ALIVE (once again) IN RUSSIA.

Yes. I'm back in the Motherland.

I am kind of in awe of that fact that Emma and I were successfully able to get out of Russia, travel through three countries, and return to Russia, all without any problems what-so-ever. This seems like quite an impressive feat in general, and then even more so considering that for part of this excursion Russia and the U.S. were on opposing sides of the war in Georgia. Really, no problems. It kind of blows my mind.

That being said, now let me commence the longest blog entry of my life, as I'd like to tell you about all the craziness I've been up to over the last nine days.

So. Where did I leave off?

Oh, yes, I was in the lobby of our hostel in Helsinki waiting for our room to be ready and we were watching the Olympics..... God, that feels like years ago. Anyway, here we go:

HELSINKI:

Immediately after writing that blog entry, Emma and I went to our room and promptly both took six hour naps. We were a little exhausted from the overnight, restless bus journey and also from two months of studying Russian in St. Petersburg. I also was not feeling my finest -- a small detail I may have left out of that last entry as to not worry the general population of my readers (a.k.a. Mom and/or Nunni) -- with a little sore throat and a runny nose. I should have known -- this kind of thing always happens to be at the beginnings of my vacations since I get so little sleep and take such poor care of myself at the end of every semester at school -- why would the end of the summer program be any different? After our six hour nap, Emma and I ate pizza downstairs in the café in the hostel, went back upstairs, watched the news in English so we finally had an idea of what was going on in Georgia (and from a non-Russian perspective) and then fell back asleep for nine hours. Yeah...... we basically slept through Helsinki.

HELSINKI --> TALLINN:

In the morning in Helsinki, Emma and I purchased ferry tickets on the lovely Linda Line express with the bright red ships. I was already feeling much better after my 15 or so hours of sleep and at the idea of getting on a boat. God, I love boats. But still, while walking to the ferry dock I purchased a bunch of orange juice for the trip. The ferry terminal was huge and efficient and clean -- how unusual for us -- and our ferry departed right on time. I was so damn happy to be out on the ocean again. I didn't realize how calming the smell of salt water and autumn air is to me -- perhaps my two favorite smells in the world. I was quite a happy camper on our hour and a half ferry ride across the Baltic Sea.

TALLINN:

Once we got to Tallinn the shitty weather had disappeared and we were welcomed to Estonia with sun and heat. Funny story -- on the boat ride over we were trying to figure out if we were going to need to go through border control and customs and all that stuff again because we weren't sure if Estonia was part of the EU. We read through the Lonely Planet guide book I purchased and it said that at the moment Estonia was still trying hard to gain acceptance to the European Union. Strange, I thought to myself, I was sure that Estonia was part of the EU already..... and then I flip to the front of my guide and realize it was the 2003 edition. Just a mere five years out of date. Typical. Ha. So, of course, when we arrived on the shore of Estonia all we had to do was get off the boat and wander towards the city that was flooded with cars with EU license plates, but from then on for the rest of the trip we learned to add a couple euros/crowns/rubles to the prices the book suggested to take inflation into consideration and check the hours of the museums we wanted to go to.

While figuring out exactly where we were in relation to our hostel in Tallinn, Emma and I climbed the top of this large cement fortress of sorts near the ferry dock where a lot of other backpackers seemed to be doing the same thing. This structure was really interesting to me -- don't worry, I took about 200 pictures of it -- in its large, depressing Soviet design, but also how it seemed like something right out of Doom II or Halo -- you know, abandoned, covered in really crazy graffiti, the kind of structure you should be able to jump all over with your game controller. Alas, we had to walk up and down the many stairs using our own real legs.

When we finally found our hostel (the 16 Euro hostel -- GREAT place, check it out if you are in Tallinn), we loved our room so much and were so pleased to be in this city we decided to spend two nights in Tallinn instead of just our planned one night. We then sorted out the rest of our itinerary, deciding to spend two nights in Tallinn, two nights in Riga, two nights in Jurmala (on the coast of Latvia) and then the last night on the train back to St. Petersburg. Having settled our affairs, we went off to explore Tallinn.

Tallinn, though formerly Soviet Union, has totally thrown all that to the past and seems to want to be as Westernized as possible. They still use their own currency, but everyone speaks English in shops and prefers to use English over Russian. Cars also stop for pedestrians in Tallinn, just like in Helsinki, a fact Emma and I could not get over. Tallinn is very old and has that whole winding, vaguely claustrophobic little cobblestone streets with narrow buildings. The main square looked just liked Bruges -- not that I have ever been to Bruges, I am solely basing this opinion off of the square where the movie "In Bruges" was shot. Anyway. Most of what Emma and I did in Tallinn on the days we were there was get lost in the streets and eat. We ate a lot of really delicious pie -- more fancy cake/tort stuff -- with jelly on top (Dad, you'd love it). The weather got bad again the first night we were there and so Emma and I did not feel guilty going back to the hostel and curling up with books and listening to the rain.

During our full day in Tallinn the weather was still not so great, but we wandered around nevertheless. All the museums we tried to go to were closed for various reasons -- so we went in a lot of little souvenir shops and both ended up buying these fabulous mittens at the market in the main square. We had tea and pastries at a little tea room called the Matilda Café -- the kind of place Nunni would love with pinky wallpaper and little chandeliers and white tea pots and silver spoons. And then, since the weather was still shitty, we decided to try to catch up on our movie-watching. The receptionist at the hostel helped us find movie times and we decided to shoot for an 8pm showing of "The Dark Knight" at, what we thought was, Kino Soprus. Of course we get to Kino Soprus at about 7:53pm and when Emma asks for a ticket for "The Dark Knight" she has no idea what she is talking about but confusedly sells Emma a ticket for a 9pm showing of some inde movie we haven't heard of as this is clearly an artsy little cinema playing one black and white film. Emma can't return the ticket and we don't think we can make it in time to the other theatre, so we say what the hell and end up watching the movie. It is called "Control," and was actually really, really good. It's about Ian Curtis and the band Joy Division and was fairly depressing but beautifully shot, and it was in this old, funky Soviet movie theatre that was quite an experience in itself. I still recommend you see it, even if you can't in Tallinn, though that would be ideal.

The next morning before we were to leave, I woke up early and went to the only museum in Tallinn I really cared about seeing -- The Estonian Photography Museum. The weather was finally nice again and I enjoyed some tea by myself at a café as I waited for the museum to open. I think the three old women who work there were surprised to have someone come to the museum in general, let alone right upon its opening at 10:30AM. But there I was. The museum is a little hole-in-the-wall place, the kind that Sasha would love, that is in the former town prison. It's all in winding little rooms and I almost hit my head on the ceiling multiple times going up and down this steep staircases, but the place was full of old Estonian cameras and pictures of Tallinn back in the day -- Estonian daguerreotypes, the full spiel. I was quite content with myself, and then I went back to the hostel to meet up with Emma to continue our journey.

Other observations about Tallinn: fewer smokers than St. Petersburg, no drinking on the street, way more pregnant ladies and children running around, they accept credit cards, don't care if you don't have exact change, no litter in the streets, and so, so, so, so many tourists and tour groups and Americans. Additionally, I quietly celebrated two birthdays while sitting in Tallinn on August 14th....
HAPPY BELATED BIRTHDAYS CHAD BARTELS & TONY DISARCINA!

TALLINN --> RIGA:

Bus is the way to go apparently from getting between Estonia and Latvia. These four Italian guys who had also been staying at the 16 Euro hostel in Tallinn were on the same bus as us, and then they ended up being in the same hostel as us in Riga as well -- at least not also in the same room. That would have been ridiculous. Across the aisle from us on the bus were these two Russian guys who loved using their cell phones and drank four beers each during the ride and kept going into the little bathroom on the bus to smoke cigarettes. They were entertaining, if anything, especially their phone calls. I decided they were calling all the girls they knew in Riga to find a place to stay for the weekend because there conversations usually went something like, "Heyyyy..... what??? You don't want to talk to me anymore? Come on, hey...." I wonder where they ended up.

RIGA:

We got to Riga around 6pm at the bus station immediately next to this large mall, complete with a huge, commercial movie theatre. Emma and I decided to keep up our movie-watching efforts and checked in at the Argonaut Hostel (a totally badass little place, clean, funky, artsy, full of cool people who I was too intimidated and anti-social to talk to) and went to see, yes, drum roll please, get this -- "THE DARK KNIGHT." In English!!!! With Russian and Latvian subtitles!!! AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!! This might have been one of the more exciting nights of my vacation. No, I'm sorry, it was the most exciting night of my vacation. I have been looking forward to seeing this movie for ages -- I actually remember being UPSET when I got into the Smolny summer program knowing it meant I would be in Russia when "The Dark Knight" came out in the U.S. in July. But I finally saw it! I was not disappointed! The only horrible thing about the movie is the fact that Heath Ledger is not alive to act in any more films. But, in my opinion, damn did he go out on top. It was beautiful. Yes, Rosie, I got to hear his voice. It was great. So, so, so great.

Not only that, but in the same mall complex (Stockmann's) there was also a great grocery store, almost like Whole Foods, that had all kinds of exotic imported items we can't find in Russia such as..... Pepperidge Farm Cookies?!? Seriously, best night of my life this summer. I bought myself a bag of the dark chocolate crispy Nantucket variety and will be hoarding them and enjoying them for the next week.

During our full day in Riga, Emma and I felt unfairly biased towards liking Riga more simply on the fact the weather was vastly better. It was easier to wander around without caring where we were going when we didn't have to struggle with umbrellas and maps at the same time. Riga is a lot like Tallinn -- cobblestone, churches, squares -- but has wider streets and a younger, slightly hipper, artsier vibe. The first thing we did in Riga, clearly, was hit up the Latvian Photography Museum. This museum was oddly similar to the Estonian Photography Museum -- three old women working, only two rooms, maybe five other names signed in the guest book -- but took place on two floors of a less former-jail-esque building. They had some old pictures of Riga in the 1920s, before Nazi and Soviet occupation, and also a special exhibit by a French photographer, Marc Célérier, that I liked a lot. We wandered a bit after that, looked in some shops, I ate an ice cream sandwich (!!! impossible to find in St. Petersburg even though they have every other type of ice cream bar available), and we went to the Occupation Museum. It's a fairly new museum as Soviet occupation only ended in 1991, so the museum is fifteen years old, but is a somber and dark tribute to the many Latvians that were sent to camps during both the Nazi and Soviet occupations. We wandered more and finally decided to have a repeat of our previous night, hitting a life record for the both of us -- going to the movies three nights in a row. This time though we saw "Wall-E" which you have to not have a soul to enjoy. That movie is the definition of heartwarming -- and it has an environmental message! Too bad the movie theatre didn't have recycling!

RIGA --> JURMALA:

We left Riga early on Saturday morning for our final destination, the strip of beach towns known as Jurmala. Jurmala is about a half an hour outside of Riga via a commuter rail kind of train that cost $1.30 to ride. The weather didn't seem the best though and we were concerned as we chugged along towards the real vacation part of our "vacation."

JURMALA:

After we took a local bus to our hotel (because Jurmala is fairly spread out along its several-mile-long beach), we didn't have much hope in the weather, but decided to check out the beach anyway..... and then, as if everything in the world suddenly aligned for one moment, just as Emma and I exited the woodsy path to see the white dunes and the reeds and the board walk and the blue, blue Baltic Sea, the sun came out of nowhere and angels were singing somewhere. It was a movie kind of moment. It was simply beautiful.

Once we went to the beach, we barely left. Emma and I went swimming on both Saturday afternoon, Sunday and then I even sucked it up and braved one last freezing plunge before we left on Monday morning during fairly overcast rainy gloom (the best kind of weather when one has to leave the beach though -- makes you feel better about your life). Oh god, I never realized exactly what a beach and ocean person I am from growing up in New England. For Emma, native of Laramie, Wyoming, going to the beach is a once or twice a year treat for her, so everything for her was just exciting and fun. For me though.... I felt like I finally got the summer I had to give up to be here. The part of the beach our hotel was near was not as crowded as the main part near the center of the main town and for all purposes it could be Isabella Beach, without the rocks. The water was sharp and cold and when I was swimming it gave me the kind of reviving punch in the guts I needed, you know the feeling when you remember you have muscles in every part of your body and the water both seems to make you short for breath but also breath harder and more fully. God, I felt so good.

We spent literally all day Sunday at the beach -- a solid six hours. It made me so happy. Yes, I got a little sunburned, of course (Meri! This time it wasn't your fault! You're not the bad influence!), but definitely look and feel healthier now after spending the whole summer in a humid classroom in a dirty city. The beach was the best decision Emma and I ever made, and it worked out perfectly as the best weather we had on our whole trip was the two days we were in Jurmala. The main differences about the Baltic coast and the New England coast involve a complete lack of rocks and boulders -- just silky dunes at the edge of a forest of narrow pines -- and the finest sand in the world (so fine it stuck to everything in the world and was impossible to brush off, even with dry hands. I think I exfoliated every part of my body by accident.) and the water itself -- there were thousands of small children all over the Jurmala beach because the water stays obscenely shallow, maybe six inches deep, for meters and meters and meters out. When Emma and I went swimming, to be in water that was up to my belly button it seemed we were about a half a mile away from the beach. People were out much, much further than us and the water wasn't even up to their shoulders. Thus little kids have a blast sitting in an ocean perfectly sized for their short statures.

In summary, Jurmala was the best decision.

JURMALA --> RIGA --> ST. PETERSBURG:

To get back though we then had to do a fair amount of traveling involving a bus and two trains. Monday morning after my final dunk in the ocean, followed by a warm shower, Emma and I took the bus back to the Jurmala train station and then the train back to Riga where we hung out for several hours waiting for our overnight train from Riga back to St. Petersburg.

It was nice to get a couple more hours in Riga. Even though the weather was overcast, Emma and I walked around the more Northern part of the old city that we hadn't explored earlier and sat in a couple different parks and ate ice cream and then went back to the Stockmann's mall to look around once last time and, good thing we did, because you will all be quite relieved to know I finally purchased a REAL WINTER COAT. Emma actually found it, but there it was, a nice wool black pea jacket on sale for the equivalent of..... forty dollars?!? So, don't worry. I won't be freezing to death in the next few months. I still might hit up that army/navy store to find something really intense if the weather gets out of control, but if global warming helps me out at all I think I should be set.

At 7:00pm we boarded our overnight train and at 7:30pm we left. Emma was quite excited to travel via train in Eastern Europe for the first time, but I felt like an old pro after my 50 hours last summer on the Trans-Siberian. This time though, as I wasn't working with Wellesley College's funds, we didn't have our own private, four person cabins. Instead Emma and I opted for the middle range "open sleeping" choice -- this is between private, closed sleeping cabins and just having a seat to sit in on the train all night. Instead it is all the same bunks as in the cabins, just without walls and all connected. We were in wagon #10 with about thirty other people, and it was great because I got to shamelessly people watch all night while curled up in my bunk. Just my style.

As predicted just as Emma and I had exhausted conversation and I was tired of my book and ready to sleep, about 12am (Riga time) or 1am (St. Petersburg time) we hit the border. First the Latvians had to let us out of the EU and friendly young men in uniforms came onto the trains and stamped our passport and a chocolate lab that looked too damn happy to be a drug-sniffing dog ran through our train. We then had about another forty minutes of travel (I always wonder what exactly is in this no man's land kind of area...?) and then we hit the Russian border. Clearly, of course, that was going to be more of a pain in the ass. Even the Russian drug dog was a much more serious and attentive German shepherd. But everything was fine, our visas cleared without a hitch, and finally around 2am (St. Petersburg time) we were able to sleep for about five hours before the women who work on the train wanted to take our linens and give us tea and wake us up before hitting the city.

And then.... we were back. And we got on the metro and life returned to normal and I came back to my street and used my key to get into the apartment building and have been drinking tea and watching the Olympics and eating the chocolates I brought back as a present with Olga, Misha, Katya and Stas. They asked about where I'd been and what I've been up to and Misha told me where he had been in Italy and all that, and then Olga asked, "So. Who are you going to hang out with now that Sasha is gone?" I shrugged. Katya replied, "With me!" So that was a good sign. I really am not as alone in this city as I think. Besides, fresh meat comes on Thursday. We'll see what these newbies are all about.

THE FINAL COUNT:

Seven buses, three trains, one ferry and one tram that we didn't pay for.

And, throughout all of this, I took 900+ digital pictures and shot 5 rolls of film. I finally got up the rest of the digital pictures from the summer, but I'll be working on this now for the next few days until FALL PROGRAM ORIENTATION BEGINS ON THURSDAY NIGHT.