Week 2 in St. Petersburg

How could temperatures drop again? Where do you go from -16 degrees?

A portrait of two frozen people, defrosting

The radio stations have been saying this is the coldest week of the year, and there's only more cold in the forecast. Hence my blogging silence.  There's not much you can do (besides just try to survive) in this climate.  My days go something like: Wake up, go to work, run home.  With a stop at the grocery store every so now and then. And I have practically no photos for you, because I'm not crazy enough to stand still and take off my gloves outside - for fear that I will become a permanent fixture wherever I happen to be standing; a new statue for the park, maybe.

I do have a few pictures from last weekend's excursions, when Alex came to visit, and his childhood friend came up from Moscow to spend the weekend with us in St. Pete.  We spent most of the weekend hopping between bars and cafés, just trying to stay warm. Nevertheless, this is what we looked like most of the time -- either freezing or defrosting.

We paused (barely) to have a photo snapped when we
came across this typical Soviet-era car

A really neat lamp we saw in the Hermitage

We did make it to the Hermitage, and spent an afternoon browsing some really neat collections, including two original Da Vincis, the Italians and the French collections, and the Japanese collection as well, with a quick peek at the India rooms.








My favorite part of visiting the Hermitage is the building itself -- it's the old Winter Palace -- and the architecture and interior design is just incredible.  Both times I've been in there, though, it's been spur-of-the-moment and I haven't had my camera.

Leaving the Hermitage

Alex and Eugen in the Throne Room