Sunday, July 16, 2006

St.Petersburg as seen by a tasty morsel

I wake up covered in Bug bites. I knew there were mosquitos, but I had no idea how bad they were. Everyone in the hostel has it just as bad, even the ones who bought the "Mosquito Repellent Things" from the hostel (I have Muskol in my bag, should have put it on).

As an aside, I am still scratching at these bites as I sit in the Amsterdam airport blogging right now.

My first plan is to go to Peterhof. No, it's not the episode of FAMILY GUY where Peter and David Hasselhof magically switch bodies (Although if Seth McFarlane reads this blog I suspect he will steal my idea). It's a palace outside the city, with beautiful furnishings and fountains that are world-renowned. I have the crappy hostel breakfast early in anticipation of catching the 9:30 hydrofoil to Peterhof (Hydrofoils are cool!). There's a middle-aged American there (He's motorcycling around the world). Our conversation goes something like:

Him: What have you got planned for the day?

Me: I'm going to check out Peterhof.

Him: No, you won't.

He tried to get there yesterday, but it's been closed because of the G8. In case I didn't mention this in an earlier entry, the streets have also been cleared of any pesky homeless people (Perhaps the government has re-activated the old Soviet labour camps to strore them for a couple of weeks). So I decide to go to the Peter and Paul Fortress, which contains the cathedral of the same name, where many of the tsars are buried. It's nicely designed, but I find myself rapidly losing patience for these sorts of things, and I wander the fortress, through the Neva gate. It has a very nice view looking across the water at the Winter Palace, but the view is made ominous with the knowledge that the fortress was a prison, and prisoners walked out here were being transported to another prison that could administer capital punishment.

After this I visit a St.Petersburg History museum which actually has some English in the exhibit. There's some cultural value in it all, but I'm tired and hungry (And my feet are killing me). I find a recommended fish retaurant in the neighbourhood and chow down on their special Pike Perch, along with a bowl of piping hot Solyanka (soup). All is excellent, giving me the energy to walk the bridge back to the palace embankment, where I shoot more photos of The Bronze horseman statue, and St.Isaac's cathedral. I also think I stumble upon a location from the Goldeneye tank chase sequence, another movie I will have to watch scenes of when I get home. One place in the movie I really wanted to go was the Statue graveyard, but I think it's just a set, because none of the guidebooks mention it. Looked really cool in the movie.

I catch a subway to Pl. Alexander Nevskovo, near the Nevsky monmastery, and am denied entrance to the monastery, since I'm wearing shorts. Fortunately, I can still visit the Tikhvin cemetery and the graves of Tchaikovsky, Rimsky Korsakov, and most notably, Dostoevsky (I am reading Crime and Punishment, so I did want to pay my respects).

At the hostel, I need my sleep, I get an hour to nap, and then I change close, and set out at 6pm for the Mariinsky Ballet theater. I almost don't make it because my tram takes a while, but I get to the theater five minutes before the performance, and manage to score a ticket in a box (Not the absolutely highest either) Unfortunately, I go into the wrong box, and by the time the correct patrons have booted me, the show is already starting, so I watch the first 35 minute act from the box while standing up.

At the first intermission I get my seat sorted, and get an English program. The ballet is called The Legend of Love, and it tells of an Arab Kingdom ruled by a Queen. Her sister, the princess is sick, and the mystic who cures her takes a cruel price by taking the Queen's beauty, which she sacrifices willingly for her sister. When both women fall in love with the same peasant worker, he is smitten by the younger sister, and the two run away together, but are caught and the peasant worker is only allowed to have the princess if he can tunnel through a mountain and bring water to the thirsty, drought starved people. Ultimately he looks to be succeeding at making the hole, and the Queen decrees that he cannot marry her unless he abandons the people and stops digging the hole. He can't abandon the people who need him and the Princess understands his sacrifice, because the people are happy. The ballet was originally performed in 1961. So it's a nice, and insidiously socialist message. You have to sacrifice for the state because she sacrifices for you. At least that's what I got out of it. But the ballet itself was magnificent, the costumes were beautiful, the music and the choreography all were spectacular.

It let out at 10pm and I went to 1913 restaurant, because the Eyewitness guide said it was cheap and very good quality, but it's only cheap if you just get the appetizer they recommend (Potato Pancakes)! I got the appetizer, a main course (Lamb), and 2 half-litres of beer, which ended up costing me a 1,000 Rubles ($45 Canadian). The meal was delicious and the service was great, but to compound my cost, I lost track of time, the neighbourhood was a bit sketchy, and by the time I finish eating, public transit will be closed! So I had to pay for a taxi, but it was worth it, as the meal was great and St.Petersburg by taxi is an experience in itself!

My room was a little friendlier tonight, there were just 3 of us, myself, a Swede named Magnus, travelling the Trans-Siberian, and a brit travelling the world for a year! We chatted a bit then slept (Tonight I am wearing my insect repellent!). I am sorry to have missed Peterhof, but it's nice sometimes when those decisions are made for you. I'll see it next time I'm in St.Petersburg!

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