June 12, 2012 My birthday in St Petersburg, IKEA and return train trip

The bus ride back to St Petersburg was about the same but we tolerated it a bit better mainly because we only walked 10 miles instead of 15 yesterday and also the bus left at 8pm instead of 11pm.  All the normal passport checking stops along the way except this time there was miles of traffic backup because Monday was a holiday and people were returning back to Russia.......the backup was amazing, Yulia told us once some of her friends waited 4 hours in a traffic back up at the borders.  For some reason our bus just went past all of  the traffic.  We aren't sure why, but were very glad for it.......we were dropped off at about 4am somewhere in St Petersburg to wait for a taxi to take us to the hotel.  It was lightly raining and of course the sun was up as if it was noon.  We were very groggy once again because of bumpy roads and interrupted sleep.  Once the taxi came he took us to the hotel and Yulia got us checked in......she left us and went to her friend's house for a few hours.  This time we got to sleep for about 6.5 hours before she was back to pick us up for the day......well not to ride anywhere, but of course to walk.  We walked 12 miles today for a grand total in 3 days of 37 miles.  Too much!!!  First picture of the day......from a lot of rain and a cool beginning of the day......my birthday is today and I am not really very happy because I hurt all over and do not want to be a party pooper for everyone else, but I would have been just as happy to sleep and rest the remainder of the day.

We walked about 2 miles to the place for brunch.........

Got on the metro and when we got off and outside Yulia asked us to look at the building.  It is called something like an alien ship because that is what it resembles.  She said at night the lights are blue and flash around making it look even more like an alien ship.

From there we walked to tour the Peter and Paul Fortress.  Before going inside we saw a statue of a man (can't remember his name).  People used to make fun of him because his body was so large compared to his small head.  People like getting their pictures taken next to him and if you rub his hand you are suppose to have good luck and your wish come true. 
Inside the church they were doing some remodeling and Lewis got a couple of pictures of them applying gold leafing. 

This is another building within the "fortress"

Outside of the fortress is "The Hare" - another place where a lot of money is tossed and those who retrieve it are very happy.  Anyway the object is to toss a coin.....this time Euros.....and get it to land between the hare's feet for your wish to come true.  This time Lewis didn't make it, but his wish is already coming true from the bird on Sunday so we aren't worried!!!

Next we took the metro and then got on an interesting bus that took us to a mall where IKEA is located.  Apparently there are 2 IKEAs in St Petersburg, but this is the one closest to where the train station is that we needed in the evening.

One of our main reasons to be at IKEA is to look for a mattress topper......or something similar.  The mattress we have is like a combination box spring/mattress and the springs are making themselves known.  We picked up a few other items as well, but had to be careful because we had quite a ways to go still before getting to the train station later.  These are our purchase in addition to the mattress we bought.  We put these things in a locker and waited until we were about to leave to purchase the mattress so that it didn't have to be carried around so much.  We ate dinner at the IKEA restaurant and loved the idea of this cart tray to put everything on, pay for, and take to the table to eat.

We got little samples of desserts and Lewis and I shared the pie dessert also.  The swedish meatballs were very good also.

Yulia's friend met her at the mall and while they shopped for about 45 minutes we walked around a bit.  The mall looks very similar to ones we are used to but instead of being spread out, they are several floors high.  Playground with children playing like we see in the states.

Lewis went to purchase the mattress and I waited for him in the restaurant area.  This is how big the mattress is.........

Thank goodness Yulia's friend had her car at the mall and offered to take us to the metro.  We had to put one of the backseats down in order to make the mattress fit.  When we got to the metro the guy stopped us and wasn't going to let us get on the subway with such a large item.  Yulia convinced him, not sure how because we don't speak Russian.  Here is Lewis walking through the metro with this gigantic thing as well as his backpack.  I carried the other items and my backpack.  Very tiring!!

When we got to the stop where the locker was with some of our things I waited on the bench with the mattress and our backpacks and purchases while Yulia and Lewis went to get our other things out of the locker.  I decided to take a short video of the metro and a picture of one of the routes......we would have quite a challenge getting around by ourselves.

The train left on time a little after 10pm and we found a spot for the big mattress.  This time I took a picture of the whole compartment we slept in.  No roomies again, thank goodness.  This time we slept with our feet at the window instead of our head and I think we slept alot better. A few videos of St Petersburg as we were leaving.

 Arrived in Velikiye Luki at 8am Wednesday morning......glad to be back!!!