For Sunday dinner we thought we would try out a restaurant called Yolki Palki which is apparently part of a chain offering reasonably authentic Russian food (at least according to them). This restaurant is in the same block as the Radisson but across the other side of Nevsky Pr. We eventually found it and they must be doing something right because it was packed full of local people - not a table to be had and this was Sunday night. Undeterred we wandered up in the other direction on Nevsky where we had not yet been - up towards Vosstaniya Pl where the Moscow Railway station is. We came across a place with some sort of Egyptian theme called Sphinx. They seemed to have room so we decided to give it a try. It was a strange sort of atmosphere with Egyptian influenced decor and playing funky western music. The menu was interesting too with many of the meat dishes expressed as xxx grams. One of the Chicken dishes looked promising a braised whole boned chicken. I read the 750 grams as being the weight of the whole meal. Wrong! it was just the weight of the chicken. After having had an entree there was no way I could get through that - delicious as it was. Even with Mike and Sandra helping we couldn't finish it. Can't say that we hadn't been warned - Russians like thier meat!.
All in all it was a fitting end to another interesting day.
Thursday 30 November 2006
Wednesday 29 November 2006
St Petersburg, Russia - Part 5
Continuing our Sunday sightseeing tour we crossed Nevsky Pr to have a look at some of the sights on the other side. First amongst these was the Admiralty Buildings which has a very fancy weathercock on top of the dome
Further along was St Isaac Cathedral which is very large ornate building. Most of it is given over to a museum but you can also pay separately to go up to the collonade which goes around the building below the dome. Since you aren't allowed to photograph up there (officially anyway) it dulls the allure of the climb.
The building is so large and tall that it is difficult to get a decent perspective of it from the ground. Just behind the Cathedral is a quite impressive statue but I can't remember who it was commemorating.
The building behind to the right is the Mariinsky Palace.
Wandering through the backstreets we strayed well away from Nevsky Pr following Gorkhovaya Ulitsa but it was quite interesting getting somewhat off the beaten track. Eventually we ended up back on Nevsky Pr (OK we cheated and followed a sign that pointed in that direction) and then it was a simple walk back to the hotel.
Another interesting visit on the Sunday was to the Kuznechy market just off Vladimirsky Pr (the Radison Hotel is on the corner of this and Nevsky). The map showing the market wasn't great but was enough to get us within 100 metres. Attempts to question local pedestrians were met by shoulder shrugs but eventually by using the Russian word for market a local girl was able to point it out to us - just down the street that we were on actually! The market was quite interesting having a wide variety of fresh goods - meat, fish, fruit and vegetables - as well as other produce like delicatessen products, dairy products, and honey. I've never seen such a collection of Basturma in a deli before - they must have had six varieties while we are hard-pressed to find one. I tried several varieties of honey and bought some (more on this later).
This day is not yet finished but I'll follow up with more later...
Further along was St Isaac Cathedral which is very large ornate building. Most of it is given over to a museum but you can also pay separately to go up to the collonade which goes around the building below the dome. Since you aren't allowed to photograph up there (officially anyway) it dulls the allure of the climb.
The building is so large and tall that it is difficult to get a decent perspective of it from the ground. Just behind the Cathedral is a quite impressive statue but I can't remember who it was commemorating.
The building behind to the right is the Mariinsky Palace.
Wandering through the backstreets we strayed well away from Nevsky Pr following Gorkhovaya Ulitsa but it was quite interesting getting somewhat off the beaten track. Eventually we ended up back on Nevsky Pr (OK we cheated and followed a sign that pointed in that direction) and then it was a simple walk back to the hotel.
Another interesting visit on the Sunday was to the Kuznechy market just off Vladimirsky Pr (the Radison Hotel is on the corner of this and Nevsky). The map showing the market wasn't great but was enough to get us within 100 metres. Attempts to question local pedestrians were met by shoulder shrugs but eventually by using the Russian word for market a local girl was able to point it out to us - just down the street that we were on actually! The market was quite interesting having a wide variety of fresh goods - meat, fish, fruit and vegetables - as well as other produce like delicatessen products, dairy products, and honey. I've never seen such a collection of Basturma in a deli before - they must have had six varieties while we are hard-pressed to find one. I tried several varieties of honey and bought some (more on this later).
This day is not yet finished but I'll follow up with more later...
Tuesday 28 November 2006
St Petersburg, Russia - Part 4
Primary objective for Sunday was to visit the Hermitage. Ah - the best of good intentions are oft thwarted by the minutiae of reality! Being Sunday we didn't get going until mid-morning and then it was a stroll down Nevsky Pr (how we got to know and love that street in just a few days). Actually, to relieve the tedium of the walk we cut down through the back streets and it was infinitely more interesting than 'high street'. We came across a group of serendipitous lions hanging around in one street. 
We also came across a photo shoot for a wedding taking place outside the Large Hermitage.
Arriving at the Hermitage we were initially directed to the entrance on the embankment - along with a lot of other confused people - only to find that the proper entrance iis on the ot
her side of the building in Dvortsovaya Place - ho hum. So backtracking we eventually reached the proper entrance (these buildings are BIG - see photo) and went through the gates to join the queue. Well the queue was longish but not too dismaying so we joined onto the end of it and waited. And waited. And waited. We were there for perhaps 45 minutes and there had been no movement at all. Here is a photo of the queue looking toward the entrance inside the courtyard.
Eventually we decided that we would probably be better off trying to visit the Hermitage on Wednesday morning when we had some free time before our departure from St Petersburg, so we headed off to see some more sights.
We also came across a photo shoot for a wedding taking place outside the Large Hermitage.Arriving at the Hermitage we were initially directed to the entrance on the embankment - along with a lot of other confused people - only to find that the proper entrance iis on the ot
her side of the building in Dvortsovaya Place - ho hum. So backtracking we eventually reached the proper entrance (these buildings are BIG - see photo) and went through the gates to join the queue. Well the queue was longish but not too dismaying so we joined onto the end of it and waited. And waited. And waited. We were there for perhaps 45 minutes and there had been no movement at all. Here is a photo of the queue looking toward the entrance inside the courtyard.
Eventually we decided that we would probably be better off trying to visit the Hermitage on Wednesday morning when we had some free time before our departure from St Petersburg, so we headed off to see some more sights.
Monday 27 November 2006
St Petersburg, Russia - Part 3
I told my travel agent I wanted to see the Olgas and she sent me to St Petersburg.
(Is Australian joke, Da? Is very funny. We laughink very much. Ho Ho Ho.)
Oh well, I thought it was funny so nyeh!
During our guided tour with Alex we got to sample the local tipple at a couple of galleries/souvenir shops. Alex being a guide does the usual thing of taking people to shops where he gets a little kickback from any sales. Nothing wrong with that - its the way these places get additional business. Anyway, the custom at these shops is to ply the potential customers with small samples of alcohol. At one of the shops they served vodka which I declined but Mike and Sandra gave it a try. At the other shop they served a liqueur made from cloud berries. I'd had a similar thing from Pia, a Finnish friend, a few years ago and it is quite pleasant to slurp. The small draughts of alcohol were insufficient to loosen our grip on our money however, although there was quite alot of good quality jewelry, china, and souvenirs of various kinds to tempt. The only thing purchased was at one of the shops where a small drinks/cafe is attached to it and Mike bought a bar of Russian chocolate.
Alex gave us about three hours of good sightseeing with a continuous narrative patter which probably was some stuff that the usual tourist may not get.
During our walking tour on Saturday morning we had passed a restaurant on Nevsky Pr which looked like it would be worth a visit for the evening meal. After freshening up we stepped out again into the now raining evening to walk the estimated block-and-a-half to the restaurant. It turned out to be most of the way down Nevsky towards the river and was full when we got there. Ho hum. But still, after all it was a good day and we certainly had seen a lot.
(Is Australian joke, Da? Is very funny. We laughink very much. Ho Ho Ho.)
Oh well, I thought it was funny so nyeh!
During our guided tour with Alex we got to sample the local tipple at a couple of galleries/souvenir shops. Alex being a guide does the usual thing of taking people to shops where he gets a little kickback from any sales. Nothing wrong with that - its the way these places get additional business. Anyway, the custom at these shops is to ply the potential customers with small samples of alcohol. At one of the shops they served vodka which I declined but Mike and Sandra gave it a try. At the other shop they served a liqueur made from cloud berries. I'd had a similar thing from Pia, a Finnish friend, a few years ago and it is quite pleasant to slurp. The small draughts of alcohol were insufficient to loosen our grip on our money however, although there was quite alot of good quality jewelry, china, and souvenirs of various kinds to tempt. The only thing purchased was at one of the shops where a small drinks/cafe is attached to it and Mike bought a bar of Russian chocolate.
Alex gave us about three hours of good sightseeing with a continuous narrative patter which probably was some stuff that the usual tourist may not get.
During our walking tour on Saturday morning we had passed a restaurant on Nevsky Pr which looked like it would be worth a visit for the evening meal. After freshening up we stepped out again into the now raining evening to walk the estimated block-and-a-half to the restaurant. It turned out to be most of the way down Nevsky towards the river and was full when we got there. Ho hum. But still, after all it was a good day and we certainly had seen a lot.
Sunday 26 November 2006
St Petersburg, Russia - Part 2
While exploring St Petersburg on foot on Saturday morning, after visiting the Church on Spilled Blood, we wandered through the Souvenir Market. This is a small collection of stalls (probably many more in the Summer) which all compete to sell pretty much the same predictable stuff - mostly Matrioshka dolls, toys soldiers and religious icons. I didn't buy anything on this visit, thinking to shop around before deciding what/where to buy. (In the event I didn't buy anything). I did, however, take this picture of these matrioshki at one stall. Some of them are ever-so politically incorrect!
See if you can identify each one. (Some of the inner ones are even less PC.)
Without enumerating all of the historic buildings we saw, we covered quite a few kilometres on foot through all of the major 'attraction' areas on the southern side of the Neva. Walking along the river bank you are impressed by all of the palaces - homes of the rich and powerful in Russia's Imperial past. Even the embankment is awe-inspiring. The walls are made of huge granite blocks that stretch for kilometres on both sides of the river and they all had to be transported in from elsewhere. One peculiarity which we were told about but did not observe is that, (mostly) in summer all of the bridges over the river are opened to allow free passage of commercial and pleasure boats. (The Neva discharges into the nearby Gulf of Finland). Apparently it is easy to get trapped on the wrong side for several hours if you aren't careful.
Lunch was a low-key but interesting affair - our first meal outside the hotel. We decidied to have a light meal at the Cafe' Coffee shop just across the street from the Radisson. It is a modern, bright shop and seemed to be popular with the locals - how hard can it be? Well the first thing is that many cafe/restaurant staff don't speak/understand much English and we had only a smattering of Russian and a phrase book. Also, the menus are generally in Russian/Cyrillic script. After staring at the menu blankly for a few minutes the waitress recognised that there was a difficulty and brought us over the English menus. Lesson number 1: Ask for the English menu! We eventually ordered and received our meals which were OK. We weren't accustomed to people smoking in eating places so we didn't linger over the meal.
In the afternoon, Alex came and picked us up for a guided tour of major spots. He is a registered tour guide so who better to get? In the car (Opel Zafira, aka Holden Zafira, aka Vauxhall Zafira) we were able to see some of the slightly more out-of-the way places. Amongst other things we saw the picturesque Smolny Cathedral (picture).
Across the Neva we went to see the Battleship Aurora. This is famous because on the night of 25th October 1917 while moored downstream, the crew fired a single blank round from the forward gun. This demoralised the defenders of the Winter Palace and marked the start of the October Revolution.
The Aurora is moored permanently (I think its concreted to the riverbed) on the Petrograd side. You can actually go aboard (for a fee) but we didn't bother. However, the Aurora was to come up again at a later stage of our visit.
See if you can identify each one. (Some of the inner ones are even less PC.)Without enumerating all of the historic buildings we saw, we covered quite a few kilometres on foot through all of the major 'attraction' areas on the southern side of the Neva. Walking along the river bank you are impressed by all of the palaces - homes of the rich and powerful in Russia's Imperial past. Even the embankment is awe-inspiring. The walls are made of huge granite blocks that stretch for kilometres on both sides of the river and they all had to be transported in from elsewhere. One peculiarity which we were told about but did not observe is that, (mostly) in summer all of the bridges over the river are opened to allow free passage of commercial and pleasure boats. (The Neva discharges into the nearby Gulf of Finland). Apparently it is easy to get trapped on the wrong side for several hours if you aren't careful.
Lunch was a low-key but interesting affair - our first meal outside the hotel. We decidied to have a light meal at the Cafe' Coffee shop just across the street from the Radisson. It is a modern, bright shop and seemed to be popular with the locals - how hard can it be? Well the first thing is that many cafe/restaurant staff don't speak/understand much English and we had only a smattering of Russian and a phrase book. Also, the menus are generally in Russian/Cyrillic script. After staring at the menu blankly for a few minutes the waitress recognised that there was a difficulty and brought us over the English menus. Lesson number 1: Ask for the English menu! We eventually ordered and received our meals which were OK. We weren't accustomed to people smoking in eating places so we didn't linger over the meal.
In the afternoon, Alex came and picked us up for a guided tour of major spots. He is a registered tour guide so who better to get? In the car (Opel Zafira, aka Holden Zafira, aka Vauxhall Zafira) we were able to see some of the slightly more out-of-the way places. Amongst other things we saw the picturesque Smolny Cathedral (picture).
Across the Neva we went to see the Battleship Aurora. This is famous because on the night of 25th October 1917 while moored downstream, the crew fired a single blank round from the forward gun. This demoralised the defenders of the Winter Palace and marked the start of the October Revolution.
The Aurora is moored permanently (I think its concreted to the riverbed) on the Petrograd side. You can actually go aboard (for a fee) but we didn't bother. However, the Aurora was to come up again at a later stage of our visit.
Saturday 25 November 2006
St Petersburg, Russia - Part 1
Went for a working visit to St Petersburg in October - part of the world I've never been to before. Preparation for the trip took a while due to having to obtain a visa invitation and then the visa itself. I was a bit apprehensive about how things would be in Russia. I guess we have all been fed lots of information about how bad it was in Soviet times and that it isn't much better now what with organised crime etc.
The flight from Sydney to Heathrow (refuel etc at Bangkok) was just long and tiring although I did manage to get some sleep thanks to Valerium and Arnica. The new airport at Bangkok is still unfinished and a fairly dead place in the middle of the night. Met up with Mike and Sandra at Heathrow and then we flew together from Heathrow to St Petersburg. We were given an immigration card to fill in on the BA flight which was all in Russian and Cyrillic alphabet but we were also given a translation to help in filling it in. (I heard from George R. later that when he flew from Zurich to Moscow earlier in the year on Aeroflot they weren't given the translation so had to 'wing it'.)
I was apprehensive about the immigration formalities but it turned out to be troublefree. The immigration officer sits in a glass booth which is screened off from the queue and you can only get to see the person when you are right in front of them in the narrow corridor. The officer in my queue was an attractive younger lady in full military looking uniform but I managed to get a smile from her by greeting her first with 'hello' and then with 'Zdrazdvootvia' - a near approximation for a formal hello in Russian.
Once through Immigration and Customs we were met by Alex, a driver who had been arranged for our visit. He kept us regaled with local information on the run into the city through quite busy traffic due to our arriving during the late Friday afternoon rush hour. Having expected the weather to be cold in late October we were surprised to find it relatively mild when we arrived - although we had to put on a couple of extra light layers on after travelling in minimal clothes from Oz.
On arriving at the hotel we arranged with Alex to pick us up for a bit of a guided tour on the next afternoon (Saturday) which would leave us free to do our own exploring in the morning.
The hotel we were staying at was the Radisson SAS which is on the main thoroughfare in St Petersburg's CBD - Nevsky Prospekt. This made it convenient for us for a little sightseeing and also for the discussions we were there to conduct. On the Saturday morning we headed out walking adown Nevsky P. after breakfast but not without being suitably 'rugged up' first. The weather, while fine, was distinctly cooler than Friday with a maximum for the day of 4C.
Nevsky P. is a very busy street in both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. As you walk down past the stone buildings you are struck by the history of the place. When Czar Peter founded the place he wanted it all built in stone which was quite something as there is no building stone available in the region. All of the stone was brought in by cart - it was mandatory for any cart travelling to St Petersburg to carry at least four boulders. Also all of the stonemasons in Russia were 'encouraged' to move to St Petersburg for the duration. Consequently everything that has been built over the early years is still there in pretty good condition. Alongside the buildings, the huge downpipes - about 25cm diameter - discharge directly onto the footpaths. It didn't rain much while we were there but when it does rain there must be regular rivers across the footpaths.
The walk down Nevsky P. is a progression from one significant site to the next - consult a
guidebook and you will se what I mean. Off Nevsky P. along the Griboedova Canal is the Church on Splilled Blood - a very spectacular construction. Here is a picture of me with the church in the background. Note the Beanie/balaclava and gloves as well as my trusty Kathmandu Ecofleece jacket.
The flight from Sydney to Heathrow (refuel etc at Bangkok) was just long and tiring although I did manage to get some sleep thanks to Valerium and Arnica. The new airport at Bangkok is still unfinished and a fairly dead place in the middle of the night. Met up with Mike and Sandra at Heathrow and then we flew together from Heathrow to St Petersburg. We were given an immigration card to fill in on the BA flight which was all in Russian and Cyrillic alphabet but we were also given a translation to help in filling it in. (I heard from George R. later that when he flew from Zurich to Moscow earlier in the year on Aeroflot they weren't given the translation so had to 'wing it'.)
I was apprehensive about the immigration formalities but it turned out to be troublefree. The immigration officer sits in a glass booth which is screened off from the queue and you can only get to see the person when you are right in front of them in the narrow corridor. The officer in my queue was an attractive younger lady in full military looking uniform but I managed to get a smile from her by greeting her first with 'hello' and then with 'Zdrazdvootvia' - a near approximation for a formal hello in Russian.
Once through Immigration and Customs we were met by Alex, a driver who had been arranged for our visit. He kept us regaled with local information on the run into the city through quite busy traffic due to our arriving during the late Friday afternoon rush hour. Having expected the weather to be cold in late October we were surprised to find it relatively mild when we arrived - although we had to put on a couple of extra light layers on after travelling in minimal clothes from Oz.
On arriving at the hotel we arranged with Alex to pick us up for a bit of a guided tour on the next afternoon (Saturday) which would leave us free to do our own exploring in the morning.
The hotel we were staying at was the Radisson SAS which is on the main thoroughfare in St Petersburg's CBD - Nevsky Prospekt. This made it convenient for us for a little sightseeing and also for the discussions we were there to conduct. On the Saturday morning we headed out walking adown Nevsky P. after breakfast but not without being suitably 'rugged up' first. The weather, while fine, was distinctly cooler than Friday with a maximum for the day of 4C.
Nevsky P. is a very busy street in both vehicular and pedestrian traffic. As you walk down past the stone buildings you are struck by the history of the place. When Czar Peter founded the place he wanted it all built in stone which was quite something as there is no building stone available in the region. All of the stone was brought in by cart - it was mandatory for any cart travelling to St Petersburg to carry at least four boulders. Also all of the stonemasons in Russia were 'encouraged' to move to St Petersburg for the duration. Consequently everything that has been built over the early years is still there in pretty good condition. Alongside the buildings, the huge downpipes - about 25cm diameter - discharge directly onto the footpaths. It didn't rain much while we were there but when it does rain there must be regular rivers across the footpaths.
The walk down Nevsky P. is a progression from one significant site to the next - consult a
guidebook and you will se what I mean. Off Nevsky P. along the Griboedova Canal is the Church on Splilled Blood - a very spectacular construction. Here is a picture of me with the church in the background. Note the Beanie/balaclava and gloves as well as my trusty Kathmandu Ecofleece jacket.
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