April 28, 2008

Today was our first day in St. Petersburg. We got in a few minutes late last night but unfortunately our luggage did not. As of Monday evening we are still waiting for it (later in the evening Lisa's bag showed up but not Sam's and mine). I had made arrangements through a childhood friend for a friend to pick us up at the airport as we brought over ballet clothing for her youth program. So she picked us up and we went down the street from the airport, to the local Lenta. It is a Walmart style store, well more like a K-Mart but it had everything from clothing, car parts, and food as it had everything but not a wide selection. We bought a few pieces of underware and some sleeping clothes with the hope that our luggage would make it on today.

Our gracious hosts then took us to the hotel and we settled in with no problems. Hannah decided to stay with us. We slept until 9AM and got moving around 10:30AM. Started walking around the neighborhood. Here is what we saw before 5PM.

Coffee Shop: We started walking and Hannah found one of her favorite local chains as they have good savory rolls at a very reasonable price. I got the cabbage one which was very tasty except they serve it cold. It would be much better warm. The coffee was reasonable but nothing special.

St Issacs Cathedral: Headed back towards our hotel and which is 1/2 block from here. Figured out that we should pay for both the museum and the view. Went in and I was amazed at how huge it was with a marble everywhere. They had mosaics on display and we were not sure if were original or had been put there just for display. There were large amounts of tour groups from Russia, Finland, Germany, Korea, China, and all over. It was definitely the place for tourists. The other part of the tour is to climb 211 steps and walk around the rotunda for great views of St Petersburg's rivers, canals, cathedrals, TV towers, cranes for new buildings and harbor and roofs of all shapes. The whole family thought it was the highlight of the day.

Peter I Statue: A short walk towards the Neva took us to this famous statue. From here you can look across the Neva River to Vasilievsky Island where you can see St. Petersburg State University which it the partner with Bard College creating the Smolny College where Hannah is spending the semester. Her classes are farther northwest along the river. Nice view of the pastel colored buildings that St Petersburg is famous for.

The Neva River and Palace Sqare: We continued walking up the river toward the Hermitage but decided to find a place to eat and then spend the afternoon in the Russian Museum. Well before we got there we crossed Palace Square which was empty except for 3 or 4 small bands and few tourists here and there. This place is huge and the bands only consisted of a dozen musicians in full military dress. They were practicing. Some were standing in formation and moving back and forth, others were just standing like a band should, while others were resting. Each played a part of a tune and then stopped. Not sure what they were doing but I am guessing that they were getting ready for May Day. We then walked past Pushkin's apartment and museum and watch another group soldiers take a cigarette break. The walk was our first view of the canals and although it was too early for tourist boats this was the most pleasurable walk of the day as the buildings and area was the cleanest and most kept up part of the area.

Stolle (bottom entry): This was a nice little restaurant that Hannah likes to go that has great savery rolls also. The weblink above calls them Perogi.

Russian Museum: On the way we past the Church of the Spilt Blood a church that from the outside had many different architectural features than St. Issacs. We then headed over the Russian Museum and started by going into the back door. This area has the special exhibits so we started with Yuri Khrzhanovsky exhibit. It was a retrospective as he recently died and Sam was amazed that his style kept changing. We all liked his music phase in the 1980's.
Saluko. We then roamed the whole museum although I went a lot slower than the rest of the family. I really like to mid to late 19th century paintings of the russian forests by Ivan Shishkin although I didn't know it was a special exhibit at the time. I also was amzed at the and the reconstructed palace rooms in the permanent collection section in the Mikhailovsky Palace.

On our way back to the hotel, Hannah took us down Nevsky Prospect. This experience was not appreciated until we were halfway home. The constant rush of people and group after group of fashionably dressed Russians made it obvious that we didn't really belong there. We hit a traffic light that was green but the guy in front of us refused to cross and as it was narrow started blocking all of us. This seemed crazy but then I realized that he was setting up a pick pocket and jumped out of the way. Well we made it without incident back to the hotel for a few hours rest.

For dinner Hannah took us back to Nevsky Prospect but this time we took the back way. The walk was pleasant but typical of the day, fast traffic, dirty streets, and block after block of 3-4 story pastel colored buildings. We went to a Georgian Restaurant that her friend recommended and we had a very tasty meal but a not so great wine list. To top it off, the entertainment was a guy singing to a karioke machine very LOUD. We tried mainly Georgian style food, the eggplant stuffed with walnut paste, bread with melted cheese on top called ???, chicken with an alfedo type sauce, veal stew highly seasoned with salt but very tasty, a mutton stew with potatoes and onions. Made it out of there by 10PM and it was still light out. Nice walk back to the hotel.

We had a surprise as my wife's bag was in our room. It made her so happy!!!! Well Sam and I will continue in our Russian style of dress. They have 2-3 main outfits which they wear in public and when they are home, they immediately change into separate clothes. The difference is that their public outfits are very expensive and stylish (leather coats, fancy shoes, tight jeans). We on the other hand are living in our baggy jeans and sweatpants. Oh well, having fun anyways...

Be sure to visit Hannah's blog at hannahinrussia.blogspot.com