From Russia with Love

The long weekend has been just absolutely fun-filled, non-stop action. That was dripping sarcasm.

I worked.

It rained.

It poured.

It winded reallllly hard.

For one brief smattering of hours it didn't rain and I strapped on my rollerblades and hit the trail near my house. Muy Bueno! I made it further than I ever have before. Nearly seven miles. Go glutes!

What else happened this weekend (besides more work)? I went to a wedding reception and shot some photos. It was fun and I got to try out a new flash for my camera. The results are: extra flash for indoor settings = Awesome! The particular flash that I bought being used for rapid, repeated exposures = Not so hot. I think I will return it and try a different one.

Without a flash. Long exposure to capture the image in low-light.

 With flash: Altogether better depth, color and definition. Faster exposure. Could do with a bit of photoshop adjustment, but overall a much better image to start with.

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So today I was minding my own business, working away and listening to TV commercials blaring in the background and what should happen? Another commercial came on. Surprise, surprise, right? Except this one was for the San Francisco Ballet, which is currently putting on a production of Swan Lake. Two things came to mind: 1. THANK HEAVEN all of the Nutcracker productions are finished. and 2. I WANT TO GO!

Most people have very strong feelings about the Opera and the Ballet. You've either been and love them or hate them. Or you've never been and love them or hate them. For the sake of credibility in life, I would urge you to be the Former instead of the Latter and actually experience something before deciding whether or not to hate it (or love it).

I obviously LOVE the ballet.

Let me be very clear: I never anticipated that I would enjoy the ballet.

I grew up attending artistic performances of various types (thanks my parents, who felt exposure to the arts was important- because it IS!). I'd seen a few different ballet performances into my adolescence and being a typical adolescent, I wrote the ballet off as "Not for me." The end. Done with Ballet. Zip.

And then it happened.

I was working on the MS Star Princess which was sailing the Baltic. Each cruise (I was in the Baltic for 4 months on that ship) we stopped in St. Petersburg, Russia for two days. An overnight in a port means that you actually get to experience much more of the port city than normal. You get to experience the night life. (Now I must interject that I cannot and do not endorse that anyone should go out in Russia and explore at night. Especially not alone. Especially not without a local. We mustn't be idiot travelers. Well, as much as possible.)

So, being that I was on a cruise ship, the ship offered shore excursions. And being that it was Russia, cruise passengers cannot leave the ship without being on a shore excursion. It was the only way to get a visa into the country. (Crew members with Seaman's books [a type of nautical ID record like a passport that identifies you as a crew member of a ship] were allowed off the boat, but my Seaman's book hadn't arrived yet.) I went on many, many fabulous tours in St. Petersburg. Truly fantastic tours. (Also the only way I'd want to see Russia. I don't feel safe there. Actually I almost got arrested in the Hermitage for not being with my group once. Hehe.)

I saw Catherine's palace, St. Mark's Cathedral, The Church on the Spilled Blood, I rode the fabled underground (gorgeous!), went to Peterhoff palace and saw the "Versailles of Russia," I was offered a lot of vodka in adorable and ornate miniature crystal goblets, which I politely declined, and I ate borscht (yuck!) in a quaint Russian restaurant. I visited the Hermitage museum three times.

St Mark's Cathedral

The Church on the Spilled Blood (love those Onion Domes!) 

The back of Peterhoff Palace and some of the fountains

The exterior of Catherine's Palace

 

The gold-gilded ballroom in Catherine's Palace

The entrance to the Hermitage/the Winter Palace

You know where all of this is leading, don't you?
I bet you do.

I went to the Russian Ballet. I saw Giselle. It changed my life. Okay, not my life. But it changed my mind absolutely and forever concerning Ballet. It was an astonishing, powerful, graceful and gorgeous show of drama and human athleticism. Simply Stunning.

So, dear Russia, thank you for being homeland to my ancestors.  And thank you for allowing me into the country long enough to experience a few Russian treasures. And thank you for my love of Ballet.

And now, I want to see Swan Lake. I think I'll go Saturday.