St. Petersburg at Leisure

---

We took a well-deserved sleep-in and almost missed breakfast. After yesterdays experience - I was not getting excited about pickled herrings, pickled cabbage, dubious looking meat cold cuts. Just stuck to the water scrambles eggs, overcooked bacon and toast. In "western" hotels - I hate it when they water down all the juices. It was no different here. Watered down orange, apple and multi-vitamin juices. Still - I need to have some to wash down the aforementioned food. Decided on tea this morning instead of the extra strong coffee.

We decided to try the "Metro" and go to St. Isaacs church. I did not try the Metro in 1980 - but I knew that the Metro in Moscow was spotless so knew it would be the same in St. Petersburg. 45 rubles (1AU$) let's you ride the Metro all day, changing trains as many times as needed. If you exit a station - then it's another 45 rubles to get back in again for your next trip. Cheap!!!! We descended down the escalator of the Techonologischeskiy station. It seems like we were going through to China. Russia has some of the deepest metro tunnels in the world. And the escalators to get you down to and up from the tracks are spotless. Not a piece of litter anywhere (unlike that we saw in London). At tops and bottoms of escalators there is a booth with an "office" who is monitoring a rack of screens that flit back and forth between platforms, walkways, escalators. Ocassionally we saw some police offices strolling through the station. It was only 3 stops to Admiralteyskseya station where it was only a short walk to St. Isaacs Cathedral. Commissioned by Tsar Alexander the 1st., it took 40 years to construct in the 19th century. Mid 20th century under the Russian government it was stripped of it's religious trappings and because the Museum of the History of Religion and Atheism. The amount of gold and icons in this establishment is unbelieveable. Definitely worth a visit if you come to St. Petersburg.

I tried to find the hotel where in 1980 we met our Intourist guide - but neither of the hotels on the square looked familiar and after inquiries found that neither had no connection to the Russian Travel Company "Intourist". Was my memory playing tricks or had that hotel in question been demolished and replaced by something else? I will need to do do some further investigation. As is often the case - I take Kathie to fancy hotels to use the bathroom facilities - so the 5-star Astoria Hotel was the ideal place. It was also a good place to use the "free" wifi while waiting for Kathie. On leaving the hotel lounge/coffee area - we were intrigued to see some female Asian tourists (or perhaps guests) taking pics of the elevator doors. On closer inspection we found brass plaques on the 3 elevators and they listed the names of all celebrities and royalty that had stayed in the hotel. An amazing list it was. Unfortunately my phone battery had gone dead - and I was unable to take any pics 😞

We left the hotel and headed off to seek out a restaurant that was recommended by some friends. It was about 15 minutes walk away and was quite welcoming. Interior furnishings resembled someone's home with all sorts of household bits n pieces decorating the walls and tables. The name of the restaurant "Idiot" did not befit the interior. We checked out the menu and found they had borscht - to that was the first thing we ordered. I also had a soup - and we had a couple of beers to wash it all down. As we motioned to pay the bill so we could keep exploring - we were presented with an ice-cold vodka. Now this is the Russia I remember!!! Vodka, vodka everywhere!! Again - we decided to walk back to our hotel - and on the way track down what is listed as one of the city's best Mexican fast-food restaurants. It was not hard to find. Small with only 4 tables, but clean and fitted out with Mexican memorabilia. We had read that the beef burritos were good so ordered one of those for Kathie. I opted for a cheese and chicken quesadilla. A couple of more beers to wash it all down. Well - the burrito was so good - we ordered another one!! Definitely worth a visit to this place if you like Mexican food.

En-route back to our hotel we came across a local Christmas Market - so10-15 minutes spent here to explore, then a stop at the Spar supermarket to buy some nibblies and drink for the room. Kathie decided she had walked enough for the day and would stay inn. She also was not feeling well and we got some cold medicine from a nearby pharmacy. I decided to go for another exploration walk and check-out the rail station from where we were leaving from the next day. My exploration walk took me 2 hours. Not only did I (eventually) find the station (it was shrouded in scaffolding) - but I also found another "nerve centre of the city. It was the end of the Nevsly Prospekt - where there are 3 of the city's main rail stations. Also - this end of the Prospekt was host to a massive shopping gallery as well as being lined with upscale stores, boutiques, restaurants, coffee shops, fast-food establishments. If only we had stayed in the Novotel Nevsky where we would have had access to all this activity and night-life". If you intend on visiting St. Petersburg - I strongly suggest staying at the Novotel. Whilst about 4kms from the centre - it's only a few stops and 45 rubles by Metro!!!!!

---

Photos

2017-12-30 09.14.36
View from our room at 09.30am.

2017-12-30 14.07.00
The amazing drain pipes of St. Petersburg. At least 20-25cms wide.

2017-12-30 15.35.08
Another long Humvee

2017-12-30 16.26.15
Enjoying a Mexican burrito

Comments

[Trackball]

"Idiot" and others... :)
>> The name of the restaurant "Idiot" did not befit the interior. The Idiot is a novel by the 19th-century Russian author Fyodor Dostoyevsky. :)