So, yeah, my "ALIVE IN ________" posts while traveling totally failed due to a lack of working internet at various hostels slash boats, but know that I am safely back in St. Petersburg as of Tuesday night and have been busy ever since doing things such as going to the FREE DURAN DURAN CONCERT ON PALACE SQUARE last night.
Check that shit out, oh yeah, I saw Duran Duran in the pouring rain in.... St. Petersburg, Russia.... by the Hermitage??? It was a very strange experience in general, then the weird combination of Russians either dancing frantically by jumping straight up and down or simply standing very still and looking completely bored made everything just pretty surreal and strange.... a fairly decent-sized group of Smolny people plus Bryan and Yulia came, but due to the rain everyone left one by one until it was just me, Louis and Bryan left dancing to the encore of "Rio."
As for the trip though, it was really really great. I hadn't been in Scandinavia (not counting my brief jaunt in Helsinki in August with Emma) since the trip with Nunni, Puppy & Mom in 2005 -- the same trip when I first went to Russia and St. Petersburg -- and it was great to go back. We covered more or less the same route: St. Petersburg --> Helsinki --> Stockholm --> Oslo --> Stockholm --> Helsinki --> Vyborg --> St. Petersburg. Over the course of the week we traveled on two ferries (from Helsinki to Stockholm and back), one long-distance train (Helsinki to Vyborg), one commuter train (Vyborg to St. Petersburg), three long-distance buses (St. Petersburg to Helsinki and then the route between Oslo and Stockhom), numerous local urban buses (in Oslo), a metro (in Stockholm), and a whole bunch of local city trams (in Helsinki and Stockholm).
Louis and I did a lot of things that relived the trip with N&P&M -- the ferry/booze cruise we took between Helsinki and Stockholm I think was the same exactly ship company, Viking Line, as last time; in Stockholm we spent the day walking around the zoo on the top of the hill, gazing at bears and reindeer like we did that night; we kept finding places where I had taken photos before on the last trip, like with the statue of the little boy sticking his tongue out and his hands in his ears; we ate breakfast and lunch in the fish market in Helsinki, where Emma and I also went in August; in Oslo we visited Frogner Park multiple times which was a huge highlight for me -- I was so excited to be back there, I had loved that park when I first visited it in 2005, and I had shot at least two rolls of black and white film there on that trip, but then all that black and white film got ruined when I tried to develop it with old developer upon arriving home.... all year I had hoped I would make it back to Oslo (as it isn't very far from here at all, though it is in the same time zone as England!) to reshoot those rolls, and did I ever.... I shot 8 rolls of film on the trip and I think that 6 of them were in Fronger Park alone. Hopefully these rolls will come out! We'll see on Monday if the women at the Kodak store don't let me down...
We also did a lot of things I hadn't done before though which was great. Louis really wanted to see the Sibelius monument in Helsinki, and we ended up spending most of our day in Helsinki just sitting in the beautiful park there watching hilarious tour groups of retired Americans probably from Palm Beach flood the scene in waves. We also rented bikes on our last day in Oslo and biked all over the city to Frogner Park again and then around the grassy paths of the park (and no, Mom, I did not fall and kill myself in the least). On our way back to St. Petersburg from Helsinki we stopped and spent the night in the elusive Vyborg, Russia -- the town where there had been TWO cultural excursions, one this summer and one this semester, both of which Louis and I missed and felt compelled to make up -- I think we had much more fun in Vyborg on our own then we ever would have on the excursion, we went to the top of the castle and enjoyed the view and then rented a row boat and paddled around for an hour. And then, perhaps the best part of the whole trip, was the day in Oslo we took the ferry out to one of the many little green gems of islands in the Oslo Fjord and hung out on the beach and christened the морж and моржиха swimsuits in the freezing water (though, clearly, not as freezy as the Neva in March).
There are a shit ton of other hilarious and great photos from the trip, if I may say so myself, over 2000 of digital alone and then those 8 rolls of film, but alas, you'll just have to wait until August to see them all. PATIENCE, MY FRIENDS (myself included). Until then, here are the self portraits from the past ten days or so.
Over all it was a great fucking trip. So beautiful, so much fun, so clean, so expensive (Oslo! Is! Out! Of! Control! if you go to Oslo keep in mind that TGI Friday's is NOT as cheap as you think it is!), the travel company was excellent, and all and all.... a wonderful time despite one mild sunburn on my left shoulder from that day of biking. Being back now in St. Petersburg though is a little overwhelming. It is already Friday, June 5th.... Adams arrives today to start his internship on the Bard-Smolny Summer Program, Meri gets her ass to St. Petersburg on Monday, Louis and the group flight leave on Wednesday..... and then Meri and I leave on the 15th, exactly ten days from now, on our crazy, crazy adventure....
TIME IS RUNNING OUT.
I BETTER GET OFF THE COMPUTER AND GO ENJOY MY LAST FEW DAYS.
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