Weather

I went to the Dacha this weekend, it was about 75*F and sunny the entire time I was there. I now have tan.

Today it is snowing and sunny, and snowing...


I don't understand this country.

Going to the Dacha

I'm going to the dacha this weekend with Tanya and Seryosha. It's located in Demyansk (about an hour south of Novgorod). I'll be back early monday morning. Something for which I am very glad as according to our coordinators they best way to describe tomorrow's celebration is "a city-wide mash-pit." I don't think that sounds like fun. I'm all up for grilling shashlik and having a relaxing weekend away from the city.

In other news, Medvedev' is now president of Russia. We watched the inauguration on the news lat night. It was interesting to watch, though I kept being distracted with the thought of "wow that's a cool crane shot... I wonder how they got a camera up there?" and other videography perspective issues.

The inauguration is significantly smaller - in terms of number of people invited- than a U.S. presidential inauguration. Putin spent most of his speech reflecting over his term as president - according to Tanya it was a very sentimental speech and she found it moving. Medvedev then gave a short speech regarding his plans for his presidency - he then summed it up with a long thank you to "his dear friend Vladimir Vladimivitch Putin." I don't think Putin's role in Russian politics is at all going to lessen with his new role as "former-president."

Oh reporters - get it right!

I just read a news article in the "International Herald Tribune" regarding Medvedev's inauguration set for today. I can't argue with the politics as there is a lot to them that I don't understand. What I do have a big problem with is this:

"The Kremlin then plans to mark the occasion on Friday with a military parade in Red Square of a sort not seen since the Cold War, complete with flyovers of strategic bombers and rumbling columns of tanks"

Umm.... this is NOT about Medvedev's Presidency. Friday is Victory Day - perhaps the biggest holiday in Russia, it is a day celebrating the end of WWII. While it is going to be bigger this year and does bring back the Parades from the Soviet Era. I've seen the troops rehearsing - this isn't about Medvedev' or a return to communism. This is about celebrating and honoring the soldiers and the country that fought for years to prevent fascist Germany from taking Russia. There are Soviet symbols, not so much because they are Soviet, but because those are the symbols of the era in which Russia triumphed against the odds set against her.

Let's give the country props for trying to show that it is finally stabilizing, and not condemn patriotic spirit that many western nations lack. Accurate reporting and looking at a calendar would be nice on the part of the western media.

Cinco De Mayo

I celebrated Cinco De Mayo by eating elk, what about you?

I have now returned from my journey to the south-west of Petersburg.

The drive to Pushkingory was very long. We left at 8am on Thursday and did not arrive until close to 5pm. My ipod yet again died, and not due to battery failure, so I shall have to figure out what is wrong with it. Hopefully it is something I can fix before leaving Russia as a couple days worth of plane flights with out music may drive me slightly insane.

Usually the drive to Pskov is a little under 6 hours, however as this weekend was a holiday, we spent the first 3 hours of our trip making it to 20km outside of Petersburg. Everyone was heading for the dacha, thus traffic was the worst I have ever seen. We then still had to drive to Pskov, and the near two hours beyond that to our hotel in Pushkingory.

Russian highways also somewhat bewilder me, as there seems to be few traffic laws that apply. If you can drive somewhere you may, if there is a pot-hole, you may pass on the right, the left, or swerve crazily around it. There are lots of pot-holes once you get away from Petersburg, as it seems very few drive the roads here with the exception of freight-transit.

For me, once we actually arrived, the trip was fairly pleasant. I greatly enjoyed the fresh air, and the green, open country-side. We went to the Monetary where Pushkin and his relatives are buried, and were then given free time to wander the small town. Thankfully there was a produkti near the hotel as I think all of us found the quality of food served at the hotel restaurant to be lacking.

On Friday we spent a lot of time on the bus as we drove into Pskov, and the out to Izborsk for our tours of the day. Pskov is a very old city, having recently celebrated its one-thousand and one hundredth birthday. The city is likely even older than this as its “birthday” is counted off of the date it is first mentioned in the Chronicles. It was the Princess Olga of Pskov who was to become the first Christian in Russia and her grandson, Vladimir the Great, who was to Baptize Russia.

Izborsk, is an even older Settlement close to the Estonian border and these lands have changed hands many times between Russia, Germany, Estonia, and the Lithuanian Duchy. According to our guide at least 127 wars have been fought on the lands surrounding Pskov. Its position as a fortress in what was once the frontier of Russia gave rise to this city’s historic importance. Pskov itself has only been taken twice, once in 1240, and during WWII.

The old fortress at Izborsk still stands, with its walls built in the 10th century and rebuilt in parts in the 14th. I wish I would have gotten more pictures of this day as the region is very picturesque. However I was stupid. I brought extra batteries with me, but left them in the hotel room, and not in my purse so when my camera started to die I ended up with issues. Still despite the face my batteries started to die, and where dead by the end of the day I did manage to get some nice shots of Izborsk, the monestaries we visited, and Pskov, as well as get new batteries for the next day’s excursions to the Estates of Peterskoe and Mikhailovskoe. Belonging to the Hannibal (Pushkin’s great-grandfather) and Pushkin families. Both estates were very beautiful but I wish we had had more free time to explore on our own.

After eating lunch in Pushkingory we headed home. This time we realized that the bus has Tvs that are attached to a DVD player and a hadful of students had brought a film or two to watch on lap-tops in the hotel so we had entertainment. It was still a long ride – we left at 3pm and did not make it back to Petersburg until after 11pm, but we were significantly more entertained.

I have spent a large portion of today (Sunday) sleeping and doing homework – and entertaining Muza. She was left at home this weekend by herself, and is in a mood to be compensated for her abandonment.

Pictures shall be up shortly. (106 photos added by Ed at 10:30 am PDT 4 May 2008. See Pskov gallery. Note that the web server is having issues as of 4 May - which will hopefully be cleared up soon).