ZDRASTyeche

the window
Dostoevsky’s window onto the world. So much to see through his eyes. So much lurking beneath the thin veneer of civilization - as Ron and I experienced in the St. Petersburg metro system - two attempted muggings in less than 24 hours! Apparently our facial features give us away as easy non-Russian prey. Not so easy as they thought. Thanks for your prayers, everyone!




pilgrimage
The one place I was most eager to visit in St. Petersburg. Dostoevsky’s last apartment. Grieving the death of his little son Alyosha, Dostoevsky wrote the Brothers Karamazov here during the last three years of his life. Needing absolute quiet for his writing, his habit was to write during the night while his wife and children slept, and to sleep in the morning while his wife recopied his work (apparently she was the only one who could read his handwriting).




the greats
Catharina the Great wanted to honour the memory of Petro the Great, so she commissioned this glorious monument. More contrasts: amazing contributions to Russian life vs. disfunctional family life (Peter imprisoned his son; Catherine was apparently complicit in her husband’s murder). The cathedral in the background is St. Isaac’s. Impressive, but we’d seen enough icons by this time, so didn’t pay the entrance fee.




Hermitage / Winter Palace
The tsars lived here. A nation’s wealth of culture and architecture is displayed here. It is beautiful. Each room a masterpiece filled with masterpieces. Well, this one’s a little empty - but its gleam and splendor symbolize so well the glory of this place. Yet here we discovered another Russian contrast: magnificent grandeur vs. bewildering triviality. Required to check our coats before entering, we had to wait in interminable lines for coat hooks to become free before the coat-check women would take our coats. Aaarrrgghhh!





night train
After driving two hours to Tolstoy’s estate (and two hours back again), we drove the hour-and-a-half from Puschino to Moscow by private taxi (in a car that had to be towed to start). Then at the end of this very long day, we boarded the night train for St. Petersburg. Midnight to 8 a.m. in this cozy little two-bed compartment. There are about two dozen extremely long trains traveling from Moscow to St. Petersburg every day (another train left within minutes of ours). All of Russian life appears to revolve around these two very different centers: Moscow the science, business and political capital of Russia, and St. Petersburg the cultural capital.