Day 7 8/9/11 - Russia

St Petersburg

Highlight

• Very bad weather so we hung around the hotel for awhile.
• Waited in the rain for a tram. The wait took ages and the tram didn’t stop where we thought. Once we got on, it chugged along very slowly through the traffic, then went totally out of service because of a car crash blocking the track.
• We managed to walk the rest of the way, and toured the Cruiser Aurora (it was free!!).
• Peter the Great’s cabin was not opened as advertised.
• Got to Peter and Paul Fortress. Luckily the rain stopped by this time.
• Only got tickets to the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, to see the burial place of Peter the Great and Catherine the Great. The other interest was the beach, but only for the view as the sand was grey and ugly.
• Walked into town to see the rest of the sites.
• Church on Spilled Blood was very cool, a riot of colour. The outside was actually better, but the inside was worth a look for the mosaic and the stuff about the restoration.
• Onto Cathedral of Our Lady of Kazan – worth a look for the line of people kissing the pictures of saint.
• Saw the statue of Peter the Great on the horse, before trying to go into St Isaacs Church. For some reason it was closed between 6-7, so we couldn’t visit.
• Tried to go to see the theatre but it started to rain, so off to dinner we go.
• Went back to the fish restaurant near the Pelmini bar. The food was very good and we got “entertainment” from a much better singer.

Food

• Nashotel:
  • smoked salmon, potato hash, smoked meat and cold cuts cheese
  • dough fritters
  • omelette with tomato, mushroom, ham, cheese
  • yoghurt
  • orange juice
• Demyanova Ukha:
  • solyanka (mushroom) soup
  • ukha (fish) soup
  • pike-perch crumbed fillets with sautéed potato strips