Russ and Teresa

Russ and Teresa flew in on Friday to St. Petersburg. We spent that night and all day Saturday cruising around the town.

In front of a statue of Lenin after they flew in. You'll notice that there is only one suitcase for the both of them. Russ' suitcase got lost in Milan but we ended up getting it the next day before we took a train to Moscow.

Both of us on top of the Peter and Paul Fortress. The steeple in the background is the fortress chapel.

Us inside the fortress chapel.

One of the palaces of the Hermitage Museum.

On the train to Moscow. This one was actually pretty nice compared to our Moscow - Minsk experience.

We're some of the very few that braved the boat rides in the cold.

Another hall in the Hermitage Museum.

The Brazen Horseman

This is a really famous statue of Peter the Great riding into St. Petersburg called "The Brazen Horseman." It's kind of the universal symbol of St. Petersburg.

Across the street from the statue runs the Neva river.

Shelley with Peter, St. Isaac's Cathedral, and a bride and groom in the background.

Another panoramic picture. This is the view of Vasilievskiy Island from the sidewalk by the statue. Basically, this is what Shelley is looking at in the picture above.

Construction and Another Panorama

Construction in Russia is hilarious and dangerous and hilariously dangerous. There are no (enforced) safety codes and all the people working are lazy. We've had a good time observing the construction and thought it would make an appropriate post on our blog. Please take time to participate in the survey on the right hand side of your screen. Thank you.

This is how you someone has to get from the road into their apartment's front door. The enormous hole with the pallet over it is about 4.5-5 feet deep.

A large pit with the sidewalk covered up on the left and the road on the right.

Brian actually broke off a lot of dirt and almost fell in while posing for this picture.

Scaffolding

Five guys that were supposed to be working hanging out in the truck. This is at about 11:00 am.

A guy sleeping in his equipment.

Brian enjoys the panoramas a lot. This is the "Summer Garden" not far from the center of the city.

People We've Met Along The Way

Brian with Phillip and Maksim at FHE. Max served in Brian's mission right after he did. Phillip is Max's brother.

Misha, Evelyn, Shelley, Brian and Stanley at Ashan at the MEGA mall. We had a bunch of friends from Taiwan. On Thursday we went with them to a big mall called MEGA that has an IKEA in it.

Shelley's class with her least favorite teacher.

Both of us with the group of American girls in our ward. They are here teaching English to children in St. Petersburg.

Brian and Elder Pylnikov from Voronezh. This kid's ward was in Brian's first area.

Huei-Chiao, Shelley and Yu-Chun. These girls were in Shelley's class. They're both from Taiwan.

Shelley, Brian and Tom. Tom was our "roommate" for the first three weeks here. He was the number 7 pick in the 1961 NBA draft and a really nice guy.

Back to Peterhof and a Few Bonus Pictures

We went back up to Peterhof the other day because we really wanted to see the fountains in the daytime while they were turned on. It was a lot better. The other ones are pictures of stuff around our apartment.

Both of us in front of the main fountains at Peterhof. It was a lot more beautiful during the day when we could actually see the water going.

It turned out kind of dark, but this is us in front of a large fountain at Peterhof with the Orthodox church behind us.

Both of us out at Peterhof in front of the Gulf of Finland.

Brian on the bridge across the Neva by our side of the river.

Shelley in front of a Muslim Mosque that is about 200 yards from the ship and the river by brian up top.

A panorama of the main fountain area at Peterhof.

A larger scale on the back side of the palace. You can see the main fountains on the right side and the Orthodox church dome on the left side by the large verticle fountain.

Tsarskoye Selo

We went to a place called Tsarskoye Selo (King’s Village) the other day and it was beautiful.

Brian in front of a scantily clad woman.

Shelley in front of Ekaterina’s Palace.

Both of us in front of the palace.

“The Amber Room” in Ekaterina’s palace. Photography is “forbidden,” but Brian’s crazy like that and will even use a flash.

Shelley by a pond in the park.

Brian

Both of us in front of the “lake.”

Shelley in front of one of the many statues of Lenin that stayed.

You have to click on this to see it really well. It’s from when we went on top of St. Isaac’s church. We figured out how to use the PhotoStitch application that came with our camera and this panorama turned out really nice.

Worst firework show ever and a stroll on top of a cathedral

We went out to a little town called Peterhof the other day. There is an ornate palace built by Peter the Great and his wife, Catherine. They have some big fountains too. We went there on Saturday because we had heard about a “Celebration of the Fountains” that they hold once every six months. It’s a light show with fireworks over the fountains. It was all very beautiful during the day, but we had to wait three hours in the rain for the light/firework show. It turned out being pretty terrible and boring. We left early to make sure we could get a bus home.

On a bridge over the canal that goes from the fountains to the Baltic Sea.

The palace and fountains before it got too dark

Shelley, Liz, and Tessa trying to stay dry.

The lighting didn’t turn out too good, but this is us on top of St. Isaac’s Cathedral with the main government building behind us.

Shelley with another government building’s gold steeples behind her. The TV tower in the far background is not too far from our apartment.