SUSAN: The past 3 weeks have been, well, a trip. A trip back in time, that is, trying the retrace my family's past, having only a bunch of old addresses scribbled onto a scrap of paper as my guide . As well, it's been a trip into the crazy, crazy la-la land that is modern Russia and the Ukraine.
After seeing the beautiful and sometimes intimidating sights of Moscow (the huge Stalinist buildings towering over massive 10-lane roads, for example), being yelled at by various city-hardened Moscovites who didnt seem to understand that I was a confused foreigner with no idea where to go, or how to pay for mini-bus fare when the other passengers' bills are collectively dumped into my lap, or even how to use a public telephone...we decided to head North by train to the more culturally refined city of St Petersburg.
Peering from the train window, I was transported back to a world of colorful Russian picturebooks from my childhood. We passed dense birch forests, marshy grasslands, and rolling pastures dotted with endless white, yellow, and purple wildflowers. It seemed that the mythical cunning fox, timid hedgehog, silly duck, cutesy rabbit, toothy wolf, and Baba Yaga the witch were hiding behind every bush and rock.
DAVE: Oh, and the Datchas! No Russian countryside would be complete without the tiny, colourful cottages made from wood, thatch, and brick surrounded by leafy vegetable gardens. In my mind, I was transported to the sustainable, earth-friendly communities of my dreams. The lofty ideals of communism suddenly seemed attainable. If only I could break through the train window (as from the prison walls of capitalism) and run into the fields, open armed, to join the noble peasants! Alas, I was jolted from these fantisies as the latest rap song by the Russian equivalent of "Fitty Cent" suddenly blared from a nearby cell phone.
St. Petersburg, fondly know as "Pyotr", was just as I had imagined. The pale, easter-couloured facades of neoclassical architechture greeted us at every turn, sometimes more ornately adorned than a Fabrige egg. Canals wound thier way past parks and under bridges, reminding me that the Gulf of Finland and the Baltic sea were a mere shiplengths away. When our feet became tired, we found renewed energy and inspiration in the endless throngs of women in ridiculously high heels, navagating the cobble-stoned streets with great gusto. Their elegance ranged from Tsarist Grand-dutchess to street-corner panache (leapord-print body stocking and all!).
SUSAN: We made some fast friends at the hostel and decided to go out for a night on the town...except we soon discovered that "night" is a relative concept here in the North. As we left the Hostel at 11:30 it was still fully light out, and the blue-tinged skyline greeted us as we left the club past 2:00 in the morning!
With the guttural cries of the Russian heavy metal bands still ringing in our ears, we entered the Hermitage a few days later. In the words of the museum's curator: "I'm not going to say that the Hermitage is the world's best museum...but it is certainly not the second". Walking from room to room was like unwrapping the world's most beautifuly packaged, intricate, and elaborate gift and being required to do so within a limited period of time (only seven hours!) before it is taken away forever.
DAVE: After only six hours, our jaws dropping unbearably close to the floor, we found ourselves overwhelmed and had to run to the nearest McDonalds to be passified by the sterile, familiar glow of its neon lights.
SUSAN: The next day, we took a long metro ride to the suburbs to visit the neighbrouhood where my parents spent their last 3 years in the USSR before finally receiving permission to leave the country, and immigrating through Italy to Canada. After a long walk down some desolate cement paths through some empty grass fields, past giant billboards advertising cars, yogurt, and beer, we finally reached the street. At first there was some confusion as to which of many identical-looking giant soviet apartment buildings was theirs (this would not be the last of such moments), but when we finally figured it out I was overwhelmed by a joyous feeling of pride and homecoming. We ate at the new-fangled pizza place that had taken up shop on the lower level, found the school around back where my brother used to go, and Dave even found me a 4 -leaf clover in the field behind the building! It was all meant to be....
