Day 8 9/9/11 - Russia

St Petersburg

Highlight

• A day that went totally not according to plan.
• Started off with nice weather so decided to go to Tsarskoe Selo.
• We managed to find the station and our train platform without too much trouble. Unfortunately there was no train for another 1.5 hrs. For some reason, there was only trains every 2.5 hours.
• Eventually we made it after guessing the train and stop and hopping on the local bus and having locals tell us the stop.
• Met some lady from Toronto at the station who followed us there. She was travelling by herself, but luckily got rid of her once we got to the Palace.
• The palace was nice – not as interesting s Peterhof, except for the amazing Amber Room. They had tours again, not in English of course so we wondered around by ourselves.
• The park and landscape is better than Peterhof though, with the lake resembling an English garden.
• Did half the lake walk, looked at some buildings and sculptures, saw lots of weddings again.
• The way back was much easier. 5 minutes wait for the bus and a train straight away, so we got back by 5:15
• Tired to go to the pancake place recommended in the guidebook for dinner, only to find out it was closed down when we got there, so we wasted a metro ride. At least we checked out Our Lady of Vvaldamir which was nicer on the outside than in.
• Decided to go to a place close to St Isaacs for dinner. After another metro ride and lots of walking, found that Lenin’s Mating Call was now a pizza joint. We should have given up at this stage but we decided to try one more, as this was on the way to our next site.
• Well, Noble Nest was still there, but it wasn’t opened (on a Friday night!) for some reason.
• By now it was closer to 7:15, we spent 2 hours travelling and walking and couldn’t find a single open restaurant. We decided to check out the outside of the Marinskiy Theatre (ballet) and the St Nichola’s Cathedral.
• Finally managed to make it inside St Isaacs. Luckily the inside was interesting and worth the hassle and money. The door and marbles being highlights.
• One last try, as we were going to go past the Stroganov Palace anyway, to see if the eatery was opened. Well…. the Stroganoff Yard has turned into yet another sushi bar, but Russian Empire was still there (although pretty empty again).
• They had piano and violin as live entertainment. The best we’ve had so far. Allie really enjoyed it, and the décor was scrumptious. The food was also good but expensive.
• Made it back to the hotel just before 11pm…

Food

• Nashotel:
  • smoked salmon, potato hash, smoked meat and cold cuts cheese
  • dough fritters
  • Russian “cereal”
  • orange juice
• Russian Empire:
  • appetiser – green cream, crisp bread, caviar
  • Zalivnoye of Sturgeon served with crayfish tails and fresh dill according to the recipe of Princess Ekaterina Petrovna Trubetskaya 1764
  • Galatine of pheasant with Foie Gras, infused in armagnac 1888
  • Pike perch in Stroganov style poached in apple juices served with tartar of tomatoes and fresh spinach
  • Deer Stroganoff – the original recipe of Alexander Segevich Stroganoff served with puree of topinamburg