Amazing Race!!

 Do you watch the Amazing Race? Tonight they were in St. Petersburg, Russia, and their activities reminded me of some of the beautiful sights we saw when we were there twelve years ago.

After a visit to the circus, the teams were sent to the Banks Bridge--somewhat behind us from this view of the Cathedral of the Resurrection, known as the Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood because it was built at the site of the assassination of Czar Alexander II. The church was their next destination after finding the clue in a tower nearby.

There's something about Russian cathedrals--this one and St. Basil's in Moscow especially. I feel like Christmas--I want to eat the gingerbread. Hmm. Maybe I will make a gingerbread cathedral this December.

Now, the teams didn't actually go to St. Isaac's Cathedral, unless I missed it and I must admit I came in late from class at church so I could have. They did have a moment of facts about the locations which told us how much gold went into the making of the dome of St. Isaac's.


We climbed to the top of the dome. Yes--me, too! And I wonder that my mother managed to climb Half Dome--is it any different? The view is amazing.

 Oh, my, look how young we look. Well, actually my husband looks just the same--a little more jowly and his moustache is gray now, but his hair is still just like it is here. We didn't have to rush to the next stop, but there it is in the distance--Peter and Paul Fortress. The teams had to figure it out by finding out where Peter the Great was buried.

The spire is very distinctive, and here is a statue of Peter the Great himself. I think this is Peter, anyway. I remember that this is a fascinating statue. Look at his head.

So that was our amazing race--I'm glad we weren't competing with any other teams. It was much more fun that way.

Our Amazing Race continued

I was eager to see where the Amazing Race took the contestants on tonight's leg. Since they usually travel to another country each show, I was surprised to find that they did exactly as we did in leaving Krasnoyarsk. They boarded the Trans Siberian Railway and traveled to Novosibirsk.



This is a view from our hotel in Novosibirsk. It was a nice location. But I show it here for a bird's eye view of the Ladas. The cards the contestants drove in the race this evening were like the four on the far side of the plaza. My son described them as just like a 1978 Datsun. I asked him what the newer ones were like. He said: like a 1978 Datsun.

They drove the Ladas to do one of two tasks. They could drive a Russian snowplow--no pictures of those on our summer trip--or deliver flowers to a bride and take her to the wedding.You can see a bride in front of this tiny chapel of St. Nicholas if you look closely.

As small as it is it has a lovely mosaic of St. Nicholas. Very popular as the patron saint of Russia, he is also the patron of seafarers, prisoners, and schoolchildren, among other things.

I thought I caught a quick glimpse of this mosaic on the show, but it may have been another one, such as the one on the church below.

...which is more like the one the brides were delivered to.

After another "task" the Amazing Race contestants arrived at the pit stop, the ballet theater near this square, where Lenin still stands tall...
...flanked by the common people of Russia.

Goodness. Previews show that next week they are going to India. I wonder if they will be in the area I visited.

Do you watch the Amazing Race?

Last night the contestants had to travel to Krasnoyarsk, Siberia. When I saw that, I had to rush to the recorder since my hubby wasn't home. You see, eleven years ago this summer, we also made that trip. (We didn't start from Transylvania as the A-R contestants did, though, we left from Seattle.)

The plan was to attend the wedding of our son that June. Some details that had to be taken care of first caused the wedding to be postponed till the fall. But we already had our tickets and there was still some hope of the wedding happening on schedule.

This tower of this tiny chapel overlooks the city from one side of the valley. It is a nice hike up from the city to this viewpoint.

...which looks down over the city of around a million people.

This view looks over the city from the opposite hills, where we went when we hiked to the rock climbing areas of the Stolby National Park.

Just as the city is more or less halfway between these two hills, if you have a large map of Russia like the one we got--which was in two halves, Krasnoyarsk sits at the east edge of the western half and the west edge of the eastern half. It lies on the Yenesei River, which flows from Lake Baikal to the Arctic Sea.
Many city dwellers, living in huge apartment buildings, have garden plots near the river bank.

Last night's contestants visited this hydroelectric dam. So did we.

This memorial remembers the builders of the dam, who lived in tents during the construction.

Free market was seen with folks selling produce from their gardens along the sidewalk. A genuine sidewalk sale? True farmers market?

Babushka means grandmother. I am Babushka. These babushkas appear to be discussing the day's best vegetable buys.

People have this preconception of Siberia, based on history and the severity of the winters. This idea of Siberia is held by Russians in Moscow and St. Petersburg as well as those of us outside Russia. When we were in European Russia, we were asked in amazement: "You went where?" and "Why in the world are you going to Siberia?"

The people are friendly and hospitable. It is a good place to visit--in the summertime--especially if you have family and friends there..