At the beginning of the month, someone very special came to visit me - my mom! I was extremely happy when she finally got here (it had been over three months since I had last seen her) and excited to introduce her to Saint Petersburg. She timed her visit so that she would be able to watch our concert at the Hermitage Theater and then have a few days afterwards, when I'd be less busy with rehearsals and such, for us to spend together.
My mom arrived just in time for the Victory Day celebrations (May 9th), which commemorate the 1945 victory of the Russian army over Nazi forces. While we were walking, we passed by this small memorial - a WWII-era painted sign warning citizens of the dangers of air strikes - under which people had piled bouquets of red carnations in memory of the people whose sacrifice had led to the victory.
Her hotel was on the main boulevard of the city, which got decorated with signs and banners in the colors of the Russian flag and which was also the site of the Victory Day parade. People lined up on the sidewalk to watch the parade, and we joined them.
Saint Petersburg is a city built on and around a network of rivers and canals, so no visit should be complete without a boat trip. We spent about an hour and a half touring the city by boat, taking pictures of the buildings that we passed. The commentary, unfortunately, was offered only in Russian, and the woman who was speaking was speaking very quickly, so I wasn't able to catch much of what she was saying. (Even if she said several words that I know, I didn't have time to put them together into a coherent thought before she'd be on to the next sentence). Still, it was fun to be on the boat and gave us a nice break from walking around.
Soon afterwards came the concert itself. I was happy to have someone come to watch me dance. I already posted some of my pictures from the day of the performance (here), but here are a couple more. First is the curtain of the State Hermitage Theater, which I never saw, but which my mom photographed from her seat in the audience. I wish that I'd gotten to see it!
Here is a photo of the two of us together after the performance.
We managed to go see several cathedrals in the days following the performance. Here is Saint Nicholas' Naval Cathedral.
Here is the Church on Spilled Blood, which is one of my favorites. I love the outside - it's so colorful and bright, and almost looks good enough to eat - and the inside is even more amazing.
The cathedral had fallen into disrepair after years of neglect, being used as a storage area for opera scenery, and suffering damage as a result of some of the conflict that took place in the city during World War II. After a massive restoration effort, the cathedral has regained its grandeur and beauty.
Several large areas of the floor are made entirely of naturally-colored marble, cut into various shapes to form bright, bold geometric designs.
The walls, from floor to ceiling, as well as the insides of each dome, are completely covered in mosaics depicting Christian religious figures and scenes from the Bible. Each wall has something different; even the patterns in the borders around the scenes are hardly ever repeated.
This photo is looking up at the inside of one of the domes.
Most of the light in the cathedral is natural, coming from the many windows in the walls and just underneath each one of the domes; the rest comes from several ornate chandeliers.
This (the picture below) is under the large gold dome on the left side of the cathedral (as seen from the angle in my first picture of it).
I could have spent all day looking at these mosaics.
The detail in the mosaics is incredible. My mom took this close-up photo of one of the mosaics. Even the tiny writing that appeared in the scene was spelled out using tiny golden tiles.
My mom and I also went to see a show at the Mariinsky Theater. We saw Don Quixote, which is one of my favorite ballets. The Mariinsky's version even involves two appearances by a live horse and donkey - definitely a highlight of the production. The lead roles were performed by Elena Yevseyeva and Filipp Stepin, both second soloists; they performed very well and I enjoyed watching them. Here is the pair (photo by my Mom).
It was an extremely enjoyable week that flew by far too quickly. I was sad to have to say goodbye to my mom, but I'm still happy that she got to come here so I could see her. Though I don't want the semester to be over so soon, it means that it won't be too long before I get to go home and see my mom, along with the rest of my wonderful family, which makes me very glad.
<3
No comments:
Post a Comment