Russia day 7

Day 7

- Flight to Kaliningrad!

- City Center

- Fort 

- Ice cream/gelatto

We left St. Petersburg in the morning and headed to the airport to fly to Kaliningrad.
There is a little piece of Russia that is actually down near Poland and Lithuania called Kaliningrad. 

I served in this area for about 7 months of my mission, so it feels like home to me.
It just makes sense that we would come here on my birthday! Woot woot! 

Anyway- I wanted to document one adorable thing about Russia. 

The best part of flying in Russia is when you land (No- I don't fear for my life that bad on their planes! Although I got nervous when my Russian companion was so nervous about it! Clearly, all is good though and i'm here in one piece) No no- the reason why it's the best is because these adorable Russians will CLAP and applaud the pilot right as we land! hah!

Our hotel is RIGHT in the center of the city. I mean the heart of the city!
Don't believe me? Just look out of my window...

We ate a delicious dinner- Russian potato salad ("olivier"), Borscht, Beef hot-pot and ended with this really really think juice thats almost closer to jello/jelly than just juice, called kisel. Interesting stuff but surprisingly good. Here I am eating  my potato salad

What a cutie. We filled up the tub so we could wash some clothes ourselves...but the tub wasn't filling up fast enough for Kode, so he made the shower join in as well! haha! Smart boy I tell ya!

We had a little time to explore the center of the city- Victory Square, which is right where we are staying! Pretty different from being in St. Petes, but there are some similarities.

 Kaliningrad! 

 Across the street is this statue of "Mother Russia" 

yeeeaaaahhhh baby!

Kaliningrad is just so freakin awesome. It used to be German,
so has quite a bit of German influence in the architecture and what not.
One awesome thing about it is that the city is surrounded by these awesome forts that were used in World War 2 to protect the land. There are 12 big forts all around K-grad, and I had gone to only one of them while on my mission because we would do service there occasionally.
One of my friends here took us to Fort #5 which has become more of a museum than any other fort. 

 Audio-guides and all!

 They are SO cool inside! Sometimes big halls, sometimes little tiny ones like this. 

 This hall displayed a lot of the banners and posters that were used during the time of the war.
Pretty awesome

Alyona was so nice to take us there! She is an incredible girl who has always lived here in Kgrad. She got home from her mission while I was serving in Kaliningrad. We both got married around the same time, and both were quick engagements! hah

Partly because it was my birthday, and partly because its always a good idea- we went to my favorite place to get some Italian gelatto. Ohhh gosh it was so good. It was a tradition for me to always end a transfer with a little gelatto...maybe even start a transfer with it as well... So it just made sense to come here on our first night here!
Oh and we met up with Alyona's husband, Dima.

 Happy birthday to me in one of my favorite places, with one of my favorite things to eat, with my absolutely favorite person on this planet! It's gonna be a great year :) 

Russia day 6

Day 6

- CHURCH 

- Eating like Tsars

- Random Metro goodness

- Roaming Nevsky Prospekt

I've been secretly counting down until Sunday all week long. I've been so excited to go to church and see so many of these people that I love with my entire heart! I decided to kind of divide and conquer today and make the most of being in the city. The stake (love saying that :) stake) building is where two wards meet within the city, I served in the first ward Shuvalovo near the end of my mission so we went to sacrament meeting there. Gosh I just loved hearing everything in Russian again and heard some incredible talks from these strong, amazing members. My eyes were just filling up with tears a few times throughout the meeting.
After sacrament we went back down to the entrance to see some people from the other ward (Center) I never served there- but knew several members from that ward. 

This cute couple had just moved in when I was serving in the ward and they are the absolute cutest. He is the ward mission leader now and his wife spoke in sacrament and did a wonderful job. They are so strong. We walked into the church at the same time... So here is a quick pic of the entrance

When you walk in there is a sitting area and a beautiful painting of the Summer Gardens when Elder Lyman offered the dedicatory prayer for the church/work in Russia. 

 

I love this painting so much. I have a little magnet of it on my fridge at home too :)

Lena- She is so kind, adorable and such a sincere woman. 

She would cut all the sisters hair too- cutie. 

 Kristina! Oh man...she is the absolute best. Look how beautiful she dang is! So down to earth, fun, kind, and an amazing missionary! She could be willing to help us sisters on meetings or anything we needed. She served a mission in Ukraine and got home a little less than a year ago. I can confidently say that she was the best missionary ever. She's amazing. 

 MY MASHA!!!!! Ohhh this is my sister. During my last very transfer I bounced around to different areas, but finished in Pushkin for 2 weeks with Masha as a mini missionary. Oh my gosh we had so much fun together. Our motto was "we do everything, and then plus 1" 

We just sat there and reminisced on so many good memories we had in those short weeks together. Ahh i just love her so much. She is my forever sister. 

These are her cute parents. They are a super family - as a family unit cause they are so close, and spiritually! Her dad has been the Stake President since it was created 3 years ago and was the District President for a long time before then. 

 Ct. Uliyanov. He served in St. Petes at the same time as me, then moved back here. That happens quite a bit with Russian missionaries. I don't blame them!

 Tatiana! She is as sweet as honey I tell you. Always has the biggest smile and instantly lights up a room. You can't help but fall in love with her and feel so happy when you first meet her, heck, any time you see her! 

 Just really loved being with Masha again :) Couldn't help ourselves with a quick selfie.

 We were on our way out of the building when I said "Ohh I'm so sad we didn't see Cectpa Efimova" we turned the corner and there she was!! Oh my gosh. THE most adorable Russian woman you ever will see. She just gushes love from her. She works in the mission office helping with visas, housing, and I don't even know what else. Something else I will never forget is when grandfather came to St. Petersburg at the beginning of my mission- there was a big district conference and he was sharing his experiences of opening the church here in Russia and he mentioned several dates and names of people that helped make it all happen. He talked about the first native mission president in Russia was Pres. Efimov (1995-1998)...then asked if Cectpa Efimova was there and there in the very back of the room she stood up and grandfather invited her to come and share her testimony. She is the absolute sweetest. Look at that darling face!

We booked it down to my first area, Avtovo, which is on the southern section of the city. We made it in time for the 3rd hour and then saw members there. It's crazy to me to think of how little I could speak in that area- but how much I remember and love those people! 

Here we are outside the building. excuse the bad lighting. 

 Vika, Tanya and her little baby and this dude who isn't playing with a full deck of cards...He keeps the ward on their toes.. especially the sister missionaries. hah Ohhh good times with him (psych). And we were right back at it with him today. hah He just jumped right back in our pic- no big deal.

 Best. Bishop. EVER! Oh man this guy is my hero. Igor Balashov is just a legend in our mission. Such a strong member, always willing to help, so genuine and such a happy soul. He is incredible. Bishop Balashov was actually teaching the lesson as we snuck into the back of the room and mid sentence he just looks up at me and waves! hah Adorable. 

 These two served in St. Petes as well, then later came home and a while later got married! 

Names as they always will be to me- Cectra Samoilova and Ct. Balabanov 

 Inga! Oh my. The most spunky and fun babushka ever! Just so animated when she talks, loves to make people laugh and is just too fun. Some memories of her are her always sitting front and center at church taking notes. One time my companion and I visited her and as we left, she noticed we didn't have jackets and we would be cold- so she jumped up and grabbed 2 for us to borrow. Greatest. 

 Vika is darling. We'd meet with her and her mom often and they were always so patient with my Russian. She is so nice and is always so interested in my life now through facebook and was so excited to see me and talk with me. Which is hilarious- cause now I can say and understand so much more! So it's all much better now than it was then. hah She wants to serve a mission soon :)

Seeing all of these people was just absolutely wonderful. Even if it was just for a few minutes...It was so good to see my precious Russians and remember such a special time. They are all way too thoughtful, kind, and loving. Honestly as we walked away from the church I was filled up and completely on cloud 9. 

That evening we went to an awesome restaurant that was super fancy and was giving the feel of a type of place the Tsar or Russian ruler would dine. Well..it's name is Tsar Restaurant- so it better, right!?

 Oh my lanta.... The food was DIVINE! I'm drooling just remembering it.
Kody's borscht was to die for. This cutie has had borscht every day being here (among other things- but why would you stray from something so delicious?)
Living right, my friends. 

 Inception photo. There you can see my potato pancakes too. mm. But can you see how big that bowl of borscht is?! huge. 

People- they weren't kidding when you'd feel like the Tsar here... Even on the throne-throne! haha!

The most fancy bathrooms we ever did use in our lives

 A true Tsar

I should take more of these pictures... But I just wanted to show a few examples of the amazing metro stations! People never took me seriously when I said they were incredible! Such beautiful stations - no other metro stands a chance. 

Spasskaya

 Prospekt Veteranov

Kirovsky Vogzal

 

Probably the prettiest of them all. Avtovo. 

What the devil. Those columns on the far end are insane. zoom in if you can. 

To finish off our last night in St. Petersburg, we just walked up Nevsky Prospekt like true Russians. They sure love going on walks. 

Russian Museum- full of beautiful Russian art

 Seriously- every so often a church of some kind will just pop up in your view and it is just the best thing.

All lit up.

 I'll never get over it. Guilty.

 I almost wanted to learn how to play chess when I saw this chess set! Hah! 

US leaders on the left, Russian on the right. 

Could get intense

 The obsession is real.

St. Petersburg, you did NOT disappoint! Can't believe our time here all together has come to an end. I'll never get enough of my favorite city!
On to Kaliningrad in the morning!