Today was May Day in St. Petersburg. Flags were out, banners were draped on wires across some of the major prospekts, and we took a drive to the countryside. The schools were closed for the holiday, so the children�s center at St. John of Kronstadt Church was busy with activities, including a play and a puppet show staged in our honor. The play was a Russian retelling of the story of Sleeping Beauty. In Russian. The puppet show was written, designed and performed in English by two 13-year-old girls. It was about a monkey who became chief banana-peeler for Princess Elizabeth. Quite fun!
We visited the church, which is a traditional log structure with lots of fancy wood trim and an iconostasis carved by a local artist. It contains icons painted recently (and two spaces for icons yet to be painted). The log walls are covered with icons people brought from their homes and gave to the church. Lunch was in the children's center. Our host, Sergei, is a scientist who studies fleas (there are about 2,000 species, he says) but for his real passion he keeps the children's center going. It's a wonderful place!
We also took a walk along a lane past the laboratory where Pavlov proved that bells make you crave chocolate, or something like that. Three boys on bicycles, each with a helium balloon, sped past us, diverting the attention of the three teen-aged girls for a moment. The boys went into the woods to smoke. The girls went into the woods -- a different neck of the woods -- and picked us wildflowers. It was quite sweet.
Each day starts with a prayer service that begins �This is the day the Lord has made. Let us rejoice and be glad in it.� We are rejoicing because the weather has been beautiful -- sunny and warm every day. On our first day here, the ice was breaking up on the Neva River. Two days later, there was hardly any ice. Today there was ice again, but our guide said it had come down from the lake where the river begins. The trees are budding and we're very thankful for it all. Tomorrow we see two more churches (with lunch at one) and we'll attend a folklore show in the evening. And we'll be home this weekend. It hardly seems possible!
