Lord, I don't want to go without You anymore

I'll go anywhere that you do
And if You don't go before
Lord, I don't want to go without You anymore

Lead me in a pillar of fire
Shade me with a big white cloud
Lord, wherever You go
You'll always have me around

You will give my body rest
And never let me thirst
So I'm not goin' anywhere
If You don't go there first

When I see You beckoning me
That's how I'll know
Lord, followin' Your lead is the only way I'll go

When You get your flock together
Please take me along
Lord, I'm too weak to travel
I'll be glad You're strong
And I'll lean on Your arm

- Shannon Stephens, "I'll Be Glad"

The Gulf of Finland

After we went to the Chesma Church, Andrea and I made our way to the Gulf of Finland. It was not what we expected. It was filthy and covered in glass, clothing, bricks, and metal. I'm still glad we went though. The gulf is still completely frozen. You can see men in the picture above ice fishing.

Ice fishers.

A man and his dog.

Not sure what this is.

It's really eerie to think that this is where the Finnish army and Nazis blockaded Leningrad (St. Petersburg's former name). The German and Finnish army surrounded Leningrad for 900 days which caused a famine in the city that killed over 600,000 people. They had to eat rodents, their pets, and eventually each other. There was no public transportation, heating, or electricity. The winters were harsh. Eventually food rations went to 1/4 of a pound of bread a day. I can't even imagine...

To get to the gulf, we took the metro to Vasilyevsky Island. Once we got off the metro, we just walked until the island ended. It was a long walk.

Andrea.

Our shoes were COVERED in mud after this day.

Gospadi, Spaci i Sohrani Mya

Okay, can you believe that all these posts so far have only covered the first and second day of the trip? I will say that the third day was a grim day. The clouds were oppressive, and everything was wet and muddy. It was freezing too.

First we went to the Chesma Church. It took forever to get there, but it was worth it. The Chesma Church's style is pseudo-Gothic.

I absolutely love this picture.

Birch trees have become my favorite.

At this church I bought a silver ring with the words "Gospadi, spaci i sohrani mya" which means, "Lord, save and keep me." I love it. I've seen them in the churches and metro kiosks before, and I finally decided to get one. I love it.

This was behind the church near the cemetery.

A soldiers' cemetery behind the church.

Graves.

Another statue of Lenin.

Skateboarder in front of Lenin's statue.

Okay. The Republic of Coffee? Really? They totally stole the Starbucks style.
--

I feel like I am so behind in updating you about stuff. Since my trip to St. Petersburg, I have gone to English Cafe, Victory Park, Moscow State University (one of the seven sisters), and a mosque. Also, I am no longer teaching 6th grade or drama. I have one more week of 7th grade and two more weeks of 8th grade. After that I have a week of free time, and then I come home. I can't believe my time in Russia has gone so fast.

Love,
Meredith

P to the S

P.S. I didn't know today was Good Friday. Everyone is celebrating Russian Easter which is next week. Laura and I are going to a Russian Orthodox Easter service. We're hoping that a few of her students can take us so that they can tell us what to do. All I know is that you have to walk around the church outside three times to represent the three days. It starts at midnight on Saturday the 18th. Should be interesting!

St. Isaac's Cathedral

This is St. Isaac's Cathedral, the largest church in St. Petersburg. It is one of the largest domed buildings in the world. It took 40 years to build. The architect was a French guy, but Nicholas I wanted it even more grand than the French guy had planned.

The church did not have services for 62 years under Soviet rule. It started having services on special occasions in 1992.

I didn't really get a good picture of it far away, but this is one I found online. None of my pics did it justice.

So, the trees and grass aren't that green right now, but you get the idea of how pretty this church is. :)

In the pinnacle of the dome is a dove. However, during the Soviet Union, this dove was removed and was replaced with a Foucault pendulum. Also, the church became a museum of atheism during this time.

The Neva

I love the reflection in this picture.

A big ship. Or a beeg sheep, if you have a Russian accent.

What do you mean I can't lower my anchor here?

It was sunny, but cold.

From a distance the Neva river looks quite pretty, but it is actually really dirty. A layer of something that looks oily and slimy covers the top of the water. Really gross.

The Hermitage

I love this picture. Not sure why...

Could the sky possibly be bluer? Perfect.

Absolutely...HUGE. The Hermitage is the biggest museum I've ever been in. I wouldn't say that it was the most exciting thing I've done in Russia, but I don't regret going. The truth is that this museum was so big that each painting suddenly became just a thing on a wall. If you spent one minute for each painting or statue, you'd be in there...for a year. It was absolutely overwhelming. I did, however, enjoy walking through the building itself more than looking at the paintings.

I did get to see some pretty famous paintings though. I saw some paintings by da Vinci, Raphael, van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, and Picasso. So, that was pretty cool.

I liked the building better though. :)

Holding it all together...

Hallway of tapestries.

The library. This reminds me of "My Fair Lady."

Everywhere we went in St. Petersburg were art school kids who would sit in front of a painting and draw it onto their sketchpad. Their teacher would walk around and comment on their drawings. Kinda interesting.

A view of the outside from the inside...

This is Cupid.

Picasso. This makes me think of Mr. Potato Head in Toy Story when he switches his all his facial features and says, "Hey, look! Picasso!"

Da Vinci. Protected by glass.

This makes me think of Beauty and the Beast. I've seen too many Disney movies, I think.

The bust room (one of the many).

View of the Neva...still half-frozen.