Winter light in St Petersburg

Monday 8 February

Everywhere I look I see paintings, impressionist paintings. I'll have plenty to paint when I get back to London. The light is stunning, especially as the Sun goes down.

Trubetskoy Bastion

Ducks swimming in the frozen Neva, chilly feet.

Above is the Palace Stroganov

The corner building above is the House of Books, one of the largest bookshops in St Petersburg.

Today was my day off. I arranged Russian lessons for Mondays and explored the city.

Wintery Russian Scenes—February 2010

The Winter Palace, one of the Hermitage buildings, overlooking the frozen Neva river.

Winter sunlight, as it was in Sydney, is special. This was around 6.15pm. The light starts to get really interesting, when it is sunny and not overcast, from about 4pm. I had a stupid moment the other day when I couldn't work out why my calculator wasn't working—

I remembered eventually that it was solar powered.

It gets light around 9.30am.

The above photo is a game for Shelley, guess who?

Nobody spoil it for her, please.

A clue for you: they have them from 1066 to 1820, something we saw together recently...your crush maybe

Above is the silver room and one of the many Flemish art rooms.

I can't believe how opulent the museum is and I've only visited part of one floor, in only one of the buildings. Everything is so detailed and I'm so surprised that photos are allowed.

The blind lady in Russian Ark is first found in this hallway.

Today the 6th was bright and sunny, a rarity apparently.

The Church of Our Saviour on Spilled Blood

The Hermitage at night the 5th Feb, I left 8.30pm after helping at the opening of Spazialismo

Below left, second window in from the left, on the ground floor, that window is above the volunteer office where I go during the week.

Below right is typical snow clearing activity, although I need to get people in the shot too to fully appreciate the scraping off of snow and icicles or 'sasukia'. Olga told me 59 people have been killed around the Hermitage by falling snow and ice.

Below are photos from my hostel window on my second night here.

And the view from my first hostel room (don't ask!) and to the right the staircase inside.

I think I'm in heaven, it's brilliant. I volunteer, totally immersed in Russian language, during the week from Tuesday to Friday. I get to go behind the scenes to underground basement areas where the cats hang out on warm pipes ready to see off any rodents; work in rooms that were once the Communist military General's offices and move in staff-only areas around the buildings. And then, at the weekend, I have free access to the museum, to wander, to absorb and to draw.

The volunteers are so friendly; one I met today. We watched a chick flick in Russian. And tomorrow she and Paline are taking me on a walking tour around the sites of the city. Apparently Paline had to prepare a tour in English on the major sites, great for me. Next weekend I'm going to the Mariinsky theatre to see the Nutcracker ballet and the weekend after a free Mozart concert in the Cathedral. The Hermitage is closed on Mondays, so I hope to take a Russian class and I can start my new project—life is good.

A little about the city, there seems to be lots of sushi, but I haven't seen any Chinese or Indian food. Most unlike me, I'm not up for the sushi, funny that in minus 10. I just yearn for hot soup, rice, potatoes anything warm.

And to end, today I saw a schnauzer. He had a partially frozen beard, bless, and a dog coat that was not just a puffy coat but covered the legs too like little trousers, so cute.

Spakonye noche!