By Nick Voessler and Brendan Dalbow
To begin this crusade , the group arose to a clouded sky. Once more, ‘twas rather blustery with blizzard-like conditions. It would be foolish to say “ ‘twas sunny”. We had a normal banquet-style breakfast to begin the day, before the sun had risen. The moms of the group had already left to go see the eloquent Peter and Paul’s Fortress, while we departed to the ICE PALACE where the group was given a grand display of Russian professional hockey. We watched the team known as CKA St. Petersburg with stars such as Alexei Yashin and Sergei Brezlin while other stars like Robert Esche and Darins Kasparaitis were not able to attend. Kasparaitis left us with a fantastic gift -- autographed hockey jerseys. The group had a merry jubilance to receiving such great sweaters. Afterwards, we hopped on the bus and went to McDonalds…a true Russian meal.
After that, we went to the summer palace of Tsar Peter the Great and his wife Catherine, from whom the establishment got its name. It was an elaborately decorated estate lined with eccentric colors, predominantly gold. Many of the rooms had similar appearance, white lined walls with gold and more gold. Yet there were a few rooms that were not as white and gold. Such rooms include the Green room, the Blue room and the famous
Amber room. This room had over 6 tons of amber embedded in its walls. This had been take by the Nazis during WWII and had just been restored and rebuilt in 2003. The group left the Castle and bought some Russian hats that were sick, nasty AWESOME. What a day indeed. ‘Twas a memorable one that will be followed by more here in the mother of all motherlands: Russia
To begin this crusade , the group arose to a clouded sky. Once more, ‘twas rather blustery with blizzard-like conditions. It would be foolish to say “ ‘twas sunny”. We had a normal banquet-style breakfast to begin the day, before the sun had risen. The moms of the group had already left to go see the eloquent Peter and Paul’s Fortress, while we departed to the ICE PALACE where the group was given a grand display of Russian professional hockey. We watched the team known as CKA St. Petersburg with stars such as Alexei Yashin and Sergei Brezlin while other stars like Robert Esche and Darins Kasparaitis were not able to attend. Kasparaitis left us with a fantastic gift -- autographed hockey jerseys. The group had a merry jubilance to receiving such great sweaters. Afterwards, we hopped on the bus and went to McDonalds…a true Russian meal.
After that, we went to the summer palace of Tsar Peter the Great and his wife Catherine, from whom the establishment got its name. It was an elaborately decorated estate lined with eccentric colors, predominantly gold. Many of the rooms had similar appearance, white lined walls with gold and more gold. Yet there were a few rooms that were not as white and gold. Such rooms include the Green room, the Blue room and the famous
Amber room. This room had over 6 tons of amber embedded in its walls. This had been take by the Nazis during WWII and had just been restored and rebuilt in 2003. The group left the Castle and bought some Russian hats that were sick, nasty AWESOME. What a day indeed. ‘Twas a memorable one that will be followed by more here in the mother of all motherlands: Russia
Wow. Fantastic pictures and great stories. Love to hear about al you are doing. We're very jealous here at home.
ReplyDelete