Today we're going to Vsevolozhsk and the ballet. After getting home late last night, we decided to try to sleep in today. However, we were all up earlier than expected, so we decided to eat breakfast and exchange more money. However, by the time Aleksey arrived to take us to Vsevolozhsk, we still hadn't left, so we put off money changing for another day.

Aleksey picked us up and took us to the store again (for which we were all grateful) before taking us to his house (Vsevolozhsk). Considerable work has been done in remodeling the house and much is still under way. A garage has been built, the downstairs entry way and bathroom have been painted, tiled and refinished, and the floors upstairs are being refinished with beautiful hard wood. The ceilings and walls are refinished and the roof and siding is being redone. It will look so good when it is finally done, but for now is a little inconvenient. However, most of our time was spent outdoors with berry picking (raspberries and red currents) and barbecuing the shashlik (which are the Russian version of shishkababs). It was a very HOT day, which made the bbq a bit uncomfortably warm, but we were very glad to have the entire family (minus Ivan) present.

Zhenya was in charge of chopping wood and preparing the coals; Nina (with help from us girls) was in charge of preparing the shashlik; Sasha was in charge of cooking the shashlik; and Alexey, in classic "Big Brother" style, was the manager (aka "slave driver") telling everyone else what to do and himself doing nothing - although he maintains that such management is, indeed, hard work :)

Last year Susan's allergies went hay wire at Vsevolozhsk, so this year Aleksey was very thoughtful and hadn't recently cut the grass. As a result, Susan's allergies weren't too bothersome and, thankfully, this year has had mild mosquito activity so, although we were prepared for the worst, we didn't need to use the bug spray very often.

After shashlik, we retired to the kitchen where Claire introduced the Chebotariov clan to Root Beer Floats (although we used Pepsi instead of Root Beer). It was a big hit and it seems that Aleksey and Nina will search for some authentic Root Beer Floats during their upcoming stay in America.

In the evening, Aleksey and Nina drove us back to our apartment where we had 1 1/2 hrs to nap and freshen up for our evening at the ballet. At 7:30pm, we met Papa Viktor and walked to the Andreisky Theatre for a production of "Swan Lake" ("Lebidinoe Ozero"). We had fantastic seats with a box all to ourselves on the first balcony. It was a beautiful performance in beautiful surroundings as the theatre itself is fit for a king (literally, there's a box for the tsar).

After the ballet, we returned to Serpuhovskaya for dinner. Eventually, Sasha and Zhenya arrived and they drove us home at the end of the night. We said our goodbyes to Zhenya, as he leaves early tomorrow for 2 weeks studying abroad in England.

Labels: Europe 2008, Russia, St. Petersburg