Russia Research Trip Day 11

Monday, October 21, 2019 8:27 p.m.

St. Petersburg, #Russia Viking ship Rurik

This morning, I finished up my souvenir shopping. I found all the things my family asked for and more. WIN!

In the afternoon, I went on the St. Petersburg by Water tour, which was an open-air boat tour up the Neva and some of the canals.

But before we got to the other boat, we stopped at the Savior on the Spilled Blood, which is a cathedral built on the exact spot where Alexander II was assassinated by terrorists. It is an absolutely gorgeous church, and all the artwork on the walls are mosaics!

Next, we went on our river boat sightseeing tour. It was rather chilly, but not too bad for a Midwesterner such as myself. Here are some of the views from the river:

I learned quite a bit on the tour and got a few ideas of things to include in Sasha’s story, too!

Tomorrow, we start our long journey home. In retrospect, I think the best decision I made for this trip was taking an introductory level Russian language adult education course at the local college a few years ago. It has been a while since I was in practice, and I really didn’t learn tons to begin with, but being able to know key words and read Cyrillic was so helpful.

Russia is a magical place. The people are friendly and have great senses of humor. And the number one thing that I always try to remember no matter where I am going is that we are all essentially the same. The people here have the same troubles and worries as everywhere else. We are all looking for basic things: food, shelter, warmth, kindness, love. We all have to do laundry and other mundane tasks. No matter the language, the politics, or religion, there is far more that connects us than seperates us.

До свидания, Россия и спасибо