Friends, Rain and the Hermitage

Lunching with friends has always been one of my favorite things to do, but lunching with a friend from home when you are 10,000 miles away is really special, and yesterday we got to do just that. Our friend Portia Loosli from Ashton, and her daughters, were in St. Petersburg for two days on a cruise. She wrote me weeks ago and said that they were coming and would like to see us. She had picked up my comment on this blog that I couldn't find 'regluar' measuring cups and spoons and said she was bringing me some and anything else I wanted. What an offer! I did have her bring me some piano prelude music because I brought only organ music and there are no organs here so I play only hymns for every meeting. Anyway, we arranged to meet at one of the cathedrals and how good it was to see her. We loved visiting with her and her daughters, Michelle and Jane. It was just so good to talk to folks from home. We sent our love to all our temple shift workers with her. So thank you, Portia, for lunch and the 'goodies' you brought, but most of all for taking the time and effort to see us. I hope anyone else reading this who may be 'cruising' this way would do the same.

When we left them it was raining and we, rather inadvertently, took the long way home and walked for over an hour in the rain. But it was a warm rain and we had umbrellas so we just enjoyed it. It seems so ironic that we have had over a week of rain, just like you are having at home. And we just received an email from the Wades in Belarus and they said the same thing. I'd say this is a pretty wide-spread weather pattern. But we are happy to hear of full reservoirs at home. Haven't heard that for many years.

We recently had our first opportunity to visit the Hermitage, one of the most famous museums in the world for which St. Petersburg is especially known. It is a huge complex of mansions built by Catherine the Great and other of the tsars and houses such a vast collection of art, sculpture and lavish furnishings that it is said if you spent just 30 seconds at each display it would take 11 years to see it all. You certainly don't begin to see it all in one visit. The best-known part of the museum is housed in the baroque style Winter Palace of the tsars, built in 1752. This photo shows only a very small part of the palace but you get the look of it. I have to admit that neither of us are art conisseurs (can't even spell it), but being in the presence of original Rembrandts was a bit awe inspiring. This is where our missionaries do their service hours. Each missionary spends 4 hours a week working here. We are envious but the couples don't get to do it because we don't speak Russian.