Neither of us slept very well; we were both excited at the prospect of being with Alanna today. Ray, I think more so than me, is also looking forward to getting back home to familiar surroundings and Canada. Don’t get me wrong, I too am looking forward to coming home; more so to get back into doing something more “meaningful" than the stress-free travel environment. I am searching for a way to put my knowledge and experiences to good use.
When you travel the world, and see different cultures and ways of life, it helps you to understand “existence” on a broader basis. The world over, life is about survival. As humans we all need the same things to be fundamentally satisfied. That is all the majority want: food, shelter, and community. Why then do we refuse to respect that in each other and enter into war, violent disputes, and political mayhem? It doesn’t matter how much land you have, if it’s not arable you won’t get food, or if there are no resources, you won’t have resources. To strive for the bigger picture of a “supportive and co-dependent” existence might be an answer to finding a peaceful world solution. I don't mean by this that the only answer is "democracy". It may well not be, or it may be that each country needs its own unique form of government. We might also be forced into that scenario if bugs and diseases such as H1N1 become the pandemic that many predict it will. Cool and intelligent minds, co-operation among governments, and creative science for cures and preventatives are what will get us through such an event should it come to that. I don’t know the answer to a better world order, but I know I will support those who have a viable suggestion versus those who manipulate populations through power and superiority.
So, I know you will want to know (1) did we have a good trip; (2) what were the highlights and the lowlights; (3) what it did for us; and (4) where are we going next! Give me a few days to contemplate all of that, and I’ll post a “Post-Trip Summary”.
We were up around 7 am this morning to catch the Hoppa bus back to Terminal 5 at Heathrow. We had breakfast in “Giraffe" at the airport; then I went duty-free shopping. The London airports are so exciting to shop in, and it’s one of the few times I’ve had on the trip to “shop”. So, Ray sat and waited, and I took off with my credit card!!
Security checks at the airport take forever, and I wonder how effective they are against “terrorists” as opposed to catching the forgetful tourist who has packed his pen knife or nail clippers in his/her checked luggage.
Our flight on a British Airways Boeing 747 left about 45 minutes late. Once again it was quite smooth with the exception of one part as we neared Canada which got a little bumpy from the turbulence. The skies were bright blue, and we floated on our bed of white clouds for about 7 hours. We were so excited when we landed at Toronto that my stomach was churning with impatience at the thought of seeing Alanna again. We are not sure what was happening at the airport, but as soon as we stepped off the plane a customs officer was checking everyone’s passport, so you can imagine the back up of passengers de-loading. As with everyone else, he took my passport, read the information, stared at me directly in the eyes, and then handed the passport back and allowed me to go forward. When we got to the customs hall, there was a team of four customs officers searching the crowd. One had a dog and he together with the dog walked very briskly and purposely up and down the rows of the passengers waiting to go through the customs desks into the baggage pick-up area. The dog sat down three or four times in front of one guy who was probably off the Caribbean Air flight that had landed just before ours. Poor guy must have been sweating, but obviously he was not the one whom the team was looking for.
While waiting for our baggage, we saw the team questioning passengers randomly in the baggage hall. Never saw them take anyone away, so haven’t a clue what it was all about.
Finally we exited into the Arrivals area, and there was our lovely daughter, full of smiles and as happy to see us as we were to see her. We are soooo lucky to have such a beautiful and kind daughter! Then, as we were all hugging each other intensely, our good friend Randall Osczevski appeared with a huge grin on his face. It was the most wonderful surprise and means an awful lot to us that he would leave his office and come over to the airport to welcome us home.
And, that is it! We went home with Alanna, ate dinner, chatted and chatted, drank too much wine and finally after being up for about 25 hours, we collapsed into bed for our first night’s sleep at home since March 11.
Wednesday, July 29, 2009
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Tuesday July 28 – Farewell St. Petersburg
The worst thing about travelling is the “waiting”. We got to the airport in lots of time for our flight (even had time to check the Internet in the morning before we left the hotel). We hung around the airport waiting to go through security, customs, etc. and check in for the flight. We have had lots of time for reflection and discussion on the various events we have experienced over the past 4 ½ months.
St. Petersburg was a treat to visit. Where Moscow was energized, colourful, and “in your face”, St. Petersburg is serene, grey, and reserved. It has a beautiful city centre, friendly people, and a rich and colourful history. That said, the Navy Day celebrations were a “joyous affair”, and one shouldn’t be lulled into thinking that St. Petersburg is a pristine city. As mentioned before, you can walk around drinking beer, many people do, so there are often empty beer bottles lining the canals and river embankments, and you can certainly meet your fair share of those who have imbibed a little too heavily! However, this is all cleaned up very quickly and the city is generally quite clean.
Our three-hour flight from St. Petersburg to London on a BA A331 was smooth and comfortable, left and arrived on time, and posed no problems to our now “used-to-overcoming-challenges” attitude. Several times we looked out of the window and over the white layer of clouds we were flying over to see another plane literally “whiz” past us in the opposite direction at a combined speed of about 1000 to 1200 miles per hour. Of course, although they seemed awfully close, I am sure there was plenty of room between us!! Once at Heathrow we took the Heathrow Hoppa to our AAA-graded 3-star hotel where we arrived around 7 pm. The hotel was very active with lots of business groups, and we enjoyed dinner in the dining room with a much appreciated glass of wine before retiring to bed and enjoying two shots of CSI: CSI Miami, and CSI New York which were luxury entertainment to our English-TV starved minds, before turning out the light.
St. Petersburg was a treat to visit. Where Moscow was energized, colourful, and “in your face”, St. Petersburg is serene, grey, and reserved. It has a beautiful city centre, friendly people, and a rich and colourful history. That said, the Navy Day celebrations were a “joyous affair”, and one shouldn’t be lulled into thinking that St. Petersburg is a pristine city. As mentioned before, you can walk around drinking beer, many people do, so there are often empty beer bottles lining the canals and river embankments, and you can certainly meet your fair share of those who have imbibed a little too heavily! However, this is all cleaned up very quickly and the city is generally quite clean.
Our three-hour flight from St. Petersburg to London on a BA A331 was smooth and comfortable, left and arrived on time, and posed no problems to our now “used-to-overcoming-challenges” attitude. Several times we looked out of the window and over the white layer of clouds we were flying over to see another plane literally “whiz” past us in the opposite direction at a combined speed of about 1000 to 1200 miles per hour. Of course, although they seemed awfully close, I am sure there was plenty of room between us!! Once at Heathrow we took the Heathrow Hoppa to our AAA-graded 3-star hotel where we arrived around 7 pm. The hotel was very active with lots of business groups, and we enjoyed dinner in the dining room with a much appreciated glass of wine before retiring to bed and enjoying two shots of CSI: CSI Miami, and CSI New York which were luxury entertainment to our English-TV starved minds, before turning out the light.
Monday, July 27, 2009
Monday July 27 – The End of the Our Journey: Last Day in St Petersburg
Our travel is drawing to a close, but we managed to fit in one last historic site: The Fortress of Peter and Paul on the north banks of the Neva River. The fortress was built in 1703/04 during the Great Northern War against Sweden, but apparently it was never used for its intended purpose as the war was won before it became active. The main purpose of the fort ended up being a prison, mainly political prisoners, and it was eerie to walk through the corridors, cell by cell, and read the stories of the people who had been imprisoned there. It all sounded very “comfortable”, but I have no doubt the heavy block walls have many different stories to tell as men and women lived out their last moments before passing through the Neva Gate on the way to their execution. Many of the stories we read were about the People’s Will, a group of terrorists who murdered Alexander II in 1881. Other stories included those of Leon Trotsky and Maxim Gorky from the 1905 revolution and stories of the Bolsheviks right up to 1921 when the last prisoners were held there. The other big attraction in the Fort is the Cathedral of Saints Peter and Paul built in 1712 to 1733 and designed by Trezzini and later embellished by Rastrelli, both of whom have been a huge part of the architecture in St. Petersburg. The church both inside and outside is stunning with lots of gold gild in the true Baroque style. We listened again to some Russian choral singing in the Grand Ducal Crypt which was so mournful it tore my heartstrings. Two of the guys in this group had appeared in the group at St. Catherine’s Palace yesterday, and one of those two had appeared in the Russian Song and Dance Show we went to.
There are several other interesting parts to the Fort such as a museum and the mint, but to be quite honest with you I am absolutely overloaded with information. It’s time to go home!! Ray found me sitting on the steps outside the door of the museum staring into space and waiting for him. Usually, it is the other way around and he is dragging me out!
We wandered back to the hotel in the warm gently falling rain, along the University Embankment, past statutes, bridges, and finely architectured buildings that are famous the world over. It was a fitting “good bye” to a majestic city.
In the evening, we had dinner in a small Russian restaurant, bought a couple of bottles of vodka to bring back to Canada with us on the way back to the hotel, packed up our stuff and collapsed in bed around midnight dreaming of returning home and seeing our daughter and our friends.
There are several other interesting parts to the Fort such as a museum and the mint, but to be quite honest with you I am absolutely overloaded with information. It’s time to go home!! Ray found me sitting on the steps outside the door of the museum staring into space and waiting for him. Usually, it is the other way around and he is dragging me out!
We wandered back to the hotel in the warm gently falling rain, along the University Embankment, past statutes, bridges, and finely architectured buildings that are famous the world over. It was a fitting “good bye” to a majestic city.
In the evening, we had dinner in a small Russian restaurant, bought a couple of bottles of vodka to bring back to Canada with us on the way back to the hotel, packed up our stuff and collapsed in bed around midnight dreaming of returning home and seeing our daughter and our friends.
Sunday, July 26, 2009
Sunday July 26 – Pushkin
We walked out of our hotel this morning to be verbally abused by a mad woman with a beautiful cocker spaniel. She had a wooden stick in her hands so we were a little careful of her! Tatiana, our St. Petersburg guide appeared, and steered us back into our hotel. After a few minutes, Arpana, Ray and I together with Tatiana, carefully stepped outside again, and seeing the way clear and the van parked by the side of the road, headed directly into it. Don’t know what was up, just a random wacko!! Tatiana though seemed quite upset by it. I guess she understood what the woman was saying; we could only guess!
We travelled about an hour (24 km) to the town of Pushkin on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, population about 100,000. It wasn’t an interesting drive though, as St. Petersburg is built on a swamp, which accounts for the mosquitoes we have been battling in our bedroom because I left the windows open one night. The attraction in Pushkin is the summer palace of the royal family “Catherine Palace”. It was originally built in Baroque style around 1752 by Catherine the Great. However, it was substantially destroyed by the Germans in WWII, and then by the Soviet government who destroyed the internal structure. In 1979 the Soviet government started restoring the Palace and this continued for 25 years. Today, the palace is stunning. The outside is painted blue and gold and surrounded by gilded black-iron gates. The first few rooms are heavily decorated in what was gold-gild and what is now gold paint. Then, because Catherine didn’t like all the baroque gold, the next few rooms are pained in classic blue and green, with white moldings ornately carved. Access to the palace is closely controlled. You have a “time slot” and move through with hundreds of other visitors in controlled groups. It’s certainly not the most pleasant experience, but I guess if you want to see historic sites of this caliber, this seems to have become an accepted method of controlling the crowds (remember our visit to the Potala Palace in Tibet?)
After our “controlled” viewing inside the palace, we walked through the beautiful Catherine Park with its English and French gardens, large pond where the reflections of the buildings glistened in the sunlight, and other out buildings. When we left the town of Pushkin, our driver had an unfortunate accident and managed to wrap the back end of the Mercedes van around a lamp-post and shatter the large window at the rear left side of the van. His van had been squeezed in by a car in front leaving him no room to maneuver, however, he kind of didn’t help himself because when the first grating sound came, he just kept reversing harder into the pole as opposed to stopping and checking out the circumstances. Anyway, we finally got out of the tight spot but the back-end was quite damaged. As we turned out of the parking spot, we were almost hit broadside by a vehicle travelling about 100 km down the road! I am sure our driver was “harassed” at the whole scrunching deal, but after jamming on the brakes to avoid being hit by the flying car, I am sure he was even more harassed. We hadn’t driven very far when someone said: “Oh, is there an accident?” I turned to look out the window and saw an elderly grey-haired woman lying prostrate on the road on her back and a highly distraught younger women standing by her car about 6 feet away from her on the telephone, but our van squeezed past and we were gone. It was a “traumatic” moment that left an indelible image in my mind. I don’t usually look when there is an accident; I don’t like to see injuries. Tatiana turned to us and said: “That’s been three things today: the verbal abuse by the mad woman, the van incident, and now the accident with the old lady.” I am glad to say, the rest of the day was good!!
When we got back to St. Petersburg, we had a great walk across the city by the canal from the Church of Resurrection to the Church of St. Nicholas which unfortunately is closed for renovation. We went into the Mariinsky Theatre which is the second most important theatre for ballet and discovered there were no seats available for Monday’s performance of “Giselle”. We were a little disappointed until we discovered the price which was about $150 to $165. By the time we arrived back to the hotel it was 7:00 pm.
Today was also “Navy Day: so there was lots of activity along the embankments of the Neva River. A lot of drinking too!! It amazes us that Russians don’t consider beer to be alcohol! This despite the fact I have noticed that their beers are quite potent and range between 4.7 per cent alcohol to 5.7 per cent alcohol. You can walk around the streets with a beer in your hand – not that we have done that – but all along the embankments are tons of empty beer bottles. Someone comes along and collects them all but to us, it’s a really weird concept.
We met Arpana, around 8 pm and went to dinner in the same Russian restaurant we went to two nights ago. Then it was back to the hotel and a very much needed bed around midnight.
We travelled about an hour (24 km) to the town of Pushkin on the outskirts of St. Petersburg, population about 100,000. It wasn’t an interesting drive though, as St. Petersburg is built on a swamp, which accounts for the mosquitoes we have been battling in our bedroom because I left the windows open one night. The attraction in Pushkin is the summer palace of the royal family “Catherine Palace”. It was originally built in Baroque style around 1752 by Catherine the Great. However, it was substantially destroyed by the Germans in WWII, and then by the Soviet government who destroyed the internal structure. In 1979 the Soviet government started restoring the Palace and this continued for 25 years. Today, the palace is stunning. The outside is painted blue and gold and surrounded by gilded black-iron gates. The first few rooms are heavily decorated in what was gold-gild and what is now gold paint. Then, because Catherine didn’t like all the baroque gold, the next few rooms are pained in classic blue and green, with white moldings ornately carved. Access to the palace is closely controlled. You have a “time slot” and move through with hundreds of other visitors in controlled groups. It’s certainly not the most pleasant experience, but I guess if you want to see historic sites of this caliber, this seems to have become an accepted method of controlling the crowds (remember our visit to the Potala Palace in Tibet?)
After our “controlled” viewing inside the palace, we walked through the beautiful Catherine Park with its English and French gardens, large pond where the reflections of the buildings glistened in the sunlight, and other out buildings. When we left the town of Pushkin, our driver had an unfortunate accident and managed to wrap the back end of the Mercedes van around a lamp-post and shatter the large window at the rear left side of the van. His van had been squeezed in by a car in front leaving him no room to maneuver, however, he kind of didn’t help himself because when the first grating sound came, he just kept reversing harder into the pole as opposed to stopping and checking out the circumstances. Anyway, we finally got out of the tight spot but the back-end was quite damaged. As we turned out of the parking spot, we were almost hit broadside by a vehicle travelling about 100 km down the road! I am sure our driver was “harassed” at the whole scrunching deal, but after jamming on the brakes to avoid being hit by the flying car, I am sure he was even more harassed. We hadn’t driven very far when someone said: “Oh, is there an accident?” I turned to look out the window and saw an elderly grey-haired woman lying prostrate on the road on her back and a highly distraught younger women standing by her car about 6 feet away from her on the telephone, but our van squeezed past and we were gone. It was a “traumatic” moment that left an indelible image in my mind. I don’t usually look when there is an accident; I don’t like to see injuries. Tatiana turned to us and said: “That’s been three things today: the verbal abuse by the mad woman, the van incident, and now the accident with the old lady.” I am glad to say, the rest of the day was good!!
When we got back to St. Petersburg, we had a great walk across the city by the canal from the Church of Resurrection to the Church of St. Nicholas which unfortunately is closed for renovation. We went into the Mariinsky Theatre which is the second most important theatre for ballet and discovered there were no seats available for Monday’s performance of “Giselle”. We were a little disappointed until we discovered the price which was about $150 to $165. By the time we arrived back to the hotel it was 7:00 pm.
Today was also “Navy Day: so there was lots of activity along the embankments of the Neva River. A lot of drinking too!! It amazes us that Russians don’t consider beer to be alcohol! This despite the fact I have noticed that their beers are quite potent and range between 4.7 per cent alcohol to 5.7 per cent alcohol. You can walk around the streets with a beer in your hand – not that we have done that – but all along the embankments are tons of empty beer bottles. Someone comes along and collects them all but to us, it’s a really weird concept.
We met Arpana, around 8 pm and went to dinner in the same Russian restaurant we went to two nights ago. Then it was back to the hotel and a very much needed bed around midnight.
Saturday, July 25, 2009
Saturday July 25 – Russian Art
It was raining when we set out this morning for The State Museum of Russian Art or more colloquially, The Russian Museum. This is one of the most important museums in Russia. We walked in the drizzle for about an hour along the University Embankment of the Neva River, across the Dvortsovy Bridge and along Nevsky Prospekt to the museum. It is housed in the majestic neoclassical Mikhailovsky Palace which was built 1819-1825. I am not at all familiar with the Russian artists but we really enjoyed following the Russian art from the early 500/600s right up to the current day. We took an audio guide so learned a little about concepts, philosophies, and changes throughout the ages. The late 1700s early 1800s involved a lot of portraiture and it was great to see portraits of all the people our guides have been talking about and the artists themselves. I also fell in love with Serov and his beautiful ladies. After being in the Museum for four to five hours, we took a lovely walk through the peaceful and beautiful gardens then back out on to the busy Nevsky Prospekt which is the main street in the city centre, and about an hour’s walk back to the hotel. We walked back over the Blagoveschenskly most and up the pedestrian street on the 5th Line in Vasilyevskiy. We were looking for an Internet which we haven’t found yet and were happy to find one not too far from the hotel. We grabbed a quick dinner on the way and collapsed into our hotel room around 9 pm. We relaxed lying on the bed, watching Russian TV or the BBC News, and writing my journal while giving our feet a well earned rest.
Friday, July 24, 2009
Friday July 24 – Boat Tour on the Canals and Rivers of St. Petersburg
Our “trans-Siberian tour” officially ended at breakfast this morning and we said goodbye to our tour leader Chris. Jon, Ray and I headed out around 11:00 am for the Anichkov most (bridge) where we hoped to find a boat tour in the rivers and canals in the city centre with an English guide. Walking anywhere in the city centre is like walking through an art gallery and museum combined. Progress is slow. On top of that, Navy Day is on Sunday, and there are about six ships and one submarine in the Neva River. The ships have to slink in at night as that is when the draw bridges are open, so each morning has exposed one or two new ships in the river. This morning, the crew was lined up on deck of the ships on the opposite side of the River, and suddenly a huge “boom” resonated out over the whole area. In fact, I think there were 9 or 10 canon’s fired. It took us about 1 ½ hrs to walk to our destination, but we saw, and photographed so much! We found the boat tour, had about 25 minutes to wait and then boarded. The trip was about an hour. The weather was perfect; hot – 18C – sunny and bright blue skies. It was fun to see the city from the water – a different perspective – we travelled on the Fontanka River, the Moyka River, the Winter Canal and the Neva River and saw many of the historical buildings we are slowly becoming familiar with.
After our boat tour, we stopped in a bakery and had some delicious, but decadent, cakes and coffee/coke/fanta. Jon left us at this point to do some last minute shopping.
Ray and I took a slow walk back to the hotel. We had intended to go to The State Museum of Russian Art but when we got there at 4 pm we decided it was so huge we wouldn’t really have time to do much. Instead we went into Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. It is an amazing ornate church both inside and outside. Tons of tourists though!! We also passed and went into the Kazan Cathedral. This was a complete contrast to the previous church. Where the Church of the Saviour was brightly coloured and Old Russian style, the Kazan is graceful, elegant and absolutely stunning. The altar was beautiful and we had the wonderful opportunity to be present at a wedding. There was a small choir way up in the balcony and their singing was so lovely it brought tears to our eyes. So once again, we ended up hurrying back to the hotel to meet Jon and Arpana, a new friend we have met in the hotel who is just starting a Sundowner’s trip on the 28th, for dinner.
We went to another little inexpensive Russian restaurant on Bolshoi Prospekt just around the corner from the hotel. The owner was there and embraced us with complimentary vodka, so it was a merry affair and a good send off for Jon who leaves tomorrow at 6:30 am and welcome for Arpana. After dinner it was back to the hotel and bed, in the half-light of the night.
After our boat tour, we stopped in a bakery and had some delicious, but decadent, cakes and coffee/coke/fanta. Jon left us at this point to do some last minute shopping.
Ray and I took a slow walk back to the hotel. We had intended to go to The State Museum of Russian Art but when we got there at 4 pm we decided it was so huge we wouldn’t really have time to do much. Instead we went into Church of the Saviour on Spilled Blood. It is an amazing ornate church both inside and outside. Tons of tourists though!! We also passed and went into the Kazan Cathedral. This was a complete contrast to the previous church. Where the Church of the Saviour was brightly coloured and Old Russian style, the Kazan is graceful, elegant and absolutely stunning. The altar was beautiful and we had the wonderful opportunity to be present at a wedding. There was a small choir way up in the balcony and their singing was so lovely it brought tears to our eyes. So once again, we ended up hurrying back to the hotel to meet Jon and Arpana, a new friend we have met in the hotel who is just starting a Sundowner’s trip on the 28th, for dinner.
We went to another little inexpensive Russian restaurant on Bolshoi Prospekt just around the corner from the hotel. The owner was there and embraced us with complimentary vodka, so it was a merry affair and a good send off for Jon who leaves tomorrow at 6:30 am and welcome for Arpana. After dinner it was back to the hotel and bed, in the half-light of the night.
Thursday, July 23, 2009
Thursday July 23 – The Hermitage
Today we visited the famous, State Hermitage Museum with its fine architecture, gilded halls, and decorative wooden floors. It’s attached to, and includes, the Winter Palace, home of the Tsars. The Hermitage was developed around 1764/1773 as the result of Catherine the Great’s love of art. She collected some of the world’s finest. Today, the museum owns around 3 million pieces of art, some of which are displayed over three floors in the Winter Place, The Old Hermitage and the Small Hermitage. All of the art collected in the museum was confiscated along with numerous private collections by the Soviet government after the 1917 revolution. Also interesting, and a bit of juxtaposition is the story behind the “Hidden Treasure exhibition. This is a beautiful collection of paintings by the great masters that the Russian soldiers rescued from the Germans during WWII. It was kept in storage for over 50 years before it was opened and put on display in 1995. It was discovered at that time that this was artwork “stolen” by the German government from private collections in Germany, many of them owned by Jewish families. Our guide indicated that the German government had tried to get the artwork back, but that no claims had ever been made by any of the families. The Russians have kept the art. As we spent the day wandering through the various 400 exhibit halls and gilded salons we saw paintings, sculptures, and historical artifacts from Russia, Europe and Asia including artists such as Leonardo da Vince, Michelangelo, Raphael, Carravagio, Picasso, Van Dyk, Rubens, Rembrandt, Monet, Matisse, Gauguin, Degas, Sisley, Renoir, Van Gogh and tons of others. But of everything we saw, one of the true delights and my absolute favourite was “The Peacock Clock”. This is a clock that was probably made by an Englishman named James Cox pre 1781. It consists of a gilded peacock on a branch, a rooster, an owl in a cage, a mushroom with a tiny dragon fly sitting on it and several other smaller animals such as squirrels. The mechanism is contained in the mushroom, and the movement process is started with the dragon fly. It activates once a week and then the peacock raises its head, spreads its tail, turns around, turns back, and closes its tail; the rooster crows 3 or 4 times; and the owl moves its head, blinks its eyes and moves its paws. It is absolutely delightful. The whole building with its elaborate central staircase is an amazing and splendid architectural and interior design feat. It is so elegant it is easy to imagine what life must have been like in the times when it was in use. You also realize the incredible wealth that must have existed amongst the elete in Russia and I think you can understand why the Bolsheviks revolted against the tsars. We just about made it to closing time at 6 pm and then walked back to our hotel past elegant buildings, over ornate bridges, and through small, lush green parks. I wanted to stop so many times to take pictures of everything I saw but we had to hurry as we were meeting Chris and Jon for our final dinner together.
We arrived back in time to change quickly before setting off in the opposite direction across another bridge into Petrograd Island and a small typically Russian restaurant. We had a good evening, then back to the hotel and bed around midnight.
We arrived back in time to change quickly before setting off in the opposite direction across another bridge into Petrograd Island and a small typically Russian restaurant. We had a good evening, then back to the hotel and bed around midnight.
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