Victory Day!

Monday, May 09, 2011

Today is Victory Day, celebrating the anniversary of Nazi Germany’s withdrawal from Soviet territory! It’s especially significant in St. Petersburg because so many were lost when it was besieged during the Great Patriotic War (WWII). They celebrate it with parades, concerts, and fireworks, among other things.

Preparing for the Parade on Nevsky Prospect

 So, since it was such an important holiday and everything else was closed, we naturally had to go exploring! We went to Nevsky Prospect with a Japanese student and our new roommate, Lisa, from Austria. However, it seems that during the 10 minutes we spent eating pishki (kind of like beignets), we missed the parade! I guess it must have been a very short parade…We walked around for the rest of the day, looking at the architecture and celebrations. We had a nice rest in one of the parks and we spent only 50 rubles ($1.79ish) each on our lunch: more cheese and bread (and sausage for those meat eaters)! And let me tell you, staying in Russia is definitely a confidence booster. We had so many people stop us and tell us we looked like Russian princesses. (New word: Zalushka = Cinderella). I could get used to this :)

We love pishki!

We were planning on staying until the fireworks, but after a day of walking, we were exhausted. Plus, we met some strange guys who set off a Taken Alert (Thanks Dad!), so we figured it was best to just go home.

Overall, it was a successful day and I’m excited about going to the college tomorrow; we have to take the language exam to place us in a class, but it will be good to start practicing my Russian! I put up some pictures of the festivities!

Lisa, Arisa, and I on Victory Day