Day #175 - St. Petersburg, Russia

The Hermitage

Leonardo da Vinci's painting - Madonna & child

Peter & Paul's Cathedral (within the fortress)

Savior of Spilled Blood Cathedral

Nevsky Prospect - main street

Sunday, September 5th

A full day in St. Petersburg - which was founded by Peter the Great to be Russia's 'Window to the West'. A massive city - the third largest in Europe behind Moscow and London. I walked all day and probably only saw 1/4 of it.

First off, I did find several people who spoke English, and there were location maps on the streets, and there were many items printed out in English as well. Actually, it's not a whole lot different than certain areas in France or Spain (just the symbols make it a little tougher).

Yesterday when I arrived by train - I was in the northern part of the city - not really in the tourist area. The city reminds me of Paris with regard to the 5-6 main train stations scattered throughout town. I'm not sure what I was thinking. The main street passing through St. Petersburg is Nevsky Prospect. It's a couple kilometers in length. My hotel is on the far end away from the city. I thought coming into town, I would find this street and follow it to my hotel. I greatly underestimated the sheer size of the city. My move would be as foolish as rolling into Paris and assuming you would come upon the Champs Elysses without a map or knowing where you were in the city. It's not going to happen unless you get very lucky.

St. Petersburg has so many amazing sites - it really is a great place to walk around. Grand palaces, bridges over the River Neva, the Hermitage, the Summer and Winter Palaces, St. Isaac's Cathedral, The Bronze Horseman -- all these sites make up the city skyline. The city also reminded me of Amsterdam in a sense with its major canals running through it.

I first walked the full length of Nevsky Prospect. There wasn't much activity on my way into town - it was completely packed on my return. I gather this is where all the major shops and restaurants are located.

I headed to the Hermitage. This is a famous museum with over 150,000 works on display. I found this place to be very similar to the Louvre in Paris. I paid the 500 ruble ($17) to enter. It was a complete maze. You could spend several days to see all the exhibits. Rembrandt, Picasso, Leoanrdo da Vinci - these are a few of the famous artist represented in the galleries. It was impressive. But, like the Louvre, very overwhelming. The Hermitage has been the Winter Palace for every czar since Catherine the Great.

I then walked across one of the many bridges that spans the River Neva. I found my way to Peter and Paul's Fortress - this was one of the most famous prisons in Russia. It also holds the Peter and Paul Cathedral. Then I walked back across the river to the Savior of Spilled Blood Cathedral and Museum (I just took some pictures from outside). This was a visually impressive cathedral - easily viewed from a far distance in the city.

I then took my time walking back to the hotel via Nevsky Prospect. It was a really good day.

Just an add-on: I went to dinner down in the hotel about an hour ago. It was a buffet ($18) - not bad priced for what it offered. Fish, meatballs, salads, potatoes, rice and vegetables, cake, etc. Anyway, I walked into this big room and the lights were off. They just had candles on each table. I didn't realize just how dark it was until I got into the place. We're talking blackness here (like Mississippi Mine darkness on the swing shift during the Winter Break 94). You walked up to get the food - you couldn't see it. People were bending over and practically putting their head inside the pans to see. You filled your glass and it would overfill and spill on the table because you couldn't see the water line. You would bump into people on the way to the table - sloshing food and drink everywhere. I didn't know if this was normal or what. Why the candlelight - it's not like a buffet hall in a hotel is a romantic setting? You couldn't see the person across the table from you anyway. You would have to talk out into the darkness and hope the person was still there. Finally, after I had just finished, lights came on. The whole hall cheered and clapped. Woo - I guess that wasn't normal after all.

Here's to a good day tomorrow.