Western European Adventures

I have to take a small side diversion from my Russian ramblings to quickly describe my Western European Travel Week. A few weeks ago I got a break from Eastern Europe and spent a week in Paris. Paris was everything I thought it was going to be! The people I stayed with were so gracious and even gave me my own apartment. What a nice (slightly needed) break from Russia. I honestly hadn’t seen the sun in weeks and even got sunburned on my first CLOUDY day in Paris. I loved absolutely everything about the city. I was able to walk almost everywhere and with the help of my guidebook (thanks, Masha!) and my wonderful hosts I was able to see a lot of the city. I saw all the major landmarks but my favorite two by far were Musee de Orsay and the Shakespeare Bookstore. Since I am in love with the impressionists, Musee de Orsay had almost every painting I grew up loving. I spent hours wandering through their impressionist gallery. Shakespeare and Company is the name of an independent bookstore opened first in 1919 in Paris that I also fell in love with. I could have spent hours sitting and reading there. The Louvre was also incredible and a bit overwhelming because there was just SO much to see.

Here I am outside the Louvre! Wilson Commons (UofR's main student building was designed after the Louvre's triangle entrance).

The French cuisine definitely lives up to its reputation. Crepes and Croissants were a wonderful contrast to my regular dinner of boiled potatoes and borsht. Who knew that a simple French baguette could be so rich and delicious! I ate one for breakfast on the train to Versailles. I forgot the warning to tear off the bread before biting into it. I am pretty sure that everyone on the commuter train was silently laughing at the silly American tourist with a baguette stuck in her mouth.

I got really excited every time I saw the Eiffel Tower. It reminded me that I was in PARIS and how lucky I was to be there.

Here is a view of the city from Notre Dame.

I was fortunate enough to meet up with a few friends in Paris and with one of them (Betsy!) went to London for one day. I was warned but did not realize just how expensive London really is. The first night there we bought a metro ticket one way that was the equivalent of over six dollars. For one underground ride. Betsy and I just laughed and laughed because the fare was so ridiculously high. London was also my first hostel experience. Since it was probably the cheapest hostel in the city, it was definitely…interesting. Every person in our rather smelly room was over 50 and living there indefinitely. I was also terrified of bed bugs, but thankfully had no encounters with them (that I know of…). It was, however, wonderful motivation to wake up early and explore the city. We saw so much in one day: Kensington, the Tower of London, Westminster Abby, Parliament/Big Ben, British Museum, National Gallery, Piccadilly and Leicester.

Buckingham Palace! I was so happy to see the sun. 

For me, the most startling thing about London besides the prices was the fact that everyone spoke English. I hadn’t heard that much English since August! I noticed that I let my guard down a bit with my belongings because I tend to subconsciously trust people who speak the same language as I do. Even though Betsy and I were only there for a day and a half, we figured out the metro system very easily and even helped out other lost Americans. 

At the British Museum with pieces from the Parthenon. (NERD alert)

The weekend I returned to Russia I traveled to Pskov, an ancient Russian city about four hours from Petersburg, with Anya. The marshrutka we took to Pskov was playing “The Proposal” with dubbed Russian voices. It was pretty hilarious. When we arrived, it was SNOWING. I was so excited! We stayed in a woman’s monastery for basically nothing for two nights. I earned my keep though by helping the nuns with their English! There are 100 nuns at this monastery, and they were all incredibly sweet and gave me little presents to remember Pskov. On Sunday morning, Anya and I took a bus to the Pskov Cave monastery, which was amazing. I am really going to miss these beautiful, peaceful places. The monastery is very unique because, if I understood correctly, it was never closed during the Soviet times. We ate lunch and went through the caves before heading back to St. Petersburg.

The following week, we had a Leningrad Rock concert at a club near Nevsky. It consisted of Americans (specifically on our program) singing Soviet 80s songs and Russians singing American 80s songs. It was so much fun! I was part of the choir who sang “Goodbye America”, a song about a man saying farewell to America even though he had never been there. There is even a reference to a banjo.

These are the students in my program at the Rock Concert. Can you find me?

Sad to say, my semester in Russia is quickly coming to an end! Yesterday, I had my last day of work at the Hermitage. They were so sweet and gave me lots of presents (including 2 hardcover books in Russian and the 2005 Annual Report in English). It was hard leaving the Hermitage for the last time. I keep telling myself I will be back sometime soon! Even though I am in complete denial that I am leaving this country in three days, I will not miss the lack of sunlight or my uncaring host mother. I will blog again soon with details on my last few days!