St. Petersburg Russia

In the comments for yesterday's post a friend is considering a cruise that stops at St. Petersburg and would like me to write a bit about St. Petersburg.

I have to say if I never go back to Moscow in my lifetime, I will be sad, but I would be ok with it. If I never make it back to St. Petersburg, I will have a problem with that. It is an amazing city. I would love to see it during the White Nights it is suppose to be amazing then. I was there in April so I didn't get to experience the White Nights.


As everyone knows Emperor Peter the Great had St. Petersburg built. (Side note he was the one who changed the title from being Tsars to being Emperors (or Empresses) as one of the ways to westernize Russia) He wanted St. Petersburg built in order to have a seaport to have easy access to Western Europe. He picked out where he wanted his city...the thing is that a) it was a marsh and b) Russia didn't own it. So he went to war with Sweden to get the land he wanted for it. He captured the land and even though the war wasn't over he started building his dream city on the land. He started building the city in 1703 and he moved the capital from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 1712 and the Treaty of Nystad ended the war with Sweden in 1721 a good 18 years after starting to build the city.

The history of St. Petersburg makes it hard for me to rationalize my love for the city. Many many many people died to create this city between the people who died during the war (around 75,000) and the serfs who built the city (at least 100,000, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was much much higher). Peter the Great pulled serfs from all around the country to drain and build the city. Peter the Great forced the serfs to work long hours, in dangerous and inhumane conditions which often killed then and then there were wolves, malaria, scurvy and malnutrition which also resulted in many deaths. Then once it was built enough in Peter the Great's mind to live in he forced people to move there against their will. So with this sort of history you can see why I question my love of this city.

The first thing that was built was The Peter and Paul Fortress on Hare Island in the Neva Delta.

This is my photo from April 1987 of the sign at the entrance of The Peter and Paul Fortress.





















This is my photo of the entrance of The Peter and Paul Fortress after it was first built out of earth and timber and then later rebuilt in stone. It reality it was never used as a fort. It was used as a prison through.








This is my photo of Peter and Paul Cathedral in The Peter and Paul Fortress. It was completed in the 1730s. It was used for worship until a few years after the Russian Revolution. It was reopened for worship sometime around the year 2000.

When I was there are the post-Petrine rulers except for Nicholas II, Peter II and Ivan VI were buried there. they found the remains of Nicholas II he and his family were buried there in 1998. These are the tombs of the royal family inside the Cathedral.

This isn't my photo I grabbed it off the Internet, because my photo didn't turn out well.

I think this is enough for today. I will most likely either write about the Hermitage or the Winter Palace tomorrow because they are other must see things in St. Petersburg.

A tough day

This has not been one of my best days. It is likely that I have H1N1, Horse Girl and I were exposed at school last week. Horse Girl was sick over the weekend and she is pretty much better. Now Fly Guy and I are sick. It came on very fast like a ton of bricks at one moment we felt fine then we felt like we were hit by a dump truck. Fly Guy is very sick and I am not up to par. Earlier today I was worried that we might have to take me to the urgent care clinic because I was having a ton of problems breathing, but I am more or less ok now.

This morning before we felt bad we went to a Teacher conference for History Girl. She is failing Language Arts and she is getting a C+ in Social Studies. For a girl who loves History and loves reading this is not acceptable. Her other classes she is doing fine in. Those other teachers actually looked a bit shocked that she was doing so poorly in Language Arts and Social Studies.

We have a PET meeting with the teachers in the beginning of December. We will have her eval done by then. The PDD specialists who examined her want to meet with her again on Monday because they aren't quite sure what to make of somethings so they want to interact with History Girl again. I am not sure if that is a good thing or a bad thing or just a thing. I just want this report written so we can have something real to stand on for modifications and for special help History Girl needs.

So at this point I am just tired and want answers.

I really have enjoyed writing about Russia lately, but my brain is not functioning at 100%, so I hope to write more once I can think clearly again. :-P

Not dead yet....

I said in an earlier post that my Grandmother is likely going to die very soon. Every phone call from my parents now I expect it to be the call saying she passed away.

So to the best of my knowledge my Grandmother is not dead year. My Uncle has already book the church this Sunday for the Funeral. Has also arranged for a caterer for food post funeral at his house. He also has arranged for my cousin to fly back from China in time for the funeral on Sunday. A little reminder her folks...she isn't dead yet!!! Yes I expect her to die anytime now, but save this sort of planning until after she is really dead. What if she makes to Sunday.....sorry folks the funeral is postponed because she isn't dead yet. That just seems crazy to me. Is this normal and I am just not getting it?

Flu?

It seems that Horse Girl might have the flu....fever, sore throat, cough, tired...stuff like that. So I am not going to really post today so I can get some rest in hopes of not getting sick myself.

Looking for a ride

Today it has rained all day and rained hard. I am waiting for the Noah and his boat to come by and pick us up.


Today was not a great day and the rain has made it just that much worse. We went to take Horse Girl her riding lessons this morning. We pulled into the barn parking lot and there was a firetruck and an ambulance. Turns out one of Horse Girl's instructors were hit/kicked/stepped on by one of the horses. We got there just as she was being put into the ambulance. She looked like she was ok, she was totally strapped down which looked worse then I bet it was, but when it comes to being hurt by a horse you can never be to careful. So positive thoughts for her if you will.

Horse Girl has fallen off a horse twice in the 4 years she has ridden. Which might sounds like a lot, but she hasn't been hurt, she knows how to fall plus one time her instructor caught her in midair so she never hit the ground. *knock on wood that she is never hurt* Horse Girl when she is a teenager wants the job that the instructor who was hurt has now, she would be good at it. Seeing the instructor all strapped down has made nervous about her having this job in the future. It is one of those things that I just have to let it go.

Also to make this day not so great is my father went up to see his mom. It is looking like she will die very soon. The doctors don't think she will wake up again. She is on a morphine drip right now. She has not had all her senses for sometime so it is a good thing that her life is coming to an end. She has lived longer then she would have wanted to live if she had had control of it. This is my grandmother who married Fly Guy and myself. When he and I were planning our wedding we didn't go to church and we wanted to get married in a historic Puritan meeting house so my grandmother did all the paperwork she needed to be able to perform the ceremony. So even though I have already mourned my grandmother, the person who married us....the person who sang Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer with History Girl, it sad to see her go even though I know the time for her to go has long past.

I see Noah and his ark pulling up right now. So better get going.

The Alexander Column

This is my photo of The Alexander Column from when I was in Leningrad in April 1987. I find that I don't have many photos of Leningrad because the last night I was in Moscow I met a really nice guy that I ended up dating for awhile, so I toured Leningrad with him I took fewer photos then I did in Moscow. I have to say I had more fun because he pushed me to try new things and explore the city on our own. We did get lost in Leningrad and he knew more nouns and I had a better grasp of the grammer so we were able to ask for directions. Which was very nice to know that we could get around without a problem.

Let me get back to talking about the column. :-) The column is made out of one solid piece of red granite that was quarried in Finland in 1830. Then shipped it to St. Petersburg. It took about 3 years to do that. The monolith is about 700 tons and 83 feet tall.

It was built as a celebration of Russia defeating Napoleon in 1812 under Tsar Alexander I. Which is an amazing story in itself that I might cover at some point.

The angel on the top of the column is said to look like Tsar Alexander I, but I have neither gotten close enough to see the face of the angel or have ever seen Tsar Alexander I in person. :-) So I can't tell you if it is true or not.

What I find is amazing about this monument is the fact that the column was erected without any modern equipment. It was raised into place by a set of pulleys and a collar around the top. They pulled the column up and placed it in the base that was already made for it. What I find the most amazing part of this whole thing is that it is not attached to the base...it is still not attached to the base. It is still free standing on the base. I just love thinking about the engineering behind the creation of this monument. It is just awe inspiring.

A Quick Post to forfill NaBloPoMo :-)

I should have something deeper to post today, but I just don't have it. Thursdays are always my sort of crazy days. Horse Girl has gymnastics until 6:45pm so I don't get home until late. Luckily Fly Guy got home and made dinner. It is always better when he makes dinner because he is a much better cook than I am. I need a recipe and he doesn't. I think I need a recipe because having spent a good amount of my time growing up playing with a chemistry set and then in a chem lab in high school and college, I get nervous deviating from a prescribed recipe. If you change stuff in a chemisty experament bad things can happen so I just can't do it. Which might be the reason I am more of a baker then a cook. Baking is all about the chemistry while cooking is an art form that I just don't get. Well, I should get my swimming stuff together for my morning swim and I promise something deeper for tomorrow. Maybe more stuff about Russia...I have been enjoying looking at my photos from my trip when I was 17...maybe cover a bit about Leningrad. I have some great photos of The Alexander Column and the story of the creation of that monument is amazing. ;-)