some visuals

I am so tired of coming up with post titles. Seriously. I brought my computer to campus today and can now post pictures. I hope you all are appreciating the sacrifice of lugging the huge laptop there and back.

So here we go, some pictures. Take note, by the way, of how overcast it is in all the pictures.
First is me leaving DFW, with my Limoges, France-bound friend who needs to blog:
Now some sights around town. First, just a couple blocks from my apartment is fast food haven - McDonald's, Pizza Hut and KFC which you can't see. We'll see how long I go without eating at those:
Lots of these around - a Coffee House:
Crossing the Neva. Just keep walking and get to:
Walking along the Griboyedov canal (I wrote a paper about him!) with a government building on the left:
Typical street scene. Yeah, I'd say even the church is typical. I don't know if you can be anywhere in St. Petersburg where there is not a church spire visible. So. Many. Orthodox. Churches:
And we've hit Nevsky Prospekt. These pics are from last Saturday. I'm sure the statues are gifts from another country, but I don't know anything about them:
Kazanksy Sobor (Cathedral):
One a sunnier day, some kids feed the pigeons outside another church I ran into:
Me and the church, in the classic "I'm a single tourist with no one to take my picture" pose:
Then, I see this every day on the way to school. The sign is for some store called "Ol! Gud." I have no idea why, but I use it to remind myself that "it's all good." haha.
Just a couple more. Here is an awesome church we stopped at momentarily on our prison/excursion bus ride. It's the Smolny sobor and I'm wanting to go see it later:
Last week we went to the Peter Paul Fortress. There was this incredibly hideous statue of Peter the Great. I really hope his head was not truly that tiny, but it makes for great pictures:
And finally, Peter the Great's tomb, the farthest one:
Okay, that's it on pictures for now. And I'll save the text for later in the week when I don't have pictures. But I'm still not sleeping well. It's weird. I've talked to Megan and Paul and it's the same for them - sleeping less, not as soundly, and dreaming a lot more/more vividly. Bizarre.