I know it sounds cliche and MAYBE a little cheesy, but i couldn't think of a better line to describe what i did all day, well other than that pioneer song as they "walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, and walked, aaaaaand walked." Well, actually i cant even say i did that today, that would be a lie, i did that yesterday. Because right now, it's 6 a.m. and surprise surprise! i cant sleep! So it's just me, my laptop, and my x-ray blanket all cozied up and ready to blog about all of yesterdays adventures!
10 ruble ice cream (can i just say how much im loving this whole no tax thing?!). You can't top that, well you could if you had some hot fudge, ha ha! ha. ha. haaaaa. OK, it sounded really witty and a lot funnier in my head, but really it was the perfect start for the day to be licking an ice cream cone while walking around IKEA which was also connected to the mega mall. The mega mall! Gosh guys, I'm trying to keep the pounds on my money belt if you don't mind. Which is why i am very proud to announce that i did not spend one single ruble! Well except for the ice cream, i will never say no to ice cream.
As i was about to walk out of the mall I found this glorious sign that was just calling my name, nor could i resist the thought of looking like an eskimo with bow adorned pig tails. For all i know i could be advertising some new fancy flavor of sweet jellied tongue ice cream, but whatever it was it definitely got me giggling......hard. Observe:
We got off once more at the golden fish scale stop, walked out to face the Kazan Cathedral which still makes me drool, though a bit more controled this time, but right down the street is the one....the only....Church on Spilled Blood! Needless to say that drool came came a flow'n and i should probably bring a mop with me from now on, because this church, looks like a gingerbread palace embellished with candy!
Just picture a more sophisticated grown up version of a little girl in a candy shop, and that was pretty much me.
You might as well have stuck a huge sticker on my forehead saying "TOURIST" because with all my camera pointing, my "ooooo's" and "ahhhhh's", and all my repeated "ohhhhh myyyy goshhhh" comments, im pretty sure anybody could have made a pretty good guess that i wasn't from around here.
Just a ways from the church is a bridge, but not just any old bridge, oh no, this one is special. This is the Bridge of Kisses, and it's said to be one of the most famously romantic locations in St. Petersburg. It is said that those who kiss here will be happy and enjoy true love, and newlyweds from all over the world come here to place a lock on the railings of the bridge and then throw the key into the river, believing that by doing so their love will be locked away forever in each others hearts. (Here is your cue to "awwwww")
So on....we walked. We walked along the frozen Neva River...
....we walked to the visitor's center which, oh i dont know, just so happed to be located right in palace square! When i turned the corner here i immediatly whipped out the camera with one hand and the drool mop with the other because i knew right there and then that it was time for "tourist mode." The sun was just setting and it made the most beautiful orange haze across the sky, so i hurried and tried to get the shot,and was just about to pat myself on the back when i look up to see that i was totally getting verbally attacked my Captain Hook! You see, they got such positive results when tourists would sell their own child just to take a picture with a Disney character at Disneyland that they just thought "What the heck! Let's just throw our characters all over the world's famous landmarks!" (They=?) And Captain Hook was not happy that i got a free picture of him, but you can see by the picture below that he managed very well at covering his face. So I can now say i was verbally attacked by Captain Hook, in palace square, in Russia, and i can confirm that he is just as much of a codfish in person as he is on TV.
Oh the giggles of happiness that i didnt even try to supress as i was in palace square...
This is the Hermitage, and i plan to spend many a Sunday afternoon walking the countless rooms of art, they say that if you spent 30 seconds looking at each item it would take you 8 years to look at everything. So ive made a game plan that i will spend one blink on each item in order to be able to see every item before i leave. Gosh im good.
Forward we pressed, and on we walked! Once we arrived back at the apartment we all had pizza and had a blindfolded taste test of Pepsi vs. Coca Cola. Sorry Cola fans, Pepsi wins this one.
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