St. Petersburg, Russia: Day One, Part One

The Neva River

When we land in St. Petersburg, there’s a light coating of snow on the ground.  Antonina had asked me whether I wanted a guide, which I didn’t.  But as she was arranging for someone to pick me up at the airport and drive me to the hotel (and back at the end), I reconsidered.  Perhaps on the way into town, the person could drive me around some of the sights that would be otherwise beyond the walking perimeter I’d set for myself.
       Outside immigration, Tatiana is holding a sign - mercifully not in Cyrillic - with my name on it.  She asks about my suitcase and is impressed that I have only a carry-on for my clothes.   (I learned long ago to pack wisely and sparingly.)  We exit the terminal and Slava, the driver, pulls up.  He’s very proud of his Mazda, and will spring out of the car every time we stop somewhere, popping an umbrella open over my head to shelter from the drizzle.
       On the way into St Petersburg, Tatiana does what every tour guide does in any country I’ve visited: she has Slava stop at a souvenir shop.  She says she has a message to deliver to someone there, and invites me to look around.  (Maybe she gets a commission?)  There’s really nothing I need, but I end up buying one of those little demi-tasse spoons for my friend Anita’s collection back home.  It makes everyone happy, and it’s dirt cheap even though it’s solid silver.

The Admiralty

Being so far north, dusk is starting to fall already.  Slava expertly navigates the city’s many streets and somewhat unruly drivers.  This is Nevsky Prospect, the Champs-Elysées of St. Petersburg, and my hotel is just off it.  But first some of the other sights.
       We drive through the university neighborhood and Tatiana says proudly that the city has one of the best universities in all of Russia.  Then on to New Holland Island, a large triangle of land named for its Amsterdam-like canals and shipyards built by Peter the Great in the early 18th century as he turned a swamp into a jewel of a city worthy of a tsar.  Now New Holland is being turned into an art enclave.

Alexandrinsky Theater

       We drive past the Alexandrinsky Theater on Place Ostrovski and then on to St. Nicholas Cathedral.  Finally, after many streets lined with baroque buildings, Tatiana asks Slava to wait while she walks me around the park that surrounds the Admiralty.
       Then it’s off to tiny Hare Island to see Peter and Paul Fortress, a true must-see.  Again Slava jumps out, opens my door, flicks open the umbrella over my head, and then sets to wiping down the windshield, offended by the intrusion of snow onto his shiny new Mazda.  As we walk, Tatiana tells me she’s been doing this tourism job since she was 18.  She explains things to me in English, but could also do it in German and Czech.  Her head is filled with dates and figures.
       The walls that surround the entire complex are reminiscent of Vauban’s forts in France, designed to make sure that cannons can defend against an attack from any side, with no blind angles. Back then the enemy was Sweden.  Today almost all of the buildings have been swallowed up by the State Museum of St. Petersburg History, except for the Mint.   We don’t have time for the museum, but Tatiana wants to show me the Peter and Paul Cathedral, the tallest in the city’s central area.  From the outside, it’s not much to look at - almost Protestant in its severity - but inside is another story, and a very baroque one at that.  Unfortunately for me, the doors are resolutely locked.  Inside are the tombs of all the tsars from Peter the First to Alexander III (except for two), and when Communism came to an end, the remains of the poor martyred Nicholas II and his family were reinterred here as well.  I’ll try to come back another day.  For the moment, its getting resolutely gloaming (as the Scots would say) and chilly.  It seems the beaches under the fortress walls are besieged with bathers in the summer... but definitely not today.