Trying to Catch Up - Part 1

Alexi Turbow reporting from St. Petersburg, Russia

We have been on the go go go so I will do my best to update you on our activities since Saturday. I would like to say that I will make this short, but I think we all know that is a lie.

On Saturday, I arrived to Moscow. As you most likely saw in a previous post, I was enjoying myself until my phone was stolen. Needless to say, that put a damper on the rest of my day and feelings towards Moscow in general. After dealing with the phone and credit card companies (I had some pertinent information on that phone and did not want to run the risk of having all of my money stolen as well) we went to some Asian cafe for dinner. Apparently sushi and Asian cuisine are popular here. The food was good and the company even better.

Sunday I slept. And slept and slept. We then got ready and went to the Moscow Circus (there are two, the one we went to is up by the University). Our seats were fantastic, third row from all the action, so we did not miss anything. There was a library theme, so every "act" of the circus was based upon a different country you might travel to in a book. Surprisingly (or maybe not, I don't know), my favorite "act" was the one based upon America and westerns. I found the horse-riders and schtick about an outlaw on the run to be both highly entertaining and hilarious. The tricks these horse-riders were performing were highly impressive, and made me wonder if gymnasts that don't make it on to the Olympic team join the circus instead.

After the circus, we went back towards our neighborhood and had dinner at Sportworld. I would like to point out that there is a gambling house in the basement, but sadly it was not the sketchy operation I had anticipated. However, there were a couple of exceptionally smelly fellows (or "smellows" as I shall now refer to them as - trademark Alexi Turbow 2012) so we ate upstairs. In the upstairs part there are TVs and we were able to watch American football! USA! USA! USA! There was a Russian man also watching and I have to say, I was impressed both with his excellent English and knowledge of American football. Although, I think a lot of his interest in the game/sport was because he had put money on it, but that is neither here nor there.

Monday we slept in and then some people came to try to fix the TV (there is still no satellite, although that is a problem more for my dad and Andrea than myself) as well as the cleaning woman. My dad and I then grabbed a bite at a cafe before meeting up with Andrea when she got out of class. The three of us then headed towards the Kremlin.

Now, I don't know about you, but my knowledge of Russia is quite limited. I have obviously heard of the Kremlin and had an idea of what it is, but had no idea just how much is within the Kremlin. Yes, there are government buildings (previously I thought it was only government buildings), but there are also many beautiful churches and the armory.

After waiting around for awhile (something else I have learned here is that for certain attractions you can only buy tickets during a set time period and then your tickets are only good for entrance during another specified timeframe), we were able to purchase our tickets and go inside the Kremlin.

Since we could not get into the armory right away (again, the whole specified time thing) we went into a couple of the churches first. I learned quite a bit about iconastasis and the people that are buried within these churches. I also learned about a type of religious painting that seems to be a purely Russian thing. It is called the "Virgin of Tenderness" and depicts the Virgin Mary with a baby Jesus nestled up against her. To me, this was one of the most beautiful and awe-inspiring things I have seen. I have also seen many a church in my day, but have to say that the churches I have seen here thus far have been the most spectacular. The design on the outside is very distinct and on the inside, just WOW. The church walls are full of paintings and what I enjoy the most is that each painting/mural shares a story. It might be the story of a battle or the story of a saint, but either way it is a story told in a beautiful way.

THAN.ENDOFPART.PARTTWOTOFOLLOW...After the