Cathedral of The Resurrection - Church on Spilled Blood

Everything I am going to tell you comes from a book a girl at work lent me. This church is built on the spot where Emperor Alexander III was murdered in 1881. The outside is covered with semi-precious stones, enamel work and tiles.



It is the most beautiful church I've ever seen.



The whole inside of the church is tile mosaic!

This is the actual spot where Alexander was killed. Nothing has been done with this spot. You could actually see the old road inside this little area.

I do have a sneaky picture trying to get a shot of a babushka with purple hair, but since it has other people in it, I won't post it.

I saw another woman with purple hair today.....

More Pictures from Hermitage

St. Petersburg - Санкт Петербург

I must warn you, there will be alot of pictures... and probably more than one post.
Also, I apologize for my lack of knowledge about the things I will post. It really is a shame that I am so ignorant of Russian history, and you might even be embarassed for me. If anyone knows of some good resources, I'd love to hear.
So, six of us went to St. Petersburg. It is a one hour flight from Moscow. Thankfully our Aeroflot pilot seemed to have been sober.
We got to the hotel before check in, and a funny thing happened. When I was trying to give my bag to the bellman - he said something to me that I didn't understand. However, he was speaking in english.... He said to me, "which language do you prefer?" When I answered, "english", he said, "Are you certain?" It was quite funny, and it gave us laughs over the weekend.
So, we find some good Georgian food, and head off to The Hermitage. I really cannot even begin to describe this place. It was the residence of the Russian Tsars on the embankment of the Neva River in the heart of St. Petersburg. There are like 6 buildings, and I know for certain we probably only saw like 20% of the stuff there. I had no idea what a fine collection of western European art was housed here. DaVinci, Monet, Michaelangelo, El Greco, Goya, Rubens to name a few.
Every room was a sight to behold - not even taking into account the art on display. The celings, the floors, the chandeliers... It was never ending... We wandered around in amazement.
So, I will make no attempt to explain each picture here. Probably needs no explanation anyway.
Here is a link to The Hermitage website.
http://www.hermitagemuseum.org/html_En/index.html

The horse above was real. It had been stuffed. If you look closely, you can see the line where the skin was cut.

Tomorrow, I will post more pictures - including the Church on Spilled Blood, and general city pictures of SPB.

Shashlik -Шашлык

Shashlik is my new favorite food! It is much like shishkabob. It is cooked outdoors over charcoal.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shashlik

Yesterday, I went to the souviener market. First, I had to eat this wonderful food! The smell of the bbq and the charcoal is wonderful! And here, you sit outside in the cold. It has been warmer the past few days, but in the US, we would never do this....

A few weeks ago, when it was colder, we walked by McDonald's at like 8 pm, and tons of people were sitting outside eating.

Something else interesting from yesterday - so I was sitting eating, and and an older man came up and asked if he could sit with me because there were no more tables. I am not sure what he said, or which language he was speaking, but I told him in Russian, "please, sit down." Turns out he was from Hungary and was here on business. He did not speak much English, but he spoke Italian (which is sort of similar to Spaish). So we spoke in Spanish and Russian.

When we were done eating, we walked aroung the flea market and he kept telling me what poor quality all of the stuff was... I bought some more magnets, but that was it.

Today, the weather is warmer... I walked to the office for the first time. Takes like 10-15 minutes.

Here are some pics I took of the canal near the office the other day.

I am excited I am going to make yoga again today!

Pictures from St. Patrick's Day Parade

The St. Patrick's Day Parade was last Sunday. It was quite an unusual event here in Moscow. It lasted about twenty minutes, and was a collection of flat-bed trucks (floats) and people walking. Also there were some dogs with green ribbons for collars.... Here are a few pics.

So, this girl was not in the parade, but she did have a small white ferret in her coat!

Nice shamrock flag.

Guinness - of course!
I am pretty sure the sign says something about butter. Kerrygold - I guess that is an Irish brand?
This was at the Shamrock bar. He was a pretty good bagpipe player. See the screen behing him? They were showing "Riverdance" or something like it - and it was very entertaining to watch this girl there dancing along with them on TV.

Kyiv Sightseeing!

This was a church near my apartment.

I hear that Kyiv is laid out on 7 hills. This was one of them!

I believe this is the house of the "crying widow" you can see how the stone has become stained and it looks like tears.

House with Chimeras

I found this to be one of the most fascinating buildings I've ever seen.

Please read about it here!

http://www.kiev.info/culture/house_chimeras.htm

In Ukrainan - this says "President Ukraine" People like to have their pictures made here!

I found this amusing. This is a sign for Papa John's Pizza. So, this is what he looks like?!

Lover's Bridge... people put locks here to symbolize something... I suspect it is meant to be undying love, but I find it interesting that they chose locks!

A beautiful park along the Dnepr River. I am sure this place is more gorgeous when things are green!

Nice Soviet staute....

I am ashamed to say I don't know which church this is... However, I can tell you it is at the top of a hill!

Dpner River View

Statue in Independence Square

Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra

This is what makes Kyiv the "Russian Jerusalem"

http://www.kiev.info/culture/lavra.htm

This statue of a young girl was right outside the entrance to the Lavra. Not sure what it was about, but I thought it was quite beautiful.

Mural at the entry way of Kievo-Pecherskaya Lavra. Now, this was like a small village with many buildings. The main thing I wanted to see were the caves.

The caves were down this way. Notice the huge statue in the middle left. Sure were alot of hills :)

Going into the cave was the highlight of the trip. You go in, purchase a candle for like 20 cents so that you can see where you are going. Remeber, there are remains of many important monks here. The people who were visiting (who were not tourists), were obviously here on a spiritual mission. So, you go through the underground passages, and the people are there - a painting, and then the bones (I suppose) are wrapped in cloth, and displayed in a glass coffin. Kissing these things must remove sin or do something to ease suffering.There were also places to get holy water here too. Women have to cover their heads, and holding hands is not allowed!

The first signs of Spring!!!!! Little blue flowers on the grounds at the Lavra...It was snowing in Moscow today.... We have a while to go.

So, it WAS St. Patrick's Day! So, some of us went to this Irish Restaurant. There were some young kids there who were learning about Ireland. Apparently, they had studied alot of geography. The new Nashville was the capital of Tennnessee, and knew about country music! Just a random shot out my apartment window... park on the sidewalk and sleep in your car! I think within the last year, Ukraine has eased it's visa requirement for US citizens - as none are required. The story I am told is this - there was a contest much like American Idol, and the winner was from Ukraine. They figured they could boost their tourism revenue if they did not require visas! So, any of you who don't want to deal with the cost and hassle of a Russian visa - I think Kyiv is your spot to visit! It is much smaller and cheaper than Moscow, and more people speak English. I certainly want to go back!

Something I never looked for in the US was Georgian food. This is really the best food I've had here. Shashlik, much like kabob, is cooked on charkol (however you spell), and the kachapuri (cheese bread) is sooooo good. I ate at the same restaurant all 3 nights I was there... And yes, I had chicken Kiev - twice.

Goodnight!