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Venice of the North...
Jun. 15th, 2010 11:57 pmWhen we got to the Leningrad railroad station at around midnight, there was still some glow in the northern sky. We waited 20 minutes for our train - the Megapolis, if I understood correctly - to pull into the station, whereupon we found our car and our compartment.
We had bought three of the four berths in a coupé, and sure enough, the fourth berth had been sold to a Russian woman who was traveling back to St. Petersburg to join her husband. She was a fountain of information about the train, and about life in general.
The overnight trip went well, although I have to admit, I felt pretty tired when the train pulled into the station promptly at 9 am this morning. As it turned out, we had rented an apartment within easy walking distance of the Moscow railroad station, so that even with a wrong turn out of the station upon arrival, we had no problem meeting the rental company's representative at the appointed hour.
Along the way, we walked past Pushkin Street (Pushkinskaya ulitsa), which rang no bells until I reread an email from LJ friend![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
velvet_granat, giving instructions on how to find an artist's colony at No. 10 on that street.
It was fortunate that I made the connection, because the pocket guide to St. Petersburg I bought did not have an entry for Pushkin Street. Natalie and I walked down the street, after stopping by a grocery store for some milk and bread. There is a square halfway down the block, with a statue of the renowned Russian poet.
After a light breakfast, Galina, Natalie, and I returned to the railroad station and bought tickets for a city tour. Personally, I'm more of a "wander around and discover the place" kind of traveler (although there are some sights one must see; anyone who visits Paris and does not go to examine the Eiffel Tower up close - no need to actually go up, mind you - has a screw loose, in my opinion, but I digress...).
The tour was heavily influenced by traffic, which if anything seems more chaotic than in Moscow, but we did see a lot, including a stop near the Church of the Spilled Blood, built by Alexander III in honor of his father, Alexander II, on the spot where his father was assassinated.
After the tour, we went by No. 10 Pushkin Street, to visit a very amiable artist who for many years has been part of the artist's colony located at that address. Here's a photo of part of his studio.
The entrance to the building is rather unusual. First, the actual entrance is not on Pushkin Street, but Ligovsky Prospect. Second, the ground floor is dominated by what almost seems a monument to John Lennon and the Beatles.
We ate a mediocre dinner at a restaurant on Nevsky Prospect, after which Natalie and I dropped Galina off at our apartment and then set off for a walk on our own. We stopped for a while to watch some portrait artists at work, and finally, at 11:20 pm, I took this picture before turning around and heading back to the apartment.
The white nights are a blast!
Cheers...
We had bought three of the four berths in a coupé, and sure enough, the fourth berth had been sold to a Russian woman who was traveling back to St. Petersburg to join her husband. She was a fountain of information about the train, and about life in general.
The overnight trip went well, although I have to admit, I felt pretty tired when the train pulled into the station promptly at 9 am this morning. As it turned out, we had rented an apartment within easy walking distance of the Moscow railroad station, so that even with a wrong turn out of the station upon arrival, we had no problem meeting the rental company's representative at the appointed hour.
Along the way, we walked past Pushkin Street (Pushkinskaya ulitsa), which rang no bells until I reread an email from LJ friend
velvet_granat, giving instructions on how to find an artist's colony at No. 10 on that street. It was fortunate that I made the connection, because the pocket guide to St. Petersburg I bought did not have an entry for Pushkin Street. Natalie and I walked down the street, after stopping by a grocery store for some milk and bread. There is a square halfway down the block, with a statue of the renowned Russian poet.
After a light breakfast, Galina, Natalie, and I returned to the railroad station and bought tickets for a city tour. Personally, I'm more of a "wander around and discover the place" kind of traveler (although there are some sights one must see; anyone who visits Paris and does not go to examine the Eiffel Tower up close - no need to actually go up, mind you - has a screw loose, in my opinion, but I digress...).
The tour was heavily influenced by traffic, which if anything seems more chaotic than in Moscow, but we did see a lot, including a stop near the Church of the Spilled Blood, built by Alexander III in honor of his father, Alexander II, on the spot where his father was assassinated.
After the tour, we went by No. 10 Pushkin Street, to visit a very amiable artist who for many years has been part of the artist's colony located at that address. Here's a photo of part of his studio.
The entrance to the building is rather unusual. First, the actual entrance is not on Pushkin Street, but Ligovsky Prospect. Second, the ground floor is dominated by what almost seems a monument to John Lennon and the Beatles.
We ate a mediocre dinner at a restaurant on Nevsky Prospect, after which Natalie and I dropped Galina off at our apartment and then set off for a walk on our own. We stopped for a while to watch some portrait artists at work, and finally, at 11:20 pm, I took this picture before turning around and heading back to the apartment.
The white nights are a blast!
Cheers...
