141. Autumn weather (winter is coming)
The days here are getting shorter - five minutes less sunlight in the mornings, and five minutes less sunlight in the evenings, every single day. The time between sunrise and sunset lasted approximately 19 hours in June (although it never actually became completely dark during the White Nights), but now we're left with just nine hours of light each day. It's dark when I leave for work in the morning, and dark when I arrive home to my apartment in the evenings. I've had to switch from reading regular books to e-books because it's too dark to read on the bus between work and the Metro station, at both ends of my commute. It feels like we are on a steady march toward winter.
The weather in early October was consistently in the 40s Fahrenheit (4-7 Celsius) and overcast; now it's in the low 30s (0-2 Celsius). It has not dipped down to the 20s Fahrenheit (< -2 Celsius) more than a few times. We've definitely transitioned here from light jackets to heavy coats. There are very few days when it doesn't rain at all, and sometimes it lasts for most of the day. There have been several snow flurries but no accumulation yet on the ground.
The fall foliage is colorful here in St. Petersburg. I've tried to focus my weekend excursions in September and October on outdoor activities, because I expect these will be a bit less exciting in the dead of winter. So, I've been able to see trees full of yellow and red leaves all around town - at Pavlovsk, Piskarevskoye, Oranienbaum, and Smolny (more details to come in future blog posts on these last two locations).
For 'Game of Thrones' fans, you probably picked up on my "winter is coming" reference. As a matter of fact, I thought my long round-trip commute was a great opportunity to finally take on the 5,500+ pages of the five-book 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series. So far, I've completed the first three books in the series - 'A Game of Thrones', 'A Clash of Kings', and 'A Storm of Swords' (the links take you to my reviews on Goodreads). I'm planning to read the remaining two books (perhaps while I am still living in Russia) before I watch the television series.
The weather in early October was consistently in the 40s Fahrenheit (4-7 Celsius) and overcast; now it's in the low 30s (0-2 Celsius). It has not dipped down to the 20s Fahrenheit (< -2 Celsius) more than a few times. We've definitely transitioned here from light jackets to heavy coats. There are very few days when it doesn't rain at all, and sometimes it lasts for most of the day. There have been several snow flurries but no accumulation yet on the ground.
The fall foliage is colorful here in St. Petersburg. I've tried to focus my weekend excursions in September and October on outdoor activities, because I expect these will be a bit less exciting in the dead of winter. So, I've been able to see trees full of yellow and red leaves all around town - at Pavlovsk, Piskarevskoye, Oranienbaum, and Smolny (more details to come in future blog posts on these last two locations).
For 'Game of Thrones' fans, you probably picked up on my "winter is coming" reference. As a matter of fact, I thought my long round-trip commute was a great opportunity to finally take on the 5,500+ pages of the five-book 'A Song of Ice and Fire' series. So far, I've completed the first three books in the series - 'A Game of Thrones', 'A Clash of Kings', and 'A Storm of Swords' (the links take you to my reviews on Goodreads). I'm planning to read the remaining two books (perhaps while I am still living in Russia) before I watch the television series.
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