A Brand New City

Like I said in my last post, St. Petersburg is beginning to thaw. And it seems to have happened overnight. Snow banks have disappeared revealing sidewalks, garden plots and even cars. One of my teachers said "In St. Petersburg, if you see a small snow pile, it is a car. If you see a bigger one, it is a house." And we have definitely witnessed cars emerging from the snow. Still waiting on the house however.

Yesterday was one of the best days I have spent in the city. Our group met downtown and walked to Yusupov's Palace. This palace is located in the center of the city and pretty much just sneaks up on you. From the outside, there is nothing particularly impressive about the building. The inside however, proved to be my favorite thing I have seen in this city.

The Yusupov family bought the house in 1830 and continued to live there until the revolution, five generations lived there. They were an extremely wealthy, aristocratic Russian family. Their house was absolutely beautiful. But also, it was the first palace we have visited where you could actually imagine someone living there. In many of the palaces they seem fake. This house however, was made for a family and you could tell.

However, the house gains most of its fame because this is the location of Rasputin's murder. It is said that the youngest Yusupov, Felix, along with four comrades, planned to poison Rasputin. However, as Felix's memoir states, the poison never took effect and he was forced to shoot Rasputin. Only this too did not kill him. Instead he fought his way out of the palace where he was once again shot numerous times. They then threw his body off a bridge onto the Neva river.

We actually stood in the same room where this all happened and walked the same staircases. It truly was a bizarre and eerie experience. Just another example of Russia's mysterious and perplexing history.

I assume everyone has heard about the bombings in Moscow last week. The situation with Chechnya remains hostile, as it has been for a number of years. But the militsia have taken extra precautions and are now vigilantly stalking every metro stop. It is a small sense of security, but at least it is something. But we are all alert all the time. And believe me, our directors have been enforcing this with us since day 1.

And if it is any consolation, next Thursday, April 15, we leave for Finland. I am very excited about leaving the country for a few days, it will be nice to get away from Russian cuisine for awhile. I can only handle so many potatoes. However, I have discovered Sherma. This delicious wrap of mystery meat, mystery sauce and cabbage can be found on every street corner and looks legit about 50% of the time. But it always tastes good.

I know everybody says not to eat street food, but really, where is the fun in that? It's almost a game. How many Sherma can I eat before I get food poisoning? Well, I already lost, so hopefully I am in the clear for the rest of the semester and can gorge myself on Sherma at my leisure.

Happy Easter Everyone! Mom, I am warning you, do not eat the ears off my bunny.