Quote Originally Posted by Mr Smith View Post
One final question on the above text:

12. Just to clarify: is it assumed that this is the first time Marina and her Grandmother met? Or, are we to presume that they were somewhat familiar with one another prior to Marina’s trip to St. Petersburg, and that their existing relationship was enhanced by the time they spent together?

12. Если бы я не поехала, я не узнала бы близко свою бабушку.
It is hard to answer with 100% confidence. The text does not specify it explicitly.
However, I would guess, Marina saw her Grandmother before, maybe for some short period of time. The key word here is "близко": "Если бы я не поехала, я не узнала бы близко свою бабушку."

I would not say it like that if I had never seen her at all. It would not make sense to specify "близко" in that case. So, as I understand this phrase, she knew her before, but not "близко" (not so closely), maybe she just met her once or a few times before.

If to suppose she had never seen her grandmother, I would say: "Если бы я не поехала, я так и не увидела бы свою бабушку.". The "так и" part is to emphasize the failure to get a result, it can be omitted.