Starr on Ice

Blades of glory? Meh. I'm no Evgeny "only real men can do quads" Plushenko.

But I enjoy skating even if there is no future for me on Battle of the Blades with Valerie Bure! On Sunday I went to Sad Ermitazh (Hermitage Gardens - get off at Pushkinskaya metro and its about a 5 minute walk from there) with Iain, Ilya, and their awesome Aussie friend Sophie for some nighttime skating. It cost 350 roubles in total to get into the park and rent skates.


They weren't anything fancy, but they did the trick! Does anyone else have a really hard time getting the hang of skating when you haven't done it in awhile? We paid for an hour of skating time, and it was just towards the end of our hour that I started feeling confident enough to go a little faster than the five year old in front of me. I realized Iain and I are both very aggressive skaters - we skate hunched over with our arms swinging madly for balance. I fail miserably as a Canadian, apparently. It was only Ilya's second time skating in his LIFE, but he was amazing!

The park was gorgeous - the pathways were all flooded with ice and everything was lit up like a winter wonderland. Music was playing, people were whizzing past me, and I felt like a Tolstoyan heroine. All I needed to complete my romantic little fantasy was to change into a fur coat and change my name to Kitty Scherbatsky!

These old photographs of people skating at the park
were set up towards the entrance - cool, huh?
This one says New Years 1966.

After an hour, we were all pretty frozen and ready to head back inside! But first...we had to try out the ice slide!

Ilya!

Iain!

and me! Wheeeee

Now this might be a winter sport I could do! I'd still technically be a Starr on Ice...just on my butt!