36 Hours in St Petersburg

As soon as we found out we were going to Russia we knew we had to visit St. Petersburg.  I hadn’t been in 16 years since I had lived there as an exchange student and I wanted to see it again as an adult. Randy had never been and he didn’t want to miss out. 
Randy couldn’t take any time off while in Russia so we decided to take a fast train early Saturday morning and come back on the overnight train Sunday night.  This would mean we would have to cram a whole lot of sightseeing into 36 hours with an overtired baby who would have to nap on the go.  To quote Randy ‘It’s good for Adam to see how his life will be as an Ali early on’. 

So off we went. 

We were up at 5 am in order to get ready and catch our 7 am train. We were advised to get there 45 minutes to clear security…it took us three minutes to walk past the guard by the door and get onto the train.  But at least we didn’t miss our train.
We all managed to catch a little snooze on the train. 

In days past, before having a baby we would have slept the entire train ride, but Adam wanted to make sure we were up and enjoying the train for the second half. Thanks Adam 🙂
Our train pulled into the St Petersburg train station at 11 and here is where our 36 hours begins!
We lost a half an hour negotiating a taxi that wouldn’t rip us off, but I think that half hour was well spent considering we saved twenty bucks. We headed to our hotel, the W.  This hotel was amazing. It was located five minutes from the Hermitage and had the most comfy bed.

After a quick outfit change we were off to lunch at Jeromes, which was delicious.
Then we decided that since we had already had a train ride it was time for a boat ride. We took a 45 minute boat ride to Petrogof, Peter the Great’s Summer house.

Just a small summer cottage Peter the Great built to get away from the summer heat in St. Petersburg. A couple of small fountains and a couple of extra rooms.

Adam thought it was way too small!

The trip there and back and the walk we took around the grounds took three hours but it was definitely a great choice.  Seeing St. Petersburg from the boat was great and it was so hot out it would have been hard to walk around all day. 
After we got back some of us got to take a nap….

…while others decided to do a walking tour of the main sights in St Petersburg and hit up the souvenir market.

After our walk it was back to the hotel for a much needed shower before dinner.
Adam even got a bathrobe in his size!
We had a great dinner overlooking all of St Petersburg…but we forgot our camera so you’ll have to just trust us- the view was amazing. Adam even made it all the way to the end with a big smile on his face! After dinner we all headed home and collapsed into our beds and slept until nine the next morning.
The next morning Randy had to do a little bit of work so we all relaxed and had some room service for breakfast. 
At noon we met Polina who had been my exchange student all those years ago in St Petersburg. She has an adorable four and a half year old daughter named Maria.  We went for a walk in the Summer Gardens, which I remember walking in with Polina 16 years ago.  I can’t believe it’s been 16 years since I’ve seen her and that we both have children.  It seems like just a short time ago we were staying up late in her room to talk about everything.
Adam is looking down in all of these pictures at Masha’s awesome hair. We were all distracted enough during this picture that he was able to grab a fistful.  Masha was not pleased.

After our walk it was time for lunch.
Me- pull hair?? Never!

After lunch, we said goodbye to Polina and Masha and it was time for a visit to the Hermitage.  The Hermitage is one of the largest and oldest museums of the world. Its collections, of which only a small part is on permanent display, comprise nearly 3 million items, including the largest collection of paintings in the world. 
We got there at 4 and since it closes at 6 that gave us two hours to see as much as we could.  That ended up being a lot.
Crouching Boy by Michelangelo
One of the many Van Goghs
Adam by Fotini & Randy 🙂
Adam’s first time in the Ergo reversed. He seemed to like it but it was odd not being able to see what he was up to and he’s up to a lot these days.

One of many, many Matisses
MJ – this one is for you-  its called The ‘Two Sisters’ by Picasso.
A five minute break by the window.  It was a SUPER HOT DAY and the Hermitage is surprisingly not air conditioned….
After the Hermitage we went for dinner at Terrasa, another restaurant with another beautiful view. We had our camera this time!
After a long meal we headed to the train station for our overnight train home.  No pics were taken because we all went right to bed! Adam and I shared a bed which was tight to say the least but we got home to our apartment around 6am and both of us slept until 11 (thanks Adam!!). 
St Petersburg was worth the trip and we could have done with another couple days there. There is so much to see and it is a beautiful city.  At times you feel like you’re in France, at times Italy and at times Eastern Europe. It’s much more relaxed than Moscow and has an old city charm. It’s even more beautiful than I remember.
–Fotini

Reasons I love Randy

I’ve always been a bit of a nervous traveler.  I know that may be hard to believe, but it’s true. The week leading up to a departure I make lists, pack, make countless trips to CVS and make more lists, all to make myself feel more prepared.  I pack our suitcases days in advance and plan our route to the airport days in advance.   Once we get to wherever we’re going, I always feel fine.  I just need a bit of a push to be convinced that we should leave in the first place.

Randy has always had the ability to talk me into going anywhere.  When we were in high school and college it was simple- Burger King when I wanted McDonalds,  the Mermaid bar (there were women dressed like mermaids swimming around) when I wanted a simple lounge. 

After law school the stakes got higher.  Move to London for an undetermined amount of time – sure.  Go to Cambodia for vacation – sure.  Join the foreign service with you – sure.

And now that we have Adam, when even simple things like going to the supermarket might seem hard, Randy challenges me to do the most I can do.  Take Adam to California at four months – easy.  Take Adam to Russia at seven months – slightly harder. Take Adam on a whirlwind 48 hours trip to St Petersburg involving an overnight train and zero naps – hmmmm.  

Yet, without fail, after the fact I am always so glad that I went and saw all that I saw and experienced all that I experienced.  I have Randy to thank for all that.  He’s the one that gets me off the couch to begin with (which I have to say I would probably live on if left on my own).

BUT if I call you someday soon and tell you we’re moving to Antartica or the Moon can you please remind me that the Philippines is quite far enough 🙂

Randy on our very comfy couch
Pic by Joel

Reasons I love Randy

When we were in St. Petersburg this past weekend we spent an afternoon with Polina. Polina had been my exchange student sophomore year of high school.  She came to Staten Island for a semester to stay with my family and I stayed with her family in St Petersburg for a semester. I haven’t seen her since. That’s 16 years ago for those of you that are counting!

We met Polina and her adorable daughter Maria (Masha) for lunch and during lunch Randy asked Polina what her experience had been in Staten Island 16 years ago.  Polina thought for a minute and answered that it had been stressful.  They hadn’t know much outside of the closed country they had grown up in and it wasn’t easy to be in a different high school for those four months where they were looked at as different.  She said by the end of her semester it had been much easier, but I guess her answer had stuck with Randy.

A couple days later when we were out for a walk, Randy brought up what Polina had said.  He said, he wishes he had appreciated these four students who just five years prior to that semester abroaad had experienced the fall of communism.  There was so much to learn from them and their differences that he hadn’t appreciated in high school. 

Randy doesn’t try to change people. He just appreciates every person he meets as an opportunity to learn from their differences. Every person he meets he listens to and learns from them and it makes him an even better person than he already is.

Trip Planning

You may be sitting at home wondering how the Ali’s decide where to go and what they see. Well, before we head out for a trip, there is a lot of research that goes into what we see and do.

Here is a little snippet of our intense St. Petersburg research before we started hitting the sights.

First we have to pick the perfect guide book.

Then we have to read and read and read. 
Then we have to plot our routes.
And only after all that are we able to relax, put our feet up and have a bite to eat.
–Adam

Patriarch's Ponds

The name suggests several ponds, yet when we arrived there was just one.

It is a beautiful pond right in the middle of the city.  I’m finding more and more of these oasis of calms in crazy Moscow.

Adam loved it. He loves water and is now obsessed with birds so this was his dream come true.

Photo by Randy

There is a beautiful restaurant right on the pond that we headed to for a relaxed dinner last Friday before our whirlwind trip to St Petersburg.

Photo by Randy

The menu was Russian which is slowly growing on us.

We ordered pickles, stroganoff and rabbit, just call us Russkys.  But we were there more for the view than the food.

Photo by Randy

We took the long way home past the playground so Adam could watch the kids play and we picked up some croissants for the train to St. Petersburg the next morning. A great Friday night.

Photo by Randy
–Fotini

Baby Obsessions

Adam’s new obsessions is eating.  What is Adam eating you ask.

Well number three on his list of tasty items are bananas…

which always taste better when all over your face.

Number two on his list is his belt, newly discovered last Friday afternoon.

Are you looking?
Ok good! Just a quick nibble.

and number one on his list of tasty items by a landslide is CARDBOARD! We don’t discriminate, any type will do just fine.

Thanks Aunt Daf & Uncle Meej for my awesome outfit 🙂
and my awesome car shirt 🙂

Giggling Fit

Jersey Shore

After five years of living in London, I was most excited about being in the US this year for the summer. There is nothing like the summer at home.  Yummy corn and tomato season, hotdogs and hamburgers, the beach, thunderstorms, fresh fish and lobster.

The weekend before we left for Russia we drove up to Manasquan to visit our friends Sol and Dina.  They had invited us to their summer house for the weekend and we jumped at the opportunity. Not just for the beach of course, but to see them, their adorable son Peter and their scrumptious newborn Alexander.  All the adorable pics in this post were taken by Dina.

We drove up Friday day and had a yummy BBQ lunch of hotdogs, hamburgers and baked beans.  Then we walked along the water and everyone under twenty fell asleep except Adam 🙂 Then we went our for delicious seafood.

Here is Adam waiting impatiently for his Lobster Mac N Cheese. Oh wait, that was me.
Saturday we spent the day at the beach.  Their house was right on the beach which is great for babies. You can pop back into the house for a nap, a snack, a bathroom trip and then go right back to the beach.  That night we headed back out for more yummy seafood, followed by a trip to the boardwalk.
Randy and I haven’t been to a boardwalk on the shore for about fifteen years and things are a little different now than they were then 🙂

But some things never change. Adam fell asleep and we were able to walk to boardwalk holding hands. It made me feel like I was fifteen again.

–Fotini

It's More Fun in the Philippines

My friend Will just sent me this.  I think he may be as excited as us about our move to the Philippines  🙂 

I love this video. I just watched it three times and it made me smile each time!  I also think I’m ready to move there, I’ve finally figured out how to spell it correctly without looking it up.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecfEmSJrrbs

–Fotini