The Weekend

So it's been a pretty good weekend. On Friday, Lauren, Tom and I went to a really cool bar off Nevsky Prospect. It was very cozy and two guys played spanish guitars and I had the most delicious mojito ever! Then we went to watch the bridges on the Neva rise. They open the bridges around 2am during the summer to let the ships pass through, and everyone goes down to the water to watch. It's quite the sight.My pictures don't really show how cool it is...

This is the Peter and Paul Fortress, which is on an island right across the river from where we were. Please note how dark the sky is at 2am. It's by far the darkest I've seen it since I've been here. We walked past the Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood and it looked super cool at night. Again, the picture doesn't do it justice.

We were enjoying our mojitos a little too long, so we had to rush down to the water, but we got there in time to see one bridge open. It was lovely.

Today, I went to see the Church of St. Nicholas, which is really pretty.
And then I went to the Yusupov Palace. Unfortunately, I don't have any pictures of it, but it is supposed to be one of the loveliest palaces in St. Petersburg, and I have to agree. Everything was opulent, for sure, but managed to look classier than a lot of other palaces. Plus, there was a tiny sized theater for private performances, and it just looked like a miniature of a big fancy theater house. It was awesome. They still have performances there, but I'm pretty sure you have to be more important than I am to go. I tried to buy a pack of postcards with pictures of the different rooms so I could show everyone, but the woman wouldn't sell it to me because I didn't have exact change.... She wasn't really in a problem solving mode I don't think. Maybe I can find them somewhere else.

Anyway, tonight I'm headed out with Lauren and Tom again. Lauren leaves tomorrow and I have to say I will be very sad to see her go! This city could use a few more Americans. I'm going to study a bunch tomorrow. The Italians in my class have left now, so it will just be Tom, a Japanese kid, and I, so it will be way more obvious that I have no idea what's going on a lot of the time... Wish me luck!

Oh, also - Magdelena wants to make me have more color, right? Well her idea of a hearty breakfast turns out to be Cocoa Puffs, which she fed me the next morning! Ew! My milk turned into chocolate milk! So I told her I preferred oatmeal, and this morning I had oatmeal and cherry chocolate yogurt! Ew! Why? Why must I eat chocolate things for breakfast? I told her I didn't like it very much though, so hopefully she won't buy anymore. We'll see..