Sunday, June 27, 2010, St. Petersburg, Russia

When I left off in my earlier dispatch, we were assembled at the Atlantic Hotel in St. Petersburg, Russia, waiting to disembark for the wedding celebration of Jamie Blackburn and Victoria Leontieva, which was to include getting there as well as being there. None of us knew what to expect, including the groom. The 43 of us that traveled from the US were all smiles and anxious talk, particularly the mother of the groom, Cyndy Blackburn. We knew we were about to have a good and memorable time, but we didn’t know the half of it. Three days before when Pinky and I arrived in St. Petersburg, time lagged and exhausted as we were, we had dragged ourselves to the ballet for a presentation of Swan Lake at the Majiinski Theater, part of St. Petersburg’s Stars of the White Nights Music Festival. At the time we didn’t think anything could top what we experienced. For those not familiar with Swan Lake, and I confess to not having been, this is the quintessential of ballets, with music by Pyotr Tchaikovsky, and performances by artists with long and complicated Russian names On top of it the theater is historically magnificent, with impeccable acoustics. Swan Lake proved to be merely an introduction to The Wedding Celebration We Will All Remember! Each of the guests had been provided with an invitation in Russian, but with enough English that we should have at least some sense of what was coming: Dear passengers, have a good trip! Don’t be late on the ship of contemporaneity, which will be waiting for you at Moyka Nab. 96 at 18.00 o’clock and leave, when two wedding dabble phial banged and one is simple (18:30) All hands on deck, there, when marriages are concluded! Now, I confess that I read this invitation at least a half a dozen times and had no idea what it said, so along with everyone else I anxiously boarded one of the two buses and left @ 5:30 PM for the waterways, looking forward to having a vodka toast to the bride and groom with Jimmy! Once on board the canal boats, we enjoyed oeuvre deuves, chilled vodka, entertainment and sights of St. Petersburg from the canal (or river, I’m not sure which.) We had music and a hilarious magician. The boat ride was an event in itself and went on for quite some time. In Russia, it is thought that if the bride and groom see angels on their wedding day, it will bring them luck. Well, along the way a group of white angels caught up with us and kept up along the way riding bicycles and letting us all know their presence by blowing whistles and saluting us all from the walkways lining the waterway and from bridges overhead. We eventually got to more open water, when the white pigeons appeared. Out they came, and many of the family took them and raised them into the air on signal for an incredible aerial display. White doves apparently also bring good luck to the bride and groom, who were sailing in their own boat with the maid of honor and best man and who looked like they were having the time of their lives! We arrived where we were to have the wedding feast and disembarked to the greetings of various angels, two of which were young women elevated high above the ground with enormous white dresses. Needless to say, I was snapping away with my Canon TiII digital SLR camera. Everyone was smiling and obviously pleased with the unfolding of events. The assembled, which looked to be between 125 and 150, greeted the bride and groom. Victoria’s dress was stunning, and her father had to be beside himself with pride and happiness. (I relate better to the father since I am the father of a recent bride but realize well that Victoria’s mother had to be equally inspired.) Both parents, Rosteslav and Marionella Leontiev, proved to be most wonderful of hosts. The bride and groom danced briefly on an outside patio, framed on one side by the river and two enormous semicircular montages of the bride and groom, and on the other side by the restaurant. We were entertained by a series of performances, including American Indian dancing led by the father of the groom, complete with chief’s headdress; bluegrass band Sundown, complete with 5-string banjo, all Russian (VERY impressive): Irish dancers; Irish bagpipers; Russian folk dancers; a special video wherein US President Barak Obama and Russia President Dmitry Medvedev greeted the newlyweds and spoke to their hopes for a happy and productive marriage. The US President told the assembled that this alliance by marriage is very symbolic and as Russian character, cheerful disposition of Moldovia and endurance of Yakutia are wonderfully mixed in Victoria; ballroom dancing brilliantly performed by a child couple; cooking contest between the bride’s and groom’s families; more folk dancing where the wedding guests jumped in and showed their stuff; three red-clad strong men who performed incredible feats of strength, and a finale of an assemblage of dancers doing a Broadway-like number outside in the rain, topped off by a Reunions-like fireworks display! When it came time for Victoria to toss her flowers, I told Olga that she should be sure to catch it, and she dutifully did! Back on the boats, the wedding guests were treated to White Nights on the St. Petersburg waterways, including raising of the many drawbridges, fully lit and visible during the brief period of darkness. Still more vodka and fellowship, great conversation, and the American contingent were by now great friends sharing in an experience we all knew was really special. Jimmy was so taken (either by the events but more probably by vodka or Champaign) that he took a header down the stairs in the bow, but suffered only a minor abrasion on his head after I helped to break his fall. Soon thereafter we docked, and Pinky and I smartly elected to walk back to the Atlantic Hotel. Thank goodness we went with Bart and Mary Jane Stuck. Bart is Jimmy’s boyhood buddy from Detroit. He helped us find our way with nary a mishap, and we made it back just as daybreak emerged at 3:30 AM.

Saturday, June 26, 2010, St. Petersburg, Russia

It is now 3 PM St Petersburg time at the Atlantic Hotel, St Petersburg, Russia, and I have a few moments before THE WEDDING CEREMONY. Pinky and I left NJ last Tuesday evening for Russia to witness the Russian wedding ceremony of Jamie Blackburn and Victoria Leontieva. For those who don't know, the two met during Victoria's PG year at Mersersburg Academy. We have joined a group of 43 which traveled from the US to be here with Jamie and Victoria and meet her family here in St Petersburg. The past few days have been non stop. Victoria arranged for us to take a series of tours with Olga, who had been her English teacher and who has an uncommon command of Russian history, particurly St Petersburg. With her we've had to move "bistro," or quickly. Here in St Petersburg there is much to see. Most of the sights involve what developed before the Bolsheik revolution, with the various Peters, Nicholas', and Catherines. We learned about "Catherine the Spender, " and it is no wonder that the people revolted against them all and their excesses. It is hard to imagine the resources of the people that were directed to support the opulence and lavish lifestyle of the Romanoff family. However, the cultureal remnanta of that time are priceless. The Hermitage in St Petersburg served as the Winter POuralace and has endless rooms filled with priceless art and gildted trimmings. The Summer Palace is located in Pushkin, 15 miles south of the city. It contains a long line of amazing rooms decorated as you couldn't believe, with the crown being the Amber Room, fully restored, paid for by the German government and opened to the public in just 2007. Much of the Summer Palace was destroyed by the Nazi's during WWII, and it has been meticulously restored at great cost to what it is today. Both palaces are very popular with tourists, and they are important to Russia's emerging tourist industry. In fact, tourism is second only to shipbuilding in economic importance to St Petersburg. Our ride back from the Summer palace was highlighted by an incredible lunch at a nearby Russian restaurant, complete with numerous vodka toasts, a Russian band with accordian and great singing, and great food. Olga has been an incredibly informative and pleasant tour director. Her knowledge of the history is boundless. A highlight was near the end of our tour of the Youssoupov Palace, where she recounted the killing of Rasputin right where the shootings actually took place in the basement of the Youssoupov family residence, including how he survived two gunshot wounds to the chest and one to the head before being dumped in the frozen river. She shared with us some of her experiences living in Russia. Most memorable is the invasive corruption that is everywhere. The Traffic Officials command payoffs just to get a drivers license. Without paying a bribe. you cannot pass the driving or written test. Pay enough and you don't need to take the test at all. Between 40 and 50 per cent of the population works for the government (not much different than it is in NJ). In the election when Vladmir Putin was "elected" prime minister and president, those who worked for the government were required to prove that they cast their votes for Putin by taking a photo of their votes on their cell phones and texting it. I suppose that bridges are now being designed and supervised in Russia where the responsible Professional Engineers received their accreditation this way, and this doesn't lend itself to generating a lot of confidence in the integrity of the infrastructure. The WWII St Petersburg Siege Memorable was incredibly moving. The memorial commerates the bravery and unimaginable experiences of the St Petersburg military and citizenry during the 900 day siege that the Nazi's imposed on the city. About one million military perished and another one million citizens died during this incredible time. People were reduced to eating saw dust and rats. Ultimaltely, the Nazi's failed in their attempt to take the city, and the war front contributed to the Nazi loss of the war. Victoria's family invited us all to dinner last evening at a wonderful place just off the river in the city. We enjoyed a variety of Russian fare, including beer. We got to meet Victoria's parents, who served as gracious hosts, and other family members. After dinner our tour of the gardens was abruptly interrupted by a drenching downpour, which caused us ride back to our hotel in our bus drenched to the skin. A great time and adventure all the way around! Needless to say, I've been taking a lot of pix with my new Canon TiII digital camera. Thus far they look great. I'll be pooling them with pix that other wedding guests have been taking, and we'll post them on the net for all to see. Soon we will change and leave for the ceremony. We don't know too much of what is to take place. Even Jamie appears to be clueless. What we do know is that we leave the hotel at 5:30 PM on two buses and travel to one of the many canals in the city. From there we continue to be split in two groups and disembark on two boats to an as yet unknown destination. I suspect this will go on until late in the night.......