15 June 2008: Wonderful Walkabout

If I slept all day yesterday, and was generally a slothful wretch, then today certainly made up for it.

This wonderful day started out at the Kazan Cathedral. It was a Sunday, so there was a mass going on. We stood for quite a while (there are no chairs in Russian cathedrals) listening to the beautiful music cascading from the choir loft and filling the cavernous room from floor to lofty cupola. After a bit, we walked around and looked at many of the famous Russian icons, the caricatures of saints and the holy family. One very interesting icon featured Tsar Nicholas II and his family, all of whom have been entered into the Orthodox cannon of saints.

After that very pleasant experience, we crossed Nevsky Prospect, the Champs-Elysée of St. Petersburg, to the old Singer Building of Singer Sewing Machine fame. Currently, the building is home to “Дом Книги” or House of Books. We were pretty excited to find the Harry Potter books in Russian, where Harry becomes Garry. I wanted to take a picture, but I don’t think the clerks would have appreciated that too much. There was one book I knew I would buy if I could find it, and I did. Three guesses as to which one it was. The Little Prince. Now I have it in four languages!

I took around 170 pictures throughout the day, so I’ll let them tell the story of the rest of the walk. All in all, it was a wonderful day, and my first great opportunity to see the city.

(Darn Internet put these all out of order, but whatever.)

Maria, the cat. One of the street artists' faithful companion.







View of Gostiny Dvor, shopping arcade. I went there to look for some shoes at one point, but decided that $500 was a little out of my price range.


The Chocolate Museum! Actually, it's really just a store, but I think more people just come to look at the chocolate statues, chess sets, and suits of armor than to actually buy anything.



Arch leading into the Decembrists' Square and the Hermitage. (I was introduced to a monkey here a few days later.)







Kazan Cathedral.



Woman feeding the winged rats, I mean pigeons.






Дом Книги!














Dome on the Дом Книги.





Pillars on the Cathedral









Cathedral again, and St. Peter, maybe?










The Mikhailovsky Castle. Emporer Paul I built it to hide from his mother. Just a thought, but a gigantic castle isn't the best way to secret yourself away. He was murdered here within days of moving in.






In the Summer Gardens.







The Finnish Consulate. Made me miss Minnesota a bit, knowing how many Finns have descended on Duluth this summer . . .







The Swiss and Greek Consulates. Switzerland and Greece, roomies? Who knew?






The eternal flame in the Field of Mars.

Silhouette of the Cathedral on the Spilled Blood.









A statue in the Summer Gardens. Sadly, I've forgotten her name.








The Summer Gardens have been around since Peter's time. They are absolutely beautiful, and populated with all sorts of interesting statues.

Justice.










日本の"consulate"です。






Japanese Consulate plaque.










Vive la France!









French Consulate plaque.









Yes, that is a live bear cub. Karis asked what his name is. "Juice," replied his owner. I have the feeling there was a bit of miscommunication somewhere in there.

Falconet's famous and controversial monument to Peter the Great.









St. Isaac's Cathedral from below.






The Romanian consulate, shot from across the street at a dumpling restaurant.





"Russia. Nation of possibilities." This sign is everywhere.








French institute of St. Petersburg. Weee! Oops, I mean "Oui!"





The Admiralty. (Darn crooked picture, but it's the best I've got.)

The Kunstkammer, home to an array of nature's oddities, including mulit-headed snakes, two-headed calves, and jars containing human foeti. Ew.








An angel perched on some random building.