Have you Heard!

The Langford's were in St. Petersburg!

We spent the most time of our trip in St. Petersburg. It is a beautiful city and definitely feels more western than Moscow. I think Peter the Great would be happy to hear that.


Here is us in front of St. Isaac's cathedral, home of the 4th largest dome in the world. We are a few hundred yards away in this picture and it still looks large. It is an impressive structure. On a later day, we climbed to the walkway at the base of the dome where you can get a great view of the city. The 1/2 statue in this picture is also unique because it is the only bronze state of a man on a horse that is balanced on only 2 legs and no tale. You can't see that from this angle.




Peterhoff is one of Luke's favorite places in the world. He spent a lot of time on his mission in the town and loves the Summer Palace and their grounds. I can't blame him. It was absolutely beautiful. Most of the Russian palaces, including the Summer Palace, were destroyed by the Nazi's in WWII. They have been nicely re-done since then and everything is brightly colored and fresh and new looking. I think made it really easy to imagine how it all would have seemed back in the day when it really was fresh and new. Some older buildings that haven't been destroyed and then renovated just feel old. Am I making sense?

Here's me in front of the Summer Palace and the long canal in front of it. This is in th lower grounds and the canal goes out to the sea. We came over from St. Petersburg via boat, so we saw this view coming in.




This is the grand fountain. I love how it is so close to the palace, like 20 paces. The statues were gold and sparkling and lovely. And the rushing water was loud and impressive. On this trip, I discovered how deep Luke's love of fountains is. He absolutely loves them; he becomes like a little school boy around them.


Luke by a rather unimpressive fountain in the upper grounds, but you can get a feeling of the scale of the palace and gardens.


We visited Peterhoff on a Sunday and walked into the city to find the new building where the Mormon Branch there meets. We found it and there were a number of people who remembered Luke and were very happy (and surprised) to see him. It was a sweet experience for me as we stayed for Sunday School. I don't speak or understand much Russian, but I was able to learn other lessons through the Spirit. I was impressed by the diligence and love of the people in this very small branch (like 15 - 20 people). I could sense that they are true pioneers, on the frontier of Church's reach. I am grateful for their faithful examples. Sadly, we didn't even think to take pictures of these people.