Most folks have heard of the St. Petersburg White Nights, those summertime days (pretty much through most of June) when the sun sets after midnight. Here now the sun sets around 11:30pm or so, then is up again around 3:30am. It's a little strange to look out the window and see people walking around like it's dinnertime, when it's really 10:30pm...
Our hotel is located on the far eastern side of town, off of Nevsky Prospekt, the main drag in St. Petersburg. Nevsky Prospekt runs east-west through the city; on western end between the banks of the Neva River (which snakes east-west, as well, in an inverted C shape-- we're at the end of the right side of the C). We're actually situated right next to the Aleksandr Nevsky Square metro station, so a trip west into the center of the city is a two-station ride (or a 3-mile walk). I was too tired to venture out yesterday, but I think that this evening some of us will metro westward for a bit...
Yesterday we visited the Siege of Leningrad (St. Petersburg during Communism) Memorial Cemetery, where mass graves are located. There were so many deaths during 1942-1944 that the bodies couldn't be buried fast enough. The memorial is a beautifully landscaped garden/park. It was a very moving visit. I tried to upload a pic from my cellphone yesterday, but it wouldn't go... Maybe later.
We also went into the Church on the Blood, which was new for me. I've walked past that church numerous times on each visit to St. Petersburg, but had never been inside. The church was built on the spot were Tsar Aleksandr II was fatally wounded in 1881. It's the St. Basil's Cathedral (which is Moscow on Red Square) of St. Petersburg. The inside is fascinating-- all the icons are mosaics. You just have to see it to believe it. During the Communism era, it was a potato storehouse (so some jokingly refer to it as the Church on the Potatoes).
The food in this hotel is uber-European, but more Western than in Vladimir or Murom. The bad part about this hotel is that it's chock full o' tourists, so everyone speaks English and, where there's English, there're higher prices... But it's tolerable, enough. The accomodations are good and I just love surprising the English-speaking Russians as a Russian-speaking American. In fact, often I hear them conversing about people that they assume can't speak Russian-- like my group, which looks and sounds so American... It's kind of fun. :)
So we're off again to see more sights at 9:30am (in about 20 minutes). All's well here in St. Pete for now...
More later!
