Battles, Buses and Bikes, St. Petersburg continued
The battle raged. Cries of war resounded into the night as the buzzing tension built up to a crescendo. There was no way back, nor a way out. They attacked and we were obliged to defend. Their blood spilling incursions put us in a corner of no choice and no remorse. Chemichal weapons had to be used. Extreme measure by all accounts, yet they only delayed the inevitable. As morning rose we were left faced with the damage inflicted by their venomous stings. The mosquitoes were gone, but the itching remained.
I’m a drama llama, I know. It was actually only a mild annoyance in retrospect but it didn’t seem that way at the time. Other nights they left us alone since we mostly came back later when they had already fed from the other inhabitants of our dorm.
Friday, 16th of July. We got up pretty late, had some Solyanka (meaty soup, mishmash of everything) and pie and did some quick morning gymnastics in front of the Winter palace. The weather soon turned sour, which was really a blessing in disguise, since it saved us from the humid heat and left us with a much more tolerable humidity falling from the sky.
We started our sightseeing by visiting St. Isaac’s chatedral. The walkway around the dome on top of it offers an unique vantage point over St. Petersburg. Other such opportunities are rare, due to the city’s former strict building rules. No building was supposed to be taller than the Winter palace, with the obvious exception of churches. Evidentally you need to be pretty high up (or high) to get good reception when talking to god. One other such notable restriction was the obligation to build and stitch the buildings up together so the only roads separating them would be the broad boulevards planned in advance. The city’s character wouldn’t be the same without it.
After the cathedral we strolled along one of the water canals to the area known as New Holland. Norman Foster and his architectural bureau Foster & Partners, which I greatly admire, were building a new urban area there and according to Lonely Planet were supposed to finish up sometime in 2010. We were somewhat disappointed as the construction only seemed to have started recently and was nowhere near the 31. 8. deadline propagated on the entrance. Another visit is due I guess, the place certainly looks promising.
Petersburg, along with Moscow is supposed to be one of the most expensive places in Russia if not the world, but when eating out, prices seem to be quite comparable to the ones in Slovenia. While avoiding the most expensive eateries we usually got lunch & drink for around 300 roubles (1€ is cca. 40 rub).
Another commodity besides food, withouth which a modern traveller can hardly get by is internet. Mobile internet if chance be, so our smartphones aren’t reduced to being dumbphones and you, dear reader, can read this blog written and published on just such a device.
That’s why we acquired local SIM cards at Megafon, local mobile operator and one of the rare ones (apart from MTS) with coverage accross the country. With the prepaid card the deal is pretty fair, 1MB of data costs 1 rouble, SMS is 5 rub and local calls a similar figure not worth mentioning, or remembering, it seems. Besides, the 99 rub you pay for the SIM is already added to your account. The salesguy was really nice and even spoke a few words of English, the latter being quite a rarity.
Next, Church of the Saviour of the spilled blood, a name that instantly brought to mind the mosquito battle scenes of the prevoius night. The church is almost the spitting image of the St. Basil cathedral in Moscow’s Red Square. Yes, the red one with many colorful domes that looks more like something out of a fairytale or really juicy candy, than an institution providing the opiate for the masses. Inside, every centimeter is covered by intricate and recently restored mosaics depicting the life of JC and his apostoles. There is even an ATM inside the church if the need for cash arises, an idea our clergy would no doubt admire.
Another idea which could much more deservedly be implemented elsewhere is the Toilet bus. Not much explanation necessary, it’s an autobus containing nothing but proper toilets. Drive to location, plug in the sewer and water pipes, exercate at will. Worthless without photos, I know.
What was left of our incredibly well lit night we spent exploring the local bar scene. Pretty good, though somewhat expensive and not really that special. A notable mention would certainly go to the widespread availability of Hoegaarden, a Belgian beer and among my favourites, but rare to come by in Slovenia. We met some locals wanting to chat, but the language divide soon proved to be an insurmountable barrier only accentuaded by their inebriation. Or of I lose the posh talk: They were a bit drunk and couldn’t really speak English well.
On our way back to the hostel we came across a sports shop open at 4 in the morning. Naturally we decided that was just the right time to buy a bike…
One Response to “Battles, Buses and Bikes, St. Petersburg continued”
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hahaha, ATM in a church. How convenient.