We then spent a number of amazing hours exploring the Russian Museum/The Mikhailovsky Palace, 1819-24. It was full of beautiful Russian art. I must say: it was a blissful time especially after seeing the Russian Art display from the eyes of the NYC Guggenheim Museum. I think in NYC they chose the heaviest, darkest art possible to represent Russians artists, which is exactly opposite of what I saw in St.Petersburg! In the Russian Museum we found some excellent cubist work there by Pavel Filonov. The amount of detail this guy can get in each little brush stroke is like high-resolution pixels. I couldn't even see what he painted because my eyes didn't quite find the pattern (see the ‘Goat’ link below). There were also some very beautiful scenic paintings with an immense amount of detail, depicting forests and other such natural scenes by Ivan Shishkin (see below link). And last but not least, it goes without say, seeing Ivan Aivazovsky's "The 10th wave" in person was truly magnificent!! (Another link below). I left the museum very satisfied.
We then met with an elementary school friend of Evgueni's (another Evgueni) and his girlfriend Nadia. We all walked throughout the city together. It was nice to finally start piecing some of the geography together in my mind’s eye. Because St.Petersburg is built on very marshy land, there are many canals that were designed to control the water and flow into the Gulf of Finland (see Metro depth in day 1). The canals are laid-out like a hand with 5 fingers radiating from the main canal. They divide St.Petersburg into very distinct areas, which stop like a wall once you reach the outer limits. However this day, we stayed well within the city centre and took the afternoon to leisurely explore.
First we strolled into an oasis. The Summer Gardens. It was quiet and big. We walked along the landscaped garden while admiring the lovely, very white stone statues that lined our path. What a whimsical place! We stopped to admire some statues including a monument to the Russian poet Ivan Krylov who translated many fables. It was a really beautiful monument and both Evgueni's were trying to recount all the stories the animals on the monument depicted (See link below). The competition ended with a persistent wasp who honed-in on both guys like they were honey (heh heh).
We crossed the Neva canal on the Troitsky bridge, then a smaller bridge (St.John Bridge) to get to the Peter and Paul Fortress, 1703 (on a fortified island). In the water part way across the bridge there is a sculpture of a hare sitting on a stump, supposedly protecting itself from a flood, which St.Petersburg is famous for. Tradition says you throw coins at it when you cross the bridge. If the coin lands on the statue you can make a wish. We all kind of laughed at it. Why bother, the group huddled at the rail were already throwing tons of coins unsuccessfully. So when (my) Evgueni handed me a coin, I tossed it. I hit the hare and my coin stayed on the statue! So I made my wish and continued on. As we walked around the Fortress fortification to the entrance gates, the place was crawling with sunbathers. Now, I never found cobblestone particularly comfortable, but these good people didn't seem to mind! I even witnessed some bizarre sunbathers who stood against the wall to capture their rays. Legs propped up on the wall ledge and everything! Again, from the eyes of a tourist, I found this ritual rather amusing. I mused: Maybe the sun angle is so different that lying down doesn't give you the full effect...
So inside the fortified walls are many buildings including a prison, the Russian Mint (ironic coupling eh?), the Cathedral of SS Peter and Paul, 1712-33 with it's beautiful tall and golden spire, the Commandant's House etc. On the way out we watched a helicopter take to flight. Wheee. After crossing the Malaya Canal on the Birzhevoy Bridge and the Bolshaya Canal on the Dvortsovy Bridge we were back to the mainland.
We continued to Decembrist's Square where we stopped for some ice cream and a rest on a bench. Benches here are under considerable demand. After loosing a vicious battle for the first bench, we aggressively possessed a second one and made a point of not leaving for some time... it had nothing to do with our throbbing feet.
We eventually peeled ourselves off the benches to admire the monument of Peter the Great "The Bronze Horseman", 1782 in St.Isaak's Square. He is mounted on his rearing horse that is stomping on a serpent all atop a great granite rock.
Just outside the park is the solid, imposing, yet handsome St.Isaak's Cathedral (1858, Russian Neo-Classicism). It is a very beautiful building. I particularly liked the various colourful stone (granite, I think) panels that cover the entire building façade.
After this long day of touring we went to the "Elvis Bar". It was fun and good in it's own way with it's great Elvis cover band. I ordered a vodka and orange juice and got exactly that. A shooter of vodka and a glass of orange juice. Duh! So I did as any novice Russian tourist does: I made space in my orange juice and poured the vodka in. I'm pretty sure everyone in the bar cringed and cursed me as I "tortured" the vodka. I probably can’t fathom how close I got to being violently ejected from the Elvis Bar.
Russian Museum: http://www.rusmuseum.ru/eng/museum/Pavel
Filonov’s ‘Goat’: http://www.msi-mall.com/art/avantgarde/pictures/57.html
Ivan Shishkin: http://www.rusmuseum.ru/eng/exhibitions/?id=589&i=0
Aivazovsky’s ‘The Tenth Wave’: http://www.abcgallery.com/A/aivazovsky/aivazovsky17.html
Other works by Aivazovsky: http://www.abcgallery.com/A/aivazovsky/aivazovsky.html
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