russia: saint petersburg

When I have a long weekend due to a national holiday, I rarely spend the weekend in the city in which I live. National Unity Day (a relatively new national holiday, it has only been around since 2005,) is celebrated every 4 November. This year the date fell on a Saturday, so the holiday was officially celebrated on the following Monday. Since I'm always aware of holidays and opportunities for travel, I'd booked train tickets more than a month in advance.

I'd been to St. Petersburg once before, but I have very few memories. That trip was in 2003, when I was living in Germany. 

That trip involved a tour group, where the guide spoke in German. Though I lived in Germany, I didn't understand or speak German, and the trip was in a country where I didn't speak or read the language. In other words, I had no idea what I was seeing or hearing for most of the trip. This time I had a slightly better understanding of the Russian language, I could read signs, and speak in very broken Russian with staff of hotels and restaurants.

My first challenge was in figuring out where my train departed in Moscow. My train ticket said the departure station was Oktyabrskaya, but I couldn't find a proper train station with that name. 

There is a metro station with that name, but not a train station. There is a Leningradsky train station, which is what came up when I tried google maps. Thankfully I was able to ask a colleague for help. It turns out that Oktyabrskaya is the name of the railway line, while Leningrad used to be the name of the main destination trains went to from this station. Confusing yes, but once you know the names, you don't think about it again.

I showed up Friday evening for my train in Moscow, and deboarded the next morning at 0630 in St Petersburg. (At another station with two names, for much the same reasons.) The train was a double decker train, a first for me. For each bed there was a little box with a small bottle of water, and a gingerbread snack. It was nice, the toilets were clean and had toilet paper!

It was still pitch black, and very very quiet. Since St Petersburg is 715 kilometers north of Moscow, that means the days are shorter in the fall and early winter. Since it was early Saturday morning, there weren't many people awake or outside at that hour.

Right in front of the train station is a platz with a memorial in the middle. On top of a hotel across the platz are letters that spell out Leningrad, city of heroes. Since this felt like my first trip to the city (even though it wasn't,) pretty much everything caught my attention.

I walked to my accomodation, and was able to check in straightaway, yahoo!! Since it was only 0830 or so, (I dawdled and took photos during the walk,) I was able to take a nap, which felt amazing. I woke up a couple hours later, it still wasn't very light outside, eeek. Living this far north would be a terrible idea for me.

Eventually I left the hostel and started walking. Some people would call St Petersburg the Venice of the north, as the city is built on a whole lot of canals. Walking through the city means constantly crossing canals. It wasn't pretty weather, but the canals were still photogenic. That being said, I tried to avoid having rubbish in my photos.

I came to a large traffic circle with a statue in the middle. A guy on a horse, which is practically a standard statue for a big city. On the other side of the statue was a big church. A very big church.

St Isaacs, it is one of the best known churches of the city. The photographer part of me hated the way tour buses were parked, as they blocked the angle I wanted for a photo.

Since St Isaacs is so big, there are massive doors on all four sides. Entry is on one side, and exit is on the other, but you can take a good photo of one set of doors on a third side of the church.

On the other side of the church was a small park, at the edge of which was another statue of a guy on a horse. On the other side of that was a big canal. At least I think it was another canal. There were a number of little docks along the sides, presumably the water is packed with boats in warmer weather.

I walked along the water for a little bit, until I came to the next bridge. From the bridge I could see the backside of the admiralty building, painted yellow. I could also see the Hermitage, one of the most famous museums in the world.

I circled around the Hermitage, which sits on one side of a big platz. Since this was a holiday weekend, the platz wasn't empty, argh. I like big empty platzes for photography reasons. There is a column in the middle, it's always there. At the time a stage was being set up, presumably for an upcoming concert.

I crossed the bridge, and wandered a bit around the area right on the other side; then I wandered back across the bridge.

My next destination was another super famous church: the Church on Spilled Blood, also called the Cathedral of the Resurrection of Christ. (If you use the second name, I'm not sure many people will have any idea which church you mean.) This is the church with the multi coloured onion domes, one that is often confused with a church in Moscow that also has multi coloured onion domes. I know the difference now, after seeing both of them a few times. 

I bought an entry ticket from one of the machines, but didn't hear it drop into the shelf under the screen. I went to the ticket window to ask what happened, and the lady told me. Thankfully when I got back to the machine my ticket was still in there.

I went into the church and my jaw dropped. I'm pretty sure that's a normal reaction for anyone visiting this church. Every square centimeter is covered in brightly painted frescoes. EVERY SQUARE CENTIMETER. Look up, look around, look up, look around, repeat for a while. I took heaps and heaps and heaps of pictures (encouraged, just don't use a flash,) and loved it.

At the back side of the 'sanctuary' was a tomb, that of Alexander II. He is the one for whom the church is named, as it was built on the spot where he was fatally wounded in 1881.

The church officially closes at 1800, but that's just the time for visitors to leave. I discovered by accident that a few minutes later, a service starts. I stayed for the first few minutes, then left.

I walked to yet another church, the Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan. I didn't realize it was a church straightaway, at least not an Orthodox church. The appearance made me think of St Paul's, in Rome, in the way the columns spread out off each side.

The interior of the cathedral wasn't all that interesting. There was a queue of people waiting to kiss the main icon, but that was it. No bright frescoes, and the lighting wasn't very good. Argh.

From there I went to a grocery store, then back to my hostel for the night.

The next morning I didn't do any better in terms of getting going in the morning. The darkness did not work well for me.

I walked to St Nicholas Naval Cathedral. Not surprisingly, this particular church is blue on the outside. (Water = blue, at least in my head.) 

The bell tower stands separately from the church, it's also blue. The interior of the church is mostly blocked off from visitors, I was allowed in just one small area. Oh well.

From there I walked a long way. My next sight was similar to one seen in a number of cities around the world. An arch of triumph, or arc de triomphe. Obviously, I took a photo with me in it, and the arch in the background. The big difference between this arch and others in the world is that this one was green. Interesting colour choice.

More walking eventually brought me to something called the column of glory. It is a memorial to the victory of the Russo Turkish war in the 19^th century. The column is surrounded by guns and cannons, which I thought made for an interesting juxtaposition with Trinity Cathedral, a few meters away.

Of course I stepped inside the church. It was wide open and airy, and I watched as a baptism took place. The family doing the baptism had hired a professional photographer, it was amusing to watch him scurry around, and try to capture every moment and every angle. 

The iconostasis up front was gold, but not as big as I expected. 

From there I walked again, eventually ending up at the Grand Choral Synagogue. As with other Jewish sights around the world, there was extra security for any visitors, I had to go through a metal detector, and a guard peeked into my purse.

The 'sanctuary' of the synagogue was gorgeous. I was able to watch for a while, standing at the back. I love the feeling inside buildings of faith. I found a staircase which allowed me up to a second level, with balconies around the sanctuary. Absolutely beautiful. I sat for a few minutes, soaking in the atmosphere. 

The synagogue wasn't too far from the Mariinsky theater, which is supposed to be really famous. Since I live in Moscow, I'm used to the Bolshoy Theater, which is far bigger, so I wasn't too impressed. It was green, like the arch, definitely not a colour I would've chosen for a grand theater.

I kept going, enjoying the sunset while it happened. St Petersburg is a city where walking is easy, and you can go all day with no particular destination in mind. Eventually I crossed another big bridge, after dark. I loved the way the buildings on the canal were all lit up, night lights are pretty.

This part of my walking took me through a park with a WW2 memorial. The eternal flame was mesmerizing, several people were standing around, just looking.

I walked all the way to a Korean restaurant for dinner, and had to wait a bit to be seated. The food ended up being okay, but not spectacular.

The next morning I woke up to yet another gray day. This was my last day, I had a list of places I hoped to get to during the day. Did having this list get me moving any faster in the morning? Not really.

My first sight was Alexander Nevsky monastery. Surrounded by a wall, there is also a cemetery if you want to pay that entrance fee. I wasn't in that kind of mood, I stuck with visiting the main church. The courtyard in the middle would probably be really photogenic in better weather, though the little graveyard in the middle of the courtyard was a little spooky because of the gray sky.

I wanted a photo of the whole front of the church, but that view doesn't exist because of trees. The church is painted yellow outside, but much of the inside isn't painted. 

I wish I'd been able to take a photo of the inside of the cupola, as it was painted, blue with gold stars.

From there it was a loooong walk, all the way to St Isaacs cathedral. (By the time I'd seen it my first day, it was already past closing time.) It took me a while to find the ticket office, on one side of the church, as entry is on a different side. The ticket looks the same as the ticket for the Church on Spilled Blood, I got them confused at the turnstyle, whoops. Obviously, I need to take tickets out of my purse each evening, to make sure that doesn't happen again. 

The interior of St Isaacs is also jaw dropping. Another set of rounds of look up, look around, look up, look around. Heaps more photos. At the front of the church, as part of the iconostasis there are green marble columns, I loved them. A bright green colour, not what I would've expected.

That was the perfect sight to finish this trip to the city, I already knew I had to come back, probably several more times. I found a grocery store, then went back to the hostel to pick up my bag and warm up. Eventually I walked back to the train station, and boarded my train.

I will definitley be back to St Petersburg. 

russia: moscow october 2017

October is a beautiful month in Moscow. By the end of September I already had a hint that fall would be very colourful, October proved that right. Unfortunately, October also taught me how very short the colourful part of fall is in Moscow.

The first day of the month was a Sunday, so my flattie and I decided to find a place to have breakfast. After asking around, we settled on a place called I Love Breakfast. The food was okay, though the service was only mediocre.

After eating we walked to Red Square and the areas around, finding a display of squash. Yes, squash. Many of the vegetables were used to create shapes like that of a dragon. Pretty nifty to see, I imagine it took a while to create.

The first Wednesday afternoon I went for a walk after my morning classes were finished. I intended to visit Gorky Park, as it is quite big, and well known. Every now and again I see an article online that says 'this is the most visited place in each country.' It lists Gorky Park for Ukraine, which is wrong, since the park isn't in Ukraine. Also, I doubt Gorky Park is the most visited place in Moscow, but it is visited quite often.

Unfortunately, as I got close to the park the weather turned somewhat rainy. In other words, not weather in which I wanted to be outside. Yuck. I took a couple photos of the HUGE front gates of the park, then kept going.

Just in front of the metro station I wanted was a statue of Lenin. Even though it was cold and drizzling, I took a photo. After growing up in the States, where the Cold War with Russia is still how the country is presented in media, I wanted a photo of Lenin.

At the end of that week I attended a birthday party for one of my coworkers. It was fun, right until a neighbor complained we were being too loud. Sigh.

The first Saturday of the month I made arrangements to meet up with one of my bosses, the guy who is mostly responsible for bringing me to Moscow. He brought his girlfriend, and she brought someone she worked with.

Shawn is originally from the States, Tania is originally from France, and Claire is originally from Wales. We all met up on a metro platform, then kept going.

Kremlin is a Russian word meaning fortress. Most of the time, when people think of the word, they think of The kremlin, the one with red brick walls in Moscow. This is far from the only kremlin in Russia, it isn't even the only one in Moscow. Our destination for the day was a place called Izmailovo, another kremlin in Moscow.

Izmailovo looks like a fortress meets Disney. The outer walls are white, but everything else is a whole lot of colours. There is a small church inside, but everything else is a cafe or shop.

Most people come to Izmailovo because there is a big market just outside the walls. You can find all kinds of souvenirs and trinkets, some of which you'll want, some you'll wonder why they even exist.

We wandered through the area, then had lunch, then went home. We probably would've done more as a group, but it was raining, and it was cold. Since I was still missing some of my stuff, I didn't have any appropriate shoes. My feet were cold and wet, argh.

The next day I walked back to Park Pobedy, approaching from the back side of the park. I got to see all the trees in a variety of shades of yellow. Though the city is beautiful in fall, I didn't get to see the red leaves I love best. 

Walking in fall is always a good thing to do.

The following Wednesday I headed out on a walk from school, walking toward a well known church. The Cathedral of Christ the Saviour is big, and the gold domes are visible from quite a few places in Moscow. The top of the domes measure 103 meters high, the tallest Orthodox Christian Church in the world.

The modern church is actually pretty new, having been built in the last five years of the 20^th centtury. The first church on the sight was demolished during Stalin's rule, in 1931. (What is the number of religious sights demolished on the orders of this man? The number must be huge!)

It is free to enter the church, but you're not allowed to take photos inside. I took plenty of photos outside, but followed the rules inside. The church wasn't lit inside, so photos wouldn't have turned out well anywho.

From there I kept walking, along the river. I saw what I imagine was once a factory, a giant statue of Peter 1, and the Russian version of the Pentagon: the ministry of defense. Not surprisingly, the building is really big. Really really big.

Close to the ministry building was a pedestrian bridge with what I thought of as a geometric entry. 

I loved the way it looked and I wasn't the only one who felt that way, I had to wait a few minutes for another photographer to leave.

On the other side of the bridge was a small park. I found a rose garden a bit past its prime, and a pond. When I checked a map a bit later, I found out this was all still part of Gorky Park.

I hopped on the metro to go to a big supermarket, stopping on the way to take a photo of a giant sculpture of Yuri Gagarin, the first person in space. (The Russian word for astronaut is cosmonaut.)

During the rest of the month the last of my goods from Ukraine finally arrived, yippee!! I never figured out why I had to pay customs taxes on some of the boxes, and not on others. If customs officers had actually seen what was in the boxes, they would've understood that nothing I own is worth very much. (Except my passport, which is the most important thing I own.)

The following weekend I met up with Claire, we decided to explore the Kremlin. The ticket office is not quite at the entrance, it was a bit confusing to figure out what we needed to do. (I'm sure it was obvious to Russian speakers, but not to us.)

There were lists of the options, we didn't really know which to choose. We found ticket machines which made it a lot easier, thank goodness.

You enter the Kremlin grounds through one of the towers, then cross a small bridge. There is a guard standing at one end of the bridge, I'm sure the men who stand in that position are in millions of photos around the world.

I'm one of the crazy people who didn't love my kremlin visit. As far as I could tell, there were a bunch of churches inside, you're not supposed to take photos inside the churches. 

Each interior was different, my favourite part of each church was the way its ceiling was painted. Always look up, especially in a building of faith.

There were a couple of museums as well. Since Moscow is the capital city, some of the other buildings are active government buildings, you can't just wander around and explore.

Maybe my apathy was due to the weather. It was a bit chilly, and rainy again. I'm soooo over the slightly rainy type of weather. Argh. Either way, I'm glad we saw the Kremlin, given that I live in Moscow.

The last full week in the month was my fall holiday from school, read a different post for those stories. When I came back, my train arrived at a station that led me to Komsomolskaya metro station. Hands down, the brown line platform of Komsomolskaya is one of the most impressive platforms in the world. The ceiling is painted yellow, with huge mosaic decorations. I've now seen the station quite a few times, I still find it impressive.