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Hello Russia, Санкт-Петербург (Saint Petersburg) here I come

Welcome to Saint Petersburg!

From the 14th to the 19th of November I traveled with other international students to Saint Petersburg in Russia. We took the bus down to Stockholm from Umea, then a beautiful cruise boat to join Helsinki from where we took the bus to finally arrive in Saint Petersburg where we spent 3 nights. Discover the pictures HERE

"Saint Petersburg (Санкт-Петербург in Russian) is a city and a federal subject located in Northwestern Federal District of Russia on the Neva River at the east end of the Gulf of Finland on the Baltic Sea. St. Petersburg's informal name, Piter (Питер), is based on how Peter the Great was called by foreigners. The city's other names were Petrograd (Петрогра́д, 1914–1924) and Leningrad (Ленингра́д, 1924–1991).

Founded by Tsar Peter the Great on May 27, 1703, it was capital of the Russian Empira for more than two hundred years (1712-1728, 1732-1918). St. Petersburg ceased being the capital in 1918 after theRussian Revolution of 1917. It is Russia's second largest and Europe's third largest city (by city limit) afterMoscow and London. At latitude 59°56′N, Saint Petersburg is the world's largest city north of Moscow (55°45′N). 4.6 million people live in the city, and over 6 million people in the city with its vicinity. Saint Petersburg is a major European cultural center, and important Russian port on the Baltic sea. The city, as federal subject, has a total area of 1439 square km. Among cities of the world with over one million people, Saint Petersburg is the northernmost. The historic center of St. Petersburg is aUnesco World Heritage Site. Russia's political and cultural center for 200 years, the city is impressive, and is sometimes referred to in Russia as "the Northern Capital" (северная столица, severnaya stolitsa)."

We arrived in Saint Petersburg the 15th of November at night after spending all the afternoon in the bus and after going through not less than four passeport checking at the border. We were staying at Moscow Hotel, a really nice hotel facing Alexander Nevsky Square and situated at the corner of the famous 5 kilometers long Nevsky Prospekt avenue. That night we walked along this famous street and ended up in a bar, sushi disco restaurant drinking a beer!

Russian advertising, might be political..anyone who got russian skills gives me a clue...

Saint Petersburg TV Tower at night (315m high)
Nevski Prospekt at night
Chilling out at the russian pub, restaurant, dico (all the 3 concepts toghether)

The 16th in the morning we went on tout sightseing with the bus which was really until heavy snow started to cover the bus windows...still nice though

Saint Isaacs Cathedral square and Monument to Nicolas I. From the top of the cathedral you can have a beautiful view over the city (discovered it afterwards unfortunetaly).

The Mariinsky palace, seat of the Assembly

The Peter and Paul Cathedral in the Peter and Paul Fortress

The Church of the Savior on Blood commemorates the spot where TsarAlexander II was assassinated

Russian lunch: pancakes, tea and soup


Big brother is watching you

After that day discovering St Petersburg we experience the russian nightlife at metro club, really special...no pictures of course because it is not allowed...To give you a taste of metro club, chec the usufull tips posted on their website (u better read them if u intend to go to metro club lol) http://www.metroclub.ru/default_eng.htm
Saturday the 17th of November: visit of the Hermitage Winter Palace

"The Palace is now part of a complex of buildings known as the State Hermitage Museum, which holds one of the world's greatest collections of art. As part of the Museum, many of the Winter Palace's 1,057 halls and rooms are open to the public.

The State Hermitage Museum is one of the largest museums in the world, with 3 million works of art (not all on display at once), and one of the oldest art galleries and museums of human history and culture in the world. The vast Hermitage collections are displayed in six buildings, the main one being the Winter Palace which used to be the official residence of the Russian Tsars. IThe Hermitage holds the Guinness World Record as world's largest collection of paintings. Strong points of the Hermitage collection of Western art includeMichelangelo, Leonard da Vinci, Ruben, Rembrandt, Renoir, Cézanne, Van Gogh, Picasso... There are several more collections, however, including the Russian imperial regalia, an assortment of Fabergé jewellerery, and the largest existing collection of ancient gold from Eastern Europe and Western Asia. The Military Gallery opened in 1826, accommodates 332 portraits of military leaders of the Russian army duringNapoleon's invasion of Russia. After the February Revolution in Russia, the Winter Palace was the headquarters of the Russian Provisional Governement. The assault of the Winter Palace by Bolshevik forces was the official milestone of the October Revolution."

We experienced the russian subway on the way back from the Hermitage... First difficulty to know where you are going when you can't read the map.. secondly a feeling of insecurity accentuated by the way the metro is built (the deepest in the world) ...

Saint Petersburg Metro is an underground rapid transit system. Formerly known as Leningrad Metro (Ленинградское метро), the system exhibits many typical Soviet designs and features exquisite decorations and artwork making it one of the most attractive and elegant metros in the world. Due to the city's unique geology, the Saint Petersburg Metro is the deepest subway system in the world. Serving nearly three million passengers daily, it is also the 16th busiest subway system in the world.

In the evening we went to a traditional russian folk performance at Nikolaevsky Palace. Nikolaevsky Palace
A stop in Helsinki...
Back on the boat...

A taste of Norway: weekend at Erik's brother in Trondheim

The weekend of the 9th of November we decided to finally go to Norway to visit his brother Jon and his little family. Click HERE to see the photos..

Here is a little map to help you situate where Erik's brother lives in Norway.

Trondheim in few lines, enjoy this unusual cultural part of my blog...

"The Sagas tell us how King Olav Tryggvason of Viking fame founded the city by the mouth of the River Nidelva in 997. Trondheim holds a special place in Norwegian history and culture. It was the first capital of Norway, and is still the city where new kings receive their ceremonial blessing. Situated by the Trondheim fjord, it is surrounded by lovely forested hills, with the Nidelva river winding through the town. It has been and still is a popular pilgrimage site, an ecclesiastical centre, a regional capital and a centre for commerce and administration.

Today Trondheim is a modern city, a centre of knowledge with a highly respected university, many popular colleges and a research community ranking among the best in Europe. You will find a wide variety of cultural and recreational activities in Trondheim, while work and education options abound. Here you can experience both the charm and intimacy of the small town and the plethora of choices of big-city life. In 2006 Trondheim is home to around 165 000 inhabitants. But if we count the large number of students (every sixth inhabitant is a student) the population swells to 180 000. The students adds a youthful exuberance to this thousan-year old city. While it is not a large metropolis, Trondheim's location and opportunities put it on an equal footing with the major cities of Europe."

Trondheim is a really nice town and we had a really nice time with Jon, Hanne (his wife) and the little Anna. We walked through the Old Town Bridge which crosses the Nidelva river and we went for a coffee in a really nice coffee place situated in old Trondheim.

We then visited the beautiful Nidaros Cathedral before to go to a panoramic restaurant where we enjoyed a 360° degrees view over Trondheim while eating.

"Norway's national sanctuary, Nidaros Cathedral was built over the grave of St. Olav, Norway's patron saint whose reputation shone far beyond the borders of his country. Construction started in 1070, but the oldest parts still in existence are from the middle of the 12th century. Ravaged by fire on several occasions, the church was rebuilt each time - mainly in the Gothic style, but the oldest parts around the transept reflect the Roman style. "

We also enjoyed the winter landscape in train on the way back, especially when approaching the swedish border and passing the ski resort area of Are.

Time is flying...30.10 to 03.11

Time is running so fast, only 2 months left in Umea... now Im really thinking I should do a good use of this time left and enjoy every minute of it! but lets stop being nostalgic already and talk about these last weeks which have been filled with interesting trips ..

Before to get to get to these trips lets have a look to some nice pictures of the last autumn days in Umea before the snow covered everything. You will be able to notice the gradual change of landscape.. Click HERE to see the pics..

Plus some extra pics of me and Erik dressed for Halloween, the only ones who got costumes actually lol!

Weekend at Erik's parents -12th of October-

... me AGAIN!

Hope you are not too confused about this blog and that you still manage to follow my staying at Umea..

The second week of October, Erik and me recharged our batteries at his parents who live up north near Kalix. Kalix is situated 400 km north from Umea, just by the baltic sea.
All the pictures from this nice weekend HERE.

We first visited Erik's father in storön where we enjoyed walking along the coast with the dog on a sunny saturday morning.

The night before we had the incredible opportunity to see a green light in the sky and this... was the northern light!

On this saturday we drove few kilometers from there to go to Monika's new house (Erik's mother) in Palänge, where we had a look at the traditional small harbour called Nässkatan .

All along the weekend we have been spoiled with really good food and nice landscapes. All what we needed back then!!

October or how the autumn became winter...

Hej!

Sorry for not being faithful to the blog this last month but this second module was a tough one (and this is not a bad excuse). However there are still some events that happend that I need to keep you updated with. CLICK HERE to see the pics from the 2nd week of october...

First the six of october (on saturday evening), we had a really nice corridor party with all the corridor mates. We first gathered around a "tacos dinner" and then friends of everyone came over. It was a way of getting to know each other a bit more and I hope we will do that again soon...

The day after (sunday), we bravely went to IKSU. I think it is really important at this point that I finally explain what IKSU is. Even if it seems hard to believe I have got myself a gold card at the sportcenter which in fact is more that a sportcenter since we have got everything you can dream of like jacuzzy, sauna and you can almost practice every sports. So that sunday, us and some brave friends who are important to mention here (Erik, Laurie, Austen and Uli) book an afro power dance session followed by a beach volley game. As you can guess we all were really active and fresh when it came to practice, pictures as a proof!