Russia, Day 24

 

 Day Twenty-Four 

We walked all the way down Marata Street to Nevsky Prospekt.  It was quite a journey!  We jumped on a bus and made our way to Gostiny Dvor, where we bought tickets for a city tour.  Instead of paying a higher price and going with only foreign tourists, we bought tickets with a Russian tour company.  My rationale was that we knew lots about the city already and only wanted to view some sights from the bus window.

 

After getting our tickets, we walked across the street to Abrikov Café, which was billed as one of the most popular cafes in the city.  We got a seat outdoors and placed our order for two lattes.  Service was very slow.  However, we enjoyed viewing the people walking up and down the street.  And, at the table next to us, was a loud and boisterous group from Italy.  Observing their mannerisms was an education!  

 

Time came for the City Tour to start.  We made our way back across the street.  A bus pulls up and the ticket seller tells us to get on board.  The first thing I noticed was the bus windows were smaller than the other tour buses.  The second that concerned was that there was a lot of condensation on the windows, which meant that only a few seats had views that were decent. We scrambled to get a couple of the good seats.  However, we just shook out heads and joked that we weren’t getting a good deal after all. 

The City Tour started a little after the scheduled time.  It made no sense to listen to the tour guide.  We couldn’t understand her anyway.  So, as the bus pulled away, we started focusing on staring out the window.  We drove through some city streets that we wouldn’t have otherwise gone down.  We stopped briefly at the St. Isaac’s Cathedral for some photos.  We got and looked at one of St. Pete’s top monuments.  It was certainly lovely.  The bus went over some bridges and along the key routes.  

At tome point we came to the Aurora battleship.  This ship was famous for its stints in the Russian-Japanese Pacific War, WWI and WWII.  It also played a key role in the October Revolution of 1917.  A shot fired from one of its cannons signaled to the citizens that the revolution had started.  Nowadays, the ship is moored off of one of St. Petersburg’s central islands and is a major tourist draw.  The bus stopped for ten minutes and we got off for some pictures.  We also talked with a souvenir seller at one of the kiosks.  His English was really good; he convinced us to buy a St. Petersburg picture book and a KGB cap (for my neighbor, Travis).  

The bus pulled away and stopped a few minutes later at the St. Petersburg armory, just behind the Peter and Paul Fortress.  We left our book and cap on the bus and got off for the five minutes of picture-taking.  Lo and behold, the bus pulled away.  There we were, confused by what had just happened.  Our souvenirs were on board.  Wouldn’t the driver be coming back?!?  The group then heads across the street to a pier, where there were several boats.  What was shocking to us was that our group was getting on a boat and using their City Tour tickets to it.  We had left our tickets on the bus as well!  Frustration and confusion set in.  Fortunately, a Russian couple who were sitting behind us on the boat figured out what we were worried over.  They took upon themselves to convince the “boat man” to let us on board without our tickets.  It took some persistence on their part – and I was grateful.   

The next thing I know, during the hottest part of the day, the boat sets off on a leisurely cruise.  We noticed the sun bathers on the banks of the Peter and Paul Fortress.  There were also people wading and swimming in the water.  The boat then went back by the Aurora and across the Neva, eventually taking us down the canals we had gone down just a few days earlier.  Slowly I started to appreciate the tour.  Yes, we didn’t know if we would be getting back our book and cap.  But, the canal tour, which we didn’t think was a part of the city tour, turned into an amazing time.  We appreciated more and more of St. Petersburg.  We also went down a canal that we had not gone down with the tour.  It took us right beside the Winter Palace, back under a bridge and back out onto the big Neva.   After an hour or so, the boat eventually docked near the Admiralty, just down from the prestigious Peter the Great Statue.  We exited the boat and walked back to the ticket station, where we had bought our tickets.  With the help of a City Angel, a member of an English-speaking volunteer group organized to help tourists, we explained to the ticket salesman what happened with our souvenirs.  After a frustrating few minutes and a phone to the driver, we were told to come back tomorrow by noon to pick up our things.  That was a sign of hope! 

Kade and I then walked down to the Church on Spilt Blood – literally built on the spot where a Czar had been fatally wounded by an assassin’s bomb.   The onion-domed church, designed to resemble St. Basil’s in Moscow, was stunningly beautiful.  We didn’t go inside, however.  Instead, we walked among the numerous kiosks where souvenirs could supposedly be bought at bargain-based prices.  We talked with a few merchants and did a bit of haggling.  I talked with one who was selling college football moustroyska dolls.  I asked her if she had had Auburn one and if a zealous Auburn fan had been shopping there in the past few days.  I was referring to my dad, of course.  

After the leaving the Church on Spilt Blood area, we walked back to the city’s largest bookstore, Dom Knigi.  We went upstairs to the coffee shop and sat down at a table in front of window, where we had a fabulous view of the Kazan Cathedral.  Kade and I then talked for an hour or two about our future plans.  We ate some refreshments and drank some drinks.  Then, we put down a nice tip, got a smile from the waitress and left.  

We walked alongside Kazan Cathedral, down some streets, and towards Stirka 40 Degrees.  This was a coffee shop I had read about and seen images of on the Internet.  We eventually found it!  We walked in.  It was a smoky establishment.  A red-haired young lady was playing chess with two guys.  Two customers were sitting over to the left.  We could see the washers and dryers in the back.  Living up to its alternative reputation, the coffee shop had no obvious employees.  We asked for some help.  It turns out the red-haired girl was in charge.  She helped us pick out a tea and we sat down.  This was a no-frills kind of place.  It made you wondered how they made their money.  My guess is that an art school nearby subsidized the joint.  The tea wasn’t bad actually.   

We hung out pretty late in the evening, hoping to have a chance to see the bridges get raised.  Almost midnight, we frequented a cheap-looking Western/Russian/Middle Eastern restaurant that had a buffet.  We ate our fill and tried our best to ignore the unsanitary condition of the place.  As we were leaving the establishment, Kade dropped her scarf.  Luckily, she thought about it as we stepped through the restaurant front entrance.  She retrieved the scarf and we made our way to the Neva. 

Before stopping at the Neva, we sauntered over to the Winter Palace Square – by this time, well lit and a different kind of beautiful.  We noticed bands of youths and groups of friends playing games and riding motorbikes.  The air was perfect and the atmosphere was very romantic.  

We stood along the river’s edge, a short distance from the Winter Palace.  Throngs of people were congregating up and down this stretch of the river.  That was a laser show going on.  The fountain’s waters were dancing and there was a festive mood in the air.  The climax of the night was going to the nightly raising of the city’s bridges.  The main bridge was to be raised first.  The practical reason was for transport ships and barges to take their goods to the city ports.  This is all done in the wee hours of the morning, so as not to make traffic jams on the water during the day.  Plus, with the bridges down, it’s impossible for the huge vessels to go through.  The “raising of the bridges” has now become a big tourist draw.  Even locals bring family and friends out to view the event.   The remarkable thing is that many bridges are raised and there’s time schedule where people can keep track of it.  Truly remarkable.  After we saw the main bridge get to its upright position, we walked a bit to the left, crossed the street and found a grassy area near the water.  A fire show was under way.  Locals were twirling fireballs and the crowd was getting excited.  We took in the moment, relishing the fact we were in one of the world’s fabulous cities.

After we had seen our last of the fire show, we walked towards Nevsky and hailed a taxi.  The driver took us down Nevsky and back to our apartment – about $ 13. What a night!