Fire and Ice

This week I have to take an Economics placement test for SAIS so I don't know how much time I'm going to have to blog. Later this week I'll get back to some more regular postings, including an update on the English Discussion Club at YESOD and my friend Mikey and his wife Janna's visit (on a cruise ship).

This past weekend I went to a bar in the city called the Ice Bar where for around $11 you are given a Siberian outfit, are ushered into an ice-walled room with ice sculptures and ice tables, and are given one drink. It was kept at around 15 degrees fahrenheit. Brrr. I dont know if i would go back, but it was almost worth it for the picture. My friend Sandro managed to freeze his drink into one of the Ice sculptures by pouring it down the tube. We left quickly thereafter.


The next morning I went to the town of Pushkin, where the poet had his Dacha, and where Catherine the Great's palace is. It rained pretty much all afternoon, but it was still pretty to see. In order to get there, you have to take the Metro about 30 minutes south and then take a Marshrutka (sort of a Taxi). We had a little trouble getting him to stop where we wanted, so we also ended up seeing the palace at Pavlovsk, which Catherine built for her son Paul. It would have been a lot prettier without the rain.

Pavlovsk

One of the most amazing things about Tsarskoe Selo (Catherine's Palace), is that the entire thing was completely gutted out during the second World War, and the Nazis actually used the palace to store their military wares. The Russians knew that the palace might be occupied so they transferred almost all of the valuables of the palace to various places in Siberia. The one room left that they couldn't transport was the priceless Amber Room. The Germans reconstructed this room in Konigsberg but it was then lost in the chaos at the end of the war. E.ON Ruhrgas (A german gas company) was noted as playing a large role in a new restoration of the room that was completed in 2003. Although most of the palace is completely restored, much of the rest of the grounds are actually still under reconstruction.

The Amber Room

Outside of Catherine's Palace

Things at school are going well. Today I learned the word for a car crash and for getting hit by a car. I've managed to now find the Americans, including a girl from Parma, Ohio (now living in Woodley Park) and two OSU grad students. Go Bucks! Small world.