The only way to describe it was Gaudy…

I am EXHAUSTED.  Before I tell you about my day here in St. Petersburg, Russia, I have to tell you about a few blessings that have caught me by surprise in the last few weeks.  Ships are typically a “toxic” and “destructive” place for Christians and a weak Christian can easily trip and fall in an environment like this.  Personally, my walk with God started when I was young but I have tripped A LOT but never ever left the path completely.  Since working on ships though, I’ve strayed because I never felt there was support

My friend, Brandi, embarked on the Eurodam about two weeks after I did.  I’m sure I’ve mentioned in previous posts about how ship life is weird – friendships and relationships move at a rapid speed and you grow close and get attached to people very quickly.  Brandi and I instantly hit it off – she’s a great girl, bubbly and happy with a smile that can light up any room.  Unfortunately, Brandi is from Joplin, Missouri that just endured the devastating tornado destroying 75% of the town.  Out of fear for the unknown, she was upset and understandably so.   Myself, Amye & Teleya (both who were friends of hers before the Eurodam) sat with her and prayed through it all together and turned it around to be all part of God’s plan. Two days ago, Brandi’s father was in the hospital because of some health problems where they predicted he would pass on before the night was through. Again, we sat with her until 2/3AM to keep her company and prayed that he would at least make it until she got home. Sadly, he passed a few hours before she made it.  If you will please keep Brandi and her family, as well as the city of Joplin, in your prayers.  I know they need it and would appreciate it.

This is the first time where I have felt the support and ability to comfortably talk about God, my religion and my beliefs and I find myself growing closer to God and have the constant daily reminder about how to be a better Christian by talking about it all with  my friends and by following their examples.  I’m so grateful for them and I can’t thank God enough for putting these friends in my life. 

As I said at the beginning of this post, I’m exhausted.  I was in Brandi’s room until 2AM and then came back to my room and couldn’t sleep.  The last time I remember looking at my clock, it was around 3AM and my alarm was set for 6AM because I had a tour that was meeting at 7AM.  When the alarm began to sing at 6AM, I hopped out of bed because I knew if I pressed snooze that I would press it so many times, I’d miss my tour.  Slowly, I dragged myself and got ready and was up to meet my group right at 7:15AM.  After we got through Russian Immigration (which is a Pain in the Behind, if you ask me!), I found my way to the bus and boarded with a wacky tour guide.  Her name was Nina and she was extremely frazzled trying to count people and tickets.  I threw my backpack in the back of the bus and started to help her by counting and we figured out what was going on and got on our way.  It took about an hour of driving to reach our destination, Catherine’s Palace, located in the city of Pushkin.  To be totally honest, I didn’t know what to expect because I hadn’t really done my research before joining this ship, which I typically do before joining any ship.  Catherine’s palace is MASSIVE.  This is only the front…it continues on – around 380 meters long!

    

Once we entered the gates of the palace, we waited in a long line and listened to the Catherine’s Palace Orchestra play and slowly progressed to the line where we received our “booties” before we could walk through the palace itself.  They were a sight…

We walked through rooms larger than anything you would imagine lined with wooden carvings that had been painted in gold leaf. Walls and Walls and Walls of gaudy, gold and elaborate décor – but I guess that describes the baroque style – ugly :) The floors were made of 8-10 different types of beautiful woods in intricate patterns, the stoves covered in blue antique tiles and the tables set up with place setting that reminded me of when Robin and I were kids.  Robin, one of my favorite people, and I used to have to set the table for her mother’s dinner parties.  It would take us HOURS to put all the pieces and parts to each table setting and then we would mock it by sitting and the table and explain that it would take us 80 years find anything at the table!

Catherine’s Palace is most famous for the “Amber Room”.  Now, with all my travels, my biggest disappointment in the last couple years is restoration.  So many palaces and museums have been restored and updated to the point that it loses its value and historical qualities.  The Amber room was restored quite recently, actually – 2003.  Granted, it was beautiful –walls close to 20 feet high covered in huge panels of multi-colored amber.  They are not 100% sure of what it looked like because the original panels disappeared when the Nazi’s destroyed the palace and have never been recovered.  But hey, I saw it.  Other than that, there wasn’t much to see other than the “Great Room” the dining rooms, the grand foyer and the many game rooms in the house.  I wish we could’ve seen some bedrooms and things like that, but apparently they are all being restored. 

Outside the palace were beautiful traditional French gardens with manmade lakes, a hermitage (closed for reconstruction) and multiple statues.  We walked around those for a bit before heading to the market that sold all of the Russian treasures – the Merishka (sp?) dolls, tradition Russian military hats and Amber necklaces to name a few.   Check out the Obama and Bush dolls!

There wasn’t too much more to the day other than the hour long bus ride home (where I chose to sleep comfortably in the very back row) and back to work, as usual!

Quote of the day:  “God wants spiritual fruit, not religious nuts.”