Arrival
My train arrived at 8:30 a.m. in St. Petersburg. Breakfast of oatmeal and yogurt was served on the train at 7:30 a.m., so all-in-all, I might have slept 6 hours. After 3 weeks of otherwise going hard and not sleeping…waking up at 2 a.m. and posting here, getting up at 7, walking around the city for 2 hours before my tour starts at 10, crashing at 9 p.m. to start over, I just…am exhausted. So my guide picks me up at the train. Her name is Sophia and she is blonde and beautiful and very put-together. We walked to the car, where our driver took us to breakfast at a cafe. At around 9:30, I had a blini with cottage cheese, a banana smoothie, and some coffee. Let’s do this.
City tour by car
We have on the itinerary today a city tour by car. Usually this is my least favorite thing, but today I am so tired I don’t even care. It’s really just a ploy to keep me occupied until my hotel check-in time of 2 p.m. Whatever. We drive around. She points out palaces. The buildings of St Petersburg have no space between them, like most large cities. So amazingly, the palaces are completely indistinguishable from other random buildings, all built in the same style. She explains that, when the capitol was moved to St Petersburg, they realized the weather was very gray and gloomy. There are very few days of sun. So in order to brighten the mood, they imposed a tax on any buildings that weren’t painted bright colors. No gray and black buildings here. There is no longer a tax, but it’s now tradition. We go to a fortress and get out to walk around. She proceeds to get out of the car, immediately dropping her phone into a slushy puddle. Very relatable. It’s fine and she wipes it off on her coat. We walk through the fortress as she explains about taking St Petersburg back from Sweden and shows me all of the monuments to the triumph over Sweden. Then a fortress was built, but no one ever attacked it, so the fortress has never been used as such. The Russians have a very poetic sense of vengeance and reveling in victory. There is later a large post with ship bows attached. Apparently these are replicas, but the tradition was to attach the bow of conquered ships to a monument to show your victory. Hardcore.
Nap time
When 2:00 finally arrived, I was very glad. We checked in to my hotel, which is… a place to crash. I had a ‘business lunch’ in the hotel restaurant, and crash I did. I took a nap. I haven’t showered in a couple of days. I haven’t slept in weeks. I just gave up and spent the last 2 hours of daylight unconscious in my hotel room. I had set an alarm for 5, hoping to get up, have dinner before the folk show, then head to the show and go back to bed. I got up, dragged myself out of the bed, and started walking towards the folk show. I have tickets tonight, and I assume I’ll just find food on the way. There are tons of restaurants that all look perfectly nice, but I’m not even hungry yet, having had lunch at 2. So I decide to just walk around until the show. I find all kinds of beautiful buildings and everything is lit up in New Year lights, so it’s actually a very nice walk even in the dark.
Folk show
I arrived at the Nikolaevsky palace just under an hour before the show. This is set up for tourists, so there are lots of souvenir booths and people in costume and a festively decorated lobby to hang out in. Seating is first-come-first serve, so I am glad to be there early. They greet you with a welcome drink of either champagne or vodka, then you aren’t allowed in the theater with it, so you have to shop the booths while you enjoy your drink. When I got to the theater, I sat front row, center. I am very short, and I always pick front row. I hate trying to see over other people, even if it means looking straight up. Also, I love watching the feet of dancers. I much prefer seeing the intricate steps over watching the choreography general. Anyway, the show was super fun. The dancing was good, but the stage was very small, and had 2 columns in the middle of it, limiting the more grandiose group performances. It was very similar to the folk show in Budapest in format, but obviously the music and dance styles were very different. The costumes were, of course, impeccable. The female dance roles were interestingly dependent on stomping/tapping, very percussion heavy. Kind of similar to flamenco. The male dancing was, by far, more interesting. It’s super athletic, and just defies the laws of physics. Again, as they are generally unable to perform in groups, the men’s choreography generally consisted of taking turns, with each one doing a set of dance moves/gymnastic tricks. They were fantastic. There were some very magestic mustaches. During intermission, canapes were served, along with more vodka and shopping and coffee.
Siberian Crown
After the show, I decide to get dinner at a restaurant I had spotted during our city tour: Siberian Crown Pivovar. I have installed Yandex maps and Yandex taxi, so I use that to get a cab across town to the restaurant. I had a great time, sitting at the bar of this local brew pub, pulled out my laptop and worked on some of the posts here. I had cheese toasts and mini pelmeni. They were so tiny. Whoever didn’t call them popcorn pelmeni really missed out on a marketing opportunity. I enjoyed a Russian stout beer. 3 Belgian guys came in and were talking to the bartender and he told them that, while everyone thinks that vodka is the national drink of Russia, it’s actually a horseradish vodka that is most unique and popular. He poured the 3 of them a shot, with a side of apple slice, and had a shot himself. I’m like, ok, deal me in. So he made me one as well. Horseradish vodka tastes exactly like you’d imagine. The apple slice was a nice touch. This morning I got a message from Joe asking about something I had written, as it just ended abruptly and didn’t make sense. Uh…I blame the horseradish vodka and exhaustion. I’m writing things down as I remember them as quickly as I can, but, with the exception of things written on the train, there’s no re-reading and editing. You’re getting just stream of consciousness, fyi.
