New Years Eve

Josh and I have spent the past three winter seasons here in Russia and had yet to brave the New Years Eve celebrations on palace square- until this year! I was very skeptical to take part, as I have always been intimidated by a number of factors- the first being New Years Eve does not begin until well after my bed time. Second it tends to be very cold here in the arctic and third well partying is on a whole new level here- not so much my cup of tea. So when Josh insisted that we needed to attend one of the biggest parties of the year, I put up my normal resistance but was out numbered when my mom thought that it was a good idea too.
So I begrudgingly stayed up, bundled up and headed to palace square. At this point I need to admit how wrong I was with my assumptions. The authorities have done a wonderful job of cleaning up festivities here- they set up gates around the square and inside there was no alcohol allowed, it created a nice environment. There were four stages set up with different music, and shows for various ages. Surprisingly there were tons of families with small children dancing well into the early morning awaiting the arrival of Grandfather Frost, and enjoying the light shows. One thing that we have learned from our time here is that the Russians are the best at celebrations, the light shows in palace square were second to none, the only comparable thing I have seen would be in Disney land on the 4th of July, and even that seems dull now. I was extremely impressed at the different changing colors of the buildings and timing of the spot lights, it was such a neat environment, and truly something I will never forget and really don’t know how to describe.

In a nut shell the night was very cold, but remarkable civilized and really pretty neat. As the clock ticked down ( or up here) we watched the president give a speech to welcome the new year and officially say when midnight had arrived. I was surprised how the whole crowd was silent for the entire speech. I have to say it- the best thing about the night- it wasn’t midnight until the president told us it was- so Russian. Admittedly I enjoyed listening to the president speak rather than a brainless pop star or TV host, maybe we have been here too long.

Pavlovsk Palace

We have ventured out to Puskin many times but have not made it out to the smaller Pavlovsk palace. So it seemed like a great opportunity to make the trip when my mom was visiting. You can read about the history of the palace here- It is always amazing to me that even a short distance outside of the city and the snow becomes so beautiful and white. We made the trip on an exceptional clear and sunny day and the gardens looked like a winter wonderland complete with a horse drawn sleigh.
We were not permitted to take pictures inside the place but I have to admit although it is a smaller and simpler palace it is my favorite. It was very quiet inside and beautifully restored. There was even a special display showing how rooms would have looked through the ages, very cool. I can’t wait to go back in the summer and explore the gardens.

As much fun as I thought a ride in the sleigh would be I just couldn’t bring myself to torture the animals and make they pull me around- I decided a picture would be much better.

My new favorite sport

Josh and I decided to take advantage of all the snow that we have here in Russia. We normally would grab our skis and take off to the mountains, but if you are a faithful blog reader you would have seen that most of the mountains around us are more of small hills and never prove to be very exciting. So yesterday Josh and I decided that we would try our hat at cross country skiing! So we went out and bought some equipment and scoped out some trails.
I could hardly contain my excitement waiting for the morning to come so we could try our new sport. Josh and I woke up at 3am ready to go, unfortunately we had to wait until 10am until it was light enough to go.

After our long wait the sun finally rose and we headed out! I quickly learned that cross country skiing is nothing like downhill skiing. Only having my toe attached to my ski was a bit weird at first but the best part about cross country skiing is even if you are terrible or a beginner it is still so much fun! Oh, and if I fall flat on my face it doesn’t hurt nearly as much! So I’m not saying the Olympic team will be knocking on my door tomorrow, but I can see us doing this for many years to come!

The next pictures are from the end of our adventure- Josh had been skiing many times before and wanted to show off so he decided to go off the trail into the deep snow. It was all fun and games in the beginning until he realized how deep the snow actually was- These pictures are Josh’s progression to the realization that he is stuck.

Then the conclusion that I knew was inevitable- the only crash of the day- (on a side note he was so stuck that he had to take his skis off to get out) Great ending to our first XC ski day.

Christmas Season

My mom braved the snow and cold this Christmas and made the long trip to Russia to see us. We started her visit with a trip to the Mariinsky theatre first to see the symphony and then on Christmas day we watched the traditional Nutcracker! Two wonderful performances to start our holiday.

We have tons of snow here blanketing the city in beautiful white and setting the background for some photo opts.

Winter

Winter is here and it is time for falling icicles and slippery streets. Here is a picture of a particularly large one outside of our window.
Our winter began with a trip to Moscow for Thanksgiving weekend-( it had not yet begun to snow in Moscow).

We had a great time and enjoyed seeing the sights but we happily returned home to our beautiful St Petersburg.

But not before we had our fill of Starbucks! Oh how I miss my delicious large, dark, coffee!