and FREE breakfast! What else do you need?!
Aside from the rockin' set up we met tons of great people. They were possibly my favorite part of our time in St. Petersburg. The first night we played cards with a Canadian who was doing a few days in St. Pete before going onto Moscow and then taking the Transiberian across Russia. Later we met an Englishman who teaches at an English school in Dubai. We also met a cute German couple who were traveling in Russia. The next day we played cards with Jeff, fondly referred to as Jeff-O, who is from Australia. He taught us all sorts of fun Australian slang and also that Shuffling was cool in the 90's. Best letdown of my life. I loved hearing all the accents and about all the places that these people have travelled to. Don't worry, when they invited us to go out to the bars or to a casino with them we told them to not go drink and stay and play cards with us. It didn't work but it was worth a shot. We also taught an Iranian man who was there with some busniess associates how to play Scum. He returned the favor by giving us Iranian Candy! It was this marshmellowy textured thing with pistacios in it. I don't like pistacios so I thought it was kind of gross but I'm really glad I got to try it!
The first day we were there we went back to the Hermitage (because it's free for students) and got to see some things that we missed. Like Monet and VanGogh. I loved it! We also got to see the Japanese art which was a nice break from European. Afterwards Hailey and I went to St. Issac's Cathedral and went up to the very top! You can see all of St. Petersburg from the top! Despite the cold we hung out up there for probably an hour or so. It was incredible.
The next day we travelled out to Catherine's Palace. First of all, the gardens there were some of the prettiest that I've seen since coming to Russia- even in the Winter. Inside the Palace was ornate and incredible. The Amber room was so intricate that it is hard to imagine people actually making it. We also saw the photos of the destruction is suffered during World War 2. It's crazy and eye-opening to be in a country that has lost so much history because of wars. So many historical buildings were near destroyed in the bombings and such. Learning about all of it has been very sobering.
We heading back to the hostel to pick our bags and play one last round of five crowns with Jeff-O before taking the night train home. It was a rough night with very little sleep- thank goodness we had a few days to recover before teaching.
After our Baltic Cruise, Chelsea, Nusly, Hailey and I all stayed in St. Petersburg to finish up our vacation. Since this was our 3rd time in St. Pete we decided to take it easier and just hit all the spots we didn't have time for the first or second time. We stayed in a hostel for two nights, my first hostel experience ever, and it was so much fun! We almost didn't find them because it's on the 4th or 5th floor of a building that looked like all the others. We counted the steps one day and there were 120 steps. It was a long upward walk. The place was in the middle of all the tourist attractions, had free wi-fi, clean sheets, 3 real bathrooms and FREE breakfast! What else do you need?!
Aside from the rockin' set up we met tons of great people. They were possibly my favorite part of our time in St. Petersburg. The first night we played cards with a Canadian who was doing a few days in St. Pete before going onto Moscow and then taking the Transiberian across Russia. Later we met an Englishman who teaches at an English school in Dubai. We also met a cute German couple who were traveling in Russia. The next day we played cards with Jeff, fondly referred to as Jeff-O, who is from Australia. He taught us all sorts of fun Australian slang and also that Shuffling was cool in the 90's. Best letdown of my life. I loved hearing all the accents and about all the places that these people have travelled to. Don't worry, when they invited us to go out to the bars or to a casino with them we told them to not go drink and stay and play cards with us. It didn't work but it was worth a shot. We also taught an Iranian man who was there with some busniess associates how to play Scum. He returned the favor by giving us Iranian Candy! It was this marshmellowy textured thing with pistacios in it. I don't like pistacios so I thought it was kind of gross but I'm really glad I got to try it!
The first day we were there we went back to the Hermitage (because it's free for students) and got to see some things that we missed. Like Monet and VanGogh. I loved it! We also got to see the Japanese art which was a nice break from European. Afterwards Hailey and I went to St. Issac's Cathedral and went up to the very top! You can see all of St. Petersburg from the top! Despite the cold we hung out up there for probably an hour or so. It was incredible.
The next day we travelled out to Catherine's Palace. First of all, the gardens there were some of the prettiest that I've seen since coming to Russia- even in the Winter. Inside the Palace was ornate and incredible. The Amber room was so intricate that it is hard to imagine people actually making it. We also saw the photos of the destruction is suffered during World War 2. It's crazy and eye-opening to be in a country that has lost so much history because of wars. So many historical buildings were near destroyed in the bombings and such. Learning about all of it has been very sobering.
We heading back to the hostel to pick our bags and play one last round of five crowns with Jeff-O before taking the night train home. It was a rough night with very little sleep- thank goodness we had a few days to recover before teaching.
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