Russian Around

A good nights rest was just what we needed for an active day in St. Petersburg. After a quick Russian breakfast (macaroni and hot dogs?) at the hotel, we grabbed our map and started walking. Directly across from our hotel was the Kazan Cathedral. Although the outside was not so appealing, the inside of the church was beautiful and decorated with perfection. Michael Garden (Mikhaylovskiy Sad) was our next stop.  The garden was massive and well manicured as expected. It was a delight to see but we had greater interest in seeing the church that was located at the end of the garden. The Church of the Savior on Spilled blood, now referred to as Saint Isaac’s Cathedral, is one of the main attractions in St. Petersburg; and after seeing it up close we understood why. The colors and designs of the numerous domes and pillars were magnificent to see. Like everything else in the world, it was under construction so we could not go in, but we were able to get great shots outside the church and barter with some tough Russian street vendors.

After church, we headed towards the water to see the Winter Palace.  Home to the Russian Monarchs between 1700 and 1900, the palace was fit for royalty. A turquoise/mint colored paint covered the entire outside walls except for the white pillars and the golden pieces on every window. It was located in between the embankment and the Palace Square, close to the Alexander column.  Constructed after Russia’s victory in the war against Napoleon, the column is honor of Alexander the first.  To get a better look from the water, Chase and I walked across the bridge adjacent to the palace and started snapping. This is about the time we started noticing all the weddings going on. No joke, we must have seen about 15 different brides getting in and out of cars in about 15 minutes. We think that people decided to get married that day because of how nice the weather was.  The couples didn’t know when the next sunny day in Russia would be so they took the plunge. Along with many brides, the bridge also gave us a great view of the Peter and Paul Cathedral. The building was completely gold and shined in the sun unlike any building we had ever seen.

The sites were great, but we still felt a little uncomfortable around some of the Russian locals. For this reason, we went to dinner at the English pub across the street.  English menus and American music really put us in the right mindset to eat some Caesar salad and beef stroganoff. We washed our meals down with some local beer and were ready for the night. Being that we were in Russia, we figured that the next logical step was to buy a small bottle of Vodka. It seemed even more logical after the purchase because it was cheaper than water; seriously. On that note, the water in Russia is in a class of its own. People say don’t drink the water in Mexico, but I would funnel any amount of Mexican water over taking a sip of the tap water in St. Petersburg. If the sink was left running or the toilet seat wasn’t closed, the room would stink up and make us somewhat nauseous. Chase actually took a sip because he was dying of thirst and said it tasted like metal. However, it did help us become a little more domesticated, and now we always turn off the water and close the toilet seat.

We had some sips of the Vodka and hit up Svetlana for some recommendations on the nightlife. She only suggested one spot so we were kind of stuck with that. She had never been there so she actually asked us to tell her how it was when we got back. The name was in Russian so no clue what it was called but we navigated ourselves there and got in without a problem. The establishment was pretty empty so Chase and I posted up near the bar for a few drinks. Then out of nowhere, two Russian girls came out of the back room and got up on the platforms beside us to dance. The second they got up there the tops came off and the music started going. We were surprised to say the least. After that the atmosphere in the bar changed. We consulted the bouncer to see what the deal was and he informed us that every girl in there was a prostitute. Literally every girl. No interest in diseases and a new undertanding for why all of the ladies were giving us sexy looks was enough to get us back to the hotel. We told Svetlana that is wasn’t the family atmosphere we were looking for and went to bed.  Our flight to Israel was late the next day so we were able to get up late and still get to the airport early. TGI Fridays and American music held us over until our flight to Israel.