Boat trip, Pushkin

I was going to compose an entry later tonight after finishing my homework, but we've just experienced a power outage, so I've decided to bang out a quick post now before my computer loses its juice. Two reasons for this: one, I haven't written very often lately and I'm sorry about that, two, I'm about to embark on a week-long cruise down the Volga River and will not be able to update again before my return.

I'm really looking forward to this cruise. The whole program is participating, so we will meet up again with the groups from Moscow and Vladimir for the first time since orientation in DC. We're going to stop in several cities between Nizhny Novogorod and Volgograd along the river. Everyday we'll get off the boat and check out the cities.  After Volgorod, we hop a train to Moscow, where we will hang out briefly and then another train back to St. Petersburg. So expect plenty of stories when I get back.

Today we had an excursion to Pushkin, a St. Petersburg suburb most notable for Catherine's Palace, which is magnificent.  It is far more impressive than the palace at Gatchina which I've already written about, though it too was all but destroyed by the Nazis. However, just as with Gatchina, the museum curators were able to evacuate most of the art before the Nazis could loot it all. They unfortunately were not able to remove the amber room, an room entirely covered in amber paneling, so the Nazis got to that.  Unfortunately, the original amber room has been destroyed.  A relatively new theory holds that Soviet troops accidentally destroyed the room when while burning down a castle which they occupied in Kaliningrad, where the Germans had been hiding it, during the waning years of the war.  Luckily, the Russians rebuilt the amber room, albeit it at a cost of $12 million!

The grounds surrounding the palace are also quite impressive. We walked around for the better part of an hour and barely scratched the surface. Anyone visiting St. Petersburg should do themselves a favor and make the short trip outside of the city to see Pushkin. Now, it's nigh time I return to my homework by candlelight.