July 15th, 2008 || Back at CafeMax

It's amazing what's changed here--and what hasn't.
Il Patio and the ArbatParfumerie on Nevsky have closed; but a BoscoSport has opened up. The road to the Technologicheskii Instityt and one side of Anichkov Most are under construction--and the Hotel across from CafeMax (itself in remont) is still under construction from last year. Signing on to AIM when trying to post is still a bad idea, even though I can't help myelf from talking to friends real time.

I have converted to preferring the Moscow metro, that's a new change. It's just so much bigger and prettier and, in a way, makes more sense. I like walking St. Petersburg, and that's pretty much all I've done today, stopping in at the shops I want to stop in at and meandering here and there--which also means I didn't actually make it to Yusopov Palace before it closed. Tomorrow I'm seeing Masha, and I might go to the Hermitage with Susan and maybe even Luka's group in the morning, we'll see. Then, hopefully I can convince Masha to walk down the the Lavra with me--I'm not really sure if monasteries and famous cemeteries are her thing, but there's no harm in trying. I'm really surprised she's free tomorrow--what with her wedding being this Saturday, I figured she'd be going crazy all the time until then.

I can't remember what I said, but my apartment situation is great. I'm right behind Apraskin Dvor, and accidentally wandered to Samovar (the restaurant we would eat lunch at every day last year) while exploring. We're 5 minutes from Sennaya Ploshchad, 10 from Gostiniy Dvor, and maybe 15 from Kazanskii Sobor, Gerzen. Last night it rained prett hard--I'm used to it raining in Piter every day, or even every hour, but nothing heavy or lasting longer than 20 minutes. I sat in Zoom Cafe (a great little place that I'll probably go back to tonight to write in) for over an hour, waiting for it to clear up--then gave up and started walking in the rain anyway, since it was almost 11. The lightning was intense, cracking the sky in half right over the Admiralty spire,and the water in all the canals was constatntly being beaten, looking for all the world like crumpled aluminum. For dinner, since the kitchen was closed, I had apple pie and ice cream--a dead giveaway to my server that I was an American. It was alllllllllmost as good as Nana's--but for this side of the planet, that made it taste pretty fantastic.

Today I had breakfast with Natalya and the American couple staying with us. It was chilly, so I wore my new UGeorgia hoodie to breakfast, and the lady looks up and goes, "I went to Georgia for grad school!" What are the chances? They ate pretty sparsely, probably because they were nervous--today is their day in court. They're adopting a little boy from a Petersburg orphanage, and after finding that out, again we had plenty to talk about. I remember being amazed by all of the things they're now experiencing--the gift giving, the bureaucracy, the initial fear of the strange city, being amused at the way the caretakers call the kids "inmates..." I felt myself getting nervous and excited for them. Also, being from Boston and very proper they remind me of the smart couple from Idiocracy.

Looking for jeans and doing some souvenir shopping--afraid I'm going to strike out on the teapot this time, but jeans are looking up. I'm going to come home with a completely messed up sense of fashion and probably some bizarre clothes. Also, what's up with these sizes?? Apparently Americans do that different too? I can't figure out if Italian and French sizes are different, or if Russian ones are different from those, or if they use centimeters measurements or what... I could be anywhere from a 32 to a 50, depending on what tag I'm looking at.

Alright, I think I'm going to go gylyat' a little more, and if it's not too late, buy some flowers to take and see Marina Nikolaevna. I wonder if she's got another student this summer...