My flight (and luggage) arrived on time to St. Petersburg. My friend couldn't meet me at the airport so I made my way to the Moskovskaya Metro Station on the 39 ruble shuttle (about .70 cents) to meet her. After checking into my hotel "Akyan" (an amazingly nice 4* hotel for the price of a room at the Hampton Inn back home) just about 10 minutes walk from the Moscovskiy Train Station, Natasha and I headed out to keep my jet lag away.First we ate our fill of Russian salads at "Mama na Dache" then visited her son, who was in the hospital after an appendicitis. Sunday we went to the LDS Central Branch where I found a few of the "old timers" from my mission days in Leningrad. It was a nice, but quick, reunion.
That afternoon, I met up with another old friend, Sveta, for a trip to Petrodvorets - the Summer Palace on the Gulf of Finland. Her husband and daughter (both Sasha) joined us for lunch - probably the best Beef Stroganoff I have EVER had was that afternoon at the Samson Hotel, just across from the entrance to the park. We took and excursion in a golf cart around the park and then headed out to the village of Levashovo.
Sveta's house has been slowly filling in with each of my visits to Russia over the past 20+ years. I had a lovely time wandering the little streets and seeing all her flowers (she has quite a successful business selling flowers out in "Garden City".)
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