Churches and Potatoes

Two days of Russia in one: GO! On the 26th we had a tour of Orthodox
churches. It was again super hot. We saw 5 churches in total. It was a
super long day, but it was really cool. My favorite church was the
church of Spilled Blood. I'll spare you the history, but it was the
assassination site of Alexander the I or II (I can't remember). It was
the traditional Russian style and the inside was unbelievable. I took so
many pictures, but it isn't the same. The entire inside, like entire
thing, was all mosaics. It was ridiculous. I can't imagine what it was
like making it all. They had the spot of the sidewalk still visible
inside the church where the assassination took place, so that was pretty
cool. One of the other churches was St. Issacs. While JoEllen was smart
and decided to go inside the air conditioned inside, I chose to climb to
the top. I got to climb 280 stairs in a winding circle in the super hot
weather. As usual the view was well worth it. For lunch they served us
salmon and potatoes, which I wasn't expecting in Russia. I gave my fish
to one of the guys at the table and I had potatoes for lunch. JoEllen
and I were absoulutely exhausted, but our history teacher gave us field
program tickets for that night. It was for the canal cruise and he said
he and his wife could not make it anymore. So shout out to Duane Osheim
for the awesome cruise! Our boat was called Ariel, so that was awesome.
We did not get back until 11 and we we're even more tired, but it was
awesome. It was so beautiful being on the water and seeing St.
Petersburg from the canals instead of the streets.

This morning we got to wake up at 6! We headed for Catherine the Great's
palace and gardens. It was funny because our guide told us that this
palace was considered "modest". The palace was huge and everything
inside was gold plated and over the top. We had to wear little like
scrubs over our shoes. They were a lovely brown and made us have elf
feet. After the palace and gardens we had lunch and had chicken and
mashed potatoes. It was so good, but neither of us could figure out how
the chicken was exactly prepared, but we inhaled it. After we went to
Peterhof gardens. They were huge. It was elaborate fountain after
fountain after fountain. We found one that you could go in, so of course
I did. It was great because I think it had to be approaching 90 degrees
at that point. After we walked to some water. We figured maybe it was
the ocean and then we realized it was the Gulf of Finland that they have
been talking about. So I have officially been in the Gulf of Finland.
Tomorrow is our last day and I can't believe how fast these 5 days are
going, but the whole trip is flying by like crazy.