In Soviet Russia...

Well, I had my first run-in with the Russian police (militsiya) yesterday...I was walking into the Mayakovskaya metro station, on my way home for dinner, when a Russian militsiya officer stepped in front of me and asked to see my documentation. I handed over my spravka and explained to him that I was a student at St. Petersburg State University. He nodded, but told me to follow him to the militsiya office in the station. Figuring it's best not to piss off an officer, I complied. When we got there, he told me to have a seat in what basically amounted to a holding cell (because they didn't have anywhere else for me to sit) and asked me if I was carrying narcotics. I responded that I did not, to which he raised a skeptical eyebrow and ordered me to empty my pockets. Feeling a little ridiculous, I did as I was told. The officer proceeded to thoroughly go through everything I had with me, while attempting to make small talk at the same time ("Where you from? Philadelphia? That's nice. Do you like Russia?" and so on). After he finished reviewing all my stuff, he then frisked me, just to make ABSOLUTELY sure I was not carrying narcotics, and then let me go, reminding me to carry my passport with me at all times. So basically, I was profiled by the Russian police as a possible narcotics trafficker....goddamn it, Russia.

Travel Week

A brief update for everyone regarding my travel plans for the next week and a half:

Unfortunately, it looks like I will not be going to Perm and the Urals after all...according to my research, there are no connecting trains from Perm to Kazan during this period, and as much as I would love to see the Urals, I don't want to be stranded there for an entire week either.

Instead, after spending three or four days in Kazan and Nizhny Novgorod, I will be taking the train back to Moscow and spending the remainder of my vacation visiting some of the surrounding areas, such as the cities of Yaroslavl, Vladimir, and Suzdal, and possibly the battlefield of Borodino. My friend Hillary and I even managed to find a really cheap hostel not too far from Red Square (seriously, what are the odds?), so I've got a pretty decent alternative, all things considered. It's still a shame that I won't get to see the Perm-36 gulag or the Kungur ice cave, but as they say, shit happens, and you've got to roll with the punches when it does.

Regardless of what else may happen, I promise you that I am going to photograph the living HELL out of Moscow and the other places that I visit.

Swan Lake: A Photo Essay

The world-famous Mariinsky Theater (formerly known as the Kirov)

Panel featuring the Imperial Double Eagle in the the atrium of the Mariinsky

Ceiling fresco in the atrium

Original character sketches for Odile (the Black Swan) and the Princess-Regent

Character sketch for the evil wizard Rothbart

Interior of the Mariinsky

Act One curtain call, with Odette, Prince Siegfried and a legion of Swan Maidens

Act Two curtain call: Odile takes her bow

(the same dancer plays both Odette and Odile)

Odile and Siegfried, with assorted members of the Kirov in the background

Act Three curtain call....damn, that's a lot of Swan Maidens

The conductor of the flawless pit orchestra takes his much-deserved bow

Diana Vishneva, Prima Ballerina of the Kirov troupe

(She's the dancer who played Odette and Odile)

Post-Tallin Happenings (Excluding Swan Lake)

Since my computer is close to dying, and I cannot presently locate my charger, the following, like one of its predecessors, will be presented in bullet form.

• My Hermitage internship is going well; I've been busy translating stuff for their English newsletter from the original Russian. It's tedious work, but what internship isn't?
• I saw the Museum of Political History, with its truly massive collection of old Soviet propaganda posters, as well as the room which was Vladimir Lenin's former study, maintained almost exactly as he left it.
• I visited the Artillery Museum, where one can see the vehicles, arms, and munitions used by the Russian and Soviet armies from the first millenia to the present day. (pictures later!)
• I ate at a Kroshka Kartoshka, the potato-based Russian fast food chain, which truly has no American equivalent...the baked potato with cheese was truly amazing, although incredibly filling (like most Russian dishes, unfortunately).
• I also had my first experience with Russian vodka and Russians....I won't go into the details (especially since I can't remember most of them, anyway), but long story short, I woke up around noon the following day, feeling like I'd been kicked in the face with an iron boot.

Tomorrow, assuming I can upload my photos, I will do my best to narrate my experience the other night when I went to see a performance of Swan Lake (Лебедное Озеро) at the world-famous Mariinsky Theater.

Tallinn, Part Two

I know you are all tired of hearing my apologies for the frequent gaps between posts, so I won't bother wasting your time with them. As a consolation, however, I promise to post TWICE today, one to wrap up my Tallinn experiences and the other to update everyone on what I've done since then.

So, down to business: aside from all the Hesburger and honey beer, I spent a majority of my time wandering the previously-described Old City, looking at the various examples of medieval architecture and trying not to get rained on. This was a considerable problem, because it basically rained the entire time that we were in Estonia. I understand that this is merely a byproduct of being in the Baltic region, where nice weather is an exceedingly rare phenomenon (for example, in St. Petersburg, it is estimated that there are only 60 days a year when they don't receive at least some sort of precipitation), but I have gotten so sick of Russian rain that it was utterly dismaying to realize that, weather-wise, Estonia was no better.

Still, even in the pouring rain, the Old City is utterly charming, and the view of the Tallinn skyline from the top of the castle is absolutely magnificent. See for yourselves:

Both Friday and Saturday night, I spent a fair amount of time at Beer House, although, despite what pictures may indicate, I actually didn't drink THAT much. Beer House is a Germanic-themed bar/restaurant, indicative of the strong historical influence that the Germans have had upon the upper Baltic region. The beer is expensive but good, as are the appetizers, and the entertainment is great...believe me, you have not lived until you have listened to an Estonian band perform "YMCA" in Estonian. I even danced at one point, shocking as that may seem to anyone who knows me in the slightest.

On Sunday morning, after a little souvenir shopping, we all got back on the bus for Narva, an old fortress on the Estonian border which has historically changed ownership more frequently than Shaq changes teams. After a three-hour ride through the Estonian countryside, during which I had to grit my teeth and endure watching the film "Confessions of a Shopaholic", we arrived in Narva and ate lunch in the old fortress. The subsequent tour of the fortress was quite interesting, even if the view from the top was a bit difficult for photography, due to its narrow windows.

Once we left the fortress, we got back on the bus...and stayed there. For about five and a half hours. The Estonian border guards took forever to process our documents, and once they let us across the border, the Russians took even longer (although they did have an adorable little cocker spaniel sniff our luggage for drugs, which was hilarious). All this while, I was stuck on a bus with more than 70 American students, most of whom are pretty okay, but some of whom are incredibly loud, rude and annoying, so much so that I was seriously considering asking the Russian guards to shoot me and put an end to my misery (I would still have to endure another three hours of this once the Russians finally allowed us to reenter their country).

And so ended my Estonian vacation.

Tallinn, Part One

Let's face it; at first glance, Estonia hardly seems like an attractive travel destination. It's cold, tiny, rainy and used to belong to Russia....on paper, it's got virtually nothing going for it.

Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. My weekend in Tallinn has easily been one of the highlights of my semester thus far. In the Middle Ages, Tallinn was a stronghold of the Livonian Knights of the Sword (an offshoot of the more famous Teutonic Knights), and that knightly heritage is reflected in the Old City...I swear, it's like stepping straight into the pages of a fairy tale. Cobblestone streets, grey stone walls and towers, the incessant ringing of churchbells, and in every direction you look, there's a half-dozen cathedral spires reaching towards heaven. You honestly feel like you've completely left the 21st century for an era of crusaders and castles...it's a pretty cool feeling.

And then there's the food...oh my god, there is the food. To be fair, a lot of traditional Estonian cuisine is similar to Russian, with lots of pork and potatoes, although it's a bit less heavy on the dairy products. I ate at a pair of traditional Estonian restaurants, both of which were quite tasty, and the fried garlic bread was especially good. But nothing that I had this past weekend can compare to that pinnacle of Baltic eating, the one and only HESBURGER.

How to explain Hesburger? Well, it's kind of like an Estonian Burger King or McDonald's, except not nearly as health-conscious. The classic Hesburger is a double-decker burger, along the lines of the Big Mac, but comes with a little cardboard ring around it to keep the sauce and toppings from exploding out the sides. It's huge and messy and greasy as hell; you can literally feel your life expectancy decreasing as you eat it...and I absolutely love it. I love it so much I ate TWO. (for those of you who haven't been following this regularly, the thing that I've been craving more than almost anything else in Russia is a big, juicy cheeseburger...and boy, did Estonia come through for me!)

Life-threatening junk food aside, Tallinn also had two other foods that really stuck with me (okay, one of them is technically a beverage). The first would be the Medovar Honey Beer from Beer House, one of the most awesome bars in Estonia. Medovar Honey is basically beer, but with a healthy dose of fermented honey, giving it a much more palatable taste than the standard German pilsner (not that I dislike pilsner, mind you)...but, compared to the other stuff that I've drunk this semester, Medovar goes down a whole lot more smoothly, and goes really well with mozzarella sticks, too. But perhaps more importantly, they serve it in 1-liter steins that are larger than your head. Case in point:

The second, even more delectable bit of Estonian food is what in English we would call Sweet Almonds, made specially by the Olde Hansa restaurant...basically, these are almonds that are slow-roasted and mixed with sugar, cinnamon, and over 30 other kinds of spices until they are positively caked in this sugary dullish-red mixture. The taste is practically indescribable, and downright addictive; much like Cheezits or Pringles, you simply cannot stop with just one. They are served fresh throughout Old Tallinn, from medieval-style wooden carts by VERY attractive Estonian girls in medieval attire (who are more than happy to offer you free samples every time you pass by). As wonderful as they taste, it is the smell which really makes them great; it's hard to describe, but it's a little similar to the smell of spiced apple cider, with a little something else that I can't quite pin down....it is utterly intoxicating. I tried to buy some to bring back home, but they smelled so delicious that I couldn't help myself...I ate the whole box before I even made it back to the hotel. Yes, they are THAT good.

Anyway, that's all that I've got time for today; I'll finish off my Tallinn Tales tomorrow evening, hopefully.

A Belated Update

Okay, AGAIN, apologies for not posting more often....as dumb as it sounds, I've been reading Joseph Conrad's Nostromo for the last week and a half, and it's just been too engrossing for me to put down. If you haven't read Conrad, I strongly recommend that you check him out.

Anyway, I should probably summarize what I've been up to for the last week or two. Unfortunately, I've done quite a lot, so in the interest of saving time, I will present it to you in bullet form.

• I had my first Russian theatre-going experience...went to see Rimsky-Korsakov's opera "The Tsar's Bride" at the Mikhailovsky Theater, which is next to the Russian Museum. The music was good, if a bit flowery for my taste, and the set was absolutely gorgeous. I honestly felt like I was in the throne room of Tsar Ivan, and I was sitting in the back row!
• I've toured three of the five major cathedrals of St. Petersburg: the elegant Kazansky Sobor, the massive and stately Isaakyevsky Sobor and the entrancingly beautiful Xram Spassa na Krovi (Church of the Savior on Spilled Blood). In Kazansky, I witnessed my first Orthodox liturgy, while in Isaakyevsky, I got to climb to the colonnade on the main dome and take pictures of what might be the finest view in the entire city. In Spilled Blood, I got to see the stunning interior of the most beautiful building in all Russia, as well as the site of Tsar Alexander II's assassination.
• I went to an Anglo-Russian pub with my friend Marina (not my host mother) to watch the World Cup qualifier between Russia and Germany...great game, with an unfortunate ending (Germany won), but I have never felt more Russian than when I sat with a bunch of drunken soccer hooligans laughing and cheering when the camera cut to Dmitry Medvedev and Vladimir Putin in the skybox, wearing their Team Russia scarves.
• Speaking of Putin and Medvedev, I went to see their presidential meeting hall, which is located at Konstantinskii Palace, in the southeastern suburbs. I even got to see Putin's private billiards room, which is as nice as you would imagine it to be.
• I'm making friends with some non-American students finally, and not only Russians, but also some Georgian and British students.
• I went to a Russian restaurant called Hot Wings, and ate - you guessed it - hot wings for the first time since leaving the states. And it was glorious...maybe not quite the same as in America, but my stomach wasn't picky.
• I have a volunteer internship at the State Hermitage Museum, one of the largest in the world, and might even get to write an article for their English newsletter.
• In another day or two, I travel to Tallinn, the capital of Estonia, for a weekend...it ought to be a lot of fun, and I'll be sure to take a lot of pictures!

That's all I really have time for; in my next post, I'll be sure to add some pictures as well!