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Whilst Dave and Phyllis went off to Sweden, Fiona and I flew to St Petersburg. As seasoned travellers we dismissed the cheats way of catching a taxi and caught a smog encrusted 8 seater bus for 20 roubles each(about a dollar). Sandwiched in with about 10 others spluttered off into town-like we knew where we were going! The payment system was interesting-people passed money around the bus while it was in motion until it finally reached the driver. We were dropped off in Sennaya Square and then walked off to our hotel- about a 20 minute trek. Now we know the metro system we could have done it more easily.
First impressions-it seems as if a huge dust storm has settled on the city a left patina of grit and dust all over the place. There are lots of stark buildings in various states of repair, but there are huge efforts to clean up the place and the skyline is littered with cranes for new construction. We’ve seen water trucks washing the streets, people walking the streets with brooms and dust pans, street sweeping machines and lots of high pressure hoses cleaning buildings. Walking along a main street, we encountered women
in very sophisticated clothing, lots of gorgeous teenage girls in tight jeans tucked into bling encrusted boots, old people selling anything from matches, bandaids to plant bulbs. Women’s jackets are particularly stunning - unfortunately lack of luggage space is putting a hold on shopping!! Most chaps, including Kevin were pretty ordinary in their attire. Men start the day with a beer or two and many are seen in the streets sipping the amber ale. At $1-1.50 a bottle it’s not surprising.
There obviously are the iconic buildings for which any city is famous, but more of these later. Fi and I have mastered the underground metro, well reasonably so. Trick no.1 learn the Cyrillic alphabet so that you can recognise where you are, where you are going and what direction your train is going. Trick no.2 recognise that there is only one price for a ticket and that the ticket is a metal token, which I initially took as part of my change!! Trick no.3- Don’t be too polite, for whilst you are letting little old babushkas in, you will be shoved to the back and the train will leave without you.
Fi and I went on a river cruise
along the Neva(main river). We had a fully detailed and comprehensive tour commentary in Russian; unfortunately, none of the metro station names we had learned was mentioned. Still we managed to glean some info from our guide book. More tours to come.
We walked to the main train station to sus it out in preparation for our trip to Moscow, then had a coffee and choc croissant which had been microwaved so that it was less edible than the paper plate on which it was served. We decided to leave it- an old gentleman hovered near, mumbled something in Russian and then politely took the nuked croissant and ate it. Such are life’s cameos.
If all this sounds a bit negative, it is not really, they’re just settling in experiences that we have found enjoyable and informing. Our bus tour took us to some iconic places, but the headphone commentary was sparse. However, it was useful to see the city from the relaxed comfort of a bus and develop a sense of orientation.
St Petersburg was originally established by Peter the Great as the alternative social, political and cultural capital of Russia in the early 18th century. He travelled widely
in Europe first and was convinced that what Russia needed was what’s referred to everywhere here as a “window on the West”. This tension, between Russia as a key Slavic country (as exemplified apparently in Moscow - will find out there) and Russia as part of Europe (the St Petersburg idea) has continued until today. The local English paper, The St Petersburg Times, has several articles this week along these lines - just replace Peter with Putin.
The building codes put in place by Peter the Great for the city centre remain today - no building more than about four floors high, so the original ambience of the city has been maintained. Most are painted in fairly strong pastel greens, blues, pinks and yellows, with “white icing” decorations, and they include the various palaces, many of which are now museums, universities etc.
There are three large and very different churches in the city centre - the Church built on Spilled Blood (ie built on the very spot that Alexander I was assassinated on the 8th attempt) has an amazing array of onion domes (see pic) and every inch just about inside is covered in mosaics depicting Christ’s life, while the
Kazan Cathedral was influenced in its construction by St Peter’s in Rome and has the same semi-circular array of columns in the front. St Isaac’s Cathedral has an enormous gold leafed dome which was painted grey during WWII as disguise from German air raids.
The visit to the Hermitage was definitely the highlight. The Hermitage is a series of museums initially built by Catherine the Great for her art collection ( as you do) It had been added to over the years and now houses some 3 million pieces, ranging from art works from all over the world, porcelain, furniture, and collection of stunning 16th century suits of armour, including an Italian “Todger”- Professor Dixie will no doubt include that item in his Todger Opus. The whole place is overwhelming, both in its size and decoration- Marbled staircases, very ornate ceilings and walls, the most stunning and intricate parquet flooring made from a huge array of wood, monolithic marbled columns, and subtle but effective colouring. There is far too much to see in a day, perhaps a lifetime. As with all museums, the collection teases our sense of inquiry and induces us to read more about a particular time in
history, or a painter, or a school of art etc. The opulence of the whole collection must have stood in stark contrast to the life of your average Russian surf “Viva la Revolution”.
We’ve also tried a number of local dishes at local restaurants, which are plentiful along our street. For dinner the other night Fi had a layered herring, beetroot, potato and dill salad that was delicious and will be served at Koala Court in the future!! (Make a booking now!). Last night Kev ordered Borscht and it did not look or taste anything like the soup called Borscht that we made in the ‘70s. It came in a ceramic bowl with a yeast dough lid - in place of a dumpling - very light with a subtle garlic flavour - delicious. The soup itself was pork, beans and celery in light beetroot broth. Excellent! We were eating in the Shinok restaurant that was decorated with a huge amount of Ukrainian kitsch - strings of veges, dough pictures, sun flowers and other flowers, and the waiters had flowing satin Cossack-type trousers. We were entertained by a band, similarly dressed. This is not a tourist spot - and was mainly
patronised by locals. (In fact we have seen/heard very very little evidence of any other English speaking people here.
Tonight we catch the train to Moscow at 11.30 - arrive 7 in the morning so wont be seeing much countryside. This afternoon we’re taking a self-guided walk on the islands to see why St Petersburg is often compared with Venice.
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