5/12/09, 10:42 p.m.

so,
after a 4 hour layover in amsterdam [which was really nice], we landed in petersburg
we toured around a little bit last night
got food at the чайная ложка ['the teaspoon'], which was fun for EVERYONE
it must've been hilarious to the cashiers
we stopped by the дом книги, got some books, and headed back

this morning, we started out at 9`30 and headed down невский проспект
we stopped first at the спаса на крови, a cathedral right on the canal
it was built on the spot aleksandr II was killed back in the 1800s
it was sweet
we also visited the kazan cathedral [казанский собор]
and st isaac's cathedral [исаакский собор]
god those places are beautiful, so ornate and gold-leafed
they really put american cathedrals to shame

we also went to the эрмитаж [the hermitage], though we didn't go inside
we're supposed to hit that up tomorrow [or thursday, don't remember]
we saw some really cool large buildings on невский проспект
we stopped by гостиный двор, and some other building i don't remember the name of
there are an incredible amount of statues here, too
we saw kutuzov, monferran, yekaterina I, pyotr I, aleksandr III
and that was only in a few hours, in a small section of town

after an excursion to pizza hut [which is a tale in its own right]
we went to петропавловская крепость, the peter and paul fortress in the center of town
it was the original establishment of petersburg
pyotr I built it to stake his claim on the area and keep out the swedes
that place is absolutely amazing
at the cathedral in the center [our fourth of the day],
all the romanov tsars were entombed [even nikolaj II, in a separate room]
i got photos of pyotr I, yekaterina I, yelizabeta I, and nikolaj II in all their dead glory
and this is all in the first day