St. Petersburg was the next stop on our journey.
Once we got to the hotel we realized it was RIGHT around the corner from Dostoevysky's home... and Michal was dying to go. So it was our first little touristy thing we did in this city.
- entrance way & his hat
- left: room where he would study while his children would play
- right: room where his wife had a study area
the dining room area
(highlight of the tour) Dostoevysky's very own desk where he wrote "The Brothers Karamazov." It is also the room where he passed away after completing this last novel of his.
Personal note: I LOVED this museum. It was cheap(er) - it was VERY informational and after touring it - I felt inspired to read Dostoevysky's works!
St. Petersburg was a major improvement from Moscow - it appeared more westernized, straight (as in buildings and sidewalks), and clean. I think that's because there are rivers running throughout the entire city and water can make any city feel royal. So - sorry for the mass amount of pictures, but bodies of water were where we took the majority of our landscape pictures to give the full effect of what the city looks like - to an outsider.
The first day we got there we just wanted to wander the city and go exploring. We only had three specific places we wanted to go in St. Petersburg (The Hermitage, Dostoyevsky's Home, and A Crime and Punishment Tour)... with that in mind - we wanted to catch every other site that this city had to offer. Even though we walked just as much as we did in Moscow, my feet didn't hurt as bad. In Moscow, I came home at night and cried because my feet just throbbed... aha the wonderful side effects of being pregnant... anyways - I tried to ignore it because Michal and I just didn't want to miss out on all this city had to offer. For that reason, we decided to start the next day early and head out to the Hermitage.
It's been a dream of mine to go to the Hermitage - in fact - it's been on my life's bucket list AND my "101 goals in 1001 days" to see this museum. Mostly because of my being an Art History Major and when I toured Europe at age 19 I asked my professor if there was ONE other museum he wished we could have seen, what would it have been. His response: "The Hermitage."
I wish there was a polite way to say this, but after wandering the Hermitage for about 3-4 hours I was woefully disappointed. I had always dreamed of coming to this museum. I had researched famous paintings and artists who are housed inside. I had gotten up and gotten ready early to make this museum my highlight of all of Russia. Sadly, I was let down. I was distraught with the whole museum. The lines to get tickets were (once again) mosh pits. The price for Russians vs. Non-Russians was ridiculous (my ticket was more than 4 times more expensive than a Russians ticket). The lack of information on where to enter the museum was frustrating. The paint was cracking and falling off. It looked like it hadn't been swept in about 8 months. The lighting was terrible (see picture examples below - flash wasn't allowed in the Museum). You either had to croutch down way low to see the painting or look at it from a very odd angle to see the full effect of a Rembrandt, etc. Also the layout was very disorganized and the whole museum just didn't "flow" very well. Since I took Curatorial classes as a part of my major, I feel justified in negatively critiquing this museum. I would have to say that the Hermitage does not rank as one of "the world's best museums." I can think of several which would rank above this museum (ahem: The Louvre). Regardless, it did have a lot of famous artists and works.
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| Oops, we weren't supposed to take pictures in this room. But alas, we got one of the Notre Dame mini model. These were so great! You could push a button and they would move and show how doors open, bridges move, etc. |
These are all pictures of what the insides of the Winter Palace looked like. The Winter Palace is one of six buildings that compromise the Hermitage Museum Complex. Helps give you a better picture of what Russia looked like to Tolstoy, Dostoyevsky, Pushkin, and other Russian authors who may have written about this elaborate Palace within some of their works.
(The pictures above are to show the terrible lighting - sometimes no matter where you stand, you just can't get the full effect of the painting).
Michal's favorite paintings are Dutch paintings - especially Rembrandt! I love watching him intensely look at these portraits. Here is a famous one by Rembrandt entitled, "The Prodigal Son."
And here are some famous Matisse paintings. If I remember correctly, this museum has the largest collection of Matisse. He is one interesting painting, but so full of life and fluidity in his painting it just makes you wonder what he was thinking when he painted them.
Outside of the Hermitage is vibrant and full of color. We found this unique statue - I looked it up and it's history is quite interesting. The Tower of Snow is a large scaled boy with a house which rests upon his back. When asking the artist what his intentions were behind this painting the artist recounts that the work is about his own exile from Cuba and how many parents were shipping their children away from cuba between 1960 and 1962 because they feared the Cuban government would put restrictions on how their children could be educated. The author says, "It's about the anguish of those children,” MartÃnez Celaya says. “I wanted to memorialize that event.” How remarkable, but also how unique that this statue ended up in the courtyard of the Hermitage. It doesn't seem to "fit" with all the Baroque-ish stylized buildings which compromise the museum grounds. Michal & I just liked the color which was bursting from the newly renovated buildings.
Next we went to visit St. Isaac's Cathedral - which is supposed to be the 3rd largest domed cathedral in the world. However, it was also about 5 times more expensive than Russians to enter this Cathedral - AND - more expensive than the whole Hermitage Museum. So... we opted to spend our money on other things... and we justified our decision by looking at the mosh pit lines again (which I so wish I would have taken a picture of).
It really is an impressive edifice, but Michal and I passed some "Berlin Bears" on our way to the cathedral and thought that it would be more fun to go track down each of our countries bears. We see these all over Europe - they travel around from city to city promoting train travel. I first fell in love with them the second time I went to Berlin. I wanted to show my Mom when I she was there, but, unfortuneately, they were "traveling."
Here are the pictures from 2010, the first time we "met" the bears. Can you see how much we have changed?
And 2.5 years later...
Can you tell where the bear below is from. (Hint: Dublin is its capital).
I can't wait to take our little girl exploring and watch her get to know these fun bears. Next time we run into them, I think that I'll take a picture of every country we've been to... and every country our little girl has "visited."
This was my absolute FAVORITE church in St. Petersburg. The Church of Our Savior on Spilled Blood is very, very Russian-styled. But I love all the vivacious colors and spirited movement that can be seen on this church. This marvelous church was built on the spot where Alexander II was assassinated and the funding of the church was entirely from the Imperial Family and private donors. It was completed in 1907 and truly gives the enchanting feeling that you are definitely located in Russia. I would have LOVED to go inside... but there were a few reasons I didn't get to: Every time we walked by this Church it was closing time and the price was ridiculously expensive. (But no mosh-pit lines this time).
Later that night, we decided to just walk around and capture more of the city from a night perspective...
Until we realized that we were super close to the "Crime and Punishment Tour" so we decided to fulfill one of Michal's wishes and walk the footsteps of Dostoyevsky's classic novel (that Michal has indeed read).
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| Location: Kokoshkin Bride Observation: This bridge, like the other bridges in the novel, is symbolic of the many "crossings" that Raskolnikov must make over the course of the novel. He crosses the bridge on his way to murder the pawnbroker. Later, deeply lost in thought, he crosses the bridge and does not notice Dunia and Svidrigailov who are about to have a fateful meeting nearby. |
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| Location: Kokushkin Bridge and Stolyarny Lane Observation: Stolyary Lane and Kokuskin Bride are mentioned not only in the Dostoevsky's novel, but also in the works of Gogol and Lermontov. |
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| Location: I. Alonkin's former house Observation: Dostoevysky lived in this house from 1864 until 1867. Here is where he wrote "Crime & Punishment." |
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| Location: This is the plaque marking the significance of this particular place being Dostoevysky's Home. |
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| Location: Raskolnikov's House |
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| Location: Raskolnikov's House Observation: Marker (or relief) signifying this is the correct place of Raskolnikov's Home. |
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| Location: Raskolnikov's House. Entrance on the backstairs. Observation: I think that the people in this apartment complex got mad at so many visitors coming and visiting so they put up this massive gate with a "KEEP OUT" sign... so we didn't really get to see the back entrance, but this is where it is located. |
Location: Voznesensky most (Ascension Bridge) over kanal Griboedova (formerly Ekaterinskii kanal).
Observation: Raskolnikov contemplates drowning himself here, but is stopped when a woman standing next to him tries just that. Later, it is near this bridge that the the frenzied Katerina Ivanovna forces her children to become street performers.
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| Location: Iusupovskii sad (Yusupov Garden is a large park on Sadovaia ulitsa (Garden Street) Observation: Raskolnikov passes by the Iusupov Garden on his way to murder the pawnbroker. He is drawn to green spaces to counteract the pernicious effect of the stifling, crowded city streets on his spirit. While walking to the pawnbroker’s he distracts himself from his intended plan by idly speculating about ways to enhance the restorative qualities of parks and public spaces. |
This picture is divinely majestic. This city truly does have it's own beauty and splendor. But this picture just says it all.
Our last day Michal & I headed to the furthest part of St. Petersburg to check it all out.
This was the best picture we got of the two of us together.
After that, we stuck with just taking each other's pictures. It was just too hard to ask and get a good picture.
Here is a picture of the back of the Hermitage. It is easy to pick out this building because of the sea green color located along where the Bolshaya, Neva, and Malaya River all meet. It is massive - and we dipped our toes in later - just to say that we had.
There were some VERY interesting light fixtures along the banks of the river. I have no idea what the significance is of them, but they are definitely unusual.
We came across this old Pirate Boat. Oh man, we wanted to go aboard, but it was a restaurant and more expensive than our 3 night stay in the hotel... so we opted to just take a fabulous picture of a handsome guy standing in front of it.
After strolling along the banks we came across the fortress of St. Peter & Paul. It was free to look around the fortress, but cost to go inside each individual building.
... and somehow Michal & I got inside the Church in the background. I don't know how we just happened to get in, maybe we were with a big tour group... or maybe we went in the wrong way... but I'm glad we didn't pay because the only thing on the inside were lots and lots and lots of sarcophagi (obviously with dead people in them). The tour guides were pointing out the significance of each - but we couldn't find a guide in English.
So... after looking at the inside of a boring church... we left to go explore the rest of the fortress.
I think that my favorite part was how adventurous Michal is and how much he likes to go exploring - even if we do somehow go in the wrong way and get in for free. Oops.
But later I was so angry with Michal - because we walked like 8 miles (not really - but it felt like it) to find this "cool" building. Once we got there Michal was disappointed and I laughed because we have no idea what it is, nor why it is important - but Michal felt this urge to go check it out.
While all the things that we saw in Russia were great and memorable... there were some things that we experienced that were "non-building" and "non-art" related... and I really wanted to make sure that I documented them. Finding little treasures like this is what makes a trip to much fun and so different from each city that you go to.
#1. "Thong, tha-thong, thong, thong." ~ Sisco
I don't know what it was about Russia, but I felt like everywhere I went I saw these cute girls in darling summer dresses - but with AWFUL black or purple or leopard print thongs that just were too hard to miss. On our LAST day in Russia, I felt like it would be a crime to NOT take a picture - because I had to remember how many women I saw that sported this popular new fashion. Trust me, there were a lot otherwise I wouldn't have documented it.
#2. Idaho Potatoes.
One of the Russian Restaurants we went to had "Idaho Potatoes" as a unique side dish. The equivalent of 110 Rubles is about $4 USD. We debated on whether they were truly Idahoan or not.
#3. Carl's Junior.
We already had a McDonald's sign - and we didn't want to exclude Carl's Junior. I mean look at how cool it looks. We didn't try it out though - neither of us are fans of this fast food joint. All the other traditional "American Fast Food Restaurants" were all in English. So, these guys got extra lucky to be mentioned in our blog - since they were written in Russian.
#4. St. Petersburg is called "The Sunshine City."
It is called this because the Sun seems to shine really late into the night. At quarter to eleven look at how light it STILL is outside. It made it optimal for us to go site-seeing and see the maximum amount of things in this city.
#5. High Speed Train
(This one's for Michal). He LOVES his high-speed trains. He loves riding them, talking about them, watching You-tube videos about them. So this one's for him.
This train took us to our next destination... Helsinki!
