The Incredible Adventures of Tyson Trotz in the Lands of the Rus

It is March 8th 2016 and today is the Междунаро́дный же́нский день International Women's Day. In many ways it is a day that one might compare to Mother's day in the west, men give women, flowers, cards, chocolates and other presents to thank the women who do such much for them every day, yet March 8 is a day devoted to all women be they mother, grandmother, sister, or lover.

In the western world many people tend to view Russia as country socially backward on gender issues. In America, the idea that gender equality can only be reached by completely abolishing the very thought of different sexes seems to becoming increasingly more common, yet people in Russia find this very approach ridiculous. Rather, they not only acknowledge differences in gender but celebrate them, and Mejzdonorodinee Djenski Den is a prime example of this fact.

I am once again in St. Petersburg, visiting my friends Katya and Sveta and have had a wonderful time as always. I spent my first day in Peter with Katya achieving my longtime goal of visiting the St. Petersburg Artillery Museum, which stands next to the Peter and Paul Fortress. The shear scale of the museum is stunning and we only managed to see a small part of it, yet I saw canons, arms, and memorabilia spanning from a thousand years to the present day. Many of the cannons and guns Where even used to Defend the city from the Swedes during The Great Northern War or the Nazi's in The Great Patriotic War (WWII).

The second Day we Traveled to the city of Ivangorod on the border with Estonia and it is a place unlike any other I have ever seen. On our side of the river there stands a great Russia fortress and on the other, just a few hundred meters away, stands another Estonian. The Russian Fortress was built opposite the Estonian by Ivan III to secure what was then the German frontier and was later expanded. The city and fortress which I gazed out from was distinctly Russian but just on the other side of the river the town was that of a German culture. It was an incredible site and I don't think that I shall ever again see such a distinct border between two peoples.