Monday, October 5, 2009

October 5th


Well, I’ve returned from my arduous journey to the great white north. What immediately springs to mind is how difficult my life is. Taking 10 days off from school to tour the most beautiful city on earth is easily the most taxing thing I’ve done in some time. After reviewing my experiences of this past week, I’ve decided that there’s nothing of a really deep nature that I can relate on this blog. After all, I wasn’t really in Russia and being a tourist is no way to experience the true depth of a country. So, I will merely give an account of my four days in St. Petersburg.

Day 1- The train to Pete is 24 hours, quite the experience and certainly the best way to travel. Each vagon is controlled by an imperious babushka who is not averse to yelling at you to get her way. The customer is not always right… Anyways, it is impossible not to meet people on a train when you are literally living with them for 24 hours and sure enough, within several hours of departing Voronezh several of my fellow travelers were going shot for shot with a group of Russians. We arrived in Pete none the worse for the ware and immediately set out for our hostel (25 bucks a night is hard to beat…). Probably my favorite part about St. Petersburg is that you don’t even have to enter into a building to fall in love with this city. My favorite pastime is simply walking around, day or night, sun or rain, there is always some angle, some nook or cranny that is somehow more beautiful than the last. I’ve been in St. Petersburg for a total of eight days now in my life and still I feel as though I’ve only scratched the surface of the city. After getting checked in, I immediately set out to reacquaint myself with the city. I won’t bore with details, but the beautiful pastels and classical architecture combine to make a stroll around the city a pleasant one. I ended the day with a shaverma, a sort of burrito concoction with vegetables, mystery meat, and a mayonnaise mustard sauce. This can be found anywhere in Russia, but the best ones I’ve found are in downtown Pete in a little hole in the wall place. Devine. Anyhow, that’s it for day one; feel free to check tomorrow for a continuation of the trip…

St. Petersburg Moment of the Day

Just because I wasn’t really in Russia didn’t mean that there were no Russians in St. Pete. Just as I was being lulled into a false sense of European-ness, I came around a corner and squatting over the side of the seawall was a man who was literally defecating into the Neva River. Next to a highway. I was far enough away that it wasn’t pornographic, but I was still mightily shocked. Surrounded by an incredibly beautiful city, on a very picturesque river and this man couldn’t make it to the public toilets 20 meters away. And 20 meters away at the public toilet right next to the gorgeous Smolney Cathedral, another obviously drunk man was urinating on the public toilets. I expect this from Voronezh and maybe even Moscow, but not St. Petersburg…

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