January 10 - My mother and I have returned from a very unique winter vacation... in St. Petersburg, Russia. Everyone asks - 'why Russia!?!' and especially - 'why Russia in the winter!?!?!?!?!'
Why Russia? Because St. Petersburg has been called one of the most beautiful cities in the world, they have a unique and interesting culture, and I love to do things that other people normally wouldn't do.
Why in winter? Why not? For starters, we love Christmas and traveling at the beginning of January meant we would get to celebrate two of them (they celebrate Orthodox Christmas on Jan 7th). Plus, Russia's latitude is what makes it so interesting, right? I wanted to wear my furry hooded coat, experience 18 hours of darkness, and understand what these people's lives are like during the more difficult months. Plus - do I have to remind you? I'm an aspiring farmer. I'm no longer going to be able to do anything like this in the summer. Or spring. Or fall. That leaves winter. :)
So St. Petersburg, it turns out, is in fact an incredibly beautiful city. My mother and I walked ourselves all around it, taking it all in. Of course, there were lots of impressive buildings and statues -
We spent a lot of time near the many waterways that make up the city - the Neva being the main river which was almost completely frozen over, and all the smaller canals. 
We ate a fair share of Russian food (sometimes regretting it), and I had my one token shot of vodka at a restaurant called the Idiot - 
We went to the Hermitage, a world class art museum - and we really did try our hardest to appreciate all the beautiful things we saw there -
And we went to a few other historical museums, including the Russian Vodka Museum, where we learned all about how this group of people became so obsessed with the stuff.
It was cold and dark, and it did snow, but that's what made it interesting, and we loved every minute of it -
