Привет из России

The slight gust of wind whips at small pieces of hair, pushing it across parts that used to be straight. The mass of people sways like an ocean with its swells, the smell of a woman's cigarette wafts into my face as I stand staring at Tobi in uncomfortably close quarters. The metro comes to a swift stop and we don't even have to move our feet to get out as we're practically picked up with the mass and taken off the train towards the escalators that stretch up 86 meters back to the surface above the rivers that spread across the city. Finally we emerge from the 16th busiest metro in the world and come out onto Nevsky prospect....the street I've heard so much about.

Mother Russia. The country I've wanted to visit my entire life. And here I am, lying on my bed which is more of a couch than bed, surrounded by 80's style wallpaper. The windows open and I can hear a woman chattering in Russian while Tobi sleeps on her bed across the room. 

I don't even know where to begin. I know we've only been here four days but in those four days so much has happened. Upon arriving in St. Petersburg on Saturday we were bused to a metro station which took at least an hour due to crazy traffic jams. I thought I'd seen horrible driving...but I hadn't seen anything till I cam here. People just put on the gas and go no matter what's in front of them whether it's a car or person. A honking horn is all you'll hear before the car whizzes past, inches from your heel. Once arriving at our destination we came across our hostesses and were whisked away to our separate places. Katya and Mila helped us onto a bus and we headed off to a nearby apartment building where we found our new home. It's a decent sized apartment with numerous bedrooms, a small kitchen and a bathroom in which we can only shower in the morning and for a short period of time each.
Breakfast every day has been absolutely amazing as has all the rest of our meals. We have yet to find something we don't enjoy. The favorite so far has been blini for breakfast or borscht for supper.
The excursions have been exhausting. I've never walked so much in my life and I wish I had a pedometer to measure how far we've been going because I'm pretty sure I'd be amazed. I feel like we'll have walked around the Earth twice by the end of this trip.
I've seen plenty of beautiful palaces and churches and would have to extend this blog a few pages if I were to try and capture the beauty of each one in words. I just don't have the time for it though. I've hardly had time to sit down and write this. We're busy every day from the moment we wake up to the moment we lay our heads on our pillows. My body is physically exhausted, but I find the energy each morning to get up and head to the subway to start another adventure.
Missing you all.
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