While the title is slightly out of order it pretty much (exactly)
describes what I will be talking about in this post.
I will start with the most delicious, which is of course
pickled cabbage. Last Thursday I
ventured into one of the пыноки,
which are big markets that sell everything from fur hats to anything and
everything pickled. After watching
bizarre foods (the Saint Petersburg special) the night before leaving for
Russia with Samira (another Syracuse student) we were inspired to try the
different pickled vegetables at the markets. The sellers sit high above their produce making the walk
through the market slightly intimidating as they holler down at you “девушка” (meaning girl) to try to get you to
come to their stand. Luckily, the
women selling the pickled goods looked slightly less intimidating. As soon as we got close enough to the
pickle produce all kinds of pickled foods were being shoved in our faces and
hands. I was skeptical to try some
of the different things but had it not been for the force-feeding I probably
would have never tried pickled cabbage.
While it may not sound great, it is actually one of the greatest things
I have ever had. Typically (unless
you are eating a sweet pickle) you expect pickled goods to be sourer but
pickled cabbage is fairly sweet and has a faint taste of a cooked sweet
onion. After reading my
description of pickled cabbage I don’t think I have convinced anyone to go out
of their way and try it, but if you ever have the opportunity just go for it
and hopefully you will like it as much as I did.
Before I talk
about the abandoned building I need to give you some background
information. First, I go to school
very close to the center of Saint Petersburg and I live on the main island off
of the Gulf of Finland. Both
places, as you can probably imagine, have more of an intercity feel to them/are
not solely residential areas. With
that being said, as I stepped out of the metro station on Saturday into a more
residential/commercial area of Saint Petersburg I felt like I was stepping into
an entirely different country.
Instead of traffic jams, museums and monuments there were malls,
apartment buildings and parks.
While where I live there is some of this, especially apartment buildings,
it still has an entirely different feel to it. Where I was headed was to the park, one of the biggest parks
I have ever seen. There were a lot
of kids sledding and adults cross-country skiing, but I was surprised by how
many people were just out walking (since it is still fairly cold). After walking father into the park we
came across the abandoned palace of someone way back when (I don’t actually
know who/if that is even true).
What is special about this building is that the basement floor is about
3 feet of solid ice. Some of the
furniture is sticking out of the ice but other than that it is pretty much an
ice rink. Even though it isn’t a
monument or museum it seemed like it was preserving the past in its own unique
way. After going to this place I
have been inspired to go to some of the farther suburbs and small towns on the
outskirts of Petersburg to see “The Real Russia”.
Lastly, this
past Sunday we had an excursion to Mariinsky Theater. Mariinsky is the most famous theater in Saint Petersburg and
is home to (formally know as) the Kirov ballet (one of the greatest ballet
companies in the world). Having
danced basically all my life, to say I was excited does not even describe how I
felt when the curtains opened. The
ballet we were going to see was Romeo and Juliette. Although not one of my favorite ballets the dancers were
absolutely incredible and made it worth it. Going to the ballet at Mariinsky is an all day event. You have to arrive early to drop off
your coat at the coat check and if you are not in your seat by the chime of the
third bell you will not be let in.
There were three intermissions that make the ballet seem especially
long. In total we were there about
five hours. If you’re not a fan of
ballet this probably sounds like your worst nightmare but most people on my
program seemed to have had a good time regardless. Although the ballet was good, I definitely want to go again
and see a ballet I like more.
Here are just a few random pictures:
My room (left)
Icon on my wall (Right)
Church on Spilled Blood
Smolny Cathedral (not where I go to school)
Smolny University (Where I go to school)
View from the top of Saint Isaacs Cathedral (Left)
Inside Saint Isaacs Cathedral (Right)
River View (on my way to school)
The Bronze Horseman
Inside Mariinsky Theater
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