St. Petersburg, Russia - DAY 1 - The Wedding

The wedding of Carlo's brother, Luciano, took us all the way to St. Petersburg, Russia last weekend!!! We didn't know what to expect from the city, its people and the weather... We were positively surprised on all accounts!!!

First I would like to post some pictures and will then get around to describing our stay in more detail....

So, here you go:

DAY 1 - After the wedding: Limo-ride around town!

After the wedding, both families piled back into the white stretch limousine and we took a tour around St. Petersburg and it's most famous sights for newlyweds to be photographed. It was a loud & happy ride with lots of singing and laughing (probably due to the countless bottles of "Champansky" we proceded to consume).
Carlo and I jumped out with the newlyweds and took our own pictures at various sights. It was C-O-L-D outside, yet we somehow couldn't stay in the Limo.... It was an amazing time with the winter sun illuminating the various golden cupolas of the nearby churches. The river Newa, frozen and still, looked like it had been sprinkled with giant coco-rasps, which were in reality sheets of ice that had piled on top of each other in many places. What a sight!

DAY 1 - After the wedding: the reception

The reception was unlike anything we had ever experienced! The setting and the food served were very much royalty-like! There were waves of antipasti consisting of smoked salmon, various fish and meats, salads...there were roasted piglets, salmon filets, and ever more wine and "Champansky"!!!
During a lull in the waves of food, several entertainers consisting of a Vladimir Putin impersonator, a transvestite singer&dancer, and a belly dancer kept us laughing and on our toes. (Literally!) It was an evening I will never forget! I think the pictures say more than a thousand words!

First snow of the season!!!

The first snow has arrived! On Sunday morning we woke to a world in white. It stuck around for a day or so and was beautiful to look at! Today, again, it snowed over night! Oh boy, now it's really time to get those winter clothes out and to buy some heavy boots and a new coat! Carlo and I are travelling to Russia next weekend and it will be just a bit colder than here-so we'll have to bundle up!!!!

Our apartment

Here a few other pics from our recent furniture move and improvements.
Dining room (green), hallway (yellow) & office (brown)

Livingroom switch!

After all guests from Oktoberfest had returned to their homes we put some of their suggestions to good use and switched the livingroom furniture with the office in order to use the layout of our place a bit better. Now when you enter through the front door you step into the living room (blue) instead of the office. It has made a huge difference to have a friendly and inviting room to step into. The former office was just too cold and impersonal. Now Carlo has a room that he can close himself off from all distractions and is able to work and study. (brown room -former living room)
We love our 'new' place! Even though the pics are a few weeks old, you will get the idea of what we've done.

Dinner with friends-Carlo's name day feast

On Nov. 3rd Carlo and I held a dinnerparty in honor of his name day which was the next day. It was a fab night with great company. (Several of Carlo's coworkers, our neighbors, and a friend from London).

Two days of cooking and preparations preceded the big night. It all turned out to be a delicious feast!!!!

The menu included:

Antipasti- Olives, Bresaula, Capponata (typical Sicilian dip made with fried eggplants, kapers and olives, tomato sauce..), marinated artichokes, hummus

Pasta- Pasta Al Forno, with meat and without. (A baked pasta layered with fried eggplants, meat sauce, mozarella cheese and more layers of the same.)

Delicious wine!!!!

Secondi- Chicken Marsala, fresh spinach and portabella mushrooms

Desert- various cakes, ice cream, digestivo....

Carlo really knocked himself out and I surely learned quite a bit about Italian cooking. I'm starting to hold my own! :-)

Hope to have you at our dinnertable soon!

Cheers!

P.S. Sadly we only took one picture during the entire evening. I guess this means we had too good of a time to think about taking pictures! :-)