St Petersburg
On Wednesday morning we arrived by sleeper train in St. Petersburg, where we were met at the station by Lyuda, whom Cathy used to visit every week when a student in Leningrad 25 years ago. Lyuda and her family were like a family to Cathy then, so it was lovely to see her - looking just as young as she did 25 years ago!
We took the bus to Lyuda's flat, in the suburbs, and Isla had a sleep. Then Lyuda's husband, Kolya, arrived home from work - also looking just as he did 25 years ago! It was great to see them both.
Lyuda then took us on the underground to the centre of town, where we walked around the beautiful town centre. St. Petersburg is like a museum, where every building is a palace or a church. It's built on over 100 islands on the wide Nyeva River where it comes out into the Bay of Finland, and it has lots of canals and little bridges. Designed by Italians and built by Tsar Peter the Great as his "window on Europe", it was once the most northerly capital in the world, before Moscow became the capital of Russia.
In the evening, Lyuda and Kolya gave us a lovely dinner and they and Cathy caught up with news and remembered old times.
On Thursday Lyuda took us on the bus to Petrodvorets (Peter Palace), one of the Tsars' summer palaces. It is huge, with large, formal and informal gardens. The gardens are full of statues, ponds and fountains - including some for children (big and small) to run about in, avoiding the surprise sprays of water which spurt out randomly. You can see St. Petersburg from the shores of the Bay of Finland, in front of these gardens. Russians like to call Petrodvorets the Russian Versailles, and indeed both palaces are on a similar scale and display similar wealth.
You can see why both Russia and France had revolutions (the big question is why the Russian one took so long to happen)! Petrodvorets was destroyed during the Second World War, and was restored shortly afterwards.
On Friday Isla did a bit of busking in front of the Church of the Spilled Blood, which looks like the more famous St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Then we went to the Hermitage, most of which is located in the huge Winter Palace. We went round this huge art gallery very quickly, but didn't manage to see everything. Lyuda told us that if you spent one minute looking at every object in this gallery, and if you didn't sleep, it would take you 11 years to get round it! We saw paintings by Picasso, Ruben, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Matisse... As well as two throne rooms, a ball room, the peacock clock, the knights' room and other elegant and extravagant rooms and staircases.
In the afternoon, we walked to the university, where Cathy found the building she studied in 25 years previously! We went inside, and sat in the garden at the back. Much of it Cathy recognised, though it's been done up and has a new garden with sculptures.
We didn't have time to go to the hostel where Cathy lived as a student, so we'll do that another time. That night (and one of the highlights of the visit) we went out after midnight to experience the "white nights" - the days in the middle of summer when the sun doesn´t really set. All the bridges on the Nyeva are illuminated and at 1am the open to allow large ships to navigate up the river - it´s a fantastic sight and crowds gather to watch.
It´s also a chance to see the raucous new Russians at play (more booze). At one point, an expensive Range Rover drove by the front of the Hermitage with a young lady sitting on top of the roof with a bottle of champagne in both hands. yollering and flashing her knickers to the crowds.....weird!
On Saturday we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where St. Petersburg was founded. We went inside the Peter and Paul Cathedral, where members of the tsars' families since Peter the Great are buried, including the last tsar and his family, who were shot just after the Revolution, and who were buried just a few years ago, after their bodies were found.
We then had tea in an Irish pub and then were delighted to see Swan Lake. This was a real treat, from Lyuda, who had managed to get tickets for us. At short notice, this is quite hard to do, so well done, Lyuda! Lyuda used to take Cathy to the ballet and opera frequently during Cathy's year in Leningrad in 1982 to 1983, so this trip to the ballet also had a special meaning. The ballet company was the St. Petersburg Russian Ballet, whose members are connected with the old Kirov Ballet, now called the Mariiykovskiy (Mary) Ballet. Isla and Cathy were almost dancing in their seats to the music, and Isla couldn't stop doing ballet for a few hours afterwards!
On Sunday we got up early to get to the train station. Saying a sad goodbye to Kolya and Lyuda, we left on the train to Helsinki. Many thanks to Lyuda and Kolya for their superb hospitality, guiding and cooking. It was all lovely, and we'd love to see them in Scotland some time.
Andy finished reading Charlie Wilson´s War, a cracking account of the efforts of one Democratic Congressman in the US to wage a secret CIA war in Afghanistan. Kind of strange reading this in Russia when the constant motivation for Wilson´s efforts was that the Afghan campaign was the "one place where we are actually killing Russians". Afghanistan is the Russians´ dirty little secret with the former USSR denying that they were ever fighting a war. There is now apparently a museum in Moscow to the war - read more in James Rodgers´ Moscow diary here .
Busking earnings:- 299.60 Roubles & 1.80 Euros (in 30 minutes.)
Kilometres cycled: - 0 (haven't started yet)
We took the bus to Lyuda's flat, in the suburbs, and Isla had a sleep. Then Lyuda's husband, Kolya, arrived home from work - also looking just as he did 25 years ago! It was great to see them both.
Lyuda then took us on the underground to the centre of town, where we walked around the beautiful town centre. St. Petersburg is like a museum, where every building is a palace or a church. It's built on over 100 islands on the wide Nyeva River where it comes out into the Bay of Finland, and it has lots of canals and little bridges. Designed by Italians and built by Tsar Peter the Great as his "window on Europe", it was once the most northerly capital in the world, before Moscow became the capital of Russia.
In the evening, Lyuda and Kolya gave us a lovely dinner and they and Cathy caught up with news and remembered old times.
On Thursday Lyuda took us on the bus to Petrodvorets (Peter Palace), one of the Tsars' summer palaces. It is huge, with large, formal and informal gardens. The gardens are full of statues, ponds and fountains - including some for children (big and small) to run about in, avoiding the surprise sprays of water which spurt out randomly. You can see St. Petersburg from the shores of the Bay of Finland, in front of these gardens. Russians like to call Petrodvorets the Russian Versailles, and indeed both palaces are on a similar scale and display similar wealth.
You can see why both Russia and France had revolutions (the big question is why the Russian one took so long to happen)! Petrodvorets was destroyed during the Second World War, and was restored shortly afterwards.
On Friday Isla did a bit of busking in front of the Church of the Spilled Blood, which looks like the more famous St. Basil's Cathedral in Moscow. Then we went to the Hermitage, most of which is located in the huge Winter Palace. We went round this huge art gallery very quickly, but didn't manage to see everything. Lyuda told us that if you spent one minute looking at every object in this gallery, and if you didn't sleep, it would take you 11 years to get round it! We saw paintings by Picasso, Ruben, Titian, Leonardo da Vinci, Matisse... As well as two throne rooms, a ball room, the peacock clock, the knights' room and other elegant and extravagant rooms and staircases.
In the afternoon, we walked to the university, where Cathy found the building she studied in 25 years previously! We went inside, and sat in the garden at the back. Much of it Cathy recognised, though it's been done up and has a new garden with sculptures.
We didn't have time to go to the hostel where Cathy lived as a student, so we'll do that another time. That night (and one of the highlights of the visit) we went out after midnight to experience the "white nights" - the days in the middle of summer when the sun doesn´t really set. All the bridges on the Nyeva are illuminated and at 1am the open to allow large ships to navigate up the river - it´s a fantastic sight and crowds gather to watch.
It´s also a chance to see the raucous new Russians at play (more booze). At one point, an expensive Range Rover drove by the front of the Hermitage with a young lady sitting on top of the roof with a bottle of champagne in both hands. yollering and flashing her knickers to the crowds.....weird!On Saturday we went to the Peter and Paul Fortress, where St. Petersburg was founded. We went inside the Peter and Paul Cathedral, where members of the tsars' families since Peter the Great are buried, including the last tsar and his family, who were shot just after the Revolution, and who were buried just a few years ago, after their bodies were found.
We then had tea in an Irish pub and then were delighted to see Swan Lake. This was a real treat, from Lyuda, who had managed to get tickets for us. At short notice, this is quite hard to do, so well done, Lyuda! Lyuda used to take Cathy to the ballet and opera frequently during Cathy's year in Leningrad in 1982 to 1983, so this trip to the ballet also had a special meaning. The ballet company was the St. Petersburg Russian Ballet, whose members are connected with the old Kirov Ballet, now called the Mariiykovskiy (Mary) Ballet. Isla and Cathy were almost dancing in their seats to the music, and Isla couldn't stop doing ballet for a few hours afterwards!
On Sunday we got up early to get to the train station. Saying a sad goodbye to Kolya and Lyuda, we left on the train to Helsinki. Many thanks to Lyuda and Kolya for their superb hospitality, guiding and cooking. It was all lovely, and we'd love to see them in Scotland some time.
Andy finished reading Charlie Wilson´s War, a cracking account of the efforts of one Democratic Congressman in the US to wage a secret CIA war in Afghanistan. Kind of strange reading this in Russia when the constant motivation for Wilson´s efforts was that the Afghan campaign was the "one place where we are actually killing Russians". Afghanistan is the Russians´ dirty little secret with the former USSR denying that they were ever fighting a war. There is now apparently a museum in Moscow to the war - read more in James Rodgers´ Moscow diary here .
Busking earnings:- 299.60 Roubles & 1.80 Euros (in 30 minutes.)
Kilometres cycled: - 0 (haven't started yet)
posted by Andy Wightman at 12:50 PM
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