Russia, Day 26

Day Twenty-Six 

We took the Metro to Nevsky Prospect, and then made our way to a street just off of Nevsky, on the Northern Side.  I was hunting a bakery I had read about in the guidebook.  We eventually found it. It was Vershio’s Bakery.  This particular morning the bakery was very busy.  Even more on the negative side, we thought about not actually getting any coffee because the bakery appeared to be unclean and the service appeared to be lackluster.  Nonetheless, since it was fairly in the morning and we didn’t know anywhere else to go, we got in line at Vershio’s. There was a small tour group from Scotland.  I talked with a gentleman from the group and we shared some funny travel stories.  A bit later, we got our lattes and snack, which turned out to confirm our hunch that the shop was over- hyped.   

Our morning destination was the Hermitage.  Actually, it was closer to noon by the time we arrived at there.  We walked into a courtyard where a line was formed.  A rather nice-looking lady came up to us and suggested we pay her for a tour.  Her English was outstanding and she made a good sales pitch.  We opted not to use her simply because we were going to do a semi-fast tour on our own.  The Hermitage is huge and could take several days of viewing if a person is devoted enough.  We’re not. 

We bought out tickets, went through security and checked our bags in the cloak room – same format we’ve now done countless times.  We then made our way through numerous rooms – gigantic, they were.  We saw exhibit upon exhibit until we were exhausted and hungry.  Then, it was to the café for some quick nourishment.  I may have even gotten a coffee to replenish the caffeine that had worn off.  After browsing through a couple of nice souvenir shops, we took out our list of must-sees and were off again.  We located the rooms with Picassos, Rembrandts, De Vincis and other masters.  We didn’t want to leave the Hermitage without seeing these.  Another thing we did as we sauntered through the rooms with the crowds of tourists was peer out the palace windows onto the square and the Neva – truly magnificent views for Royal eyes.  

We spent about three hours in the Hermitage – enough to say we had experienced it.  We then got our coats and bags and left.  Since the weather was pleasant and we had some energy in our reserves, we tried locating the Pushkin Museum: the home where Alexander Pushkin, the father of Russian literature, died.  I had spotted the Pushkin Hotel and therefore concluded that the house was in the neighborhood.   We walked and walked, occasionally referring to our map.  We had no luck.  It seemed like we were walking in circles.  I pretty much had given up on finding the museum that day, but decided to ask a young man who was walking to his car.  This Russian spoke English and pointed to an area where we had been about thirty minutes earlier.  We raced over.  Sure enough, it was the Pushkin House!  We bought some water in the café, briefly admired the garden and courtyard, and then made our way to the entrance.

Inside Pushkin’s apartment, we checked our coats, grabbed a cassette player with two sets of headphones and slipped some shoe covers over our shoes.  We then went from room-to-room.  It didn’t take long for me to appreciate where we were and the significance of Pushkin’s life.  This museum, very quickly, captured my interest more than the Hermitage.  Pushkin’s life and death by duel captivated me.  I would encourage anyone to read his biography and learn about his works and life.  Some of his original writings and sketches were on display.  I particularly liked his self-portraits, which were on display on his desk in his office.  I was intrigued by the sofa where he lay dying after the duel he fought to “protect” his wife’s and his honor.  The coat that he wore during the duel was in the last room.  Also, his death mask was on display.  The whole story and mystery surrounding Pushkin just marveled me.

We didn’t have a whole lot of time at the house.  In fact, when we were exiting the last room, the museum lady, who stands in that room all day long, asked me to help her close the big windows.  I eagerly obliged, thinking that Pushkin himself peered out those windows and performed the task of closing them many, many times.  We left the house and went down to an area where museum souvenirs were sold.  I bought a stone paperweight that had Pushkin’s portrait on it.  I also bought a lacquer jewelry box with his portrait gracing the top.  These were bargains too!  And, what’s funny is that, at the cloak room, the man working there showed us some great picture books of the house.  He also showed me one of the Tolstoy Estate, Yassanya Polyanna.  I almost bought it!  With the apartment museum closing for the day and knowing that we had seen a treasure of a museum, I was in one of my best moods.

By this time, it was around 6 PM or so.  We walked back down Nevsky.   We were looking for a place to eat.  Our string of good luck had not ended.  We located a very popular Russian eatery.  It was set up like a cafeteria, but it was very modern and trendy.  We got in line where we had a nice view of the inside of the cafeteria and the foods to come.  Unfortunately, we soon realized that the line near the door was a bottleneck of folks coming and going.  Also, the first section, where you picked up your tray and selected your entrée, was also near the entrance.  And, the line was moving very slowly.  I was frustrated because I was so hungry.  After some time, we grabbed a tray and got in line.  The fact we couldn’t speak Russian didn’t deter us at all.  We were starving!  We got a cutlet with some gravy.  I got a traditional Russian dish:  stuffed cabbage roll with tomato sauce.  Kade had also picked out a soup and salad.  We set down to eat in a busy cafeteria, hungry as you can imagine.  We ate and ate.  It was one of the most fulfilling meals that I had had the entire trip.  

When we were done, we walked outside to the metro station and made our way back to the apartment.  We knew we would need a night of exceptional rest.