Last Full Day in Russia

Its hard to believe that my time in Russia is coming to an end, that three and and a half months has  really gone by. (Though on a more positive note, I will gladly accept the fact that finals are over :)). Still, with all seriousness its been an amazing and challenging experience the whole way through.  So here is what I have been up to this past few days.

Peterhof! It was absolutely gorgeous here, I'm glad we waited until the weather was warmer so we could appreciate it better and see the fountains.

The Fountains getting turned on!

Amazing! (Rainbow!)

Just me (you can see my infamous guidebook in my hand)

Flower Fountain

Pyramid Fountain

Golden Cascade Fountain

Marley's Pool

Lion Fountain

Cruise

Pictures from our farewell tour and dinner

Dancers from our dinner show

White night, this picture was taken at 10:30 at night

Victory Day, May 9th Parade
I was really sick this day, but I dragged myself out to see the parade anyway.

It was really impressive, everyone in crowd was cheering and thanking the veterans.

Check out the guy in the middles beard!

Well I guess that's all there is to tell. Thank you those who have been keeping up with my travels the entire way through. And to those at you home, I'll see you soon!

A bit more catching up

Hello, had some spare time today for once and I thought I would use the time to catch up on blogging.  Without further adue:

Here is the "Bronze Horseman Statue" of Peter the Great



Saint Issacs Cathedral (the golden dome on the top is the largest in Europe)

Novgorod, the Oldest city in Russia, fonded in the 800 century

Examples of Russian Wooden Architecture at the Wooden Architecture Museum not far from Novgorod.

Skeleton of A blue whale in the zooilogical museum

Wolf

Polar Bears

Me at the Philharmonic Hall

Ok well that just about does it for now I suppose, hopefully I will be writing agian real soon.

Helsinki, Estonia and Leningrad seige memorial

I know I know, I said i would blog more often and I havent and now the semester is almost over! Il try to do this post in chronological order but now its sort of hard to remember what happened first :/. Anyway...

A bit before our trip to Finland we visited a memorial to the seige of Leningrad.

It was a very solem experience, the seige lasted around 900 days and there are monuments to the seige all over the city

Helsinki

Icey waters on the cruise to Finland!

Church in a cave that we visited

Monument to a famous Finnish trumpet player

Cathedral in the town square

Camels in the Helsinki zoo

Ferrets

Bear!

TALNIN

Gorgeous Church

Townsquare



As an added bonus here is the strangest poster I have ever seen, it hung in my hostel room in Finland.

Ok well thats all for now, Il try to pst again soon!



Prague and Bratislava!

Time to blog about the rest my spring break:

PRAGUE

I left from Moscow late Monday morning. It was a pretty strange flight considering we went to Frankfurt for a layover, yet Germany is further away than the Czech Republic. By the time we landed it was midnight so we had to take a taxi to the hostel because all public transportation had shut down. The hostel was very nice, not only was the room great but the hostel also had a lounge and bar! Anyway, here are some of the pictures from the city:

National History Museum

Spot where Jan Palach and Jan Zajic burnt themselves to death in response to the Soviet invasion of Czechoslovakia.

Astrological Clock

View fro Prague Castle, amazing!

Cathedral inside the palace

Charles Bridge

Museum of Communism

BRATISLAVA

After three days myself and my friend Katie took a train to Bratislava, the capitol of Slovakia or as our tour guide called it "the largest village in Slovakia". It is true that it is a small city, but after spending so much time in a huge city like Saint Petersburg I welcomed the change in scenery, not to mention the change in weather. Here are the photos:

First night in Bratislava

Cool fountain on the Euroviea shopping center

Lakeside Lounge Area

Margarita

UFO Restaurant

Bratislava Castle

Austria

Slavin, cemetery for fallen Soviet soldiers

Blue Art Nouveau Church

The US Embassy was designed after the white house!

Old Town

Me with the "working man"

"So you don't like the old time bikes, eh?"

Delicious Slovak restaurant!

View of the city from the tower in old town

Castle on the outskirts of the city

A dragon heater!

The largest wine cellar in central Europe

Beautiful Hillside

Wine tasting!

Beautiful Slovak Pottery

Loved this cafe!

Ok well that just about sums up my spring break, or at least the best way I could in pictures. My next entry will be about the memorial of the siege of Leningrad. This Wednesday I will be going to Finland and Estonia so Il try to get it done before then. In conclusion, I was so glad I got to see these amazing cities, it was an experience Il always treasure and one I'm sure I will remember for the rest of my life.