Monday, big touring

Today, Monday 12-14-09, Joyce and Stephanie picked us up at 10 a.m. and off we went for a day of touring. We started with the Church of Spilled Blood, it is built on the place where one of the Czar's of Russia was killed, the bottom pic is the cathedral bathed in sunlight, the first we have seen in the week we have been here. The next pic up is the front of a building on the canal leading to the cathedral, the next pic up is the same building, the cathedral in the distance, and the buildings lining the canal. The orig plan for this city was to have it full of canals like Venice Italy, after building several canals tho the city flooded one year and killed many people, that stopped the building of all these canals. There are plenty as it is.

more from Saturday

More of our tour on Saturday, the first pic is a museum in the Fortress, then the wall surrounding the fortress with some old cannons, the river around the outside of the fortress, some of the palaces and royal residences that line the river, Brayden and a dinasaur outside a theatre.

Another big day

We went walking around Saturday afternoon, Tamara took us to the Peter and Paul Fortress here. The first pic is of the rivers meeting in front of the fortress, then Daddy and Brayden and the statue of Peter the Great, The entrance to the fortress, Daddy and Brayden with the boat that was given to Peter the Great by someone, the last pic is the back gates to the cathedral

Brayden fell asleep

The other night in our hotel room Brayden was playing under this blanket and it wasn't long, he was asleep. Poor baby...he slept all through the night tho.

Sunday

We had a very nice day today, had two meetings both we enjoyed very much. Very different from what we are used to at home, but nice just the same. Many things are very different here. For instance...some of the things we take for granted... soft beds- enjoy yours tonight because we are sleeping on a mattress that feels like just a box spring at the hotel and here at the apt we have a foam on a sofa bed about 2" think and thats all, the single bed is just a fabric covered bench type bed, no softness there. It makes my back and hips ache. unlimited water use- here they are charged for all the water they use, cold or hot. We can't take a bath and only a limited shower, only here at Tamara's is this limit in place. Every where else it is fine. coffee- all instant here so far, not the same at all, but it does work. food - of course most all of it is different. Some has been good, some not so good, but its all been ok. We can sure survive on it fine. internet use- sometimes easily available, nothing fast enough to upload videos tho, thats why its been all pics reading signs- here we can't read a single thing. Nothing in the metro is in english, all in Russian, all street signs in Russian, if you get lost, good luck finding your way home. wide open spaces to see out- cuz its all tall buildings here, no way to see anywhere. sunshine- wow do we miss that there is none here. All cloudy, snowy today. Just a few of the things we miss. We will get special meetings on Sat and Sun, that will be nice. We go touring tomorrow, tues we will do the zoo that is not far from Tamara's, shouldn't get lost finding it. Then Wed maybe the botanical gardens that aren't too far as well and maybe the coffee museum. Then thurs and Fri are more stay in days, Sat and Sun with Joyce and Stephanie. Then we leave Sunday at 6:30 p.m. from the train station. We arrive back in Pskov at 11:42 p.m. and my understanding is that the coach lady on the train will knock on the cabin door to alert us that our stop is coming up about 35-40 min in advance. That way we won't miss it and if we don't come out she will come back and get us again. I am looking forward to seeing what we can see here, but maybe more looking forward to getting back. Jill should email tomorrow with an update on Braxton, how he is doing etc. I will post pics from touring yest, Tamara took us to a couple places that were beautiful. I took some video, can't upload now, but maybe in Moscow better internet. Have to wait and see.

Back to St Petersburg

We have arrived back in St Pete, now to just get our bearings around where we are staying so as not to get lost...then we can see some sights. We are renting a room from a very nice lady. She speaks limited english, if I keep it short and simple she can understand. She will do some cooking for us which will be nice too. I am SICK of sandwiches, may not ever want to eat another one by the time we get home. But some days I don't really care to take a child out and try to get him to eat stuff he doesn't recognize too. We will have church tomorrow morning and then some sightseeing in the afternoon maybe. Then on Monday we will have our english speaking guides for all day!!! Yay, can't wait. Till later...

Hello Ms Amy and Ms Christina and all the 4-5 yr old preschool. Brayden is doing his homework pretty well. We are a bit behind in schedule, but will pick it up this next week and get caught up. He has been really busy. He has gotten to play with his little brother once, because Braxton has been sick we haven't been able to play the other two days. Now we will go to St Petersburg and look around for 8 days and then come back. We will put some other neat pics of where we are visiting in the next few days. You all enjoy your time together, Brayden misses you all.