Friday (St. Petersburg by bus)
This morning we ate breakfast at the hotel. The breakfast consists of stopping by the front desk and grabbing a tiny container of yogurt and coffee (if you’re so inclined). Needless to say, the meal was not substantial but fortunately we had an early lunch at 1 PM after only walking 2 or 3 miles. We ate at a very nice restaurant and the food was excellent. The meal consisted of bread, salad, vegetable soup, fried potatoes (nicely seasoned) and crepes with a very tasty berry sauce for dessert. This tasty repast would prove to be the only real meal of the day.
The schedule for this morning was the Russian Hermitage which is an excellent museum much like the Louvre in France. However, we did not go the Hermitage but instead visited the summer palace of Catherine the Great. This trip was not in our budget so we each needed to donate $25 to the cause. The palace was very impressive and contains the world-famous Amber room that was captured by the Nazis and has never been seen since. We saw a re-creation of the room based on black and white photos of the original. I had previously read a book about the Amber room and was excited to see it in person. The good news is that we were allowed to take pictures throughout the palace except one room. The bad news is that room was, of course, the Amber Room. So I did the next best thing, I bought a post card of the room and photographed it.
Our English speaking guide on this trip is excellent. By now you should know her name. As with all the English-speaking women of Ukraine and Russia with whom I have conversed her name was Natasha. She really knows here stuff and her English is quite good.
After the palace, we went to see the Church of the Spilled Blood. I gather it was named after a Czar who was killed on the site. The church is incredible and rivals St. Basil’s Cathedral in Moscow. Roland and I took a quick peek inside and the murals were impressive. We didn’t have time to do the full tour.
At this same spot we also did some shopping at the nearby Tourist Trap, I mean Mart. I found some key chains for my sons and that was all I bought. I’m quite proud of myself.
This morning my roommate, Roland, complained to the hotel management about the lack of hot water in our shower. We had no problem getting hot water from the sink but the shower was always only freezing cold. They promised to send someone to fix it while we were gone which apparently they did because now there is no hot water at all. Problem solved.
Friday, October 19, 2007
Thursday (St. Petersburg here we come)
Today the only thing on our agenda is travel to St. Petersburg. We are going by train and have almost an entire car to ourselves. We have so much luggage, however, that it is pretty crowded. I’m sitting at a bulkhead seat and in front of me are two huge red suitcases. Beside them is another large black suitcase and there’s a small suitcase on the seat beside me and my bag is under the seat. All the overhead luggage areas are crammed with suitcases and most of the under-seat spaces are also filled up. The trip is supposed to take 8 or 9 hours so I bought a small Sudoku book at the train station.
Before we left, I walked down the block from our hotel and found a bank that was open and exchanged some US to Rubles. The exchange rate is 25 to 1 so for $26 I got over 600 Rubles. I also got some nice coins for my collection as well.
We arrived without incident in St. Petersburg at 7 PM and made it safely to our hotel. The hotel is interesting to say the least. After walking through a dark alley you enter a plain metal door that leads to several flights of stairs. Part way up the stairs there is a small room with a desk that is the hotel lobby. The elevator did not work so you can imagine 22 people with all our luggage hauling it up the stairs to the lobby and then further up to our respective rooms. As always, my room was on the top floor. The room has wireless Internet access (after you pay for it) which is a plus although I had very poor success staying connected.
Today the only thing on our agenda is travel to St. Petersburg. We are going by train and have almost an entire car to ourselves. We have so much luggage, however, that it is pretty crowded. I’m sitting at a bulkhead seat and in front of me are two huge red suitcases. Beside them is another large black suitcase and there’s a small suitcase on the seat beside me and my bag is under the seat. All the overhead luggage areas are crammed with suitcases and most of the under-seat spaces are also filled up. The trip is supposed to take 8 or 9 hours so I bought a small Sudoku book at the train station.
Before we left, I walked down the block from our hotel and found a bank that was open and exchanged some US to Rubles. The exchange rate is 25 to 1 so for $26 I got over 600 Rubles. I also got some nice coins for my collection as well.
We arrived without incident in St. Petersburg at 7 PM and made it safely to our hotel. The hotel is interesting to say the least. After walking through a dark alley you enter a plain metal door that leads to several flights of stairs. Part way up the stairs there is a small room with a desk that is the hotel lobby. The elevator did not work so you can imagine 22 people with all our luggage hauling it up the stairs to the lobby and then further up to our respective rooms. As always, my room was on the top floor. The room has wireless Internet access (after you pay for it) which is a plus although I had very poor success staying connected.
Wednesday (Of universities and circuses)
Today we went by bus several hours outside of Moscow to visit Zaoksky Adventist University. This school, of over three hundred students is the only Seventh-day Adventist university in Russia and was built shortly after the fall of communism. The university actually has over 1,200 students if you include its affiliates all over eastern Europe. The campus consists of a large main building that houses the Seminary, a computer lab, library, and administrative offices, another very large building that contains the dormitories/cafeteria/classrooms, and the main church auditorium, a gymnasium, a faculty apartment building, and a farm. The farm grows produce for the university and there are also greenhouses for growing flowers for sale.
Nearby, we toured the publishing house with its impressive million-dollar web press. Both the university and the publishing house came into being through a series of small (and not so small) miracles and they are a great blessing to the work in Russia.
Several hours and many more traffic jams later we were back in Moscow parked beside the famous Moscow circus. We had mid-tier seats for the evening performance and were all very excited. The circus was quite impressive and very diverse. It had clown acts, animals (lions, seals, camels, horses, and birds), high-wire performances, ice skating, acrobatics and even some synchronized swimming. The floor of the circus ring was actually a large hole in the floor and between acts various plug-in modules were inserted from a cavernous basement and lifted up into the hole. In this way they could change the rink from the standard surface, to an acrobatic mat surface, to an ice-skating rink, to a huge swimming pool as needed. The swimming pool came up empty but we could see it being filled while they did a performance from the upper tiers of the auditorium. The whole two and a half hour experience was quite impressive.
It appears that we are over budget already and have been asked for an additional $420 dollars. Originally the budget called for only $270 dollars but I gather that costs are constantly changes and they’re not going down.
Today we went by bus several hours outside of Moscow to visit Zaoksky Adventist University. This school, of over three hundred students is the only Seventh-day Adventist university in Russia and was built shortly after the fall of communism. The university actually has over 1,200 students if you include its affiliates all over eastern Europe. The campus consists of a large main building that houses the Seminary, a computer lab, library, and administrative offices, another very large building that contains the dormitories/cafeteria/classrooms, and the main church auditorium, a gymnasium, a faculty apartment building, and a farm. The farm grows produce for the university and there are also greenhouses for growing flowers for sale.
Nearby, we toured the publishing house with its impressive million-dollar web press. Both the university and the publishing house came into being through a series of small (and not so small) miracles and they are a great blessing to the work in Russia.
Several hours and many more traffic jams later we were back in Moscow parked beside the famous Moscow circus. We had mid-tier seats for the evening performance and were all very excited. The circus was quite impressive and very diverse. It had clown acts, animals (lions, seals, camels, horses, and birds), high-wire performances, ice skating, acrobatics and even some synchronized swimming. The floor of the circus ring was actually a large hole in the floor and between acts various plug-in modules were inserted from a cavernous basement and lifted up into the hole. In this way they could change the rink from the standard surface, to an acrobatic mat surface, to an ice-skating rink, to a huge swimming pool as needed. The swimming pool came up empty but we could see it being filled while they did a performance from the upper tiers of the auditorium. The whole two and a half hour experience was quite impressive.
It appears that we are over budget already and have been asked for an additional $420 dollars. Originally the budget called for only $270 dollars but I gather that costs are constantly changes and they’re not going down.
Tuesday (Moscow)
From the train we went directly to our hotel. The hotel is quite a ways from the center of Moscow and I would rate it two stars. It’s nothing special but it is clean and it has hot water for showers and a nice restaurant.
I had a cookie for breakfast on the train. For lunch I ate a piece of bread and half a slice of cheese at 2pm. After that we went touring the Kremlin and Red Square (over 8 miles of walking according to my pedometer-equipped roommate) and now I’m waiting for supper and I’m hungry--to put it mildly.
The word “Kremlin” in old Russian means “fortress.” Every city had a Kremlin and Moscow was no exception. Several hundred years ago Moscow became the religious and cultural center of Russia and eventually became its capital. The Kremlin started out built of wood but is now all brick and stone. Inside the Kremlin are several churches (we visited the church of the Assumption), the president’s office, a cultural arts center (where Mark Finley preached in 1993) and an armory. We also saw a canon that is supposed to be the largest in the world but it was never fired and a huge bell that weighs over 200 tons but was never rung. The story goes that the bell was involved in a fire and when they were extinguishing the flames, the bell cracked apart. The piece that came off weighs 11 tons.
We toured the armory museum which contains very few arms but lots and lots of jewelry, clothes, carriages, thrones, and gold dinner ware. It was quite interesting but we didn’t spend a lot of time there because we wanted to be sure we had time to see Red Square; which we did, and I got the picture to prove it.
Today has been a very event-full day and after supper I think I’m going to sleep well. My roommate is Roland Smith, he’s a retired financial advisor from Maryland. He’s a nice guy and I expect the room situation to go smoothly. He mentioned, however, that he snores, so we’ll have to see how that goes.
From the train we went directly to our hotel. The hotel is quite a ways from the center of Moscow and I would rate it two stars. It’s nothing special but it is clean and it has hot water for showers and a nice restaurant.
I had a cookie for breakfast on the train. For lunch I ate a piece of bread and half a slice of cheese at 2pm. After that we went touring the Kremlin and Red Square (over 8 miles of walking according to my pedometer-equipped roommate) and now I’m waiting for supper and I’m hungry--to put it mildly.
The word “Kremlin” in old Russian means “fortress.” Every city had a Kremlin and Moscow was no exception. Several hundred years ago Moscow became the religious and cultural center of Russia and eventually became its capital. The Kremlin started out built of wood but is now all brick and stone. Inside the Kremlin are several churches (we visited the church of the Assumption), the president’s office, a cultural arts center (where Mark Finley preached in 1993) and an armory. We also saw a canon that is supposed to be the largest in the world but it was never fired and a huge bell that weighs over 200 tons but was never rung. The story goes that the bell was involved in a fire and when they were extinguishing the flames, the bell cracked apart. The piece that came off weighs 11 tons.
We toured the armory museum which contains very few arms but lots and lots of jewelry, clothes, carriages, thrones, and gold dinner ware. It was quite interesting but we didn’t spend a lot of time there because we wanted to be sure we had time to see Red Square; which we did, and I got the picture to prove it.
Today has been a very event-full day and after supper I think I’m going to sleep well. My roommate is Roland Smith, he’s a retired financial advisor from Maryland. He’s a nice guy and I expect the room situation to go smoothly. He mentioned, however, that he snores, so we’ll have to see how that goes.
Monday (Russia bound)
It’s Tuesday morning and I have just spent a very comfortable and enjoyable night traveling by train from Kiev to Moscow. We arrive in about an hour. Twice during the night we were stopped and boarded by Ukranian and Russian customs officials, The Ukranians came on board at midnight and the Russians four hours later. The stops were fairly painless and we didn’t even need to get out of bed. The Russian stop was longer, however, and they took our passports for about an hour before we got them back. I had no trouble getting back to sleep after the stops and slept soundly until 8:30 in the morning feeling very rested.
Our trip yesterday from Dubno to Kiev went very smoothly. The pastor and his wife took Natasha and I to Rivne where we met the van going east with my fellow compatriots. It was an interesting experience to be in a van where almost everyone spoke English. You may have a hard time understanding this unless you’ve lived for over two weeks with almost everyone around you speaking an unintelligible language. When we arrived in Kiev I almost went into culture shock because then we had a whole room full of English speakers jabbering away and I could understand everyone!
In Kiev we spent the day at the East-bank Seventh-day Adventist Christian Center which is a large church and administration center where the conference offices are located. Natasha lives 300 meters from the center so a group of us went over to see how she lives in the real world. Her apartment is incredibly small and consists of a tiny kitchen, living room, and one bedroom/office. Two of my friends (the Garvers) from South Carolina stayed the night with them and (I hope) successfully arrived at the airport this morning.
Since we had a lot of time before our train left, Natasha, the Garvers, Ursula (a lady from California who had lost her SD card and needed our help to buy another one) and I spent about four hours shopping. We took a bus from the Center to central Kiev and toured the souvenir shops and then had some tea and snacks at a local restaurant.
At 7 PM we loaded the vans with our luggage and were off to the train station. I was able to borrow a friend’s phone for a few minutes and contact Julie to let her know that I was safe and happy. I’m hoping to have access to e-mail in Russia so that we can keep in contact this week.
It’s Tuesday morning and I have just spent a very comfortable and enjoyable night traveling by train from Kiev to Moscow. We arrive in about an hour. Twice during the night we were stopped and boarded by Ukranian and Russian customs officials, The Ukranians came on board at midnight and the Russians four hours later. The stops were fairly painless and we didn’t even need to get out of bed. The Russian stop was longer, however, and they took our passports for about an hour before we got them back. I had no trouble getting back to sleep after the stops and slept soundly until 8:30 in the morning feeling very rested.
Our trip yesterday from Dubno to Kiev went very smoothly. The pastor and his wife took Natasha and I to Rivne where we met the van going east with my fellow compatriots. It was an interesting experience to be in a van where almost everyone spoke English. You may have a hard time understanding this unless you’ve lived for over two weeks with almost everyone around you speaking an unintelligible language. When we arrived in Kiev I almost went into culture shock because then we had a whole room full of English speakers jabbering away and I could understand everyone!
In Kiev we spent the day at the East-bank Seventh-day Adventist Christian Center which is a large church and administration center where the conference offices are located. Natasha lives 300 meters from the center so a group of us went over to see how she lives in the real world. Her apartment is incredibly small and consists of a tiny kitchen, living room, and one bedroom/office. Two of my friends (the Garvers) from South Carolina stayed the night with them and (I hope) successfully arrived at the airport this morning.
Since we had a lot of time before our train left, Natasha, the Garvers, Ursula (a lady from California who had lost her SD card and needed our help to buy another one) and I spent about four hours shopping. We took a bus from the Center to central Kiev and toured the souvenir shops and then had some tea and snacks at a local restaurant.
At 7 PM we loaded the vans with our luggage and were off to the train station. I was able to borrow a friend’s phone for a few minutes and contact Julie to let her know that I was safe and happy. I’m hoping to have access to e-mail in Russia so that we can keep in contact this week.
Sunday (Lvev or Bust)
Bust. Today the plan was to tour Lvev which is the city where the pastor lived before coming to Dubno. The van, however, had different ideas and our plans had to be cancelled. This is the same van that is supposed to take us to Kiev early tomorrow morning so I’m not sure what will be done. I’m glad that we found out about the van now and not tomorrow.
We ended up having a very relaxing day, took long walks, and ate great food. Maybe this is what we needed anyway.
Bust. Today the plan was to tour Lvev which is the city where the pastor lived before coming to Dubno. The van, however, had different ideas and our plans had to be cancelled. This is the same van that is supposed to take us to Kiev early tomorrow morning so I’m not sure what will be done. I’m glad that we found out about the van now and not tomorrow.
We ended up having a very relaxing day, took long walks, and ate great food. Maybe this is what we needed anyway.
Sabbath (The End)
Today was a great day. It started off with a little sleeping-in and ended with a baptism. In between was a day of rest and fellowship. We had a very enjoyable Sabbath School and church service and afterwards a “dusia smachno” (very tasty) lunch. The weather was cold, rainy, and windy but after such a big lunch, Natasha and I just had to get out and take a walk. We walked for almost two hours through the woods and over the fields. When we got back all I wanted was a warm bath. Unfortunately, all the warm water had gone to fill the baptismal tank so I had to be satisfied with some hot tea and a warm bed.
In the afternoon, we practiced the evening presentation which was on the reality of heaven. Yesterday was my last presentation preparation and today was our last practice and this evening was our last meeting. It is hard to believe that two weeks of meetings have gone by. After the baptism the church presented us with flowers and gifts and the pastor said very nice things about us and now it is finished. It is a great feeling to rest, knowing that God has wonderfully blessed and that the meetings have ended triumphantly. Now I can relax and enjoy some sight-seeing and know that in only a couple of weeks I’ll see my friends and family again.
Vladimir was here for the last service and I was very glad. I presented him with a gift that I had brought from the states. I had thought about giving the gift to the pastor but realized that Vladimir needed it more. It was a pen that attached to its base by magnetism. The base said “Called by the Lord.” (or something close to that) and I told Vladimir that I would pray that he will always remember that God has called him and is calling him and that no matter how sinful or addicted he might be, God still calls.
Today was a great day. It started off with a little sleeping-in and ended with a baptism. In between was a day of rest and fellowship. We had a very enjoyable Sabbath School and church service and afterwards a “dusia smachno” (very tasty) lunch. The weather was cold, rainy, and windy but after such a big lunch, Natasha and I just had to get out and take a walk. We walked for almost two hours through the woods and over the fields. When we got back all I wanted was a warm bath. Unfortunately, all the warm water had gone to fill the baptismal tank so I had to be satisfied with some hot tea and a warm bed.
In the afternoon, we practiced the evening presentation which was on the reality of heaven. Yesterday was my last presentation preparation and today was our last practice and this evening was our last meeting. It is hard to believe that two weeks of meetings have gone by. After the baptism the church presented us with flowers and gifts and the pastor said very nice things about us and now it is finished. It is a great feeling to rest, knowing that God has wonderfully blessed and that the meetings have ended triumphantly. Now I can relax and enjoy some sight-seeing and know that in only a couple of weeks I’ll see my friends and family again.
Vladimir was here for the last service and I was very glad. I presented him with a gift that I had brought from the states. I had thought about giving the gift to the pastor but realized that Vladimir needed it more. It was a pen that attached to its base by magnetism. The base said “Called by the Lord.” (or something close to that) and I told Vladimir that I would pray that he will always remember that God has called him and is calling him and that no matter how sinful or addicted he might be, God still calls.
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