Final Post in Russia

Hola, otra vez. I'm sorry that it's been so long since my last update, but I spent a week in St. Petersburg, and the computers in the hotel-thing were so outdated that they had a conniption trying to open PowerPoint...I didn't even try to get to this site.

So anyway, St. Petersburg was great, except for the fact that it rained and then got cold. Ironically, the day it poured was a holiday, so we walked around all day in the rain watching the "festivities" of "Dien Pobiedi," or Victory Day, May 9th, which is the day Russia celebrates the end of World War II. It was a big deal--parades, huge signs on buildings, flags (I even saw an American flag on the top of a military truck in the Veterans' Parade, go America!), drunk 10 year olds running around the streets, a concert and fireworks that night (although it was pretty light out at 10 pm...we're getting into what Russia calls the White Nights; because St. Petersburg is pretty close to the Arctic Circle, during the summer, they almost have no dark period at night).

I also toured the outskirts of St. Petersburg, where some of the enormous palaces are--one city is known as "Tsarskoye Selo," which means City of the Tsars (its real name is Pushkin, named after Russia's beloved poet). That city contains Catherine's Palace (Ekaterinskiy Dvoryets), where the famous yantaraya komnata (amber room) is. The entire room (on three sides) is made out of amber, and it is beautiful. I also went to the city called Petrodvorets (Peter's Palace), more commonly known to contain Petergoff. Everyone told me that the fountains would be off, but, lo and behold, I got there, and they were having a big preparatory celebration for Victory Day (I got there the 8th), complete with working fountains. So that was neat. I also think that, because of this celebration, they didn't sell tickets for the lower gardens, which is where the better fountains are. They just let people through, so I only spent 250 rubles for the tickets instead of 500 (each ticket should have been that much...imagine what it would have been without my handy-dandy student ID). I have some amazing pictures, but my stuff is all packed up to go home, so I'm not posting any until I get back to West Point.

I'm extremely excited to go back to the United States, although my semester has been amazing. Hopefully, I will see you all sometime soon, but for right now I have to go (the Internet cafe just closed...). I will talk to you all again soon.