Last night in Dublin

Here we are. It's 7:20pm in Dublin. We've come full circle. Since Latvia we spent a week and a half in St. Petersburg,Russia. Faith lived with Kristina Petrushina, and Rigel lived with AnastasiyaUshakova, Kristina's best friend. Our experience was lovely! We spent two daystouring the Hermitage (and barely scratched its surface...). It's the largestmuseum in the world, no big deal. Free entrance for students, by the way. Didyou hear that New York City? Anyway,in the museum we saw works by Monet,Picasso, Canova, Van Gogh, Da Vinci, and a multitude of others. The outside ofthe Hermitage was fantastic as well. A brilliant teal blue with ornatedecoration, and plenty of tourists with cameras (including us!). The city was full of history, and definitely the mostmajestic of any we saw. There are probably a million palaces crammed in...someare now home to mcdonalds and subway. Welcome to 2011! We loved thearchitecture and we managed to learn some about Russian history...we're tryingto keep some brain cells alive. The "history" of the city, though,was obvious in more than just the buildings. The metro, the tram, the planes,the buses...all were in need of an update. We bounced along underground in themetro with the wind rushing above our heads, and bounced our way from Latvia toSt. Petersburg on a bus that felt balanced on a rollerblade. We were a bitnervous for our lives at times...but around the travelling, we experienced allof this culture, so different from anything we'd seen yet. We ate borscht, wentto the "russian sauna", which is apparently a really common thing,tried russian salads, and wore heels (city russians are formal dressers. It washard to pull off the look with the supplies that we had, but...we managed.American style.) We met Kristina's grandma, who talked to us about the war andher time growing up, and familiarized ourselves with roubles, the russian currency. On the 24th, we gathered the two families together, and hada thanksgiving dinner with a russian twist. It had turkey, roast vegetables,and a bunch of russian salads...we did our best! It was delicious, and fun tomake it happen halfway around the world. The mixing of cultures was reallyspectacular to see. Our final stop was London. We stayed with Dirk Van der Walfor the first two nights in a flat on Weymouth Street in Westminster, and movedinto our own luxurious flat for the remaining 3 nights! Rigel spent hermornings running around Regents Park and scoping out the visible parts of theLondon Zoo from said park! Faith visited the National Gallery and mourned thehours-long que for the Da-Vinci exhibit...as well as the price. I really wantedto go! We walked down Oxford Street, saw Picadilly Circus, went to the movies(it had been ages! We're cinema girls), and caught the end of achoral/candlelight service on Marylebone Street. We spent lots of time walkingaround and exploring, seeing everybody rush around close to Christmas. We alsorelaxed...we're so tired. Our flat was...fabulous (thank you Dad's connectionswith apartment building owners), so we took advantage! We've really been so lucky. This trip wouldn't have beenpossible for us without the hospitality of so many people. We were alwayswarmly welcomed and helped around. We are so thankful. Also, we avoided majorcatastrophes. We're still alive, nothing is broken, and all of our valuablesare present (for the most part). As incredible as this adventure has been, we are ready forthe comforts of home. Family, friends, our pets, actually knowing where we arefor a change, and our beds are at the top of our lists of things we are excitedfor. If anyone is still reading this... We love you, and can't wait to see you.Really. Well, it's now 7:30... Lately, that can only mean one thing: Time for bed. Failte!