St. Petersburg: Day 1

If I wanted to right now, I could probably quote Journey, but that is a little too cliché, even for me.  I will start off by saying “Yay for vacation!”  Our train left Yaroslavl for St. Petersburg at 11:55pm and we arrived at 12:40 in the afternoon today.  Let me be the first to say that twelve hours on a train is a really, really long time!  If it hadn’t been an overnight train and we didn’t need to sleep, it probably would have been one of those situations where I slept anyways, just because there was nothing else to do.

But in all honesty, the train wasn’t that bad.  I always forget how much I love traveling by train until I’m on one.  The compartments were pretty small, but it really wasn’t that bad.  There were two sets of bunk like beds on both side, and a small table in between.  We were lucky enough to not have to share the compartment with anyone else, although I’m sure that would have made our journey a little bit more interesting.  (It was cramped with just the two of us, so I can’t imagine what it would have been like with two more people!)  The scenery was pretty, but it wasn’t anything out of the ordinary – simply the country side, so we saw many dachas, forests, and fields.  And when we arrived in St. Petersburg, it was such a great feeling to walk off of the stuffy train and into cool fresh(ish) air.

First things first, we found our way out of the station and onto the street, where we found a cab to take us to our hotel.  We dropped our stuff of in our room and then were off again.  (Funny side story: Before we left, we went to the front desk and got maps of the city.  The girl who gave them to us asked where we were from, and we said America, but that we were currently studying in Yaroslavl.  It turned out that that girl was from Yaroslavl, and went to the Pedagogical University, as well.  We ended up just standing and talking with her for a while.  Is it strange that we have to go about 450 miles away to make friends from Yaroslavl?)

Our first destination was St. Isaac’s Cathedral, which we discovered was practically right around the corner from where we are staying on.  This was a pleasant surprise!  The cathedral is amazing and huge!  There are columns and gargoyle-like statues (except they weren’t gargoyles, they were angels) and it was simply a fantastic sight to behold.  The cathedral was commissioned by Tsar Alexander I and was finished in 1858, some forty years later.  (Fun fact: During World War II, the big gold dome was painted black in hopes that it wouldn’t attract the attention of the enemy and become a target.)  The inside of the church is covered with paintings, murals, and icons.  There are big chandeliers hanging from the ceiling and smaller replicas of the cathedral placed throughout.  

We also made our way up many many steps to the Colonnade, and it was there that we could see the entire city – the numerous churches and squares, the Winter Palace and the Hermitage, the river, everything.  It was such an incredible view!  I think Sasha and I walked around the circle four or five times and we still didn’t want to leave!

This afternoon we also went to Decembrist Square (actually, it is now officially named the Senate Square) and saw the Bronze Horseman, a statue commissioned by Catherine the Great in honor of Peter the Great.  On the base of the statue is inscribed “Catherine the Second to Peter the First, 1782”, in Russian on one side and in Latin on the other.  It is arguably one of the most important symbols of the city of St. Petersburg.  It was fascinating to be in the presence of something so simple, yet important, but I think that it would have held more power if there hadn’t been bird poop on his head.

Bird poop on Peter I's head.....kind of takes away from the power of the statue?