June 10, by Donna

As Marina described, we spent the day doing a bicycle ride with my Yale classmate John.  John had worked hard to make sure we had a great day – coming to our hotel to escort us to Peterhof (where we were yesterday, and where he used to live, outside St. Petersburg), arranging bicycles in advance, doing a “test run” himself, and hovering over us like a hen with her chickens.  It paid off as it was an absolutely delightful day.  Amazingly, John also managed to arrange perfect weather … sunny, but slightly cool, just right for bicycle riding.

Peterhof is full of forests and public parks, so we managed to ride for hours while spending very little time on roads.  John showed us a royal’s summer cottage (Nicholas I, if you care), the outside of a gem of a tiny gothic church, and a Soviet era apartment complex.  At the cottage, he bought tickets for himself and Marina as Russians, since it was a much lower price.  Heck, John isn’t really Russian, but speaks Russia, Marina really is Russian, but speaks only a little, so I figured that was fair!

The housing complex was reminiscent of something like co-op city in New York, a whole complex of high rise buildings.  They were in a somewhat crumbling state, but people seemed well dressed and busy, with loads of children playing in the playground.  John told us that since the apartments were privatized, many people have fixed them up quite nicely.

We had real Russian blini for lunch.  As far as I’m concerned, these are crepes, but who’s to argue?  They were delicious.

As Marina described, I selected a three-wheel bicycle which looked like a giant child’s tricycle.  At first, I had great trouble steering it correctly, but pretty soon I got the hang of it, and was quite happy with it.  I liked it because I was in no danger of tipping over, and because I got to sit up straight rather than hunched over.  I think it’s quite a useful design!  It also got me lots of stares and laughs from ordinary folk as we went by them.  At one point, a whole group of them were pointing and laughing, and sent a delegate over to learn more.

Overall, it was a marvelous day, and a fantastic break from the standard tourist routine.  We definitely saw a part of Russia, where ordinary people live and work, that most tourists don’t see.  And we found ourselves spellbound listening to John’s stories of life in Russia.