Details
Well... I have been asked for details, so here are a few.
Borat fans: the Russian for church is 'Храм' (pronounced 'khram')
Notable culinary discovery thus far: pancakes made out of fried shredded potato, stuffed with minced pork, and served with a mushroom and sour-cream sauce. Stupendous. Pirozhki (pastries stuffed with meat) are also excellent, but then we all knew that, didn't we?
Just how cheap is the beer? In the shops, around $1, or 50p, for a pint of decent Russian beer. In the bar, a bit more - about $1.50.
Pictures look impossible until I get back. But I have 100 so far, and there are still 5 weeks to go - so when they come, they will be many. :) I can, however, illustrate with pictures pilfered from elsewhere.
This week it has been sunny and hot, so that parks and the grounds of palaces are full of sunbathers. As I write, it has started raining properly for the first time. We have been taking advantage of the good weather, while it lasts, to wander around the city a bit and look at various churches and palaces. From the extremeley Russian Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood (so called because it was built on the site of the 1881 assasination of Tsar Alexander II)...
... to the quite deliberately Western St. Isaac's Cathedral, designed by the French architect Auguste de Monferrand.
This Saturday, Elton John will play an open-air concert in Palace Square (the square outside the Winter Palace/Hermitage).
There are also posters everywhere with a picture of some extremely decrepit looking Rolling Stones, who are also playing here soon, apparently.
Plans for the weekend include a trip to the Russian Museum (which has all the Russian stuff, while the Hermitage has mostly stuff stolen or bought from Europe). Happily, we have been issued with student cards, which give us reduced access to all museums and cathedrals, and free access to the Hermitage. It should also get me in to the Russian State Library, when I venture there, but alas, I haven't managed it yet.
"Paka" ('bye for now' / 'see you soon'!)
PS: for those who are interested, RL and I are reading 'Discipline and Punish' and having heated discussions about compulsion and consumption in capitalism. Oh yeah, and we are still learning some Russian too :)
Borat fans: the Russian for church is 'Храм' (pronounced 'khram')
Notable culinary discovery thus far: pancakes made out of fried shredded potato, stuffed with minced pork, and served with a mushroom and sour-cream sauce. Stupendous. Pirozhki (pastries stuffed with meat) are also excellent, but then we all knew that, didn't we?
Just how cheap is the beer? In the shops, around $1, or 50p, for a pint of decent Russian beer. In the bar, a bit more - about $1.50.
Pictures look impossible until I get back. But I have 100 so far, and there are still 5 weeks to go - so when they come, they will be many. :) I can, however, illustrate with pictures pilfered from elsewhere.
This week it has been sunny and hot, so that parks and the grounds of palaces are full of sunbathers. As I write, it has started raining properly for the first time. We have been taking advantage of the good weather, while it lasts, to wander around the city a bit and look at various churches and palaces. From the extremeley Russian Church of the Saviour on the Spilled Blood (so called because it was built on the site of the 1881 assasination of Tsar Alexander II)...
... to the quite deliberately Western St. Isaac's Cathedral, designed by the French architect Auguste de Monferrand.
This Saturday, Elton John will play an open-air concert in Palace Square (the square outside the Winter Palace/Hermitage).
There are also posters everywhere with a picture of some extremely decrepit looking Rolling Stones, who are also playing here soon, apparently.
Plans for the weekend include a trip to the Russian Museum (which has all the Russian stuff, while the Hermitage has mostly stuff stolen or bought from Europe). Happily, we have been issued with student cards, which give us reduced access to all museums and cathedrals, and free access to the Hermitage. It should also get me in to the Russian State Library, when I venture there, but alas, I haven't managed it yet.
"Paka" ('bye for now' / 'see you soon'!)
PS: for those who are interested, RL and I are reading 'Discipline and Punish' and having heated discussions about compulsion and consumption in capitalism. Oh yeah, and we are still learning some Russian too :)
posted by UK plc at 4:02 PM
1 Comments:
You shouldnt have told us that they arent your photos. I would have been so very much impressed otherwise!
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