Honey Festival

We decided to venture out to see Tsaritsino. The reason to try and go now, is that during September across the street is Honey Festival. Russians must love their honey is all I can say. There were rows and rows and rows of little honey stands like this one. We estimate around 200 stands. Almost all exactly the same . . .

They give you little sticks to sample the honey. I didn't know honey could taste so different, but it can - based on the plants the bees are collecting pollen from. I don't normally like honey plain anyway, but one of the ones we tried was soo nasty I was scared to taste more.
I'm not sure you can really see it here, but on the horizon, poking out of the trees, is the palace. There were tons of ponds and fountains on the grounds.

The palace was actually never finished, but the government finally finished it in 2007. You can see the ruins in front of it here, but from what I read there were actually walls and everything that you could see so these must have been the worst of the ruins that you see here in front.

We didn't pay to go inside. We'd seen enough museums in St. Petersburg last weekend. It was a fun walk, a lot of uphill pushing the stroller and we were tired out from a long day by the end.

There was also some children's event going on, but it was sparse. Levin saw a sign saying the tenth month is family and children's month, but it's not yet October so we were confused. Some people gave me a Family magazine, but only the title was in English. I also got a free bottle. I think we were the first "customers" because both people had someone take our picture as they were handing me the free item.
The kids got these balloons on our way out. And of course they were dropped more than once on the Metro ride home.
In our rush out the door Levin put Leah in just her sandals. Probably because she was crying her tennis shoes are dirty which she has been doing lately . . . . in comparison to these sandals she's worn all summer they are pristine, but she had an issue. Luckily her feet didn't freeze since it is getting a little chilly here.

Pasghetti Head

Oliver mostly likes to eat formula, but he does love spaghetti. What a mess! I'm glad I thought to take off his shirt. His pants were already gone because I'd just changed his diaper.

Notice the noodle stuck on his forehead.
I got these popsicle molds a month ago. Leah LOVES them. I just make them out of drinkable yogurt. She is devastated when she's eaten the last one and has to wait for more to freeze. I could just stay on top of it better and freeze as we go, but oh well.

Last Random Pics of St. Petes

The dome of St. Isaac's. I forgot this before.

From the top of St. Isaac's I came out of the stairwell and saw this blue domed church. I really wanted to find it later, but we couldn't.
Statue of Peter the Great.
Some random building that I liked because it was pink. I'm weird - I know.
I can't remember what this building was and Levin's not here to ask. But, we saw some strange people dressed in costume randomly sometimes at the tourist sites. At first we thought that's what these people were, but they were taping off the area as we approached. We think they were filming a movie, but over to the left, not pictured here was a sign, like it was the front of a store, but the sign was in English. Who knows.
We went to a children's store looking for socks, but came away with Oliver a hat. He hates it of course so I pushed it back a little so the fur wasn't so close to his eyes. I'm going to have to do a little snipping as some fur hangs down a little too low. Hopefully, when it's freezing cold he'll be more willing to wear it. The diaper and black socks is a pretty dashing look I think.
Somehow the hotel knew it was my birthday. We think from the passports maybe?? Anyway, they came bringing up this cake. How sweet! It's super pretty, but it was pretty much a think wafer with tons of super thick whipping cream, sliced almonds, and the fruit. The blackberry was pretty tasty. Thank you Marriott!

Russian Museum

This is the Russian museum. Are you surprised to find Levin in a picture instead of me? He takes the better pictures and he knows that so that's why I am usually the one in the picture. Plus, he doesn't like being in them.

The Russian museum holds the Russian art, whereas the Hermitage is more of other European art. Once again Levin let me go in while he stayed out. He tried, unsuccessfully, to get Leah to take a nap on the bench.
Oliver crawled all over ruining he pants of course. I will have to buy him all new pants once he starts walking as all his knees are thinning and stained brown.
This is some annex to the museum, but we didn't go inside.
We cut through a park on the way home and saw the back of the Russian museum.
Are you getting sick of the pictures of St. Petersburg? I am. One more post and then we're done!

Peterhof

To get to Peterhof we took a boat. When we got there the wind was blowing off the water and it was so cold!

Below is the main palace - there are others. Everything costs money here, the boat ride, then to enter just the gardens, then to enter each of the palaces and buildings. Right here the fountains aren't on and the crowds are gathering. This was the most crowded tourist site we went to. The fountains play music and turn on at 10 or something (I can't remember). The fountains were nice, but I'm not sure worth all the hype that went on before they turned on.
Trying to get in was crazy and we couldn't figure out the rhyme or reason on who they were letting in - you bought tickets on the inside, but we couldn't get inside. So finally we put Oliver in the pack and Levin pushed me through to the doorman and they let the woman with the baby inside. Levin and Leah went and bought me a little purse for my birthday while we were inside. Since I only have a diaper bag and it's weird to take it with me when I go somewhere without kids. I was the only one not on a tour - the only one. Some women in the beginning where you get your paper booties were very helpful to me. I raced through the palace sometimes getting trapped in a small room full of people and unable to push through to the other door, but Oliver would generally start crying and everyone is willing to let the crying baby pass through so he doesn't interrupt their tour. There seemed to be a lot of British people there so I caught a few tidbits of information from the English tour guides. This was a summer palace, but every bedroom has a dutch tiled stove - no chimneys though because they were never used, but were just there for decoration. I kind of came away with, if you've seen one palace, you've seen them all, but not exactly. It was a lot like Versailles and one of King Ludvig's I saw in Bavaria - can't remember the name. I was impressed by the floor and all the designs made out of different colors of wood.
Apparently the Nazis pretty much destroyed the place. Although I heard Stalin destroyed it preemptively, but Wikipedia ways the Nazis did it. Either way, they started rebuilding after the war and are still working on it.
Overall, we really liked Peterhof, but even if we do go back to St. Petersburg I don't think I'll go back unless someone is willing to pay the fees for me to see some of the other buildings and the kids don't have to sit still for the 45 minute boat ride.

Peter and Paul Fortress

This is the Peter and Paul Fortress - from across the river. We got there too close to closing time so we didn't have time to see too much, but we did see the Peter and Paul cathedral. The Fortress was built by Peter I to protect against an attack by the Swedes.

The Peter and Paul Cathedral is in the center and is mostly what we had time to see. All of the tsars from Peter I to Alexander the III with the exception of Peter II are buried in this church. We only took a picture of Peter the Great, but here he is in his glory. :) On the 80th anniversary of the martyr of the last tsar, Nicholas the II, and his family, and his "entourage," they moved their remains here.Inside the church.

Gotta love that face!

Good Little Travelers

There has to be the right balance of tiredness with children. Tired enough to sleep a lot in the stroller, but not so tired they're super grumpy. We were lucky and usually had a pretty good tiredness level. Luckily, our kids sleep pretty well in the stroller. Leah looks super uncomfortable, but she's started sleeping like this lately.

Oliver is new to the traveling thing, but Leah is a pro. She has almost as many stamps in her passport as I do. She is not yet 3 and has lived in 3 different countries and has visited 6 others. Wow!

The Hermitage

I'm going to stop blogging tonight and finish later because all I have to say about the Hermitage is that it's an art museum. Actually we bought two prints there, so obviously, we liked it. :) The kids conveniently fell asleep right before and right after we went in so we actually enjoyed it together.

From St. Isaac's.

A Sign From Heaven

As I said earlier, Saturday morning we hunted and hunted to find a place open to feed us breakfast. Some of the 24 hour producti stores (little mini-marts) that said 24 hours on the outside were in fact, not 24 hours and were closed. We finally found our blini but right after we started seeing these signs spray painted on the sidewalk. Obed is Russian for lunch. "Levin your lunch is this way." We followed the signs (conveniently they were on our route anyway) to see where fate was taking us.

Here is where we wound up. Turns out it was the name of the cafe, not someone speaking to Levin. We would have eaten there, but since we'd just had breakfast we weren't ready for "obed."

Church On Spilled Blood

This is The Church of the Resurrection of Our Savior On Spilled Blood . . . or something like that. It has a lot of names, but most people call it Church on Spilled Blood. It was built here because this is where Tsar Alexander II was assassinated. His son built it as a private memorial, but the communists turned it public and then it was used for like storage and stuff and finally reopened and fixed up. This was probably our favorite thing we saw in St. Petersburg, or at least mine anyway.

This is the view from the top of St. Isaac's.
Here I am with Oliver asleep in the Ergo. He and I went inside while Levin and Leah hunted for our lunch. Unfortunately, he didn't actually see any of it as he was asleep.
You can't tell from the picture, but all of the artwork on the inside are mosaics.


And here is Leah.

Kevin From Home Alone

We went to dinner Friday night not long after the train ride. The only restaurant close to our hotel was a Chinese restaurant. We braved it and tried it. It wasn't bad, but the waiter must have liked our tip a lot because as we were leaving he came outside and grabbed up Leah and hugged her and then started playing with Oliver and jibber jabbering in Russian so I had no idea what he was saying, and then he started shouting Kevin! Kevin! And then turns to me and says, "his Mom says, Kevin, Kevin!" Levin told me to hurry to get the kids buckled in the stroller, so I did. Then after we were gone he translated that the guy was telling how his favorite movie ever was Home Alone and that Oliver reminded him of Kevin. So now I call this Oliver's Kevin coat. For some reason the hood kind of pops up and stays in the up position so Oliver can't really take it off. It's kind of nice I guess.

Here we are the next morning with Oliver aka Kevin eating blini (Russian pancakes).
St. Petersburg should be known as the city that never wakes up. Our first night walking to our hotel we saw a blini store that also sold donuts so we planned on going there for breakfast. At 9:00 I opened the door and asked if they were open and the lady laughed at me and said not until 10. A place that sells donuts and pancakes doesn't open until 10?? We found another place to eat around 10:00 that was closer to St. Isaac's. We were all starving by then.

St. Isaac's

For my birthday last weekend we went to St. Petersburg. We rode a bullet train and I have no desire to ever take my kids on a train of that sort again. :) But the way home was much better and we saw some beautiful things there.

The first place we visited was St. Isaac's Cathedral.

Conveniently, there was a playground across the street we could let the kids play at while we took turns climbing to the top. Unfortunately, that meant Oliver started the day with muddy knees.



I swear I have seen this picture somewhere - like on an Ensign or something. Anyway, it is Peter with the Keys of the Priesthood. The church looks a little dark because we are lame at taking pictures, it wasn't actually that dark.