I was about to head back, when I noticed one more place marked on my may nearby, Gorky Park.
Disclaimer: I originally was confusing two Robin Williams films, Moscow on the Hudson and the World According to Garp. Neither of these has anything to do with Gorky Park, but it did lead me to come. Actually, I’ve never watched either movie.
Gorky Park is a decent sized park, plenty of trees and flower beds. The Russians sure do like their tulips.
There is a large square “pond” with water jets spraying in patterns. The ducks will come to you if they think you have food.
A dark tulip, almost goth.
Some local internet or cell phone company was putting on a concert, but the host kept droning on. Shut up and play music I’ve never heard.
They had another pond with paddle boat rentals.
I wandered around coming upon a playground. This playground had all kinds of equipment the safety police at home would never allow.
The swings were really tall, so the swingers could really get up there. Most were standard, two chain and a seat, but they also had some that were just knots at the end of ropes, much like a river swing.
They had a spinning rope carousel with disks you’d stand or sit on, I’ve seen similar on Survivor and Big Brother. These were all connected so that they would spin around. I guess the rule of the game is to make the others fall off by spinning fast.
There was a climbing pit, with ropes and slides and “boulders” to help you climb up or go down. It was shredded rubber lined, but a fall from the top would certainly hurt. It looked a bit steep, but I watched a toddler climb all the way up.
The bottom was filled with gravel, which the littlest ones decided it was better for throwing down the slide.
I love watching the kids as they can have equal amounts of joy and terror, at the same time. Plus some of the moms were kind of hot.
I’m doing the touristy thing today, I’m going to Red Square.
The Metro exits right on to the square, looking straight onto the Kremlin. The clock chimes 10:30, just as I approach.
Turning left, there is St. Basil’s Basilica, in all its colorfulness. There is a barricade and an officer blocking the entrance, so no going in.
There is a race going on today, I see hundreds of people in race vests, down below. This may explain the closure of the basilica.
A stage is set up not to far from the finish line, music blaring.
They have another stage being set up in front of the Kremlin, but the signs specify a concert on May 24. Maybe I will swing by after checking out of my room, but probably not.
I see a large sign for Lenin, I spot the security entrance and doesn’t look too long. That was just those allowed up to the security, they only allowed a few from the line to pass at a time. The real line was about a hundred or so. Screw that, I ain’t waiting for no dead guy.
Walking around the side, there is a small flowery path.
The ticket to enter the museum is 1000 rubles. They call it the Armory, but there were few weapons on display. It was mostly ordinary (but extravagant) items, like bowls, platters, mugs.
There were a dozen chariots and sleds used by the various Tsars and Emperors. I’m surprised that they would have kept so many. You’d think that a 14th century wagon master would have sold off or destroyed any of them as they became worn out. They wouldn’t have had the appreciation of history we have now.
Several churches or chapels are inside the walls. Would you believe they want 900 rubles just to go it? Everything there needs a ticket.
I leave the walled area, and head towards Basil’s again, I’m just heading that way. The guard and barricade are gone, so the race did have something to do with it.
Everyone must go through metal detectors to get into the staged area, but I can stand right behind the stage outside the fence, if someone wanted to do something destructive.
Everything I marked was over 3 years ago, so I keep looking at my place marks and wondering what I wanted to see at that location. This one just gave an address, in a park. Park items don’t normally have addresses. There is a “rock” hill and on the other side is an amphitheater. I wend to the top, but I can’t see myself purposely tagging this.
Maybe what I really wanted is a walkway that goes out over the river. The sign for that says it is “closed for paint.” Sounds like a lie to me.
There are a few more items down the river bank to see,m so I walk on.
The next is a statuary sculpture “Children are the Victims of Adult Vices.”
The 13 “evil” sculptures depict alcoholism, exploitation of child labor, indifference, drug addiction, prostitution, sadism, ignorance, pseudoscience, war, poverty, theft, capitol punishment, and advocating violence. Each work is incredibly detailed, showing figures closing in on the little golden boy and girl. Besides the children, the centerpiece of the work is the statue depicting indifference to these vices, and showing a man with closed eyes, plugged ears and folded arms.
Of note is the familiar looking mouse head on War’s bomb. Propaganda at its finest.
Next was the “Love Trees,” a set of metal frameworks with thousands of locks and ribbons from travelers from around the world.
When a couple get married, they write their names on a padlock (which is often the shape of a heart), lock it to some free space on one of the metal tree frames, and toss the key into the river. Although the practice is common in many other countries, the iron trees that lovers affix their lock to make Moscow’s bridge of love a unique and romantic site.
The giant Peter the Great statue stands nearby. One of the tallest in Europe, it might not have even been Peter.
According to one prominent rumor, it was actually created as a tribute to Christopher Columbus to mark the 500th anniversary of his first voyage.
According to this version of its origin story, the sculptor couldn’t find an American buyer for the work, so his friend and former mayor of Moscow commissioned the piece. It was reworked to represent the 300th anniversary of the Russian Navy Peter the Great founded and was finally erected in 1997.
The people of Moscow aren’t thrilled they wound up with the statue—after all, Peter the Great disliked the city so much he moved Russia’s capital to Saint Petersburg. It’s been proposed to relocate the monumental effigy to the emperor’s favored city, but so far Saint Petersburg has kindly declined that offer.
After VDNKh, I remembered there is another abbreviated station name, CSKA, which is short for some Russian words meaning “sports complex.”
I noticed it was a bit cooler in my room. A check of the weather, 56F. OK, I might need my jacket, but screw it. I know that it is just a ruse and it will jump 30 degrees in an hour.
Also, it was wet outside, it must have rained a bit. Maybe it will rain later.
The Metro exit takes you right to the entrance to the park. Apparently, there seems to be a old persons race starting soon. I don’t know the rules specify an age, but everyone wearing the race vests is on the backside of 60.
They have a water fountain where the water shoots up from lots of holes, sometimes in patterns. It was too cold for any kids to be playing in it and the wind was blowing mist towards me, making me colder.
It is not a park you go to to enjoy the scenery or to sit around. It is a sports park. There are running paths, exercise equipment, and even a rope castle for the kids (but not me <frown>).
I walked to the top of a hill, big mistake, the wind had nothing to slow it down now. I noticed there are 3 types of paths, concrete brick, shredded rubber (in different colors), and gravel. I wonder if they have different uses, like this is for running, this is for bikes, etc.
They had a duck pond, with someone’s dog lapping at the edge.
Honestly, this is not the park for me, I’m already in perfect shape.
I check the map, there’s Leningradsky Park, near by. Don’t ask why that’s in Moscow and not the former Leningrad.
One thing Russian cities have if green space. I have to walk down a very narrow park to get to the next park.
Leningradsky is nice enough, but nothing to see.
Another map check, there is something I have marked, the Experimentanium. I think it is a children’s science museum, but even though I found the building, there is no sign as to the entrance.
Getting hungry, I enter a “French” bakery and choose a black bread sandwich. You know what they say, “Once you go black bread…”
This was actually the first thing I’ve eaten that did not have cucumber or dill sprigs on it. But it wasn’t cut all the way through, so the back half had very little filling.
After eating, I jumped on the subway and headed to see the “animal” house. This is a building with exaggerated animal shapes covering it, but guess what, it is surrounded by scaffolding. Under repair or just being repainted.
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
As I walk about, I see a green, yellow, and blue flag. A quick search says it is the flag of Gabon. There is no writing or signs on the building, but perhaps it is the embassy of Gabon. I do occasionally see guard huts next to gates, with mirrored glass, so you can’t see them.
Yesterday, I saw the Mexican embassy and Italy’s. This is the nation’s capital, so there should be lots of them.
Seeing the Gabon flag search, reminded me that Texas has an embassy in London, yes still. Somehow I missed seeing it on our trip. Strange that I had not thought of it for 8 years.
Later I see the building for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (Yes, please, sign me up).
I was right, it has gone up to 73F. Take that you dumb jacket.
I decided that if I only have a 3 day metro ticket, I might as well get the items on my list that are the furthest away. Why waste a day walking around “local.”
I headed out to visit a botanical garden. I don’t know if there is a difference between garden and botanical garden.
After exiting the station, I walked down the road. I crossed a river, then took a turn onto a new road. Problem is it didn’t have a side walk, just a bare patch where others had walked.
I see a small path through the trees and I see a bridge, so I do the dumb thing and follow the little path. It took me down to the creek. The rivers and creeks I’ve seen are small, but fast.
There is nothing special, just an area where kids probably hang out breaking rules if not laws.
The creek has a large metal pipe running across. Do I dare to cross it, or do the sensible thing and go back? It is a challenge and I must conquer.
It was easy, until I got almost halfway. There were some tabs welded on it, on top of course. meaning I had to step over them, putting me out of balance.
I made it and continued to follow the path. I expected the path to return to the road, but it diverged further out, until I was walking down a paved path going through a semi-natural park.
It was quite nice, the wildness of everything, the flowers blooming willy-nilly. This was despite the path only being 30 feet from a roadway.
A check of the map showed I needed to turn and head away from the “wilds.”
I passed a small lake and made a detour to pass around it. You could rent paddle boats, but you wouldn’t want to get to close to the fountain. The Zolotoy Kolos fountain sprayed water in a 75 foot circle. Further up, there was a former ski ramp, but I don’t see how there was enough room to get up to speed.
There was an area with sunbathers, with clothes thankfully, it was mostly older people. The younger would be at work or university.
Multiple sand boxes for the tykes, but there seemed to be a “canal” meandering though them. I can’t quite figure out what they were for. They had “locks,” but I saw no way for water to enter or exit. If they were just for sand, then what were the locks for? Curious.
There was a giant climbing rope park, just for the kids, dangit.
The area had an “Eco bridge,” which was an elevated walkway through the trees. Isn’t the ground more “eco?” It was only 6 ft off the ground, so you really wouldn’t see much extra anyway.
An acre or so of cherry(?) trees surrounded a statue of someone I’d never heard of. Wait… What is that? I see the top of a freaking rocket.
Yep, there is a Vostok rocket surrounded by a Vertolot helicopter and Yak-42 and SU-27 airplanes. They all still had the original CCCP and Soviet flags painted on them.
Elsewhere they have a Buran Space Shuttle, which NASA obviously stole, even if no Buran ever left the planet. They have a tour, but the ticket office wasn’t open at the time.
Nearby, there is the remains of a 1938 agricultural exposition, initials VDNKh, which covers an area larger than Monoco. It was similar to the World’s Fair, but just Soviet Union countries. The Pavilions are still mostly intact, but some are currently under repair. Even walking by food courts, the flower’s aroma dominates.
Stone Flower Fountain sums up the Soviet philosophy: If you can’t make it good, make it big. If you can’t make it good looking, make it sparkle.
I see a Farris wheel, so I head towards it. You wouldn’t think it would be hard to find the location of something that big, but I came across a lot of dead ends and loop-backs, but finally go to it.
Normally, I wouldn’t consider going on a Ferris wheel, but I supposed I could get some good photos of the area and possibly find something else cool to visit. Checking the price, at an auto-kiosk, they want the equivalent of $30, plus it is card only, so I can’t buy one. Thanks Biden.
New York’s Central Park is a huge single park. This area is covered in smaller parks, sort of a Park Central. I headed off to another, to see the Museum of Cosmonautics.
I entered and headed to the ticket desk, but it was a “free day.” That’s my favorite type of day. There were plenty of groups of kids being taken on tours. I noticed quite a few had cameras on their watches. I don’t know if I ever seen that before, not even Apple watches do that, do they?
There were a lot of scale models of Russian and Soviet rockets and space capsules, and some USA’s including a Saturn V.
They have a Soyuz capsule that you can walk through and a Sputnik reproduction. They provide plenty of the era’s propaganda, as well as a horde of photos.
There is a large sphere with the globe illuminated on it, showing the launch trail of one of the Soyuz. I point out Florida to a couple next to me, the woman points out Cuba. We’re neighbors. I didn’t think of it at the time, but they might be one of the only people I meet that I might be able to chat with. Poorly, of course.
They have a display showing all the Russians who have gone to space. There’s still room, so I suppose they add new photos as needed.
Getting hungry, I headed back and went to the market. I’ve given up. The Russians don’t eat Russian food. All I find are kebab, shwarma, Chinese, and American restaurants.
I got sliced meat and cheese and some peanut butter and a pouch of raspberry jam. Yes, a pouch, just about every sauce here comes in a pouch with a twist cap. Cheaper to manufacture I suppose.
Went back to the kitchen and made some sandwiches. The peanut butter is more like the “natural” types in America, you have to re-stir it before use, also it is a bit paler, although that could just be the type of peanut used.
I went to my room, to check on my money, doing good, I still have some. Then started to pass out, but I didn’t want to sleep, so I set an alarm for 30 minutes. Just enough time to recharge my iPad and myself.
Alarm goes off and I head back out. I go into the metro and scan my card and RED. I try the next one and RED. Crap. My 3-day ticket was only a single day’s. I don’t know if I was cheated or the old woman just misunderstood.
I have to then swim upstream against the river of commuters and the ticket office is closed. I don’t know how to use the machines, so no ticket for me.
Oh, well, I decide to just walk down the Arbat promenade. At the other end, is near the next station. Maybe they still have a office open.
Good, they do, so I bought one, but I don’t want to use it yet. The clock starts when I first use it, so I hold off. I can just walk back now, and save the time for later when I really need it.
My time here is up, I set my alarm too freakin’ early, but didn’t want to have to pay for subway tickets. My pass expired ~7:30, so I checkout of my room, caught the metro to the bus stop.
Oh, good, I get directed to the side for extra screening at the metro station. Could be because of my baggage or maybe just random.
There is an express bus to the airport. I did not think there would be that many people, but it was packed.
We’re dropped off right at departures and I go check in at the desk. There is a quick x-ray of baggage as you enter. The desk lady pointed out that I needed gate 2. I’ve done this a few times, I look for the big number next to the word “gate.” But I guess not everyone has flown before.
Then I went through a boarding pass checkpoint, then regular security. Man, this was a breeze. No shoe removal, no electronics removal, no sanity removal. The only downside was that I had throw out a yogurt drink that I was going to drink while waiting for the bus, but they’re too quick.
I went down the hall and found gate 2. Crap, this place is small and packed. There are only 50 seats for an entire 737’s worth of passengers. Yes, I did count them, I am a weirdo like that.
I listen to some of the intercom messages, they’re in Russian and then English. I notice, a lot of flights getting shifted to other gates. I presumed it was because of delays in some other airline, but I’m going Aeroflot, the kingpin.
After the first plane loaded, I managed to grab a seat by the wall, so I could put my stuff in front of me. Still got about 4 hours to wait, so I nod off.
At some point, I decide to check my flight trackers. Just to see if where the plane was at the time, was the flight already having small delays, etc. Wait, WTF this says my flight is at gate 18, no that can’t be right. I check another, and another. Crap.
I get up, knowing I’m losing my prime seat, and go to find a display board. Yep, it says now at gate 18. Maybe they did have an announcement, but I was asleep, therefore it doesn’t count.
Also, there are 18 gates at LED, that means I am literally at the opposite end of the terminal. No big deal, still an hour at least.
I happen to see the boarding pass of a lady sitting next to me. She is clearly Russian, but her name on the pass is only Romanised. My name is also, but that’s my name, I would have thought that a Russian airline at a Russian airport would have the original names printed, at least for domestic.
Boarding pass states loading is at 11:20, doors close at 11:40. OK, why are we still sitting here at 11:29?
Finally, someone comes and unlocks the gangway doors and we all start going in. A couple of personnel run metal wands over us, despite already having gone through security, plus I didn’t even remove by backpack, so how good a job were they doing?
We pass on down and into the plane, no one checked boarding passes. I could be going almost any where in Russia.
I do have to say, with 4 “checks” this was still the easiest boarding yet, even easier than PreCheck.
It is only an hour flight, so we got a couple chocolate cookies and choice of coffee, tea, or water. Really surprised we got that much.
I go to get off the plane and… whoa… there are stairs. Good thing I was looking. We exit the plane and have to get onto a bus, we are way out from the terminal. I was near the front so I was able to get on the bus, many had to wait for another.
When mom and I flew from Inverness, Scotland to Manchester, our plane also did not pull to a gate, but there they had a series of cones marking out a path we were required to follow, but that was maybe 50 feet. This was several minutes on the shuttle.
Airport main area
It is domestic, so no more checks, just head for the exit or your next flight.
The main area of the airport was huge. Seriously, you could have a couple full football fields in there, lots of shops and things to do. I wanted to look around, but I need to find the AeroExpress train ticket office.
I followed the signs, taking about a thousand turns, before getting there. 950 rubles for a standard 2-way ticket. Hope I don’t loose it.
Then I have to follow a few hundred more signs to the platform. There’s only a few people ahead of me, so I probably just missed one.
The display says the next is at 14:14, only 20ish minutes to wait. Only, the Russians don’t believe in sitting, there are no benches. Other than parks, I have seen very few places to sit and wait.
AeroExpress train
Finally, the big red train pulls in and we board.
“Express” is in the name, but this train was anything but fast. First we made about 4 stops. Second, I checked my speedometer app, we didn’t get above 20mph. So slow that I again began to nod off.
We reached the final stop, train station right next to the Metro. Or so I thought, it is right next, but you basically have to circle halfway around one, then halfway around the other.
Butterfly apartment building
I wait at the ticket window, of course there’s only one, and use the translator I need a 7-day pass. Guess what wikipedia lied to me about? The don’t have 7-day, only single and three day. So I get a 3, I’ll just have get another later.
The route is simple enough, down 2 stations, switch and then one more. That’s the easy part, then I have to walk up the street, cross another busy street and find the place.
In Saint Petersburg, the hostel’s name was actually different than what the booking site had, a translation error, so I could not find it on street view. Here the problem was, street view didn’t cover areas that couldn’t be driven, like alleys with barricades.
Through the translator, I ask a lady nearby, surprising she has good English, but doesn’t know the hostel. She asks a man walking by and he points around back. I give thanks to both and head around back. No signs. Fortunately, an Indian on the phone pauses his conversation to direct me to a specific door. Very helpful people here.
I get buzzed in and climb 8 flights to the hostel, still no sign, I only found it because the door started to buzz as I approached.
I entered, cautiously. It looked like someone home. I’m going to get arrested.
The hostess come in and starts to take my info and check me in. She does not know English, so we converse through the translator. I swear this must be the most used app in this country after TicTok.
At some point, she makes a call, then informs me that I can’t stay the whole week, foreigners can only stay 3 days. I can assure you it did not say any of that on the booking site.
She says she will try to find me another to move to in 3 days. OK, that’s probably the best I’m going to get.
She wants to know if I have slippers, no I don’t. Great, its one of those places. Again, not mentioned on the site. She has a box of miscellaneous ones, I grab a pair and swap for my shoes.
She takes me to the desk and I pay for three days, then she leads me to the room.
Very small room with bunk bed. That’s ok, I’ve booked the whole room, so no roommate or top bunk.
I spread out the sheets on the bed and put on the pillow case and start to organize my stuff, when she knocks on the door.
Apparently, my “registration” is expiring today and I wouldn’t be able to stay there. I got the registration from the first hostel and never looked at it. I just thought it was a receipt or something, luckily I put it in my folder with the other confirmations.
The first hostel had no way of knowing I would be staying in Moscow, or anywhere else. They didn’t ask and I didn’t know to tell.
I never did find out why she couldn’t just give me a new registration, after all, that’s what the first one did.
She is on the phone with someone and I’m looking for another place nearby, maybe they can make me a new registration. Then she states that she found me a place that can take me and gives me an address, on the other side of town.
I picked this place because it was the closest place to a metro station that I could find. The new one was nearly a mile. That’s 2 miles every time I leave and come back. In the rain, if so.
I go back down the stairs and head out towards the station, but then I have a thought, I have no idea what this new place is going to cost. This could be a bait and switch, or a murder the tourist scenario. If I don’t like the service, I have no recourse with the booking company, I didn’t book this place through them.
I had been looking at a site, right as she told me about the new location. So I stepped to the side of the walkway and took a better look at the site. They had no 2-bed rooms available, but had a 3, so I booked it. It was a bit of meandering to get to it from where I was, but it was actually mostly a straight shot from the station.
I figured if this place and any other I tried wouldn’t work, then the other place was still available.
Some army contraption
Third floor, I’m getting a work out. Plus they have signs, both outside and in the stairway, so you actually know you’re going the right way.
I check in, the lady took my registration, had me sign in and that was it. (So far.)
They have an odd set up, the toilets and baths are segregated men/women, which is normal, but the toilet rooms have 2 toilets, divided by a wall, but open otherwise. The showers are also 2 per room, but at least then there is a curtain across the front.
There are 2 other beds in my room, but only one is occupied, so far. Oddly, there are no keys. You get buzzed in at the front door, but that’s it.
I was quite sweaty after my climb up the stairs, check in, check out, down the stairs, walk down the road, up more stairs aggravation. I took a shower right away.
Other than cookies on the plane and some of my yogurt drink, I hadn’t eaten yet, so I headed out to find something.
One street over, a major pedestrian thoroughfare, were lots of shops, artists, and restaurants. Down side, they were all “fast” food. Screw it, I got me a stuffed pita at the doner place.
I found some steps and I sat to eat, dropping a good amount on my clean shirt. Then headed to the supermarket and got some juice and milk, for my muesli.
I am so tired, but I have to stay up until a proper bedtime, otherwise I’ll be awake at the wrong time and disturb my roommate. Also, I didn’t come here to sleep.
A juxtaposition of a very new car, with a extremely old one.
Since I’ve checked out everything I wanted to see, I decided to get out of town.
I took the red-line all the way to the end, outside of Saint Petersburg, to a small town called Мурино (Murino), in Leningrad Oblast.
An oblast is like a little state within the nation. Like DC or Rhode Island.
This was the first “subway” that wasn’t underground, being much like a regular train station platform. Also, every other station has the platform between the tracks, this had the tracks between two platforms, which also means you couldn’t just get on the opposite train and go backwards. All doors led out, returning requires another ticket.
First thing I noticed was these huge apartment buildings, larger than anything in the city.
I walked along, having no destination, just trying to get lost. Hard thing to actually do.
There were many single family houses. Many were interesting, but everyone had a corrugated steel fence or wall, I wasn’t going to get good pics. Whether for noise or privacy, probably both.
Despite the first real graffiti, it did seem to be a decent place to live. Quiet, not too much traffic.
I passed by a small memorial for the aviators lost in WWII, with a cemetery behind it. The cemetery had fences around all the grave sections, perhaps to show the family’s area. It was somewhat overgrown, not weeds, but trees and bushes. You couldn’t really see far away.
Between the fences, you had about a foot or so to walk through. Interesting, most of the tombstones had photographs or etched images of the deceased. That is somewhat new in America, so to see it on 50+ year old graves, is surprising.
There was a small park, overlooking the Reka River. The sketchiest bridge I have ever crossed, lies over the river. I passed a small pond, with a mallard duck. I quacked to it, but it didn’t understand my accent.
I browsed through the local garden center, not like I can buy anything. It was larger that the supermarket, the Лента (Lenta). Lenta had more beer, wine, and spirits than anything else. I suppose that tells you something about the life there.
The buses in town were very modern, but the few I seen here were 1960’s at least, if not war era. Surprising, since most everything here, except houses, looks newish. The houses do need some work.
I filled my backpack with my dirty clothes and headed upstairs to the office. Fortunately, the one clerk who knows English is working, she takes me back to the communal bathroom and shows me how to operate the clothes washer.
It is so small, I only put in half of my clothes, socks, underwear, and 2 of my pants.
It takes half an hour, so I drop my pack in the room and head out. But I realize, by the time I get to a place and order, the laundry will be done. It’s already 10 minutes just to get down and out the door.
I kill a few minutes, just watching the traffic and people. Then head up, still time on the display, so I sit in the kitchen.
Some Russian cop show is on. One of the officers holds up his hand to stop a car, flashes his badge and jumps into the passenger seat. In a real scenario, as soon as he stepped to the side of the car, the driver would’ve taken off.
Also, the dialogue doesn’t match the mouth movements. The text on street signs is Cyrillic, but maybe not originally Russian, maybe Estonian or Kazakh.
Finally, the machine has finished. I swap the loads and restart the machine. Then I head to my room, I now have to hang everything up to dry, because there is no dryer.
One window pane opens wide and I’m able to drape everything over the bed frame. Periodically I flipped everything over. There are hangers, but they don’t reach well enough to hook on the 2-by frame, resulting in frequent drops. The windows are cool, twist the lever one way and they open like a door, but twist the lever the other way and they tip inward from the top. The latter would allow fresh air, but prevent rain from entering.
My socks and underwear are now blueish. I had 2 new pairs of jeans that must have bled a bit. Oh well, it could have been worse, I have two red shirts.
Because of the wind blowing in from the courtyard, I was forced to put on my jacket.
After all wash was done, I headed out to a supermarket. I bought a 350g of sausage, yogurt drink, cheese sauce and BBQ sauce, and a loaf of flattish bread. Made this morning, it was so soft.
I grabbed a plate and knife from the kitchen and ate half the bread with sauces and half the meat. Saving the rest for tomorrow.
Not the healthiest meal, or the normalest, but it filled me and it was good.
All day I’ve had the pants in the open window but still damp.
While scrolling around on Google maps, last night, I spotted a museum that I had not noticed before.
In Houston (my god, was it really 3 years ago?), I visited the natural history museum. Among other exhibits, they had a collection of Fabergé art pieces, notably the eggs.
Up until then, I had presumed that Fabergé was French, but in fact Gustav Fabergé was Baltic German, but founded his jewelry company in Saint Petersburg. (The name sounds French and Fabergé’s sons founded the “Fabergé, Paris” line to distinguish themselves from their father.)
Under Tsar Alexander III, Fabergé was to make an “Easter egg” for the Empress, which led to making it an annual gift. Others then liked the idea and Fabergé made many eggs. Each is so detailed and delicate, it must have taken his workers months to make each one.
Looking at some of the paintings, I cannot see any brushstrokes, they are immaculate.
The Fabergé Museum is housed in a palace and contains over 4000 pieces. All the Imperial Easter eggs are connected to the rule of the last two Tsars. They have 9 Imperial eggs, only the Kremlin has a larger collection.
I have visited all of the specific places that I had intended, or at least tried.
This is Sunday, so many things are probably not going to be open anyway. I’m going to take a light day, just find a nice park and watch the people.
But first, I made a count of my money, uh oh, I’ve spent faster that I should have. I have $557 in my wallet and head out to a currency exchange.
There is but a single teller, but no one else in line. I hand her my cash and specify I need rubles. She starts by going through and looking at the backs of each, removing a couple of twenties. Then inspects the fronts, discarding a few more and my hundred.
She then runs the rest under a UV light, nothing bad this time. She hands me the $180 and then the whole remainder goes into a mechanical counter. Twice. Pointing at the displayed total, I guess she said something about “is it right?” I just nod.
She then punches into a calculator, then turns it to me, I had done a quick exchange on my iPad app, it looks close enough, so I nod again. Apps do not give exchange rates, they only give average rates. If I were a huge bank making a transaction with another bank, I’d get better than what the app says.
My app said the 29,000 rubles is worth $334.92, so I lost about $2. I’ll just call that a transaction fee. Strange though how it came to such an exact even thousand amount. I thought I’d end up with some coins. I bet they always round down to the nearest 50 ruble.
After another count and calculation, I now have about 3700 rubles per day, way better than the 550/day I had a few minutes ago. Plus I still have the $180, so maybe another exchange will accept the bills.
Now food.
I am near my room, but I haven’t been in this location yet, so I start walking opposite to my arrival, seeking a restaurant.
Without a specified destination, I wander the streets. If a side street looks more interesting, then I turn, otherwise I go straight. Sometimes the best plans are to have no plan.
I see a blue dome over the rooftops, so I make a general aim for that, but without seeing it always, it is just a guideline, but I find it anyway.
It seems to be a church of some type, but it has two obelisks, made of cannons. Strange message for a peaceful organization. Perhaps it is a symbol to melt down all the world’s cannons.
The doors are closed, probably a Sunday service, but I hear nothing.
I remember seeing something while on the bus coming into town, a huge victory monument. That seems like something I should check out. Check the map, I ‘m only a few blocks from the metro. I exit and proceed to walk down the road, heading into an area that I already know has no lines. I will have to return the same distance no matter what.
If this isn’t a Soviet building, I don’t know what is.
There is a large round-about, over 6 major roads circulating, the memorial is in the center. The round-about must be 3 acres, the memorial is centered, clearly viewed by everyone who passes.
I see quite a few roadways in Saint Petersburg that have short tunnels for the pedestrian to cross busy roads. Fortunately, there is one here too.
It is some statuary, showing the brave soldiers who defeated the Nazis, all by themselves. Its not like any other
countries were in the war, right?It has a ringlike structure, with stairs descending. There are “eternal” flames along the inner ring. A door on the side leads me into a museum, highlighting some of the siege of Leningrad (the city’s name at the time). While not as bad as the siege of Stalingrad (now Volgograd), I remember hearing of it in school.
There are children grouped around, watching a film about the siege. Many artifacts are displayed around the walls and in cases in the middle.
A group of soldiers is here, whether on protection duty or just visiting, I don’t know. It is the largest group I’ve seen yet, maybe 25.
One section of the wall has, I presume, names of the fallen. Each end wall is covered in a mosaic mural, depicting the bravery and valor of the men.
Whatever you think about other countries, you need to remember most of the conflicts come from the governments. The ordinary people are the pawns who are required to go off and fight and die for the petty politicians, who are too inept to do anything themselves. The ordinary people are just trying to protect their own families.
It must seem strange that I traveled thousands of miles and spent a lot of money and then I purposely start off my day going to a junkyard.
This is Nelson’s Courtyard. Just an eclectic assortment of random items, that have been painted in bright colors, and have messages all over.
I find the address easily enough, passing through a drive area. Around the corner, I see first of the items.
There is a man (later find out it is Nelson) repainting one of the items, and talking with a couple ladies. While taking photos, a white dog comes ambling up, I presumed it was a stray, but now I believe it to be Nelson’s.
He came over and wanted to shake my hand. I said I was from America and Florida. He seemed impressed, I don’t know if any Americans had been there before. It is possible that with anyone I meet, I could be the only American they will ever meet. That’s a lot of responsibility.
He indicated a entryway down, which I thought was more of the exhibit. Nope, it was his home, a small bomb shelter someone had built in the cold war. I had to duck as I entered, because the door was only little over four feet tall. The walls and ceiling were painted over with numerous messages.
He sat and indicated he wanted us to sit also. He had a guitar and proceeded to serenade us with song. He performed several songs, speaking between some.
I see his name on his computer screen, in Cyrillic, so I know it was likely him.
After a bit, I guess he said something to upset the lady, she was a bit harsher sounding than a few moments ago. They got up to leave and I followed. I was really wondering how I was going to get out without injuring feelings or having to donate.
NOTE: After I returned, I see the page for the courtyard states it is permanently closed. The photos are of the same area, most stuff is gone. I don’t know what happened to all the other stuff. I wish I had noticed that beforehand, so I could ask. But If I had, I would not have gone.
On my way back to the metro, I pass by Leningradskiy Zoopark. Being Saturday, there are large numbers of people here.
Looking at the weather, I had chosen not to wear my jacket today. A good choice as it would reach 68F, cool but tolerable. But still all I see are people all bundled up. It makes me feel like a Yankee in Florida, despite these people should be used to the cold.
Saint Petersburg Mosque, one of the largest in Europe
Many kids playing in the grass or running on the paths. A group were playing with bubble wands. In one area, I find some bronze miniature buildings. I spot St Basil’s Cathedral and a couple others I’ve seen somewhere.
I also see a building I just saw yesterday. Outside the Heritage Museum is palace square and on the out side of the square it a building curves around it. I little girl was crawling through it as I tried to photograph it.
The park contains the Saint Petersburg Zoo. I consider, but I’m sure they have nothing I haven’t seen here.
I need to go find out information, so I decide to visit the Grand Maket Russia. Killing two birds, so to speak.
Several metro stops and a brisk walk later, I find it. It is a huge miniature of various Russian areas, including Moscow and Saint Petersburg.
The room is large enough, you can’t see the other end.
There are moving trains and road vehicles, flashing lights, a working geyser, construction vehicles, etc.
The people are so tiny, but still detailed. Everything is as accurate as can be. There were chickens that moved around, but only about 1/8 inch in size, crazy details.
I am also near the bus stop where I need to catch the bus to the airport, in a few days.
I already know I need the #39 bus, but I don’t know if I can pay as I get on, or do I need to purchase ticket in advance.
There are dozens of buses there. The stop is on the edge of a busy road, and buses keep pulling in just as another pulls out.
I already have my question typed into translator, but I notice right away that the drivers are segregated in their own little compartments. I have no way to ask the drivers anything.
Finally, go to a small stand and ask, she calls someone and the answer is I can use a card on the bus. Not a solution and I say so. She then takes me down to the other end of the block, leaving her stand unguarded, to a ticket booth. Yes, I will not have to walk all the way to the airport dragging my luggage.
As I was planning to return to my room, I decided to try John Lennon street again, it was early enough that I might have success.
I did, of a sort. I returned to the alley and the gate that stopped me was open.
No Beatles, though. Well there was an image of John along with some other artists who died young. There is an anarchist bar behind the gate also.
I still don’t know if I was in the right area, but I did find something interesting.
The artists are: Kenneth Hensely (Uriah Heep), Jim Morrison (the Doors), Mikhail Gorsheniov (Korol i Shut), Sid Vicious (the Sex Pistols), Cliff Burton (Metalica), Yuri Klinskikh (Sektor Gaza), Jimi Hendrix, Ronnie Dio (Black Sabbath and Heaven & Hell), Freddie Mercury (Queen), Elvis Presley, Egor Letov (Grazhdanskaya Oborona), Kurt Cobain (Nirvana), Keith Flint (the Prodigy), Viktor Tsoi (Kino), Chester Bennington (Linkin Park and Stone Temple Pilots), John Lennon (the Beatles).
The swings were really tall, so the swingers could really get up there. Most were standard, two chain and a seat, but they also had some that were just knots at the end of ropes, much like a river swing.
