I'm not doing so well on my own, so I thought I would try the Hop On/Hop Off bus to get the lay of the land. It is, of course, only as good as the input. For example, It didn't stop at the Pushkin House, or the Dostoyevsky Museum, or the Alexander Nevsky Cathedral, where the likes of Tchaikovsky are buried.
I did see St. Isaacs (he was apparently the patron saint of Peter the Great, the battleship Aurora of revolutionary fame (beautifully preserved) and the Kazan Cathedral. (There is no shortage of churches; those that did not survive the revolution have been - or are being - rebuilt.)
Out with the red star and hammer and sickle and the double headed eagle!
The next day was decidedly better. I learned to negotiate public transit (just the buses - I haven't yet dared the metro here on my own), admittedly with the help of the concierge. It is cheap - about the equivalent of 50 cents US - frequent, and flexible (by which I mean the buses will stop at places not designated as a stop, and open already closed doors for a late arriving passenger). Polite, too, and I no longer refuse a seat when it is offered.
In one case. a conductor, who spoke not one word of English, was so concerned that I wouldn't get off at the right stop, that she rousted out an English speaking kid, whose phone translated for me - get off at the stop after mine, she said.....
And what did I see after all that? The Grand Choral Synagogue, apparently the biggest (but not the only) one in St. Petersburg. It is a huge and lavish building - apparently the Jews were important in St. Petersburg in the time of Nicholas II - well kept. It is, of course, Orthodox, and, while not filled, certainly full enough (probably because we are in the High Holy Days. There is a Kosher restaurant attached, but it was closed, so I was unable to confirm the Lonly Planet's high praise.
And in the afternoon, I finally went to see the Impressionists at the Hermitage. They are housed in a separate building, and while the Hermitage itself was chock-a-block full of people (I stopped counting after 22 huge tour buses), there was almost noone visiting the Impressionists. I spent four hours with them, and only stopped because it was closing, and my feet were giving out.
Interesting fact about the collection. It came mostly from two German industrialists. What is not mentioned is that they had all been looted from rich German (and Austrian and Hungarian and Polish) Jews before they were killed. Whether the Russians ever tried to return them to the descendants, who knows?
Even found that one (of the many, I must say) book stores on Nevsky Prospect had some books in English, so I stocked up for the upcoming boat ride....
I managed to negotiate my way through a nice meal at a Greek restaurant near my hotel (assisted by a very handsome young greek orthodox man) before falling exhausted into my bed. All in all, a good day touring!
I did see St. Isaacs (he was apparently the patron saint of Peter the Great, the battleship Aurora of revolutionary fame (beautifully preserved) and the Kazan Cathedral. (There is no shortage of churches; those that did not survive the revolution have been - or are being - rebuilt.)
Out with the red star and hammer and sickle and the double headed eagle!
The next day was decidedly better. I learned to negotiate public transit (just the buses - I haven't yet dared the metro here on my own), admittedly with the help of the concierge. It is cheap - about the equivalent of 50 cents US - frequent, and flexible (by which I mean the buses will stop at places not designated as a stop, and open already closed doors for a late arriving passenger). Polite, too, and I no longer refuse a seat when it is offered.
In one case. a conductor, who spoke not one word of English, was so concerned that I wouldn't get off at the right stop, that she rousted out an English speaking kid, whose phone translated for me - get off at the stop after mine, she said.....
And what did I see after all that? The Grand Choral Synagogue, apparently the biggest (but not the only) one in St. Petersburg. It is a huge and lavish building - apparently the Jews were important in St. Petersburg in the time of Nicholas II - well kept. It is, of course, Orthodox, and, while not filled, certainly full enough (probably because we are in the High Holy Days. There is a Kosher restaurant attached, but it was closed, so I was unable to confirm the Lonly Planet's high praise.
And in the afternoon, I finally went to see the Impressionists at the Hermitage. They are housed in a separate building, and while the Hermitage itself was chock-a-block full of people (I stopped counting after 22 huge tour buses), there was almost noone visiting the Impressionists. I spent four hours with them, and only stopped because it was closing, and my feet were giving out.
Interesting fact about the collection. It came mostly from two German industrialists. What is not mentioned is that they had all been looted from rich German (and Austrian and Hungarian and Polish) Jews before they were killed. Whether the Russians ever tried to return them to the descendants, who knows?
Even found that one (of the many, I must say) book stores on Nevsky Prospect had some books in English, so I stocked up for the upcoming boat ride....
I managed to negotiate my way through a nice meal at a Greek restaurant near my hotel (assisted by a very handsome young greek orthodox man) before falling exhausted into my bed. All in all, a good day touring!
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