October Snow

We've had a glorious Fall. This is the picture from a couple of weeks ago.

Alas, it could not remain. We woke up Monday morning to the first snowfall of the season.  It didn't last long and by the end of the week we were getting more rain. But it's a sign of the times.  

We will never see leaves on these trees again.

Elders Herrin & Fife and Elena with Ken & Sue

Monday night dinner included our Center Companionship, Elders Herrin and Fife, with friend Elena that we all met at Game Night a few weeks ago.

Elders Packer, Fife & Herrin, Oleg and Elder Cummings

Halloween! Not really celebrated in Russia, but the Center Elders, Assistants and friend Oleg decided to celebrate with pizza delivered to the Mission Office kitchen. (dodopizza.ru--delivered in 60 minutes or it's free!)  



We had planned to walk to Okhta Mall on Wednesday evening to pick up the dry cleaning and some groceries, but it was raining, so we went home and ordered DoDo, too. We went to the mall on Thursday night instead.  

We've had a lot of fun these last two days this week with Tom and Forrest Pixton. Tom grew up in Santa Rosa California in the same Stake as Ken. Then they both served in the West German (Frankfurt) mission at the same time. Then they both became lawyers. Tom lived just east of Oakland, California, for many years, and then moved to Portland, Oregon. His son Forrest served a mission in Ukraine, so the two of them are on a tour of old mission haunts in both those countries. They decided to visit St. Petersburg, too. They arrived on Thursday morning and visited with us at the Mission Office for a bit. Then we sent them out sight-seeing to the Russian Museum, Savior on the Spilled Blood Church, and to the ballet at Mikhailovsky Theater that evening.  

Thursday afternoon we had our regular weekly Office Staff Meeting. The most exciting part is that the Temple trip to Helsinki for visa trips is actually going to happen! Each volunteer will get to go twice during his/her mission time. The other visa trips we do every three months will still go to Narva, Estonia. President Rawson is going to go with the group this first time, just to see how it all works. Everyone is excited. It will still be a one-day trip: 6:40 a.m. train to Helsinki. In the Temple from noon to five pm, and then back on the 7 p.m. train to St. Petersburg. It's a long day, but people can nap on the train. It's 3.5 hours at over 200 km/hour sometimes.  It's almost 6 hours in a car, so the train is better and safer, especially in the winter.  

Forrest & Tom Pixton with Ken & Sue
 in The Winter Palace of The Hermitage Museum

Friday morning Tom and Forrest went to the General Staff Building of the Hermitage (twentieth century art) while we went to do our regular Friday afternoon shift at the Hermitage Winter palace across Palace Square. They came and found us there. Sue skipped out of entrance-gate duty to show them around for about three hours while Ken stayed and helped at the gate.

Dinner at The Literary Cafe--Pushkin ate here

After that we took them to dinner at the Literary Cafe--our favorite real Russian restaurant for visiting tourists.  











They rented a car and offered to drive us home with a stop first at the post office. (Still looking for an elusive package from Sweden.) It had been raining and Ken took this photo while we were walking to the car.

Palace Square, The Winter Palace of The Hermitage Museum

Saturday morning they came and picked us up for a day of driving around the city. It was our own "Hop On, Hop Off" tour.

First stop: St. Isaac's Cathedral. This is the symbol of St. Petersburg. Massively huge and beautiful and ornate. Tom has a bad knee, so we didn't climb the 282 stairs to the Colonnade. Forrest wants to come back and do it some day.

St. Isaac's Cathedral--Symbol of St. Petersburg

The Altar in St. Isaac's

Peter the Great Monument
 overlooking the River Neva

We walked through the park to see this big statue of Peter the Great presented by Catherine II.

We drove around past the Peter and Paul Fortress and the original small "palace" of Peter the Great nearby. Then we went to the Summer Garden. It's not looking very summery. The fountains are all turned off, the leaves are off the trees. All the beautiful marble statues are hidden inside stout wooden boxes for the winter. But we were able to show Tom and Forrest where the land of Russia was dedicated for the return of the Restored Gospel in 1903 and again in 1993.

The Fontanka Bridge at the Summer Garden

As we left the Summer Garden, the sun came out! It was mostly a very dreary, drizzly day. Ken took this photo of the metal work on the bridge over the Fontanka River at the Summer Garden.

The sobering memorial at the Siege Line

Next we drove about 10 km south of downtown and stopped at the memorial to the Siege of Leningrad [St. Petersburg] from 1941 to 1944--900 days with the Nazi army camped this close to the city center. But they never got any closer. It's a very beautiful and moving and huge memorial in the middle of a large traffic circle on Moskovsky Road. (That's the road that goes to Moscow.)

Last stop on the historical tour was Catherine's Palace down south in the town of Pushkin--formerly known as Tsarskoe Selo. [Tsar's Village] This was a summer palace for many years for various royal families. The last tsar and his family were living there when they were kidnapped as part of the 1917 Russian Revolution. It's a beautiful palace, with an amazing park.  

Catherine's Palace in the town of Pushkin

Forrest Pixton, Ken & Sue, and Tom Pixton
 inside Catherine's Palace

The whole place is just over-the-top Rococo--fancy and gilded and ornate. There is one famous room where all the walls are covered in tiles of Amber to make various designs.

After spending all day looking at historical sights from 1703 to 1945, we decided to give Tom and Forrest a taste of modern Russia. We took them to the Food Court at Okhta Mall for dinner. We skipped by KFC, Burger King and McDonalds. Tom had real Russian fast food--meatballs, mashed potatoes, cabbage salad. Forrest, Ken and Sue went to the "Shaverma" place. That's more middle-eastern burrito-ish food.  

Tom couldn't get over the mall. Modern--it's only been open two years. Full of stores--many familiar to those from the USA. Full of people--Saturday night teenagers and families. Tom bought himself a nice leather carrying case for his iPad. Lots of fun!