Saint Petersburg

 Saturday 6 September.

Don't feel like going very far for dinner; the hotel has a restaurant and the menu looks OK but it is completely deserted. Nearest restaurants suggested by the hotel are around Mariansky Theatre about 10 minutes walk away. Settle on Sladko, which has plenty of people eating in it. The decor is interesting,  red chandeliers, painted ceiling and dozens of pre-revolution photos on the walls. I stick to what I think of as Russian standards, Borscht and Chicken Kiev, both of which are good. Order a beer beginning with Zh which I couldn't pronounce and can't remember. The bill came to a very reasonable 900 roubles. The restaurant is busy and there are three large tables, each of about a dozen people, who seem to epitomize the word "bourgeois". They could be out of a Woody Allen film, mixtures of men and women between the ages of 30 and 60. They don't look like family groups and are not the sort of group you would expect to see in a British restaurant. Not sure whether they are three independent groups or one group split over three tables. If the latter, it could the university classics department annual dinner. They are nothing like the beautiful people on the boat in Moscow, all of these are well dressed but understated, the women looking very elegant and the men relaxed. They appear to be engaged in intellectual conversations,  but then a discussion of pop idol in Russian would sound intellectual to me. The bill came to a very reasonable 900 roubles.

Sladko

Sunday 7 September

Red Star has the best breakfast since Hue. Great selection of bacon, sausages, cold meats, cheeses etc etc. Unlike the brash decoration in the rest of the hotel, the restaurant is done in soothing, greyish pink with lots of wood lattice work.

Outside it is brilliant, sunny weather. I walked towards the river and then along it, stopping first at St Isaac's cathedral which is relatively new,  mid 19th century and looks much more European than the cathedrals in Moscow. Could almost be a Catholic version of St Paul's. It has a huge nave covered with frescos, and excellent information boards in English. Technically it is a museum rather than a functional church but there was a service taking place in one of the side chapels. My ticket included the colonnade which is up 211 steps. Luckily there was somewhere to sit down at the top. I felt there should be a "health" warning like the one at the bottom of Covent Garden underground station in London, "This Stairway has 193 Steps".  Preferably before you buy the ticket. But the view at the top was worth it. Came across more young women taking photos of each other. Realise this is a "thing" in Russia; the first two on the boat in Moscow I thought nothing of, but now I have seen several pairs of young women doing the same and they are obviously dressed up and made up for  a photography session, rather than general tourism

St Isaace's Cathedral

Inside St Isaac's cathedral

Inside St Isaac's cathedral

Peter the Great in the City he Founded

My ticket included the colonnade which is up 211 steps. Luckily there was somewhere to sit down at the top. I felt there should be a "health" warning like the one at the bottom of Covent Garden underground station in London, "This Stairway has 193 Steps".  Preferably before you buy the ticket. But the view at the top was worth it. Came across more young women taking photos of each other. Realise this is a "thing" in Russia; the first two on the boat in Moscow I thought nothing of, but now I have seen several pairs of young women doing the same and they are obviously dressed up and made up for  a photography session, rather than general tourism.

The 211 steps down were much quicker and I headed to the Winter Palace which looks stunning and just as I remember it 30 years ago. But the men and women in 18th century costumes offering to pose with the tourists and the horse drawn carriages in the Palace Square are definitely new. Plan to come back to visit the Hermitage museum on Tuesday morning. 

Winter Palace and Palace Square

Winter Palace and Palace Square viewed through Archway in General Staff Building

 

Horses & Carriages weren't here 30 years ago!

After drinking my fill of the stunning buildings all around the square,   headed back to the river and then to the Peter and Paul fortress across the bridge.  By the time I reached it, I was feeling really hot and regretting wearing my jacket, even more so when I see people sunbathing on the banks of the river beneath the fortress walls. Very strange to see several men sunbathing standing up. "Sun comes out take your clothes off". But checking on the web later, I find there is a logic in it. In high latitudes where the sun is low in the sky you get more exposure standing up than lying down. Strange how white-skinned people from Northern Europe want a tan while my friends from Asia aim to look as pale as possible!  

 Vertical Sunbathing

All the grounds of the fortress are accessible for free so I just enjoyed wandering around in the sunshine and looking at the amazing views across the river. There are excellent descriptions of all the interesting bits place in English and it made for a very pleasant afternoon.

Peter and Paul Fortress

Peter and Paul Fortress

Helicopter tours leave from the Peter and Paul Fortress

After exploring all the grounds, ie the free bits,  I found a boat trip going from the nearby pier. It is a good chance to sit down, and I don't care that the commentary is all in Russian; it saves me the effort of having to listen to him!  He manages to speak non-stop for the length of the trip, over an hour,  as we go along the canals and the river. The views are fantastic and I go overboard on taking photos; good thing electrons are free! 

Bridge over the Neva

 

Sailing Ship on the Neva

Non stop Commentary

Since the boat trip takes me back to the Peter and Paul fortress,  I look for a restaurant nearby in the "St Petersburg in your Pocket Guide" and go to a  restaurant that specialises in Caucasian dishes, "Priyanost & Radosti". It looks popular and the very elegant hostess leads me to a table  on an almost open air veranda. Have a salad and a Caucasian mutton and aubergine dish which is interesting but almost a soup; the only beer they have is Heineken. After dinner get the metro to Sennay Ploschad which is the nearest station to the hotel but still a good 40 minutes walk away.

Monday 8 September.

Get the 22 bus to the far end of Nevsky Prospect, close to the Moscow Station where I arrived on Saturday. Even on the bus, Nevsky Prospect looks magnificent. It is even better walking along in the bright sunshine. The architects of the day obviously loved the European classical style, adding a few theatrical flourishes of their own. If in doubt put in a caryatid! 

Nevsky Prospect

A Telamon, Male version of Caryatid

One totally delightful building is Kupetzeliseevs  built in the  early 20 century in Art Nouveau style. In the window are animated toys and within is a cafe combined with Harrods Food Hall; definitely worth a coffee and a Danish pastry. 

Kupetzeliseevs

Kupetzeliseevs

Inside Kupetzeliseevs

A stunning blonde,  wearing an outfit that cannot be ignored, comes and sits next to me; the place is quite full.  She has black chunky high heels, which seem to be the fashion, tight black leather pants that come down to mid calf with laces up to the knee and a bright red bra, which is revealed, rather than covered, by the skimpy, semi transparent white top. She speaks quite good English and  doesn't know anything about the history of this place but tells me there is a similar one in Moscow where she comes from. She is on holiday here and was in Helsinki a few days ago.  Of course all the history can be found on the web.

http://kupetzeliseevs.ru/index.html

is the official website but the Emglish version doesn't seem to work

When all else fails try Wikipedia

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eliseyev_Emporium_(Saint_Petersburg)

After my coffee and Danish, which were a very reasonable price,  explore some of the side streets off Nevsky Propsekt and Gostinny Dvor which was the Leningrad equivalent of GUM in the days of the Soviet Union but it is just a boring  collection of shops and has nothing to offer the tourist. It looks better from outside than in. Realise it is over 24 hours since I was in a cathedral so drop into the Kazan Cathedral which was built to celebrate victory over the French during the Napoleonic war. Always amazes me how each country claims God to be on their side. Unlike St Isaac's, the Kazan cathedral is a church rather than a museum. Inside there are many worshippers queuing to kiss an icon. Outside there are lots of big black cars with drivers waiting for what I imagine are seriously wealthy people. Or maybe small tour groups use these cars for ferrying their passengers around?

On the other side of the road is another magnificent turn of the century  edifice, the Singer building, also known as Dom Knigi (House of Books)  which houses a bank and bookshop, an up-market version of Foyles. 

The Singer Building

Dom Knigi, The Singer Building

And then down another side street, running along a canal, there is the St Basil like Cathedral of the Royal Blood built to commemorate Tsar Alexander who was killed on this site. Like St Isaac's the cathedral is actually a museum and the inside is covered with mosaic images of the saints.

 Cathedral of the Royal Blood

Soon I have completed the whole length of Nevsky Prospect so decide  to go across the river where I find yet another cathedral, a submarine and a three masted sailing ship. While I am there I notice that the Fred Olsen Lines cruise ship,  Braemar, on the Nevsky Prospect side of the river, is on the move. I watch it execute a neat U turn in the river and sail off down the Neva before heading back across the river for dinner at "Prospect", also listed in my "St Petersburg in your Pocket Guide" where I have salmon pancakes,  meat rolls and a beer. Quite good and reasonable price.

Tuesday 9th September.

My original plan was to go to the Hermitage museum today but by the time I had checked that none of my credit cards were overdue, answered a couple of emails and packed my bag it was obvious I didn't have enough time. So I checked out and walked round the neighbourhood. The hotel is right at the edge of the "classical" city. On one side the traditional 4 & 5 story late 19 th and early 20th century buildings. They are not as well decorated as the ones in the city centre but in a similar style. On the other side of the canal are old industrial buildings, car repair workshops, a petrol station and a little bit further on,  the cranes of the docks looking like giant preying mantis's. Then walked south from the Mariansky theatre and found another cathedral, St Nicholas, which is obviously on the tourist route,  since there are lots of buses outside.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St._Nicholas_Naval_Cathedral

The inside seems remarkably low and that is emphasised by the subdued lighting. After reading about it I understand why.  At the front, in a cordoned off area for worshippers, a priest wearing a gold cape is chanting the liturgy facing lots of candles and an icon. There is no congregation but people go in and genuflect to the icon and kiss it. Eventually when he has finished chanting, the priest does the same. There are many other icons but obviously some are more popular than others. At the shop you can buy small reproductions of icons; they are numbered. Not sure how the numbering works but Our Lord Jesus Christ only comes in at No 14. There are two other priests in black cassocks in the church, both quite young, one in his 20s the other in his 30s. Both are big,  bearded, healthy looking men in the prime of life; they evoke the phrase "Muscular Christianity". I can understand the appeal of the faith to the old ladies who have probably endured more hardship than I can imagine, and I can understand casual worshipers lighting a candle and kissing an icon. In the days of the Soviet Union I could understand people embracing the church  as a defiance of a totalitarian state and ideology but I find it very difficult to see the appeal of the priesthood to healthy young men with all the opportunities of the modern world on offer. Which probably proves them I am just a heathen.

St. Nicholas Cathedral

An Icon

A young couple in full wedding outfits, he is his best suit and her in the white wedding dress go into the roped off area for worshippers and I wonder whether I am going to see a Russian Orthodox wedding, albeit a very small private one. But after lots of genuflection and kissing of icons, it turns out they are just here for wedding photos. Later on outside, the bride is quite literally calling the shots, and her husband to be looks very young; hope it works out for them.