After spending all week getting the school ready for students on Monday, I spent the weekend trying to squeeze the last precious drops from summer vacation. On Friday night we (my roommates Pete and Allen, a colleague from IA Deanna, and a Russian friend Arina) went to Cam and Sonja's for taco salad. We had a good time watching a new episode of Wipeout! on Cam's computer and then we headed out to walk around downtown St. Pete. St. Petersburg is such a beautiful city and it only gets better at night. The weather was great (it was cold, but no rain, which means it's fantastic weather) so we walked down Palace Square in front of the Hermitage (the Winter Palace of the tsars) where the October Revolution started. There's a photo of everyone (except Arina and Allen) in Palace Square at the top.
When we got to Palace Square we discovered that this where all the hip, young cyclists in the city hang out on a Friday night. There were probably over hundred of them there hanging out, playing music, and trying to show off for their girlfriends. Since the weather was so nice (again, that means not raining) we decided to stay out until the bridges over the Neva River went up to let the bigger ships through. So, as we are waiting we remember that the city's soccer team, FC Zenit, were playing Manchester United in the Super Cup. We remembered because, suddenly, cars started showing up honking. Soon, people started spilling out of all the buildings cheering, shouting, singing, and waving their Zenit scarves and flags. More and more cars showed up honking and with people crammed into every inch and even riding on hoods, trunks, and roofs. So, the bridges went up and Pete and I go and start walking home, trying to avoid the bigger groups of drunk guys singing. Every so often, a car would drive by and honk at us and we would raise our fists in triumph and keep walking. It was great seeing people high fiving when they were stopped at traffic lights. We ended up getting slightly off course (not lost; we knew, basically, where we were) and I asked someone for directions and, miracle of miracles, understood them.
We ended up getting back home around 2:45 and I was so tired the next day I didn't leave the apartment at all. Just a lazy Saturday. The last one of the summer. Jeff, one of my roommates, has a friend who works at the Krestovskiy amusement park (think a pirated version of Disney Land) who gets free passes once in a while. Since she's been on all the rides and done everything a thousand times, she just gives the passes to her friends. So, on Sunday Jeff, Pete, Arina, and I went. Why I spent the last few hours of summer vacation putting myself through every sort of motion torture I could imagine, I don't know. Soviet engineering standards give all the rides an added element of suspense.
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