Scenes from St. Petersburg

Jeff & Rochelle and Doug & Shannon thought it would be nice to include a two-day visit to St. Petersburg while they were visiting us in Moscow. Vlad, the Area Humanitarian Manager, kindly suggested this would be a good time for Sam and me to visit the humanitarian couple in St. Petersburg, the Eastleys, who are working to complete their projects before their mission ends in August. Vlad also knew we would like to see President and Sister Sandberg in St. Petersburg before they return home the first of July. David Sandberg’s father, Ivar, was a good friend of my parents when they lived at Cheyenne Agency. Ivar’s story is one I have enjoyed hearing through the years, and I am pleased that President Sandberg gave me a copy of his father’s conversion story. He and my parents had an important role in the early history of the LDS Church in South Dakota.

Church of the Resurrection – commonly known as
“Our Savior-on-the-Spilt-Blood”
Sam, Jeff, Rochelle, Shannon, Doug, and Narene

We took the overnight train on May 13 leaving Moscow about 9:30 in the evening and arriving in St. Petersburg at 6:10 the next morning. This was an adventure, as we went 3^rd class with four people to an open compartment with no door and a small table between two bunk beds. Jeff and Doug took the upper bunks, and Rochelle and Shannon were in the lower bunks in their compartment. Sam and I shared with a Russian couple who had the upper bunk beds. I think I got along the best in our group. Sam had people walking past in the narrow aisle during the night that would bump his feet at the end of his bunk. The others found it difficult to sleep with people going by to the “toilet” room and other distractions. On our return trip, we took the express train which was more expensive, but more comfortable and only took five hours. We left St. Petersburg about 4:00 in the afternoon and got back to Moscow about 9:00 that evening.

Train to St. Petersburg
Sam, Doug, and Narene (others not pictured)

We were invited for early morning breakfast at the Eastleys, the humanitarian couple serving in St. Petersburg. She had real milk in a bottle and not the kind we get in Moscow from the shelf in a carton. Her home-made pumpkin syrup seasoned with cinnamon was very good on the French toast.

“Our Savior-on-the-Spilt-Blood” Church
Elder & Sister Eastley

In our branch at Tver we had met Daniel, a returned missionary who is married and lives in St. Petersburg. He told us he arranges tours in St. Petersburg; and he arranged for Max, another Russian returned missionary, to be our guide for the two days we were in St. Petersburg. It was nice having someone be our guide who speaks Russian and knew how to get to places we wanted to see.

Our visit to the Mission Home in St. Petersburg
Sam, Narene, Sister & President Sandberg

We spent about four hours in the Hermitage. We could have spent a week and not seen it all. The rooms are elegant and enormous; and the paintings, sculptures, and museum artifacts are a must see for one visiting St. Petersburg.

The Hermitage,
the former Winter Palace of Catherine the Great
Narene, Sam, Jeff, Rochelle, Shannon, and Doug

The Hermitage (photos below)

St. George Hall - Our guide, Max, at the left.

St. George Room – Throne

Narene looking at the chandeliers.

The Knights’ Hall

Leonardo da Vinci’s “The Little Madonna”

Leonardo da Vinci’s “Madonna with a Flower” door

Michelangelo’s “The Crouching Boy”

The Large Italian Skylight Room
Mazzuola’s “Adonis” - Sculpture (1715)

The Peacock Clock

Raphael’s “The Holy Family”

Raphael’s “The Conestabile Madonna”
(The reflection of our guide, Max, at the left.)

Raphael’s Loggia
Max, Narene, and Rochelle

Leonardo da Vinci Room

Portrait of Peter the Great and a decorative table

Rochelle, Jeff, Doug, and Shannon looking at exhibits.

Ancient Egyptian Writing

Stairs (but not the Grand Staircase)

The General Staff building is across from the Hermitage.
(next 2 photos)

The “General Staff” Building
Walking in the rain
Jeff, Rochelle, Narene, Max, Shannon, and Doug

Arch of the General Staff building

In the next posting, I will continue with our trip to St. Petersburg with photos of our boat trip on the canal in St. Petersburg and our visit to the famous Peterhof.

A Return Visit to Kolomenskoe Park

The government proclaimed Saturday, June 7, to be a working day in Moscow to give employees a four-day weekend next week. June 12, next Thursday, is Russia Day, a day of national unity. On this day in 1990 the Russian parliament formally declared its sovereignty.

Sam and I worked in the office Saturday morning and then enjoyed a return visit to Kolomonskoe Park with Clark and Renee Mason. Neither couple realized until we entered the park that we had been there before. The Masons were there the day before Easter, and we had gone with the Browns last winter.

Colorful flowers greeted us as we entered the park.

We got a view of the sand sculptures
from the nearby hill
but didn’t pay to go in for a closer look.
Sam zoomed in and got this picture
of one of the sand sculptures.

Church of the Ascension in the background.

Church of the Ascension,
a restored 16^th century church.
It was constructed in 1529-1532
by order of Tsar Vasily III
to commemorate the birth
of his son and heir, Ivan the Terrible.

Saint George Bell Tower

We enjoyed hearing the music from the bells.
Prior to this lady playing the smaller bells,
a clergy man wearing a black robe
played the larger bells
shown in the foreground.
The Water Tower is in the background.

The pharmaceutical garden.

Kaxzan Cathedral
We went inside to see the religious icons.
The worshippers were older women
similar to the ladies sitting on the bench
in front of the church.
(see the next photo)

Typical of the women we saw inside the cathedral.

Feeding the many pigeons
is a favorite thing for children to do.

We saw several brides and grooms in the park
getting their pictures taken.

It’s been a few years since
Sam and I were a bride and groom.
(Actually, our 49^th anniversary was June 5.)

Bee Master’s Farmstead

We were trying to find Peter the Great’s wooden cabin when we saw this cottage, but this turned out to be where you could buy honey. To reach Peter’s cabin, we should have turned left after going through the red and white gate. We’ll look for it on our next visit.

We will come back again to
Kolomenskoe Park and
maybe have a picnic near the Moscow River.

Our Visa Renewal Trip to Prague

To renew our visa, we flew from Moscow to Prague on Saturday morning, May 3 and returned Wednesday morning, May 7. Our hotel was quite basic, but very clean with a nice continental breakfast; and it was within walking distance of the LDS church, the metro, Old Town, and other places of interest. There are so many interesting buildings and statues in Prague. In fact, many buildings have statues on them. There are also many old historic churches, and we went into several.

Tower at one end of the Charles Bridge.
There are many statues on the building
seen through the arch.
(Sam is standing under the arch.)

Our first day in Prague, we crossed one of the several bridges over the Vltava River and climbed many stairs for a good view of the city. After getting to the top, though, it started to rain so it wasn’t an ideal time for taking pictures.

View overlooking the city
after climbing many stairs.

Next we walked to the Castle with its three courtyards, which is considered the #1 tourist attraction in Prague and is one of the largest fortresses in the world. The huge St. Vitus Cathedral is the most impressive structure within the Castle area.

St. Vitus Cathedral

St Vitus Cathedral - side view

St. Vitus Cathedral - interior

There are other important historical buildings in the Castle area, including the Old Royal Palace and St. George’s Basilica.

Old Royal Palace - Vladislav Hall

View from the Castle area

A little street by the Castle is called Golden Lane that is lined with tiny houses that resemble doll houses, and today they are mostly souvenir and book shops. Probably the oldest house on the street is #20 and looks almost the same as it did in the sixteenth century.

Golden Lane - #20, this 16th century tiny house is now a music store.

We enjoyed attending church on Sunday. I found it interesting that I could more easily sing in Czech than in Russian, because they use the same alphabet we do.

The sign says
"Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints"
Church started at 9:30 a.m.
(Narene under the sign)

Another tourist attraction is the medieval Astronomical Clock on the wall of City Hall in Old Town Square. Every hour 12 apostles pass by the window above the dial with symbolic sculptures moving aside, and there is a Calendar Dial underneath.

Astronomical Clock in Old Town Square

Church of Our Lady of Tyn in Old Town Square

We walked several times across the Charles Bridge over the Vltava River, which is the oldest bridge in the city. It was built between the 14th and 15th century. It has 16 pillars, is lined with 30 statues and lamps, and has a Gothic tower at each end. The bridge attracts many visitors who enjoy watching the numerous artists doing portraits, checking out the crafts, and listening to a variety of musicians.

Charles Bridge over the Vltava River

One of many musicians on Charles Bridge.
This man had some unusual instruments.

Vysehrad is one of the most important historical places in Prague. It is a fortress on a high cliff above the Vltava River where the Church of St. Peter and Paul is located. We walked through the cemetery there and we were interested to see the surnames of several people in Martin who have Slovakian roots; for example, “Novotny,” the name of our neighbors back home.

Church of St. Peter and Paul

We walked around in the Jewish Quarter and took pictures of the architecture, but we didn’t go into any of the synagogues. The old cemetery was small in dimension, but I read it contains as many as 9 to 12 layers of burials and over 12,000 gravestones. Reportedly 100,000 people are buried there. During World War II, it is estimated that 90% of the Bohemian and Moravian Jews were killed.

Jewish Cemetery - over 12,000 gravestones

Jewish Quarter Town Hall

Old-New Jewish Synagogue

Our last afternoon in Prague, we decided to take the tram from one end of the city to the other to see what the other parts of the city were like. Our metro pass was also good for the tram as well as the city bus. They spot check for tickets, and I only was asked to show my ticket one time on the bus.

Countryside at the edge of the city of Prague

On Tuesday, I still had two things I wanted to do. I bought a small crystal vase, as crystal is one of the featured items representative of Prague. I also wanted to eat a kolache, which I knew about from the people in South Dakota with this heritage. We couldn’t find any place that sold kolaches, though, so I settled for a trdelnik. The dough is coated with beaten egg and flavored with sugar, vanilla and crushed almonds, rolled into strips, and wrapped around metal or wooden rods to bake by rolling over a grill. They were quite tasty.

Souvenir shop featuring Czech Crystal and Glass

We visited with some members of the BYU folk dancers who were in Prague to perform there on Wednesday evening. However, we flew back to Moscow Wednesday morning with happy memories of our visit to Prague.

Narene with some of the BYU Folk Dancers

We stayed at the Denisa Hotel.

Our last evening, we had a pleasant boat ride from Charles Bridge going under four bridges on the Vltava River.

Our boat cruise on the Vltava River

Sam & Narene on the Charles Bridge

Your Home Is Your Castle

We are content in our apartment in Moscow, except Sam misses having a comfortable chair to sit in; and he would gladly get rid of the two uncomfortable couches that must be from the Stalin Era (or Sam adds, maybe Peter the Great era!). Still, we’re grateful for our apartment in spite of the old furniture. Of all the senior couples in Moscow, our apartment is the cheapest rent at about $1100 a month. Most are paying double what we pay. Besides, we have a great view out our large windows, we have a good queen size bed with a comfortable mattress that actually has springs and not just filling, and we have the only electric clothes dryer of anyone we know here. So in spite of the fact that other places we have lived in our married life seemed nicer than this apartment, we are happy to have it as our “dom.”

The view from our apartment.

As we leave our apartment, we encounter all kinds of construction going on this spring. The most recent that affects us is taking place near the Sokol metro stop where we now have to go up over the recently built overpass to use the entrance across the street. When the days started being warmer, all kinds of painting projects sprung up around outdoors. They either have a fondness for green or they have a special deal on green paint, as that seems to be the color of choice. You have to be aware so as to not get paint on your clothing, because they don’t put up any “Fresh Paint” signs to alert you to not touch. You can’t walk very far without seeing ditches dug here and there. The potholes in the streets have been filled in with rock and tar and spread over with asphalt without any attempt to blend the patches in with the surrounding road. There are no signs posted or cones to block off the patched areas to alert you to fresh tar; so instead of having to watch for icy spots, now you must watch for patches just finished hours ago and for the open holes. The patches and the paint will not be long term repairs; rather, they are quick fixes and will likely need to be redone next spring.

Most of the outdoor laborers in our neighborhood
appear to be Asian.

We have enjoyed all the flowers planted this spring in the parks and public areas. The tulips are now being replaced with begonias, marigolds, and other flowering plants. Dandelions are left to grow among the weeds and grass.

Rochelle & Shannon among the tulips.

Yesterday, Greg & Chris Shepard and Sam & were coming home from our visit to Gorky Park when we decided to check out why there were so many cars parked by a large building. It turned out to be some kind of an architecture trade show. As we passed along some outdoor displays, I read a sign written in English encouraging the architects to reach for a new vision embracing quality. Quality is needed, but unfortunately, the majority of the people won’t be able to afford it. Sadly, most in Moscow do not have as nice an apartment as Sam and I are lucky to have.

Entrance to Gorky Park.

To get to Gorky Park, we got off the metro at the Park Kultury stop and crossed over the Moskva River bridge, with the Peter the Great Monument to our left and the amusement park to the right. It covers an area of about 300 acres and is filled with children’s play areas and a huge Ferris wheel. The Masons were with the Shepards and us for most of the afternoon walking. We got a chocolate shake for 50 rubles and later the Shepards shared a Snickers bar with us as we sat and watched a small group do some simple dances. There was an art display at a street underpass and more outdoor booths near the bridge that we enjoyed seeing. On a warmer day, we might like to take a boat ride from here that goes through the center of Moscow past many famous city sights.

Gorky Park - Ferris Wheel by the lake.

Little girl riding a camel in Gorky Park.

Carousel at the Gorky Park entrance.
Have you ever seen one with two levels before?

The Masons rejoined us for a hamburger and fries at a cute “American diner” at the mall by the Central Building, where the Moscow Mission was having their district conference this weekend and had a meeting last night. Sam and I are in the Moscow West Mission, so we came home and enjoyed a relaxing evening.